16. Dissonance
1.
Heretics.
Those are people with different religions from ours.
Our Lien Order has never been particularly hostile towards heretics.
In Eden, there were various deities and we even ford alliances with so of their orders.
It was a natural result since we had a common enemy: the Demon King.
Of course, so fanatics insisted on rejecting heretics and forcing them to convert. So of them even took action.
But those people quickly disappeared without a trace, thanks to the Inquisitors of the Vatican.
That was Lien’s will.
“Faith that stems from coercion and fear is not true faith. It’s just obedience. I do not seek obedience from my children.”
She once told
that.
As her words suggest, our order tended to be considerate of heretics.
So, why am I talking about this now?
"Just give
the location of those heretic bastards’ base. Leo and I will go wipe them out."
"Sir Leventon, that goes against our doctrine. Lien taught us to respect others if we want to be respected. We can’t just reject heretics indiscriminately…"
"Those heretics tried to harm the CEO and the Pope."
“Those bastards. Your Holiness, will you declare a crusade? Archbishop Leo Lun is ready to annihilate the evil heretics on the frontlines of the holy war!”
We were in the middle of a heated discussion in the Pope’s office.
I watched Leo and Luna, who were ready to storm out, and rubbed my forehead. I closed my eyes and said,
“…Please calm down, you’re embarrassing
in front of Mr. Minsu and CEO Choi.”
“Haha! I love their enthusiasm! Can’t we join the crusade too? Let’s wipe out all the religious fanatics while we’re at it!”
“Um, CEO Choi, our Lien Order is also a religious group.”
“Oh, is that so, Mr. Minsu? Then I’ll correct myself to exclude the Lien Order. Let’s get rid of the rest.”
“Thank you. Oh, and I’d like to discuss a potential MiTube content featuring the Goblin Guild. Would that be possible?”
The eting seed hopeless.
One side was calling for a crusade, the other discussing business.
It was a chaotic ss.
I watched the chaos for a mont before smiling gently. Then I nodded slightly.
Bang!
I slamd my fist on the desk.
The effect was imdiate.
The chaotic atmosphere of the office quickly settled down.
Everyone glanced at
cautiously, and Luna spoke up with a sheepish smile.
“Hehe, Your Holiness, why did you do that all of a sudden?”
“You all seem to be doing whatever you want, so I wanted to slam the desk too. Any complaints? If you have any, why don’t you beco Pope?”
“No way. Hehe.”
Luna quickly lowered her voice, sensing my mood.
The others did the sa, adjusting their postures and sitting back in their chairs. I looked at them and continued.
“Anyway, I intend to designate the Baekmyeong Church as our enemy. Any questions?”
Mr. Minsu cautiously spoke up.
“I understand that the Baekmyeong Church is in competition with our order. But when you say ‘enemy,’ you don’t just an a rival, do you?”
“It ans we’ll restrict all interactions with them. The Lien Order cannot coexist with the Baekmyeong Church.”
“It seems like a hasty decision. There’s a possibility we might be misunderstanding them.”
A cautious approach, which might be the right one.
And I understood Mr. Minsu’s point.
So far, the Baekmyeong Church’s actions have been very limited, giving us little basis for judgnt.
I was about to explain when Luna, who had been silent, looked at .
She wanted to explain in my stead.
I nodded, giving her permission. Luna turned to Mr. Minsu and spoke in a softer tone.
“We’re not designating the Baekmyeong Church as an enemy without reason. They’ve already seen us as their enemy, so we’re just responding accordingly. If His Holiness and I had been in worse condition last night, there would have been an incident.”
The thirty mbers Shim Jinkyu brought were highly skilled.
If they had no other intentions, would the Baekmyeong Church have confronted the Goblin Guild?
They would have achieved their goal by dealing with the Goblin Guild if necessary.
Their knowledge of the foreign deity proved that.
But Luna and I were there, so they gave up.
Luna placed her hand on the desk and continued, looking serious.
“If His Holiness perceives them as enemies, that becos the will of the order. His Holiness is Lien’s first apostle and only representative. Understanding His Holiness’ intentions is good, but you shouldn’t doubt them lightly.”
Despite her appearance, Luna is a prophet and holds a high rank in our order, well-versed in our doctrines.
Hearing Luna speak like this made her seem more like a clergyman.
Mr. Minsu bowed his head and answered.
“I apologize.”
“There’s no need to apologize. Brother Minsu’s caution will one day be a great asset to the order. And besides…”
She paused and suddenly took Mr. Minsu’s hand, smiling.
“You’re handso, Brother Minsu, so that’s enough. You might not know the doctrines now, but we’ll teach you. Right, Your Holiness?”
“Why did you have to bring that up?”
“I heard Brother Minsu is not only handso but also capable. Isn’t that right? Where else can we find such an excellent new mber?”
…Yeah, expecting piety from Luna was foolish of .
I sighed deeply, shaking my head at Luna.
“eting adjourned.”
I’m never having a eting with this group again.
2.
“This way.”
After the eting, we moved to a different location.
Not far, just from the Pope’s office inside the temple to the consecration room outside.
The consecration room contained the Sacred Stone bracelets Leo had consecrated overnight, already numbering five hundred.
Leo must have been consecrating them in his spare ti.
The effectiveness of the Sacred Stone bracelets exceeded my expectations.
Made by converting top-grade magic stones into Sacred Stones, the results were beyond expectations.
[Sacred Stone Bracelet]
Item Type: Accessory – Bracelet
Maker: Leo Lun
Description: A bracelet made from a piece of top-grade Sacred Stone. Consecrated by Archbishop Leo Lun of the Lien Order, it boasts excellent efficacy. It greatly enhances the wearer’s natural recovery and increases the divine power level by 1 for players with divine power.
The system’s description was vague.
But I could roughly guess the bracelet’s effects.
Minor wounds would disappear within half a day, and chronic illnesses would show improvent.
Even,
“Your Holiness. Is it true that this bracelet…”
“Yes, it even helps with hair loss.”
A cure for baldness, a long-standing incurable affliction for humanity.
Its efficacy had already been proven in Eden.
Despite the small amount of Sacred Stone embedded in it, the top-grade Sacred Stone worked wonders.
“Pope Kim, may I try one?”
CEO Choi, who had been observing the bracelet with interest, asked.
I nodded imdiately.
“Of course.”
“Then.”
CEO Choi put the bracelet on his right wrist.
Monts later,
Hummm-.
The Sacred Stone’s divine power flowed into CEO Choi’s body.
Usually, it doesn’t react so dramatically, but it responded to CEO Choi’s vast magical power.
“Huh.”
CEO Choi let out a small exclamation. He then drew on his magic to create a small wound on his left hand.
Naturally, the wound vanished in the blink of an eye.
“This is far superior to the potions made by charlatan alchemists. It’s amazing.”
“Your recovery rate is exceptional, CEO Choi. It maximizes the wearer’s healing ability.”
“Does it work on ordinary people too?”
“Yes, but they won’t experience the sa level of effect as you.”
“Even so, it’s a remarkable item. No, a relic, you called it? Even renowned artisans couldn’t make sothing like this.”
“The effect isn’t permanent. Once the Sacred Stone’s divine power is exhausted, it becos an ordinary bracelet. The more it’s used for healing, the quicker it depletes. For severe injuries, it can only delay worsening temporarily.”
“Even so, it’s revolutionary.”
CEO Choi nodded in satisfaction, looking at his healed hand.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t think I can help distribute this item.”
About to express my surprise, CEO Choi grabbed my hand with shining eyes.
“If you don’t have a sales outlet, we’ll buy the entire stock.”
“All of it?”
“This equipnt can improve players’ survival rates. That alone makes it valuable.”
I knew healing players were scarce.
I had hoped the ergence of divine power players would resolve this shortage, but CEO Choi didn’t see it that way.
“It’s been less than a week since divine power players appeared. Not all of them have healing abilities like you, Pope Kim.”
“That’s true.”
“So until the divine power players’ skills improve, healing abilities will remain scarce.”
“As partners, we can give you so for free.”
CEO Choi shook his head firmly.
“The closer the relationship, the more important it is to handle finances properly. And such valuable items shouldn’t be given away for free.”
The top-grade Sacred Stone ca from a magic stone mine, and the bracelets were made cheaply by the ister Guild.
So, I didn’t intend to sell them expensively…
“One hundred million won per bracelet. How about it?”
…until now.
Did I hear that wrong?
“One hundred million won per bracelet. We’ll buy the entire stock. And we’d like to receive all future production as well.”
“There are five hundred bracelets.”
“Fifty billion won. As soon as we sign the contract, I’ll transfer the amount to the Lien Order’s account.”
Fifty billion won.
An amount I had never encountered before.
For a large guild leader, it might be a manageable amount, but to , it was staggering.
“Oh.”
My eyes opened wide.
Why had I only thought of selling to the general public?
That strategy was flawed from the start.
The gold mine was right in front of , yet I was looking elsewhere.
“CEO Choi.”
“Yes, Pope Kim?”
“Congratulations again on joining the Lien Order. Now, shall we get down to business?”
Faith alone cannot sustain an order.
It seems our order has received a distinguished guest.
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