CH 356

Kiel was going up the second set of stairs, behind the platform.

"Ah, so he's our new pope."

"I heard he killed more than ten thousand monsters in an instant."

"God hasn't abandoned us yet then."

Not a single person was using the 'apprentice' suffix.

Kiel looked slightly miffed, wondering just how the news had been relayed to the people.

But he was standing so far away that no one could see his frowning brow.

Many people in the crowd still had the vivid image of Kiel rushing to save the city, his gilded robes shining behind him.

Everyone rejoiced at the arrival of their new savior.

The platform had been modeled after the temple in Theomenia.

There were a set of stairs in front of him as well, which the crowd gathered around to look at Kiel. The cardinals stood at the edge of those stairs and knelt.

"Time to pray to our God of Creation Elmea to bless our new Pope Apprentice!!"

"Okay."

Kiel went down on one knee and the cardinals placed the pope's crown on his head.

He soon heard the cheers and shouts of gratitude from the crowd.

He could feel how much they appreciated his help, and he felt something warm gathering in his eyes.

"I see, so this is how this should feel like."

Dogora looked at the crowd after vehemently refusing to strike a pose in public, his rear still slightly burned.

Dogora felt like he had seen something similar before.

It reminded him of the time they went through the S Rank Dungeon, and the crowd that gathered around the building in its entrance.

He felt like everyone had been looking at Digragni, Merle in her cool pose, and Admiral Galara with the other dwarves.

Dogora had barely helped during the fight, so he felt very out of place.

But now he did not have such reservations, he knew he had played a key part this time.

Hearing the grateful shouts and cheers, seeing the happy crowd, Dogora felt like this was simply the natural answer.

He began smiling, thinking of his future exploits and how much attention he would garner as well.

'It can only get better from now on.'

"Yeah, you said it."

Dogora answered Freya, who spoke through the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi.

She did not sound like she would do anything more for the time being.

She could feel that her apostle truly kept their promise in his heart at all times.

Then a cardinal addressed the crowd with a speech.

It went for five minutes, then five minutes more, and Allen began to feel like it was getting stale by then.

"Our God of Creation Elmea treats everyone fairly, so…"

(I know, I know. Can you just get to the important parts already? We all know Elmea is great and all that.)

Then someone ignored the cardinal's next words, pushing her way through the holy knights and running to the base of the stairs.

"That's a lie. You're all oppressing the followers of Gushara's Sacred Teachings!!"

A mother with a child in her arms shouted from the crowd.

The coronation ceremony that was supposed to give hope to Niel changed appearance the instant that mother shouted.

The cardinals and Kiel looked down at the mother from atop the platform.

"Wh-what was that?"

Kiel looked lost and confused.

He was still on one knee, but he raised his head to see what was happening down there.

"Lord Kiel, please help me! My child doesn't have enough to eat!!"

She sounded like she was pleading for her life.

"What?! What do you think you're doing interrupting this ceremony! Guards, what's taking so long!!"

This was an important ceremony to instate a new pope apprentice.

Such an event happened only once every few decades.

A cardinal shouted to the guards below the stairs.

They approached the mother holding her child, trying to drag her away from the square.

She kept trying to desperately get Kiel's attention while she was dragged by the guards.

"Wait! Release the mother!!"

Kiel finally spoke loudly, his voice heard through the entire square, and the guards obeyed.

He then descended the stairs, the pope crown still on his head.

"Ohh, the pope is coming down!"

"He's still so young, but already did so much for our country."

"Thank you, thank you so much…"

"I'm not the pope! I'm just the pope apprentice!!"

So far Kiel had remained above the platform, making him too small for the crowd to really see much of him, but now that he went down, mutterings began to spread through the crowd, while at the same time they appeared more emotional.

The crown was on his head too, so he looked just like the pope.

"My lord…"

The mother was also moved seeing him descend the stairs.

"So, what's the issue? Wait, huh? I feel like I've seen you before… Ah, it was back then…"

Kiel realized that this woman was the same mother that had answered when Allen asked "Are there any followers of the Evil Cult here?", saying "It's not the Evil Cult, it's called Gushara's Sacred Teachings!!"

The guards had let go of her already, so she ran back to the stairs where Kiel was.

Kiel descended down to the fifth stair from the ground, and the mother also went up a few stairs, so their interaction was largely visible by the crowd.

She grasped the hem of his robes, pleading for something desperately.

Kiel listened attentively to everything she said.

Allen's party also went down a few stairs to watch that interaction from closer.

(I see. So they've been giving the followers of Elmea's Church priority during the crisis.)

Allen had already understood what the mother was complaining about.

Niel was currently filled with many refugees from Theomenia and other cities.

There were also the original residents of Niel there.

Since the country was under such heavy attack, the economy had crashed and there was not enough food for everyone.

It had only been around a month since the distress signal had been sent to the rest of the world.

The aid from other countries would take a bit longer to arrive.

They had received a large amount of resources from Rosenheim, but that was still not enough to feed everyone there, though Rosenheim's Queen had promised a second and third delivery were on the way.

It would still take some time before those were ready though, so now the mother faced the issue of her child growing thin and famished.

Allen turned to look at the cardinal, who turned away awkwardly.

He could guess plenty with that alone.

They still had reserves from the supplies sent by Rosenheim, but it was being heavily rationed, since their future was still rather unsafe.

The entire country had been ravaged, and there was no solid assurance that they would keep receiving support.

On top of that, they prioritized those following Elmea's Church when handing out the rations.

That led to the followers of the Evil Cult, which had sparked the entire crisis, to be left to fend for themselves, and they were hardly pulling through.

"Please, I beg you, help me. I don't care what happens to me, just keep my child safe!!"

She knelt until her face hit the stairs. The child looked clearly thinner than when they first saw them a month before.

Seeing that reminded Kiel of his famished sisters and servants, back when he first entered the Academy and had not met Allen yet.

Seeing that, Kiel slowly surveyed the crowd.

Then he shouted loudly.

"Are there more of you? Is there anyone else who needs help? Any followers of Gushara's Sacred Teachings?!"

Slowly people from a group isolated in one side of the crowd began to warily raise their hands.

It seemed like everyone who had joined the Evil Cult had been corralled in one place.

Allen's party had worked as hard as they could to save the Holy Land.

Thanks to that, there were many cultists who had survived without turning into Pagan Worshippers.

Kiel turned to look at Allen.

Even with all the resources Allen stockpiled in his Inventory, feeding five thousand people was impossible.

Maybe it was best to ask the cardinal to increase the rations given out to them.

But Kiel did not feel like that would solve the issue at hand, Allen thought the same.

There was a complex conflict between the church and the cultists.

The Holy Land, Clebeur, and Carvaluna, had all suffered greatly at the hands of the Demon King's Army.

Everyone also knew Gushara had been a Demon Great General, a key figure in the Demon King's Army.

There was hardly anyone who was willing to show any support to the remaining surviving cultists.

Allen desperately tried to decide what was the right course of action, while the mother continued pleading to Kiel.

She was not only limited on food, but even her time allowed in the church when needing medical help was restricted.

Apparently Elmea's Church was slowly tightening their grip on them.

That was what pushed her to call out for help, even though there was a crowd of a hundred thousand watching.

Everyone who raised their hand looked at Kiel, their eyes making clear they wanted help.

Some of them looked desolate even.

"Master Allen."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Maybe we could move them there? To the island we obtained recently?"

"Huh?"

Sophie raised her voice.

She was referring to the floating island where they fought Gushara, which Allen had been thinking of using for his Plan to Destroy the Demon King's Army Stronghold.

They had already contacted Admiral Galara, and he had agreed to dispatch a unit of Magic Engineer dwarves.

"I'm sure that island could provide ample housing for them."

"Wait, have you been thinking about this a lot then?"

"Of course. We do need people for other matters as well. I'm sure we can sort out the details afterwards."

Sophie had been quite shocked when Allen mentioned his Plan to Destroy the Demon King's Army Stronghold.

She kept complaining, mentioning how they had just obtained an incredible means to move through the entire world.

(Wait? Wouldn't that be the best solution actually? I keep getting saved by my friends all the time lately.)

There were all the impoverished cultists, the floating island, Dogora's exhausted state, and Freya who required more followers.

Allen felt like all the pieces were slowly falling into place and painting a cohesive picture in his mind.

He looked at Sophie who had decided to present her opinion unprompted for the first time, then at Dogora who had fought so fiercely for the first time.

Allen felt like his friends had done a lot of the hard work to solve the Pagan Worshipper crisis.

"I see, you're right. That really is the only option."

"Yes, thank you so much for listening to me."

Allen had come to a conclusion, and Sophie bowed to him, leaving him to take care of the rest.

He had realized the potential of letting them live on the island, all with Sophie's mention of the place.

They were impoverished and persecuted as heretics.

There were five thousand of them there, so it was possible that there were still more than ten thousand cultists in the entire continent.

They had lived throughout the entire continent, considering how spread out the streaks of light had been.

The island was big enough to house many tens of thousands of people.

Allen could already see the optimal solution.

He still needed to talk about it with one more person though.

He turned around and headed towards Dogora who stood a few steps behind.

Dogora looked at him with suspicion, wondering what he wanted, but Allen wanted to speak with someone else.

"Lady Freya."

Allen softly whispered into the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi fastened to Dogora's back.

The Divine Artifact had lost its red glow right after Dogora's rear had been burnt, looking just like regular iron.

Since Freya had lost so much Divine Power, she could not keep the Divine Artifact ablaze.

'Hm? What do you need?'

She responded to Allen's words.

Freya was still in her temple in the Divine Realm.

But she could use the Divine Artifact to carry her voice.

"How powerful would Kagutsuchi become if you were to gain ten thousand followers?"

"Hey, wait. Wait wait wait wait!"

Kiel overheard Allen's question, and realized what he was planning.

'Oh? What are you getting at?'

But the Goddess of Fire Freya did not quite understand yet.

"As you can see, there's a multitude of people here who have all lost their deity."

'A-are you telling the truth?!'

Allen's grin slowly turned more and more cunning.

Meanwhile Freya was rather surprised, but seemed to be on board.