As I arrived at the Hall of Divinity, I could see that Lord Izenberg and his Calvary of Luminosity drew their swords and were waiting for me. I showed Princess Ignes in front of them, threatening to murder her anytime. Unlike other Holy Knights and Holy Soldiers, Lord Izenberg had swordsmanship and physical abilities on a whole other level.
If I took my eyes off even for a brief moment, I would be dead in an instant.
Of course, Count Myer was a tough opponent as well but he would never murder me so I just ignored him. However, Lord Izenberg gushing out his horrible spirit approached me.
“You are an unrighteous man! How could a man take a weak woman as a hostage? Don’t you feel ashamed?”
I shook my head sassily.
“That’s not true at all. This woman here, she’s at least 5-Term Holy Magician and will also become one of the upcoming generation of leaders.”
“You bastard!”
As the Lord Izenberg yelled at me in a loud voice and approached, I put my sword around the neck of Princess Ignes as if I was trying to cut her throat anytime.
“Hey, watch out. If you take one more step, she’d be dead. And I have no intention of dodging your attack. I will just kill her and die with her.”
“Such a tenacious bastard…”
Lord Izenberg clenched his teeth and stopped walking. Then, Count Myer walked towards him in haste.
“You should not attack him, my lord.”
“Why?”
“He’s the Grand Prince Carl.”
In disbelief, Lord Izenberg’s eyes were wide open. I was destined to become one of the upcoming generation of leaders in the Yosrahim Empire. So, he could never understand why I was taking Princess Ignes as a hostage and causing this kind of shambles in the Great Temple of Divinum.
“Why the hell is Grand Prince Carl doing this kind of stuff?”
“Phew~ I also have no idea, my lord. Anyways, even if you got a chance, you should not attack him.”
“No way. Even though he’s Grand Prince Carl, once he committed sacrilege, he should pay for it with his life.”
“That’s why you should not attack him, my lord. If you do, not only Grand Prince but also Princess Ignes would die as well.”
“Still he’s just a kid. I could totally save Princess Ignes without any scar.”
“No, my lord. He’s also a swordsman at the master level.”
Lord Izenberg laughed sardonically.
“That’s nonsense! How could Gran Prince Carl, who barely turned to legal age, reach master level swordsmanship? Since a long time ago and until now, there were only two genius swordsmen who could reach a master level at that early age.”
“You’re right, my lord. Our Great Emperor Siegfried and our respected senior Great Duke Cloud in the Yosrahim Imperial Family were those two. And Grand Prince Carl has the same blood of the Imperial Family.”
Actually, it kind of made sense. A lot of genius swordsmen have been born especially in the Yosrahim Imperial Family. As Count Myer had just mentioned, typical examples were Great Emperor Siegfried and Great Duke Cloud. Two genius swordsmen were born in the same family already so it didn’t seem strange at all if another was born in that same family.
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes, my lord. I was suspicious as well but now I got assured. Including myself, the Holy Knights here also ascertained that he’s a swordsman at master level.”
The Holy Knights used armed force but still, they were clerics. It’s not that the Holy Knights never said a lie. But whenever they did, they were punished just like when they murdered someone. If a number of the Holy Knights said the same thing, it’s highly likely to be true.
“Dammit…”
Lord Izenberg stamped his feet with anger. Even though he’s a swordsman at the master level, he could not take his action hastily because I was also a swordsman at the master level. If he tried to use his mana for a surprise attack, I would know it right away.
And even if he could’ve attacked me, he couldn’t subdue me. I was a genius swordsman and a member of the Yosrahim Imperial Family which was descendants of the Great Emperor Siegfried and the Great Duke Cloud.
If I got murdered here, the Great Duke Cloud would not sit on the sidelines. Since that old man Great Duke Cloud had such great loyalty and patriotism for the Empire, he would never forgive someone who murdered me. I was one of the pillars of the Empire and responsible for the future of the Empire.
Although Lord Izenberg was a swordsman at the master level, he must be scared of the Great Duke Cloud who was like a real monster.
* * *
Although the Hall of Divinity was built thousands of years ago, its colors had not faded at all. Instead, it was still showing off its splendid and majestic appearance. And inside the Hall of Divinity, there were the Seven Sacred Weapons which the Seven Great Saintesses had left. The Codex of Creation, the very first bible which the Saint Proisa had left, was here as well.
That’s why people considered the Hall of Divinity as the holiest place in the world.
‘Yojo, I’m almost there.’
Finally, I stood in front of the Hall of Divinity. Some number of the Holy Knights were violently blocking my way but once Lord Izenberg gave them an eye signal, they lowered their weapons and stepped back. He seemed worried about me stealing sacred weapons but I knew that’s what he actually wanted because he could track me down in real-time with Location Tracking Magic embedded in sacred weapons.
Of course, the Seven Sacred Weapons and some others could not be tracked down but those weapons would never leave the Hall of Divinity unless they chose their owners.
As I entered inside the Hall of Divinity, I could see a long hallway. It was ‘the Road of Glory’ which led to the Gold Room where the Seven Sacred Weapons were kept. Without any disturbance, Princess Ignes and I alone walked through the hallway.
“Huh? Nobody is chasing us.”
“Of course. Nobody could enter the Hall of Divinity without qualification.”
“Yeah, actually each person needs 100 riffs of gold to enter here. Hehehe.”
She shut her mouth at that moment. For once in a lifetime, anyone can enter the Hall of Divinity if he or she pays 100 riffs of gold as an offering.
“Your mind is full of distrust against God.”
“No. Those whom I can’t trust are you guys.”
To be honest, I believed in the existence of God. According to the Codex of Creation, the Era of Destruction did come and I myself revived again thanks to some kind of mysterious power. I simply didn’t trust those people who were ripping off others by using God’s divinity.
Seriously, even though they got corrupted, they should’ve had their limits.
Even this Hall of Divinity was corrupted by them as well. If anyone wanted to enter here, he or she had to pay 100 riffs of gold as an offering but it was a lot of money for common people who would never earn such an amount of money in their entire life. Therefore, poor and weak people never had a chance to become the owner of a sacred weapon.
“What do you mean? Why us?”
“You guys are ripping off people by using God’s divinity, aren’t you? If you act like a hypocrite like that, you will be damned later.”
“Well, that’s…”
“So why don’t you guys rip people off in moderation? To my eyes, you guys look so pathetic. Tut, tut.”
“······.”
She could not say anything more. She’s not a stupid person so she definitely knew of illegitimate acts done by the Church.
As I arrived in front of the Gold Room, the door was opened by itself. Once I entered, I could see marble statues of the Seven Great Saintesses as well as the Seven Sacred Weapons. Just as I expected, three of the Seven Sacred Weapons were fake. Not only auras around them were significantly different but also the quality of materials were subtly different.
‘Katrianne definitely had Idron, the Red Fire Sword of Fierce Heat. But who took Talatas, the Death Rod of Dark Moon and Rossim, the Soul Wand of Death Spirit?’
In my opinion, Valkyries took the rest of them as well. Only very few people knew three of the Seven Sacred Weapons were gone right now. And only Valkyries could sneak in and take those out in secret because even during normal days, they had free access to the Hall of Divinity which was protected by the magical shield.
However, it didn’t matter because I was not interested in any of the Seven Sacred Weapons at all. Even though three of them chose their owners, I wasn’t disappointed.
“It’s that one. It’s yours, the Great Wand of Luminosity. Stretch out your hand.”
Once she looked at Shia which was held by the marble statue of the Great Saintess of Light, a glittering light spurted out and gradually rose into the air. It was a signal meaning Shia chose its owner.
And Shia slowly flew and fell into her arms, Princess Ignes, who was thrilled so much, knelt one of her knees.
The Star of David surrounded by a circle was emitting a bright light. A silver-white aura was glittering from a long rod. Certainly, it was Shia. Princess Ignes weakly knelt her knees because she could not believe at all that such a holy and glorious moment came in her life.
“Oh god, I who is your lowly servant will accept Shia’s choice.”
Her prayer lasted for a while. I could understand her feelings for sure so I waited. But she didn’t finish her prayer after a long time. It’s too much. My patience reached its limit so I tapped her head with my sword.
“That’s enough. Praying too much is annoying for gods. Why don’t you think about how they would feel? They must be tired of your prayer.”
Once she finished her prayer in haste, she scowled at me with her trembling eyes.
“Who are you really? How could you know the fact I would become the owner of Shia?”
“You don’t have to know who I am.”
“Who the hell are you!”
Her voice was very loud so it echoed through my ear. I picked my ear and said.
“Just know that some stupid god is annoyingly interested in you. That’s it.”
“Which god?”
“I don’t have any more details as well.”
I also didn’t know which god revived me. If he showed his face, I could’ve known but everything just happened so quickly so I couldn’t see his face.
“You…”
“Anyways. Your matter got solved now. So, I need to take care of mine.”
As I started leaving, she quickly followed me. From her perspective, I was like a great prophet.
“What matters?”
“Yeah. I need to go find Yojo.”
“Yojo?”
“Yeah. The most powerful sword in the world.”
“Is not Idron the most powerful sword in the world?”
“Haha. Do you think Idron is the most powerful sword? Are you kidding me? It’s just a kindling that can burn strong fire.
Then I sang the praises of Yojo. Even though Yojo could not use Holy Magic, it was a sacred weapon which had still survived until the last moment of the Era of Destruction. In fact, the strongest one was not the best. The one that survived until the last moment was the best.
Besides, Yojo had quite good skills. Sometimes, Yojo took the liberty of making a loud cry. Once it did, a strange thing always happened. There’s an escape route in the direction which the tip of Yojo pointed towards. So it was true that Yojo did contribute a lot to my survival until the last moment.
She’s still puzzled and shook her head.
“It can’t be true. It’s not possible that there’s a sword more powerful than Idron.”
“Yeah. Just think it your own way.”
I didn’t linger much on the Seven Sacred Weapons in the Gold Room and headed to the Silver Room. Once I entered it, I could see Dalahan at the center of the room. It was surrounded by nearly a hundred of 2-Tier sacred weapons.
While I passed them through, I sneaked a glance at Dalahan. It had a shape of claymore. One side of the sword was black and the other side was natural silver-white.
Dalahan. When I came to this place before in my past life, I had a strong desire to own it so I hovered around nearby. Honestly, I had a great expectation of being chosen by it.
The first owner of Dalahan was the Great Emperor Siegfried and I exactly looked like him in his portrait. So, I used to dye my hair in red just like him and mess around with other people of the Imperial Family. Also during my school years, I always played the main character whenever there’s a theatre festival related to the legends of the Great Emperor.
But I wasn’t interested in Dalahan that much right now.
To be honest, if I owned Dalahan, I would have a really fiendish problem. Seriously, I would be lucky if I didn’t die an unnatural death at an early age just like the Great Emperor Siegfried. When royal family members struggled for power, they didn’t even care about their parents or brothers. So what about nephews or cousins? It’s no brainer.
“Haha.”
“Why are you laughing?”
Once I laughed, she responded immediately. And I just shrugged my shoulder.
“It’s nothing.”
I stood in front of a white door leading to the Bronze Room. Yojo was in that room. After I took a deep breath, I slowly opened the door and entered.