Volume 6 - CH 2.1

Part 1

One week later──

After not showing herself for a short while, Alicia came by together with a large amount of luggage just before noon.

Using servants, she had a whole cart’s worth of wooden boxes carried to the common room.

She was in her white dress appearance today as well, and was wearing her glasses.

「I have kept you waiting, Diablo-sama!」

「Going by that look of yours, it would seem you have grasped something.」

「Yes.」

First, calling one of the inn’s employees, they had a couple people’s worth of black tea prepared. White vapor rose up from the tea cups that were placed on the table.

With Diablo at the center, Rem, Shera, Lumachina and Horun sat at the sofa. Rose was standing alongside the wall.

Alicia opened up one of the wooden boxes. Inside, there was a vast amount of documents.

「I followed the flow of capital inside of the church over the past few years.」

「Hou……」

「Especially the private funds of the seven people of the Cardinal Institute who are the top brass. It seems that while they took in large amounts of donations, they made a majority of that part of their personal assets.」

「Is that even a religious crime? That’s sheer theft, isn’t it.」

「It is because it is happening within the Church.」

After hearing Diablo and Alicia’s talk, Lumachina half rose up from the sofa.

「Just how in the world did you investigate that!?」

Going *fu*, Alicia smiled.

「High Chief Priest, it is not something you should concern yourself with……」

「I beg of you, please tell me. I also tried to investigate something similar. But I couldn’t even get a hold of a clue about it.」

「Nnu……」

Alicia made a pensive look on her face.

Diablo shrugged his shoulders.

「Dirty means are also needed in order to carry out one’s ideals. This is surely a chance for her to learn that. There is also no need to worry about it leaking out if it is the people here. Go and tell her about it.」

「Understood. This was all obtained through various means but……Mainly, it was through bribery and sedition.」

「With just money, and words……?」

「Of course the people of the Cardinal Institute wouldn’t sell out their comrades for a small amount of compensation. However, what about the people around them?」

「In the church, the believers carry out their daily responsibilities. There is no way they would move for something like money.」

「It is because the believers would not do actions that would go against God after all.」

「The ones who look after the everyday necessities of me and the Cardinal Institute are only those who had been judged to have particularly deep faith. Only a limited number of believers can enter the Inner Court.」

「Thanks to that, I was able to identify the places there would be secrets, and it was very simple.」

「Simple!?」

「The believers that are able to enter the Inner Court, they are called White Masks within the church, correct? Since they have masks on when at the Inner Court.」

「Yes……To have no individuality before God, to have neither gender, variety, nor beauty or ugliness in outward appearance and be equal, that is the meaning of it.」

Horun raised up one hand.