Chapter 695: A Cross-Century Peace Talk

"Miss Lyra..."

Staring at the ironclad truth before him, Commander Kales did not feel the fervent thrill the Saintess of Light had long since come to understand, an ardor born naturally from truly finding the one watched by the Lord. On the contrary, he only sensed a biting chill rising from below, piercing through his hard armor and shooting straight to the crown of his head.

Lyra had perfectly fulfilled her promise, proving her identity to them. The evidence was irrefutable. Now it seemed the only ones who could be wrong were the Church, the Pope of Light, Hebrew, and himself, who had once blindly believed in the new doctrine, along with these Church knights who had been swept into battle under the Pope’s command.

His breath unconsciously stalled. Kales felt as though his heart ached faintly. Veins bulged on the hand gripping his sword hilt. After calling Lyra’s name once, he said no more.

He thought of the warriors on the frozen plains, those who had lost splendid lives to a single devastating death-ray.

They had walked a mistaken path, and even at the moment of death believed they were giving themselves up to enact the Lord’s will. Every scar and sacrifice was glory; everything they did was justice.

But in truth, what they had done was indisputable aggression, an outright atrocity against their own kin, a grotesque misreading and defilement of the steadfast faith they once held.

Faced with such an ending, what Kales felt, beyond exhaustion and anger, was even more grief.

He didn’t quite know how to face the families who had lost their children. The words he had once spoken, your child fought for glory, now felt like a mockery.

Seeing that something was off with Kales, Astrid folded her arms across her chest and spoke softly.

"I understand that this reality is, for a loyal believer of the Church of Light, somewhat too cruel, perhaps even hard to accept."

To struggle for so long only to receive a completely opposite answer, and still maintain outward calm, Kales’s ability to control his emotions was already proof of extraordinary restraint.

"..."

A brief silence fell in the room. Astrid glanced at Monica, noticing the latter’s lightly trembling white-stockinged snow-white legs, and that trace of devotion hidden in her eyes, impossible to ignore. Then she added:

"However, Commander Kales, things haven’t deteriorated to the point of being utterly beyond saving, have they?"

The war between the two nations had taken far too many lives. Not only had the Church knight order suffered grievous casualties, the Valeria Empire’s garrison had as well. Many soldiers didn’t even get the chance to be buried in their homeland, only hastily interred around the Liya Tower Fortress.

But at this moment, the second round of fighting between the Church and the Empire had not yet formally begun. Everything could still be redone. They could turn spears into jade and reduce bloodshed caused by needless conflict.

Giving Kales another half minute to process and digest his emotions, Astrid propped her lotus-like arm and lightly rested it near her lips. When the timing felt right, she continued:

"The dead are dead. The living remain. Besides mourning, there are more important matters you and I must deal with."

Namely, what the Church knight order under Kales should do regarding the Empire Expeditionary Army’s next military actions.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Kales lifted his head toward the silver-haired beauty not far away. His superb self-control let him temporarily halt the mental self-torment and instead begin considering the next step.

This silver-haired regent was right. Those young knights who had died could not be brought back; no matter how sorrowful he was, it would be useless, only time could gradually dilute the negative emotions.

What mattered now was what he could still do. Most of the newly replenished Church knights under his command had not yet stained their hands with the blood of innocents. There was still a chance for redemption.

He could not let them continue down the wrong road, offering up their precious lives for narrow, extreme dogma.

After a long moment, Kales spoke.

"Let’s go to the Council Hall and talk in detail, Your Highness Astrid, and..." The red-haired commander turned his head, looking toward Lyra bathed in silvery-white holy radiance. "...Miss Lyra."

As a knight of Light, he had already committed an unforgivable sin, one he would never be forgiven for in this life.

But at least now, he would set aside the escapist mindset of shutting out the world and stubbornly persisting in error. He would face reality head-on, make amends for his past sins, and snuff out evil before it was born.

Astrid heard him and gave a light nod. The soles of her rose-red heels clicked against the tiles.

"Just what I hoped for, Commander Kales."

When she finished, Astrid turned around. Her slender, glossy black-stockinged legs moved in alternating steps. The night-sky-colored skirt hem swayed faintly, brushing against the hands she had once again intertwined with Lyra’s.

Sensing Astrid’s request to establish a soul-link, Lyra didn’t refuse. As she stepped forward in her knight’s boots, she spoke with Astrid through resonance in her mind.

"Lyra, what did you sense just now?" Astrid asked.

A connection at the mental level made their exchange highly efficient. Calling it "conversation" was almost inaccurate, it was closer to the transmission of consciousness. With a single shift of thought, what one wished to say would be delivered to the other.

When she and Lyra had cast jointly just now, Astrid had keenly caught Lyra’s observations of the Holy Relic of Light. Lyra seemed to have ideas about the relic’s current state, as if she had noticed something amiss.

Lyra sank her thoughts, quickly sorted through them, and passed her conclusions to the silver-haired beauty at her side.

"The Holy Relic of Light can basically be confirmed to share the same origin as the Sword of Light in my hand. There is some special kind of attraction between them. It ignores physical obstacles and tugs them toward each other."

"And the shorter the distance, the clearer that attraction becomes. If I hadn’t restrained it, then earlier, while we were speaking at the negotiation table, the Sword of Light might already have begun trying to fuse with the relic."

As for whether the result of such a fusion would be good or bad, Lyra couldn’t guarantee it. Judging from that intense aura alone, the current her might not be able to bear both lights at once.

Besides, Astrid had emphasized more than once, considering her own safety, she should not attempt fusion recklessly. As an obedient, sensible pink-haired knight, she naturally wouldn’t take unnecessary risks, forcibly ignoring her lover’s words just to play the hero for a moment.

"That’s exactly what I imagined." After hearing Lyra, Astrid’s other hand, the one not holding the girl’s, lightly smoothed her skirt, continuing the mental exchange. "But Lyra, you must’ve noticed something else too?"

At their current level of intimacy, once they entered the state of soul resonance, most of Lyra’s thoughts would not slip past Astrid.

"..."

After a brief pause, Lyra’s soul sent a certain answer.

"Mm..."

"...This Holy Relic of Light is a bit strange."

During her observation, Lyra could sense that the relic hidden in Monica’s spatial headpiece was not as restrained as the immaculate Sword of Light. The sword could be completely sealed once sheathed in its carved scabbard, not leaking a trace of aura, only releasing holy radiance on a large scale when needed, better to draw in particles of the light element.

"Strange? What exactly is wrong with it?"

At Astrid’s question, Lyra organized her thoughts and laid out her view.

"If the Sword of Light, because I exist as its wielder, can display either an active or a dormant state... then the Holy Relic of Light, in my eyes, is like the surface of a sea where only a tiny ripple has just begun."

"Um... roughly speaking, it’s overall in a dormant, unawakened sleeping state. If the Sword of Light at full output is a tsunami, then the power the relic can release is only the ripples and surface waves."

That was entirely within Astrid’s expectations. The Church of Light had controlled the relic for such a long time, if they couldn’t channel even a fraction of its power, that would be unrealistic. After all, hadn’t Monica been sent to the front lines under the Pope’s order precisely to use the relic’s light to heal the knights there?

"And then?"

"..."

"Astrid, do you remember what I said about the Sword of Light’s trial?"

A trial that would send a person’s soul, or spirit, into an illusory space, constructing an awareness test with extremely high realism. Back then, Lyra had obtained the Sword of Light’s acknowledgment only by passing that trial.

"The Sword of Light can influence a person’s mind to some degree, and can even create an awareness fissure where time and space are out of sync with reality. The Holy Relic of Light should have a similar ability."

"Influence the mind? Lyra, you mean..."

Astrid’s steps along the luminous passage paused for a beat, then quickly returned to normal. She lifted a black-stockinged leg with a faint jade sheen, her sharp heel tapping the light-brick.

"...I felt it. The relic’s influence on the people around it," Lyra said.

"It has a kind of guiding ability. It can deepen certain understandings, and it can strip away some mental distractions, making the mind purer."

Stronger mages or knights could rely on resilient souls to resist this low-efficiency mental influence. But ordinary people, those whose mental quality wasn’t high enough, would be easily affected, producing a blind, fervent emotion.

In that state, some people’s judgment would decline. They would more easily go to extremes, and more easily believe the words of those they deemed trustworthy.

This was a crucial reason the Pope of Light had been able to make faith fanaticize in an extremely short time.

"So that’s how it is."

Astrid had long suspected that behind the fervor there had to be Brennild’s hand at work. She simply hadn’t known what method had been used, some sort of divine magic, or some mysterious object. In the end, it was still built upon the Holy Relic of Light.

"In that case, when the Pope had Monica bring the relic to the front lines, claiming it was to heal the Church knights... in truth, there was this layer of consideration as well."

They had already been nearly brainwashed. Add the relic’s low-efficiency boost, and no wonder the Church knights fought without fear of death, assaulting for days without gaining an inch, yet still maintaining extraordinarily high morale.

"Lyra, can you remove this influence?" As they were about to reach the Council Hall, Astrid asked softly in her mind.

Lyra fell silent for a moment, then responded gently.

"I’m not sure."

Even through a spatial storage container, the relic could still affect reality. Lyra didn’t know if she could truly do it.

After all, what she dealt with daily was swords and magic. This sort of thing was indeed her first time.

"If it requires you to touch it with your soul or body, then forget it." After hearing her answer, Astrid gave a conservative judgment. "Your safety comes first."

They had already proven their identities to Commander Kales. There was no need to rush this step, according to Monica, dissatisfaction with papal decrees among the lower ranks had already begun to grow.

Once faith had cracked, and doubt had been planted like a seed, this kind of singular religious frenzy would only weaken with time.

Lyra followed Astrid’s opinion completely, obediently giving a soft "Mm."

"Mm."

In the mental realm, she could more directly feel Astrid’s concern. Those words weren’t a polite excuse, they were genuine, truly wishing for her to be safe and well.

Likewise, Astrid could sense Lyra’s resolve. Hand in hand, they walked into the Council Hall, only releasing their grip after sitting down.

"Commander Kales, let’s continue our earlier topic."

The Empire’s jewel crossed her legs with elegant composure, speaking softly.

"The conditions I propose remain as before."

Dissolve the military encirclement currently formed by the Church knight order around Coldwind City, then retreat to a safe area and refrain from participating in the coming purge.

....................

Hours passed. Having achieved their strategic objective in preliminary terms, Astrid’s group was escorted neatly out of the Holy Radiant City by the Church Guard.

"Astrid... is this really enough?"

Feeling the cold wind brushing her cheeks, Lyra pressed her lips together, a sense of unreality rising at the thought that they wouldn’t need to fight this Church knight order next.

Everything... had gone so smoothly...

"Mm. We have to give Commander Kales some time to think and to handle things."

Astrid softly chanted a spell in her heart. The next second, wind-element particles gathered rapidly, forming a pair of transparent wings of wind behind her.

"He believes us, but that doesn’t mean every knight under him will. Even if everyone believes, commanding an army isn’t something he can decide just by saying a single sentence."

"Lyra has led troops for so long, you should know the obstacles involved."

Above was the Pope of Light who had gone down the wrong road; below was an unsettled army heart among the Light knights. When foreign policy turned again and again, ordinary people needed some buffer room, at least.

Hearing this, Lyra nodded slightly, well aware of how troublesome it would be. Six holy wings behind her ribs fluttered lightly, lifting her into flight.

"Still... After today, I’ve changed my opinion of Commander Kales a little..."

Not everyone in the Church of Light was a rabid religious madman, Lyra had always known that. But after the siege and defense of Liya Tower Fortress, after witnessing so many comrades die, she had to keep herself rational at all times on an emotional level to remain restrained.

"If Lyra can think that way, that’s even better." Watching the pink hair swaying in the wind, Astrid curved her lips.

"Because next, you’ll have to become the most holy existence in their eyes."

If she resisted from the bottom of her heart, the effect wouldn’t be good either.