--"I already know that it was you and your band of halfwits that did this!"(Zail)
Yes. It was the Church that set this up.
"Hoh... Why do you think so? Don't tell me it's just an irrational claim you just made so you could make yourself feel like your suffering actually had a meaning."(Priest)
The Priest said in a condescending tone, however the next word that Zail said changed the temperture of the room to absolute zero.
"Influence."(Zail)
The Priest released a phenomenal amount of bloodthirst as soon as this word escaped his mouth, his bloodthirst sent shivers down Kinata, Tomoyo and the surrounding priest's spine.
The priests that were in the small room where everyone was, seemed to be agitated. These priests whom only had two tasks which were for defensive purposes and for taking away Kinata reacted at this one word.
"...Knew it..."(Zail)
Zail muttered this under his breath as he gave a nod of confirmation. It seems Kinata heard this mutter and questioned her little brother.
"Knew what?"(Kinata)
"That they're the one who set this up. Kinata you're not actually a Holy Maiden, right?"(Zail)
"How did you..?!"(Kinata)
Kinata made an exclamation of surprise as she did not expect her little brother to know this.
"It's because the degree they're taking this to."(Zail)
"My guess is that Kinata's class is actually something on the level of heroes and saints."(Zail)
Zail, or rather, Ibawarai began his explanation.
"Currently the influence of The Divine Church has been declining, and the rise of an opposing church is taking it's place. The Divine Church mostly focuses around the Supreme God Of Order, Grand, and the rest of the gods are seen as freebies that are there because of the kindness of Grand--"(Ibawarai)
"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK THE NAME OF OUR BELOVED GOD!"( Random Priest)
The main Priest glared at the man, and the man quickly went quiet.
"Continue."(Priest)
"As I was saying, they're just seen as freebies however the opposing church focuses around the Ultimate God Alvario. Alvario is said to be the father of all the gods and the mortal enemy of his first son Grand."(Ibawarai)
"Why does he hate his son?"(Kinata)
Kinata raised a question because the family matters were not what she was expecting.
"It's because--"(Priest)
"--He doesn't."(Ibawarai)
The Priest intended to answer the question however the little boy's voice interrupted him, giving an answer that didn't seem favourable to the Priest.
Kinata tilted her head because she didn't know about the circumstances of the god and his son.
"According to all the different churches, Alvario has an undying love for all his sons and daughters, however Alvario and Grand have different opinions on a certain matter. This matter is about absolute order. Alvario insists that living creatures have some degree of freedom, however Grand wants absolute order."(Ibawarai)
"And how do you know this?"(Priest)
The priest gave a grin as he realized that I have no proof.
"Do you even know the teachings and stories of churches other than your own?"(Ibawarai)
"..."(Priest)
"Thought so."(Ibawarai)
"According to all the churches, not including The Divine Church, the 'order' that Grand wants is a world where there is no disputes and where everything is planned."(Ibawarai)
"Isn't that a good thing?"(Kinata)
"It--"(Ibawarai)
"--Is absolutely not a good thing."(Tomoyo)
Tomoyo who has been listening to the past argument stated this. Tomoyo had a thousand yard stare that contained a bit of melancholy.
"Oi--"(Priest)
"--Why?"(Kinata)
"Because if there was absolute order there would be no love, no hope and no freedom. Goals, dreams, desires that will be left unfulfilled."(Tomoyo)
"Then what about the no disputes?"(Kinata)
"If there were no disputes then the world won't be able to function properly. Disputes may lead to death, be a form of affection and could also be a form of hatred."(Tomoyo)
"But if people die isn't that bad?"(Kinata)
When Kinata voiced this question while tilting her head, Tomoyo had a look of sadness as if something important was purged from her.
Tomoyo was going to answer Kinata however,
"Kinata, death can also lead to good things."(Ibawarai)
Ibawarai said this statement that made Tomoyo glance at him almost immediately, at this reaction Ibawarai gave a gentle smile.
The surrounding priests began to murmer, and the main Priest opened his eyes wide because of this mature statement.
"Death can lead to many things good and bad depending on the perspectives. If there are lots of living creatures that means lots of babies are also made, which also means there'll be more mouths to feed. Some people may do anything for food, and various things such as robbery and murder may occur because they can reap more rewards through that way, this inadvertantly creates a society that looks at their fellow citizens as prey and could even break a country. This can however be avoided if we lessen the population."(Ibawarai)
"Then how about expanding the country?"(Kinata)
"You need manpower for expanding a country, in other words people who have food in their bellies can work efficiently, however there may not even be enough food to supply them, and even if they do human greed is boundless as they would want more than they can chew."(Ibawarai)
"And also, expanding territories could incite wars. Lessening the population is an easier way to take care of this problem, but it seems The Divine Church doesn't see that."(Ibawarai)
It took a few minutes for Kinata to process this information but in the end she just accepted it.
"ENOUGH OF THAT TALK!"(Priest)
The Priest shouted this, it was if someone raised the volume of a microphone to the loudest capacity possible.
"Anyway, using you they could increase the influence of their church and if you refused they may have even used me as a hostage."(Ibawarai)
"How could they?!"(Kinata)
A hint of anger appeared on Zail's face, and Kinata exclaimed in anger, but the Priest muttered something.
"Evidence..."(Priest)
The Priest had a gleaming smile because he noticed they did not have any evidence.
"Hm?"(Ibawarai)
"Do you have any evidence?"(Priest)
"Oh, that!"(Ibawarai)
Ibawarai exlaimed playfully as he crossed his legs on his chair with a cynical grin.
"Kinata, did you pick 'that' up?"(Ibawarai)
"Yeah, I've held onto 'that' ever since the incident."(Kinata)
"Do you have 'that' on you?"(Ibawarai)
"Yeah, I have 'that' in my pocket."(Kinata)
As the pair of siblings were talking someone interrupted their conversation.
"What's 'that'"(Tomoyo)
Ibawarai made a bitter smile.
"Pull 'that' out please."(Ibawarai)
What Kinata took from her pocket was a dagger.
"A dagger?"(Tomoyo)
The Priest paled once he saw this dagger.
"Does the crest seem familiar to you?"(Ibawarai)
"T-that idiot!"(Priest)
The Priest seemed to curse the boy who was probably hired to cause this incident, the reason he did so was because the blade of the dagger had the crest of the Divine Church. The reason Kinata has this is because during the incident Zail kicked the dagger towards the direction of Kinata, and when the 'maid' who was supposedly trying to 'help' her master arrived, Zail made eye contact with Kinata and pointed at the weapon secretively to indicate to take the weapon.
"Now then, ready to go empty handed?"(Ibawarai)
Just as I voiced this question 'someone' took the dagger off Kinata and handed it to the Priest.
"Sorry."(???)
Yes. That 'someone' was Tomoyo.
"Wha..?!"(Kinata)
Tomoyo knocked out Kinata with a chop to the neck.
"Aah... I see now... The plan could've worked because I thought you had some degree of authority, but the flaw was that I didn't know."(Zail)
Tomoyo's face is shedding tears, in other words, she doesn't want to do this.
"Tomoyo, your actually a Holy Maiden Of Grand, right?"(Zail)
She gave a grievous nod.
"There were a few clues, for example your status is vastly different from mine, my base status should be higher than your base status if those numbers of your status were true, and also if you can hide your class's level then who's to say you can't hide your status's level. You probably could also even directly alter what's shown, because you're not actually a Priest Of Lucerna, your actually a Priest Of Grand. You probably showed us your fake status early on so we wouldn't feel suspicous of you."(Zail)
"Zail..."(Tomoyo)
"Yes that's correct, however I truly am a priest and holy maiden of Lucerna."(Tomoyo)
"Then why are you doing this?"(Zail)
"Circumstances..."(Tomoyo)
"haha... I see...."(Zail)
Zail gave a dry laugh, then he raised two questions.
"Then are the other children safe?"(Zail)
"Of course they are!"(Tomoyo)
"Oh, and could you give this to Kinata."(Zail)
Zail handed over to Tomoyo a bracelet.
"This is..."(Tomoyo)
Tomoyo knew what it was and what it meant to him, because she was there on the third year Zail was born. Tomoyo recieved it along with Zail's conviction.
"Now then, let's do this."(Zail)
While Zail was calmly losing his consciousness he glanced at the Priest and saw a disgusting smile. At the last strands of his consciousness Zail said two words.
"...Damn it...."(Zail)
