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FICTION

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Chapter 15: Religiously Attached

"So, are you sure you know what you are doing?"

Geese's question was expected, but I had imagined it coming from Zenith rather than him. Since I was going to 'butt heads' with a religious entourage tied to her own religion, I thought she would have had mixed feelings about this matter. Yet, as we could all see, the blonde was quite fine with this situation and, in fact, was trusting of my capacity to not mess things up. Quite a nice confidence boost, but I refused to let it go to my head. Not when I was going to face something akin to a more tame version of post-Crusades' Catholic Church. Not the kindest version of it, but still far from 'he is a demon, let's behead him' sort of behavior. Not until I provided reason for them to get murderously miffed, of course.

After making this trip to reach the rendezvous spot, we were all holding ourselves from letting the nervousness grasp at our mind. We looked calm, outwardly, and yet I knew this could start to crack without some proper discussion before I went in and handled this important meeting. Obviously I wasn't going in there alone, Roxy and Zen would be by my side, but I had to be the one making most of the talk. I had the knowledge the representatives were here to interview and I was really annoyed that getting a Catholic education in my early years of life had led to this very moment.

"I do, yes," I admitted quietly, preferring to not stretch that answer too much. I was already tense, but I was trying my hardest to appear stoic.

"Do you have your notes?" Roxy pressed, reminding me of the papers I had written for the occasions. While I trusted my brain to remember the general lines of any grand reasons to raise religious debate, I was not as confident to go without some written preparation when it comes to details.

"I do," I said as I gave those a quick look in my back. "And you all have enough pocket money in case you need to eat or drink?"

There was a collective nod from the rest of the group, I made sure the party was ready in case this meeting drew for long hours since I knew that was a possibility. After all, these people I was going to face were here to make a monumental discovery or two to score some brownie points with the pope. Well, most of them definitely were, with one in particular seeing none of that since the guy was the son of the current pope.

Harry Grimoire had already been groomed as the pope's successor, his interest on the matter driven by 'pious reasons' as the letter dictated. But, let's be honest, that was a formal and religious way that the guy 'was curious and wanted to see if he had to make an edict about burning potential heretics'. I was told his faction was considered the 'moderate one' due to their take on Demons as acceptable, a view opposed by... a good part of Zenith's family, the Latreia.

Zenith assured she had no reason to be antagonistic with the Pope's son if not provoked first, and I knew for a fact she had no issues with Demon since she took Roxy in without any issues. Yes, Roxy wasn't a full demon, but being a native of the Demon Continent, some could make the argument she 'technically' is one. Hopefully that wasn't going to be the case when this meeting started. Speaking of which, the three of us soon detached from the rest of the party, the group keeping by the local inn for the time being while we prepared to endure hours of theological debating. And I will be honest, no matter how intellectually capable I paint myself as with people, I draw a line when we reach subjects which can ascend into religious/meta-physical topics which are going to cause heated discussions. Especially when the other guy was able to throw crusades at me if I said something slightly offensive against their culture/religions.

When we arrived at the building, one of the guards there invited us inside and led us to where the room of the meeting was. I think it was the town hall, but I couldn't be quite sure due to how little info we had on this place. Still, the place was prepared to host this kind of event and... the group of people we were dealing with wasn't made by old men looking ready to call us heretics and pagans from the looks of it. In fact, only two matched that description while the rest were made by young people and...

"Sister," Zenith smiled and was approached for a hug by Therese.

It was a bit of a surprise to see her here, but the young woman looked calm enough and confident to the point of going for a sisterly embrace as we entered the room. The rest of the entourage took us in with their glances, some hinted by curiosity while a few flashing interest and wonder at the meeting that was soon to happen.

Finally I found the eyes owned by Harry Grimoire himself, and the man looked the kind of individual Zenith described him to be . He had dark-brown hair with a slight hint of silver by the side-locks. The man looked a bit scrawny, quite lean but still giving off the lanky posture from someone that ate little, but exercised also less thus leaving quite the slim frame.

After a quick introduction where we were greeted by the various lords in the room, then offered seats as we started the meeting with tame subjects. It wasn't like I had expected to be drilled with big questions early on, but I could tell from the particular set of questions I had to answer that the entourage was trying to get a few points cleared out: 1) Was this religion which was similar to Milis dangerous to theirs? 2) Was there a potential connection between the two religions beyond some comparable points of agreement? 3) Which characters are to be seen as relevant within this newly-discovered religion?

This last one was complicated due to its vagueness, but I tried my best to highlight how there were numerous individuals which garnered attention and recognition by the religious texts. I could mention Noah, Moses, David, Solomon and finally Jesus. It was the last one that was being mentioned which drew attention from the representatives the most. I had studied a bit of Milis cult myself to see what it was all about, and I slowly realized as they spoke of the most relevant individual within their religion beyond their god: Saint Milis.

By the name alone, it should be easy to know why this individual was so important and why she was deemed the finest saint ever recognized. Not much is known of her beyond many 'great' deeds committed in the name of peace, protection and dutifulness to her king and God. But what stood out the most was her last journey, one that she knew was to end in certain death. The event which preceded this journey, the Necklace of Milis, is seen by many theologians and historians as the first ever case of modern marriage proposal that was then standardized as how many tended to marry in their religion.

But where Saint Milis' tale was one of grounded reality, the one of Jesus rallied mysticism with a degree of awe from the entourage. I had to explain that magic isn't as common as it is here where I come from, and yet the many miracles created by the Messiah went beyond mere magic. As 'someone that had experienced magic and knew of the tales of old about this matter', I vouched for the notion that what Jesus used wasn't magic. He didn't force his will upon nature, nature already obeyed him and his will just as it conceded to God and His own will. His humble origins also created many questions on why God chose a poor family, and I had to explain He sought to have a perspective of the world from those starting from the very bottom of the society and see what sins and goodness existed within the people He had cherished for so long.

The episode of Jesus' anger at the exploitation of Jerusalem's Temple matched with a peculiar story tied to Milis' own origins. She wasn't born to a poor family, but was orphaned and then adopted by a modestly-rich family. It wasn't nobility, but it provided her with the tools to explore the world and understand what was happening around her. The episode in particular tied to a quarrel unfolding in one of the Churches in Milishion where a priest allowed for rude mercenaries to sit by the temple, ignoring their behaviors around fellow believers in the name of 'peace'. Milis stood up, a mere young girl that never once held a sword. In a stunning situation which many would come to see as proof of her sainthood, the youngling easily disarmed and forced the men out of the temple with a mere stick. While the priest attempted to chastise her for using violence, the way she stood, a mere child with just a stick and a serious look on her face, forced the man to cowardly back away from this issue.

It wasn't the same as what happened to Jesus and his outburst at the worshipers of fake idols in the Temple of Jerusalem, but the connotation was incredibly similar to that. In fact, many other events coincided one way or another to the point coincidences were starting to get a few too many for one to ignore. And where the representatives were pleased with

"Apologies if this sounds a bit sudden, Lord Bukharin. But from what your reported comment and then further lecture of the holy relic recovered from this unusual church, I have to question one thing," Harry hummed calmly, retrieving some of the notes by the table. "What does the sentences 'this is my body, broken to you: this is to remember me' and 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' mean within the religious context of 'Christianity'?"

The other representatives looked suspicious of me and... I retained my calm. I mean, I knew what really was messing things up for them and I had an answer ready as I had prepared for this big 'issue'.

"The answer to that question is quite long, Lord Grimoire, so I will try to be as direct and exhaustive as possible without drawing into unnecessary details," I started to say, knowing that the topic was nothing short of troubled without context. "These two sentences emerge from an important event which is called 'the Last Supper'. The reason why this is called as such is because it's the last ever meal Jesus shared with his twelve apostles. He started by going through the process of Maundy, a tradition which was to cleanse the feet of all guests at the table. Many times this duty was given to one of the 'lesser' guests for the sake of respect in authority, but on this occasion, Jesus himself took care of such duty, stunning many apostles with this act of dedication."

"That was quite the humble and demeaning act," One of the lords pointed out, but there was no question or continuation to that. It was just an affirmation from the looks of it.

"Jesus has always been portrayed as a servile, but leading figure with his actions. He was aware of his birthrights, he was aware of his power, he was aware of the clout he held over many, but he sought to never abuse or exploit any of that to achieve anything that would give him an unfair position through material possessions or roles. In fact, he already knew he was to soon die by the hand of one of his disciples and just accepted it."

"He allowed himself to die?" Therese inquired in shock and I frowned.

"I wouldn't say that. He knew that death was coming to claim him, but rather than using this knowledge to survive, he knew that he had to give an example. He was a man many followed and he created a state of moral rules that matched with the religious take on the matters he dealt with," I argued calmly. "And thus he used this chance to not only allow one last lesson to his disciples, by teaching them about the need to be good people against power as power without understanding is but a corrupting tool to many. He accepted his fate because it was the only way to show them that one's expectation was not to live forever, but to live to the fullest and be happy of all decisions made."

"And these sentences? What do they mean?" Harry pressed and I smiled.

"At the table they were served wine and bread. He took the bread he was given and broke it all in small pieces. And thus he said 'here is my body, willingly given to you as the base for this covenant'. He then allowed his apostle to eat the small piece, remaining with none of it for himself. Then he did it with the wine, calling it his blood to give substance to the covenant. And by covenant he is referring to the alliance between man and god, akin to the one that was established by King David and God. It was the end of the old relation between man and deity where the deity would directly promote and oppose people and allow mankind to be able to decide its own faith by limiting his intervention to those forces of evil he had a duty to fight against."

Surprisingly enough, no one made a fuss about the crucifixion and I was later told it was because they understood it wasn't a Christian practice, but rather a symbol born from a pagan punishment failing to kill the son of God in its truest concept. And as I felt like the worst was over... I was proved wrong when Harry Grimoire brought up another hot question which had all of us tense up a fair bit.

"From my understanding, your religion also entertains the notion of Demons and that those are seen in a negative way. Which is quite interesting since many would see Migurdians as demons on their own and yet one of their kin is with you right now," He remarked, clearly referring to Roxy and the blue-haired girl looked slightly upset and confused, her questioning eyes now aimed at me. "Could you please explain what is the view of Christianity and your personal view when it comes to demons?"

My lips twitched at the clever move that could either 'break me' or give either faction a pass to use Christianity as a means to sustain their own view on the matter.

"It depends on what demons we are talking about. Are you referring to this world's demons or those described by the biblical narration?"

A few eyes showered me with confusion. "There's a difference?" One of the representatives asked and I nodded.

"The Demons within the bible are a mix of entities of natural creation, beings born by malicious intent rather than how other living beings are conceived and also former Angels that were shunned away from Heaven."

That last bit raised a few shocked looks. "A-Angels shunned from Heaven? Your God rejected some of his paladins."

"Those that tried to rebel against him. When the once-Angel Heliel became prideful for his beauty and power, but also jealous of humans due to the kind of attention God showed us, he waged war to replace him. It was called a 'rebellion' due to how many angels followed his steps but... they couldn't fight. They were exiled from heaven, with Heliel, now known as Lucifer the Prince of Darkness, banished to the coldest pits of Hell, the afterlife reign for all sinners."

"And thus the Demons that are native from the Demon Continent in this realm are not the same as those you are familiar with. In fact, they share just the name but not the substance."

I nodded. "Still, I believe you still wish to know my view and the one the Christian church would have towards these people, right?"

I was met with a nod and I continued. "I would say the Church of now would pursue a path of understanding to see who is worthy of being shunned and rejected out of negative traditions and individual traits rather than outright refuse a whole race due to a peculiar denomination."

Harry nodded, eyes gleaming in delight at that favorable position. "And you, Lord Bukharin?"

"With all due respect I can pay for any decision, I judge people by talking to them and seeing what they have to offer by voice and action, not by appearance and personal prejudice."

Many nodded, and a few just stared mutedly at my comment as they knew my view was close if not more defined than their moderate faction. The session lasted for hours. We had just a break for lunch but we finished just two hours short from having to deal with that. The meeting had gone smoothly as far as I could see and everyone in there looked pleased with what debate came out of it. Harry mentioned this was going to spawn more interactions as 'the church would like to know more of a brotherly branch to its own history'. The similarities sure landed a positive approach and I wondered if that was going to spawn something more intense about Christianity.

But for now these thoughts were unimportant as the girls and I were too drained to handle that sort of brainstorming for today. Therese tagged along since she wasn't expected to be restrained to her room after the meeting was over. Geese was quite happy to see she was there and I gave him permission to go and look around the city with her if they both desired. Zenith was smiling eye-to-eye at their embarrassed words at that, hiding from her own sibling while allowing some giggles to come through and display the mirth at seeing these two being such a lovable mess.

Still, the rest of the day was spent there to recover before getting back home. Roxy inquired a bit more about Christian demons and I tried to give her the kind of knowledge I had in mind and... I was tired. Which was a surprise since I felt more drained than how a normal training session would, and it was ironic that, before I became an adventurer, the opposite was true.

Sleep came easy to achieve as I retreated to my room, but then it became a bit snugglier when I found out that someone had decided to sneak in there and get herself some cuddling. I opened my eyes and I found Elinalise sighing happily while resting her head onto my chest together with Zen. No Roxy despite how intriguing that would have been. I wonder if I should head pat her for being a tough nut against all that staring. It felt demeaning for her and childish but...

Head pats are nice, regardless of how old you really are.

AN

Next up, as planned, there will be the lemon. And maybe an Omake too.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

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