21st Century Archmage

“Kyre-nim…”

Aramis called my name. Her voice was quiet, but she was looking at me with eyes so clear that no word would do them justice.

‘You lucky dogs.’

I was planning on thoroughly teaching them how terrifying the world could be, but Aramis stepped before my path with her angelic heart.

“Huhu. Give thanks to the gods you serve. Offer your sincere thanks for not having to go see them today.”

I withdrew my mana with a bitter smile. The master of the temple, Aramis, had stepped forward, so I couldn’t continue to express my rage. She was more than deserving of such respect from me.

“Thank you, Kyre-nim.”

Aramis bowed to show her gratitude, knowing that I was reining in my anger for her sake. I lowered my head in response to her graceful bow, which gave off a feeling of chastity and spring flowers.

“A-Apprentice priestess Aramis! How dare you act in this manner? And without the permission of the Cardinal as well! The fact that you have stained Holy Neran’s sacred name with the position of a mere apprentice priestess and left the temple without the clergy’s permission has angered the gods!”

‘This little shit!’

This was why you had to beat someone into a pulp properly when educating them. Because I stopped halfway, this damned Neran priest still hadn’t realized where he stood on the map. He lashed out at Aramis while pointing his finger at her.

“This inadequate servant wishes to give her apologies to the Cardinal in service of Holy Neran and all the fathers gathered here today. I beseech you to forgive me with a heart of magnanimous mercy.”

There was simply no end to Angel Aramis’s kind-heartedness. She bowed as if she were a sinner not only to the priest disparaging her, but also to the other priests in the room.

‘Ah, jeez!’

When I saw the woman I loved bowing her head, fire blazed from my eyes. Who were these pathetic bastards to receive an apology from my girl? They could hardly clear their name even if they fell to their knees right now, repenting their sin of selling their god’s name to sate their greed, yet they had the nerve to receive Aramis’ apology with straight backs. The timid expressions they were showing me just moments ago were quickly transforming into arrogance. It seemed they had picked up on the fact that I couldn’t do anything in front of Aramis from my respectful manner towards her.

“Apprentice priestess Aramis. I am Father Amorent, and I serve the Goddess of Destiny, Pallan. The Church has entrusted me with leadership over the Inquisition proceedings.”

The priest of Pallan, Amorent, butted in and introduced himself, calling Aramis’ name with a solemn voice.

“If there is something Father Amorent wishes to say, please do so.”

Amorent, who used the authoritarian ‘father’ moniker instead of humbling himself by using ‘priest,’ continued to speak to Aramis, all the while avoiding my gaze.

“I have heard that Apprentice Priestess Aramis received Holy Neran’s favor and harbors impressive holy power.” He put strong emphasis on Aramis’ lower status. “But even if your holy power is impressive, I do not think your sincere heart towards the gods and your perseverance will last very long. Historically, there have been times when apprentice priests and devotees who were not fully educated and were not formally qualified to become priests of the Church brought about miracles after receiving the favor of a god, but it was always short-lived. There are plenty of people who abused the grace of their god, sullying their god’s sacred name, and later, lived wretched lives after becoming slaves of the Evil God.”

Amorent spoke as if giving a cautionary preaching, his implication obvious. I looked at his flapping mouth with a dumbfounded gaze.

“Because of that, the Church was established and the rules of the faith were created, allowing the Cardinals, the most faithful of God’s servants, and the many fathers of the Church to educate and supervise the apprentice priests and devotees so they do not abuse the grace of God. I am sure Apprentice Priestess Aramis understands this much.”

Aramis was listening attentively to Priest Amorent’s words in silence, an inscrutable, deep look in her eyes.

“Do not sin any longer. Do not abuse Holy Neran’s favor without the assent of the Cardinal and the various fathers, and return to the Church. Go and receive more training under the instruction of many fathers endowed with outstanding virtue and faith. If you do that, all the Inquisition proceedings called on Nerman and Lord Kyre will be fully recalled. This, I promise you, in the name of the Goddess of Destiny, Pallan.”

Amorent continued to babble words that sounded plausible, but were actually totally ridiculous.

“Do as he says. How dare you, a mere apprentice priestess, defy the will of the Cardinal and the various high-ranking fathers? This is a matter of the fundamental qualifications as a priest serving Neran.”

“It’s not too late. If you repent your sin and return to the Church, Apprentice Priestess Aramis, like Father Amorent said, the Inquisition called on Nerman and Lord Kyre will be withdrawn.”

“Ahem ahem. If you repent your sin and return to the Church… I will ask my Cardinal to forgive your sins.”

These guys were enthusiastically dancing to their own self-serving tunes.

‘You guys sure know how to talk crazy.’

Anger surged within me. I would have loved to punch the living daylights out of them. From the looks of it, they only had a teensy bit of holy power, but they were putting on airs just because they carried a ‘father’ name tag on their puffed up chests. These pathetic bastards could never even hope to reach Aramis’ level of holy power, but they wanted to make her prostrate herself before the obsolete rules and standards of the Church.

“I will engrave the words of the Fathers here deep within my heart.”

‘Hrm?’

Upon hearing Aramis say she would take the priests’ ridiculous chatter to heart, uneasiness swept over me. If Aramis ended up returning to the Church in order to free me of suspicion, I would lose all my zest for life. In contrast to my unease, the pigs showed looks of satisfaction at Aramis as she bowed her head to them.

“However, I cannot leave this place.”

Aramis’ quiet, clear ringing voice echoed in the temple. In her voice was a small, but unflinching will.

“W-What do you mean by that? Did you mean to ridicule us just now by saying you would engrave our words in your heart?!”

“Hmph! Of course.”

“Apprentice Priestess Aramis!”

The pig priests flew into a rage.

“Even ten of me would not be enough to express my apologies to the fathers here and the Cardinal serving Holy Neran. However, I truly cannot leave this place.” Aramis reiterated herself, her voice full of regret. “If I leave, countless Nerman residents who survived by relying on me will be deeply saddened. I have already vowed to support those who believed in me, inadequate as I am, and relied on Holy Neran, with all that I am. If I were to leave the people, it would be no different from a parent abandoning their children to go on a long journey.”

“Cease your arrogant drivel!” raged one priest. “How could you, a mere apprentice priestess, become an arbitrator of Neran’s will to lead the people?! I have never heard such irreverent words in my life!”

“It seems her soul has already become tainted with evil. How could a mere apprentice priestess be so deluded…”

“It seems we must certainly investigate the source of the holy power she bears.”

The priests were extremely incensed by Aramis’ words.

Then, I saw it. Even though she had explained the reason why she couldn’t leave with a truly pure heart devoid of selfishness, the priests did not hesitate to denounce her. She was crying tears of sadness towards them.

The thread of self-restraint keeping a lid on my anger snapped with a twang.

“Huhuhu…”

A cold smile rose to my lips.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrr.

Driven by my rage, the mana dormant in my mana core dominated my surroundings in seconds.

“Guh!”

“…..”

Because it was imbued with my will, the mana had transformed into a thing of fury. The priests cried out and turned to me, and when they met my eyes, their bodies trembled in horror.

“You dare… you dare to make tears fall from Aramis’ eyes. I see you bastards have given up on life today.”

I slowly stepped towards them.

As I did so, they stumbled backwards in abject fear. It seemed they had finally come to their senses. They finally realized that the place they were standing might be a temple, but said temple was still built on Nerman land, my land.

“Kyre-nim…”

Seeing me approach the priests, Aramis’ tearful voice tried to stop me again.

* * *

* * *

“Aramis, do not stop me. It is impossible to converse with people who do not even know the true will of their god and have grown blind with greed and deaf with arrogance!”

I wasn’t afraid of the temples, nor did I fear an inquisition. Gods they might be, but gods who sat on their hands and simply watched Nerman struggle weren’t gods who had my faith. If the gods truly existed, they would definitely be moved by the sincere hearts of me and the Nerman people rather than the mumbling of these oily-faced priests.

“Please don’t. I do not want you to commit a sin. They, too, are all children receiving the love and concern of the Goddess of Mercy, Neran. How pained would Neran be if you made Her children bleed inside a temple devoted to Her? Lord Kyre, please abate your rage. If you take a step backwards, you will see that this is all nothing to be angered by.”

Even in the face of such insults, Aramis continued to expound on the unconditional love of the Goddess of Mercy, Neran. If Aramis wasn’t a real saintess, who else would have the right to call themselves one?

“This inadequate servant of Neran dares to say one thing to all the fathers here.” After stopping me, Aramis turned to the priests. “I was not able to learn much, so I do not know about the various teachings and doctrines of the temple. That is why I will bear your criticisms in mind and repent until the day that I die.”

Aramis’ elegant, calm voice filled the temple.

‘Ah!’

The moment she began to speak, I saw something that shocked me.

‘A-Aura of holy power!’

It was the sacred halo of God, a phenomenon said to appear on priests when they received a revelation from the heavens. The transparent, but holy light that was clearly different from mana started from Aramis’ head and slowly spread like a veil over her entire body.

“…..!!!”

The priests’ eyes grew wide with shock upon seeing the aura of holy power. No matter how blind their eyes were from arrogance and greed, there was no way they didn’t know that the Goddess Neran was descending upon Aramis’ radiantly shining body.

“A god is called a god because they clearly perceive all things. To the foolish lambs who live deluding themselves many times a day, led astray by the shadows appearing in their hearts, so says God: Look closely at the true state of your heart; those who can see clearly are those who know God’s will.”

Aramis continued to relay the righteousness of her god. “Oh fathers, open your eyes. The fathers here know what the gods you truly love want, do you not? You are just like the pitiful souls who kneel before you in prayer in order to see a glimpse of the divine, and at the same time, you know what form the descent of a god truly takes, do you not? The true form of god we must worship are the people, the countless multitudes in which the spirit of the gods dwell, sent to enlighten us. That is the reason why this inadequate servant must remain here. Not for the sake of the Goddess Neran who resides in this great temple, but for the Holy Spirit who comes as the ailing and struggling humans in order to guide me to the path of enlightenment. As one who has not been graced with such divinity, I must repent and offer the greatest worship I am capable of to all of the gods appearing in this world.”

‘Mm…’

Even I hadn’t known Aramis’ sincere thoughts regarding gods. Her words resounded heavily in my chest. She spoke of her god’s divine love and sacrifice in walking the world as humans sent to guide all beings to the path of enlightenment. I was not a sincere servant of Neran, but even I felt like I could understand her love.

“I repent. Before the fathers here, I, an inadequate servant of God, bow down and sincerely offer my repentance.”

As she spoke, Aramis knelt before the priests, shedding hot tears.

Whooooooosh.

In no time at all, the glow around Aramis had grown blindingly bright. Her aura of holy power spread like a fog, filling the inside of the temple.

“Ohh… Oh gods above…”

“Nghh…”

“M-May you forgive us, your inadequate servants.”

Thud, thud, thud.

One by one, the priests fell to their knees. They knelt to Aramis, who was crying tears of repentance to them. Hot tears were falling from their eyes.

They were moved by her holy power and the intense favor of a god, something one would never be able to experience if a god had not descended. Some of them were probably not consciously aware that they were kneeling and repenting. This moment of united repentance was caused by the absolute authority of God.

“Sob sob sob…”

“I repent, I repent!”

“Uwahhh…”

The priests wailed, wetting the ground with their tears. I wasn’t as moved as them, but I could keenly feel God’s love.

‘You are really amazing!’

I turned my head to look at the holy relic of Neran, the goddess who had overseen this all. The unconditional love of the gods melted away the corrupt hearts of the priests in an instant, something I hadn’t been able to force with strength.

I could not help but admire the Goddess. I was also thankful to her for sending her stream of grace to Nerman through Aramis, the woman I loved.

‘I will repay you many times over.’

That was the only promise I could make. The only thing I could do was to promise that I would repay what Neran gave with interest and turn Nerman into a land brimming with God’s true love. I was sure that was the expression of intense love for humans that God wanted to achieve through me.