Greatest Alchemist? Chapter 105

105: Religious Conflict

Inside the extravagant church of the Light God Faith in Valkyratos, the angry voice of a minister[1] resounded.

「What do you mean?!」
「M-my apologies!」

The Light God Church in Valkyra Kingdom’s capital was in turmoil. Of course they would be. One of the heroes they summoned after accumulating magic power for a long time, and even sacrificing who knows how many humans for, had vanished.
They knew that she went out with her maid. There were people monitoring Akane to strangle the cute beastkin attendant wearing a slave collar, assigned to her should the girls stray too far from a church priest. They were around 10 in number. The entire surveillance personnel lost contact and did not return. The church had fallen into a panic.

These surveillance personnel were dealt with by Kaede in secret. They disappeared from the royal capital, not knowing who killed them.

「Was this the doing of the Genesis Faith?!」
「Compose yourself!」

A young priest showed his bare animosity of the Genesis Faith to the minister. He was remonstrated by the minister.

「Oi oi, why is everyone all panicked?」

Akira and Yamato came upon seeing the church staff moving around in a fluster.

「Ooh, Akira-dono and Yamato-dono, the whereabouts of Akane-dono is unknown. Might you know where she could be?」
「Wha! That bitch Akane ran away?!」
「Tch, I was planning on making her my woman someday……… but she ran away.」

Yamato and Akira concluded that Akane ran away.
Akira was aiming for Akane. Akane measures up to the standard of this world where many beautiful ladies and pretty girls existed. When they went to the same high school, they were a little bit closer, but since the summoning, they’ve been in opposition many times. The problems were practically all from Akira and Yamato’s side, but they themselves do not realize this.

「Yeah, cuz she’s got a nice bod.」
「Totally, I wanted to have a taste.」
「We will do a search in Valkyra Kingdom’s capital, therefore, Hero-samas, please return to Sydnia momentarily.」
「What about you gonna do about the trip to Lomaria?」
「Please return momentarily since we will reexamine matters, including the escorts, and I expect it to be after that.」
「Dammit, I wanted to get that asshole’s elf slave.」
「The rabbit woman was sexy too.」

Akira and Yamato seem to have forgotten that they were dealt with easily and Akira’s sword being cut. Originally, they should have been a bit more decent. But unlike Akane, why did the personalities of the two change so much? That is related to the level of their Light Attribute Magic. Having been suspicious of Sydnia ever since they were summoned, Akane used purifying magic even on her daily meals and water. Akira also has the Light Attribute Magic skill, but he preferred training with the sword and did not raise the skill level of his Light Attribute Magic. And even if he could use purifying magic, he probably wouldn’t use it on his food and drinks.

Yes, Sydnia dilutes a substance similar to narcotic drugs and mixes it into the heroes’ meals. Furthermore, with thought guidance, they made the heroes into puppets that would accept instructions from the Light God Faith unconditionally.
The miscalculation of the Light God Church was that, because Akane did not show a rebellious attitude in her everyday behavior and conduct, they did not doubt that she was under their control, like Akira and Yamato were.

「As expected, Valkyra Kingdom is a fairly troublesome country.」
「Yes, a country that recognizes beasts and long-ears as people, I question their sanity.」

The priests and minister who separated from Akira and Yamato were feeling restless that the heroes were not too effective as missionaries. Additionally, they concluded the main cause to be that this country and Lomaria have adopted policies on racial harmony. To the priests and minister of Sydnia, Beastkin, Elves, and Dwarves are not people. Nevertheless, they do not antagonize Dwarves outwardly because dwarves possess smithing technology. Sydnia would be troubled if they could not trade in quality weapons and armor. That’s the only reason.

「Moreover, that annoying adventurer party called 『Wings of Norn』 seems to be throwing its weight around.」
「To have that heathen goddess’ name, it seems those guys are the ones that spread around those purifying magic devices.」
「Given the mysterious disappearance of the Kamui unit, they likely have assassination skills. Or they hired a remarkable guard.」
「It might possibly be both. According to the report, the party leader and the long-eared woman have been promoted to A rank. Their lowest rank is said to be D rank, so it would be better to take their substantial abilities into consideration for the plans from here on.」

The Light God Faith came to the conclusion that the propagation of their faith was unfavorable in places apart from Sydnia and Triaria because there is an issue with the population of races aside from the human kind, like the beastkin.

「For the war against the Genesis Faith, and the war against subhumans. We must make haste.」
「What if Triaria Kingdom succeeded the invasion of Yggurle 50, no, 53 years ago? I can’t help but have such thoughts.」

The war Sophia participated in 50 years ago was officially a war of aggression between Triaria and Yggurle, but naturally, Sydnia was moving behind the scenes.

「In that war, we had been too hasty. Without preparation, an absurd enforcement of a long march through the savage lands was done to circumvented Valkyra and Lomaria. We must reflect on this.」
「…………I heard that Valkyra and Lomaria have begun construction of forts in the savage lands.」
「That is slightly incorrect. Lomaria has what could be called a fort close to their national border, however, Valkyra Kingdom had built a fortress city that can repulse tens of thousands of troops.」
「Wha! Is that true?!」

When it comes to minister-class church officials of the Light God Faith, various information gathered. The fight between the fortress town Wedgefort and the tens of thousands of monsters was already known. And the obtained information was even detailed to some extent.

「An adequate analysis showed that it would likely be difficult for the entire army of Triaria to fell Wedgefort if they were to try.」
「………………」

The face of the priest turned pale hearing that. Of course it would. Sydnia does not have territorial greed, but they find it unacceptable for a country that encourages policies on racial harmony to build up its strength. That is because it leads to the decline of the Light God Church.

Valkyra and Lomaria have begun to develop the savage lands which was essentially land riddled with countless numbers of small scale monster nests. This reclamation of the savage lands overflowing with monster nests was a feat no one had previously succeeded in doing over a period of many years. The city wedged into the wilderness, Wedgefort, had shocked the Light God Faith.

「Is there a possibility that the savage lands would be developed?」
「Not in its entirety, but a trade route to Lomaria and a trade route to Samandour that does not pass through Triaria might possibly be opened soon.」
「Wha?! Isn’t that serious!?」

At present, for Samandour that’s at the south of the continent and Valkyra to trade, there is a need to pass through Triaria. The savage lands on the west side of Triaria are too dangerous to be trade routes, but it would be different if more fortress cities like Wedgefort are built. And this is unacceptable to both Triaria and Sydnia.

「Well, it likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon. For now, we must return to the imperial capital with the heroes and report to the Pope. Everything else comes after that.」

The minister assigned personnel to search for Akane and hurried their preparation to return to the imperial capital.

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Footnotes:

1. 司祭 – Don’t know what to translate it to other than minister since I’ve previously translated 神官 to priest. I’m not knowledgeable on religious ranks and googling it didn’t help me, because it said priests and ministers are in different religions and it’s more of an umbrella term so there’s no ranking. But for the sake of the story, the church rankings so far from lowest to highest are priest → minister → pope. [↩]