Chapter 411 Divine Protection Contract Theory

Once the simple explanation from the Spada army’s fourth squad, Gladiator’s leader, first prince Aizenhalt, was over, we slowly departed Spada in a crowd.

According to the explanation we received, we just need to solely defend the area indicated—in other words, we only need the strength to defeat the enemy in front of us. It is a simple but perilous mission. Truly like an adventurer.

The on-site command will be taken by the squad leaders. It seems it has been more or less decided how the squads will be formed and who will lead them.

The Spada army chain command is like this, starting from the bottom—leader of a 10 men squad, leader of a 100 men squad, leader of a 1000 men squad, corps commander who leads a 10,000 men squad and finally the general who leads the entire army. And the one who holds power over 3 units and the provisional 4th squad is the king himself.

Although rare, it seems that there are a few occasions when the king himself directly gives the command to the army. But then again, it’s only to order a full-on assault or retreat.

Moving on, the situation differs a bit in the Gladiators, where we belong to.

Although it is literally a ten men squad lead by a squad leader, it’s a squad which has been formed by transposing adventurers. In other words, the squad leader would be in a position to directly lead those 10 men. Well, although in most cases, these parties are then split into 2 or 3 groups.

And with dozen of these parties, a battery is formed with 100 men, and a battery commander is appointed. Speaking of 100 men, that’s about the same number of people we fought within Alsace. It can be said I was a battery commander at the time.

Next up, 10 of these batteries are joined to form a battalion, and a battalion commander leads it. By the way, the reason why these commanders are not just called by the number of people they lead is to distinguish between them and the Spada regular army’s knights. It’s the knights’ meagre pride, so to say.

Either way, the battery commander and battalion commander will be selected from the gathered adventurers. Adventurers have a 5 rank system, and the guild has data on their personality or battle type in detail. They have chosen a battery commander and battalion commander based on that beforehand.

These commanders are announced before departing, and they start leading the army beginning from the road to Galahad fort. Since rumours were going around the adventurers about who will be selected as the commander, there wasn’t much chaos. ‘Ah, as I thought’ ‘Ah, it will be fine if it’s that person’ — when you observe such reactions from the surrounding, you can guess that the selected person is capable.

Red Ogre Gustav, leader of the Iron Ogre squad, who protected the Iskia village, was selected as the battalion commander considering his trust and achievements.\nNo one from our rank 5 and awarded Element Masters was selected as a commander. It’s not like we refused. Such a proposal didn’t come in the first place.

“To think we would actually be permitted to do as we please, huh?”

Will did say that ‘I will advise my father to let you guys act freely so leave it to me!’ but to think it would actually come true.

We have been given such independent raiding rights. Directly from first prince Aizenhalt in front of everyone. It was like a small medal receiving ceremony.

Although there were two other parties and a few individuals who received this other than us, so I wasn’t the least nervous at the time. Or rather, that aforementioned no. 1 swordsman of Spada, Farkius, also received it and so it was kind of like he was the main character. As expected of a real star, his popularity is entirely different from someone like me, who is just rising up.

Translations by AsianHobbyist .com Website. Stop reading at pirate sites like that steals translations. Check novelupdates. com for legit fan translations

Even still, receiving this right seems to be more honourable for an adventurer than being selected as the battalion commander. It just goes to show that our strength to act separately was acknowledged. I certainly don’t feel bad when I think of it like that.

“Isn’t that great? We don’t have to deal with troublesome stuff. After all, a superior officer is just noisy and won’t be of any use in battle.”

Fiona, who was sick of the Crusaders’ mercenary activity and left, said heartily.

“So, you weren’t blessed with a good leader?”

“Yes, I don’t want to be ordered around by someone who drops dead after just being covered in flames.”

No, anyone would just die from that, usually. A good leader would also die from flames.

“Although they are going to tolerate it a bit, be careful of friendly fire.”

“I believe in you, Kurono-san.”

Can you not look at me purely like that there? Before believing in my stamina and agility, I would like it if you made some efforts to not swallow up allies in your ability.

“Fiona, your firepower right now is no joke…”

“Ah, please don’t say the name of the divine protection out loud please, it’s a secret.”

Translations by AsianHobbyist Website.

Fiona gestured ‘shhh’ with her finger without showing any expression—that’s her being entirely serious, no joke.

Black Witch Endymion. I still clearly remember doubting my ears when I first heard the name of Fiona’s divine protection. If possible, I want to think that I heard wrong even now.

“There’s no mistake that it’s strong but… Well, you can’t really do anything about something you’ve already accepted.”

According to Nell, that divine protection of a demon is supposed to be acquired by the villain of the century, but it seems like Fiona is still sane. Today, yesterday and even the day before that, she only thought about food with a vague expression—just like the usual Fiona. It definitely doesn’t seem like she would do something inhumane like sacrificing a child with fire.\nFor now, as long as there’s nothing strange about Fiona, I will not limit her usage. I will use everything I can, even if it’s a bit dangerous.

“That reminds me, I hadn’t really thought about it at all before but do the people who don’t become apostles in the republic not receive the divine protection of the White God?”

“…You mean, although not as strong as apostles, do they receive somewhat strong protection?”

Yes. Exactly.

Because there are many Black Gods, their protection’s abilities include a lot of different areas. Starting from real fighting skills to a clergy’s healing skills, a blacksmith’s finesse—there’s even one that specializes in farming, making crop harvests more abundant.

Although the strength and weakness differ, there’s quite a lot of people in Pandora continent with divine protection. There’s at least one in a farming village, and every one of Spada’s knight probably has it.

But, what about the White God and their monotheism? Do the 12 apostles only receive powerful protection? At the very least, I haven’t seen anyone use power like the White God’s protection apart from the apostles.

“Hmm, it’s not exactly divine protection, but there are many who receive a special ability or talent from the White God.”

“….As I thought.”

Otherwise, the Crusaders would evidently be at a disadvantage in terms of protection. There’s no way the Crusaders expanded their territory to half of Arch continent with just the strength of the apostles.

I had guessed before that they have people like us who have received a unique ability other than the apostles, but it has now been proved.

“In other words, a blessing from the heavens. They receive blessings from heaven mostly right from the moment they are born, but there are also priests and knights who go through intense training to receive the power.”

“I see, so the White God alone is more or less covering everyone’s protection?”

“That’s right. And the special abilities they receive from the White God are called this—Providence, or—”

White magic.

Fiona said.

“White magic, eh… that’s the exact opposite of my black magic.”

And they probably do have complete opposite properties as well. I use black mana. In contrast, the apostles use white mana. That’s what surges out from them when they get serious.

“Did you see any white magic user other than the apostles, Fiona?”

“Yes, just one. I have seen them use it several times, and I have also been on the receiving end of it.”

“Oi, are you alright?”

“I am fine, it was a classmate after all.”

I don’t really understand her ‘it is okay if I receive it from a classmate’ logic but, well, since she can nonchalantly say that with a sleepy face, I guess it was no biggie.

“What kind of magic was it?”

“It is called Sanctuary—defensive magic. It broke after receiving one of the attacks.”

I see I guess it won’t be much of a problem even if she gets hit by defensive magic. I went ahead and imagined Lily’s beam-like attack.\nTranslations by AsianHobbyist .com Website. Stop reading at pirate sites like that steals translations. Check novelupdates. com for legit fan translations

Or rather, this person—or classmate, probably of Elishion magic academy, are they alright?

“However, by the time they graduated, they had more mana than me, so I am not sure how they would be now.”

“That’s quite a lot. A prodigy, no, maybe this is within the blessings of their God as well.”

To be honest, it would be hard to distinguish between whether that’s that person’s own talent or the blessing of God.

In the first place, people of the Sinclaire republic think that they are made by the God, so their talent or abilities are of God himself, so they probably don’t even think of it as receiving or not receiving the blessing. It’s all the God’s meritorious deed.

“Then, do they also become unable to use that white magic? Just like our protection disappears.”

This might be a bit late, but now that we all have divine protection, I tried researching up on it a bit. It was during the time we were preparing for Lich subjugation.

The Spada adventurer guild went close to the Pandora shrine for the first time. Well, all we did was get close and didn’t really do anything else.

The divine protection verification ceremony costs 150,000 clans. The certificate after the service costs another 20,000. Caution—there are times when the divine protection isn’t identified even after the ceremony. In these cases, please understand beforehand that there will be no repayment–

After looking at the charges, I immediately left the shrine cursing them in my heart, those cheapskates.

As expected, it seems like religion and money have an inseparable bond.

Either way, leaving the useless Pandora shrine aside, there are two things I was able to find out about the divine protection.

First, divine protections do disappear. Second, religious protections can change.

“There are stories of people who have become unable to use it, so it’s probably the same.”

A classic example of the disappearance of divine protection can be seen in people who obtain divine protections by leading abstemious lives. In short, the conditions needed to receive divine protection are incredibly high. Starting from fundamental things such as not missing any prayers to the God one believes in, there are also strict commandments that ascetic monks follow like ‘do not drink alcohol’, ‘do not eat meat’ or ‘give up women’.

The priests of the Pandora shrine receive divine protections such as ‘Houten Priest Amadeus’, ‘Shoutenjou Claris’ or ‘Pure Priest Ishran’ by following such strict restrictions.

Translations by AsianHobbyist Website.

Well, I just heard these famous Gods’ names and memorized them—I don’t know any of their grateful teachings or virtuous legends.

Anyway, most of the disappearances are related to divine protections like those.

“Those parts aren’t very different from the Crusaders, huh?”

“As I thought, is it also strict for priests or sisters?”

“There was this priest who said that the commandments exist for the feeling of guilt you get after breaking one.”\nIt seems rotten clergymen exist in pretty much all the worlds, huh?

“That’s quite the outrageous fellow, huh?”

“Yes, I heard that he went around eating the cute children of the church as well.”

“What an outrageous lolicon bastard…”

“No, they were all boys.”

What a monster. I can’t help but pray from my heart so that he fells to the depths of hell.

“There were also sisters who said chastity is only there to be broken and—”

“Stop, I don’t wanna listen anymore. I don’t want to listen to it in detail.”

You will regret it if you come to know of it carelessly—an unspoken truth of history.

When I looked ahead with a distant look to escape reality, I could see the vast Galahad mountain’s shadow in the distance. We only departed from Spada a while ago, so it is only apparent.

We are supposed to arrive at our destination, Galahad fort, the day after tomorrow. And since we have to reach there with all the adventurers gathered here, we can’t go ahead alone either.

And so we should just advance slowly here to not be fatigued.

For now, I just settled down by patting Lily, who was sleeping peacefully on my knees.

“However, if the apostles start doing stuff like that, other believers would be pretty angry, huh?”

The apostles are like an extension of the clergyman, and I already know that they don’t live according to their religion’s teaching. That apostle called Ai was also fooling around by imitating an adventurer. I also heard from Fiona that there were other apostles as well who were living as they please.

It’s still okay if they do as they please, but if they perform any treacherous deeds, a tragedy like in Alsace might occur in Sinclair republic.

“Yes, there are several infamous apostles who have done inhumane acts. However, the 2nd apostle Abel has been regulating it aptly, and so there have been next to no problems from the apostles.”

What an unnecessary skill. If they had just kept on having internal trouble because of the apostles, they wouldn’t have time for the Pandora invasion.

Even still, if the apostles can keep their divine protection even when they perform evil deeds, that might be proof that they are not bound by the religion’s commandments. After all, if that were the Pandora shrine priests’ divine protection, it would have disappeared at once.

“Do the divine protection of the apostles not disappear no matter what they do?”

“It hasn’t happened even once in history but—”

Fiona continued, with a severe expression.

“It is possible, I think.”

“Well, the apostles are like the symbols of their religion so they can’t really say that ‘ah we have lost our divine protection’.”

I also heard from Fiona that the apostles can’t give their divine protection to others unless they die.

The fact that their divine protection doesn’t disappear until they die might not be a complete lie—just that it’s fundamentally like that. Even if that weren’t the case, apostle members changing every now and then wouldn’t be so well accepted. In the worst case scenario, the believers might start fighting among each other for the apostle’s sat.\nAt the very least, for their religion’s image and system, they must conceal such a fact which can shake the whole foundation of the apostles.

“That might be true but… since I received divine protection myself, I can’t help but feel that way.”

“Ohh, the witch’s perception?”

Translations by AsianHobbyist .com Website. Stop reading at pirate sites like that steals translations. Check novelupdates. com for legit fan translations

“Half of it, yes. However, the other half comes from a deduction I came to upon my understanding of the divine protection.”

Hmm, it has been close to half a year since I received my first divine protection from Mia-chan, but I haven’t really thought about it at all. I was too desperate about learning how to use it and so didn’t know about its system itself.

In that sense, Fiona has… befitting of her title, she thought about it intellectually.

“And what is that?”

“I feel like the divine protection is like a thread of contract connecting the people to the Gods.”

Contract, eh? I can somewhat understand it but…

“–In this world, the existence of Gods is nothing but a system which bestows strength upon the people, we just receive the power befitting of ourselves.”

Suddenly, a scene played out in my head—that time when I encountered demon lord Mia in a back alley of the slum city.

That was the answer to my quibbles towards the God who didn’t extend a saving hand.

System. That’s what Mia had said.

“You mean it’s not something you can automatically get if you complete the test?”

“I think that even if one has the qualifications to receive divine protection, it might be turned down depending on that person’s will.”

That is true. In my case, I feel like I wouldn’t have received the divine protection if I rejected the evidence in my dream. I think there was a choice.

Then if it’s not a like a game where you can get the skills if you just level up–

“I see, it might be a contract based on both party’s will.”

“And only the God and that person know the details of that contract.”

Translations by AsianHobbyist Website.

At the very least, Fiona’s words made sense with the connection between Mia-chan and me. In the first place, the conditions to receive divine protection from a demon lord hasn’t even been made clear in all of Pandora’s history, so it’s most definitely a secret between my God at this point and me.

Although, Mia-chan has only told me of one condition.

“However, there are probably a lot of people who have the same divine protection.”

Currently, no one I know has the same divine protection, but it’s a well-known fact.

I also heard that 5 people in Avalon also have Nell’s super rare ‘Tenyu Imperial Princess Aria’.

“I think that’s because a lot of the conditions to receive the divine protection have been made clear or their situations are similar.”

“It might seem the same at first glance, but maybe there are small differences in the contract itself?”\n“There are probably completely same people as well. No, most of them are probably similar, but the ones who can use that divine protection at a high level probably have a deep connection with the contract.”

If I were to use that Pandora priest’s example, one would need to follow more strict commandments to receive reliable divine protection. For example, double the time of prayer or do the difficult things you haven’t done before.

All those seem to be to get in favour of God but–

“No, it’s probably the opposite.”

“Opposite? What do you mean?”

“The first time I met the demon lord, this was the explanation I received about divine protections—”

“As you already know, to receive divine protection, it’s necessary to devote faith to the God—however, when I say devote loyalty, I don’t mean just flatter or butter up to the God.

If I were to put it into words, it would be something that makes it possible for God to intervene with the world. No matter how much God likes that person, they can’t bestow the power unless they can speak.

The opposite is also exact—as long as they can intervene, they must bestow the power. As long as someone clears those conditions, regardless of whether God likes them or not, they will receive the power and that power can’t be taken away from them.”

That’s right, at that time, Mia-chan plainly said that.

“If this is the truth, the contract isn’t made with both party’s agreement—isn’t it made only with the person’s will?”

God can make the conditions for the power, but as long as they are cleared, it is up to the person whether he will receive it or not.

No matter how much they hate the person, as long as they clear the conditions as saying ‘I want the divine protection’, they will get it. Inversely, no matter how right the person is, if they don’t clear the conditions, they won’t get the protection no matter how much they pray.

“….I see, there are inconsistencies. If so, then divine protections disappear because the situation changes and the conditions are not met anymore, rather than whether God is displeased or not.”

Even the commandments are nothing but rules then—as long as you follow them devotedly, no matter how much you hate God bestowing the divine protection, you will receive the protection. Even if you were to do something terrible or misuse a loophole of the system, as long as you don’t break the rules, you would be fine.

Although, in terms of protection’s will or loyalty–such ambiguous things where you can’t really draw a line, the Gods’ interpretation of the contract’s breach might be broad.

“Maybe the White God can only give divine protection to whomever they please.”

“No conditions to receive the protection and regardless of the person’s will. Maybe the reason they bestow protection to only 12 people is that there is a restriction would violate that system.”

If they really want to do as they please—or, to be more specific, if they really want to rule the Pandora continent, they could just bring up all the believers as apostles. That way, they can easily conquer Pandora continent. However, in reality, only those 12 apostles have that transcendental divine protection. It is only natural to assume that that is because there is a restriction or limitation at play here.\n“If only 12 apostles are chosen by the White God’s will and their protection isn’t taken away no matter what they do, their protection probably won’t ever disappear.”

“Then you mean if their protection is based on conditions like us, then there’s a possibility that it will disappear if they oppose the contract.”

Translations by AsianHobbyist .com Website. Stop reading at pirate sites like that steals translations. Check novelupdates. com for legit fan translations

Whether the apostles’ protection disappear or not—the conclusion to it is finally out after going through many detours.

“However, as long as we don’t know what kind of contract the apostles and their God have, we can’t use it against them.”

Ultimately, that can be said about all the divine protection holders. Well, I didn’t really expect anything, to begin with.

“But, if there are commandments in their religion like in the Pandora shrine, won’t the apostles’ protection disappear with just one opposition to the commandment?”

“There are quite a few apostles in history who can be said to be the ideal apostle but… The 7th apostle, Sariel, is quite a pious sister, so maybe make her drink alcohol as a test?”

‘But something other than wine’–Fiona said. I wonder if wine is permitted because it’s the Gods’ blood. I don’t feel like finding out if the Cross religion is ripping off Christianity that much.

“Although I don’t think jokes or surprise attacks will work on her.”

“However, you could take her purity away too with force. After all, it seems purity is the most important condition for a sister.”

Fiona said like it’s none of her business.

I can somewhat guess that. It’s that isn’t it? Because it’s forbidden, you feel more inclined towards it.

“Either way, even if there’s a chance to do that, we must deal the final blow. I’m not so reckless to try it out.”

It is true that Sariel’s face is unbelievably pretty, but I don’t feel like doing it. Her malice is growing too strong. And at the same time, the fear of absolute difference in strength as well.

Translations by AsianHobbyist Website.

To me, Sariel is like the real demon rather than a woman. No, maybe God of death is a better title for her since there’s a fear of my life being taken away in the next moment.

“That was a joke. After all, I believe in you, Kurono-san.”

That’s the 2nd time today. And Fiona’s eyes tell me she’s serious. Was it really a joke or was I being tested?

“Well, there’s the previous offence which was caught in Lastrose’s dream. But—”

Even if Sariel has a hidden move like Misa’s ‘Madonna Charm’, it won’t work on me.

“No matter what Sariel says, I will definitely not be deceived. That’s what my 4th divine protection is for, after all.”\n

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