I Became a Fake Priest the Saintess Is Obsessed With

36 – God is Dead

A massive secret chamber hidden somewhere in the palace.

In there, there were eight humans sitting around the round table, not discriminating between races and ethnicities, including seven figures referred to as representatives of each religion, and among them, the emperor.

The elves and dwarves, who had been fighting as if to kill each other, now gazed quietly at the emperor, and even the jester, who had been making jokes, had toned down his makeup.

The atmosphere was noticeably heavier than usual, making it clear that this was an important gathering.

Selena had been to this gathering about five times before, but she still found it difficult to adapt to the solemn atmosphere.

“We will now begin the religious summit on the issue of humanity’s survival.”

The emperor’s voice echoed through the audience, marking the start of the summit.

“Let’s start with the story from the south. Seiden Gong, what happened to the ancient monster that was in the depths of the sea?”

The emperor pointed to a young merman with deep blue hair.

He was Portermin Seiden, a high priest of the sea deity religion who believed in the sea god, Crystal Trueel.

Seiden, tossing his hair, began speaking in the typical arrogant manner of the merfolk.

“We managed to deal with the Leviathan one way or another.”

“Does that mean you killed the monster?”

The emperor’s question made Seiden lower his head.

“We couldn’t kill it, but we temporarily sealed it with a barrier, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

“It seems we don’t need to worry about the merfolk’s barrier then.”

“Of course. But more importantly, are you curious about the World Tree story? Is that great tree growing safely, Sylvia?”

Seiden, speaking confidently, smoothly shifted the topic to the World Tree in the east.

Sylvia was the youngest elf, a child of the World Tree that governed nature.

“There’s no need to worry about any major issues that concern Seiden Gong. I would like to hear about the recent stories of some dragons escaping from the volcano.”

Sylvia pointed at a short dwarf with her finger.

His name was Agal, the guardian of the volcano that controlled fire.

“Ha! The cowardly dragon fled! Don’t worry. We’ve captured the adult dragon that tried to escape, and the young one that managed to flee has been possessed by a demon, so it won’t be safe for long.”

Agal said smugly, stroking his lion-like red beard.

“It’s our turn in the flow of events. The nomads from the north have agreed to cooperate with the empire, exchanging a bit of our wisdom.”

Gail Sophia Schreer, the great sage of the Matap who follows the god of great wisdom, Rakis, continued the conversation.

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The emperor nodded in apparent satisfaction after hearing all the stories.

“Everyone in charge of their respective regions has done their part.”

“Of course. If we couldn’t handle such matters, the name ‘The Seven Faiths’ would be a disgrace. But what about the central region?”

“There was a minor incident, but the followers of the Heavenly and Earthly Spirits intervened before it escalated.”

It was probably referring to the Akid family. Selena thought as she glanced at the man sitting next to her.

Lenox, a high-ranking priest of the Heavenly Spirit and a Taoist.

He remained silent, listening to the others’ conversations.

“With this, the preparations for the war against the Demon King’s army are nearly complete. All that’s left is to find warriors to confront the Demon King.”

As the topic shifted to the warriors, the bustling hall fell silent in an instant.

While the empire had completed its preparations for the war against the Demon King’s army, taking advantage of the crises and opportunities in all directions, they had yet to find the warriors to defeat the Demon King who ruled over them.

Originally, the warriors were supposed to be found from one of the Seven Faiths at the moment of the Demon King’s birth, but even after several years since the Demon King’s appearance, no warriors had emerged.

“It seems we still haven’t found the warriors, judging from the reactions.”

“hehehe! Your Majesty, I have a brilliant idea!”

When everyone was holding their breath, Vlad Pierre, the first jester of the chaotic god Nia, raised his hand.

“A brilliant idea… Can you tell us what it is?”

“We create heroes, not just find them!”

“Hmm… Do you know that method?”

“Of course! To create a hero…”

Pierre’s mouth spouted absurd yet blasphemous tales.

Selena thought his words sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic.

However, everyone in the room silently agreed with his opinion.

With the war raging for years, the empire would crumble without the emergence of heroes.

Moreover, according to Pierre’s theoretical explanation, they could surely create a hero.

In order to preserve the empire, they decided to follow Pierre’s blasphemous path.

Selena, too, naturally found herself nodding in agreement.

After all, what importance did the sacred hold now?

God is dead.

And we stood by and witnessed the death of God.

No, not just witnessed – we were the ones who killed God.

The woman, Nibra, who ruled the land, met her end because of her children.

Now, our God no longer exists.

All that remains are the lambs who followed her.

So, the sacred is no longer significant.

We must atone for the death of God and care for the lambs, even if it tarnishes the sacred.

To console our own sins.

We must conceal our sins and comfort ourselves.

***

The day of rest came to an end, and early in the morning, high-ranking officials entered into a conference.

Being only a junior priest, I couldn’t participate in the meeting, so, like yesterday, I found myself taking rest in the palace.

Tina tried to take me along to drink since the morning, but I firmly declined. My body is still not moving properly; why would I drink?

I decided to lie on the bed for recovery.

“Well… by the way, it’s remarkably soft.”

I knew the imperial items were of good quality, but among them, the bed seemed the best.

The soft sheets wrapped around my waist, making me feel like sinking in.

Yet, there’s not a single uncomfortable spot, as if lying on a cloud.

Compared to the hard beds in the monastery, the palace bed is so tempting.

“Ah… I wonder if I can ask the Emperor for a bed…”

If the benevolent Emperor hears my request, he might grant it.

However, receiving a bed could tarnish my reputation, so I should refrain from such strange behavior.

While lingering with feelings for the bed, someone knocked on the door.

I was quite annoyed, but I got up.

Ah… Tina wouldn’t have come back so soon, right?

Since I somewhat weakly declined earlier, this time I decided to firmly refuse as I opened the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me…”

It wasn’t Tina who unexpectedly came to find me.

Standing in front of my door was Saint Amelia.

“Saint? What brings you here…?”

“Oh, that… I thought, why not explore the palace together…”

I hesitated at the saint’s suggestion.

Come to think of it, yesterday, I was so engrossed in conversations with various people that I didn’t even properly tour the palace.

Since I’m already at the palace, why not explore around instead of locking myself in the room?

“Ugh…!”

Wanting a change of mood and willing to accept her proposal, my arm suddenly throbbed.

The sore arm was the one I overused with magic that I hadn’t used even when facing the Marquis.

Using that level of magic with Ivan’s insignificant body was an expected consequence of overload.

Indeed, it seems difficult to wander around with my current physical condition.

“I’m sorry. My body is still…”

I was about to say that I couldn’t move around due to my discomfort when a status window appeared before my eyes.

[Main Quest: Accept Saint Amelia’s proposal]

Remaining time: 30 seconds

Reward: 10,000 PP.

Unbelievable.

If I accomplish such a trivial task, they’ll give me 10,000 PP.

Look here! Citizens of the Empire! The goddess has gone insane!

It seemed that everyone’s attention was drawn to the goddess’s outrageous proposal.

The time limit is 30 seconds.

There’s nothing more to say.

This is an opportunity not to be missed.

“…It seems like I can go because it’s quite alright!”

The words hastily spoken were utterly useless and changed the subject.

“Ah… I see… Really? You can go?”

The maiden asked again as if she hadn’t heard properly.

“Yes! I can go!”

The pain had already melted away like 10,000 PP.

“Um… Um… Yes… Then let’s go around the palace together.”

The maiden seemed visibly flustered, but I didn’t know why.

If I can earn PP and gamble with that PP, I can do anything.

[The goddess looks pitifully at you]

Anyway, the maiden and I wandered around the palace together.

We obtained a few pieces of information in this way.

Firstly, the palace is quite luxurious.

I felt it when I first entered; it’s an extraordinary place.

In the garden, there’s a pool and various sculptures scattered around, while the corridors showcase various decorations.

‘Just one quick glance…’

I caught sight of a tempting ruby necklace on my way, but even if I were insane, I couldn’t raid the palace, so I averted my eyes.

On my way, I spotted Tina, drinking with dwarves.

“hehehehe~! Drink! Drink more!”

Ugh…

I want to say something, but all that comes to mind are curses.

Tina is living her own life; it’s probably not good for me to be concerned.

I diverted my gaze from Tina.

“Oh, Priestess…”

This time, I turned towards the voice of the Saint calling.

There stood a familiar lady.

“What are you doing here?”

The owner of a voice so cold it could freeze, Saint Lesia of the Thousand Gods appeared before us.