79: The Church of Cosmic Monsters

"So, that's what it is."

Before recalling anything about the Church of Cosmic Monsters, I first remember the religious landscape of the entire Vanilla Space Empire.

In the Vanilla Space Empire, religious freedom is recognized.

Everyone is free to worship whatever they choose—this freedom itself is the essence of it.

However, the principle that "do not use gods or religion as an excuse for your actions" and "a crime remains a crime, no matter the reason" is strictly upheld. Those who claim such excuses are thoroughly refuted by experts of the same religion and then judged according to imperial law.

Thus, it is often said that the empire is stricter toward heretics than toward outsiders of different faiths.

As for the religion itself... well, frankly, I don't know much about it.

The Seiryō Company, the Hira-Ita Tsugumi System, the Grogrobeta System—none of them had strong religious undertones, and since I personally wasn’t interested, I didn’t know much about them.

As for the 'Cosmic Monster Religion,' I only did a little research when I first learned about the existence of cosmic monsters myself.

However, even before becoming a cosmic empire, Vanilla Cosmopolitan Empire already had various religions and sects. Currently, moderate factions dominate all religious groups.

"Yes, but my 'Cosmic Monster Religion' falls within the general spectrum—essentially a form of animism. I assure you, I've never engaged in any criminal activities."

Indeed, as Megalynia said, the 'Cosmic Monster Religion' is a form of animism—closer to spirit worship or nature veneration.

It regards cosmic monsters, entities beyond human comprehension, as objects of worship and reverence.

Alternatively, one might say it involves fearing and honoring them in order to prevent harm from being inflicted upon oneself.

While everyone may have their own specific stance... Maeglinia seems to be positioned among the followers of the 'Cosmic Monster Religion' as someone who wishes to uncover, as much as possible, the true nature of Cosmic Monsters.

The issue is that among the followers of the 'Cosmic Monster Religion,' there are no small number of people with unclear motives—such as wanting to harness the power of cosmic monsters to gain immense authority, wishing to destroy their enemies, seeking salvation for the world, or even desiring to become cosmic monsters themselves.

Moreover, some of those with unclear intentions are fanatics who disregard laws and ethics entirely if it means achieving their goals.

Yeah, even from my perspective as a cosmic monster, that's incredibly annoying.

Well, to put it frankly, they claim to be followers of the 'Cosmic Monster Religion,' but in reality, they're simply people who, after dreaming of changing their hopeless reality with supernatural power, end up completely misunderstanding, failing to think about, or even consider the Cosmic Monster at all. Instead, they impose their own biased interpretations—based solely on their limited knowledge—onto the Cosmic Monster, then justify their criminal actions by claiming they're offering sacrifices, funding research, or providing salvation. It's utterly hopeless. I personally find it incredibly irritating to be associated with such people, but even more so because it causes unnecessary fear toward the usually gentle Cosmic Monster... I'm truly sorry. How embarrassing of me to... again.

「「「……」」」

It seems Maeglinia is quite frustrated.

Well, if she's truly a devout follower of the gentle 'Cosmic Monster Church,' it's only natural she'd find it intolerable that others are abusing her name for selfish reasons.

"In short, I'd really like to learn more about the Cosmic Monster. If I don't know anything about them, how can I possibly know the right way to interact?"

"That is indeed true."

"Yes. Therefore, I am truly grateful to Lady Virijanila. Thanks to you, I have learned of the existence of a new cosmic monster known as Black Fols Shark, and I believe we have taken another step toward mutual understanding with those beings."

Yet, mutual understanding with cosmic monsters...

If we're talking about beings the size of a human or with human-level intelligence, maybe mutual understanding is possible. But with cosmic monsters that aren't like that... isn't it impossible?

Before even getting to whether we can communicate through words, how can we communicate at all if they can't even perceive us?

Well, I suppose mutual understanding doesn't only mean friendly, ongoing contact. Maybe the progress we make in establishing separate domains is itself a result of mutual understanding.

"Is that so? In that case, there's nothing I can pass on to Miss Marguerine. Everything I know has already been told to the Count."

"Is that so... No, no, that's not the only thing about the tea gathering."

Marguerine makes a slightly sad face for a moment, then quickly regains her composure and begins talking with Vilijanira and two other employees of 'Enieweatsu' about a different topic.

The topic... well, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with that bizarre murder case or the alien monster incident.

Names of places, food, cosmetics, costumes—nothing particularly noteworthy comes up.

Oh, they did mention the hair ornament I gave, though.

It was just regarded as a slightly unusual paint job and that was the end of it.

I'm sorry, Lady Virijanila. I still have someone I need to greet on behalf of the Spafana barony.

Oh my, I'm sorry. Then...

Yes. I'll take my leave here. Thank you for a wonderful time.

The pleasure was all mine—thank you so much today.

Eventually, MaeGlenia seemed to have found someone, and she politely excused herself from the table.

Lord Vee

Based on my observation, there's a 70% chance she herself is the culprit. A 27% chance she's connected to the perpetrator. The remaining 3% accounts for all other possibilities, including red herrings.

Understood, Lady Villigianila. I'll immediately instruct my subordinates to intensify surveillance.

Thank you. Please keep in mind that this is solely based on my personal observation—there is no physical evidence, and there remains a possibility I could be mistaken.

And the moment MaeGlenia disappeared from view, this is what followed.

It seems she might be involved in the series of bizarre murders occurring in the Flaretanbo system.

"Also, I couldn't figure out how she managed to evade your eyes, so please be cautious about that as well."

"I understand. Then—"

Hmm, scary.

To my eyes, all three of them seemed to have spent nearly the entire time enjoying the tea gathering in perfect harmony... Yet, behind the scenes, there must have been subtle exchanges of expression and other undercurrents at play.

Perhaps that's what makes nobles so formidable—or perhaps that's exactly why nobles are so dangerous...

"Satou. Be careful. She's likely set her sights on me. If it comes to that, she won't hesitate to use any means necessary."

"...Understood. I'll keep that in mind."

The tea party ended without any further incidents.

We got into the vehicle controlled by Johalis and headed toward the hotel where we were scheduled to stay tonight.