The Extra Decided to be Fake

Episode 87

The “Daughters of Moonlight” were essentially a bloodline with almost no known information.

In Maynard, books with this information were hard to find, and most people would never come across that name in their lifetime, so there was little reason to mention it. Perhaps even in the temple, such information might have been kept separately as restricted knowledge.

‘Although, it’s surprising they’ve kept it in a space accessible to the public.’

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around. Lillian slowly scanned through the catalog, picking up a book titled “Luminous Grace.”

As expected, it was a book about divine power. “Luminous Grace” refers to divine power and implies that greater grace results in stronger divine power.

“I did mention that I have strong divine power.”

In the Boswick Duchy, Lillian had met with priests to learn about handling divine power. As someone hiding her identity, Lillian worried about being encouraged to enter the temple or having her identity exposed, but fortunately, they only found her presence intriguing and didn’t inquire further. They were people who saw volunteering in nearby villages as a blessing, thanks to the leniency of the Papal States.

―To have two people with such strong divine power appearing in one generation, it’s truly remarkable.

―Do you remember the speculation that they might be assigned as the next Pope? I certainly do. Perhaps they have to reach that level to match half of their divine power.

According to them, such strong divine power was extremely rare. It appeared only once per century, and they had never seen two people appearing in one generation before.

―Perhaps Saint Sophia possessed this level of divine power. Well, she was such an extraordinary person, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she had even greater divine power. Hehe.

Anyway, among the people they encountered in their lives, Lillian was said to have the highest possession of divine power. In other words, among the people they met, Lillian was the one who received the most love from the gods.

―Why is that, exactly? What is it about me that they like so much?

―Well, who are we to understand the mind of the gods as mere mortals? But one thing is for sure, there are no meaningless occurrences in the world.

Lillian knew herself well. She wasn’t someone special enough to possess such extraordinary power. If there were such extraordinary power in this world, and it needed an owner, it should have been Swan, not Lillian.

But Swan was dead. So, did God pass on that power to Lillian instead?

‘Because I inherited Swan’s life?’

Lillian looked for information about the “Daughters of Moonlight” and wondered if divine power could be transferred to someone else. She wanted to know where this power came from.

However, there was no such information in the books. They said that divine power comes from God’s strength and should be seen as a gift given out of God’s love for His creations.

The only somewhat interesting thing was at the beginning.

[The moon is the only gateway to communicate with God.]

As evidence, the book quoted several verses from the scriptures and cited the sermons of a saint named Evgeny.

Although it was meticulously written, the summary was that one could only understand God’s will and see the future through the moon. This was why there were astronomy books in the temple library.

In fact, Lillian had heard that priests in the Boswick Duchy often predicted the future and understood God’s will by observing the moon’s phases and cycles. It was not widely known, but within the clergy, it was a well-known fact.

But looking at this book, it felt different.

“Does this moon really mean the moon?”

Wasn’t it a metaphorical expression? Why were the “Daughters of Moonlight” called the daughters of “moonlight”?

If I inherited Swan’s power, and if that “moon” was a metaphorical expression referring to the “Daughters of Moonlight”…

‘Could I directly speak to God?’

As Lillian’s thoughts wandered, a voice suddenly interrupted.

“Oh, ‘Luminous Grace’! It’s a great book.”

“…!”

Lillian was startled and quickly closed the book. When she turned her head, Asher was smiling behind her.

“‘Luminous Grace’ is very basic, but it explains the basics in an easy-to-understand manner, making it a useful textbook. It’s the most suitable book for beginners. I wanted to say that you have a keen eye, whether you chose it knowingly or not.”

I’m not particularly curious.

“If ‘Luminous Grace’ interested you, then I recommend ‘Symphony of Moonlight’ next. It covers more in-depth topics but is still basic. It’s very interesting because it also discusses the relationship between basic symphonies that nobles are cultured in and the scriptures.”

“…Has Viscount Fitzroy read all of them?”

“I couldn’t recommend it if I hadn’t read them all, could I?”

Of course, it meant he had read all of them. Lillian looked at him quietly, feeling as if he might spout scriptures instead of money if she poked him, then suddenly pointed to the shelves in front of her.

“Then, have you read any of these books?”

“Except for the second volume in the third row.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. That book compares and contrasts the commonalities and differences between heretics developed in the Eastern Manners Union and the Church, but I didn’t read it to the end because the translation was poor, and it wasn’t in line with my interests.”

Oh, my. Lillian involuntarily opened her mouth.

‘If you didn’t read it all the way through, that means you did read some of it.’

She randomly asked, but he had read all of them except for one volume. Lillian felt confident that even if he wandered around this library incessantly, he wouldn’t be surprised if books poured out instead of money. He was truly like a walking encyclopedia of theology.

‘Then, perhaps…’

Did he know about this too? With a half-doubtful heart, Lillian spoke up.

“Viscount, have you heard of the ‘Daughters of Moonlight’?”

“Oh, certainly.”

“…!”

Lillian’s eyes sparkled. She felt her mouth go dry.

It seemed possible to get unexpected help from someone she had met with only the pretext of resolving succession issues and showing her face in the temple.

“It’s a very interesting topic. It’s been a while since I heard about it. It’s not a well-known subject among ordinary people. How did you know about it?”

“I saw it in a book by chance. It mentioned that there is a bloodline receiving God’s love.”

“That’s right. Such books are rare, so you were lucky.”

Asher’s demeanor was relaxed and informal. He wasn’t pretending to know what he didn’t, but he genuinely knew about the “Daughters of Moonlight.” If that was the case, could he also tell her about what she was looking for?

Would you be interested in joining a theological reading club? One of the members is particularly passionate about the subject and I think you’d enjoy getting to know them.

Would you be interested in an introduction?