Heroes and Machine Girls Looking at Profiles - Chapter 72



72 – Deepening valley

After dispatching troops to Gerhilde’s orphanage, Pope Francis of the Goddess Church set out again to provide relief to those affected by the war.

After returning to the Great Church after completing one tour, she was busy with her worries about the deepening rift with the Empire, while at the same time making contact with other countries for the relocation of her Great Church.

In the meantime, a rumor suddenly reached her ears.

Squadron warrior, Hans.

It is rumored that his death was actually caused by the betrayal committed by the three warriors in the party who were with him.

In other words, it is said that Siela Frost, a saint of the Goddess Church and a member of the warrior party, also participated in the betrayal.

As the story came from the Demon King’s army, its credibility was low, but it was clear that it was a fact that could not be ignored.

Even if it was assumed to be true, there was a surprisingly understandable aspect to it, so those who believed the rumor began to appear even within the church.

Didn’t even Goddess Erdiya say this?

No more heroes can be given out.

Could it be that this is revenge on the people who drove the hero he gave to death?

In addition, there was one more suspicious fact.

This is the movement of the devil’s army.

The Demon King’s army was invading only the Halfas Empire and Cloeti Kingdom as targets.

This is a fact that has been mentioned since their declaration of war, and they even came to sign a non-aggression pact with other countries or magic towers.

And the three warrior party members mentioned as the ones who caused the death of the warrior Hans were currently the crown princesses of the Halfas Empire.

…It even made me wonder if there was some kind of intervention by Goddess Erdiya in the movements of the Demon King’s army.

Of course, it was a blasphemous thought, so I immediately erased that part from my mind, but it wasn’t a situation where I could just sit back and watch the situation.

Pope Francesca accepted the opinions of those around her and immediately requested that the warrior party members be sent to the Archdiocese.

The reason was to immediately secure the identities of the three people and initiate a fact-finding investigation.

But the empire rejected it.

The reason was that they were the crown princess and that they could not be given away due to such baseless rumors.

Because it was a valid reason, the church instead requested at least the identity of Saint Siella.

Since she had not yet been stripped of her status as a saint of the Goddess Cult, she was still a member of the Goddess Cult.

However, the Empire refused to even hand over Siela Frost.

Of course, the reason was her disappearance, but the church continued to be in conflict with the empire without informing them of the fact.

But as if adding fuel to the fire, another problem arose.

From noble mtl dot com

An attack by a cult occurred on a facility within the empire managed by the Goddess Church.

If this is all, it won’t be a big problem.

It was not the first time that the Goddess Church had conflict with the religious fanatics.

The problem was the testimony of a female goddess believer who escaped the attack.

The place was managed by the Goddess Church, but since it was an important facility within the empire, the imperial guards were also guarding the place.

So, the members of the Goddess Church were responsible for internal management, and the imperial guards were responsible for external security.

However, the security was suddenly breached and religious fanatics came rushing inside.

Some of the believers of the Goddess Church were killed in a sudden attack, and the rest were somehow able to escape with their lives preserved.

What they saw as they escaped was the problem.

A scene where the Imperial Guard is with fanatic believers.

Their appearance was definitely not that of guards blocking fanatic believers.

In other words, the Imperial Guard deliberately let fanatic believers into the facility.

After securing the survivor’s testimony, the Goddess Church immediately protested to the empire.

At first, the empire immediately put up flippers, but it eventually got to the point where it ignored the continued protests.

A historic facility that is still under investigation and is full of the legacy of the old goddess religion.

The Goddess Church placed great importance on it and began excavation work with great care, but they could not afford to be stabbed like this.

‘It was a mistake… We should have strengthened security on this side at a time when the conflict with the empire deepened…’

Of course, if you preemptively dispatched the Holy Knights to be on guard against the imperial army, you never know what might be caught by the empire.

However, it was better to be caught than to be taken away like this.

“Send the 2nd Holy Knights. We have to get that facility back somehow!”

At Francesca’s order, the 2nd Holy Knights, which surpassed the 1st Holy Knights in size alone, moved to recapture the ruins facility.

“…I see, this is a facility that was jointly managed by the Goddess Church and the Empire…”

Iola, a fanatical believer and mage, said this while looking at the inside of the goddess ruins with interest.

Beside her, the hero Kenji, who had healed her body before she knew it, was standing as if guarding her.

The warrior was moving like a bodyguard, but there was no questioning that fact anymore.

It has always been like this, and now it seems like it will always be like this.

Those who viewed Iola with suspicion also deserted the warrior party, were taken prisoner in battle, or went missing.

The ruins remained relatively cleaner than other ruins.

Even the stone statue of the goddess Erdiya, which appeared to be quite old and stood in the middle of the ruins, was neatly erected and showed off its majesty as if it had been well maintained.

“Hmm… It’s an ordinary ruin that doesn’t look like anything special on the outside.”

When Prince Freud heard about this relic, she was interested in the reason why the goddess religion placed such importance on it.

So she begged the crown prince for some strange reason, ‘for the sake of the hero’, and came all the way to these ruins…

‘Is it just the Dain ruins that remain clean…?’

There is nothing special about it except that it is much more cleanly preserved than other ruins.

Of course, believers of the Goddess Church would consider it important, but to her, a believer of the Zealot Church, it is nothing more than a ruin.

Moreover, the timing of the raid was particularly bad, and Iola grumbled at the thought that she had given the order for the raid.

She was so angry at the thought that Goddess Kyo might dispatch the Holy Knights that she wondered if she would be scraped to pieces.

Iola looked up at the goddess statue in the center of the ruins.

The believers must have taken good care of the statue during the excavation of the ruins, so even though it was an old goddess statue, it still sparkled.

Iola, feeling bad for nothing, gave orders to her own subordinates, the believers.

“This statue feels bad, doesn’t it? Let’s destroy it.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, if we destroy it, it will be a good example for the idiots from the Goddess Church who will come later.”

Fanatical believers bring explosives at Iola’s orders.

Seeing them installing explosives on the goddess statue, Ola twisted the corner of her mouth and laughed.

After a while, the explosives exploded enough to shake the facility, and Iola laughed as she thought about the statue of the goddess being shattered.

“Huh?”

However, Iola was shocked by the appearance of the stone statue that appeared in the explosion.

Although her goddess statue was slightly sooted, she was standing unharmed.

“You guys! Didn’t you get the amount of explosives wrong?”

“Oh…No…That’s strange…?”

In response to Iola’s rebuke, the believers brought more explosives.

And the Goddess Statue still stands intact after the explosion.

This time, since Iola was also watching the installation of many explosives, she did not reprimand the believers.

It is true that this goddess statue is strange.

“Hero, can I ask you a favor?”

Hearing Ola’s words, the warrior Kenji nodded her head and drew her sword.

Quaaang!!

A warrior’s strike.

A slash with such force that it spread a shock wave comparable to an explosion struck the goddess statue.

But the goddess statue is still in good condition.

Raised her face and frowned, and as if reacting to it, the warrior Kenji raised his sword again and struck the statue of her goddess.

Bam!! Bang!! Bang!!

The historic site shook and dust rose from the impact.

How many more attacks did the goddess statue have?

After receiving a blow to the goddess statue from the hero Kenji’s grasp that caused blood to burst out, cracks began to appear in the statue.

And then, the statue of the goddess split along the crack and collapsed.

Seeing the statue of the goddess collapsing, Iola clicked her tongue.

‘It’s a really eerie stone statue…’

As Iola turned around with those thoughts in mind, the voice of her believer reached her ears.

“Iola!! Look here!!”

Just as he was about to leave, Iola became slightly annoyed by the believer’s voice calling him.

She looked back with an annoyed expression, but then her eyes widened.

“This…What is this again…?”

The statue of the goddess collapsed.

This was because, through a slightly visible gap beneath it, a hole appeared that seemed to lead underground.

“Commander! This is an order to dispatch troops!”

“Huh…? Hey…I’m about to eat now…”

A woman was about to prepare a meal in front of her, but her hand stopped.

She looked up at her own adjutant who had come to call her with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“This is an order from the Pope himself! He orders you to send troops to the western part of the Halfas Empire right now!!”

“West of the Imperial Territory? Why there?”

“…The order is here.”

She took the letter handed to her by her lieutenant, took it out, and read it.

As she read, her expression gradually hardened.

After a while, she stopped eating and stood up, her expression changed greatly.

Her expression full of fighting spirit was trembling, as if she was hiding her excitement.

“The enemy are heretics, tell everyone to prepare for a sortie.”

“…Power will be available within 10 minutes.”

The adjutant also answered with her expression completely changed.

‘Less pagans’

With those words, she immediately stopped what everyone under her was doing and began preparing for her departure.

2Nd Holy Knights.

There is probably no one within the Goddess Church who knows more about fanaticism than these people.

An order of knights created by those who have been harmed by the cult, specializing in fighting against the cult.

When the order to dispatch troops was given, they went out like a gust of wind.