Chapter 1030: The Requirement to be an Archbishop.
Celtic Territories.
Rena was currently on a mission, a very important mission! She was in the territory of the Celts to negotiate permission for their Acolytes to enter these lands.
Well, the part about 'negotiating' was incorrect. She was here to listen to this man's request and act accordingly.
According to the reports she received from Lizbet, a High-Level God from the Celtic Pantheon did not approve of the Acolytes' activities and used his influence among Mortals to try to diminish or completely stop what they were doing.
Rena, with her new appearance, was seated in front of a Human who had been directly Blessed by a God.
"In no way is our intention to hinder Your Excellency's activity. We only ask that you restrain your movements a bit to avoid unnecessary chaos... Due to the sudden appearance of that Being in the sky, people are quite terrified, and more chaos is unnecessary."
The man was speaking floridly, but in summary, they wanted her to stop doing what they were doing.
Something that was impossible. After all, when the Emperor ordered something, they must fulfill that order by any means necessary.
Rena simply continued to listen to the man's words with a gentle smile on her face. Her interaction with Victor in the past might have made people misunderstand her; she wasn't a clumsy woman. She was a gentle, calm, graceful, and noble lady.
But in front of the Emperor, even a lady like her would lose composure.
"Therefore, I propose an agreement." The man looked at his subordinate; the woman nodded and then handed the man a folder.
Rena raised an eyebrow, not expecting this outcome.
"It's more like a contract. Your Excellency keeps your Acolytes in check while we try to control the chaos caused by this Dragon." What the man wanted was quite obvious. He wanted time to control the situation. The man was respectful from beginning to end as his God commanded since he was not foolish to provoke the currently strongest Pantheon. He wasn't even trying to expel them or anything like that... But he miscalculated something.
You don't address His Imperial Majesty with a derogatory term like 'this Dragon'.
Although this was not a grave offense, and any normal person would ignore it, unfortunately, the person in front of him was not normal. She was Rena, an Archbishop directly bestowed by The Emperor.
Crack.
The man visibly shrank as the table broke under the woman's grip.
"You piece of shit, you dare insult His Imperial Majesty!?" An aura exploded from her body, making the man and his assistant flinch.
"I-I..." Realizing the minefield he had stepped into, the man immediately tried to rectify the situation.
Rena held the table, and with one shove, she launched the table from in front of her and threw it at the wall with such force that not only did the table shatter to pieces, but so too did the wall.
Her hair began to float, her eyes narrowed predatorily, and her teeth became even sharper. Instead of a graceful woman, she looked like a monster that was about to eat him.
"You inferior life forms without faith. How dare you talk about my God in such a manner!? You who honor a Pagan God need to be exterminated!"
"Wait, wait, Archbishop Rena, my boss's speech was inappropriate. We didn't mean to insult you or anything!" The female assistant quickly tried to fix the situation.
A huge smile spread across Rena's face, revealing all of her sharp teeth. "It doesn't matter. I can feel in every fiber of my Being your stench, the stench of a Pagan God. I can clearly hear that in your heart, you feel disdain for His Imperial Majesty! Pagan Beings like you are better off dead!"
The boss and the assistant broke into a cold sweat; the woman couldn't be reasoned with! She was insane!
Rena vanished, and the moment she disappeared, a boom was heard. The boss and assistant, who had closed their eyes awaiting their end, slowly opened them when they realized they were still alive.
As they opened their eyes, they saw another woman in front of them. She was wearing a completely black outfit that covered her entire body. They could only deduce she was a woman because of her figure.
"Archbishop Rena, please calm yourself. You don't want to harm the reputation of His Imperial Majesty, correct?"
Rena snapped out of her state upon seeing the woman in front of her. Her mind started to reboot when she sensed the woman's Draconic scent. Seeing the woman's attire, she remembered the forces that were the eyes and ears of the Emperor. When this realization hit her in the face, she began to panic.
'How could I display such an attitude in front of these Beings!' Rena regretted losing control a bit now. In her defense, her Evolution made her more prone to losing reason when provoked enough since she was more animalistic now than before. An insult to The Emperor was enough to trigger this side of her.
'I need to control myself! Or I will be demoted for poor performance!'
"I will hide what happened from His Imperial Majesty. Learn to control yourself. There will not be a second time." The woman with an expressionless mask said.
Instead of feeling relieved by these words, Rena narrowed her eyes at the masked woman. "Why are you hiding things from His Majesty?" Her hostility began to grow again.
Any hint of betrayal will not go unpunished! And in her opinion, not reporting exactly what happened to The Emperor was one of the greatest betrayals!
The woman behind the mask displayed a small smile at the woman's devotion and loyalty in front of her. "That's because I have the Authority to make such a decision."
The black mask dissolved into shadows and revealed Kaguya's face along with her Dragon Horns.
Seeing the Goddess's face, Rena panicked again. As the Emperor's eyes and ears, of course, those Beings would not betray him! After all, they were the most reliable Beings that went through a lengthy screening process to be the best! What was she thinking!?
'Idiot, idiot! You suspected the Goddess! The Emperor's Wife!' As Rena was about to apologize, the mask returned to Kaguya's face, and she spoke.
"You will not be punished. Such loyalty to the Emperor is commendable; keep it up, and you will go far... Just try to use your head more in complex situations." Kaguya gave the advice.
"Yes, Lady K-... Shadow!" Putting the woman's teachings into practice, she quickly changed the name at the end!
Kaguya rolled her eyes internally. 'I hope she improves her control over her animalistic side, or she won't be able to undertake diplomatic missions, only war missions.'
The perfect Maid did not interfere when Lizbet ordered Rena to take on this mission because, before the changes caused by Victor, the woman was an excellent diplomat.
'For not feeling the effects of the change like Rena, she completely forgot to see this side... Well, I can't blame her for that. Rena's change makes her more animalistic, so I'll just give her a small warning to consider everything before making a decision.' Thinking of her Husband, who knew exactly that all this would happen, she realized he intentionally didn't interfere so Lizbet could learn.
'Precisely speaking, he wants me to reprimand her.' Kaguya sighed as she saw the steps her Husband was taking. He was truly frightening when he wanted to be, and even she could only see a few steps into his future plans.
'As expected of my Husband.' Kaguya internally huffed proudly.
"Returning to the matter at hand..." Kaguya snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, Reality distorted, and all the damage caused to the building was reversed to normal. Even their position was changed back to normal, as if the previous scene was just an illusion.
Something everyone here knew was not true.
Rena opened her eyes widely. 'As expected of a True Goddess, The Emperor's Wife! She's incredible!'
Even though she didn't use any Technique, Kaguya could see Rena's internal thoughts very well. 'If she only knew what Anna could do just by speaking...' She shook her head internally. What she did just now was a small-scale Reality Distortion, an incredible Power indeed, but still not at the level of Mastery of Rune monsters like Scathach, and especially Anna, who had a natural talent for it.
The boss and the assistant looked at the woman's black mask with visibly terrified expressions.
"Representative of The Celtic God, Lugh."
"H-How did you know...?" The man's eyes widened.
"That doesn't matter. The only thing that matters here is, are you speaking for your God or not?" Behind the expressionless black mask, Kaguya's Draconic red eyes gleamed slightly.
The man fell silent. He desperately tried to contact his God to resolve this situation, but the God didn't respond. He could even see that his body's Blessing was draining.
"... I understand." From Kaguya's perspective, she could clearly see what was happening to the man. Her eyes, which saw the world as it really was, could see the Blessing of The Sun God draining from the man's body.
"I will take what happened to you as an answer, and we will continue our activities in Celtic Territory without hindrance."
The man said nothing; he couldn't say anything. Now that he no longer had the Blessing of The Sun and Light God, he had no authority to even be here. He was clearly abandoned by his own God.
A foolish attempt by the God to say he wasn't involved when he clearly was.
Kaguya was not stupid. Many Gods were afraid of her Husband and the strength of his Pantheon. As they couldn't do anything, they tried to act indirectly, like what happened here; such an occurrence was not rare.
'Just wait... Soon, you won't be in a position of power anymore and will be just slaves.' Kaguya thought disdainfully of the God who abandoned his faithful.
"Heh~." Rena's face was full of disdain as she displayed a mocking smile: "That's what you get for worshiping a Pagan God. The God-Emperor would never give up on his faithful. I wanted to exterminate you before, but now I just feel sorry for you."
Kaguya shook her head as she heard Rena's comment, but she wasn't wrong. Her Husband would never give up on his true faithful.
"Let's go, Lady Rena, we have work to do."
"Yes, Lady Shadow."
Before Rena rose from the chair she was sitting in, she picked up a black card with a Dragon logo and tossed it to the man.
The man unconsciously looked at the card and then back at Rena.
"Even though you're a forsaken lamb, someone who worshiped a Pagan God, the God Emperor's heart is enormous. He will accept all from any Race and ethnicity as long as they abide by his teachings."
"Teachings...?" The man scoffed with a depreciative smile. Now that he had lost his granted Powers, he had returned to the bottom of the food chain, and he was truly desperate. He had made many enemies to reach his current position.
"The way you speak of Pagan Gods tells me a lot about your teachings of tolerance."
Rena's eyes gleamed, and she gritted her teeth, but she didn't explode like last time; she had learned from her mistakes. "Don't get it twisted, worm. The way I address you is just my personal hatred for faithless people who prefer to worship a false God when clearly everyone knows who the True God is." This personal hatred was something all of Victor's high-level faithful had.
They felt irritated seeing others worshiping false Gods when they knew who the True God was; because of this, they strived to make the ignorant infidels see the 'truth.'
"My God teaches about tolerance and living with differences. The proof of that lies in the city he built in his territory is called Elvenorah, the eternal utopia. It's a place where the Emperor's dream of all Races coexisting, whether Gods or not, has come to fruition, a theocracy led by the Emperor's Wife, the Goddess of Technomancy, Velnorah."
The man widened his eyes as he heard Rena's words, and he felt doubtful. Could such a fantastical place really exist? But he didn't see why the woman would lie to him now since he was a nobody.
"If you desire true salvation, if you wish to see the true light, The Emperor's Light, take the card and visit us. We are sure we will open your eyes to the truth."
Rena snorted, tossed her white hair back, and walked towards the exit.
Kaguya looked at Rena with a small, amused smile. She was truly worthy of being called an Archbishop. With just a few words, she managed to hook an old faithful of another God. 'Only those who have the quality to make others switch sides can become an Archbishop.' She thought of the words Roxanne spoke to her in the past when she chose the Archbishops of The Religion of The Blood God.
.....