Chapter 56, The Order (1)
Delta looked at me for a moment, then nodded.
He had accepted Lee Yeonhee's request.
Lee Yeonhee didn't stop there.
She also wanted Hwa-ryeon and Arlin to come with us.
But before Delta could answer, the two of them refused first.
This place was one of the Order's bases.
In other words, we were practically standing in the middle of enemy territory.
Lee Yeonhee was worried that Hwa-ryeon and Arlin might be harmed if they were left behind, so she wanted them to come with us.
But the reason they refused her concern was simple.
Our objective.
Our goal was to gather divine power fragments.
And beyond that, if necessary, to destroy the Order.
Even if it meant taking risks, Hwa-ryeon and Arlin wanted to look around this place and investigate the enemy's strength.
I accepted their decision.
And so, Hwa-ryeon and Arlin followed the Order's followers somewhere else while Lee Yeonhee and I followed Delta.
Without hesitation, Delta dismissed the other followers and headed toward one of the cathedrals.
Among all the buildings surrounding us, this cathedral was the largest, most beautiful, and most sacred.
At the top of its sharply rising tower, a bright round sphere burned like the sun.
Unlike the other buildings, which had been empty, two followers stood guard in front of this one.
At a glance, anyone could tell it was an important place.
“The Throne resides inside this cathedral.”
“What kind of personality does this Throne have?”
“Selfless and sacrificial. She is a great being that someone as insignificant as myself could never dare evaluate. You will understand more once you meet her personally.”
As Delta said that, he opened the cathedral doors.
The huge doors slowly parted to both sides, creating a narrow opening.
At Delta's gesture, the followers guarding the entrance stepped aside.
We entered through the gap.
Inside was a long corridor.
For the most part, it was dark.
Candlesticks hung on the walls here and there, but their light was only enough to tell whether something stood directly ahead.
We narrowed our eyes and carefully walked through the corridor.
Then, at some point, the surroundings suddenly became much brighter.
A huge open chamber appeared.
The candlesticks that had only appeared once every few meters in the corridor were now arranged in rows by the dozens.
Their light completely drove away the darkness.
Stained glass decorated the walls, scattering colorful light throughout the chamber.
At the very front stood a massive statue that seemed to represent the image of a god.
It looked down over us.
And beneath that statue...
There was a woman.
She was the same woman who had appeared in the film photograph Delta showed us before coming here.
Her golden hair, pure white skin, and two pairs of wings immediately stood out.
She was kneeling.
At exactly the same angle as in the photograph, she was praying toward the statue of the god.
I couldn't see even a small part of her face.
And yet, I somehow knew she was beautiful.
It was simply the atmosphere around her.
Sacred.
Beautiful.
Radiant.
Bright.
Refreshing.
Warm.
Heavy.
And for some reason...
Sad.
Countless emotions and impressions surged inside me at once.
They rose sharply, tangled together, and created a complicated feeling that was difficult to put into words.
While I stood there blankly staring at the angel, trapped in emotions I couldn't properly describe...
Lee Yeonhee also stared at her as though enchanted.
Delta quietly lowered his head in prayer.
Then something inside my clothes began vibrating.
Lucy.
It was trembling.
The signal that a new Mystery had been added.
Delta seemed completely focused on the angel.
So I quietly took Lucy out and checked the newly added entries.
First, I looked at the Mystery that had been added earlier but that I hadn't been able to properly read.
[Scq774, Inner World]
[A world that perfectly manifests the inner image, heart, imagination, and wishes of a certain being.]
The explanation felt vague and strangely complicated.
I frowned and quickly turned to the next page.
I didn't have enough time to analyze and understand everything one by one.
The important thing was to gather as much information as possible.
Before I could even fully process the description, my fingers were already moving.
I quietly turned the page.
New information appeared.
As I read it, I blinked.
My pupils widened on their own.
The newly added Mystery contained some very surprising information.
First of all, there was its number.
Then there was its name.
And even more surprisingly, there wasn't just one new Mystery.
There were two.
[Scq947, Agape]
[Causes selfless love toward all beings.
Those who possess Agape wish to give something to everyone, even if it means burning away their own existence.
This includes even those who have persecuted or tortured them.]
A 900-series Mystery?
That alone was shocking.
But there was another newly added Mystery.
[Scq922, Angel]
Compared to Agape, this one didn't seem as surprising.
That impression lasted only briefly.
Soon, I felt just as shocked as I had when reading about Agape.
The fact that the new Mystery was called Angel wasn't surprising by itself.
I already knew about angels.
But the fact that Angel had only just been added was extremely surprising.
If Angel had only now been added to Lucy, that meant I had never encountered a Mystery classified as an angel before.
Then what was Lee Yeonhee?
Even Delta, a Cardinal of the Order, had looked at her and accepted without doubt that she was an angel.
But Lucy was telling me that Lee Yeonhee wasn't one.
At the very least, she wasn't considered a Mystery.
There was far too much to think about.
I rapidly organized my thoughts and roughly decided what needed to be considered first.
At the top of that list was Agape.
The most recently added Mystery, Scq947, had to be somewhere in this place.
I kept thinking about Agape while looking around.
No matter how carefully I searched, I couldn't see anything unusual nearby.
At least, I couldn't find anything carrying that distinctive atmosphere Mysteries usually had.
Agape had been added immediately after we entered this place.
So it definitely had to be somewhere nearby.
Yet I couldn't find it at all.
“...”
Avoiding Delta's eyes, I slipped Lucy back inside my clothes and recalled Agape's description.
Then I understood.
Agape was a Mystery that couldn't be found with the eyes.
According to the description, it seemed to be an emotion-type Mystery.
And emotions were intangible.
It would actually be stranger if I could physically see one.
So instead of using my eyes, I used my head.
The answer came easily.
Agape was a word describing the form of love a god held toward humans.
Simply put, it meant self-sacrificing and selfless love.
Then who in this place would possess that kind of emotion?
Hmm.
Since it was a newly added Mystery, I excluded everyone I had already encountered before.
That left only one person.
My eyes turned toward the angel in front of me.
She continued praying solemnly without moving even slightly.
I became certain.
She possessed Agape.
But...
Does knowing that actually mean anything?
It wasn't some weakness or dark secret of the Order.
It didn't seem particularly useful either.
I had been shocked because a new 900-series Mystery appeared.
But for a 900-series Mystery, Agape seemed strangely modest.
Well, I supposed it would be difficult for every 900-series Mystery to display power on the level of the Dragon, the Flame of Human Sacrifice, or the Regression, Possession, Reincarnation Gallery.
Maybe I had been too tense and overworked my brain for nothing.
Still...
Information like this might become useful someday.
I decided to leave it at that and stood up.
Delta also finished his silent prayer and rose.
He glanced toward the angel, then quietly asked Lee Yeonhee and me.
“What do you think after meeting the Throne?”
“...She seems... quiet.”
“That is true. The Throne has not communicated with anyone for more than twenty years, so I'm used to it by now. Other than that, did you feel anything else?”
“She felt sacred. I don't know why, but I also felt warm... and somehow sorry.”
“Haha. Sorry? That's an unusual impression. ...Why do you think you felt that way?”
Something about Delta's words felt slightly strange to me.
Judging from Lee Yeonhee's flat tone, it seemed I was the only one who noticed.
Lee Yeonhee thought for a while before answering slowly.
“Um... I'm not sure. Maybe because I felt like we came into the cathedral and disturbed her prayer for no reason? Maybe that's why. I don't really know either.”
“I see. Did you feel any negative emotions or impressions?”
“No. I didn't feel anything negative.”
“I see, haha. That's fortunate. I'll inform the other followers, so if you wish, you may visit the cathedral whenever you like.”
“Whenever I want?”
“Yes. Except at night. Ah, by night, I mean the time after the sun in the sky disappears. This place is always bright, so we distinguish morning and night by whether the sun is present.”
“The sun is that round sphere above the cathedral, right? That's interesting. Anyway, understood.”
After saying that, Delta led us out of the cathedral.
Then he left somewhere else.
From that point onward, the followers he summoned guided us.
Following them, Lee Yeonhee and I ate at the dining hall before heading toward our assigned lodging.
There, we finally met Hwa-ryeon and Arlin again.
It felt like only a few hours had passed since we separated.
Even so, I felt strangely relieved when I saw them.
“Oh, Yuhyeon. Finally. Nothing happened after you followed that guy, right?”
“No. Other than meeting the angel in the cathedral, nothing unusual happened. What about you and Arlin?”
“Nothing particularly unusual happened to us either.”
We briefly exchanged greetings.
Then we immediately moved to the main topic.
It was time to share the information we had gathered while separated.
Arlin waved her hand.
Something resembling a hologram appeared above her palm.
Blue mana formed into a model.
It showed more than ten buildings standing close together.
The arrangement looked strangely familiar.
When I looked more carefully, I realized it was identical to the area around us.
“...It looks like a satellite map.”
“Correct. I scanned the surroundings using mana detection, then recreated the structure. The range is smaller, but it should be more accurate than a satellite map.”
After that short explanation, Arlin immediately began briefing us on the information she had gathered.
