/
“Not bad. Even I, who is somewhat prejudice toward you, must admit that your plans for this are perfect. I can’t find any faults with you. Proceed with it. If I’m ready, when can we start?”
Mommy Elizabeth solemnly replied, “Though preparations are complete and we can commence any time, the Royal Palace needs to prepare. We need to send out invitations and fortify security. We must get news out so that everyone sees Daisy. Hence, we need a total of roughly three days. We can commence in three days’ time. In three days, I will ensure everyone gives their blessings to Daisy and watches her.”
“While that’s unsafe, if it’s necessary, I can understand the concern. We should do everything we can to protect my Daisy. We, therefore, should wrap this up as soon as we can. It seems dangerous to have everybody’s eyes on her no matter how I think about it. A long night means more nightmares, after all, and that’s not a good thing. By the way, Mom, do you know about the new church?”
“The new church?”
I nodded: “Yes”
Mom paused to think for a moment then responded with a smile: “What’s the matter, Son? Did you believe in them? Mommy just gave an order to forbid religious discussions in the palace; hence, if you if you’re religious, you’ll put Mommy in a dilemma. Mommy won’t stop your beliefs, though. Mommy is a little jealous that you’d rather believe in religion than Mommy.”
“Wh-What…? Your Majesty, d-do you believe in the new church…? Sorry, sorry, sorry, Your Majesty, I am not trying to attack a religion. It is just that they are just traitors who separated from us and refuse to pray. They are nothing more than a group of lazy people who are looking to comfort their souls. If you wish for God’s support, our god will definitely open his arms for you.”
Perhaps hearing the new church mentioned led to the pope thinking that I wanted to join a religion. He must’ve perceived that as me choosing to believe in the new church. He was so tense that he rubbed his robe and stuttered. As a matter of fact, he looked as though he wanted to grab my shirt and desperately explain something.
“No, I don’t want to join a religion. It’s just that my interest is piqued. The last time I came here, there was no such thing as a new church. They must’ve come into existence in the past year? It’s practically impossible for a religion to grow so rapidly within one year that they could even threaten your traditional religion. They relied on some sort of holy water to achieve their growth, correct?”
“Yes. They relied on their so-called holy water, which is a hoax. It is just a trick. It is merely deceitful trickery. It is not a miracle from God. Only by believing our god will God acknowledge you. That is the only option.”
“Of course. After my time living in the elven lands, I no longer believed in humanity’s god. Your god is just something you believe to exist; meanwhile, the elves’ god does, for a fact, exist. We’re talking about two totally different things. I don’t believe in your religion, be it your church or the new church. God sure never came to rescue me when I was in danger. My moms were the ones who saved me. Logically, then, my moms are my gods.”
Content with what she heard, Mommy Elizabeth stroked my head. However, there was also a hint of displeasure in her eyes: “That was very touching, but, Son, there’s one part you got wrong, and that is that you only have one Mom. She can’t be considered your mom, after all. She’s just a surrogate mother.”
“Sorry, Mom… but it’s not time to be worried about that. I’m just curious as to what their holy water is. How did they obtain it when they split off from you? If it was your holy water, it must be nothing more than normal water.”
“No… It is holy water God has blessed…”
“Whatever the case, not even the water your god has blessed can heal wounds. That’s why there has to be a problem with their water. It might be elven water for that matter. I’m not sure myself. In any case, I need to look into it. I must. Elven spring water shouldn’t be here in humanity’s hands. Should elven mana start to affect humans, humans may end up mutating. Humans can’t accept magic, but they have courage and intelligence. Humans should focus on being humans instead of letting elves influence them. I must find this so-called holy water before the spring water changes humanity.”
Mommy Elizabeth shook her head: “Wait a second. Son, have you confirmed it to be the spring water? It’s the elven spring water? The elven spring should be heavily guarded, though. I knew Inard, yet not even I was allowed to go near it. How could a human have stolen from the spring? Plus, besides me, there’s no way the elves’ mana could be effective for any other human unless they’re citizens of Troy City. The only human population elven mana would work on is Troy City’s citizens would be, relatively speaking that is.”
“I can tell you with absolute certainty that it isn’t,“ the woman in my head suddenly informed. “I can guarantee that nobody could approach the elven spring, and no human has ever taken water from it, so you can rest assured there. I don’t know what humanity’s water is, but I can guarantee it isn’t the elven spring water.”
“Yeah…?”
As she once lived in the elven spring, I trusted what she said. The question was, therefore, what was the water if not the elven spring water?
Mom stroked my head: “Son, if you’re worried, I can have the new church bring their holy water to me. As for whether or not it’s the elven spring water, I can tell with a glance. I’ve never been concerned about these things. I didn’t know about the holy water. Since you’ve mentioned it, I think there’s an issue. I will investigate this, too. Son, I’ll have the new church bring their holy water to us tonight. I, too, am very curious as to where they acquired this so-called holy water.”
Suddenly, the pope carefully looked at us and, in a soft voice, asked, “Do you trust us, Your Majesty?”
I shook my head: “No, I only trust my eyes.”
And, with that, I left the chapel.