第１９２５堀：襲撃後の町 (Part2)
"I’ve spoken with Yuki, and we’ve decided it’s best to hold off on further developments until we reach the Kingdom of Ioa. I happen to agree with that assessment. If we let ourselves get bogged down here, we’ll never make it to the higher levels. Besides, we have Archbishop Dodona’s letter of introduction; if we play that card, the Church won't be able to force us to stay."
"Ah, right, that was our cover story. We’re supposed to be Archbishop Dodona’s 'prized pupils,' aren't we?"
"Exactly. We are the elite monster-slaying prospects, personally hand-reared by the Archbishop himself."
"Hah! That sounds... a little dubious, doesn't it?"
"Well, we’re heading to the Kingdom of Ioa specifically to prove those dubious evaluations wrong. That should be more than enough reason to decline any invitations to linger."
And so, the conclusion was reached: we would be departing in one day. It was a relief to see that the 'Nightman' hero persona had already proven its worth.
"Speaking of which," I said, "since you utilized the Nightman persona, I assume you took the opportunity to ransack the lord’s manor and the like?"
"There was that as well," Kishua added, looking toward Nina. "But you didn't seem to leave your post while you were guiding the evacuees, did you?"
"Naturally, I stayed put and focused on healing at the time," Nina replied. "I made my move at night. After the battle had ended, once the townspeople had returned and everyone was preoccupied with maintaining order."
"Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing Nina around then..."
"Well, moving under the cover of night is the fundamental rule, after all," I remarked.
"So, did you manage to uncover anything?" Kishua and the others looked at Nina with expectant eyes.
"Unfortunately, I found no evidence of them conspiring with the Church. I did find various financial documents, however, which should serve as a decent reference."
"I see... I suppose we couldn't expect to uncover everything in just a single day of investigation."
"True. I’m sorry to disappoint you all, but what I 'found out' was simply that there was nothing to find."
"Even that is significant," Kishua noted. "If Nina has judged that there’s nothing there, then we can be certain there are no hidden victims."
"Indeed. Just knowing that is a relief. But... did you investigate the Church as well?"
"Of course. The Church was overflowing with the injured, which provided the perfect opportunity to slip inside unnoticed. However, this particular branch seems entirely devoted to monster hunting and providing relief. There were no suspicious records to be found. In fact, the priest had even opened up his private quarters to let the wounded rest. There was nothing to 'infiltrate' in the first place."
"Ah..."
The three of them could only murmur in collective realization. It seemed the local clergy simply had nothing to hide.
Certainly, I had found several interesting letters exchanged with other church branches, but they weren't even concealed; they were sitting on a shelf in the priest’s room, completely unlocked. While he had shown enough caution to keep contracts in a safe, I had opened it with ease. Inside, there was only a small amount of gold; according to the documents, the vast majority of their funds had been donated or spent on supplies during the recent chaos. I even found a draft of a letter prepared to ask other churches for emergency funding.
When I shared this...
"So, basically, the northern Church is squeaky clean?"
"They’re virtuous to the point of being fools," someone muttered.
"How do they even manage to keep the church running, let alone survive?"
"It’s a mystery, but they make it work. It speaks to the strength of their community ties and the level of support they receive from the people."
It was still too early to say for sure, as we had only just begun investigating the north and had only seen a few examples. However, thus far, we had seen no evidence of discrimination against demi-humans. In fact, there were even demi-human sisters among their ranks. I had also learned that because men usually joined the ranks of the Church Knights, the clergy itself was predominantly female. It made sense, in its own way.
"Oh, one last thing regarding Nightman," Nina added. "The local lord and the Adventurer Guild have already begun a search for him. They’ve realized just how effective he is as a combat asset."
*Thud.*
Vilia slumped forward, her forehead hitting the table with a dull resonance. I could certainly sympathize with her plight, but...
"We’ve succeeded in creating a 'Hero'—an anonymous figure entirely separate from our group. In that regard, the operation was a success. From here on, Vilia, we’ll need you to move as him occasionally to keep our enemies distracted."
"If he shows up too blatantly along our travel route, it’ll look suspicious, though."
"True. But even setting aside the travel, can we really expect to encounter enemies at such convenient times?"
"We’ll gather information at the Adventurer Guild for that," Nina explained. "They’re never short on reports about locations where people are struggling."
And so, I finalized our plans for the future. Surprisingly, the situation regarding demi-humans here was peaceful, and the Clearstream Church appeared to be genuinely benevolent. Consequently, we would proceed with our journey.
Meanwhile, Vilia remained slumped over, clearly suffering from critical psychological damage.