How To Live As An Academy Extra Villain

29 – Tomboy’s Choice (2)

I sincerely answered his questions with my thoughts, but the archbishop seemed to be dissatisfied with something and suddenly started talking at a rapid pace. From what you’re saying, it looks like there’s a lot of stuff piled up here and there.

Well, considering the information I know about that person, it seems rather strange to say that there is no accumulated information.

But I never imagined that my father’s name would suddenly come out of the mouth of the archbishop of the westernmost region.

Maybe my father’s network is much wider than I imagine.

“You’re doing this too much. “Have you not even heard what I will offer and what I will ask for?”

“I would have said. I don’t want to receive anything from you, nor do I want to give you anything. It has been like that for the past 20 years, and it will be like that in the future.”

The Archbishop cut off his words resolutely, as if he didn’t even need to listen to me.

Suddenly, a question runs through my mind.

Will he continue to show this attitude after he hears what I’m about to donate?

“Even if what I’m offering is a sacred object that you are desperately looking for?”

“… what… ?”

At the words that came out of my mouth, the archbishop’s office was instantly enveloped in silence.

***

“What did you just say?”

“You said that the item you want to donate is a holy relic.”

“Edwin Reed. Do you know what you are talking about?”

The archbishop looked in my direction with a face full of anger and began his speech.

“Since the fall of the Prime Evil, no one has been able to find the missing relics. Pious priests, paladins, imperial guards, adventurers, guilds, bounty hunters, and even those swarms of petty thieves have been chasing that fragment for countless years, but they haven’t found even the slightest clue!

The past history is like that, but you, a mere lump of blood, are telling me that you brought those things! son of albert I’ll give you my last chance, so you’d better consider your answer. Depending on your answer, this could be considered blasphemy.”

“Can you check it out?”

“what?”

“I told you to check it out for yourself. If I am deceiving Your Excellency with lies, can’t you accuse me of blasphemy, as Your Excellency said?”

As I continued to be confident despite his questioning, Archbishop Timothy seemed momentarily at a loss for words.

“As far as I know, I have heard that the archbishops of the holy kingdom always carry the means of verification in order to verify the holy relics in case of emergency. If you use it, it will be easy to check.”

After I finished speaking, I set the box I had been carrying all along on the table. Then, the archbishop opened the lid and allowed the Archbishop to check the contents with his own eyes.

“this… This… ”

“This is the robe and rosary that the first saintess, Cynthia, used.”

“no way… really… ? what is this… does not make sense… ”

Archbishop Timothy looked at the items in the box and was speechless.

I haven’t tested it yet, but the items in the box are very pious and radiate holy energy in all directions.

As an outsider in religious matters, even as I see it, it overflows with sacredness, much less from the point of view of a well-trained archbishop.

His face, which had been filled with anger until just now, was now filled with confusion.

“Now I have finished what I have to say. So, I beg you, Your Excellency, please use what you have to verify with certainty whether it is a sacred object or not.”

I wanted to ask the archbishop for confirmation at this time.

The Archbishop, still unable to recover from the shock, now plunged into long agony, and finally took out a small glass bottle from his bosom as if he had made up his mind.

The glass bottle had a thick cork stopper inserted into the opening, and inside was a strand of bright silver hair.

But bright silver hair… Why do I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere?

“… This is the hair that Cynthia-sama cut off the day before the final battle, before she went out to defeat the Great Demon. It is an item that has been handed down from generation to generation to the archbishops of our country, with dozens of strands divided into bottles each, sealed with a preservation spell.

And this hair is also enchanted with integrity verification. When an object presumed to be his holy relic is discovered, its authenticity can be ascertained by touching its hair and injecting it with holy power.

However, if it turns out that the holy relic is not genuine even though the hair was used, the informer will be punished with the highest punishment that can be handed down by the Holy Kingdom for deceiving the church and insulting the goddess. Regardless of the status and position.

So son of Albert, this is your very, very last chance. Yes, if you tell the truth right now, I will undo everything in my name.”

“I will hang myself. These items are unmistakably Cynthia-sama’s holy relics.”

Archbishop Timothy, who saw me still standing firm in my answer, sighed deeply and then spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“… There is no turning back now. Everything is according to your choice, so accept whatever results come out.”

After speaking, the archbishop placed the glass bottle containing the hair on top of his robe and rosary beads, and mumbled something while memorizing the text.

And as he finished reciting the sermon, the glass bottle trembled and vibrated, and suddenly a flash of light filled the room.

The sudden light made me turn my eyes away, and only after the light disappeared after a while was I able to turn my head back to its original direction.

The glass bottle from before was placed on top of the box that contained the robe.

But the hair inside had disappeared somewhere, and Archbishop Timothy was looking at them with a blank expression.

Why is the archbishop doing this? Wasn’t the verification a success, of course? Why am I anxious…

-dump!

“oh… Oh oh… !”

“?”

As I was about to speak to the archbishop, he suddenly knelt in the direction of the box, bowed his head, and clasped his hands together.

And tears were dripping from his eyes.

From noble mtl dot com

“oh… Oh oh… Unbelievable… ! Unbelievable!! I never thought the day would come when I could see the Angel’s St. Haepo and Benedetta’s Rosario in my lifetime… ! Ah, goddess! Ahh… !”

Archbishop Timothy was almost crying now, and it was only after seeing his enthusiastic reaction that I was able to guess that it had been definitely certified as genuine.

I thought it was a failure and my heart sank at the moment, but in the end it seems to have worked out well.

I approached the Archbishop, who was engrossed in prayer, and spoke to him. I still have a lot of work left to do today, and if I leave it like this, I don’t know how long I’ll be doing something similar to that testimony.

“How can you believe me now?”

When I spoke to him, the archbishop looked this way in shock and amazement. Judging from the reaction, he must have forgotten about my existence. Religious beliefs can sometimes be scary.

“… Believe. No, I have no choice but to believe. The robe and rosary you brought must be Cynthia-sama’s holy things.”

Archbishop Timothy, who had managed to control his emotions, cleared his throat a couple of times, and then started pouring out questions to me at an incredible speed.

“However, I can’t help but ask. How the hell did you get these sacred relics? No, it wasn’t you, it was your father who saved it? And why did you choose me to deliver these things? Saint Haepo of the Angel and Rosario of Benedetta are the three major holy relics that people are looking for with their eyes on. If you had brought one of these back home and presented it to the cardinal there, you might have attained wealth and honor like never before.

But I don’t have that power. The office of Archbishop of Westford is but a semblance of a facade. And there’s no way you, a noble of the empire, wouldn’t know that. So I’ll ask again. What was the reason for giving me these sacred relics?”

“well?”

“’Okay!’ I’m not joking right now… ”

“First of all, my father is unaware of the existence of these relics. These are items that I have collected entirely on my own. And I’m sorry, but I can’t reveal the detailed acquisition route either. It is the kind of thing that the archbishop would not understand.

Nor do I need wealth or fame. Wealth is still overflowing, and honor is just annoying and cumbersome to have. So, there is no reason for me to offer these holy objects to the holy kingdom.”

“Then why… ”

The archbishop was looking at me with a puzzled expression, but the same resentment and anger as before could no longer be seen on the face that was looking at me.

He should have confirmed that he wasn’t trying to gain any benefit from the donation, and since the relic has been verified as true, he won’t have any reason to be hostile to me. If so, is it time to get to the point?

“I was looking for someone all along. Someone who can carry the cross on my behalf and go through the thorny path of penance. And for the first time today, I think I found him.”

“…what?”