Chapter 175 – Miri’s Undercover Investigation *Saint Angelina Illustration
Miri’s undercover investigation
Next day. Miri, who volunteered to investigate suspicious activities expected to occur at the Temple of Icaris, walked around the streets for a while and then headed to the slums where the Temple of Ikaris was located.
Because Marie was wearing shabby clothes, she instantly blended into the citizens of the slum.
The slums of Adria were greatly improved thanks to the development policies of Juno and his subjects, but as a slum, many people still lived in poverty and were starving, so Miri frowned.
‘I’m sure… If you’re going to brainwash these people, it will work well. If I show kindness to these people like I brainwashed low-intelligence monsters, they will blindly follow it.’
Miri slowly walked towards the Temple of Icaris, saying she wanted to know why St. Johannes settled here.
At first Miri found her way by asking here and there were the temple was, but she soon saw a large building that caught her eye and she was sure it was the Temple of Icaris.
‘The buildings in the slums are so shabby that they look like they’re about to collapse… On the other hand, the temples are incredibly gorgeous? Isn’t it just as good as the imperial palace where you live? Moreover, I can definitely feel a foreign energy in here.’
Because Miri was so sensitive to energy, even as she stood in front of the temple, she was certain that what she felt inside was something other than normal divine power.
Miri, feeling that her investigation was clearly necessary, took her steps into the temple of Ikaris, and was greeted by a group of beautiful priestesses.
“Hello~ It seems like this is my first time meeting you… Is this your first time coming to Ikaris’ temple~?”
“Yes… I came because life was so hard…”
“You thought it through so well~~ Ikaris-sama welcomes all those who are struggling~ Please rest your tired body for a while in Ikaris-sama’s arms.”
“Thank you, priest.”
Miri plays a girl from the slums who are exhausted from starving in her poverty and follows her priestess into the interior of the temple.
‘Hmm… The priests’ divine power is definitely real… But… What is this strange feeling? There’s definitely something… I can be sure’
Miri observed various places inside the temple as if it were fascinating.
The temple was crowded with priests and believers offering prayers, as well as ordinary believers who seemed to be visiting for worship and rest.
However, since she could not find anything particularly suspicious, Miri decided to take a short break in the lounge where the priest guided her.
“Please come here and relax comfortably. It’s meal time in an hour, so if you rest here, we will distribute meals to you.”
“Oh… I don’t have money to donate… Not even for a meal…”
Hehe, it’s okay. Ikaris doesn’t discriminate between the poor, the rich, the low-class, and the high-class, and treats them equally with love.”
As Miri, playing her completely poor slum girl, so naturally shook her body and slapped her hands, the priestess guiding her smiled and placed Miri on her chair. She brought me a book about her doctrine, telling me to read it if I was bored.
‘Hmm… There is nothing strange about the doctrine… ‘Serve those in a lower position than yourself and help them ascend to a higher heaven’…’
Miri read the catechism in a flash, but she could not notice anything strange at all, and could only feel the spirit of service and pure passion filled with the priests who were busy healing the sick and injured who came to the temple to seek help. Because of this, Marie’s mind became even more confused.
She read the catechism and looked around the temple, but she did not find anything special, so she decided to go down the stairs to the basement, and the priest guarding the stairs in front of her.
“Hello~ I visited the temple to see Ikaris for the first time… Can I go into the basement?”
“I’m sorry. Due to the saint’s strict orders, anyone who is not an official follower of Ikaris cannot enter this place.”
“Then, can you tell me what’s in the basement? If there are more icons, I’d like to visit them.”
Haha, there’s nothing special. There’s only the rooms where the priests live, the armory we use, and the baptismal room and penance room. If you just want to worship, everything can be done on the first floor.”
Miri could easily suppress the priests if she wanted to, but it was clear that if the few priests disappeared, an uproar would immediately arise, so she decided to take a different approach.
‘In that case, I need to get baptized and find out if that liquid is used… If I can’t figure it out, I’ll try going inside… I’ve made all the preparations in case that liquid affects me… There’s no particular problem. Probably not’
As Miri returned to the rest area where she was originally located and sat on a chair for a while to wait, several priestesses began walking around to distribute meals.
“Enjoy your meal~ If you need anything, please let me know anytime~”
Miri looked at her priestess who was so kind to the people, and when she came up to offer her bread, she spoke to her.
“Um… Priest. Can I join the church? I read the doctrine and there were so many impressive parts…”
“Oh my, I’m so happy!! Just wait a moment. The saint will be back soon! If you tell her you are joining the church and get baptized, you will be able to feel the warm embrace of Ikaris.”
‘Good! That’s good… If you meet the saint, you will be able to feel the identity of this unpleasant energy!! I have to finish the investigation quickly and go give my husband a hug~ He will praise me for doing a good job and hug Miri even harder♥’
Miri waited for her saint with great anticipation, but contrary to her words that she would turn around soon, her saint did not appear until after the sun had set after more than an hour.
“Sister Marian. Is this the person who is joining the church?”
“Yes, saint. That’s right. Her name is Miri. Thank you so much. She said she was so impressed after reading the doctrine book that she decided to serve Ikaris.”
“… Lord Ikaris will be pleased. Then, let’s go. You will be baptized and be reborn as a servant of Lord Ikaris.”
‘What? The priests are happy, but that woman, who is called a saint, is different. Her words and facial expressions are happy… But inside she feels completely different… No, she’s actually sad’
Miri was momentarily taken aback by the saint’s strange reaction, but anyway, it seemed inevitable that she would become a full-time believer in order to delve deep into her, so she suppressed her curiosity for the time being and followed the saint.
“Brother, could you please leave for a moment? He is a new believer who wants to take refuge in Ikaris.”
“Wow, that’s perfect. It’s a really happy day that the person who was passionately going to worship Ikaris earlier was even baptized! Those who call on Ikaris’ name will be saved!!”
“Thank you. Your soul will also be saved by Ikaris.”
Miri, who was looking into the eyes of the priest with a slight glow in her eyes, noticed that her saintly woman’s eyes also had a sad look.
‘It’s really strange… What is her saintly identity? Why do you keep looking at them and me with sad eyes?’
However, Miri’s curiosity was not answered this time, and Miri was finally able to come down to her basement.
‘The deeper I go underground, the stronger the alien energy I felt at the entrance… It’s not the warmth of a heavenly god… I feel something destructive.’
Although she was concerned about the constant feeling of an energy that was completely opposite to her warm divine power, Miri obediently entered her underground baptismal room, knelt in front of her saint, and memorized her doctrine.
“Lord Ikaris. Miri, a lowly human being here, wishes to take refuge in lord Ikaris. Please have mercy on these foolish people, bless them, and pray for Miri, who will continue to live for lord Ikaris. Ikari, who looks upon everything that exists under the sky. You are the only god and the true light. Please give this blessing of light.”
As her chanting of the saint ended, Miri felt her powerful divine power enter and explore her body.
‘Tsk… It’s a bit unpleasant to see divine power coming in, but… I guess I’ll just let it pass for now… If I absorb it or repel it, it’ll be like confessing that I’m a spy, so there’s nothing I can do about it.’
As Miri transformed into a human, all of her mana was compressed into only the wound at the nape of her neck, so the saintess seemed to feel nothing as she explored Miri’s body, and then her divinity. He began to bestow blessings on her Miri.
“Now, this is the final step of Cere. Please wait a moment.”
The saintess turned around for a moment, took something out of her hand, and thrust a glass filled with a dark pink liquid towards Miri.
“Please drink this. Then Miri, you too will become a follower of Ikaris.”
‘It seems a little thicker than what I heard from Diane… But I also brought your semen, which is said to be an antidote… So it won’t really matter, right?’
Miri took the cup the saint offered her and swallowed the liquid contained in it in one go. Then, in an instant, she felt that her evil filial piety was digging into her spirit, and she grabbed her head.
“Keuuuuuxuuuuuck!! This is… What the hell…”)
“As expected… You were not an ordinary person. I would have thought you would be able to withstand undiluted brainwashing medication… I could feel a huge amount of mana inside your body, so it was a good thing I gave you the undiluted solution.”
Miri gritted her teeth and resisted her medicinal powers as she looked down at her saint.
‘Damn it… If it continues like this… I might lose my mind… I underestimated you too much!! If so…!!’
Kwaaang!!
Miri eventually used her mana to chant her spell and bounced her saint into her wall.
“Keuuuuu!! In that state, such power!! How on earth is it…?”
Miri, who had barely managed to block Miri’s surprise spell, took advantage of the opportunity to be pushed away and took out the bottle containing Yuno’s semen from her arms and tried to put it into her mouth.
But…
Pow!!
A huge force of energy flew from the penitence room in the back and struck Miri in the back of her head, and she let go of the bottle containing his semen and fell to the floor, slowly losing consciousness.
“Hmm… I guess this is an antidote to the brainwashing drug? It seems like there are forces somewhere that are suspicious of our temple.”
“Thank you, Archangel of Destruction. Thanks to you, I was able to safely subdue him.”
“Hmph! The saintess is very clumsy. I still need many sacrifices to completely restore my power!! Forces that doubt our purpose have begun to appear. As soon as possible, we can turn this pagan land into a world for Ikaris. Work harder to make it!!”
“… I understand… Archangel”
As if the Archangel did not like her, the Archangel turned her head and went back to the penitence room, and the saint lifted the body of her Miri, drew back the curtains inside her penitence room, and placed her in a place filled with holy water and brainwashing fluid. It was put into a large container.
“If you stay here for just one week, your body will be transformed into the power of the Archangel and disappear… Please forgive me, sister. Whatever the reason for coming to the temple, or the reason for taking refuge in Ikaris, You are my sister who received the blessing of Ikaris, but thanks to the sacrifice of a sister with great power, I was able to prevent more sisters from being sacrificed… Please forgive me… Ikaris, for committing such a deep sin. Please forgive Angelina…”
Saint Angelina knelt next to the container containing the Miri and prayed before disappearing into the penance room.
Miri’s infiltration investigation seemed to have failed, but both the Archangel of Destruction and the Saint did not notice that Miri drank a few drops of Yuno’s semen from the bottle before losing consciousness.
*Illustration of Saint Angelina who came to Miri
