He discovered that Snow and Freia were connected, and therefore finally accepted that it wasn’t “Snow” who tried to kill his father, but “Freia.” And now he also knew roughly what kind of grudge “Freia” held against his father. But knowing alone wasn’t enough.

Elios now needed to find Snow. Whether Snow was truly Freia or merely influenced by her, if she shared Freia’s emotions, meeting Snow and talking directly would be the only way to resolve anything.

This was different from when he had faced Snow earlier without any preparation. Now he knew about Freia. He needed to hear directly from Snow about her exact condition and work with her to find a solution. More than anything, he wanted to let her know that she wasn’t fighting alone.

Finding Snow by Elios’s power alone was impossible. He could vaguely guess that if her target was still the Emperor, she wouldn’t have gone far from the capital. He planned to first search places that had meaning to Snow, or to Freia. However, even after narrowing down the locations, the capital was too vast, and Elios’s physical condition remained poor. He needed people who could help him.

He couldn’t expect any help from within the imperial palace. Most people didn’t even know that the Saint had left Santarium. Spreading the news of the Saint’s disappearance would only intensify suspicion and confusion. The only people who knew the Saint wasn’t in the temple were his father, Lord Mihail Callisto, and Crusis, who had heard the general story from Elios.

His father was out of the question, and he couldn’t involve Crusis either. By not involving his brother, if it ever came to light that Crusis had deliberately concealed the Saint’s guilt, he would be somewhat less disadvantaged.

Lord Callisto was currently at the center of almost all military power within the imperial palace. If he moved directly, information would leak out one way or another.

He needed a different force. One unrelated to the imperial family, aware of the Saint’s disappearance, and willing to side with the Saint. There was only one such force.

Elios needed to meet Ceres.

He layered his clothes. Although he knew it would be futile against the snowstorm regardless of how many layers he wore, he put on more and more. He struggled to stand straight as his body swayed again. He just hoped his body would hold up until he returned from the Grand Temple.

Since he couldn’t trust a single person in the imperial palace, he had no choice but to go himself. To have a fever at such a time. He ground out curses between his teeth.

The capital is vast. It takes about half an hour on horseback from the imperial palace to the Grand Temple. Now, with the accumulated snow and raging blizzard, it would take even longer. He wasn’t sure how long his body, which swayed at the slightest relaxation, could endure in the bone-chilling snowstorm.

Once Snow was safe, he could collapse for days or months afterward for all he cared. Just until then, just until then, he had to endure. Elios steeled his resolve.

07. Calamity

The people of the empire praised Ceres Martadia as a sage. In fact, many of them had never even seen Ceres from afar. The reason they praised Ceres Martadia as a sage was because Martadia was “Ceres.”

The previous Ceres, and the one before that, were all equally praised as sages. The wise recognize the wise. So people believed that the next Ceres chosen by the current sage would be no less wise.

That secular nickname, to which Martadia had never attached much significance, now felt as heavy as a lead weight on her chest.

A sage? She was just a powerless, foolish middle-aged woman. As Ceres, the head of the temple serving the Goddess Amir, she had dared to doubt her deity twice. It was unthinkable.

When the One Year Calamity arrived before she became Ceres, she doubted Goddess for the first time after watching the previous Ceres, who had been so devout, die before her eyes. But she withdrew that doubt as she watched the Saint being born and growing up.

And the second doubt came through that very lovely Saint.

“Ceres, please save the Holy Maiden! Without your order, neither the ordinary priests nor the high priests can move. Please, please!”

Arianne, a mere ordinary priest, was boldly shouting at Ceres.

When the precious Saint disappeared without a trace as if by miracle, Arianne had expected Ceres to immediately set out to find her. No matter how calm and quiet Ceres normally was, Arianne thought that at that moment, she would act differently—jump up and immediately order people to search for the Saint.

But contrary to her expectations, when Ceres first heard of the Saint’s disappearance, she stood frozen in place for a while.

♣ ♣ ♣

It happened just a few dozen minutes ago. Arianne, along with several priests, urgently reported the Saint’s disappearance to Ceres.

Ceres remained motionless for a very long time, as if she had turned to stone.

“Arianne, what did the Holy Maiden say before she disappeared?”

That was the first thing Ceres said after maintaining silence for a long time.

Snow had told Arianne she was sorry in her final moment. And before that…

“The Holy Maiden… said that she herself was not worthy to be here.”

Arianne answered heavily. She relayed to Ceres everything the Saint had said before leaving.

In truth, Snow hadn’t said much. She had asked if what was happening now was the same as what happened during the One Year Calamity, murmured as if lamenting “what was I trying to protect,” and then uttered incomprehensible words about being unworthy before finally disappearing.

Arianne couldn’t understand at all what Snow had been thinking. That made it all the more frustrating.

Snow is not someone who can endure in this cold. She had never properly exercised. While she hadn’t been particularly sickly, she wasn’t robust either. Moreover, Snow had been wearing only a thin priest’s robe when she disappeared. Even a healthy person would die of hypothermia if exposed to this cold for an extended period in such attire.

Arianne urged the silent Ceres. For an ordinary priest to express her opinion so strongly to Ceres was actually impossible, but Arianne was somewhat special. She was the priest who had cared for the Saint for 20 years.

Ceres Martadia stood quietly, but she was not exactly in a calm state. She was chewing on her lip. Then, abruptly, she muttered part of a revelation that had come to her long ago.

“If she wishes to turn away from the world, that is the will of the Goddess, and if she wishes to punish the world, that too is the will of the Goddess.”

“Ceres!”

What use were such revelations in this situation? Arianne harbored such blasphemous thoughts as she cried out. As she became increasingly disrespectful toward Ceres, the priests standing nearby anxiously tried to calm her down. For a mere ordinary priest to confront Ceres was, in secular terms, like a rural baron at the very bottom of the aristocratic hierarchy confronting the prince of a principality. In some ways, it was even worse. Even for “that Arianne.”

Arianne was actually half out of her mind. If one dared to describe it, she felt like a mother who had lost her daughter.

Ceres showed a momentarily wavering expression. Arianne saw it clearly, though it was brief.

One of the priests who had been restraining Arianne suddenly broke away from the group and bowed his head before Ceres.

“…What is it?” Ceres asked.

“I humbly submit that we, as mere servants of Goddess, should not dare to interfere with the Holy Maiden who carries out Amir’s will. If the Holy Maiden disappeared of her own volition, our forcibly trying to find her might actually be going against her wishes.”

From Arianne’s perspective, these were terribly appalling words. She glared fiercely at that priest with her normally gentle sea-colored eyes wide open. The priest didn’t flinch. He continued speaking, disregarding Arianne’s gaze.

“Let me say again, the Holy Maiden has not gone missing. She disappeared by her own judgment. The two are clearly different.”

“What does that matter! The result is the same, isn’t it? The Holy Maiden is now exposed to this cold with barely any protection!”

Arianne shouted, overcome with anger. However, Ceres Martadia, with clenched fists, said “Please continue” and kept listening to the priest’s statement.

“Goddess has revealed through divine revelation that her will is the will of the Goddess. If it is truly the Goddess’s will, the Saint will be safe. Everyone here has witnessed the miracles she constantly performs. The weather changing according to her mood, healing the sick, and those ice-like things that completely covered Santarium.”

Everyone present were priests who served the Saint for life and knew about the weather changing according to her mood. He spoke with unwavering faith in Amir. Then several more stepped forward, indicating they shared his opinion, and bowed their heads before Ceres.

“So our searching for her might actually be interfering with the divine will, even as we claim to be servants of the Goddess.”

Arianne thought they had all gone mad. A person was about to freeze to death, and they were talking about Goddess’s will?

In truth, Arianne was not particularly devout. When she was in the secular world, she had followed her midwife mother and assisted with her work. Her mother passed away when she was fifteen. She was quite a clever girl. When the opportunity to become an apprentice priest came by chance, Arianne chose that path. Being a priest was more sustainable than being a midwife.