CHAPTER 408: 408 IN THE PRESENCE OF DIVINITY

[OP: ]

She was angry at him for doing something crazy behind her back, but he was going to get punished for his dumbness.

She only needed to sort a few things here, and dealing with the delegation was the simplest thing out of them.

"We simply want three things: Time to establish a state to shift the capital officially, so... around a year; Some reassurance from the Temple that the peaceful relationship between the Empire and Theocracy would be maintained; and lastly... a Divine Relic."

"...?!"

"What did you just say?!"

"You heathen! What did you just say?!"

They were stunned how she was asking for something that even the members of the delegation had only ever heard about.

"Miss..."

The Temple held many artifacts as one of the oldest organisations of this world. Some of the most powerful of those artifacts were something called Divine relics.

They only appeared in the stories and myths that were passed down to the members of the Temple through oral traditions.

These powerful artifacts were once held by the direct personifications of their gods, the Stigma holders of their Lords who had once played a great role in eradicating the evil from this world and stabilising the world to the current state they see it.

There were hardly a few beings in this world who could hold the powers as described in those stories in current times, but, it was said that those who hold those divine Relics gain powers equal to the great beings who defied the natural laws and crossed the boundaries of mortal limitations.

None of the people among these delegates knew if they even actually existed, but as someone who had been to the innermost chamber of the Main Temple, the knight in white armour at least knew the fact that the Temple did actually possess some very powerful artifacts.

Just that they were never used and were always stored in some secret place that was only known to the popes of the Temple.

"Miss..."

"Oh, don’t worry. You are just a messenger so you can just tell the pope that I want these things.

If he agrees, then the deal is settled. But if he wants to negotiate, he will have to invite me directly for a chat– I would have appreciated it if he could come here, but knowing his ego, I’m certain that’s not gonna happen.

But, I’m serious about this deal. And I am open for negotiations. The will of the divine is foremost afterall. Even I would not want to risk enraging those higher beings."

"Hun?"

"..."

They were surprised how serious she was when saying those last few things.

’It would be obvious for a thief that was so blatantly disrespecting them and their ways to be an atheist and not believe in the absolute authority of their gods, but seeing how I said those last few things caught them off guard.’

She obviously did not give a flying fuck about those higher beings that they serve. Thousands like them and hundreds far more powerful than them give her money every time she turns off the restrictions on the spectators.

Some beings that they could never ever fathom even comments silly things on her little kitten’s accounts.

"So, messengers. How about it?"

They did not know just what kind of individual she was and they will never know about it either.

They were just some extra individuals that did not matter to her or to this whole drama, so she did not care about them.

She just did what was best for her and what would bring her the most profits. That was her nature and that’s how she liked to do business.

"Hmm..."

The knight in white armour, the Ace of Spades, looked down for a moment, thought Very carefully about what she was saying, and shook his head.

"As Miss said, I am merely a messenger. I have received your message and I will deliver it to your holiness."

"Hmm. just what I was expecting from the great white knight."

She was happy that he was answering like that. It was good and the answer was convincing to the party as well.

"Alright then. Let us finalise this meeting."

-Snap.

She snapped her finger, and just the next moment, strange people wearing the clothes of Fool’s gambit appeared from all around her.

"...?!"

The sudden appearance of so many people suddenly shocked the representatives as well as the knight himself and they stood up with shocked eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"I knew it! You should never trust the words of a thief!"

"Miss. What does this mean?"’

The knights took out their weapons while the priests prepared holy spells to counter the sudden assault.

They were ready to engage in combat. Even the knight in white armour had placed a hand around his holy sword.

They did not understand the situation that they were in right now, however, the calm look on El’s face confused them even further.

"Please calm down you all."

She shook her head with a sigh and asked all of them to sit back down since she was not doing anything crazy right now.

These people weren’t here for them... there was a rat here that needed to be taken care of. She just wanted to deal with that rat.

"If you have something to say, you should come out and say it if you don’t want to depart for the afterlife."

El looked towards the door to this hall room. The door that had been closed ever since they all entered this place.

There was no one there. Even with the presence detection, they could not feel anyone being present where she was looking at.

There was actually no one there from the perspective of the white knight. But... at her words, the very space that she was looking at was distorted and something that was most certainly not present in the same space as the rest of them manifested in the same room as them.

{ "We mean no harm to the empire, the true masters of the empire, or to the emperor." }

Some people, covered in unique green clothing, golden ornament that seemed to contain divine and holy powers, with their faces covered with a unique white cloth spoke in a unique Mana voice.

"...no way."

"The clergy...?"

"We greet the Messengers of Divinities!"

The knight in white armour was surprised and the paladins did not understand the meaning of their presence in this place... however, the priest that accompanied them just bowed down instinctively as they saw these floating figures.

They knew them better than the knight of the paladins. They were the main forces working right beside the pope, those who had devoted themselves to the divinities.

"What are they doing here...?"

The knight in white armour was confused.

He did not know anything about this. The pope never told him about this and they never perceived them.

Just the fact that they were here without the official informed notice, and were hiding all this time meant they were trespassing into foreign territory.

It was the same as disrespecting the whole nation or showing their hostility towards them... just saying they don’t mean any harm to them would be the same as saying they were just strolling in Their own imperial castle.

"What else..."

-Snap!

El snapped her finger once again, and this time, something unique happened.

-Thud. Thud. Thud.

Everyone from the delegation fell to the ground unconscious except the knight in the white armour.

"They are obviously here to frame you, Quinz."

-Oooooooooooooong!

As those words left her mouth and the one in green realised his words were futile already, they tried running away, vanishing just the way they had appeared in that place, however, before they even triggered their skills, they froze in their place.

{ "Hmmm... one finds this one fascinating." }

A unique voice resonated throughout the hall room, something that was much more profound than the Mana voice of the one in green, or anything that was mortal.

"You can have this one if you want. I just want the information in their head. The rest, you can have for yourself."

A small being that was resting on the head of the tallest Fool that had appeared out of nowhere was the origin of that ethereal voice. However, the one in green, the messengers of divinities and someone that was part of the direct clergy only realised the uniqueness of this voice when Ana jumped down from the head of the unique crossbreed creature, and revealed her unique presence to everyone present there.

{ "One doesn’t mind that. It will be pretty easy to extract the memories of this weak one." }

The one in green had only frozen in their place and their Mana and energy had stopped circulating.

It was something closer to a mental restriction, as they had thought initially, however, now that they were facing this unique being possessing something no one here should have ever possessed, their eyes had widened to the truth.

"A... divinity..."

As someone who had been in the direct presence of the divinities, as someone who had been chosen by one of those divinities, as someone who could perceive divinity... this person in green could never mistake this unique presence that only THEY could have.

"We don’t want this one, Anna. You can have your ways with their being."

The messenger who was only here to record a few things, and deliver it to the pope so that they could follow the instructions of their Lords and prove the betrayal of the White knight to execute them– was now in the direct presence of a divinity.

They could not believe this was happening.

All their life, they had longed to be in the presence of their divine... but now, in the last moments of their life, they had finally achieved their life long desire.

"Gotta say though. These Temple bastards are disgusting."

They did not feel any remorse for their certain death.

In fact... they were overjoyed at this moment.