Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 226



Only Noblemtl

Episode 226: The Peace Evangelist (3)

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Judith frowned slightly as she asked back. It was a typical reaction to being insulted out of the blue. The elders also looked faintly bewildered.

However, there is no guarantee that the reactions of those who have been living in prestigious families for decades are genuine. The leaders of prestigious families, which are no different from small countries, are also veteran politicians.

Lilia, who had been warned about this by Galen in advance, continued speaking calmly.

“Actually, I’m coming down from the north.”

“If it’s the North… … .”

“What is it called, the front line? The front line? Anyway, it’s the northernmost villages that overlap with the Sky Fairy’s territory. I went there for a local inspection!”

“…I see.”

“But, before coming here, I visited this church first. The Kirin Diocese seemed to have a slightly different understanding of the local situation?”

When Lilia first heard from Shamita that the fairies and humans were on the verge of war, this was the part that puzzled her the most.

No matter how much the church tries to avoid interfering with secular power as much as possible, if a war were to break out between the two most prestigious families in Goryeo, the aftermath would be enormous.

If the conflict has escalated to the point of explosion, shouldn’t we seriously try mediation at least once? What is Archbishop Ernst doing?

Her doubts were now resolved. Before coming here, she had stopped by the church in Kirin and had spoken directly with the bishop in charge of the Kirin diocese.

The bishop was not fully aware of the gravity of the situation.

Of course, there were so many minor conflicts that had occurred over the past thirty years that the church had become insensitive to some of them, and humans had no way of knowing the internal situation that the heavenly fairies were running out of patience and would soon explode.

Aside from that, the local situation that the Kirin Diocese was aware of was subtly different from what Lilia had seen and heard directly.

“At first, I thought it was because the frontline church had reported insufficiently… but after talking to them a little more, I found out that the Kirin parish has a rather unique environment. Do you happen to know about it, sir?”

“Area of ​​jurisdiction, are you talking about?”

“That’s right! It’s very large, the area of ​​the parish.”

Kirane was not in the center of the Kirane diocese. It was too far to the south.

It wasn’t set up that way on purpose. It was initially almost in the center, but the diocese’s jurisdictional area expanded endlessly to the north.

Normally, when a parish expands to a certain extent, it would be better to separate the parish, but the reason this was not possible was because the population in the northern region was not large enough to separate it.

The supply of priests always exceeds the demand. It was realistically difficult to create separate parishes for places with few people. There were more urgent places.

And the person who caused this situation of ‘the land being vast but with few people’ is the Protain family.

Because they expanded so aggressively, the rate at which their territory grew far exceeded the rate at which their population grew.

It’s disappointing that they did it and then pretended not to know. Fortunately, they weren’t that unscrupulous.

“Because of that, the further north you go, the more churches there are lacking, and towards the front lines, there are villages where even deacons do not reside?”

“I know that.”

“So, I asked how they hear news about such places, and they said they hear it indirectly through mercenaries and peddlers.”

The church’s information power comes from the mouths of countless ordinary people who visit the church in their daily lives, and the information network at the top of Kalia is added to that.

In other words, because the population was so small that there were not many people who would come to the church, and because it was not easy to sell goods, the northern part of the plateau, which was also on top of Kalia, was not well-received by the church’s eyes and ears. It was similar to the situation in the Great Desert.

So the church decided to gather rumors from mercenaries working on the front lines or from peddlers carrying bundles to the front lines.

“And, if you trace back the mercenaries and peddlers operating there, they are all under the influence of the Protein family.”

“underneath.”

Judith’s voice, now quiet, was reminiscent of the calm before the storm.

“Is the Archbishop saying that we moved them and fabricated the rumor?”

“Am I mistaken?”

Lilia tilted her head with an innocent expression.

‘So, what are you going to say?’

Galen, who had been eating popcorn while leaving the conversation to Lilia, looked at Judith with interest.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

Finally Judith opened her mouth. The storm had not raged. It had remained calm, as if it had never happened.

“We were just trying to reassure the residents.”

“yes?”

“If the conflict with the Sky Fairy were to be conveyed vividly and as it was, how anxious would the residents on the front lines be? I simply instructed them to be careful with their words so that no unpleasant rumors would spread.”

“Oh, really?”

“If you say that it is a fabrication of rumors, I have nothing to say, but I have never made up stories that did not exist or covered up things that did exist.”

Indeed, it turns out like that. The corners of Galen’s mouth slightly went up.

If they were guys who were easily stabbed, they would have put their tails down when the Archbishop came in, blatantly breaking down the door. I wondered why they were so stubborn, but it turned out that they had already prepared a way out from the beginning.

It’s not that they’re denying that the rumor was fabricated, but rather that they’re claiming that it was fabricated in a good way.

It’s probably true that they only lightly seasoned it. They probably didn’t do any serious manipulation in case they got caught.

‘Rumors are always based on the subjectivity of the person who spreads them. It wouldn’t be difficult to slightly downplay the conflict with the Sky Fairy and package it as a regular conflict. If you claim that it was for the sake of the residents, the church wouldn’t have much to say.’

If we dig a little deeper, it actually puts the church in trouble.

It’s not like anyone threatened to gather rumors with a knife, and it’s ridiculous to ask a prestigious family why they spread such rumors when they just happened to gather rumors in the church.

We can whine that the church is needlessly harassing us even though we did nothing wrong. This is a situation that the church wants to avoid, which is why Judith is coming out so confidently.

‘But we didn’t think about that and messed with you.’

Galen winked slightly at Lilia, who was glancing over at him. Lilia responded with a pretty smile and looked back at Judith.

“I didn’t even know that… I think the Lord had been thinking hard about this solution, but I just pointed it out without knowing.”

“No. You could easily misunderstand.”

“Will you continue to work hard for the residents in the future?”

“Of course. Isn’t the stability of the realm our top priority?”

“Right! So please refrain from expanding in the future!”

“…yes?”

Judith, who had been secretly mocking the Archbishop, was a beat behind in her response to the sudden remark. Lilia kindly repeated.

“Stop expanding. And stop touching the Sky Fairies.”

“How can you mention family matters in church?”

“You said you were working hard for the residents just now, right? You also said that the stability of the territory was your top priority. That’s why it’s being destroyed.”

“Do you mean the conflict with the Sky Fairy? That happens all the time, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“I don’t care what you think, but from the church’s perspective, no? We almost got into big trouble because of the devil.”

“…What do you mean?”

Judith and the elders were stunned as a group. It was a topic completely out of the scope of expectation for the Protein family.

Well, the only ones who knew anything about what was happening in the North were the Brave Mercenaries, and they were still scurrying around in the distance.

Since Galen and Lilia had already gone south before even a rumor could spread, the mention of demons was literally a bolt from the blue.

“Brave Mercenaries. Of course you’ve heard of them, right?”

“yes.”

“The commander, Gaunt, was a devil-follower. Brother Galen and I came to the northwest to chase him.”

“…I see.”

“Fortunately, the extermination was successful, but when I questioned Gaunt, I found out that one of his goals was to cause conflict between the Sky Fairies and the humans. It seems he was trying to cause great chaos in the Northwest.”

“… … .”

Just hearing that, Judith instinctively knew that things had gone terribly wrong.

She spoke with an effort to appear calm, her brain working at full speed for a moment.

“Is there anything that can be used as evidence?”

“Hey, do you think I’m lying?”

“How could I have such a disrespectful thought? It’s just that it was such an unexpected thing… After all, it has to do with a major family matter… … .”

“Well, we can’t bring back the dead Gaunt and have him testify again. But there is someone who heard the testimony with him.”

Lilia’s gaze naturally turned to Galen. Galen, who had been watching leisurely until then, finally opened his mouth.

“I heard it. I guarantee it.”

“… Excuse me.”

Judith’s eyes narrowed.

“Isn’t Duke Galen too close to Archbishop Lilia?”

“So? You don’t believe me?”

“It just means that it is difficult to guarantee objectivity.”

“Well, I understand. But… we both don’t trust each other.”

Galen sneered.

“If I had just one day of free time, my lord would not be sitting here.”

“What, what did you say?”

“Because war really broke out. Nothing happened until now, so you’re saying that nothing will happen in the future? You don’t even believe it yourself. You’re just brainwashing yourself like that because you can’t control your greed for land.”

“This rude author!”

When Galen’s speech became clearly informal from the middle of the conversation, Judith also threw away her honorifics. This was a lot for her personality to endure. The situation was already precarious when the family members were swept away by lightning.

He didn’t draw his sword in front of the Archbishop because his sanity had not yet completely flown away, but his fingers dug into the armrest of the chair, cracking.

“Are you talking nonsense with a pierced mouth?”

“That’s what I’m going to say.”

Galen’s growling voice was eerie. Cold anger permeated the conference room.

“The things the devil ttakkarli did were supposed to end as localized incidents. Wars aren’t something that can happen easily. But you guys have been causing so much trouble for thirty years that it almost turned into a huge explosion. I managed to stop it, but you guys are not satisfied with even bowing your heads. What do you mean, give me the evidence?”

Judith, who should have been furious at the child’s arrogant and informal speech, simply listened quietly for some reason. The elders who could say something were the same.

To be exact, it was about to explode in the middle, but the warrior’s uniquely sensitive senses felt something creepy and stopped.

Brrrrrr!

The air in the conference room shook madly in response to Galen’s anger.

The warriors could not discern that the vibrations were caused by the trembling of the upper-tier jewel, the Water Manipulation, as it gripped the moisture in the air and trembled, but it was not difficult to guess who did it.

Even Judith, who was a jewel, felt something was wrong and was about to regain her senses, so how much more so must the golden elders have felt. The only one who remained calm was Lilia.

“You should be grateful for Lilia’s kindness. You guys who set the table for the devils to feast on are all just a bunch of thugs in my eyes.”

“What nonsense… …! How can I join hands with a filthy devil follower!”

“Why can’t you hold hands? Spires, Murad, Mashrik. You’ve killed three jewels by holding hands. How can you guarantee that the fourth one won’t be you?”

Only then was Judith able to recall the memory she had tried so hard to keep buried.

I couldn’t personally confirm the news because it was from another region, but these are the jewels whose deaths have been officially confirmed by the church in recent months. Their names have been mixed up in the unbelievable rumors that they were entangled with the devil.

It was hard to believe that he had become a Jewel in his twenties, but he was able to use various types of magic and defeat Jewels who were decades his senior, so I thought the church was quite proud of him.

But when I experienced it myself, I felt like the rumors were lacking.

He was angry at himself for feeling fear, but his anger was not so great that he turned it toward Galen and overcame his fear.

The image of the strike force being knocked down like scarecrows by a single lightning strike, not even the main force, did not leave my mind.

In the end, Judith couldn’t explode. Her clenched fists just trembled.

“Hey, no way. Don’t say such things, brother.”

In the cold, almost frozen atmosphere, Lilia spoke to herself, laughing heartily.

“It was just an unfortunate accident that happened because the owner of the house had such great concern for the residents. Right, owner?”

“…yes.”

“Please cooperate so that something like this never happens again in the future!”

“…I will do that.”

The conflict that had lasted for thirty years was resolved in an instant.

It was a truly peaceful afternoon.