Episode 170

9.

There is no shock greater than being betrayed by someone you trust.

No matter how many tens of thousands of gold Kim Buja poured into shooting another epic drama, the only way to topple a massive mountain was through internal division.

The dam known as the Allied Forces and the Temple, which seemed as if it would never collapse, was supported by tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of commoners and slaves.

Though they lived shackled by a class system, ruled by nobles who made up less than 0.1% of the population, the nobles' power ultimately came from the subjects they exploited.

If the people turned their backs, if a lord's own citizens turned against him, then the mighty power of the Allied Forces and the Temple would crumble like a sandcastle.

That was why he hadn't used "Soul Release: Stage 7." Even though his hands had itched. Even though he had wanted to go on another rampage.

He had made the saintess cast Sanctuary to once again lay bare the temple's ugly truth, had forced the Holy Knights to draw their swords, and had ordered the Imperial Knights to simply stand by and watch.

He had looked away as hundreds of innocent lives were snuffed out as heretics in less than ten minutes, and in the end, he had achieved his goal.

"After going this far, we have to make it count."

Just because he had grown numb, just because he had already taken countless lives, didn't mean it was easy to watch people die.

He simply endured it by focusing on his objective.

He didn't torment himself with guilt, but since he had sacrificed so many for the path ahead, it was his responsibility to ensure their deaths were not meaningless.

So he poured out, without hesitation, the gold he would have spent on Soul Release.

Once again, a short video played across the entire continent for all to see.

A clip less than five minutes long.

It cost him nearly thirty thousand of his reserved mission gold, but it was worth it.

Even if the cost wasn't much different from Soul Release.

Because in those five minutes, not a single second was wasted. The video delivered exactly what he wanted, cleanly and precisely.

He hadn't even edited it. There had been no need.

The footage itself contained all the truth and ugliness required, no cuts necessary.

'Seeing it again like this, those Temple bastards really are complete trash.'

On-site, he had seen and felt the hesitation on the Holy Knights' faces.

The way their swings grew more ruthless had much to do with the despair of having already crossed a river they could not return from.

It wouldn't change anything, but seeing their expressions had at least allowed him to think of them as pitiful fools who had betrayed their own beliefs for the sake of those very beliefs. Yet, when viewed through the video, none of that came through.

It couldn't be helped.

Even though the footage was shot from his first-person perspective, capturing the expressions beneath the Holy Knights' helmets, there was no way the viewers would see it that way.

Over ninety-nine percent of the people who would watch this video weren't Holy Knights or Temple priests; they were the powerless, the same as the victims of the massacre.

They would naturally empathize with those in their own position and view the incident from that angle.

And for them, only one thing in this video mattered.

"The Temple not only framed the saintess and cast her out to protect their own power, but also arbitrarily branded the order created to uphold God's will as heresy and tried to eliminate it without any evidence."

Even that might not matter much.

Orders, denominations, who was the true heir to God's will—none of that resonated with people who had to worry about their next meal.

So, he bundled that truth with another, one they might not care about on its own but would inevitably absorb.

"In the process, the temple's Holy Knights brutally massacred innocent people who had gone to see the saintess, who had gone to follow God's will."

They didn't need any other truths or reasons.

At the very least, the Temple that had once stood on the side of the commoners, helping them while following God's will, no longer existed. All that remained was a Temple that had rotted to the core, one that had seized power and cast aside even the saintess, tying her to the forces of darkness when she tried to stand for the truth.

"The Temple framed an innocent imperial Princess, linking her to black mages and making her the scapegoat for the Empire's fall. Then, when the saintess tried to stand for the truth, they did the same to her, branding her a traitor in God's name and trying to kill her with every torture imaginable. This is part of the groundwork for their collusion with the Allied Forces, a plan to claim the entire continent for themselves—a plan strikingly similar to the methods commonly used by the demon race."

The video said everything he wanted it to. Kim Buja only added one line at the end.

"Does this feel like someone else's problem? When the Empire fell, did you look the other way, tempted by the Allied Forces' promise of a better world? Did you keep your head down, afraid of being branded a black mage? This is no longer someone else's problem. In a continent ruled by black magic and demons, there will be no place for the righteous. Everyone will be nothing but slaves. The demons are already controlling the Allied Forces' leadership through their contractors, and even the Temple has fallen into their hands."

It wasn't exactly something he should be saying while running an organization called the Black Magic Cult, which was more involved with black magic than anyone, but he said it shamelessly anyway.

"Stand and fight. Rise up. If you keep looking away, thinking it's not your turn yet, it won't be long before your family, before you yourself, become the next sacrifices, dying in agony and injustice."

If this were reality—if this were Earth—he probably would have faced a massive backlash.

Even to his own eyes, the situation was a chaotic mess of contradictions.

Right now, the Black Magic Cult, which used black magic while preaching God's will, looked far more suspicious.

Yet it still worked, because this wasn't Earth.

For people too busy scraping by to calmly analyze which faction was good or evil, the only thing that mattered was who was on their side.

And Kim Buja's video targeted that perfectly.

The winds of change were beginning to stir.

[You have completed Chapter 2-2: Reformation.]

And they would blow with absolute certainty.

* * *

"The Temple immediately put out a statement denying everything," the princess reported.

He simply nodded, unruffled. He felt no tremor of fear or anxiety at the temple's swift counterattack.

"This time, it won't go like the last."

Previously, the saintess had walked straight into the Temple of her own accord, allowing them to create a justification for themselves. But this time was different.

Even if the saintess suddenly lost her mind and went back, nothing would change.

The temple's ugly, true face had been exposed for all to see.

Even if no one was willing to risk their life and rise up, the Temple would never be able to escape the suspicious glares directed at them from now on.

In other words, the war had begun.

"Fine by me. Let's fight this until someone drops dead."

There was no reason to avoid this fight.

This was the same fight he'd been waging ever since the Empire fell and he first set foot on this continent.

Only now, after nearly half a year, had he finally managed to build a proper foundation for it.

His heart began to pound again.

While he'd been running Gold Missions on this continent for some time, this chapter marked his first true mission since adopting a new mindset.

Up until now, he had focused purely on mission objectives and rewards, pushing forward without leveraging his own unique style. This chapter was his first attempt to change that.

He'd worried about what would happen if things went wrong—if the Gold Missions ended here—but he had found an answer to that fear and even completed a seemingly impossible task.

More importantly, the overall difficulty of the Gold Missions themselves had decreased.

'If things keep going like this…'

"I hope this whole place collapses as fast as possible."

A new continent.

A continent he would rebuild from scratch.

The very thought sent a thrill through him.

Pushing the thrill aside, he said his goodbyes.

"I'll be back."

With the pressure gone, he felt no hesitation about completing the mission and heading home.

It wasn't that he had no lingering attachment.

Now that the groundwork was laid, there were countless things he could do.

Even in this situation, with the Allied Forces still blanketing the continent, making a name for the Black Magic Cult was as easy as picking up scrap paper off the street.

The only problem was that the efficiency would be terrible.

"I've done enough. They can handle the rest."

To Kim Buja, the continent was nothing more than a playground.

He was too immersed in this game-like reality, and he had far too much to deal with back in the real world.

Most importantly, he was short on the 'bullets' he needed for the game.

"I'll go level up and come back."

He needed to grow stronger to enjoy a more entertaining version of the continent and to steadily carry out the plans he had made.

"I love you, Buja."

Once again, it was a moment of parting.

The imperial princess no longer bothered to hide her feelings. He answered her embrace by gently patting her on the head.

The saintess watched him, her eyes full of unspoken words.

She didn't hesitate, even with the princess there.

"I still don't really understand."

The confusion in her voice was frustrating enough to make his head throb, but the resolve in her eyes was so firm, as if she had already reached her own conclusion, that he simply listened.

"At first, I truly thought you were someone carrying out God's will. Then I began to think perhaps you weren't. I still feel the same way. Honestly, I think you're not more often than I think you are. But…"

'Of course I'm not.'

Even setting aside what he'd said directly to the saintess, everything Kim Buja said on the continent was a bundle of contradictions.

He just said and did whatever came to mind.

Words that didn't align could never earn true trust.

Even so, the saintess had taken his side against the Temple.

She had unfurled her Sanctuary and ignored the people dying within it.

She had realized something.

After spending more than a decade in the Temple, she had finally grasped how filthy and ugly the world's logic truly was.

"I realized that God's will isn't delivered by God, but by humans. Whether it's the Black Magic Cult or the Temple, I don't care, as long as they can use God's will to make the continent—and the people who believe in God—happy."

His plan to control the saintess in God's name had gone off the rails, but in the end, she had still chosen a side.

"Do whatever you want. But if you're not going to cooperate, get out."

Nothing pleasant came from Kim Buja's mouth; he had no reason to be desperate.

"I'll be going, then. Stick to the plan and keep things running smoothly."

"Yes. Just leave it to me."

With the imperial princess nodding so obediently at his side, he had no reason to cling to the saintess.

He handed his preparations over to Kallis and brought the chapter to a close.

* * *

After Kim Buja left, the imperial princess called out to the saintess.

"Seria."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The warm, approachable expression she'd shown Buja had vanished without a trace. Her face was now so cold that just meeting her gaze made Seria's skin sting.

It wasn't because she held any particular grudge against the saintess.

The princess's last year had been far too harsh for her to waste heart-space on petty resentments.

If there was anything special about her, it existed only in front of Kim Buja.

"From now on, we will tour the border kingdoms. We will execute the nobles who exploit their subjects and carry out missionary work."

"…Yes."

Her tone was devoid of emotion. With Buja gone, this was simply a necessary briefing for the person who now had to lead.

"Don't get in the way."

She hadn't held on to the past.

"And don't betray us. You only get forgiven once."

But she hadn't forgotten it, either.

As the bad memories resurfaced, she bit her full lower lip. Her words held no trace of their past friendship.

* * *

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