CH 160

Chapter 160

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : The Archfiend Workshop, Part 15 — Handicraft

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

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This is Elsa and Eliza, who are left behind. They remained small in a state of abandonment on the spot until the presence of the anomalies disappeared completely, when Elsa finally stood up and uttered a small but clear voice into the space that should have been empty.

「Mynar-sama, you are there, are you not?」

As if in response to her voice, a small man appeared as if melting out of the empty space. As Elsa had expected, Mynar, one of the three Archbishops of the Arnelian Church, was there. It was unmistakably him, although he was dressed in the plain brown hood that travelers often use, rather than the white hood of the Arnelian Church.

Elsa gives him a hateful look comparable to the one she gave to Anomaly when he appeared in a stupefied state.

「Are you satisfied, Mynar-sama? As you ordered, we have placed a piece of the Sister taken away in Eliza’s hands.」

「Well done. I watched the whole thing and they didn’t seem to notice. Good job getting them to touch some of the sisters.」

Just before Elsa ran up to Eliza earlier, someone grabbed Elsa’s sleeve from where there should have been none. Elsa was startled by this strange phenomenon, but then she felt something like a powdery substance on her hand and heard a voice in her ear.

「Anywhere. Touch a part of them with your hands.」

Elsa, who had an idea who the voice belonged to, carried out the order at the same time she went to help Eliza. Finding it difficult to touch the Anomalies directly, Elsa held Eliza’s hand while holding hers and gently whispered in her ear. After all, although Elsa was able to touch Anomaly directly, she wouldn’t have been suspicious of Eliza’s touching of Sister. Eliza’s hand may have been extended in that scene purely out of a sense of justice rather than command, but the result could have gone either way. At least for Mynar.

But Elsa’s gut is boiling at the sight of Mynar, who reflexively carried out the order but didn’t even try to save his allies. She looks as if she is about to jump on Mynar at any moment.

「How long have you been spying on us?」

「My mission ended unexpectedly early. The messenger found the dog still wandering around here, so I came to check on him. Well, it was a coincidence that I hit this scene, it was fortunate.」

「Fortunate? What’s fortunate about this scene?」

Elsa points to the pool of blood all around her. The angered Elsa is already not even using honorifics, but Mynar doesn’t seem to mind either.

「You saw the whole thing, didn’t you? You didn’t think to help us?」

「I don’t think so. Even if I did, it would be impossible anyway. I’m not good at fighting and you are not good enough either. I don’t think it’s fair to lay the blame solely on me.」

「You’re an Archbishop, right? Even though they’re not your direct subordinates, don’t you think nothing of it when someone from the same church as you is killed!?」

「I don’t.」

Elsa jumped on Mynar, who answered immediately, forgetting how tired her body was. Her face turned red with anger.

「You bastard!」

「You paltry punk.」

At the same time Elsa tried to grab Mynar’s chest, Mynar’s fist slams into her stomach. Elsa cries out in place with sobs.

「Be more calm. I shouldn’t have been here in the first place. But you are not wrong. If the priority was to get the information out, these reinforcements should’ve been called in. That little boy or old man, I don’t know, did he call himself Anomaly or something? It was just more than expected. It wasn’t your fault.」

「But!」

「This is also what he said, but on the battlefield it is customary for the weak to die. The loser cannot complain about what the winner does to him, as is usual on the battlefield. This also happens in human warfare.

You must have been lucky. Do you understand? He have been merciful. This is what happens when you’re not strong enough.」

「Guh, urrgh…」

Tears of frustration come to Elsa’s eyes again. Whether in front of Mynar or not, those tears never stop. Mynar’s expression didn’t change when he saw this, but he let out a few words in a whisper.

「But being alive is most important in itself. If you are alive, you will have the opportunity to fight back. Because they completely underestimate us, they are willing to open up a gap. Don’t worry, they will pay for this.」

「…What do you mean by that?」

Elza, who has cleared up some of her emotions by crying, asks.

「I’ll go after them myself.」

「Hah? But your business as the Archbishop…」

「No matter, this is more important. Besides, I’m an archbishop who’s so unobtrusive that no one would notice if I were eating alone in the cafeteria. This kind of assignment suits me better than doing paperwork at the church. But it’s impossible to infiltrate with a conspicuous Manadil or Dryd. You are the only one who properly recognized me as the archbishop.」

「That’s because you approached me.」

When Elsa was on her pilgrimage assignment, it was Mynar in front of her who approached her in an empty hallway. At first, Elsa’s impression of the man was that he was a dull man, and his appearance, so unlike a clergyman, made her think he was just a suspicious person. After learning that he was an archbishop, she changed her attitude, but since Mynar didn’t reveal his identity, for a while after they met, they just had a normal conversation without any honorifics.

When asked by other pilgrims, few had ever conversed with Mynar, and many didn’t even know what he looked like. Surprisingly, the same was true of the Templar Knights working at headquarters. As expected, those working at headquarters knew of Mynar’s appearance, but few had ever had a conversation with him. That’s apart from the clerical stuff. At any rate, few of them have even seen the assistant archbishop of Mynar.

Elsa wondered why Mynar was approaching her, but she soon found out that despite his dense appearance, he wasn’t as unpleasant as she had heard rumors, but rather the sharpest man she had seen since joining the Arnelian Church. His knowledge, his ideas, and his work ethic. Elsa secretly respected him, but it was still a shock to see him abandon his allies in front of her eyes. Even though she imagined what the man in front of her would have done, and even though she had also considered the possibility of doing so.

But Mynar’s words further betrayed Elsa’s expectations.

「Of course, you’ll be my replacement.」

「Huh?」

The completely unexpected words completely amused Elsa. Mynar chuckled a little, as if she was really stunned.

「Don’t look at me like that. Did you think I was in love with you?」

「W–What are you…」

「I’m joking.」

Again, Elsa was taken aback. How could Mynar make such a joke? She knew he was a man who liked to joke more than he looked.

「There are not many people in the church who could replace me. They are all serious people walking around with their clothes on. But an organization cannot stand alone. You understand that, don’t you?」

「That’s true…」

「The organization needs people who can work behind the scenes. Like you and me. I am sure that you considered earlier the option of saving yourself at the expense of these people or even Eliza. Am I wrong?」

「…You’re absolutely right.」

Elsa looked as if she were biting a bitter bug. Here, however, Mynar’s expression faltered a bit.

「That’s fine. Whether or not they actually do it, people who think like that are important to this organization. That is why I serve Miliazar. That vixen isn’t only a saintly woman, but she’s also capable of making cool-headed decisions when necessary. But it’s not good for the head of a group to get involved in evil herself. That is why she needs me. She knows my value and I like that. What’s even better is that…」

Having said that much, Mynar cut off his words. What Mynar really likes about Miliazar is that while Miliazar makes cold-blooded judgments, at her core, her compassion is the deepest of all. It must be a wrenching thought for her to make such a cold judgment. In the past, when he was secretly observing Miliazar with the magic of disappearing, a magic that Mynar is self-aware of to his right, he saw Miliazar many times alone in her office or private room with her head in her hands. That is why he’s risking his life in the service of Miliazar. He wishes he could shoulder even a part of that suffering.

Although he expresses it in different ways, he is no different from Manadil and Dryd in his allegiance to Miliazar. Or perhaps even more than them in terms of loyalty. If Miliazar told Mynar to cut off his head on the spot, he was prepared to cut off his own head without hesitation as soon as Mynar could determine that it was necessary. For Mynar, this is loyalty and repayment of a debt of gratitude to Miliazar, who raised an orphaned man with no accomplishments or backing to the archbishopric.