Chapter 09 (1/2)

Side story 09 – A Certain Founder’s Faith

When I was young, the world seemed filled with colour

At the time, I had never doubted the flowery lifestyle I had been born into as a noble

I wasn’t the eldest son so I couldn’t inherit the household, but because our fah ranked I assumed that I would be wedded into some other fa about

In the Kingdoh factions The first was the Royalist Faction; a gathering of nobles that pledged their allegiance to the king and royal family The second was the Feudal Lords Faction; a faction that pushed for the benefits of nobles, and occasionally opposed the Royalists Faction Finally, was the Church Faction; a gathering of nobles with deep connections to the Church of Sacred Light, and took a neutral stand in the scuffle between the other two factions

The power of the nation was roughly divided into 4 parts Feudal Lords, 3 parts Royalists, 2 parts Church, and 1 part for all the other factions, as well as those individualistic nobles that didn’t join any factions at all

Because my family was a powerful family within the Church Faction, I had joined the Church of Sacred Light when I was young, and oftenI had just siht, and worshi+pped the Sacred Goddess, but as I grew older and caan to see reality

Widespread bribery and debauchery, fatthe believers; a vulgar situation unlike the public ie

By that ti in screa’ The upper echelons ere foremost in this injustice would surely pay me no heed The nobility in the Church Faction weren’t pious either, and were a group of nobles anted to use the Church’s backing to gain profits, and people who actually had faith were theto expose this unfairness would just fall upon deaf ears

Being afraid of isolation, I decided to keep , my faith had left me

My colourful world had been a grey world painted in falsehoods

Now that I had found it bothersoh I kept up appearances, I would occasionally sneak out of h I had anywhere I wanted to go I just wanted to see a world with colour, and so I spentaround town dressed like a commoner Unlike the world of nobles or the Church, the town still seemed filled with colour

It was around this tiistered as an adventurer To begin with, as a noble of the Church Faction, I had been brought up in the use of a uished myself in the Guild Before I knew it, I had made companions to do the requests with, and as I spent each day having fun, the colour came back to the world────up untila request

They were heavy wounds, but by no h that they wouldn’t be saved If they were carried into a church and received the healing of a cleric, they should have been able to live longer The probleic were all occupied with the noble Faction, and healing for just an adventurer was left for later Once you excluded the bishops, the Church only had young clerics, and you couldn’t hope for proper healing from them

Had I used ive the round and it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to spend time with them like we had been In order to save my companions, I had to cut my ties with them; because of this decision, I couldn’t come to a decision By the time I had finally decided to expose

The world once again returned to grey

For my own conveniences, I had abandoned my companions Because of that, I couldn’t live the way I had been anyretted, but my companions wouldn’t return

I stopped showing up at the Guild, and spendcheap liquor in a tavern

One day, aThe group didn’t have a nainally been close with the Church, I i of those orshi+pped the God that the Church referred to as the Evil God The past me would probably have scorned theiven up on

And then I came across my second, and final faith

In the gathering, they talked about the injustice of the Church of Sacred Light, as well as the God that opposed the Sacred Goddess

The forht about, and kept hidden infound a place where people sympathised with me for the first time, I rejoiced

As for the latter, although the Church of Sacred Light had spoken about that God as well, they taught that that God was an evil being that wished for the less destruction of the world No, I’ht simply couldn’t tell why they wanted to destroy the world

When the people of the world fall into depravity, the true God will save theht, it’s obvious that such a God would be bad news for them Because the Church, as well as the Sacred Goddess they worshi+pped concealed their depravity, they persecuted this God as the Evil God

I had found a being truly worthy of my faith

While secretly using the authority and assets of my family, as well as my connections with the Church that I shunned, I elevated myself within our Faith

There was a rumour that the God that orshi+pped had descended to a certain dungeon It was inforht, but because this was a matter of importance to them as well, it was hard to think that these were lies If it turned out to be true, we needed to welcome God at all costs

Having been recognised for e of this area, and so I directed eon was

Because the believers of the Sacred Light would get in the way if they found out, we decided to split up and head for the dungeon entrance, and meet up once it was time Fortunately, there didn’t seeht, so there was nobody but us

Because there was a large room on the 1st floor, we decided to hold the ritual there The believers set up the fire, cauldron and altar whilst I hten my concentration

After a while, all the believers had gathered, and the ritual began

We burnt an incense that uplifted one’s htened our concentration to call forth God Because I was the onea priest’s outfit, but the other believers removed their bothersome clothes to cast off their ties to the world There were also believers who lay with each other to offer that lust to our God

Feeling the surge of piety and that everything was progressing sht hand The frenzied believers immediately went silent, but they were as feverish as ever… No, that feverish enthusiasm had increased

“We now begin the ritual of offerings!”

Together with my shout, the believers all raised cries of joy

They prepared a stone altar, and lay atop it the girl that had been bought as a sacrifice

“Nnnnnn――――――!!”

It painedin tears, but this too was for the sake of our faith I believe that her soul will be retrieved by our God to serve as the cornerstone of the neorld

“O God of ours, please accept our hu”

With those words, I brought down the raised dagger towards the girl’s heart

I felt the feeling of cutting flesh that I had experienced in ether with a splash of fresh blood… That’s what should have happened, but the next thing that I felt was the sensation of stabbing at so hard, and the sparks that came with it

The dagger than I had swung doards had faintly irl that should have accepted the dagger with her body was nowhere to be seen

What-, just as going on!?