Chapter 235 - High Priest

Valdel was forced to hand over Zwei and Nika to one of the acolytes. Though they protested and told Valdel that they could take their human form to accompany him, Valdel denied their offer. He didn't want to do something like that since the people from the temple told him to come alone. Aside from that, he didn't need weapons in the temple of Justice. 

These people blessed by the Goddess of Justice Tiditte were people radiating a feeling of unwavering Justice.

They the harbingers of Justice have always done things that coincide with what they think was righteous. But more than that they followed their Goddess's words almost to the letter. Last time in the war a thousand years ago, the Temple of Justice, War, and Death. Didn't join the war against the demons. 

The Goddess Tiditte's reason was that the demons were not in the wrong, but they weren't in the right either, the same could be said with the humans. She claimed that there is no justice to be found in that war, nor in any war for that matter. 

But unknown to them the truth was slightly different. Even though Tiditte truly believes that her followers shouldn't join any wars since there really was no justice to be found. She had another reason for not joining the war. She had known of Demon Lord Kretos past incarnations. Since he and one other were the only ones that were not bound by the cycle of death and rebirth of any universe. It was easy for her to figure out that the Kretos was the reincarnation of her adoptive father. 

The true reason she didn't want to help the other Gods in fighting the Demon Lord was because of her knowledge of Kretos being her former father. Also aside from that, she knew, that if nothing on the level of a God were to join the fight everyone else would simply lose. 

That's how her father and his past incarnations were like, those people were the beast of the battlefield. Everything on the battlefield was their prey, none were truly worthy. So it came to no surprise that Kretos was able to subjugate the entire continent. It also came to no surprise to her that in the end Kretos was betrayed and he died in battle. 

It was almost the same for every incarnation they never die due to old age, but they die while fighting.

...

The high priest was a rather old man, he was already ninety years old this year. Usually, he would've been long dead if not for the blessings of the Goddess of Justice. Because of her blessing not only was the high priest alive and strong, he also looked no older than a thirty-year-old man.

He looked at Valdel who had entered his office with interest. Before the boy came to him the Goddess of Justice Tiditte spoke to him in one of his dreams. He said that Valdel was under the protection of someone far greater than her, but told him to not fret for she and that mysterious being were allies. 

The high priest wondered who could this mysterious ally be. Tiditte was an ancient Goddess and her rank among the Gods was rather high, for someone of her level to admit that someone was greater than her, was rather surprising. 

...

The high priest who was sitting on a chair, his hand placed on the table in front of him gestured for Valdel to sit down. A nearby acolyte placed a bottle of water in front of Valdel. Once Valdel was properly accommodated the high priest spoke. 

"Welcome to the Temple of Justice. I am Cetro the high priest of the temple of Justice."

"Greetings Sir High Priest, I am Valdel a newly appointed Knight of the Reschbeauch Kingdom. I have come here to request for aid." 

"There's no need to call me Sir High Priest, just Cetro is enough. As for your request for aid, we cannot help you in a war for there is no justice to be found in war. But we can help you find your friend. Our great Goddess, the Goddess of Justice has explicitly told us to accept any form of aid you would need, all except for that of war. So if your wish is to find your friend, from here on out we would do our best to find him." 

Hearing what the high priest said made Valdel shake his head. "Sir Cetro, I have no wish for you to involve yourself in war, nor do I have any wish for you to find my friend. If Ren wanted to come back, he would be able to do so anytime he wanted. In fact, I believe the reason that Ren hasn't return is because he's having too much fun wherever he is. Still, no matter what he's doing... It would most probably be beneficial to the people of Reschbeauch, even if it wasn't his intention. Also, I don't think for one second that there's something out there that could hold my friend down." 

Valdel spoke fondly of Ren, which made Cetro even more curious. Though Cetro was curious about Valdel and his mysterious backer, he was also equally curious about the person called Ren. From the reports given to him by various sources including the holy maiden Natasha. Ren was a special existence. 

At first, he thought that Ren was just a uniquely gifted person. But then the moment he was lost and the kingdom of Reschbeauch couldn't find him. Even the great Goddess spoke to him in his dream, in worry for the young man. 

He was sure that the aid Valdel would want would be regarding finding this young man. Yet he was neither here to request for aid to war nor to aid him in the search of his friend.

"So what is your request? If it isn't for war or for your friend, then what do you want us to help you with?"

Valdel smiled hearing Cetro's question. 

"Someone once told me that a war happened a thousand years ago. In that war, the humans claimed that they were in the right, while their enemy was evil. Even those that remember that war thinks so. But the person who told me this story said that it is the victors that write history, no matter if it is true or false. He told me the truth of that war, and it turns out the humans were in the wrong, while the evil enemy had the right to retaliate."

Cetro nodded his head in agreement, unlike the other temples that had a record of that event. The temple of Justice, War, and Death all had a different record than that of the other temples. In the other temples, the record of that war claimed that Demon Lord Kretos was a cruel evil being. But in the records of the three temples, Demon Lord Kretos was depicted as someone who was forced to war, due to the aggressiveness of humans.

"I only wish that you help me find out if the demons this time around, are truly evil. You who claim to move for the sake of Justice, surely you would do so without any biases. I just want to know why they're doing all of these things. Why had they infiltrated human society, what are their plans, is it truly for war? I just want to know, so that I can make the right decision." The high priest looked at Valdel for a while and then nodded his head. 

"If that is your request then we shall help you."