The girl named Rose, upon the confirmation of her name, officially announced her appearance in this world.
On the morning of the second day, Mohe gathered everyone for a strategy meeting.
The name of this strategy meeting was "Operation Deployment Meeting on Retrieving the Demon King's Right Hand."
The meeting took place at the dining table of the estate, with Mohe sitting at the head: "Saintess Charlette, while I have some understanding, Doro, you know more about it, don't you? Share it with everyone."
Doro's expression was somewhat complicated.
"If you don't want to share, that's fine, but if we run into problems due to missing information... I won't be responsible."
She was referring to Lisidorwei and Rose.
Doro sighed: "At this point, keeping secrets for her is meaningless, but I have to say, the information I have is outdated. For someone like Charlette, it's normal to have progressed over the years. I even suspect she actually has the ability to eradicate your right hand, but she's just using your right hand as bait."
"That's not particularly good news, Doro, but you can start with what you know."
Doro nodded: "Charlette is a Saintess chosen by God, born with a power called 'Divine Grace,' which can isolate all curses. Of course, past battles have proven that, Mohe, your curses can bypass this Divine Grace, but this power still significantly restrains curses. In fact, in the initial battles, you ended up using magic to deal with Charlette."
Mohe nodded, remembering those initial battles.
"Aside from the Divine Grace bestowed upon her, she can also mobilize the entire strength of the church. The church's power is very special; it contains Guardian Spirits, and those recognized by these Spirits can borrow their powers. Over ten years ago, these Guardian Spirits were Charlette's significant combat strength. Although many were destroyed in that battle, but..."
Doro looked at Rose.
Rose continued the thought: "After defeating the Demon King, the church's prestige peaked, thus, those Guardian Spirits rapidly recovered due to people's faith, presumably stronger than before."
This was intelligence Rose knew from her "New Hero" period.
It sounded extremely troublesome.
"Besides such power, as the Saintess of the church, Charlette can mobilize many church resources. We can imagine at the location of the right hand's seal, there could be an entire church army, possibly with many Holy Artifacts in place, though I can't say exactly what they are."
Mohe's fingers tapped the table: "This is really a difficult opponent. Lisidorwei, you're not the same level as others, yet you're tasked alone with guarding the left hand?"
"Isn't that because someone wants eternal secrets? I even think some are hoping for your resurrection." Lisidorwei suddenly said, "You, experiencing defeat and then resurrecting, might have more reverent awe, allowing certain people to truly obtain eternity through you... Maybe there was a deliberate gap left on my side."
"That's very possible." Mohe did not deny this, "Therefore, the place where the right hand is kept is personally guarded by Saintess Charlette. This is not good news. Our current strength does not support a direct assault; the visible forces alone are difficult for us to take down, let alone any trump cards Charlette might have. She's a smart woman, and I don't believe she hasn't prepared."
Doro agreed with this, looking at Mohe: "So what do you plan to do, Mohe? Based on your analysis, it doesn't seem possible for us to seize the place Charlette guards."
"Not possible? How could that be?"
Mohe smiled: "It's her business to have trump cards, but I've also done what I need to prepare, Mr. Doro. Why do you think I made myself so weak yesterday?"
A girl took out a puppet from her pocket.
"What is this..."
"A puppet of Saintess Charlette, bought a few days ago."
"What do you plan to do with this?"
Mohe smiled: "The appearance of such crafts in a small town shows how high Charlette's prestige is. In other words, Mr. Doro, this is something adequate enough to kill Charlette. Admittedly, a being like her is hard to kill, especially given our current weakness, but it's not impossible. Don't you think?"
Doro felt something very ominous from her words, but what exactly was it?
He suddenly noticed both Lisidorwei and Rose trembling because of the wood carving.
"What's wrong with you?"
"This is human faith in God..."
"Correct answer!"
Mohe praised Rose for her words: "This thing has no significant use; it's a pollution of faith. I've altered the nature of the faith on this... If I were to make an analogy, compare the faith Charlette possesses to the clear sea; my item is like injecting a drop of ink into that ocean. Although it dissipates quickly, appearing as if it never existed, with increased amounts, her ocean will become pitch black."
"How is this even possible?"
Mohe spread her hands: "It's just the power of faith, something I used to be able to utilize. I simply turned this puppet into a tool that changes the nature of power; the essence of faith gathered through this puppet will be dismantled and restructured into a substance detrimental to Charlette. Since the faith itself points to Charlette... she will naturally absorb it. It's quite troublesome to do this."
Doro finally understood what this Demon King intended—his understanding of the Demon King had deepened over these days, differing from the initial "strength." When you truly confront the methods the Demon King possesses, you realize the terror and the vast, smoke-like wisdom.
"But with just this puppet..."
"Isn't it soon that time? The day corresponding to the demon assault, the day of God's creation. If I'm not mistaken, the church holds a grand festival, right? So, Rose, this task is yours: replace this puppet somehow, making it sit in the very center, worshipped by the world, and on that day, I will reclaim my right hand."
Her plan was quite clear: on God's creation day, she intended to pollute the faith Charlette had, weakening her to a certain extent, followed by reclaiming her right hand.
"The church's army will be left to Lisidorwei to deal with, you can increase your followers before our action starts; even if they all die, it doesn't matter. Then... Mr. Doro, if you are weakened, Charlette will also be weakened, you might want to have a word with that girl, right?"
She had already set everything in motion.
"Then, let us prepare, ladies and gentlemen, for the second step of the Demon King's resurrection."