It was the day after Nofi had been settled in.
Gaderia received another rather special visitor.
"The Twelve Apostles! What do you think? Twelve messengers of the New God to safeguard the Church of the New God—twelve members of the Demon Race blessed with long lifespans and formidable power, carrying out the will of the God!"
Schwenk excitedly shared his plan with Nanoda.
The Church of the New God had by now risen to great fame, standing on equal footing with the Goddess's Order in a two-way rivalry.
It had brought judgment upon the Mad King's army and ended the war; it had also defeated and purified the undead of the Kinton territory.
People were beginning to believe that this church possessed some inconceivable power, that it was under the protection of a deity, which was how it could resolve one calamity after another.
As bishop, Schwenk once again handed the credit over to Nanoda, the Acting Bishop, publicly declaring that the Church of the New God treated all equally—whether Humans, Dwarves, elves, or even the Demon Race, all could live together in harmony under the protection of the deity.
In an indirect way, this also spread Nanoda's ideals of the Demon Race and Humans coexisting.
Owing to its cooperation with Gaderia, the Continental Magic Association had likewise acknowledged the Church of the New God.
Even the Northern Empire recognized the Church of the New God as an equal to the Goddess's Order.
And now, faced with Schwenk's plan, Nanoda's face was covered in exasperated lines.
"How on earth did you come up with this idea?"
"I was so swamped with work the other day that I passed out cold. When I woke up, inspiration suddenly struck, and I came up with this brilliant idea."
Schwenk made no effort whatsoever to hide the smugness on his face. Perhaps keeping up the dignified airs of a Grand Bishop had grown too tiring, for now he spoke with Nanoda as his truest self.
Aaron, who was handling administrative affairs off to the side and half-listening in, couldn't shake the feeling that this plan sounded awfully familiar.
"Quite the Twelve Apostles indeed. Except—I clearly thought of it first. That was clearly my idea."
As though defending the authority of her own patent, Nanoda said this to Schwenk.
"?! That's impossible!"
"Still, your plan really isn't bad—more thorough than mine. I'll leave the promotion side to you. I'll handle picking the candidates."
"Heh! Those are exactly the words I've been waiting to hear."
Schwenk couldn't be bothered with who had first proposed the "Twelve Apostles"—as long as the plan came to fruition, it was fine.
I supply the plan, you supply the manpower; the brains and the legs work together without breaking a sweat.
Besides this plan, he actually had another one he hadn't mentioned. Once the Twelve Apostles became the church's upper echelon and the church had fully embraced the Demon Race, he planned to "step aside for the worthy"—promoting the Acting Bishop to Grand Bishop. As for this whole Child-of-God business, whoever wanted it could have it.
After their exchange and mutual confirmation, the Church of the New God once again had a goal for its future development.
"I never expected you to be acquainted with the founder of the Church of the New God. And that founder seems rather different from what I'd imagined."
Having seen Schwenk off, Aaron remarked to Nanoda.
"It's just that my luck was pretty good, that's all."
"Is that so?"
Watching Aaron's pensive expression, Nanoda let out a sigh.
"I know what you're about to say. It's all a bit too coincidental, isn't it?"
Aaron didn't answer, merely nodding. Then he fished a cigarette out of his pocket.
"Since when did you take up smoking?"
A flame flickered to life on Nanoda's fingertip through magic, and she lit Aaron's cigarette.
Ordinarily it was only when Aaron was dealing with a major matter, or after a major matter had occurred, that he would touch tobacco or drink.
"About that devil you mentioned—I looked into it a bit. It may have some connection to this Church of the New God."
"?" A huge question mark popped up over Nanoda's head.
She knew Schwenk—he was a fellow who was all show and no substance, occasionally clever and talented. To say that he was the "devil" behind all the scheming was all but impossible.
As for that time when the "devil" had guided her to the Church of the New God—perhaps that proved it was connected to this church that had appeared so unnaturally.
"Could the devil be inside the church itself? Merely disguised as an ordinary believer."
Nanoda offered up her own conjecture.
"We can't jump to conclusions so early. Perhaps the other party is deliberately drawing our attention to the church, and we may still be caught within its scheme even now."
As he said this, Aaron exhaled a puff of smoke and suddenly broke into a violent fit of coughing, his arm and cane trembling ceaselessly as a bit of ash dropped to the ground.
"Cough cough cough cough cough cough!"
"Hey, Aaron."
Nanoda snatched away the cigarette—still half unsmoked—and simply burned it to ashes.
"Didn't you tell me your body was still sturdy?"
"Sorry, it's been a long while since I smoked. I just got choked up by the smoke, that's all. See, I'm perfectly fine."
Reaching up to rub his smooth, bald head, the somewhat hunchbacked Aaron let out a hearty laugh.
"Alright, then—just like this cigarette, let's leave this matter here for now. What's most important right now is: have you got candidates for those Twelve Apostles?"
"Adding up all the powerful members of the Demon Race under my command right now, there still seem to be a few vacancies—but it should be fine."
Nanoda made a rough estimate. Most of them had died along Frieren's journey; she had rescued all the famous members of the Demon Race. She had no idea what sort of impact her doing this would have on the future.
"Then go ahead and do it without worry. I'll be supporting you from behind."
"What a dependable partner you are."
Nanoda gave Aaron's shoulder a light pat and set off for the development of the Demon Race and a stable future life.
Back at the Church of the New God's branch outpost, Schwenk suddenly hit upon a problem.
If he was going to promote the "Twelve Apostles," what sort of opportunity should he use to do it?
Simply having a group from the Demon Race make an appearance before Humans wouldn't win over any goodwill at all.
Just as he was pacing back and forth in thought,
the tent flap was suddenly thrown open.
An elf with pointed ears, hair coiled up, large eyes narrowing at their corners, walked in—an air of composed detachment about her.
"Who are you?"
The two monk warriors guarding the tent entrance had somehow failed to stop the elf before him, and Schwenk instantly grew tense.
"So you're the founder of the Church of the New God?"
The elf sized up the man who clutched his Scripture, trembling all the while.
"You answer me first—just who are you?!"
The knuckles gripping the Scripture had gone white. His forced, authoritative voice didn't match his body's reaction at all; he was trying his hardest to steady himself.
"This reaction... leaves me a little disappointed."
Her tone was full of cold indifference. With that, the elf simply turned and walked away, a slender arm lifting that thin layer of the tent flap.
Watching the other vanish through the flap,
Schwenk gritted his teeth and hurriedly gave chase, throwing his hand out to fling open the flap that was just about to fall closed.
"Bishop? What's happened?"
"What are you doing?"
The two guards still stood right where they'd been, yet the elf was nowhere to be found—as though it had all been a dream.
"No, it's nothing."
Feeling as though cold sweat was about to break out on his temples, Schwenk drew the half of his body that had leaned out back into the tent.
____
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