How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

Aside from the triangular core of the Church’s power, a cardinal was the highest-ranking clergyman in the Church of the Dawn. An absolute heavyweight. The kind of figure whose every word and gesture drew attention wherever he went.

They were called messengers of the goddess. Every cardinal possessed strength no lower than Master realm—true top-tier powers of the continent.

So why was someone from the Church in the elf lands?

And not just any clergyman, either. A cardinal.

That office alone was enough to represent the Church. In many countries, the one who represented the Church and proclaimed its decrees was a cardinal. In the minds of most people, that luxurious red robe trimmed in gold was the symbol of one of the Church’s most revered figures.

Vinny could no longer stay seated.

He stood up and gave Ronilei and Vera a meaningful look.

At this point, there was no need to spell out why they had brought him here.

“Well now. This is quite the surprise,” Vinny said, withdrawing his gaze and looking toward the cardinal.

“Oh?” The man in red leaned on his cane, his deep voice carrying the natural authority of someone long accustomed to standing above others. “And what, Young Master Vinny, has surprised you so much? That the goddess’s grace may extend even to the elf lands?”

“I’m only surprised that the proud Golden Elves have ended up in league with the Church.” Vinny flicked a glance at Vera.

At this point, there was nothing left to say. Things were already obvious. The Golden Elves and the Church of the Dawn were on the same side. If he still asked why a cardinal of the Church was here now, he would just be making a fool of himself.

“But there’s something I’d like to ask you, Miss Vera. Why do you trust these bastards from the Church of the Dawn so much?” Vinny asked openly, without the slightest concern that the cardinal was present. He genuinely wanted to know. “Fine, maybe you don’t trust my credibility. That much I can understand. My reputation really is what it is. But why is it that, in your eyes, the credibility of every human nation put together still doesn’t measure up to theirs?”

“What are they, exactly? A bunch of stinking scoundrels using the goddess’s name to fool the public. Are they really worth that much trust from you?”

Behind the cardinal stood a tall, heavily built knight in Radiant Cross Knight heavy armor, holding a sharp halberd in one hand and standing silently at the cardinal’s side.

This man...

Why did he look kind of familiar??

Vinny frowned, though it was only a vague sense of familiarity, and he did not think too deeply about it.

In any case, this was not the time for that.

The appearance of a cardinal—and even a Radiant Cross Knight—could only mean one thing: the Golden Elves had probably already allowed the upper ranks of the Church of the Dawn to station themselves in their territory under the pretense of a “friendly visit.”

A friendly visit, huh. More likely surveillance and observation.

They had even permitted the Church to dispatch its knights.

That much was obvious from the fact that they could move freely inside the Sanctum of the Sacred Tree.

“Lord Vinny, have you still not realized that with your reputation, the only thing insulting someone does is make their reputation sound better?” The cardinal did not speak first. It was the halberd-wielding knight beside him who opened his mouth, his voice low and heavy. Only when he raised his head did Vinny notice the massive scar across his face, one that almost split the whole thing in two.

“Don’t say that.” The cardinal waved a hand, stopping the knight from continuing. “Cross, your tongue is as harsh as ever. Our guest is a guest, and Lady Vera invited Lord Vinny here primarily to negotiate. We must not forget our manners.”

The Radiant Cross Knight named Cross said nothing more and lowered his head in silence.

A guest?

Primarily here to negotiate??

Must not forget our manners???

Vinny’s brows jumped. This bishop had malicious intent practically written across his face, and he was still pretending otherwise.

“My apologies, Young Master Vinny,” the cardinal said politely. Beneath his hood was the smiling face of an old man. “My sudden appearance must have caught you off guard. I had originally intended to be present together with the Golden Elf elders, but I happened to have some matters to attend to earlier and was delayed. That is why I arrived late. Please forgive me.”

“Your Excellency, whether you arrived late or what you were doing before that has nothing to do with me, so why are you explaining so much?” Vinny stared at the cardinal. “More importantly, the scale of what you people have pulled off just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

They had actually produced a new Dawn Saintess.

And that Saintess could apparently manifest [All-Gods Consecration Flame] by hand.

Was that even possible??

Vinny did not know, but he found it hard to believe. [All-Gods Consecration Flame] was one of the Dawn Goddess’s core authorities. Forget replicating it—even creating an inferior substitute would already be an affront to [Divine Authority].

Just think about it. Extracting [Divine Authority] was something even the mighty Tyrelis Ancient Empire had been unable to bypass. So were the current upper ranks of the Church of the Dawn somehow even greater than the ancient empire? Great enough to handcraft holy flame??

But Vera had said it herself: that was [All-Gods Consecration Flame]. She would not mistake it.

Maybe it was precisely because of that “Saintess” who could handcraft “holy flame” that the Golden Elves had come to believe the Church of the Dawn still possessed a Saintess.

“I’m curious,” Vinny said, giving Vera an odd look. “They already drove the Facilis family out. So how did you end up believing that the current Church of the Dawn still has a Saintess?”

“That was only a necessary front, to prevent persecution from the Tyrel Empire and the Camella Kingdom,” Ronilei said first, before anyone from the Church could reply.

“???” Three question marks practically popped up over Vinny’s head again.

“That’s right. Exactly so.” The cardinal lifted his head. “Originally, all of this was a secret that could not be made public.”

“Lady Vera, I don’t think this Young Master Vinny is only pretending to be confused. He may truly have been kept in the dark. In that case... perhaps we should simply tell him the truth.”

The cardinal straightened his expression.

“Back then, Saintess Sophia perished together with the Demon King. The next Saintess was still very young at the time, and many outside powers were watching the Church of the Dawn like wolves eyeing prey. Quite a few forces had long been dissatisfied with the fact that the Church remained the foremost secular influence in the world.”

“To conceal the truth and protect the still-young Saintess, the Pope at the time found a pretext and ordered the Facilis family expelled. But the Facilis family that was expelled was only a counterfeit the old Pope had chosen as part of a deception. He promised that family’s patriarch that if they took the place of the true Facilis family and kept the secret, then once all was done, the Church would reward them generously.”

“But that family was greedy as wolves. They were not satisfied with the reward offered by the old Pope, because someone else promised them an even richer prize.”

“That person was the King of Camella.”

“The King of Camella told those counterfeiters to turn the act into reality—to use the Church’s expulsion as a way to stir public opinion, to make the world believe that they were the descendants of the Facilis family, to pass off fish eyes for pearls, and in doing so weaken the influence of the Church and the Saintess.”

“And for a time, they actually succeeded halfway. After all, they were the very ones the old Pope had expelled, and by the time it became possible to reverse that order, it was already too late. Quite a few people truly came to believe they were the descendants of the Facilis family.”

“But a counterfeit is a counterfeit. They broke faith and told a monstrous lie, a lie far too large for them to bear. Because people are not blind. Anyone could see that they looked nothing like any generation of Saintess. They lacked even the most basic traits of the Facilis family. Worse yet, their descendants were all men.” At that, the cardinal gave a mocking smile and looked at Vinny. “The Dawn Saintess, the Blessing Angel, the goddess’s descendant—and a whole line of men? Can you imagine how ridiculous a lie that is? They did not even bother drafting that nonsense properly. On top of that, they inherited none of the Facilis family’s magical aptitude. They could not even absorb [Saint’s Envoy], the very Spirit Soul derived from the goddess. Naturally, plenty of people came to doubt the absurdity of that lie.”

“Clearly, they could deceive everyone for a time, and they could deceive one person forever—but they could never deceive everyone forever.” The cardinal shook his head. “One day, the truth was always going to come to light.”

“So now, Young Master Vinny, do you understand?”

“You are that counterfeit Facilis family—the fake Facilis that made an agreement with the old Pope and accepted exile in place of the real one. That agreement was made between your grandfather and the old Pope.”

“Of course, perhaps I should not blame you too much for ‘inheriting the family trade.’ Perhaps you are a victim too. Perhaps you were kept in the dark. Your grandfather and your father never told you the truth, and as a result, you truly came to believe you were Facilis.” The cardinal sighed. “If that is the case, then there is still time for you to turn back. Listen to my advice, young man. Don’t keep making one mistake after another. If you admit it now—if you admit that you knew nothing, that you were only exploited or threatened by certain powers and did not know what to do—then ignorance is not a sin. The goddess and the current Pope are merciful. They will forgive you.”

“Lost lamb, come home. Return to truth. Return to justice. Return to the goddess.”

As he spoke, the cardinal stretched out a kindly hand toward Vinny.

Vinny fell silent for a long time after hearing that.

Just when everyone thought the cardinal’s words had moved him, Vinny suddenly turned to Vera and spoke instead.

“Miss Vera, before this, I still thought your elf race wasn’t completely cut off from the world—that you at least had some understanding of the broader situation on the Tyrelis Continent and knew quite a bit of outside information.” Vinny looked at Vera calmly. “Now it seems it would’ve been better if you understood nothing at all.”

“Sometimes knowing nothing is better than only understanding half of it.”

“If you truly had an intelligence network of your own across the Tyrelis Continent, then you would’ve noticed how full of holes the Church’s lie is.”

“They claim that the people expelled back then were fake Facilis descendants. Then explain this—why did those so-called fakes possess the sacred treasures and holy artifacts of the Saintesses of every generation?”

“What, did that old Pope commit to the act so thoroughly that he personally stuffed the Church’s sacred treasures into our hands?” Vinny shot back. “Use your brain. Those were sacred relics of the goddess and of every Dawn Saintess. How could the Church possibly hand them over to outsiders?”

Vera hesitated for a moment at that and turned to the cardinal.

“Sacred relics?” The cardinal looked at Vinny in puzzlement. “Young Master Vinny, have you gone delirious from a fever? The sacred relics have always remained with us. When did your family ever receive any sacred relics from the Church? Those things given to your family back then were all counterfeits. Don’t tell me you still haven’t realized that?”

Vinny looked at Vera, then at the cardinal, and fell silent.

Was the Church tricking people?

Or had they been in this together from the start?

Vinny did not dare say for certain.

“So after going to all this effort to lure me here, what exactly do you want?” Vinny frowned. “Presumably it wasn’t just to serve me tea. Since I’m supposedly a fake, why go to such trouble over a fake like me?”

“Does Young Master Vinny mean that he is willing to abandon darkness and turn toward the light?” The cardinal chuckled. “Good. That makes things much easier.”

“We need your assistance in piercing through this enormous conspiracy.”

“And what is it you need me to do?” Vinny asked after a moment’s thought.

“We need you to step forward and identify the power behind you—the one that directed everything you have done. And then we need your cooperation in restoring the slandered Dawn Saintess and Facilis family to the Church.”

“What do you mean?” Vinny’s tone dropped several degrees.

“It seems I should be even clearer and more direct, Young Master Vinny.” The cardinal smiled. “We need you to come forward and expose the true mastermind with malicious intentions, reveal the plot from back then, and restore the honor of the true Facilis family that was so badly stained.”

“Of course, don’t worry. The Church has always kept its word. Reward and punishment are clearly distinguished. If we say you will be safe, then you will be safe. And if you perform well, perhaps we may even arrange a position for you within the Church. After all, if you abandon darkness and turn toward the light—if you help guide the masses out of confusion—then your merit will be immense. When the Saintess returns to the world, you will surely have earned your share of the credit.”

“Well? What do you say?”

The scar-faced knight standing at the cardinal’s side quietly lifted his eyes and began calmly watching Vinny’s reaction.

“......” Vinny said nothing for a long moment before looking up again. “Who is it you want me to identify?”

“That is not the right way to phrase it, Young Master Vinny. You need only speak the truth. Why ask us?” the cardinal said oddly.

“Oh.” Vinny nodded. “You want me to identify the King of Camella, don’t you?”

“Simply tell the truth.”

“Hah.” Vinny laughed twice, but there was no warmth in it. “Brilliant scheme. If that happens, the Camella Kingdom will be thrown into chaos. Maybe it’ll even give rise to extremist religious fanatics opposed to the royal family.”

“So let me get this straight. You want me to take a knife and stab the man who saved my life—for the sake of a pack of filthy bastards who commit every evil they please, deceive the public, ransack my home, slander my family, and smear my parents’ names?”

“Do you people really think everyone in the world is like you? A bunch of spineless creatures with no bottom line, who’d sell anyone out for profit?”

Vinny spoke in a half-smiling, half-not-smiling tone.

With both hands in his pockets, he tipped his head back slightly and swept his gaze across everyone present before letting out a contemptuous laugh.

A cardinal of the Church of the Dawn, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} with strength that bottomed out at Master realm or above.

Golden Elf territory.

And a “queen fragment” present on top of that.

In a situation like this, a mere Intermediate Magus was not enough to matter at all.

And yet, in the face of enemies who could crush him to death at will, Vinny still looked arrogantly defiant.

A real young master was not someone who bowed and scraped before the strong while throwing his weight around only against the weak.

Even if Vinny could not walk out of here alive today, he would still raise a middle finger to this pack of bastards—

and then go out flat on his back.