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Their departure got delayed to the next day, and when I got down to the first floor to send them off, I saw Ria in the office room.

“Is everyone done?”
“Yup! It’s alright now! It’s been a while Haku!”
“Pii~”

Thank god.

I can now focus on them without worrying about my shifts.

After I saw Erica’s group off at the west gate, I used Clairvoyance to focus on the situation in the capital. Ector’s subordinates were ready to an alarming degree.

The next hurdle was whether Bernard would hold out or not. Actually, there was nothing I could do from now on, so it would be better if he does nothing.

Erica’s group was the same. After camping out in the forest, the next day they headed to Azi Ogre as they planned. Their preparations and strategy were as planned.

Due to the intimidating air its giant body emitted, she ended up in a pinch a few times, but during the battle with Azi Ogre, her Two-Handed Axe skill rose even higher and she managed to sever its lower body more smoothly than I expected.

The rest was to definitively crush its head.

Erica’s tension lessened favorably once she succeeded in severing the lower half and she finished it off while fighting calmly. With this, she had finished an A-rank subjugation commission.

At the very least, she could no longer be treated as a hindrance, and the rest was up to them. My role ended here.

“Illya, about this commission…”

I heard Elize calling me and reviewing the reports and messages we received while they were absent.

The office got quite lively after so long since everyone who was on a break returned.

Five days passed since Ector’s group left.

Once they left the capital, they followed the highway straight back to Luneville. Their formation, as planned, consisted of Ector leading in front and the pastor following behind, with both surrounded by the guards.

The second obstacle that had to do with whether Bernard would be able to maintain his sanity seemed to be going with no problems. If everything went as planned, the next obstacle would be the noon of the next day. It would be the biggest obstacle.

As I was thinking about that in my private room, I heard Ria’s voice.

“Illya, we have guests!”
“Got it. I’ll be there.”

I patted and lulled Haku, who just woke up, back to sleep, and headed down to the first floor while observing the branch which had gained back its liveliness since the beastmen returned.

“Ms. Illya!”

Erica called out to me from a group encamped in the corner of the hall.

It seemed that she was the guest in question, she ran up to me and bowed her head with vigor and then bloomed into a big smile.

“Thank you very much for what you did for me this time!”
“Not at all. It was all thanks to your own effort.”

Glancing towards the group where she was earlier, I saw Serge sitting there with a frown.

On his waist was a single sword sheathed in a scabbard with sooty paint.

“Looks like it went well. Congratulations.”
“Yes. Thank you!”

Erica bowed once more while smiling shyly, and then elaborated silently so only I could hear. She talked about the particulars of this contest… and some inside stories.

It was quite amusing to see Serge getting flustered when he noticed our lukewarm gazes.

“We decided to make this city our headquarters from now on. It has everything, the food is delicious, and Serge also got motivated and said he needs to retrain himself at the arena.”

She paused.

“Please let us bask in the goddess’s blessing for a bit longer.”

She added with a big smile. Please just forget about that joke already.

Next day.

As planned, Ector and his group went down the highway and reached an uninhabited hut located between Kuryune and Tsurune.

That was the first step.

When the carriage Bernard was riding was closest to the hut, those hiding in it dispelled the barrier.

The wind Crystal Pillar that had its activity stopped by my seal was released and the wind factors filled the surroundings.

The second step.

The carriage would be stopped and when the dense wind factors weakened the evil god’s consciousness, Bernard would be passed a letter. The letter would disclose the nature of what has been tormenting him, and how to resolve it.

Evil gods.

They were existences that were formerly great spirits born from the Crystal Pillars under the influence of Spiricules, the source of all life, and who had then been influenced by Umbracules.

In other words, they were great spirit monsters.

That’s why they could form contracts.

The current strategy was similar to the one we used against Sylph, with the only difference being whether Bernard could hold a dialogue with the evil god. You couldn’t form a contract with it as long as it lurked in the depth of the subconscious, so we had to wait for the encroachment to progress.

And then came the final step.

That was for Benard to make the evil god yield—the hardest step in all this.

Though it was unavoidable, I let his condition worsen, so I offered minimal support by weakening the evil god with opposing factors during the day when Umbracules were thin.

Even so, the final step was dependent on Bernard.

I wrote about it in the letter.

“Will you become an evil god like this, or will you accomplish your duty as a believer? Please decide now.

If it is the latter, I will offer my maximum support. If it is the former, you can leave the cleanup to me.”

It was a provocation.

But in the end, what I said was that I would kill him properly whether he fails or becomes an evil god. While I was cursing myself for that, Bernard powerlessly smiled and his lips moved.

—How reassuring.

I saw him mutter so. Then he chanted ritual words.

The wind factors raged about now that the resistance of the evil god had decreased. As Bernard entered into a context of wills with the evil god, his body collapsed on the spot.

A few days passed since Bernard entered the comatose state. I was monitoring him who slept on the church’s bed under the pretext of acting as a stand-in principal for the school.

It was an expected outcome, but Sofia had received the biggest shock from his current state.

The reason behind her change from before turned out to be that she had encountered Bernard when the evil god had surfaced.

He had disclosed his identity to her and forbade her to speak about it using the school students and Bernard as hostages.

But I think that was just something he did to make me notice the abnormality.

“…Big sister… will Pastor return to us?”

It will be alright— that was something I couldn’t tell her.

She would instead feel apologetic to me even if I did that.

“Pastor is fighting the evil god even now… so please continue calling out to him, Sofia.”
“Okay…”

The bells rang and resounded in the chapel, announcing that it would soon be noon.

I stood up to return to the branch.

“I’ll head back then.”
“Okay. Take care.”

Sofia stood up with me and bowed.

I reached for the chapel’s door and was about to open it.

“U-Umm…!”

But hearing her voice, I reflexively stopped.

When I turned around, I saw her avert her gaze as if hesitating, but then she made up her mind and looked at me.

“Big sister, can you call out to Pastor too?”
“…Huh?”
“Please!”
“O-Okay. Got it.”

I had no reason to refuse, so why was she bowling so desperately?

It was just a trivial thing for me, but hearing my consent she smiled happily, then bowed once more and ran off to a classroom.

Since I agreed, I’ll try calling out to him tomorrow.

That determination of mine had been for naught.

“Good morning, Great Priestess.”

Because Bernard had already gotten out of bed by then. His expression was calm and the voice also belonged to Bernard. And it was noon now. Above all, Eyes of God showed me that ‘one haunted by an evil god’ status was gone from his Class.

But in its place, there was ≪Apostle of the World Tree≫ now.

“…Good morning, err…”
“Please call me as you wish.”

While I was wondering how to address him, the Apostle smiled gently. The way he put it suggested that he already knew that I was aware of his nature.

“…Then, Lord Apostle it is.”
“No need for ‘Lord’, Great Priestess.”

As expected. Actually, I wanted to retort at the fact that he was using an honorific for me while saying that.

But I felt like this conversation was similar to the one with great spirits, so I gave up knowing it would get complicated.

I still had something to confirm, after all.

“Is Mr. Bernard’s consciousness still within you?”

The Apostle looked a little troubled but then returned his smile.

“You could say that it is, and you could say that it is not.”