第６２６堀：獣人美人刑事純情派 学生誘拐事件 状況証拠 (Part1)
Side: Kagura
"It’s... the Heile Church."
Hearing Tori’s words, I felt as though I had been struck by a physical blow.
Deep down, I must have known. We had suspected a link between the Gathering of Wisdom and the Heile Church ever since we first infiltrated the Heiden Palace. We had heard the truth of five centuries past from the Founder; we knew they possessed a Dungeon Core; and we saw the threads connecting them to the monster incident in Findar.
The pieces fit too perfectly. Given everything that had transpired, there was no other logical conclusion. Yet, a part of me—a part that had spent a lifetime in the faith—refused to believe the Heile Church could be capable of such things.
That was why the shock cut so deep. Beside me, Micos and Solo were equally pale, their faces drained of color.
In Heiden, and indeed throughout the neighboring lands, the Heile Church is the state religion. It is the bedrock of our daily lives. They oversee the calendar of festivals, the baptism of our children, and the rites of passage that define us. Their charity is a given, their healing a mercy we all rely on. The people’s devotion is absolute.
More than that, the Church was founded to honor Saint Heile—the goddess and comrade-in-arms to the Founder, Lord Souta. The thought that her legacy had been twisted into this... it was an emotional weight I could hardly bear.
After that revelation, we dispersed once more to gather information in Ohnock. I searched for the suspicious hideouts I had hoped to find, but instead, I uncovered something far more chilling.
I found a series of documents detailing academy students who had been injured on their way to town and subsequently taken into the Church’s care for treatment.
Had I not heard Tori’s warning, I would have dismissed them as mundane reports. Now, they felt like evidence of a grotesque crime. Academy students are not so fragile that a simple trip to town would leave them incapacitated, and more importantly, the Academy had never received word of these incidents. When we cross-referenced these names with the Headmaster’s records of missing graduates and dropouts, the overlap was undeniable.
The Church was, beyond any shadow of a doubt, guilty.
That evening, the warm family dinner Tori had planned was postponed. We gathered instead to discuss our next move, the atmosphere heavy with dread.
"This is... unthinkable," Princess Carrie murmured, her head in her hands.
She looked ghastly after hearing the reports from the Headmaster and me. Her distress was justified. Heiden cannot afford a scandal involving the Heile Church right now. In truth, no nation could afford to challenge them openly. To strike at the Church is to strike at the hearts of the populace.
Who would believe that the Church was complicit in the creation of monsters? If the crown moved against them and the Church called for a holy uprising, the kingdom would tear itself apart. For a nation as fragile as Heiden is currently, it would be the end.
"...It sounds like the Ikko-ikki of Japan," Taizo mused into the silence.
"Ugh. Those are a nightmare to deal with," Taiki added.
As the rest of us sat in stunned silence, my sister, Kanna, turned to Taizo. "Lord Taizo... what is this 'Ikko-ikki' you speak of?"
"It was a phenomenon much like the Heile Church," Taizo explained. "In Japan’s history, there were religious sects that galvanized the hearts of the people, gathering those dissatisfied with the government and leading them into armed insurrection. They were powerful religious collectives that challenged the state."
"And how did Japan handle them?"
"The answer was simple, if brutal: they were suppressed. But the cost was staggering. When a government draws its sword against the very people it is meant to protect, the scars never truly heal. One must remember that people often cling to religion because the state has failed to provide stability. When tomorrow is uncertain, faith is the only anchor. In that sense, one cannot say the religion itself is the only villain."
Suppression. In other words, war.
"Our country isn't capable of that right now," I whispered. "After the Findar incident and the scandal of the foreign students' confinement, our standing with our neighbors has hit rock bottom. If we take a hard line against the Church now..."
"They’ll revolt instantly," Kanna finished.
The nobles who remained ignorant of the truth would see the Royal Family as madmen and turn their banners against us. The Heile Church’s roots were simply too deep. We lacked the military might of Taizo’s homeland; Heiden would vanish in a heartbeat.
"Kagura, have you spoken of this to Viscount Ohnock?" Carrie asked.
"No, Your Highness. Not a word."
"Good. You must keep this a total secret. At worst, the Viscount might leak the information to the Church himself. He would likely become our enemy."
"Understood."
I couldn't tell him. The Viscount was a devout follower. A single misplaced word and we could be executed on the spot. Such was the fervor of the faith.
This was why, even in the capital, the investigation into the Church’s involvement had to be conducted with the utmost delicacy—silent, invisible, leaving no ripple on the surface. If the Princess’s involvement came to light, everything she had built would crumble.
I still couldn't wrap my head around it. Why? Why would the Church do this?
While the people of Heiden sat in a suffocating silence, Yuki and his companions remained unbothered. Finally, Yuki stood up with a look of mild annoyance.
"I see. So, as a nation, Heiden’s hands are tied. That leaves us with only one real option."
"What?" we asked in unison.
Yuki stretched, looking as though he were contemplating a tedious chore.
"To be honest, if this were just some religious squabble, I wouldn't lift a finger. Getting caught in that kind of crossfire is a losing game. But this is different. They’ve positioned themselves as enemies in my way. Regardless of what your laws say, we’re going to investigate—and then we’re going to dismantle them."
"B-but if you do that, Heiden will—"
"Don't sweat it, Princess," Yuki interrupted. "By the time anyone notices, the Heile Church will simply... be gone."
"I beg your pardon?" Carrie stared at him, blinking in confusion.
"Either gone, or thoroughly 'purified,'" Yuki added. "And as far as the world is concerned, the Royal Family won't know a thing about it."
"Well, it’s the only way, really," one of his companions agreed.
"If the state can't act, then it’s just a case of 'unrelated vigilantes' or 'bandits in disguise' causing trouble, right?"
I started to protest. "There’s no way you can—"
I stopped myself. In any normal world, it would be impossible. No one could just slip into a fortified religious institution, uncover its secrets, and erase it without causing a continental crisis.
But then...
"You think I can't?" Yuki asked, his eyes meeting mine.
The Heiden contingent fell into a heavy silence.
I knew Yuki well enough to know he wasn't a fool who made empty boasts. If he said he would do something—if he said he *could* do something—it was already as good as done.
We had seen it before. He had taken a force of ten and suppressed a rebellion of five thousand while facing an external army of a hundred thousand. Who among us could truly deny him?
Princess Carrie was the first to find her voice. "...I am well aware of your capabilities, Lord Yuki. However, the Heile Church has roots not just in Heiden, but in all the surrounding nations. Even if you were to secretly crush this local branch in Ohnock..."
"She’s right," the Headmaster added. "Unless you strike at the heart of the organization, it’s a futile gesture. How do you intend to handle the source?"
I didn't join their skepticism. Yuki had said he would be thorough. I knew what that implied.
"Huh? Who said I was stopping with Ohnock?" Yuki asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "Think of it as a side trip during our vacation. We’ll just hit the headquarters and every other suspicious site all at once. They’ve been a massive pain in my ass, after all. Though, obviously, that’s assuming we find the proof we need here in Ohnock first."
The people of Heiden could only stare at him, speechless.