Chapter 14: Archbishop Handel

I immediately spoke to the Archbishop.

“For a welcoming greeting, it’s quite aggressive. Is this Eolem’s teaching?”

Naturally, my words couldn’t be pleasant.

“I didn’t retaliate against those who came for my neck, and I brought them in gently, so why is it like this?”

But unexpectedly, there was no reaction from Archbishop Handel.

She merely smiled with her wrinkled face, answering nothing.

“Hey, at least release my subordinates, won’t you?”

“I”

“Archbishop!”

A strange silence.

I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

‘Right, you’re going to play it this way?’

The Archbishop already knew I was coming to Aurax.

Indeed, the time spent climbing the mountain with the priests and fighting the Marquis was considerable, enough time for her to receive a report in advance.

It would have been enough time to decide how to deal with the crazy Third Prince.

Perhaps she had already received a revelation from Eolem.

If so, the Archbishop would think she had completely grasped me.

‘Right, so this is the reaction, huh?’

I recalled information about Archbishop Handel in my mind.

This woman is different from old man Varmilo.

Even though he was a priest who wielded a blade, that old man still had a bit of compassion left in him.

Especially his concern for his subordinates and the residents of Aurax was very special.

I used that to get this far.

But Archbishop Handel is…

‘The viper itself.’

Should I say she’s the human closest to the god of revenge?

Or should I say she’s even more extreme than Eolem?

Archbishop Handel was a woman burning with vengeance against the Empire that took her arm.

I knew that through the original story.

So, no foolish talk would be tolerated.

Handel’s current silence was a silent pressure for me to tell the truth immediately and repay it with blood.

But I had mixed half-truths with half-lies.

Now was the time to use them properly.

The method was.

“Archbishop, you must know that I impersonated Eolem’s incarnate, right? That’s true. Yes, I impersonated your god.”

It was a head-on breakthrough.

Then, her excessively benevolent smile seemed to cool a bit.

“Third Prince, it seems nothing will change even if you suddenly confess now, don’t you think?”

Finally, the Archbishop’s mouth opened.

I thought it was locked.

“Well, really? Oh, and I’m not apologizing for impersonating Eolem. To be honest, I can’t bow my head to people who tried to kill me just because I lied a bit, can I?”

Unless it were the other way around.

“I understand that the Chamberlain, who is colluding with you, is furious. If I were him, I’d probably run too, afraid of being caught.”

“…It’s interesting that the Prince knew even that.”

Interesting?

This crazy woman is talking about “interesting.”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested at all. Thanks to you, I even had a duel with Marquis Elon Reith, a loyal subject of our Empire and a nine-star knight commander, you know?”

When that name came up, her smile disappeared.

I didn’t miss the opportunity to sneer.

“Ah, Archbishop, you’d know well, wouldn’t you? The feeling of fighting that Swordmaster. Ah, of course, I’m the one who won, so it might be a bit different.”

Seeing the cracks begin to appear in Archbishop Handel’s expression, I said coldly.

“Did you want to kill me? Do you still? Then try it. Even Eolem of Vengeance won’t truly know what will happen afterward.”

“I guarantee it. You will surely regret it.”

At this point, I wanted to cross my arms, but I couldn’t because I was bound.

So, I compensated by raising my chin as much as possible.

“You won’t be able to stop that ‘catastrophe’.”

Surely she’d heard roughly about this, right?

I provided a bit more detail.

“Approximately one week from today, an unstoppable catastrophe will strike Aurax. Many lives will be sacrificed. And everyone will be plunged into sorrow.”

“Naturally, the revolutionary army will shrink, and the opportunity for revenge that the Archbishop desires will not come for a long time.”

Handel’s eyebrow twitched.

“Prince, what catastrophe are you talking about? Are you saying there will be an earthquake in Aurax? This is a place with two great churches where God can directly manifest. Most phenomena can be defended with divine power.”

“But some catastrophes can break through divine power and strike. Divine power isn’t omnipotent. Don’t you, Archbishop, know that better?”

Archbishop Handel silently closed her mouth, and I quietly smiled in front of her face mixed with doubt and anger.

She wants to hear more details, right?

But I couldn’t just give it away for free.

“Alright, let’s untie this first, then talk. Isn’t that the natural and logical order?”

She fell into silence.

Complex thoughts seemed to be passing through her mind.

I waited patiently.

After all, the outcome was already decided.

“I”

“I see. Yes.”

Finally, Archbishop Handel, having finished her thoughts, stood up from her seat.

And she walked around the table and approached me with heavy steps.

‘Oh, is she untying me herself? This is quite a grand welcome…’

But she walked right past me.

Then she opened the door to the small room and shouted outside: “Drag the Third Prince away!”

…Huh?

“To the dungeon!”

This isn’t right?

“As expected, Your Highness! You came to rescue us!”

“No, I’m trapped too.”

I was thrown into the dungeon where Karls and Tirvaen were.

My bonds were loosened as I was dragged here, but there were iron bars worse than that, so it was six of one, half a dozen of the other.

The fortunate thing was confirming that the two were eating and sleeping soundly.

Ha, but this is ridiculous, isn’t it?

“Hey, you! Your liege is captured, and you can still eat? And Master, you can sleep soundly here? Huh?”

“No, what can I do when I’m hungry and the food is good?”

“Who was it that made us suffer by feeding us only jerky for days, and now you’re raising your voice!”

…These people are truly amusing.

But I also felt a bit sorry.

‘Indeed, they must be tired.’

For the past few days, these two suffered terribly, traversing mountains and forests they weren’t meant to, all because of me.

Everything must have tasted delicious, and they could fall asleep as soon as their heads hit something.

‘It’s different from a game.’

I realized anew that these were living people.

They weren’t NPCs who could follow a player for 24 hours.

“Your Highness, are you sulking?”

“It seems so? Sir Silion, give him one of the dumplings you were eating earlier.”

“I was saving this. Here, have it.”

“I”

“…I don’t need it! I won’t eat leftovers! You two split it and share it nicely!”

Then the two began to munch on the dumpling.

I sat down, my bottom on the floor, rubbing my swollen arm from being tied up.

Surprisingly, the stone floor of the prison wasn’t cold; it was lukewarm.

“Hmm.”

So that’s how it is, huh?

“By the way, what happened? Did you meet the Archbishop?”

Karls asked, taking a seat opposite me.

Unlike his extremely flustered appearance when he was pinned down by the Titan Special Forces, he now had a somewhat relaxed expression.

Tirvaen was the same.

It seemed both of them had caught on to the situation here faster than I did.

“High Priest Varmilo visited. He also brought us food.”

“He roughly told us about the current situation in Aurax. It seems the circumstances of people living here are pretty much the same…”

It was frankly a bit funny to hear the little witch muttering as if she had lived a lifetime.

Anyway, I could roughly guess the content.

“The High Priest must have told you about the factional conflicts in Aurax, right?”

“Hmm? How did you know that?”

I had a hunch when we were first subdued, and it turned out to be true.

‘Since there are eyes watching from other factions, they dumped us here for now.’

There are largely six armed groups within the revolutionary army faction.

The ‘Church of Eolem,’ where we are now.

The ‘Church of Kisyris’ across from us.

The ‘Border Guards’ who manage the revolutionary army’s outskirts.

The ‘City Guards’ who protect occupied territories.

The ‘Titan Special Forces,’ the Commander-in-Chief’s direct unit.

And finally, the ‘1st Legion,’ the reserve forces.

They are organizing this massive force by dividing their roles and scales.

“According to High Priest Varmilo, the Kisyris Cathedral and the Titan Special Forces are keeping the Church of Eolem in check.”

“How?”

“By saying that Your Highness, as an enemy element, must be exiled or executed.”

Karls shivered, but I snickered.

What, are they communists or something? Why “enemy element”?

Anyway, I don’t even want to talk about those God Soft guys’ out-of-this-world sensibility.

‘So it’s the Kisyris and Titan guys, huh?’

No wonder they treated me so roughly earlier, even though I wasn’t resisting!

…Thanks to them, I recovered my stamina.

Of course, the revolutionary army also has a ‘Commander-in-Chief’ as the overall ruler, so if he stepped forward, the decision would be simple.

In terms of the Empire, he was the supreme authority equivalent to the Emperor.

‘But the revolutionary army’s Commander-in-Chief is currently absent.’

Because of this, opinions were divided on how to deal with me, and it ended up like this.

I fell into thought.

If even the Grand Church of Eolem eventually gave up on me, how would I break through?

Should I use the ‘Great Catastrophe Event’?

I’m not very keen on it in the current situation.

First, I put my thoughts aside and questioned Tirvaen.

“Master, did Varmilo say anything else?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, he did say something.”

The little witch looked towards the prison entrance and relayed his words, and I flinched.

“He said, ‘This time, please don’t act so smug,’ but what does that even mean?”

“Ugh. No way.”

It was at that moment.

Creak.

Thump, thump.

Along with the sound of the iron door turning, footsteps began to be heard.

And the two shadows that appeared stopped in front of the iron bars.

“…Third Prince, were you waiting?”

It was Archbishop Handel’s voice.

Accompanied by Varmilo, she appeared in the dungeon, wearing a pitch-black hood like Irgal.

“What I am about to say is not as an Archbishop. Officially, I am not even here. But I have decided to trust you.”

With a strangely familiar line, the prison door rattled open.

I recalled a quest from my memories.

‘You’re breaking out of prison, and I’m the Archbishop?’

Sure enough, that message appeared before my eyes.

[QUEST: ‘You’re Breaking Out, I’m the Archbishop’ has been given.]

[QUEST] The internal conflict within the revolutionary army’s command has not been resolved, but Archbishop Handel of the Church of Eolem has a request for you. Escape with her help and resolve the incident. Special: Linked to other quests Expected Reward: Aurax Pass and 3 other items

So it turns out this way?

‘Originally, this quest triggers when a player, already acquainted with Archbishop Handel, gets imprisoned for illegal activities.’

Well, if you think about it, I was also imprisoned after confronting the Archbishop…

‘Could it be considered the same?’

At any rate, the initiative had returned to me.

I stepped out through the iron bars and spoke.

“Archbishop, I’m an enemy element, and I even impersonated your god. Yet, why do you trust me like this?”

This was a problem that absolutely had to be addressed.

Only then could I ensure my next move.

“I”

“…That is.”

The Archbishop’s gaze, which stopped speaking and stared at me, was as heavy as Marquis Reith’s.

A feeling of my body trembling from deep within.

Still, I endured it.

What needs to be made clear must be made clear.

Finally, Archbishop Handel opened her mouth.

“That catastrophe the Third Prince spoke of, we had actually noticed it too.”

‘Hmm? They noticed that event?’

This alone was surprising, but that wasn’t the end of it.

“…And that someone within our revolutionary army is involved in that conspiracy.”

The corners of the Archbishop’s eyes trembled with rage.

“I don’t know who it is, but I also know there’s definitely a traitor.”

“I”

Handel’s words were true.

If the assassination attempt was caused by a traitor on the Empire’s side, the catastrophe in Aurax was the work of someone inside the Prince’s revolutionary army.

‘Dying Sons.’

If this event isn’t properly dealt with, male child NPCs among the residents of Aurax will die in droves.

I knew exactly who the culprit was.

‘The Great Cathedral of Kisyris.’

Those who worship the Goddess of Deception are the culprits of this incident.