### Chapter 156: Clearing the Fog (Part 2)
“Chomp… gulp.”
As I swallowed the mouthful of food, I snatched up a second pie from my plate, munching away while quietly listening to Angel.
“Three months ago, in the Valen Empire, the heretics’ plan was about to unfold when your appearance utterly thwarted it. At that time, their years of sneaky scheming came to a screeching halt, and the Gate of Truth lost one ‘Executor,’ who, you might recall, was the guy in the Golden Mask that you took down…”
Golden Mask?
Oh…
I remember him, the guy with the burnt face; Valar seemed to take his orders quite seriously.
“After that, the heretics’ high council, known as the ‘Congress,’ decisively terminated all operations by the Gate of Truth in the Empire. They cut off all transport routes for the Lotus Seed Grass in the Valen Empire and, beating the Church to it, eliminated two bishops who had already gotten wind of the problems. They had been lurking in the Church for years without anyone noticing. Such behavior is almost like cutting off one’s own arm, and the purpose, of course, was to protect that mastermind hiding in the shadows… Little Black Charcoal, you know who she is.”
Of course, I do.
“Tere…sa.”
With my mouth full, I stammered out my answer.
“That’s right.”
The Pope tipped his head back and downed a glass of red wine in one go, then picked up the wine bottle next to the plate and refilled his glass. He continued, “But those mice… were still a step too late.”
“Even though they tried hard to cover things up, the Church followed the breadcrumbs right to the mastermind behind the scenes, namely the one in charge of the Gate of Truth’s operations in the Western Continent… We tracked her down and figured out she was hiding in the Order Royal City of Eason DeBail. But at that time, we weren’t sure exactly who this person was; we only knew she had to be someone high up in the Church, able to open special entry channels for the heretics. With that in mind, we had only a handful of people to narrow it down to. Finding her was just a matter of time.”
“Um…!”
Now I get it! That’s why Teresa resorted to such desperate measures…
Not just because of our investigation results, but she must have known the Church had already set its sights on the royal city. Even if I couldn’t sense anything at the time, she wouldn’t be able to hide for long; her exposure was inevitable, escape would be nearly impossible, so she just…
“But then, Teresa’s series of reactions… really exceeded my expectations. Now she’s dead, but her actions didn’t end with her d*ath; Teresa had already set everything up for what would happen next. After her d*ath, what remained of the Gate of Truth quickly gathered in the royal city, taking advantage of Duke Lex’s coup to try to k*ll Queen Elizabeth amidst the chaos in the city and completely destroy St. Zayeli Cathedral… they almost succeeded.”
Ah!
So, Victoria’s injury…
The three guys I took out near the church were planning to destroy the cathedral, right? They must have been top-tier heretics, each boasting significant powers of order, plus the Sin Fire… If I hadn’t shown up in time, with just Rect and the remaining clerics and nuns in the church, we might have been facing utter disaster…
Thinking about that made me feel a bit queasy.
“But…”
I hurriedly swallowed what was in my mouth, looking at Angel and said, “But they failed.”
Yes, they failed.
Thinking it over, there weren’t many heretics who could fight me like that… there’s no way I could have taken Victoria away so smoothly otherwise.
After she was injured and poisoned, those hooded heretics must have headed to 2 Longdorr Street first, but they didn’t find anyone there and instead were ambushed by the Sword of Kanli, losing one of their own. Others probably split into two groups, one heading to the church and the other to the royal palace—or maybe they all went to the church… Regardless, both sides ended in failure.
Victoria didn’t d*e; instead, when she woke up, she wiped them out. And the St. Zayeli Cathedral… there was indeed a fire, but Margaret must have put it out in time. Here I am, and everything is just fine.
Feeling reassured about that fact, I relaxed, swallowed the pie in my hand, and then reached for a third piece from the plate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angel squinting, slowly shaking his head. “No, in a certain sense… they’ve already achieved their objective.”
…Huh?
I widened my eyes, completely baffled.
“But…”
Didn’t Victoria tell me she had killed all those guys?
“Little Black Charcoal, what do you think the Gate of Truth… wants with this enormous price they’re willing to pay? What is their ultimate goal?”
“Um…”
I tilted my head and thought for a moment.
“Undermining, shaking the foundation of the Church, destabilizing faith…”
They want to overthrow the Church’s rule, right?
Back in the Valen Empire, Edward was already shouting like this, moving the Lotus Seed Grass not just for coins… Apart from opposing the Church, they could also… Oh!
“That bl**d Pearl!”
Angel must know what the bl**d Pearl is for!
“I’ll explain the matter regarding the Divine Reliquary later.”
The Pope shook his head, shifted into a more comfortable position, and continued gazing at me. “In short, the heretics aren’t as one-track minded as you think, purely aiming to undermine the Church’s foundations… at least, not yet. It’s not that they don’t want to; they just know they can’t.”
“The Holy Church has stood on this earth for thousands of years, continually seeking blessings from the deities, benefiting humanity, and achieving monumental deeds for human society. There’s no way a small cult organization could easily shake that… They merely want to create chaos to disrupt the Church’s focus, and that’s all.”
Disrupting their focus…
I took a bite of the pie, chewing slowly while pondering and continuing to listen.
“But I must say, their methods are effective. Whether it’s the coup happening in the royal city or the royal family squabbles in the Valen Empire, it’s giving me quite the headache… In fact, even though the Gate of Truth’s plan in the Empire was cut short before implementation, given the current situation in the Empire, those events might have been precisely what they wanted…”
Current situation of the Empire?
“Ugh!”
Oh no, I nearly choked…
I thumped my chest, struggling to swallow the mouthful of pie and stared wide-eyed at Angel, “What’s wrong with the Empire?!”
“Don’t worry.”
Angel appeared calm, his azure eyes reflecting no turbulence.
“Little Black Charcoal, I know what you’re worried about… Your father is doing well, better than ever. But up to this point, his actions have indeed aligned with what the heretics have been hoping for… just like what’s happening in the royal city, do you understand?”
Just like in the royal city…
So it’s finally about to kick off.
But I knew nothing about this… That letter that was sent back later, I stuffed it into the nun’s outfit I was wearing at the time. Then during the fight with Iliush, my clothes got ripped apart, and the letter was long lost… but I guess it had some words that mom didn’t want me to hear, and she clearly knows how capable I am.
“Are you worried about them?”
Angel asked, then reached out as if to pat my head, but I turned away to dodge.
“Forget it, just continue talking…”
I didn’t want to share my inner thoughts with him nor let him see my weakness and concerns. For no particular reason, I just felt like we weren’t close enough for that.
Angel paused at my words.
Then he withdrew his hand, lifted the wine bottle on the table, and drank deeply.
“Ah—, what a fine wine…”
As he spoke, he refilled his glass again, looking at me with tipsy eyes and smiled.
“Anyway, the Gate of Truth’s goal is to prevent the Church from concentrating on anything, forcing them to spread their personnel thin in the upcoming months to deal with these chaotic matters they’ve created, leaving them unable to muster all their strength against the actions they’re about to launch in Silgaya… that’s probably the most crucial part of their plan.”
