Survive as a Prison Guard in the Game

Chapter 150
Holy Empire (4)

Archbishop Madison’s status window popped up.

Calmly, he inspected it.

Madison has similar skills to the other Archbishops Redin has investigated so far, and none of his skills are tied to the Demon Church.

This completes the screening of the six Archbishops.

The last remaining was Archbishop Dyke, who operates in the Neutral Zone alongside Madison. He is also the least known of them all.

Even Manuel’s secret journal contained minimal information about Dyke.

Aside from his area of operation, details about his history were scarce.

Going by the current data, Archbishop Dyke was the most likely traitor.

But, there are always exceptions.

If Archbishop Dyke’s status window showed no skill related to the Demon Church, it would mean that someone other than the Archbishops was responsible.

In that case, where should he restart his investigation?

Someone who knows the location of the Saint Candidates and has access to Divine Enhancement Magic that the Archbishops can use.

Apart from the Archbishop, there is only one.

The Pope, who is higher than the archbishops and currently leads the Holy Empire.

“…..”

However, in the game context, he knows that the Pope is chosen by Veronica the Goddess of Creation.

It is unlikely that Veronica, the Creator, would handpick an apostle of a demonic religion.

With the Pope and Archbishops out of the equation, the only other people left to investigate were the Knight Captains of the Holy Empire.

This was as far as he had planned in advance.

Since he hasn’t checked Archbishop Dyke’s status window yet, further thought will only make his head hurt.

*Wiirrr!*

Sensing that the duration of the invisibility artifact was coming to an end, he moved his body. Blocking out the surrounding sounds so that the sound of opening the door wouldn’t be heard.

He quietly opened the door and stepped out, checking the interior once more. Noting the regularity of the Archbishop’s breathing inside, he closed the door behind him.

He made his way along the corridor to his usual hiding place.

A prayer room built into the Temple.

There was a large statue of Veronica, the Goddess of Creation, with a secret room underneath it.

Just enough room for one person to fit in.

As soon as the duration of the invisibility artifact ended, he reached the prayer chamber. Putting the artifact in his subspace pouch, he was about to enter the prayer room.

An unfamiliar voice came from inside.

“Goddess Veronica, today…….”

He looked through the small window in the door and saw the owner of the voice. The girl he had met briefly when he first arrived.

Elsia, A Candidate for Sainthood.

She was kneeling with a white cloth over her head, praying. Even though he wasn’t praying with her, just watching her made him feel a sense of sanctity in his body.

-The Archbishops always said. Among the candidates for sainthood, there is one who shines brightly.

-One out of the hundreds. That shining one was chosen for Sainthood.

-I think it was then, perhaps, that the Holy Empire began to show signs of failing.

-The final inauguration ceremony where no one was chosen as the Saint due to a lack of qualifications.

Manuel’s past recollection.

The last ordination ceremony he was talking about was the one that is taking place at the moment. He mentioned that no one was chosen because they didn’t have the qualities of a Saint.

*Oooooh!*

As the gentle white light emanate from Elsia’s body, Redin couldn’t help but be puzzled by the high purity of sanctity contained within her.

A girl who seems like she would undoubtedly become the Saint in anyone’s eyes.

While his actions may have caused some distortions in the events, and the timing of events may have been accelerated overall.

There hasn’t been any change in the list chosen as candidate Saints.

They were the same ones who had been chosen years before.

So there’s only one answer.

“Something must have happened.”

The test that takes place tomorrow.

Or the last test on the final day.

It was clear that something was going to go wrong with Elsia in one of the two tests.

“……May there be a bright future for everyone.”

After finishing her prayer, Elsia glanced briefly at the statue of the Goddess before turning her body slowly and leaving the prayer room, disappearing from view.

Redin pulled an item from his subspace pouch.

[Watcher’s Eye]

-Can see up to 20 kilometers away.

-Allows the user to lock onto a specific target and watch their movements in real time.

-Can be used to detect people.

After designating Elsia, he enters the prayer room to hide himself. As he stands before the Statue of Veronica.

The Divine Power Elsia had generated while praying surged through him.

*Shhhhh!*

A pure white light enveloped his body.

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His vision has become blurry.

It was like the previous time.

When he had the dream through the Fairy Queen.

And when he was in contact with Manuel’s Divine Power.

A dreamlike sensation, as if his head was slightly floating. A white background began to unfold through his blurred sight.

The white light split in two and formed into human shapes.

A man with short hair and a woman with long hair.

At the sight of his father and mother’s faces, his heart pounded.

“Ha-joon.”

Seo Ha-joon.

His real name, not Redin.

Seeing his parents remembering his real name made him feel overwhelmed with emotion. Emotions that even the [Cold Heart(A)] couldn’t contain.

His father and mother approached and hugged him tightly. Not an illusion, but something real. He immediately hugged them back.

He holds them for a long time.

His mother’s soft hand stroked his hair, while his father, beside her, smiled broadly.

“It’s nice to see your face like this. I wish we could have a drink together and talk about everything that’s happened so far.”

“Son, listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.”

Within those gentle eyes, there was a seriousness.

“You need to meet God’s representative at the Paraike Temple.”

“What?”

His mind went blank for a moment.

When he first got the hint about the temple, a problem arose that he hadn’t considered before.

Their faces were real, the faces of his parents that he remembered from Earth. Even the name Seo Ha-joon.

Moreover, his parents passed away around the time the game Bern Chronicle was just being released.

But how does his parents know about the Paraike Temple and why are they telling him to meet the representative of God?

His mother looked at him wistfully.

“You must have a lot of questions and be confused, and we wish we could tell you everything, but…….”

“Honey, we don’t have enough time.”

“Redin, when you meet Rizakiel, he will explain everything. Make sure to find him. Your strength is needed to save this world.”

“Dad, Mom. What do you mean?”

He wanted to ask them how they knew the name Redin, and what they meant about saving the world.

However, that was as far as he was permitted to talk to his parents.

*Shooooo!*

A burst of white light drowned out his parents’ voices. Their figures faded into nothingness.

When the colossal light faded away once again.

He was back in the original place with the statue of Veronica, the Goddess of Creation.

The [Cold Heart(A)] kicked in, the intense emotions subsided, and a calm rationality returned.

“Great Paraike Temple…”

The temple is located in the celestial paradise beyond the clouds, known as Paraike Temple.

The two of them spoke directly about it.

If he went to the Great Temple, a representative of the gods named Rizakiel would explain everything to him.

Part of him wants to go immediately.

But there are some things he needs to do before he can go up there.

A place he can’t get to right now.

First, it’s best to deal with the immediate situation at hand. Since stopping the Demon Church is deeply connected to saving the world.

Visiting the temple comes next.

“…I’m tired.”

Using his shadow alter ego, he slipped through a crevice in the statue’s interior and closed his eyes quietly, remembering his parents’ faces.

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When he opened his closed eyes.

The sun was already overhead.

Stretching after a long nap, I couldn’t help but let out a satisfying yawn, feeling refreshed.

“Haam…….”

He checked his body condition while observing the light filtering through the gap in the statue. He pulled some snacks from his subspace pouch to satisfy his hunger.

After tonight.

Once the culprit among the archbishops is revealed, he can gather evidence and send someone to Burning Hell to formally arrest them.

With eyes closed, Redin imagined wielding Harungel’s swordsmanship in his mind, passing the time in contemplation.

Until he was hungry again.

Wrapping up his training, he set about fixing dinner. He noticed that the light coming through the statue had diminished.

As he heightened his senses, he heard the sound of busy footsteps around the prayer room.

Several figures were moving about.

As he waited once more, the hurried footsteps of those moving about abruptly dwindled, becoming increasingly sparse.

Emerging from the statue, he changed into his priest robes, donning a white hood and making his way along the corridor from the prayer room.

It was quiet in the area where the testing was taking place.

When he got close and looked around, he realized that all the priests and nuns that were supposed to be there were nowhere to be seen.

“Uh? Priest.”

A nun in a white cotton robe approached.

In her hands, she carried a tray with three boxes neatly arranged on top.

“I’ve brought the things the Archbishop was talking about. The examination is about to begin, so let’s hurry.”

The nun led the way without any suspicion, and he followed quietly as they moved to the other examination room.

A chapel with a statue of Veronica the Goddess of Creation and a giant cross.

The chairs set up for the faithful to worship were occupied by priests and nuns from within the order.

On the altar, the Archbishop stood, and in front of him, the saintly candidates knelt on the floor.

Two aspiring saint candidates.

Yesterday, one of them failed.

“We will now begin the final examination. All candidates for Sainthood, please stand and raise your heads.”

*Swoosh!*

The white cotton cloth fell away, revealing the faces of the two saint candidates.

The moment he saw their faces.

His brow furrowed.

‘What is this?’

Elsia from the prayer room was nowhere to be seen. She was a person of exceptional divine power.

He didn’t know what test she had failed.

“Let us pray.”

The two Saint Candidates began to pray with Archbishop Dyke and began to radiate Divine Power.

The level of Divine Power they generated was far less than Elsia’s own.

‘Huh?’

Divine power was the Grace of God.

It was inconceivable that a child who received more divine grace than anyone else would fail the test.

He used the Watcher’s Eye to pinpoint Elsia’s location.

Looking straight down.

The temple floor. He could sense that Elsia was not in the basement, but much deeper than that.

“…….”

Finding a corner and making sure he was out of sight, he brought out the Watcher’s Eye and scanned the floor below.

The place where he suspected Elsia was.

She wasn’t the only one there, but there were others. After pinpointing the exact location, he created a shadow alter ego.

Sharing vision with it.

The interior where Elsia was became visible at a glance. Inside what looked like a prison cell, Elsia was tied to a chain, slumped over.

And

Next to her was Manuel, equally chained.