Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 231
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 231
52. Changes in Rondel (2)
Since the meeting happened to be held at the Holy See, our movements were broadcast live to the entire world through the media in real time.
That was only natural—centered around me, the disciple of Grand Duke Lucas, the emperors of the Bringham Empire and the Rhinehearts Empire had gathered in one place to hold talks.
The world's attention was理所当然, and countless reporters had gathered at the Holy See, churning out article after article.
Yet when the very hosts of the talks—whom everyone had been certain would exchange harsh words—matched their steps and hurried toward the church headquarters, all could only question what was going on.
That was clear just from seeing the reporters who had come to cover the story keeping their distance and following us.
They dared not throw questions at the Emperor and the King, but all of them watched us closely with question marks floating above their heads.
Before long, I, Emperor Edward Noah Bringham, and Emperor Michael van Rhinehearts arrived at the church headquarters.
"Th-this way, please."
Unable to enter the church headquarters itself, the reporters had to wait outside, but the clergy inside took over where the reporters' reactions left off.
Of course, before coming here, we had sent word that we wished to meet the Saintess and the Holy Son.
But since the request for an audience was little more than a notice, the church officials were greatly flustered.
Given who we were, they couldn't very well turn us away, but it was rude enough that it could have been mistaken as a slight against the church.
"We pay our respects to the two Emperors and Your Highness the King."
And just then, we came face to face with the Saintess and the Holy Son, who were hurrying down the hall toward the reception room.
The Saintess, Ibril, didn't show any particular sign of displeasure, but the Holy Son's face was full of discontent.
Apparently, he thought we were treating him lightly because he was the new Holy Son.
"I ask that you understand our breach of protocol. A matter requiring your assistance arose so urgently that we resorted to the discourtesy of requesting an audience on the spot."
"It must be something important enough to warrant such haste from such distinguished figures."
However, when Emperor Edward, the elderly leader of Rondel's foremost nation, offered his apology, they softened their anger and guided us into the reception room.
Once seated across from the Saintess and the Holy Son, the Emperor cut straight to the point.
"We ask that the two of you ascend the Path of the Goddess and hear Lady Sepia's voice."
Naturally, from the listener's perspective, the only reaction could be that this sounded like nonsense out of the blue.
As the Holy Son furrowed his brow, the Saintess, who was somewhat more favorably inclined toward us, was the first to ask for an explanation.
"We request an explanation."
Her gaze was fixed on me—she seemed to have guessed that I was the one who had brought about this situation.
An accurate judgment.
I could no longer see the clumsy, innocent side of Ibril, and I felt a complex mix of emotions.
"Do the two of you know of a world called Earth?"
At my casually spoken question, the Holy Son and the Saintess flinched.
'I only mentioned it as a lead-in to explain the situation, but they already know about Earth?'
This was a completely unexpected reaction, and the eyes of both emperors, myself included, sharpened.
As if he had never furrowed his brow at all, the Holy Son spoke up with a bewildered expression at the tense atmosphere.
"That is a top-level secret of the church. Rather, I find myself wondering how you came to know that name."
There was no need to bring up trivial matters like the fact that I and Grand Duke Lucas were from Earth.
What we wanted to know was the goddess's thoughts.
Whether she truly intended to merge Earth and Rondel, whether Rondel would suffer harm in the process, and whether she had any measures to deal with that.
"We are protecting a few Earthlings who crossed over from Earth. In addition, we have a means of receiving news from Earth in real time."
"...."
Clearly caught off guard by this completely unexpected news, the Saintess and the Holy Son were taken aback.
I looked straight into Ibril's eyes and asked.
"Does that top-level secret include the fact that Rondel and Earth are scheduled to be merged?"
"What does that mean? The two worlds are to be merged?"
However, the two of them were not precisely aware of the goddess's plans either.
The two of them didn't know as much as I'd expected.
"One day, the goddess bestowed knowledge upon us. That knowledge contained only information about a planet that could be called Rondel's twin."
The two of them only had background knowledge about Earth.
It felt like she was being generous, saying, "You're my people, so I'll make it easy for you to adapt to the new era."
Still, if the two of them already knew about Earth, explaining things would be much easier.
I wouldn't have to prove Earth's existence from scratch.
"Th-This is unacceptable! Does Your Highness the King intend to blaspheme the one true God!?"
That was the Holy Son's reaction after hearing the full explanation.
It was a reaction I'd fully expected, so I answered without any sign of offense.
"Of course, I can't claim this theory is one hundred percent certain. That's why I want to ask the goddess herself. You two have already received information about Earth, and looking at the circumstantial evidence, it's also true that this theory carries weight."
At my words, Emperor Mikhail, and of course Emperor Edward of the Bringham Empire, who had somehow ended up on my side, both nodded.
But as expected, the Holy Son, chosen by the goddess, seemed displeased with the situation itself and lashed out at me.
"You must not doubt the goddess's intentions themselves! Isn't Your Highness the King simply trying to turn the Bringham Empire's attention outward because of your Opportunity?"
This bastard, I don't like him.
He hit the nail exactly on the head regarding my intentions.
"I'm treating that matter and this matter as separate, so you don't need to worry about it."
And at Emperor Edward's ensuing reaction, I clicked my tongue inwardly and shrugged.
"If my guess is correct, Rondel will suffer great harm. So wouldn't it be better to settle this matter for certain before moving on?"
"Your Highness the King!"
As the Holy Son's voice grew louder, the presence of the Holy Knights directly under the Holy Son, who had been waiting outside the door, wafted all the way into the reception room.
Not that it posed any threat to me, a 9th-circle mage.
"Very well. I shall comply with the request of Their Majesties the two Emperors and Your Highness the King."
But then, at that moment.
Saintess Ibril's words rang out, dousing cold water over the atmosphere of the reception room.
"Saintess Ibril, are you in your right mind?"
"Holy Son Jihad, you are being more emotional than necessary."
At Ibril's rebuke, the two Emperors and I stared at the Holy Son intently, as if in agreement.
As a priest, I could fully understand the Holy Son's reaction, but at the very least, the two Emperors and I were people who had no choice but to value reason over faith in the goddess, so Ibril's choice could not help but resonate with us.
"In return, I trust that the three of you will make sufficient donations."
"Of course."
"Is there any question of that?"
Moreover, her flawless manner of securing practical gains as the leader of the church reminded me of Sylvester, the previous Saintess.
With the Saintess going this far, the Holy Son, who could no longer easily oppose, glared at me.
I'd gotten along well with the previous Holy Son, but somehow I had a feeling it would be hard to get along with this one.
Was it because he was still young?
"Let us go. We shall ascend the Path of the Goddess at once."
Soon, Ibril guided me and the two Emperors to the exit with impeccable courtesy.
* * *
A moment later, we arrived at the sanctuary, which evoked the Aztec Foundation, called the Path of the Goddess.
The Holy Son, who had been voicing opposition all along, followed with a resigned expression, but unlike the church headquarters, the sanctuary was an area where outsiders could approach as well, so countless cameras latched on again.
Ibril paid no heed to the gazes of those people and drew a gorgeous ceremonial robe from her subspace ring, draping it over herself.
"Then I shall be off."
She then clutched the staff reserved exclusively for the Saintess and began ascending the Path of the Goddess.
It was rare for a Saintess or Holy Son to ascend the Path of the Goddess—maybe once every few years.
Yet with the two Emperors and me present as witnesses, and the Saintess ascending the Path without any prior notice, the reporters' reactions grew serious.
They wondered whether something unusual was about to happen.
-Flash!
With everyone's gaze fixed upon her, just as the Saintess reached the top of the Path of the Goddess, a single pillar of light fell from the sky.
Fortunately, it seemed the goddess had answered the Saintess's call.
"Huh?"
But immediately after, an anomaly occurred.
Suddenly, a strange force constricted my entire body, and then, as if teleportation had occurred, the scenery around us changed.
The sanctuary I had been looking at just moments ago was gone without a trace.
Before my eyes stretched an endless field and a grassy plain with scattered clouds drifting above.
At its center stood Ibril, the Holy Son, and the two Emperors alongside me.
"Why are you all here?"
Ibril reacted as if asking why we were there, but we had no idea what was going on either, so we could only tilt our heads in confusion.
[It was I who called you.]
Yet as a ghostly, translucent female figure appeared, the need for an explanation vanished.
There was no need to ponder deeply who she was.
Everyone knelt in unison and bowed their heads.
Even Emperor Edward of the Bringham Empire, renowned for his haughtiness, did the same.
"We behold the great Creator."
Sure enough, her identity was none other than the goddess Sepia.
It seemed this place was a space created for conversation with the divine.
The goddess appeared in a translucent form, her white dress hem fluttering, looking less than whole—yet even so, she radiated an aura that far surpassed my own.
[You've been bandying my name about quite a bit, haven't you, you insolent wretch.]
The goddess stood before me first—not the Saintess or the Holy Son—and said those words.
Well, of course. If she was a goddess, she would naturally know that I was the root cause of her descent.
Her tone was less than kind, yet her words carried little real emotion, so I cautiously raised my head.
"I sincerely apologize for any offense I have caused."
I had merely acted according to the situation.
But perhaps my actions had grated on the goddess.
There was no benefit to leaving a bad impression on a transcendent being, so I answered politely.
In response, the goddess replied calmly without any change in expression.
[It is done. In the end, all of this was brought about by me. Your insolence is also my doing.]
Had she felt some discomfort after all?
The goddess brushed it off far too coolly.
It was a reaction that made me feel ashamed for having treated her as half a villain recently.
The encounter with the goddess was an unexpected turn of events, but it was clearly an opportunity.
An excellent chance to decide how to proceed from here...
[There is little to explain regarding Earth. It is all as you already know.]
But the goddess's anticlimactic remark caught me off guard.
"Are you saying that a great calamity may befall Rondel in the future?"
[....]
As she had said earlier, the goddess gave no answer to this matter, as if she had no intention of explaining at length.
Thanks to that, not only my expression but the two Emperors' faces also grew grim.
As the saying goes, silence is consent—and it hardly seemed like a good sign.
[I chose not to answer because I judged it unfair to give a hint about future events to Rondel alone.]
But as the goddess added that clarification, as if she wanted no misunderstanding, I opened my eyes wide.
'Giving a hint only to Rondel would be unfair?'
This could be interpreted as meaning she was taking not just our Rondel but also Earth's position into account.
She was already treating Earth as her own domain.
Yet regardless of how she perceived Earth, it didn't matter.
All we wanted was just one thing: to secure our safety.
"Wouldn't it be possible for a goddess like you to manage things without causing harm to either world?"
I asked the question while gauging the goddess's reaction.
[If harm occurs, then it occurs. If not, then not. After all, is that not the natural order? Remember that your daily lives are already built upon the deaths of other living beings.]
I got the gist of it.
Of this goddess's nature.
In the end, to her, humans are no different from livestock at a slaughterhouse.
She regards whatever she does as the natural order, and if harm results from it, so be it.
I had realized it ever since she released a horde of monsters into China and planted those so-called gifts—she seemed to value the balance between Rondel and Earth far more than human lives.
Then what were all those counsels (oracles) she had given to humanity until now?
It was a statement that made one rethink the value of the church.
[All my choices are for the sake of creating a better future.]
That "better future" surely referred to the world as seen from her perspective, not from a human one.
I could no longer say anything.
With the goddess having already drawn the line, neither protest nor plea would serve any purpose.
[Whatever future you imagine, whatever response you take, I will respect your will and place no restrictions on your actions.]
So she was saying she'd just leave it alone.
I scratched my head.
"Well, this is a fine mess,"
* * *
After the meeting with the goddess ended, the faces of those who returned to the reception room inside the church headquarters were quite a sight.
The Holy Son reacted the most violently, while the Saintess and the other two Emperors had similar reactions.
"We have no choice but to accept the king's proposal."
The Emperor, shaken by the goddess's way of thinking, said that in a voice tinged with anger.
The integration of the two worlds had been acknowledged by the goddess and become a fait accompli.
So preparing for the worst was only natural procedure.
"What do you mean by that?"
"We'll establish an allied organization with the Rhinehearts Empire. However..."
Even in a situation like this, was he still attaching conditions?
But what the Bringham Empire's Emperor said next was something completely unexpected.
"You will be the head of the allied organization."
Just like that, I ended up becoming the head of an organization spanning both empires.