The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 166

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 166

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June 25th, 1770.

The day after the gathering at Beacon Garden, and the day before the National Foundation Day opening ceremony.

Lillieta had spent the entire day preparing countermeasures against the National Foundation Day monsters with Lindsey, returning home late.

‘The National Foundation Day lasts for 3 days, and we don’t know when the named monsters will appear during those 3 days.’

It would have been too much to expect Hanna to find out such specific information. Just eavesdropping and delivering this much was already an enormous achievement beyond expectations.

‘Since the Duke wants to eliminate Hanna during that attack, Hanna should actually lay low as much as possible now.’

So when the situation unfolds, Ethan was to spirit Hanna away and protect her.

Thanks to all Beacon members moving busily since yesterday, and because of the preparations they had made thinking about disasters since returning 4 years ago, the monster countermeasures were almost complete. Even if not perfect, they should be able to cover most unexpected situations.

The Duke’s attempted attack incident during the National Foundation Day had already been nipped in the bud at the masquerade party, and Gideon had prepared the Imperial Guard for any contingencies.

Lillieta had diligently drilled the Tritoma Musketeers for 2 weeks for the opening ceremony announcement and martial arts tournament, and had finished practicing her role as Coronator for the succession ceremony on National Foundation Day itself.

So now what remained for her was.

Rita headed to the training hall of Creme Dome. As expected, even though the sun was setting, she could see someone still swinging a sword there.

“Brother Richard.”

“Rita?”

Richard, who spotted her, sheathed his sword and wiped his sweat-soaked red hair with a towel.

“What’s the matter?”

“Something big is going to happen in the capital during the National Foundation Day period.”

Richard blinked blankly at her sudden statement.

“Something big?”

“A monster more dangerous than the one from the boat trip is scheduled to appear.”

“What?”

Richard’s mouth fell open. Rita continued calmly.

“I have to go fight that thing. So please protect our family and household members in the meantime. Since the opponent is a monster, you’re important because you can resist corruption.”

“That’s obviously what I should do, but…”

Richard trailed off and looked at her intently.

“Are you okay? A monster more terrifying than the Kraken, I can’t even imagine it… You have to fight something like that?”

He didn’t ask how she knew that monsters would appear then. Instead, he genuinely worried about his sister’s safety having to fight such things.

“It’s what I’ve always done. I won’t be fighting alone either… I’ll be fighting with my most familiar comrades, so it’ll be fine.”

Rita smiled faintly and spoke gently.

“I’ll return safely without getting hurt. So you too, make it so I don’t have to worry about our family.”

“…Alright.”

He reached out to pat her head but hesitated and stopped.

Partly because his hands were dirty with sweat and dust, and also because he remembered Rita telling him before to stop patting her since she wasn’t a child anymore.

Rita watched her second brother awkwardly fidgeting with the towel with his withdrawn hand, then moved toward a bench near the training hall.

“Let’s sit here and talk for a bit.”

“Hey, you just said something so terrifying and you have more to talk about?”

Richard added with a disgusted expression.

“And I have bad memories of that chair.”

Come to think of it, this was the bench where Lillieta had previously recommended rehabilitation training to Richard while probing into his true feelings and oracle.

It was also the place where Richard had hugged her and cried while promising to return to the Order of the Holy Knights.

Rita, belatedly remembering this fact, said jokingly.

“The promise you made with me is a bad memory?”

“No, realizing so keenly that I was a pathetic and inadequate brother is the bad memory.”

He sat down next to her with deep sighs and wrinkled his brow.

“Come to think of it, I ended up unable to keep that promise anyway. It really is not a good place.”

“Yeah, about that promise.”

Rita took a breath before continuing.

“There’s a way for you to return as a holy knight.”

“…What?”

“But there are some facts you need to know first. They might be… quite shocking for you to hear.”

“There’s something that would surprise me even more?”

Richard groaned in response. Rita answered calmly.

“You know the Saint.”

“The Saint…? You don’t mean Saint Seraphina Shadea?”

“Is there another Saint?”

“No… But why does the Saint come up here…? Don’t tell me.”

“Yeah, she also experienced the same thing I did. In the Ashen World.”

“Ah, damn. So that’s why.”

He roughly ran his hands through his red hair. Rita tilted her head.

“That’s why what?”

“A few years ago, the Saint fell into a coma. She remained asleep for almost 4 years without waking up. There were rumors that God had temporarily called the Saint to Him… don’t tell me.”

“Yeah, that’s right. The Saint’s soul was also transferred to another body, just like me and His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Just how many more cases like this are there besides you?”

“Six that I know of.”

“…The 5 people who went crazy when they found out you almost died to that Mimic last time, plus the Saint makes 6?”

“That’s right.”

“Hah…”

Richard pressed his forehead as if feeling dizzy. Lillieta smiled slightly and moved to the main point.

“Anyway, so the Saint who came as part of the delegation this time and I met separately to talk.”

“Yeah, what did you talk about? I probably won’t be surprised by anything anymore.”

“About the truth behind the oracle you heard.”

“…”

Richard stiffened with a start, then hung his head and muttered.

“Rita, I think I’m really going to hate this bench.”

“Would it be better not to hear it?”

“No, if I don’t hear it here, I’ll go even more crazy…”

After letting out what could have been a groan or a sigh, he raised his head again.

“So what other truth is there about that oracle? Did the Saint tell you?”

“Yeah.”

Lillieta recalled Seraphina’s opinion.

Should she reveal the truth that would shatter Richard’s faith? Wouldn’t it be better to just let him maintain his beliefs?

The Saint had answered her concerns about this.

“Then, let him choose directly.”

“Ask your brother what’s most important to him. Whether it’s faith, his dream of being a holy knight, the truth, or becoming stronger… what his priorities are.”

“Even though it was a crisis of corruption, the fact that he became an Oathbinder through such an oath means the choice was already made, really.”

Lillieta chose her words carefully before speaking.

“Before that story, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“What’s the reason you came to dream of being a holy knight?”

“…”

“I know you’ve dreamed of it for a long time, but I don’t know why.”

“Ahem.”

Richard cleared his throat and averted his gaze. Rita waited a moment before continuing.

“If it’s difficult to explain or you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to tell me in detail. Just tell me one thing.”

“Ahem, which one?”

“Between faith and the dream of becoming a holy knight, which came first?”

“The dream.”

Richard answered this question readily.

“Rita, I didn’t decide to become a holy knight because of faith. I devoted my belief to God after I harbored the dream of becoming a holy knight.”

He chuckled softly.

“If faith had come first for me, I would have tried to become a priest, wouldn’t I?”

“…I see.”

Then what comes first for Brother Richard?

Lillieta swallowed the question she was about to ask next.

Come to think of it, he had already given a clear answer to this question before.

With his oath to always be a sword that protects his family.

Rita looked fondly at her second brother who loved his family more than anyone, then slowly opened her mouth.

“Then I’ll tell you… about that oracle saying you could have prevented my disappearance.”

“Go ahead.”

“That wasn’t given by God.”

“…?”

“Remember when I told you there was no god in the world where I grew up?”

“I remember.”

She took another breath.

“This world is the same.”

“What?”

“There is no benevolent god who loves humans. God is actually…”

She explained step by step.

To him, who already knew of the existence of Oaths and had become an Oathbinder, she explained what divine power was. She revealed that it was merely the ability of transfer-type Oathbinders. Through the true nature of divine power, she proved the absence of God.

She told him that what people believed to be God was nothing more than the Od Collective, that it had no will or consciousness and only reactions to stimuli existed.

And finally.

“…So oracles are nothing more than output values that emerge when information is injected into the Od Collective. That’s why many answers are ambiguous, and sometimes difficult to interpret.”

Seraphina had confirmed it directly. How the Pope requests and interprets oracles.

At the Sanctuary of the Shadea Order stands a towering spire.

Whether the people who first built the tower intended it or not, that tower has the function of holding massive amounts of Od at the top of the spire through a specific structure, just like how Od gathered in the cup when Rita took her Od aptitude test.

That mass of Od pools inside the giant bell like heat shimmer in a cup. That is the Od Collective that delivers oracles.

When the Pope listens to oracles, he offers prayers in a room below the spire.

When that information contained in divine power—that is, Od transformed by transfer-type Oathbinders—reaches the Od Collective pooled in the bell in the form of prayer, it arbitrarily combines information and sends back an answer.

Like an echo.

It’s the Pope’s role to interpret that in a way humans can understand.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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