It was true, just as Arsian had guessed—Jainer hadn’t fought with everything he had.

But if even a little more time had passed, he wouldn’t have been able to afford that kind of leeway.

That magic swordsman is definitely a bit much.

He had been weighing whether he should properly clash with him, but seeing Arsian turn away so blandly, Jainer only gave a light shake of his head.

“Camilla—does that one name end everything?”

Recalling how Arsian had vanished without leaving so much as a trace, as if he truly had nothing left to see or do, the corners of Jainer’s mouth curved into a soft smile.

“There are annoyances crawling all over the place.”

*****

“Tsk.”

Even after the meeting ended, Cardinal Stella remained seated, unable to leave her place, clicking his tongue again and again.

So in the end, it just gets swept under the rug like this?

After Camilla sent the Sword of Judgment to the Papacy, all the talk of branding her a heretic disappeared as if it had been swallowed whole.

And today’s meeting, too, ended without any real conclusion—dissolving into nothing.

I can’t let this stand.

What she had said that day sat in his throat like a barb—sharply lodged, endlessly irritating.

The gaze she’d fixed on him, claiming she had received a revelation from God, still rose vividly before his eyes.

Does ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) she know everything?

He didn’t know how it had happened, but Camilla knew with unsettling precision what he had done.

A revelation?

He could never believe that. There was no way God would teach her something like that.

He was someone who had served God with everything he had for his entire life. God would not abandon him just because he had committed a few such acts.

“How dare you.”

Trying to threaten him with information she’d picked up somewhere.

He wanted to send an inquisitor immediately and have her seized, but the matter had become irritatingly tangled.

Even today, not a single person had properly raised her agenda in the meeting.

Clicking his tongue once more, Cardinal Stella slowly rose from his seat.

There was no point lingering in an empty chamber where everyone had already left. Staying wouldn’t magically bring Camilla’s “disposition” to completion.

Do I have to handle it quietly?

If public punishment was impossible, then he would have to find another method.

He could not leave her alone—deceiving people with counterfeit holy power. He had to make sure she could never spout nonsense again.

But her status is the problem.

It wasn’t just any house—touching the Ducal House of Sorpel, called the family that protected the Empire, was a burden even for him.

Even though she wasn’t his biological daughter, the Duke of Sorpel cherished her quite a lot. There was no way he wouldn’t have concerns.

BANG!

“C-Cardinal!”

At that moment, the meeting hall doors flew open and a priest rushed in, frantic. The instant he saw it, Cardinal Stella’s brow furrowed.

“Have you forgotten your station? I told you, always keep your composure.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

The young priest—looking barely in his early twenties—bowed quickly.

But as if what he had to say was urgent, he hurriedly opened his mouth again toward the cardinal.

“Please, look at this.”

“......?”

“This sort of thing is around the temple....”

It was a poster. Reading the contents with a displeased gaze, Cardinal Stella’s expression hardened rapidly.

“W-What is this...!”

“Right now, these posters have been put up all over the temple.”

“All over?”

On the poster, the deeds he and the temple had committed were written out in exhaustive detail.

From young priests to priest candidates—countless people, molested and raped, driven as far as suicide...!

...From young priests to priest candidates, he inflicted humiliation and shame upon countless people, driving them even to suicide.

All of this happened with the tacit approval of Cardinal Stella, one of the order’s great elders, and the cardinal himself also actively participated in these unethical acts....

“How dare someone spread this garbage!”

Cardinal Stella crumpled the poster in his fist and roared.

“Tear every one of these down at once!”

“Y-Yes!”

“Ggh....”

The priest bolted outside. Staring at the crumpled poster, Cardinal Stella’s eyes shook restlessly, as if they had nowhere to settle.

But soon, fury began to rise in them. He would have to seize whoever put these up.

“If we just catch those bastards....”

Even if he had to torture them, he would wring out a confession that they had fabricated and disseminated lies—then this whole affair would be cleanly erased from people’s memories.

“Yeah. There’s nothing to worry about.”

But when fifteen days passed, he would be forced to feel—down to the bone—just how naive that thought had been.

*****

“Cardinal Stella, you understand the situation we are in.”

“What do you think?”

“It is a false rumor.”

After the first day the posters appeared, the same posters were put up without a single day’s break—across temples throughout the Empire.

Damn it!

Cardinal Stella mobilized every method imaginable to catch those responsible.

Deploying holy knights was only the baseline—he even secretly placed massive bounties with information networks and assassination organizations, commissioning them to capture the culprits.

But he couldn’t catch them.

Like ghosts, they left no trace—posting the flyers in an instant, then vanishing.

Even with surveillance through the night, somehow the posters would appear everywhere.

It was enough to drive him insane.

“Are you saying the contents of these posters are truly a false rumor?”

In the end, an inquest was convened regarding Cardinal Stella.

The meeting hall—even with the Pope present—was heavy with thick, oppressive air.

Because of this poster incident, the temple’s image had been utterly ruined.

He insisted he would prove his innocence, and they had granted him fifteen days—but the situation had only worsened.

Voices demanding an explanation poured in from every direction, and even the mood among the faithful had turned ominous.

“This is the work of those who seek to slander me!”

If he had been an ordinary priest or another cleric, an investigation would have begun immediately and a trial would have been held to determine guilt.

But he was a cardinal.

That was why they had given him time, and why even now an emergency meeting was being held first—at least to hear his side.

“Even raising this matter is an insult to the Lord God!”

But the meeting dragged without progress, because Cardinal Stella continued to insist—forcefully—that he was innocent.

And there was no clear proof that he had committed crimes.

It was true that those named on the posters had died by suicide, but no one could prove the reason was Cardinal Stella.

“There is one method.”

At that moment, someone who had sat quietly for the entire meeting spoke up—Cardinal Martio.

Though he held the rank of cardinal, he was known not for formal ceremonies but for missionary work alongside ordinary priests.

“The Sword of Judgment has returned, has it not.”

“The Sword of Judgment?”

“Surely you’re not saying we should use that sword?”

The hall stirred.

Something everyone knew of—yet something no one dared to mention easily.

“Long ago, the Sword of Judgment judged all the sins of believers.”

“B-But the authenticity of the Sword of Judgment still hasn’t been confirmed...!”

“Then why not confirm it now?”

“What?”

At Cardinal Martio’s calm words, the hall fell into instant silence.

He turned his head to look at Pope Brissel, seated at the highest place.

“That is my view. Rather than wasting time like this, bring this matter to a clean end with the Sword of Judgment.”

“Hmm.”

After a brief pause, the Pope nodded slowly. It wasn’t a bad suggestion.

In truth, he had wanted to confirm whether the Sword of Judgment was real or fake anyway.

But it had been troublesome—no one had dared to take the sword in hand.

Now, it seemed the problem would resolve itself.

“I suppose that will be best.”

At the Pope’s decision, people showed worry and curiosity at the same time.

Everyone was curious whether the Sword of Judgment Camilla had brought was truly the same sword Saintess Arena had once used.

But at the same time, they feared what would come afterward if it was proven real.

From then on, no one within the order would be able to stand before the Sword of Judgment and remain unscathed.

“I feel the same.”

Cardinal Stella also agreed.

At first, the suggestion to use the Sword of Judgment made him panic inwardly for a moment.

But thinking it through, it seemed to be for the best.

Because he was certain the Sword of Judgment Camilla had sent was a fake.

For countless years, the order had mobilized all its power and still failed to find that sword.

How could some mere young noblewoman possibly have found it?

She must have forged a fake and sent it to throw them into confusion.

This will quiet everything down.

If the Sword of Judgment was fake, what was there to fear?

That “holy power” written in scripture wouldn’t manifest in the slightest.

This was, rather, the perfect chance to assert his innocence.

“The Sword of Judgment has been prepared.”

A moment later, the Sword of Judgment was placed before Cardinal Stella.

He picked it up without the slightest hesitation.

To hesitate at all would be to confess his own guilt.

He could not show even a hint of wavering.

“I....”

Holding the sword tightly in his hand, he declared with resolve.

“I have no sins. I have done nothing that goes against the Lord God. I swear it in God’s name.”

After finishing with pious finality, he looked down at the sword in his right hand.

As expected, there was no reaction—!

WUUUUNG—

“......!”

Cardinal Stella’s mouth fell open.

As if it were a living creature, the Sword of Judgment began to vibrate—then a brilliant light poured out in an instant.

“T-That’s impossible!”

Without realizing it, Cardinal Stella denied the situation out loud.

But no one paid attention to his shout.

Everyone’s eyes—and minds—were locked on the Sword of Judgment.

So it truly was the Sword of Judgment.

No—at this point, doubt itself was impossible.

How could anyone claim this holy light, this force, was fake?

“U-Ugh!”

Cardinal Stella tried to fling the sword away at once.

But the hand gripping it did not obey his will in the slightest.

He couldn’t move even a single finger as he pleased.

In the next moment, his eyes bulged.

Independent of his will, the sword began to move toward his left chest.

“N-No!”

Cardinal Stella understood immediately what it meant.

The sword had passed judgment.

His punishment was death.

His face drained white as he screamed in desperation.

“I—I have sinned! It’s all true! Everything written there—I did it!”

They said that if you confessed your sins and repented sincerely, the Sword of Judgment would forgive the sinner.

Clinging to that memory, Cardinal Stella began to spill the truth.

“So please—please forgive me...!”

But it was already too late.

Even as he cried out in desperation, the Sword of Judgment did not stop its punishment.