The silence inside the tent feels heavier than the strongest gravitational magic Aurea could ever pull off.
The layers of sound barriers around the tent only contributed to making the silence even more deafening. For so instants, even the breathing stopped.
Then Urraca shattered it.
"This is a holy crusade for the goddess, called up by your church. We ca from our hos, all the way here under the assumption that she would bless us and be at our side while we fought powerless heretics. And then it turns out..."
Though her voice was icy cold and not too high, her semblance and the way she pointed a finger to Flavia’s face belied her anger.
"And then it turns out that they have the full support of a whole new goddess on her side, while we have what? Nothing! Where is the goddess’ blessing? Why isn’t she fighting with us in the sa way Lillian is fighting with them?"
"She sent us."
Flavia answered her with a monotone voice and a bored look.
"Yes. She sent you. And what good were you? You three were absolutely useless there. The three of you! And where is the goddess now? Did she really think that just sending you was enough?"
"We are powerful enough."
"Then show that power of yours! Where is it?"
Livia tried to put so words between the two bickering won.
"We destroyed their wall. Which is already more than what your asly troops were able to do."
"Livia’s right. We did our part. The fact that you got cornered and outmaneuvered by the enemy doesn’t rest on our shoulders."
"Yeah, because we are up against a literal goddess. And tell , since when did you three know about it?"
"..."
"So you ca down here already in the know that they had a goddess on their side."
"Yes."
"And yet, even knowing that, the goddess chose to send you three, instead of coming herself or at least boosting our strength."
"Yes."
In the commotion, Urraca didn’t even notice that she had stood up and was standing in front of the trio of angels. After that last confirmation, she got back to her chair and sat down.
The other people present in the room were still too shocked to say a word and could only watch the whole convo helplessly.
"Right. We’re retreating right now."
"No."
"You can’t."
"There’s no way."
The three imdiately opposed her decision to retreat.
"Huh? Are you kidding ? I’m not serving the n under my command on a silver platter for those beasts to slaughter. I don’t care if you are the envoys of the goddess or not. I’m out, and I’m pulling these n out."
"The orders are for you to crush the enemy. No other course of action will be tolerated."
Urraca’s voice got even lower and colder than before as she leaned forward again, her eyes locked onto Flavia.
"Listen here, little shit. I hate that Aurea chick more than anyone else here. I would love nothing more than to spill her guts and use her intestines to hang her mother on the gallows. But I know a losing fight when I see one. And that is not a battle anymore. It’s a full-fledged massacre. And I won’t simply stand and watch the faithful of your fucking goddess die like flies because said goddess is too lazy to get her ass here and fight with us. So, I would be much obliged if you took your orders and shoved them up your divine asses."
After saying those words, Urraca stands up and makes a gesture of going for the tent’s entrance, but the three angels also stand up and block her way.
"I don’t care about the lives of your so-called... Huh?"
Suddenly, the three froze, as if they were hearing sothing unexpected, and shifted their attention from the princess of Castro.
"What? Soone ate your tongue or sothing?"
"Shhh!"
The three started to silently nod and look at each other, as if they were talking with soone inside their heads.
"Juno just talked to us. You’re free to go. We’ll do this ourselves."
"Who the hell is Juno?"
"You don’t even know the na of the goddess you serve?"
It’s the angels’ ti to be startled. But Urraca just crosses her arms and looks at the High Bishop.
"Now that you ask about it, I was being too hasty. There’s soone else with so explanations to do before we depart. Your Excellency, would you please start by enlightening us about that na conundrum?"
The High Bishop was until this mont just staring blankly at the nothingness. Urraca’s question startles him, and he blinks a couple of tis, processing the question.
"Huh? Ah... Oh. Yeah, about that... The goddess’ na is a secret privy only to the higher echelons of the priesthood."
"What, so you guys at the Church never told your people the glorious na of Juno, goddess of tyranny?"
"No... Wait, what? Goddess of tyranny? Even I don’t know anything about that one."
This ti every person in the tent is caught off guard, and the silence that follows is more of embarrassnt than anything else.
"So you priests have secrets within secrets within secrets, even among your ranks. I wonder what else you were hiding from the general public."
Between Flavia’s and Urraca’s remarks, the Bishop barely has any ti to breathe and get his thoughts straight.
"Your Excellency, The Most Reverend Hlothar, High Bishop of Essendia, please answer honestly. Oh, better, swear over the holy book you carry that you are going to give the truthful answer, with the three angels here as witnesses of your sacrilege if you fail to comply."
Urraca’s voice tone, which had beco a bit lighter in the last monts, darkens again. Hlothar quickly takes the book in his hand and speaks.
"I swear over the sacred words of Juno, the one and only goddess of this world."
"Has Juno been absent from the world during the last few years?"
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