Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 321

A voice, deep and powerful, BOOMED in Ilia’s mind: “A turning point of fate… The time has come… Awaken!”

“Gasp!” Ilia’s eyes flew open. She sat up quickly, her heart racing. She realized she had fallen asleep kneeling in prayer. Dusty sunlight streamed through the high window of the prayer room, making the air thick with golden light.

She had been praying all night because of the chaos in the Order lately. She must have been too tired to stay awake.

‘How disrespectful of me,’ she thought, feeling ashamed.

Ilia quickly sat up straight and smoothed her white robes.

She was about to offer another prayer of repentance before the statue of Amun, the god of the sea and change, whom she served, when—

“Huh…?”

Her body felt strangely light.

From her past experiences, she knew that falling asleep while kneeling in prayer should have left her body aching and stiff. Instead, she felt as refreshed as if she had slept soundly for days.

“What is…?”

Though bewildered, she couldn’t help but smile faintly.

A good physical condition naturally lifted one’s spirits.

“God, thank you.”

She thought that the god had answered her overnight prayers.

However, as she gave thanks to the god, the voice that had echoed in her mind at the end vividly resurfaced.

‘Then that voice is…?’

A voice she had never heard before. Yet, it felt somehow familiar, a voice she longed to hear.

She felt as though she had had a long and important conversation with the owner of that voice in her dreams, but the content eluded her. Only a few words remained, etched deep within her mind as if they must never be forgotten.

“A turning point of fate, the time has come? Prepare for change?”

She muttered to herself as if in a daze, but it still felt vague.

However, one thing was certain: beneath the sacred light, she had felt an immense sense of comfort.

“Could it be…?”

Buzz.

At that moment, the sacred mark etched on her right shoulder began to vibrate faintly, as if confirming her guess. The divine power spreading out with far greater density than usual further solidified her conviction.

“A divine revelation… Oh, dear…”

She was endlessly moved, and just as much distressed.

She felt she didn’t understand the god’s message well because she wasn’t good enough.

With a piercing and painful realization, Ilia once again looked at the statue and offered a prayer.

“To my lord, who embraces all things…”

But then.

– Archbishop Ilia, the meeting will begin soon.

A voice knocked on the door of the prayer room.

The murmuring voices around her were already familiar. More than that, her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the divine revelation she had failed to fully grasp.

She was sure she had heard many words, but all that remained in her mind were a few uncertain terms. And one thing that remained as a vivid image was the color ‘red.’

To her, it felt extremely ominous.

‘Something big is happening, or has happened, in the world?’

Even the simplest divine message was confusing to her, so she couldn’t rashly claim to have received a divine revelation.

Of course, even if she did, would the corrupt cardinals who were the former Pope’s henchmen even accept it?

Reaching that point in her thoughts, she sighed again.

Just then, a familiar voice echoed in her ear.

“What are you so worried about, Ilia?”

“Ah… Cardinal Tracy.”

A middle-aged woman, dressed in pure white robes like herself, smiled and greeted her.

“On this important day, you seemed so worried that I spoke to you first. Sorry if I interrupted your thoughts, Ilia.”

Her warm words, as comforting as her smile, soothed Ilia’s troubled heart, if only slightly.

“Ah, no. It’s just that I have many concerns, as it is an important day. But you seem at ease, Cardinal.”

“What worries could I have, now that I’ve just become a cardinal? I simply trust and follow Austin and Ilia.”

Tracy’s warm smile instilled courage in Ilia’s heart.

‘They couldn’t have known this would happen.’

Tenner Rainey. Sam Freeman.

The two cardinals, known as the former Pope’s right and left hands, had been finding all sorts of fault to delay the election of the next Pope since the last impeachment trial.

The public opinion of the Holy See was extremely unfavorable to their faction. Even if the right to elect the Pope was only given to the cardinals, they could not predict what kind of backlash would erupt if the next Pope came from among those who had disgraced themselves with the Pope at the time.

– In the worst case, a complete vote of no confidence in the Order’s leadership, even a Resolutium, could occur.

The event where ordinary priests and all the citizens of Noviens rose up and overthrew the Order’s leadership. They feared that the event, which had only happened once in the Order’s history, could recur.

In the end, they waited for public opinion to become quieter, and the last thing they put forward was the vacant position of cardinal.

The proposal to elect a successor to Cardinal Essel, who had died returning from Maclane.

Although there was Ilia, an honorary cardinal, she was the Archbishop of Amun, the god of the sea and change, before she was a cardinal. The reason was that she had no choice but to remain in an honorary position, as Cardinal Kleinsman of the Amun Temple was still alive and well.

They calculated that public opinion in the Holy See would become quieter in that time, but what made the quieter public opinion even louder at the time was Tracy, a clean and virtuous priestess famous in the Holy See, who had newly become a cardinal.

What she said at her inauguration as cardinal, who also had quite a relationship with Cardinal Austin, made the quieter public opinion even louder.

– I will not allow a fraud like Julio Umberto I to become Pope again!

As a result, even testimonies about the corruption of Cardinals Tenner Rainey and Sam Freeman, who could be said to be the central axis of the former Pope’s faction, came out one after another, and in the end, they declared the Imperatorium, the period for electing the Pope.

They were aiming for the fact that cardinals were given immunity from arrest during the Imperatorium.

And now that the end of that election period was approaching, it was difficult for Ilia to predict what those on the edge of the cliff would do.

“It’s difficult. Really…”

Although Tracy was an ally, there were still seven cardinals from the opposing faction.

“I can only hope that they don’t put forward a Pope from among themselves.”

“…Surely not.”

That was the worst-case scenario.

It took the Order a full 100 years to regain the public’s trust and reclaim its name as the center of continental faith after the Order had undergone a complete vote of no confidence, Resolutium.

At the time, Honor, the name of the Holy See, became known as a symbol of corruption, and in the end, it had to go through a dark age until nine new saints emerged from within the collapsing Order and re-established the Order.

The capital city is called Noviens. It was named for two reasons: to honor the nine gods and the nine saints.

“We must not let history repeat itself.”

He was talking about a terrible time in the past when angry people in the city attacked and killed corrupt priests.

Tenner Rainy and Sam Freeman knew they were in danger of being killed like those priests if they pushed too far. That’s why they were trying to avoid extreme actions.

“Please, be strong, Saintess. Everyone in the capital is watching Ilia and Cardinal Austin. You must have courage.”

“Yes, of course,” Ilia said.

Cardinal Tracy’s words rekindled her courage.

‘Right. Let’s focus on what needs to be done now.’

Ilia, dismissing her thoughts about the uncertain oracle, resolved to concentrate on the crisis facing the Order.

So focused was she, Ilia didn’t notice the holy marks on her hands, the stigmata, were glowing less brightly than usual. Her divine power was weakening, just a little.

“It’s been a while, Saintess.”

Entering the Hall of Glory in the central temple’s conference room, Tenner Rainy greeted her with an awkward smile.

His thin lips stretched into a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. His brown hair was noticeably more speckled with gray than before.

It was easy to guess the extent of the stress he had been under recently.

‘Serves him right.’

However, Ilia had no intention of ruining the Order’s future out of sympathy, so she simply nodded with a cold expression.

She formally acknowledged Sam Freeman, whose eyes were similarly hollow, but she only greeted Cardinal Austin with a genuine smile upon his entrance.

And since the opposing faction felt the same way, the air in the room, where a total of ten cardinals, including the honorary cardinal Ilia, had gathered, was thick with unspoken anger, cold as a winter wind.

Was he uncomfortable with it?

“The time when we choose a new Pope, the ‘Imperatorium period’, is almost finished. It seems like it’s time to come to a conclusion soon….”

Tenner Rainy spoke first, as if trying to break the frigid atmosphere.

Naturally, everyone’s attention turned to him, and words that Ilia did not expect flowed from his mouth.

“The seven of us will give up our chance to vote for the new Pope to make up for supporting the last Pope, who was a liar.”

“What!?”

Ilia raised her voice without realizing it at the unexpected words, and Tenner glanced at her before continuing in a heavy voice.

“However, I would like to attach one condition.”

Of course.

There was no way these people would back down so easily.

Seeing Ilia’s expression harden, Austin spoke up in her stead.

“…Please, speak.”

“In exchange for giving up the right to elect, please bury our past sins as well. We want immunity. And…”

Austin’s face hardened at those words, and Ilia, unable to contain her rage, jumped up from her seat and shouted.

“That’s absurd! You committed sins as priests; aren’t you afraid of God’s punishment! If you have any shame, you should accept your sins willingly!”

Ilia was genuinely ashamed of them.

How could those who acted on behalf of God be so shameless?

Everything would be revealed when they died and met God anyway. To her, who couldn’t even comprehend the corruption of a priest, Tenner’s words were deeply disrespectful to God.

“They have admitted their sins! Cardinal Austin, after the election is over, this sin…”

“…During the Imperatorium period, cardinals have immunity for their statements, Saintess. Let’s hear what else he has to say first.”

However, Ilia’s anger did not extend to her allies, and she soon realized her mistake as she looked at Austin’s calm face.

“I apologize, Cardinal.”

“Being young and passionate is not a bad thing. Isn’t that how we got here?”

Austin, responding with a warm smile, turned his gaze back to Tenner in the center.

Then, Tenner Rainy, who seemed to have aged even more in the short time, continued with a bitter smile.

“As I get older, I only believe what I can see. I don’t care about the afterlife. I just want a comfortable end to my life, so all I want is that promise.”

Those words sounded very focused on earthly things, not spiritual things, for a religious leader.

Austin’s calm expression also hardened at those words.

“Is that what a cardinal should be saying? You have truly fallen to the depths of corruption, Tenner Rainy.”

“You’re all so… quaint,” Tenner said, a sneer twisting his lips. “Clinging to fairy tales while the world crumbles around you.”

“…You speak words that will send you to hell without hesitation. There is a limit to corruption. Even the merciful gods will not forgive your words!”

“Merciful? Heh heh heh. Cardinal Austin, do you really think the gods are merciful? Those gods who created this world where so many children starve to death as soon as they are born or die of disease?”

“Enough!”

“Do you know that the names of the nine gods were almost forgotten in the past?”

“Stop the blasphemy, Tenner Rainy! I won’t tolerate it any longer!”

“What will you do if you don’t tolerate it? The Order will collapse if we don’t cooperate, won’t it?”

“Isn’t that because of the sins you committed!”

Ilia, unable to hold back, shouted again, but Tenner did not stop talking.

“Even asking modern people about the original sin committed by ancestors from dozens or hundreds of generations ago is a terrible system of guilt by association. Merciful gods, don’t make me laugh. It would be more convincing if they were selfish and cruel.”

“How can someone with divine power say such things!”

“Divine power? Ah, this you mean?”

Whirr!

A bright yellow light that only priests could see rose from Tenner Rainy’s fingertips.

The divine power of Ageron, the god of gold and commerce.

But the one who bloomed that divine power was a priest who had fallen to corruption.

“I believe in my god. I just also believe that that god is not merciful and not absolute. So, I just want to focus on this life.”

“Such nonsense…!”

“Have you ever thought about why a corrupt priest can continue to use divine power, Saintess?”

“Stop! Stop! Is this the time to argue about religious ideas!”

Austin hurriedly intervened in the sudden theological debate and stopped the conversation.

Rage was clearly felt in his twitching eyes.

“Repentance for the sins committed comes first, Tenner. Forgiveness is a matter to be discussed after that.”

The words he said at the end were very practical.

“Repentance… Indeed, you are more flexible than the young Saintess. Well, since you’re giving me a chance, I’ll do as you wish. What method would you like?”

“…The method of repentance will be discussed again after the Imperatorium is over.”

“Hoo?”

Tenner grinned at that, his crooked gaze turned to Austin and the Saintess.

“Well, as long as you promise, I don’t mind. But then who will be the next Pope? You? Or the Saintess?”

The eyes of those present followed his words.