Episode 82
Shub’s tendrils were wrapped around Aurelia’s ears, nose, and mouth.
They slithered through her ear canal, crossed her eardrum, and reached the auditory cortex.
Inside the skull of the sacred maiden Aurelia, towards her brain.
Aurelia clutched her cross necklace tightly. In the blood-red river that rose to her waist, she bowed her head.
“Do you enjoy killing people?”
“Your petty illusions won’t work on me.”
Aurelia responded to Dale’s question.
“No, I do not.”
Flap!
A few crows took flight, their wings beating against the sky.
“Look closely.”
“What do you mean?”
At that moment, her reflection appeared on the surface of the blood-red river.
Drenched in the blood of her enemies, her golden armor stained crimson, she wore a twisted smile of ecstasy—the ‘maiden of war.’
The blood-stained sacred maiden.
“They say Valkyries are beautiful, enchanting, and cruel beyond measure,” Dale remarked.
“Don’t you hate the empire that took your father from you?”
“How did you…!”
“Weren’t you glad when the goddess’s revelation allowed you to finally seek revenge on the empire?”
“This is not my will…”
“This river of blood is the sea of blood from the enemies you’ve slain,” Dale said.
“And the result of piling up that blood-red river is this.”
──The empire’s harlot!
──I never cared for this kingdom or its king from the start!
──That deceitful woman…!
The accusations against Aurelia echoed.
As a sacred maiden, as the savior of the nation, everything she had built was being denied.
“Was it worth it?”
”…”
“The entire kingdom burned, the king fled disgracefully using his people as shields, and an immeasurable amount of blood was spilled,” Dale continued.
“All of it is the hell you brought upon yourself, Aurelia.”
”…!”
“The goddess’s revelation, your fanaticism and blind faith, led this island to ruin.”
Screams began to echo from all around. Imperial soldiers were seen pillaging across the island of Britannia.
A festival of massacre.
“Ah, ah…”
Aurelia swallowed her breath weakly. The fate of one who claimed to be a puppet of the heavens.
“Is this truly the will of the Sistina sister goddesses, who love compassion and mercy?” Dale asked.
“The goddess’s revelation led to the island’s destruction, and you willingly became the herald of massacre.”
As if denying everything Aurelia stood for.
“When you were crushed beneath that swine, who reached out a hand to help you?”
”…”
“Why do the sister goddesses, who love compassion and mercy, remain silent in this hell?”
Dale questioned.
“What a cruel goddess.”
Aurelia did not answer. No, she could not answer.
“But I am not like that.”
Thus, Dale replied.
“I will fulfill what you desire.”
Extending his hand towards Aurelia.
“So that your actions do not end in meaningless slaughter.”
”…!”
“I will become your god.”
Aurelia, despairing and sobbing, looked at Dale’s hand.
“Together, let’s bring down the empire.”
There was a moment of hesitation. After the hesitation, Aurelia spoke.
“Your petty brainwashing won’t work on me.”
”…!”
As if the previous turmoil had been a lie, she spoke calmly. It was Dale who swallowed his breath in surprise.
“You told me to think for myself.”
But in the blood-red river, the sacred maiden Aurelia spoke.
“──This is my will.”
Aurelia’s resolve.
“Wrap your threads around me.”
”…”
“I am ready to accept my shadow.”
Aurelia spoke, with a nobility and determination befitting the name of a sacred maiden.
“Let me serve you of my own will.”
Aurelia knelt. The blood rose to her chin in the crimson river.
“So that I may become a sword wielded for you in the shadows.”
She drove the sword she held vertically into the ground. A knight’s vow.
“Please, let me become your puppet of my own will.”
”…What do you desire in return?”
“The destruction of the empire.”
Aurelia answered. Dale nodded silently.
Once again, a kingdom fell.
The war was over.
Even after losing nearly half their forces, with the son of the holy knight captured and a desperate situation requiring the surrender of vast military supplies…
Under the command of the ‘Black Prince,’ the capital of Reims fell into the hands of the imperial army.
It was nothing short of a miraculous victory.
Officially, Charles VII was executed as a traitor to the empire, his head displayed in the square.
Additionally, a meeting was convened to decide the fate of ‘Sacred Maiden Aurelia.’
Some time later, the imperial military leadership gathered in Burgundy.
Having won the war, they convened to handle post-war matters and affairs on the island.
Fortunately, there were not many who wished for the sacred maiden’s death. And the holy knight, twisted by obsession, desired only one thing.
“Aurelia’s claim to sanctity is a blasphemy against the Sistina goddess church.”
The holy knight, hiding his pig-like desires, spoke.
“Please, allow me to make her pay for her foolishness.”
Without the usual finger-pointing or condescension, he spoke with the deference one would show a superior. The key figure in the imperial victory, bound by a geass of master and servant.
“Do you intend to violate her and have a child?”
“Nothing would more definitively deny the ‘sanctity of the sacred maiden’ than taking her virginity.”
“Hmm, is that so.”
Dale murmured as if it were someone else’s business.
“Do you agree, Cardinal Nikolai?”
“According to church law… the loss of virginity by a ‘sacred maiden’ who received the goddess’s revelation is undeniable proof of a false revelation.”
Cardinal Nikolai of the Sistina goddess church nodded.
“According to doctrine, purity is essential when the sister goddesses choose a ‘woman’ as their servant.”
The face of the Count of Brandenburg lit up.
“Exactly as you say.”
The holy knight stood up, raising his voice.
“Therefore, as one who denies her sanctity, there is no one more legitimate than I, who wields the holy sword.”
Desperately struggling to claim the sacred maiden.
“Haha, how do you plan to take her purity with that little plow?”
Lady Scarlet sneered as if it were someone else’s business.
“Won’t you end up desperately protecting the sacred maiden’s purity instead?”
“Exactly.”
Dale nodded as if he had expected it. It was neither a joke nor mockery.
“As a suitable candidate to deny the sacred maiden’s sanctity…”
With utmost seriousness and sincerity.
“I, too, cannot help but worry about the ‘size’ of the Count of Brandenburg.”
“I completely agree.”
There’s nothing more ridiculous than trying to seriously interpret religious doctrine. However, the weight of the Sistina goddess church in this world was not to be taken lightly.
From the church, which still wielded influence within the empire, to the sacred maiden who rallied the resistance under the name of the sister goddesses.
“I shall do it.”
Thus, Dale spoke.
“I will take the sacred maiden as a prisoner of the House of Saxony and deny her sanctity.”
”…!”
“Oh my.”
Lady Scarlet burst into laughter, seemingly delighted.
“Indeed, a man’s true worth cannot be judged by appearances.”
The holy knight’s expression froze. An indescribable humiliation and shame, coupled with the anxiety of losing the sacred maiden.
“How dare you, how dare you…!”
For a moment, an uncontrollable storm of aura began to swirl.
The holy knight’s face twisted into that of a beast.
“Have you forgotten?”
But Dale spoke coldly.
“The entire process of the war’s strategy, and the ‘treatment of prisoners,’ is bound by a geass.”
“Haha, hahaha…!”
The holy knight burst into laughter.
“Yes, you’re right.”
After laughing, the holy knight spoke.
“But the war is over.”
There was no longer any need to be bound by the geass.
“Hand over the sacred maiden to me immediately, young lord of Saxony.”
And this place was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
“Otherwise, even as the young lord of Saxony, you will not leave here alive.”
The man with the pig’s head spoke. Lady Scarlet maintained a cold silence.
“Ah, is that so.”
However, in the face of the holy knight’s threats, Dale’s expression remained remarkably calm.
“You said the war is over?”
He simply pulled something from his pocket.
Two documents.
“Unfortunately, the war is not yet over.”
One was a document signed by Dale as the ‘supreme commander of the imperial army,’ and the other bore the royal seal of King Charles VII of the Kingdom of Britannia.
“This is the ‘indefinite armistice agreement’ signed between our empire and the Kingdom of Britannia.”
An indefinite armistice agreement.
”…!”
The face of the beast was filled with shock.
“Regardless of the victory the Imperial Army is so proudly proclaiming, until this document is legally nullified…”
──The war is not over.
“In the presence of the divine covenant, I declare── it’s not over until it’s over.”
Dale let out a derisive laugh. The king with the face of a beast, even he could not defy the divine covenant, and he shouted in frustration.
“How dare you spout such nonsense…!”
“It’s not nonsense.”
It was Nikolai, the Cardinal, who hastily interrupted. An elder of the White Tower and a cardinal of the Sistina Church, he was also Dale’s puppet, bound by the Geass of Absolute Obedience.
“According to the church laws governing the Geass… Lord Dale is correct.”
“Are you betraying the Empire now?”
Fully aware of the gravity of his actions.
“Oh, there’s no need to worry.”
Dale shrugged with a smile.
“This document will be destroyed the moment I safely enter the Saxon duchy.”
”…!”
“The destruction of the document will be overseen by Cardinal Nikolai, as will the nullification of the Geass.”
Dale continued.
“The work to deny the sanctity of the Holy Maiden will also be conducted under Cardinal Nikolai’s supervision──.”
”…!”
The name of a cardinal of the Sistina Church carries significant weight.
That day, in the library of hell, the Geass of Absolute Obedience was etched into Dale’s puppet. The insurance taken out for emergencies was finally paying off.
“The Holy Knight need not worry.”
By the time he realized it, the Holy Knight was already ensnared in an inescapable web. And it was not a web that could be torn apart by force or strength.
“Lord Dale has returned!”
“The war hero of Britannia Island has returned!”
With a new title to describe the presence and fame of the ‘Black Prince.’
“Cardinal Nikolai…”
The very war hero of the Empire spoke from within the carriage heading to the duchy.
“Relay my words to the Empire and the Holy Knight exactly as I say.”
To the man seated before him.
“The ‘indefinite truce agreement’ with Charles VII has been nullified.”
He spread out two documents in his hand for all to see.
“Furthermore, the sanctity of the Holy Maiden has been denied, and following a ‘lawful trial’ at the Saxon duchy, her execution by fire has been carried out.”
“But, but nothing has happened yet!”
“Nothing has happened yet?”
Dale tilted his head with a smirk.
“It seems the Cardinal’s heart is telling a different story.”
”…!”
At those words, Cardinal Nikolai’s expression froze. The Holy Knight was not the only one trapped in the inescapable web.
In that web, Cardinal Nikolai silently bowed his head.
The independence of Britannia Island ended in failure.
The Holy Maiden, too, was stripped of her sanctity upon losing her purity, and after a lawful trial, was executed as a witch.
In the frozen lands of Saxony, she became nothing more than a handful of ashes, the fallen champion of salvation.
This was the final record of the Holy Maiden, as conveyed by Nikolai, the Cardinal of the Sistina Church.