The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 5: The Promised Land

“You haven’t told me what we’re doing next yet. What’s the plan?” Sahara said.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I forgot to fill you in. As it happens, we’ll need your help,” Manon answered.

I’ll have to hear the whole plan before I decide whether to assist.
Sahara was perfectly willing to shirk her responsibilities if the time came. Manon smiled at her serenely while holding the little monster in her arms.

“We’re going to carry out an attack on the holy land with this one here.”

“I see.”

No sane person would suggest that idea. It was best to flee at the first opportunity.

I might not be able to go along with this girl after all
, Sahara thought, already working out a plan of escape.

The morning after their overnight stay in the monastery, Momo went to the holy land and visited one of the church facilities to file a report.

It was the department that managed the abbeys in the area. She was planning to contact the Master who was in charge of the one where she was raised, but evidently, they couldn’t get in touch with her.

Momo was told that Master Flare hadn’t been in contact since she’d departed the monastery she managed a few months ago. In fact, the priestess in charge ended up asking Momo to let
her
know if she figured out where Flare was.

“…Wellll, I suppose that’s no surprise.”

Obviously, Master Flare wouldn’t follow the rules. Momo left with a mixture of annoyance and resignation.

She wanted to gather as much information about Master Flare and Akari Tokitou as possible while she was working separately from Menou, but both women were proving difficult to catch even a whiff of. It would be easier to state that there were no such individuals in the holy land.

“Don’t tell me they’re inside the cathedral or something, hmmm?”

There were many locations Momo was denied because of her low rank, but the cathedral was the furthest from reach of them all. As the symbol of the holy land, very few were permitted to enter, even among the Faust. Given her official post, Master Flare technically didn’t have permission, either, but this was Flare. She could have finagled her way in.

As Momo finished her paperwork and left, still lost in thought, she found Ashuna casually waiting for her outside.

She was acting visibly bored, in spite of the fact that she’d tailed Momo from the monastery where they’d slept into the holy land.

“This place sure is nothing but a pretty facade.” Ashuna grunted as Momo approached. “There’s not much to say about it.”

“What exactly did you expect the holy land to be like, Princess-poo?”

Ashuna was annoyed, but it was her own fault for expecting amusement from somewhere the Faust gathered.

It was unquestionably beautiful, but there was absolutely nothing else engaging about it for a visitor.

No souvenir shops proffered local specialties, no restaurants for drinking and making merry. There were certainly no tour guides to explain the history and structure of the holy land. The town was less than five hundred meters long, and many of the buildings were off-limits. A half day of wandering was all it took to run out of things to look at.

The lack of Commons inhabitants meant there was virtually no economy or distribution, either. The Faust, who made up the entirety of the holy land, had little use for entertainment. There were no activities, nor locals to spend money.

“Really, I don’t know how the Faust can live in a place like this.”

Ashuna was born and raised in a Noblesse royal family. For someone who was accustomed to a luxurious lifestyle and naturally inclined to be a thrill seeker, the holy land had to be unbearable. It had been less than a full day since they arrived, and Ashuna was already whining.

Truth be told, all but the most stolid members of the Faust tended to avoid the holy land because there was so little to do there.

At first, Ashuna was enthusiastic about touring to look for further evidence to support her theory that the holy land was a barrier hiding something, but the place was stunningly empty. Evidently, even the overwhelmingly confident Princess Knight couldn’t sense anything in the face of a settlement made of conjurings with nowhere to hide secrets.

All that inquisitive energy left with nowhere to go made for one very peevish princess.

“Ugh… I’m so damn bored. Maybe if I stand around in an alley, some thugs will try to mug me?”

“Of course nooot. Seriously, Princess-poo, what do you expect from the holy land?”

It was apparent even at a glance that the holy land was very safe. Everyone who lived here was a member of the Faust. Even the visiting pilgrims were pious enough believers to brave the Wild Frontier to see the holy land. Ashuna wasn’t going to find the fight she was looking for.

“Seriously, Momo…” Ashuna could handle an arduous journey with a smile, but boredom was her weakness. “This is supposed to be the headquarters of the Faust. I wasn’t expecting it to be this empty! They ought to have at least a little bit of intrigue at the ready! When I saw it from afar, it seemed so obviously suspicious, but now that I’m inside, there’s not a damn thing! It’s a disgrace to the name of Ashuna Grisarika that I don’t even know where to look to find the corruption here…”

“Enough complaining already, Princess-poo. For your information, my hunt isn’t going so well, either.”

“Hunt?”

“…It’s nothing.”

That was a careless mistake. Momo hurried to cover up her slip, already regretting catching the attention of someone whining about having nothing to do.

Momo hadn’t simply come back to the holy land on a whim. She was trying to track down Master Flare to help Menou, who was infiltrating the holy land by other means, but there was nothing that suggested Master Flare was here. Momo had hoped to give some excuse to stick by Flare, perhaps even deduce where she kept Akari, but she’d been left without a clue.

As of now, Master Flare’s whereabouts were completely unknown, meaning Akari could be anywhere.

Still, Momo refused to sit around twiddling her thumbs. “The cathedral is suspicious, but I have no idea how one goes about getting inside,” she offered.

“I know what you mean, Momo. If anything is going on, it’d be in there. Shall we start by pitting my blade against the front door to test its strength?”

“Absolutely not. Try it, and I’ll arrest you with the help of every priestess in the area.”

Ashuna’s boredom seemed to be leading her mind down a dangerous path. She furrowed her brow at Momo’s reasonable rejection.

“Oh, come now. Whatever the holy land is concealing has to be inside. In general, any place that’s closed to the public definitely harbors a secret.”

“I didn’t come here to expose the holy land’s secrets, you knoooow…!”

Perhaps if I cause a scene and punch Princess-poo in the face, they’ll bring out Master Flare to take responsibility for me…
Just as Momo’s thoughts strayed in a direction as absurd as Ashuna’s, a man approached the two young women.

In a city where all the residents were members of the Faust, his presence was already unusual.

He had to be a visiting pilgrim. The sword at his waist indicated that he was a knight. His listless face and average build were forgettable enough, but his unusually designed weapon certainly attracted the eye.

There were few people who would use such an armament. Sophisticated manufacturing methods made it difficult to engrave crests for conjurings, so even knights who were permitted to use swords tended to avoid overly complicated ones.

Momo nonchalantly kept an eye on the knight as they passed each other, only to realize that Ashuna was no longer at her side.

Ashuna had frozen in place.

She was acting very oddly. There was a dumbfounded expression on her face as she stood stock-still.

“Princess-poo?” Momo called, but Ashuna didn’t respond. Her eyes stared into space, and the rest of her body stayed stiffly unmoving. This was a wholly different person from the one a few moments ago.

“…Impossible. Why would he be here?” Ashuna’s voice was tinged with dread and despair as she muttered to herself. There was even an undisguisable note of longing.

The princess’s gaze wavered. It was as if all the events in front of her had been scattered from her mind. Her blue eyes turned to follow the man who had just strolled past.

“You’ve got some nerve to ignore me like that.”

“…Guh?!”

A sharp pain on Ashuna’s face returned her to her senses. Just like when they first arrived at the monastery, Momo was pinching and pulling on Ashuna’s cheek.

“Ah… Momo.”

“That’s right. Now, what in the world is going on with you?”

Ashuna’s thoughts stirred to life again, and she remembered where she was standing. She opened her mouth to speak, then swallowed her words with a conflicted expression.

Momo blinked in surprise. It was Ashuna’s nature to be bold and decisive at all times. The princess rarely paused before any action or notion. At the very least, this was Momo’s first time seeing her hesitate.

After a few seconds, Ashuna concluded that she couldn’t get Momo involved.

“Momo… Sorry, but I have to go off on my own for now.”

“Sorry? Nothing could make me happier, Princess-poo.”

Momo had no reason to stop the other girl. They were only together because Ashuna insisted upon following her around. She had pinched the princess’s cheek out of annoyance at being ignored; there was no deeper reason for her concern.

Without another word, Ashuna turned on her heel and left Momo behind, hurrying off in the knight’s direction.

“That must have been an acquaintance of hers.”

Momo could think of no other reason, nor was the assistant Executioner interested enough to investigate further. Once Ashuna disappeared around a corner, Momo returned to plotting her next course of action.

Without knowing where her target was, there was little she could do unless they made the first move. As she debated over what to do, someone spoke to her.

“Ah, there you are.”

A nun was approaching. Momo recognized her from the monastery where she and Ashuna were staying. She was out of breath, presumably from searching for Momo.

“What is it?”

Momo would have returned to the monastery in the evening. Why was this nun in such a rush to speak with her? The answer was quite astonishing.

“The archbishop requests your presence, Miss Momo.”

“…Pardon?”

The archbishop.

She was essentially the chief executive of the holy land. Momo froze in surprise at being summoned by someone so important.

The only official in the holy land with any connection to Momo was Master Flare.

She could think of no logical reason how that would lead to the archbishop asking for her. It was no exaggeration to say that the archbishop of the holy land was the head of the Faust, one of the most important people on the continent.

“The archbishop? Why…? The archbishop of the holy land is Lady Elcami, correct? I’ve never even met her before… I’m just a white-robe, you know.”

“I was not informed about the reason. Nonetheless, you are undoubtedly the person she asked to see.”

Technically speaking, Momo had come to the holy land on her time off. Officially, she was under orders from her superior, Menou.

That left absolutely no reason for her to be called upon, but the nun who’d been sent for her urgently tugged at her hand.

“Please just come with me to the cathedral.”

Ashuna set off at a light jog after the man who’d walked past her and Momo.

In this pure-white city, a male knight stood out. He was walking in the open, too, without any need to search for him. Ashuna quickly caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.

He spun around, his eyes vacant. His appearance suggested he was in his mid-thirties, and he was of average build, not particularly muscular.

Although he appeared unthreatening enough, Ashuna was fully on guard as she addressed him.

“What are you doing here, Experion?”

Experion Riverse was a knight said to be unmatched in strength by any on the continent, even amid the many priestesses, rampant taboos, and wandering lost ones.

Ashuna was well aware of him, as he was a knight of Grisarika. In fact, seeing his swordsmanship was the reason she’d first picked up a blade.

At the same time, he was a pawn of Ashuna’s elder sister, much to Ashuna’s frustration.

His combat prowess was his only redeeming quality, and Ashuna had no idea why he would be in the holy land.

The man was not faithful in the slightest. He was strong and nothing else—there was nothing else to him.

“I was told to bring someone back.”

“…And you think I’d just come with you?”

Ashuna put a hand on the hilt of her weapon.

The cross-shaped, crested royal sword had been passed down in the Grisarika family for generations; it was the height of Noblesse engineering.

If she wielded it with her full strength, maybe, just maybe…

Ashuna prepared herself for a fight.

Experion wouldn’t kill her. She was in a superior position.

Sensing her bloodlust, Experion only tilted his head in bemusement.

“I wasn’t instructed to get you, Princess.”

“What?”

Then who…?

Ashuna doubted Experion was lying. He’d long since cast aside his own will and did only as commanded. His strength had forged him into a sword at the expense of his free will. The man was quite literally a secret weapon.

“…Who is it, then?”

“I was told not to say.”

There was no point pressing for why. He didn’t know the intentions behind his orders.

He was ordered to do it, so he would. That was the full extent of his reasoning. Then he was indeed here to reclaim someone.

Since he was only a weapon, he kept moving nonstop. Were he not bid otherwise, he would likely forget to eat and sleep and would eventually starve to death. The man called Experion was definitively lacking in humanity.

Ashuna drew her broadsword.

Even as she stood before him with her blade at the ready, the man’s eyes didn’t show a shred of tension.

Lifeless, listless, empty. But his body still had all its skills.

“I’ve been told not to harm you.”

“I know.”

Her sister’s hand had reached all the way to the western end of the content. That was nothing short of infuriating to Ashuna.

“But I was told to tell you this.”

Experion drew his blade.

Ashuna couldn’t help admiring his fluid movement.

Even lacking humanity…Experion Riverse was a thing of paralyzing beauty to Ashuna and her ongoing pursuit of strength.

“‘If you believe in power so much, then obey the mighty.’”

The strongest man on the continent relayed difficult-to-deny words from Ashuna’s sister.

The cathedral at the heart of the holy land was not open to the public. Even among the Faust, few members were permitted inside.

At the front entrance of that very cathedral, Momo met with the person who had called for her.

“So you’re Momo, assistant Executioner?”

“…Yessss, that’s meee.”

Archbishop Elcami.

She was known across the continent as a conjurer worthy of her place at the top of the Faust.

As far as Momo knew, she was at least as capable as Orwell, who had been stationed in the old capital of Garm to rule over all the churches in Grisarika Kingdom. Given her standing, however, she might have outclassed Orwell.

Meeting her for the first time, Momo found that she was an elderly woman with a rigidly straight spine. Her aged and wrinkled hands clutched a scripture to her chest. Though her body was aged as it ought to be, her voice was still vigorous, and she exuded a bold and broad-minded air.

Elcami’s eye twitched slightly at Momo’s casual, exaggeratedly drawled response.

Momo made a mental note that this woman was the sort of person who didn’t disguise her expressions.

“Where is your superior, Menou, also known as Flarette?”

“My darling went to assist with the restoration of a town damaged by taboooo. Master Flare gave her the order, I’m tooold. The mission is unrelated to her job as an Executioner, so as her aide, I was sent back to the holy land alone for nooow.”

Momo showed no signs of being intimidated by the questioning, keeping her tone decidedly light and disrespectful.

“Who raised you to be so…? Ah. At your age, if you’re of Executioner pedigree, it must have been Flare.”

“That’s riiiight. So if there’s an issue with my attituuude, you can blame it allllll on the Master who raised meee. Maybe you ought to fire her for failing to rear me properly, hmmm?”

“Priestess’s Aide Momo.”

“Yeeees?”

As Momo carried on with a fearless attitude in the face of the leader of the Faust, she was abruptly given her next orders.

“I’m placing you under my direct supervision.”

“Pardon?”

It was not the first time today that Momo blinked in confusion. The direct supervision of the archbishop. For a moment, she couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of the words.

“Between Flare, her successor, and Ashuna Grisarika, I haven’t the slightest idea what any of you are plotting. But right now, there’s a massive event in the works that could affect the entire continent. I cannot permit interference.”

“Whaaat?”

Momo was naturally on Menou’s side, but she didn’t appreciate being lumped in with the likes of Master Flare and Ashuna. She grumbled discontentedly.

The archbishop turned a glare on her, apparently not appreciating that.

“This is an order you cannot refuse.”

“I can’t…?”

“Until your superior, Flarette, comes to retrieve you, I will be assigning you various odd jobs myself.”

“…Oh, all riiight. I understaaand.”

“Then come with me. We’re going into the cathedral.”

With that, Elcami turned on her heel. She was clearly accustomed to issuing commands and having them obeyed.

“Into…the cathedral?”

“Yes, and you’d best assume you won’t be leaving for some time. I’ll be keeping an eye on you until this is all over.”

Momo hurried after Elcami while trying to put her thoughts in order.

The archbishop had gone out of her way to summon Momo and interrogate her. At the very least, it was safe to assume Elcami had no idea what Menou was up to.

However, this also meant she was suspicious of Menou.

Master Flare was one thing, but why would the archbishop take action to stop Menou from following Akari? Momo racked her brain.

Yes, the obnoxious girl was an Otherworlder, but at least two or three were summoned yearly. Some were man-made events, and others were natural occurrences. Still, it was strange for someone as important as an archbishop to take direct action over a single Otherworlder.

If there was a reason behind it, that might be worth investigating.

By entering the cathedral, Momo could study its layout in a way that had never been accessible before, and she might even deduce where Akari was located.

Most of all, if the time came, Momo could do something to help her darling. Since she hadn’t been able to locate Master Flare, working directly under the person in charge of the entire holy land wouldn’t be too bad.

Still, it was hard to ignore Elcami’s interest in Menou and Momo’s affairs. Surely, Master Flare didn’t believe Menou had truly obeyed her orders and gone to help with restoration efforts in some nowhere town.

“By the way, where is Master Flare right now? I wanted to say hello when I arrived, but I can’t seem to find her. You gotta know, right, Archbishop?” Momo asked.

“Ha! Why should I care what that piece of garbage does? She couldn’t work with others if her life depended on it.”

If even Elcami didn’t know, then Master Flare had to be on severe alert.

Momo wondered what her elusive former teacher was doing as she followed behind Elcami into the cathedral.

Give it all you have, and do everything you can.

From the moment she decided to chase Akari when she was taken away by Master Flare, Menou had etched that resolution firmly into her heart.

She was perfectly aware of the difficulty of her task.

Master Flare was taking care not to kill Akari. She deliberately let the girl turn back time over and over, using up her memories. The aim was to turn Akari into a Human Error.

After her conversation with Kagarma, Menou was certain of that.

By nature, Pure Concepts were contained within an Otherworlder’s soul. When her spirit was chipped away and her soul lost, Akari would rampage as a Human Error, and the
Time
concept that was attached to her soul would become omnipresent in the world in the form of time conjurings. Such was the motivation behind Master Flare’s actions.

Thus, Menou had to kill Akari with her own hands while the young woman was still herself.

The biggest obstacle would be Master Flare. She was Menou’s parental figure, teacher, and the most skilled Executioner alive. She had clearly abducted Akari for a specific purpose.

“If she was going to kill Akari, I’m sure Master would use the Sword of Salt, too…”

That was the same way Menou intended to slay Akari. No matter how she tried, she wouldn’t be able to avoid a fight with her Master.

That meant staking everything she had.

Surpassing Master Flare in any ordinary sense was impossible. According to Akari, who had relived their journey countless times, Menou had never once successfully outsmarted her teacher.

It was sheer foolishness to fight Flare despite this. Since she was aware of her own idiocy in this venture, Menou couldn’t afford to spare any effort. She would put all her strength, her body, soul, and spirit, into her actions.

Menou slowly walked down the steps of the south tower. She was on the highest alert possible, such that she wouldn’t overlook a single speck of dust or fail to hear a mouse’s footsteps.

Beneath the mask of Guiding Camouflage that placed Manon’s face over her own, Menou was smiling. It was a clear and beautiful expression, yet if anyone were there to see it, they would shiver at its transience.

“…”

The cathedral was shockingly empty on the inside.

It must be true, then, that those with the title of Elder formed the continent’s decision-making body.

Officially, the Faust had three political powers: the right to judge good and evil, the right to produce the common currency of the continent, and the right to teach ideology through the church.

The amount of power gained was immense if one could earn a place at the top of the Faust. It was beyond a matter of one’s conjuring power. Making an enemy of the Elders essentially meant making an enemy of the very workings of the continent.

Kagarma Dartaros had once tried to challenge the machinations of the Elders.

“But…in the end, he failed.”

The Fourth ideology, which tried to create a land without social castes or manipulative leaders, ultimately collapsed. Without its head, the rest of the Fourth scattered, its remains degenerating into petty criminal groups.

Menou had no interest in the powers of the continent or the management of the nations, however.

She sought to alter the fate of something far smaller, yet with an enormous effect—a single life.

“If I can just do that much…”

Menou wanted to reach out her hand to Akari, in spite of herself.

She had no time to waste making excuses for the feelings of friendship she had accidentally developed toward an Otherworlder, a taboo she was supposed to kill. For Menou, her fondness for Akari was nothing short of a sin.

She once made a vow that she would become a villain.

So she had to kill Akari. There could be no reward for Menou, so Akari would be the last victim to complete her mission as an Executioner. Because she had killed so many people already, she would settle things by claiming one final life, even if it meant there was no saving her own.

Menou had already abandoned the notion of escape. Whether her murder of Akari ended in success or failure, Menou was going to die here.

That was why she had steeled herself, come all the way to the cathedral fully prepared to meet an honorable death.

Can I really beat Master like this, though?

The doubt arose unbidden, wrapping around Menou’s heart and threatening to crush it with severe pressure.

“……!”

Menou’s Guiding Camouflage nearly wavered. She hurriedly focused on controlling herself and managed to maintain Manon’s appearance.

It’ll be fine.

The girl steadied her breathing while reassuring herself.

She knew it was reckless and that she was out of her depth.

Yet she still had to do it.

There was no turning back now. Menou resumed walking.

She had figured out her destination when she and Kagarma first arrived at the cathedral and had since learned the floor plan. There were very few people inside. Thus far, the only individual she’d seen was Hooseyard, who was in charge of the Dragon Gate. Because entry into the cathedral was so severely restricted, the security on the inside was full of holes.

Of course, the biggest problem was Master Flare. There was no telling where she lurked.

The internal construction of the cathedral was very unusual.

Menou had seen many church facilities in her lifetime. She knew that any sizable building was bound to have a hidden room or two. Some others might have unusual layouts due to mistakes made during construction.

But this cathedral had other kinds of problems.

The train platform that immediately caught the eye when one entered was bizarre enough, but there was no path to where the place of worship ought to lie beyond it. A large altar formed a wall that completely blocked the rest of the hall.

“You can’t go that way, I’m afraid.”

As Menou stood there flummoxed, Hooseyard called out to her from the station, not sounding particularly remonstrative.

“Only Archbishop Elcami is allowed past there. It’s not within my jurisdiction, so a tour is out of the question.”

“Oh, I had no idea. I suppose I’ll have to give up, then.”

Maintaining her Guiding Camouflage, Menou used Manon’s tone and manner of speaking in her response before turning away. Evidently, there was something beyond that altar. Given that the cathedral was a barrier, it was likely protecting something more than the strange
Teleportation
site where Menou and Hooseyard stood.

Oddly enough, Menou had just reached the same theory Ashuna had voiced when she first saw the holy land.

Whatever the cathedral was hiding, Menou assumed it had nothing to do with her present goals. She was here on a mission, with no time to consider anything else.

For now, she decided to take a closer look in the dead of night. She turned around to return to her room when something caught her eye.

Her entire body froze when she realized who was walking by.

It was a person of unparalleled importance even in the holy land—Archbishop Elcami.

Menou was well aware of her existence.

Every member of the Faust near the holy land knew her name. She was that famous and had the power to match her renown.

When the archbishop’s eyes fell on Menou disguised as Manon, the wrinkles around her eyes deepened in displeasure.

But she couldn’t have seen through the disguise. Reminding herself that she was Manon right now, Menou gave a serene smile and ignored her. Just as they calmly passed each other by, Menou realized something.

Momo was next to Archbishop Elcami.

Menou’s aide, her pink hair pulled up into pigtails by two scrunchies, looked at the disguised Menou, and her eyes went wide.

How did she realize who it actually was? Whatever the answer, Momo pinched the sleeve of Menou’s borrowed kimono, then released it as she walked past.

Menou couldn’t help smiling a little at the Momo-like gesture.

She had a dependable ally here in the cathedral.

Self-serving though it might be, that fact was enough to make her footsteps a little lighter.

Menou was here.

She appeared to be disguised as Manon Libelle, but Momo saw right through that. Besides, now that Manon was a demon in human form, she couldn’t possibly enter the holy land. It was definitely Menou.

Knowing that her darling Menou had successfully infiltrated the cathedral, Momo mentally pumped her fists in the air.

Elcami, on the other hand, looked annoyed.

“Manon Libelle… Tch, she must be here with Kagarma Dartaros. The scum who caused chaos on our continent, entering the holy land? And that damned Kagarma has the nerve to bring Manon Libelle into the cathedral? How very impudent…!”

The reason for her bad mood was simple. Elcami didn’t appreciate any visitors. In particular, she must be frustrated that she couldn’t do anything about the presence of known criminals.

Momo recognized the name of Director Kagarma, though she was surprised that even Elcami couldn’t do much about him.

“Archbishop?”

“Yes?”

“Pardon me… I just thought that your job seems quite stressful.”

Elcami narrowed her aged eyes. “Shut your mouth. I’ll be assigning you a mentor shortly. Prepare yourself.”

Momo only shrugged at the reasonable response.

It looked like currying favor with Elcami was out of the question. Momo obediently quieted, hoping this so-called mentor would be a better source of information.

Hooseyard, the supervisor who made her home in the highly unusual train station within the cathedral, thought of herself as an ordinary priestess.

She was twenty-three years old. Her features were fairly pretty, and her figure equally decent. At age ten, her eyesight had begun declining, and she’d worn glasses since. However, Hooseyard happened to think of them as part of her charm. Recently, she’d even added a conjuration of her own devising, making them into a modest conjuring tool in their own right, so she was even more attached to them than the average glasses enthusiast.

At eighteen, she’d been granted her very own indigo priestess robes. This was only slightly faster than the average priestess took to achieve formal recognition. Neither she nor anyone else thought she was an exceptionally gifted member of the Faust.

Hooseyard’s capacity for using Guiding Force was high, but she had no instincts for battle. Though she excelled academically, she wasn’t quite suited to fighting, a standard for any member of the Faust. Thus, she wasn’t especially desirable to be positioned anywhere and instead began her professional priestess career traveling the continent as a pilgrim.

The woman thought of herself as a priestess of middling competency and personality. Generally, her image of herself was reasonably accurate, but there was one thing that set her apart.

To put it lightly, Hooseyard was obsessively fond of the Dragon Gate.

The underground earthen vein and the sky’s heavenly vein combined to form the most important route on the planet.

Hooseyard’s eccentric attachment led to a knack for observing things through delicate manipulation of Guiding Force connections with the astral vein and evolved into an ability to interfere with things using a combination of materials and crests.

She’d traveled to every nation before being summoned back to the holy land. On her journey, she’d created a detailed map of the earthen vein, including hitherto unknown sections; charted the changes in the current of the heavenly vein; and made city-planning maps based around her observations of the veins, selling these to earn money so that she could go and observe another vein in a satisfying cycle.

Hooseyard lacked ambition and a sense of duty, instead devoting herself to the flow of the veins as she traveled on her pilgrimage. However, when she was twenty, she was brought into the cathedral with (from her perspective) no warning whatsoever.

In reality, the unprecedented accuracy of her astral vein predictions had caught the attention of multiple nations. Some of the Noblesse had even issued knights to try to bring her in. The written report that caused all this chaos, which included an inquisitor being dispatched, led Archbishop Elcami to pull Hooseyard under her personal supervision.

Of course, the absentminded Hooseyard was ignorant of all that.

All she knew was that the archbishop abruptly pulled her out of the field and assigned her to manage the gate of the cathedral in the holy land.

The cathedral required
Teleportation
to enter and exit. The conjuring circle that used the Dragon Gate constructed a path out of Guiding Force and sent humans through it. Functionally, the conjuring formed a small, artificial astral vein.

For Hooseyard, this job was like a divine calling. She’d first worked alongside the previous pastor, but the old woman retired after less than half a year, citing her age. This left the young Hooseyard alone in the mystery-filled cathedral, and all manner of small tasks ended up falling to her.

Because of the timing, Hooseyard was moved to tears of joy when she learned she would get an assistant.

“I’ll finally have an aide of my own…!” When she received word from Elcami, she held her scripture up in the air and trembled with joy. “I was just starting to reach my limit. Your assignments are always so urgent, Archbishop Elcami. And I have so much extra work besides managing the Dragon Gate!”

Behind her glasses, Hooseyard’s eyes were full of emotion.

Just a few days ago, Elcami had assigned her the absurdly difficult task of making a teleport conjuring circle. When she was suddenly told to prepare a route to the land of salt in a single week, she nearly wept.

It was practically impossible. Yet despite what she thought of herself, Hooseyard was far from ordinary. She’d been working hard to prepare as best she could, but her job was so complex that she’d begun to desire an assistant once this was all over.

Hooseyard’s time in the cathedral was valuable experience. In particular, she enjoyed complex conjuring theory, like that of teleportation and other efforts related to the astral veins. The Dragon Gate enabled high-level connection to the earthen vein, and Hooseyard was more than willing to devote her life to its management and the development of related hypotheses.

It was the young woman’s truest wish to accomplish more with an aide’s help.

And it was as she considered the idea that the archbishop informed her that she would be granted an assistant. Overflowing with gratitude toward Elcami, Hooseyard hurried to meet her new subordinate.

“Pardon me!”

When Hooseyard entered the room where her new aide was waiting, she found an adorable girl.

“I’m Momo.”

She was youthful and had to be close to ten years Hooseyard’s junior. Cute pink pigtails adorned the sides of her head. Hooseyard found it impressive that Momo was a priestess and not still a nun at her age, even if she was only in white robes.

At any rate, she certainly looked like a sweet and adorable mentee. Hooseyard was thrilled.

“My name is Hooseyard. It’s nice to meet you, Miss…can I just call you Momo?”

“Do whatever you want, why don’t you?”

Momo’s response was shockingly curt.

The sheer coldness of her words and expression nearly stunned Hooseyard into silence, but she wouldn’t give up on the conversation. Right now, Hooseyard wanted to focus on constructing the long-distance teleportation conjuring circle. This girl was her assistant. Perhaps the girl was being shy, Hooseyard reasoned, and she brushed past the rocky introduction to assign her aide some work to lighten her own load.

“My job is primarily to manage the teleport conjuring circle, the Dragon Gate. Are you proficient with ceremonial conjurings, Momo? It’d be a great help if you told me what you do best. Working with the heavenly vein might be difficult, but perhaps you could combine the materials and crests needed to construct the conjuration for the ceremonial conjuring to manipulate the earthen vein…”

“Huh?” The girl looked at Hooseyard like she might an alien attempting human speech. “How am I supposed to control a ceremonial conjuring with the earthen vein? Be realistic, please. That’s a job for an expert who’s devoted their whole life to the subject.”

“Hmm?”

Hooseyard tilted her head in confusion.

This wasn’t right. Wasn’t an aide supposed to make her job easier?

To be honest, precise control of the earthen vein was a necessary prerequisite to doing Hooseyard’s job. Elcami understood Hooseyard’s role perfectly well—there was no way she didn’t. Surely, the archbishop wasn’t so uninterested in the one who managed traffic in and out of the cathedral every day that she would arbitrarily appoint a random person to her. She wouldn’t do that. Definitely not. Probably not. Maybe not. She wouldn’t…right?!

I refuse to believe the archbishop is capable of that…!
Hooseyard rallied herself internally.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself. Perhaps she had expected too much too soon. By all appearances, Momo was a teenager. Although she couldn’t handle ceremonial conjurings, she had to possess a natural affinity.

“W-well, are you good at scripture conjurings? If so, then you might have a knack for ceremonial ones, too—”

“I hardly ever use those. Why bother when it’s faster to use Guiding Enhancement to punch someone’s lights out?”

“Wh… Why the violence…?”

Hooseyard fell to her knees in despair. Clearly, Momo was particularly battle-oriented, even for a member of the Faust. She was definitely not the type well-suited to desk work, much less helping with Hooseyard’s duties.

As Hooseyard silently mourned, Momo looked down at her coldly.

“Could you hurry up and teach me the ropes, please? You can start with everything you know about the cathedral’s interior, Ms. Four-Eyes.”

“F-Four-Eyes…? O-okay, fine. I get it. I’m sure we’ll find a job you can handle in no time, Momo! Ah, if you’d like, feel free to call me ma’am or…”

“Excuse me?”

Momo shot her a threatening glare.

“Nothing at all, Miss Momo!”

More terrifying yet, Momo started using Guiding Enhancement as she scowled. Hooseyard’s goose bumps informed her that this girl possessed immense amounts of Guiding Force. The timid woman immediately caved beneath the pressure of her much younger aide.

People who produced a lot of Guiding Force from their souls tended to be somewhat mentally unstable. This girl wasn’t just combat-minded, she had a total berserker personality. Mentally, Hooseyard offered complaints to Elcami. (Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t brave enough to voice those gripes in reality.)

This wasn’t what I imagined at all.

Nearly sobbing over the contrast between her ideal subordinate and her present reality, Hooseyard began picking out jobs for Momo to do, starting with simple material gathering.