PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

376 Chapter 376 An Indomitable Kindness

Sitting in the meeting room around a gigantic round stone table, twelve older men and women, all in luxurious robes, gazed distantly in the direction of one of the main seats.

Cecilia was sitting on the other end of the high priest who didn’t bother to come to this meeting, her long golden hair resting on her shoulders and falling down her sides to encircle her incredibly ample bosom.

Even in her conservative church robes, Cecilia’s seductive charms were not something that could be hidden, and this drew more than one lustful glance around the table.

Behind Cecilia, a couple of meters away, leaning against the meeting room wall, Desmond waited with a strict and alert posture. The other twelve holy knights were on the scene, all behind their respective targets for protection and service.

Desmond being a firm believer that justice loves the prepared, spent minutes scanning every holy knight in the room from head to toe. Analyzing their postures, weapons, and armor, trying to discern any advantage and tactic he could use in combat against them.

It couldn’t be helped; although this was a political battle, Desmond wasn’t in a position where he could participate, nor did he have the ability to do so. The only thing Desmond could do was prepare for the future battles to come.

Desmond paid particular attention to two holy knights standing behind the two men whose seats were on either side of the high priest’s seat.

Those two knights were powerful; at least they were on a higher level than Erigard whom Desmond had defeated. Both knights wore gleaming armor, they carried long swords strapped to their waists, and just because of the aura emanating from these objects, Desmond knew they were several folds superior to his current gear.

Desmond’s expression turned serious as both knights focused their attention on him, it was merely a matter of instinct, but Desmond knew it; he could not defeat those knights with his current strength.

.....

Across the room, both knights also looked thoughtfully at the man standing behind the holy priestess. Originally this meeting was called to sort out various administrative issues but quickly changed focus when word got out that someone had beaten up a holy knight.

At first, many of the holy knights did not want to believe the news; for them, the mere notion that someone other than a holy knight would be able to defeat them was nothing but nonsense.

That only lasted until some of them saw the injured and unconscious Erigard. However, even having seen such a thing, many still believed it must have been due to carelessness on Erigard’s part, something that wouldn’t be all that strange considering how arrogant he was. Erirgard.

The same applied to the two holy knights who were now looking at Desmond. At first, they had both followed a similar line of thought as their companions, but now, after meeting Desmond, both knights finally understood that Desmond was strong enough to go toe to toe against a holy knight.

Although that didn’t intimidate said knights, they were the most powerful among the holy knights besides the personal knight of the high priest; there was simply no comparison between someone like Erigard and them.

On the other hand, while the holy knights and Desmond looked at each other, trying to analyze the other party, the meeting had begun. Quickly starting with administrative issues, Cecilia has basically pushed aside most of the conversation.

With practically zero decision-making power within the church, Cecilia’s issues were limited to just some of the church’s projects, such as running orphanages and distributing food to the poor.

In a way, inviting Cecilia to these conversations was just another way of humiliating the girl, having to sit for hours as nothing more than a decoration; Cecilia always came out extremely tired from those meetings, physically and emotionally.

Hours passed, during which Cecilia remained on the sidelines watching how the decisions were made with a detached look.

Cecilia didn’t really want to participate in the meetings either; she wasn’t qualified enough, not when she had only received an elementary education when she was a nun. Cecilia had worked hard in the last few months, tirelessly reading books, trying to cultivate her intellect and her abilities to fulfill her role so that she could benefit many properly. However, it was all in vain; she soon became segregated and alienated, leaving all her efforts to become a better leader and priestess as nothing more than a bad joke.

No luxuries in this room could distract Cecilia from the impotence, not the beautiful statues created by master craftsmen, the colorful stained glass windows, the gold, and silver or the magical beast leather or the velvet used on the chairs for higher comfort; it all seemed so banal as Cecilia gazed apathetically at the so-called holy men around her.

It was funny; once she saw these figures as something to admire, faithful men of piety and faith; she couldn’t have been more blind. Since when did men of faith need so many luxuries and extravagances? Since when did men of faith have entire harems of nuns serving themselves in bed? Since when was the heart of such men so full of darkness?

It was disgusting; a feeling of utter disgust and sin was all Cecilia got from the so-called men of faith around her, quite laughable; this feeling was a hundred times worse than anything Cecilia had ever felt from Desmond.

Thinking about it, Cecilia decided to stop paying attention to the meeting and instead devoted herself to reviewing her impression of Desmond. Desmond was handsome and charming, even a woman as pure as Cecilia could tell, but that was only on the surface; there was much more to Desmond than met the eye.

Even Cecilia, with her unique ability, could not fully grasp who Desmond Astryd really was. Desmond was fierce, aggressive, cynical, sarcastic, and a sadist with a strong tendency toward violence and lust, a person who showed zero empathy towards his enemies.

But Desmond also showed great kindness, affection, and care towards the orphanage children. Those emotions were sincere, and Cecilia knew it, plus there was the way Desmond behaved with Kyuru and how he talked about his family; it was clear that Desmond was a loving person who valued those close to him.

Was Desmond a saint? Even if an angel told her, Cecilia wouldn’t believe it. Was he a heartless demon? Cecilia didn’t think so either; Was Desmond, a sinner? Without a doubt, but whether or not Desmond was evil, Cecilia could only believe he wasn’t despite all the blood she had seen him spill.

At the very least, Desmond was much better than the bishops around Cecilia, those men who had been talking for hours about nothing but money and power, not even once mentioning a way to use said money and ability to do good for others.

The church was corrupt, Cecilia had known for a long time, but these meetings were a constant reminder of the decadence and sin into which the church leaders had fallen... Cecilia was tired of it all.

“Moving to other matters, it seems that the holy knight Erigard is seriously injured due to the sneak attack of the knight in charge of protecting the holy priestess Cecilia; I believe that we should choose a suitable punishment.”

At one end of the room, Desmond smirked, having already expected this kind of tactic, while Cecilia snapped out of her daze only to see almost all of the cardinals and bishops present agreeing to punish Desmond.

There wasn’t even a discussion about Desmond’s innocence or guilt, nor did they bother to ask for Cecilia’s opinion even though Desmond was her knight; from start to finish, everyone in the room behaved as if the matter had already been decided.

Cecilia was having a hard time processing the whole situation, and she only came out of her daze when the death penalty was brought to the table by one of the most extreme bishops.

“Death penalty? Why? Just for protecting me?” Cecilia began to mutter to herself with a lost look while the world around her blurs.

Those smiles full of joy at the misfortune of others, those hearts full of lust and greed, they had committed so many sins... but they still felt that they could determine the life and death of others? Who did they think they were? Were they justice? If that were the case, then what is justice?

Everything was so absurd in Cecilia’s eyes, but a form and an emotion came to life within the girl’s pupils little by little. It wasn’t something like doubt, apathy, helplessness, or weakness. It was anger.

Two bright and fiery golden four-pointed stars became easily visible within Cecilia’s pupils, almost completely covering the girl’s eyes. Instantly, a terrifying pressure filled the entire room, alerting the holy knights and church members, and Desmond, who felt the pressure was familiar.

Then, while everyone’s mind was on high alert, a single voice dominated everything under the sky, reverberating with a majesty that left no room for a reply.

“How much are you willing to humiliate yourself?” After which, the pressure intensified.

“You call this justice? Do you consider yourselves men of faith? Do you want the life of one of my own? Then prove your case, show my knight’s mistakes, show that you are not the sinners; if you can’t do that... then shut your mouth.” Word afterword, the pressure on everyone in the room intensified, building where some of the cardinals began to faint.

The source of the voice, Cecilia, just looked listlessly at everything in front of her, waiting for an answer, but all she got from her were looks of hate and fear, nothing more.