A glass-like barrier seemed to form around him, isolating him from the world, and his golden eyes were filled with divine power.

There was no other reason why the temple revered golden eyes.

When using divine power, the eyes would turn golden, and if one’s eyes were naturally golden, they could conceal the use of that ability.

However, Jusepe made no effort to hide his use of divine power.

Rather, by openly displaying that overwhelming aura, he made Melio cower at his feet, unable to withstand it.

Realizing that the situation was not ordinary, Cedric appeared like a shadow beside Belinda.

Though overwhelmed by the divine power pressing down on his entire body, Melio still denied reality.

“B-Black magic! If you were a cardinal, wouldn’t you see it! This divine power overflowing in my body! How can you utter such blasphemy!”

“That’s a lie. I’ll execute you on the spot.”

Immediately after, a long spear of light appeared beside Jusepe, as if dawn was breaking…

Thud.

“Ugh.”

In that instant, Belinda held her breath.

Cedric had covered Belinda’s eyes just in the nick of time.

However, Belinda could easily guess what was happening beyond Cedric’s hand.

The sound of Melio’s dying breath, something heavy falling, and the pungent smell of blood all hit her at once.

“Lady Belinda Blanche.”

Jusepe called out to Belinda in his usual gentle and mild tone.

‘Crazy bastard.’

Belinda bit her lower lip hard to avoid showing her fear, then pushed Cedric’s hand away.

Without a single drop of blood on him, Jusepe continued speaking.

“Don’t worry. Ordinary divine trials are not conducted like this. However, as Melio, a priest, dared to turn his back on God, there was no other choice.”

“Are you… really certain that Father Melio was a black magician?”

Belinda also knew.

That Melio was a black magician.

But she asked because Jusepe’s attitude in judging Melio as a black magician seemed so careless.

‘A person’s life is at stake… and he does it so simply.’

Jusepe nodded as if he understood her thoughts.

“You must have been very shocked. Since you played the bait role so wonderfully, let me tell you a secret. What do you think Father Melio wanted through black magic?”

‘How the hell would I know that.’

Belinda openly frowned.

Jusepe didn’t beat around the bush and quickly gave the answer.

“It was divine power.”

“Cardinal! That’s a forbidden matter that others shouldn’t know about!”

“It’s alright, Sir Lionel. Lady Blanche can be trusted.”

Jusepe said so, but Belinda didn’t take his words at face value.

This was a kind of trap.

If ever the fact that even divine power could be obtained through black magic were to be heard anywhere, Jusepe would come looking for Belinda, using today’s incident as a pretext.

“For some time, the temple had thought that Father Melio’s increase in divine power was unusual. So while we were watching him, the incident of the sacred relic being stolen occurred. At first, we thought Father Melio was planning to use the sacred relic as a payment for black magic. But from the fact that Father Melio had packed his belongings as if ready to leave at any time, and the ‘landslide’ warning that Lady Blanche mentioned, I realized.”

For the first time, Jusepe looked down at Father Melio’s cold corpse without a smile on his face.

“What Father Melio was after wasn’t the sacred relic, but the landslide that would occur when the sacred relic left the holy ground.”

To be honest, even when Belinda said that the mountain’s seal would break and monsters would be released causing a landslide, Jusepe hadn’t detected any ominous energy floating around the mountain.

The energy was so faint, and he had been using most of his divine power to see the future, or more precisely, to prepare for the end that would come in about ten years, so he hadn’t had the leisure to look around.

He had almost tripped over a stone right in front of him while looking too far ahead, but thanks to Belinda, he was able to avoid it.

Therefore, Jusepe sincerely thanked Belinda.

“Thanks to you, we were able to avoid casualties. Let me express my gratitude on behalf of the Holy Empire. Now, shall we move on? We need to hurry and reinforce the seal since we’ve retrieved the sacred relic.”

Then Jusepe spoke to Lionel.

“Sir Lionel, please take care of Father Melio’s remains. Although he was a criminal, shouldn’t we at least send his remains to his family?”

“Understood.”

“And Lady Blanche, since you can’t stay here, how about coming to the temple with us?”

The reason she couldn’t refuse outright was because the smell of human blood soaking the floor was too vivid.

As Belinda nodded heavily, Jusepe said softly, “Then I’ll see you at the temple,” and left the room.

***

‘I thought he was the most normal one, but he turned out to be the craziest.’

It still felt like the smell of blood lingered in her nostrils.

With nothing much to pack, Leo, Sir Penadel, and I headed towards the holy ground on the mountainside in a light journey.

Since it was such a sparsely populated village that even carriages didn’t run at night, we had to walk for quite a while.

Fortunately, Leo didn’t seem tired and walked briskly beside me.

“Lady Belinda, are we going back home tomorrow?”

“That’s right.”

Leo visibly brightened up.

Thanks to declaring to Jusepe that I would act as the ultimate bait and cause all sorts of mischief, the synchronization had suddenly increased significantly.

[Synchronization 75% complete.]

 [Get ‘Quest Reward: Belinda’s Memory Fragment (3rd)’ as a reward.]

 [If you get the Memory Fragment, you will receive a special reward.]

I need to increase synchronization to deactivate Belinda’s translator, and I need to deactivate the translator to be able to call our Leo by name at least once before leaving.

Somehow, I was reluctant to receive the third memory fragment.

Is it because I know Belinda’s ending?

Now, sometimes her memories appear in my dreams as if they were my own.

Lost in such thoughts, I wasn’t watching my step properly and stumbled.

Fortunately, Leo and Sir Penadel caught me, so I didn’t fall.

I lowered my head to see what I had slipped on and then tilted my head in confusion when I noticed something strange.

The path was completely muddy.

Since it hadn’t rained, the snow must have melted to make the path like this.

“Wait, snow?”

I hurriedly looked around.

Near the temple, there should have been lush greenery and snow-covered paths.

But now, I noticed that all the plants visible in the dim moonlight were withered and dead with their heads bowed, and there wasn’t a single trace of snow on the mountain.

“It seems we’re already too late.”

When Sir Penadel said that, at first I didn’t know what he was referring to.

But 5 seconds later, along with a vibration that shook the mountain, an indescribable roar echoed from everywhere.

Then, there was a cracking sound from the night sky, as if something was breaking, and something like white ash began to fall like snow.

Belatedly looking up at the sky, I could only gape in astonishment.

The transparent membrane-like thing that had been surrounding the mountain was shattered like broken glass with cracks all over it.

Sir Penadel didn’t explain separately, but I, and probably Leo too, immediately realized.

That this was the seal that had been containing the monsters.

As soon as its fragments began to shower down to the ground, the mountain started to boil hot.

Without anyone taking the lead, we all ran towards the temple.