“In the process of following Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok’s orders... did you not experience many terrible things?”

“...Huh?”

When I opened my mouth blankly and let out that short sound.

How did he interpret my words?

“We know because we, too, have suffered at Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok’s hands. That man’s way with words... honestly, it was on a level where I wondered if it might be superior even to an awakened person’s skill.”

As if he had known it.

He continued in a voice filled with certainty.

“An ability on par with the grace bestowed by the system... He was an unbelievable person. Since you were under the command of someone with such an ability, I could sufficiently imagine what you must have gone through.”

He could imagine what I had gone through.

...What had I gone through?

“Among the orders General Kim gave, there must surely have been things you did not want. Things so dangerous you wanted to refuse... But.”

“But?”

“By the time you came to your senses, you would have already been deploying according to those orders without even realizing it. You would have been thrusting your head into absurdly dangerous battlefields that everyone wanted to avoid, by your own will... just as we did.”

Without changing his expression or attitude at all.

Keeping such a calm face that, from the outside, it looked as if he was not saying anything.

“We were merely made to throw ourselves into dangerous battlefields a few times... but your level is grotesquely high. Just how many burdens did that man place on you... for you to reach such a level?”

There was a trace of grief in that small voice.

“...I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. I’ve never had anything like that happen to—”

When I said that.

He responded as if he had expected this, too.

“As expected. You have already come to see being treated that way as natural.”

He said that with sorrowful eyes.

“It is a method called psychological manipulation, or gaslighting. While forcing unreasonable things on you, he shook your sense of reality through continuous psychological manipulation that was close to hypnosis.”

“No, like I said....”

“If that were not the case, then there would be no reason for someone who reached a level like yours to be treated as an ordinary soldier in the Legion without even being given a proper rank, would there?”

At those words.

I could understand where this guy’s misunderstanding had begun.

'An ordinary soldier with no rank to speak of, despite his high level.'

To tell the truth.

Since there were normally very few occasions where someone could discover your level just because it was high.

Rather, in order to hide the person called me from the outside as much as possible, I had publicly worn the name of an ordinary military cook.

'But I can’t exactly say that.'

In the end.

The only thing I could say was,

“There are... circumstances.”

“Circumstances? To reach a level like yours, there must have been more than one or two hardships you had to overcome. What kind of circumstances could justify treating someone who overcame hardships of that scale like an ordinary soldier?”

“That’s....”

“As expected. Even you cannot properly explain why you are being treated that way, can you?”

Even if I tried to say it.

It would only be immediately refuted.

That was the only kind of reason I had.

***

“I can also guess why the Legion kept trying to hide you and avoid showing you to us.”

When I failed to give him a proper answer.

David continued speaking with even greater conviction.

“They must have been keeping a person like you as an ordinary soldier and handling you easily, like a slave... so they were afraid of letting you go to another force.”

“...Like I said, that’s.”

“General Kim must understand our abilities to some degree as well, so he probably thought that if we met you, we would notice the treatment you were receiving. He must have tried as hard as possible not to hand you over to us, thinking that if he sent you, his own faults would be exposed while you might be taken from him.”

“.......”

“In the end, we took a hard-line stance. So he had no choice but to send you like this.”

Even though this was, in the end, someone else’s business.

“A hero who accomplished so many things and reached such a level... being treated as a mere military cook in the Legion.”

As if that fact angered him beyond measure.

He poured out his indignation.

“You are not someone who deserves to be treated like that. You are someone who deserves better treatment.”

“Better treatment?”

“Yes. Once the coronation is over, you will officially belong to the Church as well. And....”

As if he had made up his mind.

David looked at me with firm eyes.

“If you wish to escape Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok and leave the Legion.”

“......?”

“The Church will help you with all its power.”

At those words.

I finally understood what this guy was trying to say.

...From my position as the Legion commander, it was a little absurd.

'He’s going to help me escape the Legion...?'

He was urging me.

To leave the guild.

These guys had firmly misunderstood something.

Setting aside the fact that the misunderstanding was fairly ridiculous.

There was one thing I found a little strange.

“By your logic, Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok is using me. And the reason he didn’t show me to you was that he was afraid I’d be taken from him.”

“Yes. Though you may not have noticed it yourself.”

“...Then if I say I want to leave the Legion, General Kim won’t just let that slide, will he?”

These people acknowledged Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok’s ability more than anyone.

And at the same time, they were mistaking me for something like a human weapon created by that Lieutenant General Kim through long-term brainwashing and gaslighting.

It was hard to believe General Kim would stay still if they tried to steal that human weapon away.

“If you really did something like that, wouldn’t there be a high chance you’d suffer great damage, too?”

“Yes. I know.”

“...And you’re still saying that so easily? Because my level is high, and according to your doctrine, I’m someone who has received more of God’s grace than anyone?”

“That is not entirely absent, but... to be honest, it would have been the same even if your level were lower than the Cardinal’s.”

“......?”

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression.

He opened his mouth with eyes full of conviction.

“There are countless humans in this world. Among them are many who could not overcome this ruin and fell into despair, or who are being treated unjustly by someone else.”

“...I suppose so.”

“But. The strong and the weak, men and women, the elderly and children... all of them have one thing in common.”

“One thing in common?”

“That they are human... and as long as they are human, they possess the qualification to become awakened.”

That system supports humanity.

It makes humans awakened and grants them power.

In other words.

“All humans are beings worthy of receiving His favor.”

According to their doctrine.

All humans were beings loved by their god.

“The Church is an organization that has not existed for very long. At one time, it was only a small group of those who had gained enlightenment. But there is a reason the Church has grown to this scale. We are servants who follow the will of the system. We could not leave those He favors to be treated unjustly.”

“.......”

“All humans receive His favor, so we could not leave them in miserable circumstances. Saving them and conveying the proper realization to them is the very duty of the Church...!”

I recalled the buildings I had seen outside.

Those wounded in this world.

The countless facilities built to heal their minds.

“Whether your level is high or low does not matter. If you, whom the system loves, are being treated unjustly, then saving you is simply our mission.”

“...There will be bloodshed in that process. More humans than just me might die.”

“That possibility is high. But there is no one among us who fears such a thing.”

“Why...?”

“Is the reason not obvious?”

Tightly.

David gripped the handle of the sword at his waist.

“Because it is the right thing to do.”

“.......”

“If death is the price of doing what is right, then we will gladly accept that price.”

***

“If you wish it, the Church will help you.”

“.......”

“You do not need to give an answer immediately, so please think about it seriously. If you feel even the slightest suspicion that something strange was being done to you... then, at that time, speak to us. We will handle the rest.”

With those words.

As we walked down the corridor, we arrived before a large door.

“This is where you will prepare for the coronation.”

Until now, David had been speaking in an extremely small voice.

But he opened the door in an ordinary voice.

“You may leave the rest to the believers inside. Then I will take my leave.... If there is anything you need help with, please call me at any time.”

Like that.

David bowed to us, then withdrew into the distance.

“...What were you talking about so secretly?”

Then.

Corporal Jeon Gwangil and Corporal Seo Suhyeok approached while tilting their heads.

“You knew we were talking?”

David had tried to make sure the others did not even notice the conversation itself.

And in most ordinary cases, that probably would have worked.

“Yes. It looked like he was trying to hide it, but....”

“We weren’t escorting you without thinking, Sergeant Shin. From the middle, something felt off, so we focused, and we could hear you talking in low voices.”

Unfortunately.

The two corporals were not ordinary cases.

Their own abilities were part of it.

But as people who had come to escort me, they had been focusing their attention on me.

'David thought I was being treated almost like a slave.'

So he probably had not expected there to be people focusing on us this closely.

“So, what did you talk about?”

“Just something pointless.”

“What was it that you had to hide it like that? That hurts, sir.”

“It’s not that I’m hiding it. He seemed to think I was some kind of human weapon secretly raised by General Kim through brainwashing.”

“...What the hell is that?”

“You don’t get it, right? Me neither.”

Leaving the two corporals behind as they made strange expressions.

I watched David withdraw into the distance and thought.

'From the position of the Legion commander, he basically said he’d rebel against the Legion.'

From my position, having come here to make that Church an ally.

It was hard to take kindly to the idea that, if necessary, they would not hesitate to fight the Legion.

But.

'Because it’s the right thing to do, huh.'

When I thought that the reason.

Had been purely for my sake, it felt rather strange.

*** 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

After David left like that.

The unit members and I entered the room he had guided us to.

“Then please do this part that way.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Ah, wait a moment. Since it is an important occasion after all. Hmm... Then let us change the placement of the holy relics like this....”

When we entered the room.

There was a familiar person inside, busily working on something.

“Priest Lee Haein?”

“Ah, you’ve arrived!”

When I called that name.

The woman, who had been busily working, turned her head toward me.

“Thank you for accepting our proposal like this...!”

Priest Lee Haein.

Approached us with a bright smile.

“Asking you to come to the heart of a force that was at war with you until not long ago... Honestly, it was a very rude request. I thought it would be unavoidable if you refused... but you came like this.”

To tell the truth.

Coming here had been fairly burdensome for me as well.

If I could have, I would have liked to send one of the vimanars, an alter ego that looked exactly like me.

'But as long as this woman is here, that would be impossible.'

Just like my [Ingredient Appraisal].

This woman had an ability that could peek at the opponent’s status window.

Thinking about it, the reason Lieutenant General Kim had not sent a vimanar in my place while I was absent.

Might also have been because he had understood that part to some degree.

“...Well, I have something I want too. I should compromise this much.”

And I had prepared thoroughly for any emergency.

“By the way. What am I supposed to do now? I don’t know anything except that you’re holding something called a coronation.”

“Ah, we have already completed the other ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) preparations, so you need not worry. Sergeant Shin Youngjun, you will only need to change clothes according to our guidance and receive a little makeup.”

“...Makeup?”

“You will be standing before all the believers. Should we not make you look your best?”

When she smiled and lightly clapped her hands.

In response.

I saw the people who had been somewhere in the room approach me.

“Please leave it to us.”

Only then did I realize.

This place David had guided me to.

Was... some kind of dressing room.