章 97: Chapter 97: Return to the Sanctuary

Chapter 97: Return to the Sanctuary

Putting aside brief emotions for now, after two days of searching and confirming that there were no remaining problems in the Dark Marsh, Alex and the others finally departed. Of course, the key element in this success was the use of Ikaros' scanning abilities. After all, the little angel, produced by the advanced technology of Synapse, was top-notch in such tasks.

Riding the Pegasus, the group returned to the sanctuary, exhausted. Unfortunately, the grand welcome ceremony Stone had anticipated did not happen. Instead, only a few clerics stationed within the sanctuary came out to greet them. According to them, almost all the personnel of the sanctuary had been sent out to the Fortress of Order. Fortunately, due to receiving timely information, the situation there had stabilized, and there was no immediate concern of the fortress being overrun.

"A peaceful life, huh..."

Seated in a chair, gazing out the window at the scenery, Alex let out a long breath. They were currently in the northern alliance's headquarters of the sanctuary. Unlike the refined and beautiful architectural style of Star Moon City, the sanctuary here embodied the bold and wild characteristics typical of the north.

The more Alex learned about the sanctuary, the more he realized that this organization was nothing like any religion he had ever known. In his memory, every religion strived to build their churches as if they were cut from the same mold. Moreover, they wanted their followers to be similarly uniform, almost like factory-produced puppets. From this perspective, Alex thought that religions on Earth were just assembly lines, mass-producing believers with identical thoughts, churches of identical designs, uniforms of identical styles, and even priests with identical preferences.

And their doctrines were all pretty much the same, too.

However, the sanctuary in this world seemed different. The sanctuary buildings weren't as uniform as Alex had imagined. In fact, the northern sanctuary's architecture didn't look much different from the other northern buildings around it—just bigger, more eye-catching, and with a sanctuary emblem hanging outside. From its appearance alone, Alex couldn't tell that this building had any connection to the sanctuary in Star Moon City.

It had to be said—the sanctuary had done a good job adapting to local customs.

However, wherever there are people, there will be conflict.

Squinting at the view outside, Alex couldn't help but recall what Stone had said to him earlier.

"You should know, every great paladin has their own fiefdom. Of course, only paladin commanders get actual knight territories. The rest of us great paladins at most get a small town. But… to 'commend' your heroic sacrifice, the archbishop council couldn't be too harsh, so they assigned Silverflower Town as your fief. That place is a major traffic hub, highly developed and profitable, you know? Originally, according to records, you had 'died in battle,' and since you had no heirs, the council 'managed' it on your behalf. But now that you're back… well, you get what I mean."

Of course, Alex understood.

In his past life, Alex had been in a leadership role and knew how awkward this situation was. It was like knowing that a programmer couldn't possibly develop the game engine as requested, yet still asking them to try—and publicly promising that if they succeeded, they'd be made chairman of the board. But then, against all odds, the programmer actually pulled it off. How was the leader supposed to save face after that?

But this is normal. In any organization, power struggles are inevitable. A scenario where everyone gets along harmoniously would be far more terrifying!

For ordinary employees, a company working together peacefully might be ideal, but for leaders, a lack of internal competition would make things incredibly dull. In fact, Alex had once stirred up competition between the planning and character design teams, and sometimes even dragged the programming team into it. Rather than forcing people to work hard, Alex found that using competition to ignite their fighting spirit was more effective.

After all, when forced to work, no matter the outcome, people would harbor resentment toward the company. But if it was a competition, they'd only focus on their rivals and targets. And rewards and punishments would naturally follow, making resource allocation fairer.

Although the level of martial power in this world was far higher than in Alex's previous one, when it came to personnel management, the principles remained the same. Alex understood his current predicament well. On one hand, the archbishop council had granted him a particularly wealthy fief to showcase their "generosity," but everyone knew he had been declared dead with no heirs, so the council's decision was just "left hand passing to the right." It didn't cost them anything while demonstrating their "fair rewards and punishments."

It was clear from Stone's smug expression when talking about this matter that he had played a less-than-honorable role in it. Although Stone constantly complained that "those old men didn't believe you were still alive," Alex could guess that Stone had deliberately orchestrated this outcome, fully expecting his return. After all, as long as Alex came back, the council's reward would still go to him!

Because while others didn't know who Alex truly was, Stone certainly did. Hadn't he always viewed Alex as that so-called Holy Spirit Paladin?

Now…

"This is giving me a headache..."

Alex pressed his hand to his forehead. He was currently waiting for an audience with the archbishop council. Though Stone assured him everything would be fine, Alex knew things wouldn't be as simple as Stone imagined. Humans are self-interested creatures. While Archbishop Carl had promised to put in a good word for him, Alex knew that relying solely on others' goodwill wasn't enough.

More importantly, Alex himself was hesitant about the road ahead.

Because he wasn't particularly inclined to accept this reward.

To Stone, the fief was a great prize, but Alex saw things differently. Accepting the reward would mean deepening his ties with the sanctuary.

To put it bluntly, Alex feared the sanctuary might send him on a suicide mission.

Not that the sanctuary was looking to eliminate dissidents or intentionally get him killed. From what Alex had seen in the attitudes of Martel and Stone, he could tell that the reason they had risen to their current positions wasn't just because of their strength, but also their understanding of the bigger picture.

To put it bluntly — the realization was that one must be prepared to sacrifice their life for the good of the people and for the preservation of order!

This was to be expected, of course. If you choose to join an organization and aim to rise to its leadership, you must follow its commands, uphold its principles, and contribute your strength to it.

If Alex had grown up in this world and absorbed its cultural values, perhaps he might have actually developed such a mindset.

But unfortunately... Alex was an outsider! He had no intention of dying for this world. Maybe, as time went on, his perspective would gradually shift, but that certainly wasn't the case now!

Besides, most people in this world had blonde hair and blue eyes, so there wasn't much of a "fellow countryman" vibe for him to cling to.

So, unlike Stone, Alex wasn't particularly keen on accepting the position and title of a great paladin. He had no enthusiasm for sacrificing his life to save "order."

However, if he were to refuse, it would surely leave a bad impression on Stone and Malt. After all, their values were different, and they came from different worlds. Of course, Alex knew this was a mess of his own making. If he hadn't joined the sanctuary to cover up his true identity in the first place, things wouldn't have spiraled like this. So, who could he blame now?

It was definitely Tohsaka's fault!

Alex muttered a silent curse toward that guy, who was far off in some unknown place, before pulling his thoughts back. There was still a way out of this situation. If everything went smoothly, he could achieve his goal. What he didn't know was the current state of affairs within the archbishop council. Based on his experience, well...

"Knock, knock."

At that moment, a knock on the door interrupted Alex's train of thought. He looked up toward the door.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and a nun walked in. She respectfully bowed to Alex before speaking.

"Sir Alex, the archbishops are ready to see you."

"Alright, thank you."

With that, Alex stood up, nodding and smiling at the nun. He glanced out the window — in the courtyard, Ikaros was resting against an evergreen tree, her cheerful smile bright as she played with a squirrel in her hands.

That was the kind of expression someone her age should be wearing.

With that thought, Alex drew his gaze back from the window and turned to the nun.

"Lead the way."

Perhaps due to the tense situation at the front lines, only three members of the archbishop council were present to meet Alex this time. One was the vampire archbishop Carl, whom Alex had met before, while the other two were strangers — one was round-faced and chubby, the other thin as a stick. Since they hadn't bothered to introduce themselves, Alex decided to mentally nickname them accordingly.

Alex entered the hall, walked up to the three, and gave them a formal bow. They each nodded in return. The thin one picked up a document in front of him, glanced through it briefly, and then spoke.

"You are Alex, the apprentice guardian knight from Star Moon City?"

"Yes."

Alex looked up as he responded, observing the three of them. Archbishop Carl remained composed, the thin one looked rather stern, and the round-faced one had a friendly smile — though Alex could keenly sense there was something hidden beneath that smile.

From Alex's experience, when someone smiles at you for no apparent reason, they either want something from you or are concealing their true feelings.

At that thought, Alex allowed himself a small, internal smile.

He already had a plan.

(End of the chapter)

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