The corns were of good quality, but the size was small.
‘Just as Marquis Fork said. His Majesty brought them in order to showcase growth magic in front of the public. To show magic was greater than divine power.’
Fork used to flatter the Emperor in order to sit on the throne. But ever since Ulrich had fallen out of favour with the Emperor, he began frequenting the temple, trying to borrow their support.
The Marquis of Fork also relayed the news that the Emperor would perform magic on the Day of Blessing.
He was informed by a spy he had planted in the Academy. Most of them had been swept away by the Emperor recently, but there were still a few remaining.
Asta sneered coldly.
‘Trying to use magic in the temple? Impossible.’
She drew a vial of smelly black liquid from her sleeves. Holding her nose and sprayed the liquid mercilessly on the corn, which emitted a hissing sound and white smoke.
However, there seemed to be no visible change on the surface.
The corner of Asta’s mouth twisted savagely.
‘This is a potion that rots from the inside, so you can’t tell the condition of the core just by looking at the surface.’
However, even if the exterior looked fine, the inside would wither, and injecting even a little mana would cause it to crumble and break.
In other words, when the Emperor applied growth magic to this corn, the seemingly intact exterior would shatter, revealing the decayed core.
“The Emperor will be humiliated in front of his people.”
That wasn’t the end of it.
Asta’s cold blue eyes stared at a box lying nearby. Inside was the corn secretly prepared by the temple. They were with small kernels like the Emperor’s.
‘Before the Emperor starts his magic show, I will take the initiative and grow the corn.’
It was in fact mana disguised as divine power. Even if they display growth magic, it would not differ from copying me.
He is bound to fail miserably.
For when the blackened cob is revealed, rather than something useful, people will assume mana as cursed as dark magic.
‘As for the Emperor’s plan to eliminate the temple and me, I will tear it to shreds, and…’
Beneath Asta’s long, shadowy lashes, a cruel expression appeared.
‘The relation between Hart and the Emperor will never be restored. I will make sure they return to the time when they hated each other with passion.’
***
“Don’t be nervous. Just do as you practiced. Understand?”
Professor Munich spoke to the children with a very tense expression. It was a little funny to see him so uncharacteristically nervous.
“Yes, Professor!”
I chirped back and looked up at the altar.
The Pope had finished his prayer and was descending the altar, assisted by the Archbishop.
‘Now it’s our turn.’
I clenched my little fists.
It was now the Emperor’s turn to greet, who had donated a lot of grain and food to the temple. However, the Emperor planned to send out representatives from the Imperial Academy in his place.
‘The academy students and I will showcase the growth magic. We will grow less developed corn into thick and delicious ones among the donated grains.’
He planned to distribute the corn, grown in this way, directly to the people.
The temple rarely used holy power to help the subjects. They usually used it to demonstrate their authority or control unforeseen circumstances.
As such, there were always rumours that the temple was actually incapable of using this power.
After Asta’s arrival, the rumours died down, but the temple was still conservative regarding usage of divine power.
‘People tend to rely on religion when life is difficult and strenuous.’
On the other hand, when life is abundant and one is full, they turn their attention to secular matters.
People were so desperate for that momentary power that they leaned on it.
‘But what if magic could take the place of divine power?’
And the Emperor who was willing to make it accessible to commoners. The hearts of the people who followed the temple would move towards the imperial authority
“Now let’s go out. Don’t be nervous.”
Professor Munich led us to the altar.
The growth magic was to be demonstrated by the younger students of the Academy.
A spell comparable to divine power.
The intention was to dilute the admiration for divinity by deliberately having young children showcase it.
‘Professor Richter was there to help use, in case we make a mistake, but…’
Richter’s complexion wasn’t looking good since earlier. Was something bothering her?
‘Perhaps it’s regarding ‘that’?
As we came out to the altar, the imperial knights quickly brought out the corn donated by the Emperor from the warehouse. They were about to carry them up to the altar.
“The mages of the Imperial Academy have come to worship the Gods.”
The Archbishop came up and spoke unexpectedly.
We were all stunned.
Even Asta came up to the altar carrying a box.
“Just now, Prache bestowed the Saint with an oracle. Satisfied with the Pope’s prayer, he wanted to accept the Lady’s offering earlier than planned.”
“!”
“Now is the time to offer prayers to the God. Fortunately, His Majesty the Emperor has sent grains as well, and we will offer them together with the temple’s tributes.”
We were appalled.
‘This is not an offering. The grain was to be distributed among the people!’
For the Emperor to offer tribute to the God was an admission that he himself was beneath the temple.
As expected, the Emperor was not pleased at all.
Professor Munich protested in a low voice to the Archbishop, “Are you out of your mind? Wasn’t this grain already promised to be given to the people?”
Then Archbishop Liang said with a shameless face, “What I know seems to differ. I heard that these grains are meant as an offering to the Gods.”
“This is outrageous! Cancel it immediately!”
“What to do.. the people are already eating. Let’s just consider these grains as an offering to God.”
“What?”
“Do you want me to say this grain is not an offering, but for the people? Will they eat the grain that was almost offered to God? Won’t the public fear the wrath of Prache.”
Archbishop Liang smirked.
My blood seemed to run cold.
‘This was planned.’
Otherwise, Archbishop Liang couldn’t be so nonchalant.
“What are you going to do? We’ve already started the ritual. Are you trying to commit blasphemy by stopping it mid-way?”
Professor Munich glared at Archbishop Liang. But he couldn’t say anything.
To interrupt a ritual was a grave offence. Moreover, there was a backlash against the Emperor’s downgrading of the Blessing Day from a state holiday. The Emperor himself had attended the ceremony out of respect for the people.
He planned to erase this celebration, step by step.
Stopping the prayer would undoubtedly backfire on the Emperor. But if the Emperor made offerings to the Gods, the effort to diminish ‘the day of blessing’ would become meaningless.
The Emperor, a mere mortal, submitting to God Prache.
Asta took the box in her arms and said, “It seems you’re not fully prepared yet. Let me offer mine first.”
The Emperor stared at her, his face colder than ice, his mouth set in a tight line. He tried to look nonchalant, but his knuckles were white as he gripped his chair. It was the result of suppressed anger.
‘We can make up for it with a good demonstration of magic, but even so, this is a very humiliating situation for the Emperor.’
I strode over to Asta, who was opening a box. As she pulled something out, she looked at me.
A faint light of mockery shone in her gem-like blue eyes.
But soon, she kindly smiled and patted my head. “You can’t wait to make an offering, right? But wait a bit longer, I’ll have you on your knees worshiping in no time.” Asta said in a deliberately loud voice.
I, too, spoke loudly, “Saint, what’s in that gift box?”
“What? A gift? How dare I give a gift to a God? This is an offering to Him.”
Asta spoke as if chastising a pitiful child.
A gift is something given and received between equals. How could a mere mortal give a gift to a God?
I was happy as this was the reply I had been waiting for.
“Is that so? Then His Majesty the Emperor has brought a ‘gift’ for God Prache! Maybe he wants to get along with God.”
Archbishop Liang’s face hardened.
I pointed to the corn with deliberate innocence.
“!”
“How dare..!”
At that moment, Archbishop Liang rushed towards me. But I didn’t bat an eye.
“Completing the prayer His Majesty can present the gift!”
I hinted that he should not disrupt the prayer and finish it quickly. After all, it was impious of whoever to disrupt the ritual. Even if it was the Archbishop.
I showed a dazzling smile.
Challenging puzzle, this.