Kays Translations

Chapter 155: The Cathedral

After seeing Brother Alex off, I left the townhouse as well. It was just after ten in the morning.

The academy was still on summer holiday, so I supposed there was nothing wrong with spending the morning leisurely.

That was assuming Brother Alex wasn’t already meeting Princess Daniela somewhere, of course.

By this hour, the royal capital was already bustling. Once our carriage passed out of the streets reserved for nobles, waves of people filled the roads.

So this was the royal capital.

Was this what an ordinary district looked like here? If we hadn’t been travelling by carriage, I felt as though our party could have been swallowed by the crowd and separated in an instant. As expected, there were far more people than on the main street of the territorial capital.

“This is probably the most crowded part of the royal capital, Lord Julius,” the servant said.

“There really are a lot of people. I’m glad we came by carriage. The population in the territorial capital has been growing too, but it still isn’t anything like this.”

I wished the servants would stop treating me like such a little boy, but perhaps that was simply how I looked to them. Maybe I wouldn’t graduate from being “the young master” in their eyes until I was at least old enough to attend the academy.

Looking out through the carriage window, I saw pedestrians passing frighteningly close to the wheels. It made me nervous that a carriage might hit someone.

When I returned home, I would suggest to Father that the routes for carriages and pedestrians in the territorial capital be separated more clearly.

The population there was likely to keep increasing in the future. Better to take precautions before it became a problem.

The carriage continued forward at a brisk pace.

Apparently the cathedral stood quite far from the royal castle. Perhaps that was intentional, to keep the clergy from becoming too involved in the country’s administration.

It was a common pattern in stories for religious authorities to interfere in politics, with a powerful clergyman eventually clashing with the royal family.

How did things work in this kingdom?

At the very least, the clergy in the territorial capital had never interfered with Father’s governance of the Heine Margraviate.

Before long, a white, castle-like building came into view.

If I hadn’t already seen the actual royal castle, I might have mistaken this for it. The massive building was made of pale brick, and stained-glass windows lined its walls.

There were a great many people around the cathedral. I could see other nobles among them, but commoners outnumbered us many times over.

“There are so many people. I thought the church in the territorial capital had a lot of visitors, but this is on another level.”

“The cathedral is the only place in the kingdom that has statues of the goddesses. That’s why so many people come here.”

“What?”

The servant had said it with a smile. When he saw my startled expression, he chuckled.

Did he think my reaction was childish?

There were statues of the goddesses?

That was a genuine surprise. The church in the territorial capital had none, so I’d assumed such statues simply didn’t exist.

We entered the cathedral and made an offering. House Heine was a high-ranking noble house, so naturally the amount was substantial. The clergy seemed very pleased with it.

A priest offered to show us around. Perhaps because of the size of our donation, the man assigned to guide us was dressed in particularly fine vestments. He was probably fairly high-ranking within the church.

The name of House Heine was more widely known than ever these days, after all.

“This chapel enshrines the goddesses who once saved the world.”

At last, I came face to face with their statues.

Every window in the chapel was made of stained glass. Sunlight shone through the coloured panes, filling the room with a fantastical glow. No two windows had the same design. An enormous amount of effort must have gone into making them.

The priest noticed me staring at the windows and began to explain.

“The stained glass in this chapel depicts the ancient battle between the goddesses and the Demon King.”

“There really was a Demon King?”

“Yes. It isn’t a myth.”

Seriously?

That was news to me.

The goddess I’d met certainly hadn’t told me to go and defeat a Demon King. Still, I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Please let that be nothing more than my imagination.

In any case, fighting a Demon King was a completely different matter. My mission was supposed to be developing magic potions.

We finally reached the statues themselves.

Two goddesses stood side by side.

Two?

There were two goddesses?

“In ancient times, these two goddesses fought alongside humanity against the Demon King. They became our shields and were defeated by the Demon King.”

“What?!”

The priest nodded solemnly at my outburst.

So that story was considered true.

Goddess, you were defeated?

But I met you, didn’t I? And you were alone.

Maybe that meant the story was only half true.

“Thanks to the power of the goddesses, the Demon King was weakened enough for those who remained to defeat him. In the end, a hero struck the Demon King down.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard any of this.”

“Normally, you would study it properly after entering the academy. Margrave Heine and his wife may simply have judged that you were still too young. It can be difficult to tell a child that the goddesses said to protect this world no longer exist.”

The priest gazed at the statues with a faintly sorrowful expression.

Was he worried about what would happen if the Demon King ever appeared again?

Perhaps that was also why the statues existed only here in the royal capital: to encourage people to stand on their own rather than simply rely on goddesses who were believed to be gone. If disaster came, humanity would have to face it themselves.

“Ah, yes. If you like, would you care to see the orphanage as well?”

“The orphanage? Is it on the cathedral grounds?”

“Indeed. I’m sure the children would be delighted if a noble such as yourself paid them a visit.”

Was that a subtle request for another donation?

Well, noblesse oblige. Nobles had obligations to fulfil.

I didn’t have anything urgent planned, so I agreed to take a look. None of the servants objected either.

We went out through the back of the cathedral and emerged into a beautiful garden. Several tables had been placed on the lawn so visitors could rest. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and it was obvious the grounds were carefully maintained.

There was really an orphanage in a place like this?

It was hard to imagine.

We crossed the garden, and beyond a hedge I saw a large building that looked almost like an inn.

Apparently that was the orphanage.

As expected of the largest cathedral in the royal capital. The grounds were enormous.

Maintaining a place this size couldn’t be cheap.

All right. I’d make sure to donate generously to the orphanage too.

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