“How does a Blessing pass from one person to another?”

After Rie died, her Blessings passed to Yu. Yu had the experience that the Blessings came out of Rie's body in the form of a sphere and chased him.

This was how he witnessed the Blessings created by Azer had the change of users.

“It was Sorrow who killed her, but they came to me instead.”

In his experience, when a user died, the Blessing was passed on to another user, but what conditions did the user have to meet to receive the Blessings?

When the current user was killed by the Sorrow, the Blessings went to Yu, not the Sorrow. He wondered who the Blessings would have gone to if he had not been there.

But he knew from the information he had that it would take more than killing the current user to get a Blessing.

“Could it be that because Rie used the Virgo Blessing to save me, we bonded and that's why her Blessing chose me?”

It was a logical theory, and he had a case to back it up; the Blessings of Sorrow and Joy had not been passed on to Yu. At least he knew so.

So when Rie's Blessings were passed to Yu, it was because of the bond between them through the Virgo Blessing. So killing someone was not enough to get the Blessings. At least in Yu's case.

“Don't make fun of me, what do you mean the Pontifex is dead?”

“He was already old, his body must not have survived the winter.”

The pink-haired man had a contrived sadness on his face. Just hearing the news of the Pontifex's death from them was enough to make the situation look suspicious.

“He was healthy, though,” Link said.

He still held his sword in his hand. There was no anger or hatred on his face, his yellow eyes staring sharply at the pink-haired man, convinced that he was only doing his duty.

“Are you going to make Her Eminence wait at the door for an argument?” Yu asked. He had stepped in between them to avoid escalation.

As Link retreated, Verryho, the pink-haired man and those behind him bowed and expressed their sincere apologies to Her Eminence. All of their behavior was contrived.

“Then come in for further introductions, Your Eminence. Your entourage would also like to rest,” Verryho said.

“Clear the way, Her Eminence doesn't want you near him.”

He had never seen Yurine as uncomfortable in front of a human being as she was now.

She wanted to look strong right now, but instead of moving, Yurine turned to Yu, raised her arms and waited for Yu to take her in his arms.

Yu, who cared about the impression they would give to other people, took Yurine, who was already thought to be weak because she was a child, into his arms, even though he disapproved of the gesture because it would make her look even weaker. If it bothered her so much, he should have tried to make her feel safe.

“Even I don't feel safe, how can I make her feel safe? And it's not about making her feel safe, it's about keeping her safe. Seriously, it seems like we've come to a place where motherfuckers mix.”

He had thought that everything would be all right when Leoral died, but the new people he met woke him up from his absurd dreams.

Yurine was supposed to be the first to take the first step into their new home, the Full Moon Manor, but since she refused to get off the lap, Yu was to take the first step into their home.

As the Vermilian soldiers surrounded Leoral's coffin, the roaron warriors ran and lined up in front of the door, creating a path for the Cardinal of Virgo to pass through.

“Damn your web, your spider...”

He cursed silently as a spider's web stuck to his face as he walked through the door of the mansion. The spider hadn't spun a full web, but it had stretched its web from one end of the door to the other. He was holding Yurine with one hand and trying to remove the web from his face with the other.

“It’s on my face! These creatures don't even know how to clean, Yu, take it.”

“These bastards just walked out the door, did they make this? Then let the goblins fuck them in the ass.”

He had always wondered what the spiders were trying to do when they built webs on the doors. Were they trying to hunt humans? This was not the first time he had encountered a spider spinning a web from one end of a huge door to the other. Such incidents drained the energy of daily life.

Inside the mansion, lined up on either side of the red carpet leading to the U-shaped staircase ahead, almost all the servants were young girls. The walls were decorated with paintings and sculptures.

“Normally I should be excited to be living with such beautiful girls, but those guys behind us make me feel sorry for them, I wonder what kind of life those poor girls must be living.”

He would not be surprised if they faced bullying and harassment. Even the appearance of the people who would be in their council screamed ‘don't trust me.’

Yu disagreed with the saying ‘don't judge people by their appearance.’ Judging someone by their appearance was something he did all the time and it shaped his behavior. For him, people should look how they wanted to be judged and their appearance was linked to their character.

“I am occasionally wrong, but the small exceptions do not spoil the overall picture.”

At the front of the stairs they met a small-breasted maid with red hair and green eyes, wearing the stereotypical French maid's outfit from anime.

“I'm Barbara Russuo, head maid, and I'd like to introduce you to the mansion.”

***

Apart from the color, there was nothing distinctive about the inside of the mansion. The size was really big, but one could see mansions of similar size in Rolderhelm.

Although the interior was furnished faithfully to the history of the manor, the personal rooms where people stayed were colored. The room given to Yurine was not colored because it was the lord's room of the manor that had not been used for a while, it was still white.

Yu's room and the rooms of the other people who came with them were also white, it was as if they had bought a brand new room. They didn't ask the servants of the mansion to help them unpack. There were things they didn't want to be found, so they did it themselves.

“Who knows how many agents are in the servant staff over there, I'll have to overhaul them all. Then we'll have to reorganize the council, but I think that's something I can deal with after we get Vermia back.”

“I see, the old Duke of Vermia is dead. Too bad the cathedral lost its only supporter.”

The man was Leshua von Shimien, dressed in a white suit and with pink hair down to his back. He was a wealthy merchant who found himself the only member of his family at a young age.

“Now that the previous Pontifex has granted Her Eminence the Cardinal of Virgo a city, she can find new supporters. And I, your humble servant, would be happy to help you, Your Eminence.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

For someone like Verryho to offer help was simply humiliating.

Yu seemed to hear Yurine's insulting words in his own head. A proud young lady like Yurine would rather lose the city than be dependent on her help.

“There is a decree from the heavens, the success of the Virgo Cardinal cannot be prevented,” Yu said.

A black bearded and black-haired man dressed in black clothes, whose name Ravin, laughed, was showing his yellowed teeth.

“Everyone here is screaming ‘I'm the fucking bad guy.’ He looks like one of those fucking hodjas in the Middle East who fucks his male followers.”

“Our God rewards those who fight for his cause, even if they belong to a different sect,” Ravin said.

Ravin was one of the priests of the Aquarian Cathedral. Virgo was a predominantly Aquarian Cathedral and Ravin was the abbot of the Church of Aquarius here. He was obviously uncomfortable with Yurine's presence.

Here was an old bald man who never spoke, who sat still, holding his cane in his hand, but remained silent. All he had done so far was introduce himself, they had learned that his name was Beny von Dandon.

“There must be dishonor in this too. If the new Pontifex brought them, he must be a bastard too. I want to open my mouth for good, but there will be a lot of trouble.”

After Ravin, no one spoke and there was a strange silence. Yu didn't want to talk to them about anything, he wanted to kick them out.

Link seemed to have something to say, but he held back in front of the girl he served.

“Her Eminence needs to rest, tomorrow we will convene the council and discuss our current situation.”

After the introductions were over, as if there was nowhere else to talk, Yu gathered the important members of the Virgo Cathedral in Yurine's room because it was the only place he felt they could talk safely.

Yu and Yurine sat on the bed while Sivina and Ana sat on the chairs. Link, Kigaro and Dimen were standing.

“We've landed in an environment beyond our wildest dreams, haven't we?” Yu said.

They were in a bad situation and bad people had gathered around them. Yu wanted to joke, even though they were in a lamentable state, to bring a smile to their disappointed faces.

“I couldn't have imagined it,” Link replied.

“You gave information about Verryho, do you know anything about the others?”

Link was the one of them who knew the most about Mora, if anyone in this room knew them, it was Link.

“I don't know him, but Ravin is probably one of the dishonorable priests of the Aquarian Cathedral. He's probably involved in money laundering through the churches. I've been to this city many times before, but I've never heard of Leshua von Shimie. Probably he is one of the people who got rich after the war started. I don't want to judge people by their appearance, but when I see him among men like Verryho and Ravin, he doesn't inspire confidence. I don't know anything about that old man.”

“Do some research on them.”

If they had to have a council, he didn't want them to be its members. If he could, he would make Yurine the sole judge; if not, he would create a council he could control.

His first thought was to kill the current councilors at intervals. He thought of using the poison in his blood for this, but that would be risky.

The experiment they had done on the rinos using Bart's corpse had shown that the poison did not infect the rinos, but he still needed to do more experiments. He didn't want to accidentally poison his friends, especially Yurine.

So he would look for different ways to kill them.

“It is a stain on the Virgo Cathedral that the brothel whore is even in our council,” Sivina said. Yu spoke after nodding his head in agreement.

“I want the roarons to stand guard outside this door and in the corridors at all times. I want a roaron warrior to stand guard wherever Yurine goes.”

After telling Kigaro his wishes, he turned to Ana.

“I made you a priestess, but you don't have to do anything with the priesthood right now, you will be a guard with Yurine.”

“What about me?” Sivina asked.

Their current priority was to build an army and to come out of nowhere and offer Cornelia their help. He wanted Sivina's help in building an army.

“We'll build an army, you'll help me. Link will help us when he's done with his own work. Our priority now is to retake Vermia, the city they lost. I think we have enough money to build an army, but we have to be fast, keep that in mind. It will be funny if we build an army and go to Vermia and Cornelia says ‘we've already taken the city.’”

But the chances of that happening were slim. Sieges lasted for months, and Vermia was not even close to falling. On the contrary, there was enough food behind the city walls to last them until the end of summer.

No cathedral had ever supported Cornelia. Cornelia had built her current army by selling the family's possessions outside Vermia, and they had no supporters to provide them with food. Yurine would look like a hero for coming to Cornelia's aid.

“Are we even ready for a war?” Sivina asked.

“Vermia should be in the Vermilia family. The Vermilians are the only supporters of the cathedral. You see, neither they nor we are taken seriously when their city is in someone else's hands.”

“And will the next head of the family support us?” asked Link.

“If we come to her aid, why wouldn't Cornelia support us? She had been abandoned by the whole country, I still can't understand why.”

The Pontifex and Leoral were friends, but when Vermia fell, the Church of Andromeda did nothing to help retake the city.

“Because the Pontifex does not make all the decisions alone. The Pontifex, the people around the former Pontifex, have a huge influence on the decisions. It is because of those people that the Zodianist side has decayed.”

“And one of those people is now the head of the country?”

Link nodded in agreement.

“Besides, by law, a son comes before a daughter, Cecilus dri Vermilia is the new head of the Vermilias. I know Cornelia has her supporters, but wouldn't supporting her cause war within the family? You said they are our only supporters, are we going to make them fight amongst themselves?”

“Not if I can help it.”

Yurine gave him a puzzled look, but he didn't budge.

“What you said sounded a bit complicated,” Kigaro said. “When you say no, if possible...”

“Cecilus is the prime suspect in Rie's death and I don't think he likes Virgo Cathedral.”

“What did you say?” Link took a step towards Yu. “Cecilus dri Vermilia killed the previous cardinal?”

Everyone looked at Yurine for a moment. Yurine wrapped her arms around Yu's waist and tried to avoid the stares.

“Yes, but don't tell anyone. When Leoral appointed Cornelia to our council, he named Cecilus as his heir even at the last moment. The idiot... If Cecilus takes over, it's only a matter of time before he pulls support from Virgo Cathedral.”

“When you said no, if possible, you meant to put Cornelia in charge without provoking a civil war. The only way I can think of to do that...”

“Yes, Ana. I don't think Cecilus will give up his rights voluntarily. The only way is to kill him.”

Yurine rested her head on Yu's chest, listening to his heartbeat. When it came to killing Cecilus, she decided to speak.

“He has to die, we have to avenge my mother. My mother's blood will not stay on the ground.”

Yu smiled at Yurine as he stroked her head. Link sat down on a table to avoid continuing the conversation standing up.

“Will Cornelia let you kill your brother?”

“I don't think it would be difficult to talk Cornelia into putting Cecilus on trial. After all, not having Cecilus means she will become a duchess. Why would she refuse? It would serve her interests too.”

“Would you kill your own brother to become a duke?”

“If by brother you mean my sisters, no, I wouldn't do that. If by brother you mean Cecilus... I mean, I wouldn't care much if a brother like Cecilus. He is a person who just killed a woman because he was rejected by her.”

He was studying Link's face carefully now. He wondered if he would tell Cecilus that they were going to try to kill him. It was a good opportunity to see Link's loyalty.

“Once we return from the siege and make Cornelia a duchess, we'll deal with the rotten eggs in the city.”

“The rotten eggs here were brought here by the Church of Andromeda. It would be easier to take the city than to get rid of them. I'll be honest...”

Link lowered his voice, the roarons were standing guard at the door of the room, but Link wanted to make sure that what he said didn't reach the ears of strangers.

“The Church of Andromeda used to be a half-rotten apple, and the non-rotten part of it was Tauntis. Now both the Church of Andromeda and the Zodianist side are completely rotten apples. We were already losers in the war, the current government may be people who are only interested in lining their pockets and running away before they lose the war. I don't think the people who have already put the country in this situation will win the war.”

“So we've suddenly joined the losing side...” Ana sighed.

“Do you regret accepting my job offer? I'm sorry, I didn't know the Zodyanist side would lose. Frankly, if I had known the Zodyanists were a rotten bunch, we would have joined the royal side.”

“You think so?” Link asked.

He had never been interested in the interests of a religion. For Yu, joining the Zodian side was just a ladder on the way to his ambitions.

“I should have done more research before coming here.”

He could not allow Zodianism to corrupt and degrade them too.

“I don't care about Azer, I don't care about the state of the great religion of Zodyanism. Yurine is here because she wants to fulfill her mother's dying wish and bring peace to the kingdom. I am here because Yurine is here. If peace comes to the kingdom, does it matter whether it comes from Yu Zao or the Pontifex? Cardinal Rie wanted to fulfill her wish under the Zodianism because that was the way things worked out for her. I'm sure she wouldn't have cared whose hand peace would come from.”

He knew nothing about Rie's request, he was making it up as he went along. He was also wondering whether it would be right to tell Link, he seemed to be loyal to the old Pontifex and didn't like the newcomers, but if he turned out to be a spy they would be in trouble.

“Indeed, I think we chose the wrong side,” Link said.

His comment made Yu smile.

"If the Church of Andromeda has a chance to win the war, I will support them, even if it means getting involved in dark deeds. After all, our goal is not to build a peaceful country, but to gain power to cross the borders of Ethalot and reach Nekoverine. If people who have accepted defeat and want to line their pockets before the war ends are in charge, I will have to think about new things."