The Strongest Of The Holy Church And The Strongest Adventurer

“Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come today――Sir Almugard.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m an adventurer; if it’s a job, I’ll go even to the ends of the continent.”

“Heh heh… As expected of an S-Rank Adventurer――reliable words indeed. I’ve also heard of your deeds during the recent large-scale dungeon collapse.”

If you asked what the most conspicuous landmark in the capital is, the citizens would unanimously answer the royal castle towering in the center.

And the second?

That would be unanimous as well.

It’s the headquarters of the Holy Church that rises in the central district of the capital――the Grand Cathedral.

In the reception room of that Grand Cathedral.

Two powerful figures who had reached the realm beyond humans sat on sofas opposite each other across a low table.

“Now――I’d like to get straight to the point――are you familiar with a Shikai Tribe member named Sid Ranorus?”

“Of course――I know of him. He’s a young man with whom I have some connection. Although――I think it would be harder to find someone in the capital who doesn’t know his name now.”

Sitting on one of the sofas was the host of this meeting, Knights of the Stigmata’s The Second Stigmata――Johanna Hohenzollern.

Despite being seventy years old, she was a white-haired elderly woman of refined presence who retained strong traces of the beauty of her youth.

“Oh, not just the name but a connection as well?”

“Yes. We happened to run into each other in an A-Rank Dungeon 【Blue Orchid Lake】. He was a solo adventurer like me, so I remember him well.”

The guest seated opposite was the only existing S-Rank Adventurer――Almugard Eldorado.

Clad head to toe in ebony-colored full mail and armed throughout, he kept his helmet on and hid his face even in front of Johanna, who held a high office in the Holy Church.

Almugard always hid his face, and Johanna, aware of this, tolerated this impudence from humanity’s strongest.

“Then we’ll be quick about it――I’ll be frank――I want to commission the assassination of Sid Ranorus.”

“Then I’ll answer just as briefly――I refuse.”

――Snap.

Johanna’s well-shaped eyebrow twitched, and she gave Almugard a look full of meaning.

There was an intimidating pressure that one could hardly believe came from someone who usually wore a cheerful, kindly-old-woman smile.

The teacup filled with black tea on the low table clinked and rippled as it was affected by the sensing of Magic.

“…………”

But the other party was the strongest Adventurer as well.

He nonchalantly shrugged off the silent pressure emitted by The Second Stigmata, the Holy Church’s strongest asset.

He even showed the leisure to pick up the rippling teacup and drink it through his armor.

“Thank you for the delicious tea, Saint Johanna. Well then, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Please wait.”

“Is there something else?”

“I have heard that you personally take on almost every quest assigned to you by the Adventurer’s Guild. Even if it’s the far-flung edge of the continent, if there are signs of a dungeon collapse you fly there—you are the exemplar of S-Rank Adventurers.”

Almugard, who had begun to rise from the sofa, was stopped by Johanna and sat back down.

The well-tailored sofa’s heavy seat creaked under the weight of the heavy armor.

“And the Adventurer’s Guild is a state organization――in other words, there should have been a request from the royal court for you to take down Sid Ranorus.”

“Yes. There was indeed one, but I turned it down. Therefore――even if this request comes from the Holy Church, I have no intention of defeating him.”

“May I ask your reason? He is a grave criminal who murdered royalty. Letting him run free is――it’s more dangerous than leaving a collapsing dungeon unattended; someone of your caliber should have no trouble imagining how perilous that is.”

“I am an Adventurer, not an Assassin. I may hunt monsters to protect people’s safety, but I cannot kill people.”

“The Shikai Tribe are not human.”

“But they were human twenty years ago?”

“It was a hundred years ago that it was discovered that the saber-tooth tiger, long thought to be a monster, was actually an animal. Over the long history of humanity, definitions often change.”

“Then what is your basis for saying the Shikai Tribe are not human? And moreover, wasn’t he the true contributor to the recent large-scale dungeon collapse incident?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

Of course the Holy Church was aware of Sid’s involvement in the large-scale dungeon collapse.

But the Holy Church, which had proclaimed the annihilation of Shadow Necromancers, could not admit Sid’s merits.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Shadow Necromancer’s abilities were not widely known, the College of Cardinals resorted to information control.

Sid was a grave criminal who killed royalty and needed to remain a target of public condemnation; he could not be allowed to be viewed as a hero.

“Saint Johanna must have seen it as well—the black monsters commanded by his skill attacking the dungeon’s monsters. Moreover, those black monsters helped Adventurers rather than harming them; there are even reports of Adventurers having their wounds healed by the black monsters’ recovery magic.”

But Johanna, smiling cheerfully, feigned ignorance.

“As I said earlier, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”