Chapter 21: The Truth Of Tierra (1/2)

Leah Yakaran kept her saber leveled at Carlo, the man whom she once respected the most.

“Uncle Carlo…”

“Your Highness, I’m the one who taught you the way of your sword—I know your every move.” Carlo said coldly. “You know very well it counts for nothing against me.”

Though the young girl did not have any intention to simply give herself up, there was bewilderment within her.

Her mother had passed on due to complications with childbirth, while her father had also died early on. During her younger years, many people around her in the palace believed that it was a retribution from Yakaran the Eleventh’s atheism, and saw her as a heretic as well despite having survived sheerly by luck. Even if those same people disguised it well, she could notice that they held disgust against her and would rather keep a distance.

In her childhood, the closest person to her was essentially her grandfather, the last monarch of Tierra.

Leah’s grandfather whom everyone else cursed as blind and foolish had believed that the gods were simply parasites of this world, that even if they were far more powerful than humankind, they would not offer any aid to develop the world, human or civilization. What was worse, their desire of faith from humankind was an obstacle to the advancement of eras, and as such he had become the only existent atheist, even fabricating the Church of the God of Games and establishing it as the national religion for disguise.

Yakaran the Eleventh had chosen ‘games’ as a made-up faith thanks to his opinion that entertainment elevates the happiness of the citizens, that it was something quintessential for them to unwind after a busy day at work.

It actually proved true as well: when Yakaran the Eleventh held the crown, Tierra’s power as a nation was once several times that of her neighboring nations added together.

And yet, it was also the very cause for disaster, because any person who led a basket full of gold and gems but did not have the ability to protect that wealth would only ever draw coveting looks.

Although Tierra boasted astonishing riches, the country did not have a deity with the power to sufficiently protect it. Against former armies blessed by their gods, defeat was inevitable even if their own mortal legions had finer weapons or armor, and the country hence ended up split and annexed by its neighbors.

In the war, Yakaran the Eleventh, Leah’s grandfather made a last stand in the citadel of the royal capital so that she could escape, even after enemy forces had broken through.

It was then that the unbreakable stronghold was burnt to the ground as clerics of the Golden Temple which consecrated Emporio the Sun God jointly cast a divine spell, invoking the sun’s wrath…

Even so…

Was defeat and death inevitable, unless they lowered their heads before the parasitic gods? Was grandfather wrong in his policies for only wanting to share joy with his subjects?

In this very moment, the girl was left hesitating. Once immeasurably determined to exact vengeance and rebuild Tierra, her thoughts were now shrouded by a mist with no clear path forward.

Such a moment of hesitation would certainly leave her distracted in her standoff against Carlo—and being her sword instructor, and the former captain of Tierra’s Royal Guard, that moment was not lost upon Carlo.

Even before she could gather herself, Carlo had already bounded forward, easily dodging two other guardsman’s pincer strike and sent Leah’s own saber flying out of her hands. Stumbling two steps backward, the girl almost fell over.

“It’s finished.” The leader of the cult who was hidden behind his dark cloak and mask laughed cruelly, totally uninterested in that elegantly decorated blade that dropped right before him.

Meanwhile, Carlo was pressing home the advantage: capturing Leah meant complete success for their operation, and it was fine whatever anyone else would do.

That was when a blinding radiance suddenly shone out of nowhere, instantly taking away everyone’s vision!