Early the following morning, Padde and his companions headed for the entrance of the settlement of demonkin blood, Uzuki, preparing to set out for the neighboring town of Equus.
Standing before the wooden bar blocking the path were the village chief, Sanya, the hunter Lupe, and his daughter Sache.
They had clearly come to see them off.
"Thanks for helping out the village, kid," Lupe said, offering a word of appreciation as he clapped Padde on the right shoulder.
"Please take care."
Sanya struck two stones together with a rhythmic clinking sound, offering a prayer. It was presumably a local talismanic charm to wish travelers safe passage.
"We'll definitely come to an understanding with the Church."
Padde knew this would almost certainly be the last time in his life he ever relied on his family name. To be completely honest, exploiting it so conveniently made him sick to his stomach. Even so, if resolving this matter allowed him to draw a definitive line beneath his wretched past, he felt he might finally be able to look ahead and move forward.
He had no idea when they would truly be granted their release. What they had done was simply that grave.
Even so, if freedom ever came, he wanted to formally sever ties with the Maos House and reexamine his future with fresh eyes.
Turning their backs on Sanya and the villagers, Padde and his party set off.
They marched steadily downward through the forest. When monsters crossed their path, the beasts proved utterly trivial against their current strength; Padde and the others slaughtered them without breaking stride as they descended the mountain.
After clearing the tree line and walking for a while, a city gate rose into view in the distance.
That was Equus. Though modest in size, Equus was a commercial city fortified with a moat and gates to fend off monsters and bandits alike. If he remembered correctly, its specialty was liquor.
Entering through the gate, they followed the flow of the bustling crowd along the main thoroughfare until they reached the lord's manor at the furthest end of town.
The lord of Equus was Viscount Murube. Despite both belonging to the viscountcy, Murube harbored a bitter rivalry toward the Maos House, which had built its fortune on mining. He constantly tried to compete, and both Padde and his father had always found dealing with the man exhausting.
Viscount Murube desperately sought ties with the Central Church. If an envoy delegation arrived, he would spare no expense in entertaining them. If they were anywhere in town, it would be here in the manor.
Giving his name, Padde requested an audience with the representative of the Central Church delegation.
Though he anticipated resistance, they were ushered inside without hesitation.
Stepping into the great hall, he found a short, plump man seated alongside a heavily built, bald man in formal clerical vestments.
The portly little man pinching his long, curled beard was Viscount Murube. His striking, repulsive presence was impossible to forget once seen—the very picture of boundless greed.
By contrast, the bald man sitting opposite him, calmly smiling over a cup of tea, was clearly the emissary from the Central Church judging by his attire.
"It has been too long, Lord Murube."
Padde placed his right palm against his chest and bowed. This single gesture was practically the only useful thing he had ever retained from noble society.
"Well, well, if it isn't the young heir of the Maos House. Though I must say, I would rather you not bring such foul pseudo-humans under my roof."
Glancing at the elf Pal, Viscount Murube pinched his nose with his right hand, scowling with utter disgust as he spat the words out.
"—"
Padde nearly lost his temper at the blatant slander against Pal, his voice catching in his throat as fury flared, but—
"Padde, don't. Keep your head."
Pal reached out from behind, holding him back.
"I'll wait outside the manor."
"I'm with you," Bill added.
Bill and the rest of the crew threw sharp glares at Viscount Murube before turning on their heels and leaving the room.
"How utterly deplorable! It seems the current crop of Babel students possesses no manners whatsoever."
Padde had been treated with blatant contempt by this man whenever they crossed paths in high society. Back then, naively convinced that the nobility stood as a unified front, he had failed to perceive the malice. Looking back now, the man's hostility had been glaringly obvious.
"Forgive the intrusion. The reason I requested an audience, Lord Viscount, was to present a proposal to the esteemed representative of the Church seated before us."
"Oh? To me, is it?"
What a shameless hypocrite. The moment he had allowed Padde into the room, he must have already anticipated as much.
Knowing Viscount Murube's character, he would never have shared the audience unless the bald cleric had specifically asked to observe.
"Yes. Am I correct in assuming the Church's mission on this occasion entails proselytization and the suppression of heretics?"
"A sharp deduction! Expounding the noble, exquisite teachings of our God to the common folk—that is indeed our sole, absolute duty on this occasion."
Expounding to the common folk, Padde thought dryly. A quintessential aristocratic conceit. Having intimately brushed against those terrifying Transcenders, Padde could not muster the faintest shred of reverence for an unseen divinity whose very existence was questionable; in fact, the whole charade struck him as thoroughly absurd.
Furthermore, surprisingly few nobles in the Holy Amelia Kingdom genuinely believed in the Holy God of War. No matter how loudly they professed their faith, they merely exploited the deity as a convenient banner to enforce unity.
If even the nobility felt that way, the commoners were hardly different. Padde had heard that out in remote frontier villages like Uzuki, many settlements instead venerated high spirits or the Dragon Species.
Except for zealots in places like Lemuria, who fanatically worshiped the Holy God of War, missionary campaigns remained vital for the Church to maintain its grip.
Padde's strategy was simple: exploit that exact objective.
"I, too, count myself among the faithful of our noble Father. Would you permit us to assist in your missionary endeavors?"
"I-Insolent brat! How dare a mere student speak so presumptuously to Bishop Zemnis!"
Clearly shocked that Padde would offer to aid the mission, Viscount Murube turned red, the veins at his temples bulging as he bellowed.
So this guy is Bishop Zemnis. Zemnis served directly under Bianca, the Holy Sage and one of the Central Church's Four Great Archbishops. Bianca was revered as a paragons of virtue who possessed the deepest piety among the Four Great Archbishops, carrying out the divine will without faltering.
The Padde of the past would have trembled with reverence merely standing in the presence of a subordinate to the Holy Sage.
Now, having experienced the raw, unreasonable despair of a true god up close, he could not bring himself to indulge in such shallow, romanticized piety.
"Now, now, there is no harm in it, you see. Howeverrr... our missionary work is a duty far weightier than our very lives. A baseline level of qualification is mandatory, you understand."
Good, he took the bait. It was common knowledge among the nobility of the Holy Amelia Kingdom that the Central Church's screening process for high-ranking positions factored in sheer martial capability.
"Then I invite you to test our qualifications as thoroughly as you wish."
"My, you sound quite confident. Very well. We shall hold an assessment. Lord Murube, might we borrow your courtyard for a moment?"
"Y-Yes, of course. If you insist..."
Viscount Murube gave a sullen nod, utterly failing to mask his displeasure.