Chapter 244: Saint of Holy Light

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav, imperfectluck

After the Holy Church’s branches were exiled from Diffindor, Holy Knights became a rare sight. However, today, there were two obviously high-ranked Holy Knights chatting with each other as they walked around Diffindor’s most flourishing business district.

“Oh, so you’re here on an official mission? To send you here right after the end of the battle, it would seem that our Holy Church’s headquarters must view the situation here with great importance.”

The female knight nodded. This part was obvious due to the envoy group’s arrival. She didn’t need to deny it.

“With the Auland Empire currently in a stalemate, the Northlands received the first victory beyond everyone’s expectations. This astonished just about every country as this was the first victory of the Holy War. Plus, East Mist sent a significant present at such a time, so the Cardinal Conference and His Holiness the Pope were all really delighted, which was why they sent us with rewards for this place.”

“Rewards? That Roland is famous for being difficult to deal with. I doubt that it would be easy to satisfy him with any reward. Besides, since East Mist gave a holy artifact as a present, it means that what’s given to Roland in return can’t just be some verbal thanks. Could it be that the higher-ups are willing to pay up this time?”

“…Although it’s still a secret, since it’ll be publicized soon anyways, I suppose I can tell you. This time, what Pope Caloma the First granted is an incredible honor that nobody will believe…”

The “Red-winged Griffin” Aivla was quite grateful to the young Holy Knight before her. If it weren’t for his sudden appearance and help that allowed her to pay the costs she owed for destroying that other man’s undead laborers, perhaps she would have lost much face. If the envoy group found out that she was held responsible for being unable to pay for damages to a civilian, it would surely have been humiliating for her.

Just as she was in the midst of her difficulty, this young Holy Knight arrived. Although she didn’t know how this northern Holy Knight was able to obtain respect from this city filled with enmity, judging by how everyone’s attitudes around them quickly softened, he seemed to be quite welcome here.

And it seemed inconceivable to her that in this city of Diffindor, where people were obviously biased against the Holy Light, all the bystanders kept bowing to him.

“Perhaps he’ll be able to help out with our current difficulties.”

Aivla was already intending to introduce this Holy Knight, whose name she learned was Rolo, to the envoy group. A local who was able to provide information and connections was just what the envoy group needed right now.

When Rolo asked her about the reason that the envoy group had come here, Aivla considered for a moment—he was also obviously a Holy Knight, plus she was grateful to him for having just helped her out, so she decided to just casually tell him the envoy group’s goal.

“It’s not some big secret, but the political meaning behind it is important and rather sensitive, so please don’t spread it around. Especially the East Mist Royalty—they absolutely can’t find out about it beforehand.”

“Of course. In the name of the Holy Light, I promise that I shall never reveal this information to anyone from East Mist.”

Aivla had an even better impression of Holy Knight Rolo after she heard him swear in the name of the Holy Light.

“This time, what His Holiness the Pope gave as a reward is the title of a Saint of Holy Light! The target is that Prince Roland who once had the glorious title of Son of Light.”

“Saint Roland? How is that possible?”

“I know—it’s utterly incomprehensible. I have no idea what the Cardinal Conference and His Holiness were thinking. Is the title of Saint of Holy Light something to be so easily given away? Not to mention it’s being given to a living heretic. Perhaps in the past he was indeed an example to other Holy Knights, and perhaps finding a lost holy artifact is indeed a reward worthy achievement, and perhaps he had received glorious titles in the past, but the past is all the past. Just look at this city; the dirty undead are everyone. He’s allies with the undead, so why are we giving such a venerable title and the glory of a Saint of Holy Light to such an evil person? This is basically nothing more than a humiliation upon the entire Holy Church.”

The female knight even stomped her feet in anger as she ranted. Her dissatisfaction, which had accumulated over the past few days, was now boiling over, and in front of her two elders in the envoy group, she didn’t dare voice her complaints too much. Now, however, she felt like she had an opportunity to vent, so she was filled with complaints.

I understood why she was so frustrated, as the title of Saint of Holy Light was something that the Holy Church typically rewarded to people only after their deaths. And this wasn’t only a mere title; it represented the God of Holy Light and the Holy Church’s recognition of that person. It was both glorious and a useful identity to have.

This title would also be added in front of the names of a few countries, which represented their devoutness and the extra attention given to them by the God of Holy Light. Each mega-level empire competed intensely for this title, and only San Antonio and a few ancient empires were able to receive it due to their countless years of contributions.

“Just what is the God of Holy Light thinking, suddenly giving me such a huge present?”

There would be many benefits for me in suddenly receiving such a title.

For example, in order to maintain the Holy Church’s reputation of forever pure Holy Light, and Saint of Holy Light was incapable of making huge mistakes. If a Saint of Holy Light really did some evil deed, it would all be swept under the rug, which was basically the best disaster-avoiding ticket to have of all.

The title of Saint of Holy Light wasn’t something to be so casually given away. After all, no matter how many accomplishments a person racked up, there was no promising that they wouldn’t make a big mistake later on in life.

That was why this title was almost exclusively for the dead. While there were a few examples of living Saints of Holy Light in the past, most of them were fervent believers of the Holy Church. Some had personal connections to the God of Holy Light’s Divine Miracles.

Back in the day, when the Holy Light represented despair and flashed its last in the skies of Diffindor, there had been numerous voices clamoring for me to be given the title of Saint of Holy Light as well. For me to have reached Legend from Bronze as a Holy Knight in just two years seemed similar to a Divine Miracle. The pure Holy Light of despair was also treated as a Divine Miracle, which was why there were indeed some cardinals who recommended giving me this title. Of course, in the end, it didn’t come to pass.

Judging by the information I received from various places, I now knew what was going on.

Most probably, this newly ascended pope was incredibly pleased at receiving such a huge gift from me, and wanted to reward me with something. He took into consideration that I had been recommended for this title in the past, and he finally approved giving me the title of Saint of Holy Light. However, it was obvious that his envoy group had differing opinions about this, especially after seeing the undead here, which was why the envoy group was hesitating and stalling without contacting me directly.

“Actually, no. They should realize how much trouble a living Saint of Holy Light could possibly give them. If it’s only for this reason alone, they’re giving me far too much. They must have some additional reasons that I still don’t know about yet. This little girl is obviously not the type to hide what she knows, in which case it means that probably even she doesn’t know.”

Yet still, I had to attempt to pry and find out more. Perhaps I would find out more beneficial information. “…This is His Holiness the Pope’s decision, so we should be cautious in what we say. Although I don’t really have the right to say anything, I also believe that Roland doesn’t deserve the honor of being a Saint of Holy Light. He’s never had the God of Holy Light in his heart to begin with, so aren’t there other higher-ups with different opinions from the pope’s?”

When she heard this young Holy Knight concur with her thoughts, Aivla continually nodded.

“Yeah; I can’t understand it at all. There were so many arguments within the Holy Church. Originally, I was neutral about this topic, but once I arrived here and witnessed all these heretics unwilling to accept the Holy Light’s teachings, as well as those undead that dare to walk around in broad daylight, it’s unimaginable for me not to consider Roland as a heretic. His Holiness must have been beguiled by someone, which is the only reason he could have come to such a ridiculous decision, but…”

“But?”

“Well, it’s nothing much—just my personal guess. Perhaps His Holiness hopes to be able to reestablish the Holy Church’s branches here again. If the Holy Church is able to ease the relationship with Roland by giving him the title of Saint of Holy Light, it would seem quite likely.”

I nodded, as this was within my expectations. Even if the Church of Law was the national church in our country, we permitted the branches of other churches as long as they belonged to the Order Gods.

Although it was rather forceful of the Holy Church, I had already decided to accept the reestablishment of their church branches. This wasn’t only for political needs; it was also quite practical.

Even though the power of Law had many similarities to the power of Holy Light, and was even better than Holy Light at punishing evildoers, it couldn’t compare to Holy Light when it came to healing in any way. There were far too few people on our side with Holy Light-related job classes, which was a disadvantage for us.

Actually, it was also because of the fact that Holy Light was so good for healing that Legend-ranked holy magic users, who could cure just about any normal illness, received so much gratitude from the populace. It was also why most countries found it difficult to refuse the establishment of the Holy Church’s branches within their borders or to refuse to allow those with Holy Light job classes to spread their teachings.

Aivla’s words made a lot of sense, but…

“That’s still not enough. The deep grudge between the Holy Church and I left behind from the time I was Yongye won’t be that easy to cancel out. Giving me the status of Saint of Holy Light is no simple matter, as that basically means they’re publicly declaring that their past grudges against me have been completely resolved. Something so beneficial for me for no apparent reason is definitely dangerous, especially when this seemingly beneficial thing comes from a former enemy.”

I carefully considered this as much as I could, but I still couldn’t come up with the answer. Judging by how Aivla was still filled with complaints, I knew that asking her would be meaningless.

“…It would seem that she doesn’t know the real reason.”

On the roadside, under a huge tent, some undead knights could be seen busily preparing for the upcoming celebration, rehearsing the opening act of the undead circus so that they could perform well when the grand celebration began.

The undead knights wore pumpkin hats and were joking around, laughing with each other, while bone dragons wearing “brooms” and liches that were attempting to ride these “brooms” were currently competing with each other. The headless knights, which could directly go on stage without requiring any makeup, were intending to use their own heads as balls in the performance, while the skeleton general, who was also a Sword Saint, was currently practicing his ultimate technique.

“Damned undead! May the holy fires of heaven cleanse you all!”

Sensing the powerful force of undead, Aivla glared at the undead knights that were currently practicing their program and grit her teeth loudly as she cursed the pitch-black existences in front of her under her breath.

I could tell from her eyes that she wasn’t even trying to conceal her rabid hatred of undead. It seemed that her hatred for undead stemmed from more than just her own job class.

Just as I was intending to ask her about it, a familiar figure appeared on the corner of the street. He seemed to be looking for someone.

“Lord Estrada! Are you looking for me?”

When Aivla hurriedly walked towards his figure, she didn’t notice that the young Holy Knight that she had been intending to introduce to the envoy group had secretly vanished in the shadows.

When Estrada noticed Aivla, his first reaction was one of surprise. He felt as though he sensed a familiar person’s scent upon her, so he asked immediately.

“Who were you with just now?”

“…Ah, perfect, Lord Estrada! Allow me to introduce someone to you. He’s a local Holy Knight, and he helped me out. He’s also really familiar with this area. Rolo, this is Lord Estrada. Rolo? Where did he go?”

When she turned around, that young and friendly Holy Knight who had helped her had vanished completely.

Not long after, when Estrada learned about the physical appearance of that oh-so-friendly Holy Knight who had just helped her out, he became quite pale. It took a long while before he was finally able to speak.

“…Let’s go back for now.”

In a nearby alleyway, I let go of my breath as I watched the two Holy Knights leave in a hurry. ‘The Strongest Holy Knight of All’ was quite famous and gave me a lot of pressure. It would have been quite troublesome if he had caught me.

“Hey—hey—why didn’t you go greet your teacher? After not seeing him for so long, you hide the moment you see him? That seems rather rude. No matter what, he taught you back in the day, so aren’t you being too cold?”

“…You bastard! I taught you your swordsmanship, but I have never seen you be polite to me.”

I recalled that Miracle Hand from back in the day, rushing towards me through my untold hordes of undead armies while roaring loudly “I shall correct my own mistakes!” It made my head ache. Unlike the young Aivla, who was still lacking in many aspects, Estrada could be said to be just about perfect in every way—in wisdom, experience, personal strength, and his subordinates’ strength.

There were plenty of Holy Knights to begin with, and even the number of Holy Knights in promoted job classes were uncountable in number. In order for all the other Holy Knights to willingly respect him as the “strongest” for so many centuries already meant a lot by itself.

For me, however, his Myth-ranked power level was only part of it. As one of the most veteran Holy Knights of all, his personal connections and reputation had actually surpassed any pope, which was the most crucial part.

If he said something like “the evil Roland must be exterminated,” probably more than 70% of all Holy Knights and priests would view me as their mortal enemy, which would be quite a lot of ‘fun’ for me.

Back in the day, it was precisely his efforts that allowed the Holy Knights and priests to almost completely break ranks from the higher-ranked cardinals. He was the main reason behind why that so-called Holy War didn’t have a huge army of Holy Knights, which should have been the main forces to begin with. However, during the time of Yongye, Estrada and the knights directly under his command were my biggest headache and enemies of all.

Looking at how Estrada still seemed to be so young, I didn’t have the slightest clue how to deal with him.

“Haha! So it was true.” While I was dealing with my frustrations, that heartless Adam suddenly thought of something that caused him to start laughing.

“What are you laughing about? Did you eat too much?” This guy could always rain on my parade.

Adam was laughing so hard that he had to crouch, and he couldn’t catch his breath. It took him a long while before he managed to wave his hand at me.

“No, no, it’s just that I recently heard from Harloys that you have a tradition of the student always killing off the teacher. I didn’t believe her at first, but now, it seems I absolutely have to believe it. You see, Harloys taught you in the past, and suffered because of you. Amelia taught you in the past, and suffered because of you. That’s two so far.”

In fact, Adam had even begun counting with his fingers to keep track.

“You taught Elisa, and she killed you in the end—that’s the third. Estrada taught you, and you met on the battlefield on opposite sides. That’s four. You’re truly amazing—it’s as if you’re a living curse, and you still dare to take on your own students? Just look at how obedient my little Annie is. From what I can see, Reyne and Glina are quite something themselves, so aren’t you worried about repeating the past—wait, why are you drawing your sword?”

[System Notification: You…]

“You shut up as well!”

[I still haven’t said anything yet!]

“Do you ever have anything good to say? Isn’t it always those ridiculous titles and making fun of me? If it’s not, and I was actually wrong about my guess, why don’t you just try and continue?”

[…]

My System’s silence (tacit admittance) caused me to feel that I was even more pitiful. I silently thought of how I had been killed off by Annie in “history,” as well as the betrayal that Adam didn’t know about by my Elf King student Adrian who had stabbed me in the back. I now absolutely had to use Adam as a target to vent my frustrations.

“I was just thinking how you forgot one… didn’t I teach you as well, and didn’t you kill me? Today, I’m going to teach this unfaithful disciple of mine a lesson!”

After a furious fight… fine then, I admit I was on the losing end since I wasn’t careful and had misjudged the difference in power between us. However, Adam didn’t have it easy either, as he underestimated my current physical strength. I was now a barbarian with over 30 in Strength as well!

Although I succeeded in giving that bastard two black eyes, that bastard was shameless enough to overwhelm a newbie Gold rank with his SemiGod strength. After I received a sufficient amount of beating—er—after we came to a mutual accord, we finally brought the conversation back to a serious topic again.

“Little Red and Annie have arrived. I called for you to come with me in order to greet them.”

As the representative of the Underground World, Annie had brought her own envoy group with her. Little Red, who had finally woken up, was accompanying her. I even missed them a little after not having seen them for so long.

“And you gave me two black eyes? How am I supposed to greet them like this?”

“Isn’t it the same for me? I’m even worse off than you. Couldn’t you have gone a little easier on me? By the way, you need to prepare to teach your new subordinates.”

“New subordinates? What?”

“I asked Annie to bring over a group of newly-trained Town Security troops and Law Knights. It’s about time to take care of those bastards in the city. I’m leaving their training to you.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!? How am I supposed to be respected when looking like this!”

I laughed out loud proudly when I looked at his eyes, which I had personally blackened.

“Haha! This is exactly what I wanted. No looking cool for you in front of beautiful women!”

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