Hertitz’s voice was like the personal monologue of a dejected girl sitting alone in the corner of a bar.
She recounted what she had seen and heard recently.
The God of Holy Feathers was the faith of the Church.
It was not the Heavenly Oracle Envoys nor a true god.
“Who is she?”
The holy feather statue in the temple had an indescribable strangeness.
“We don’t know. The Flame Lock Knight Order investigated for a very long time but never found out… We only know that inside the Church there is a terrifying force. I tried to find a bishop related to the clues but when I met him he had already met with misfortune. It was as if an invisible force was stopping us!”
“Last time on the battlefield when you ordered the arrest of the Four Saints was the situation the same?”
“It was exactly like that. But at least no one died. Regarding the God of Holy Feathers everyone understands yet it feels as if they don’t know of her existence. It is as if she has been invisibly imprinted in their minds.”
Hertitz’s gaze became sharp.
“In any case it is all related to the Celestial God.”
Hertitz’s voice was very resolute.
She seemed very certain that Creis was the mastermind behind everything.
Gabriella was suddenly stunned.
She discovered that the entire matter had once again exceeded her expectations.
What did the God of Holy Feathers have to do with her?
“Lord Gabriella have you forgotten? As long as it allows humanity to continue she is capable of doing anything!” In addition “I have one more piece of evidence.”
There was also a trace of faint fear in Hertitz’s voice.
“One hundred years ago when we woke up from the restoration pods we had all lost our powers. Besides Creis no one else would take them away. Those were not restoration pods at all. Our bodies would not heal. On the contrary we would ‘die’ and become the Celestial God’s energy packs.”
“Mm.”
“It took us a very long time to recover. Only now do we have the capital to continue fighting. What Creis wants is the extinction of the Heavenly Oracle Envoys. She treats us as tools.”
Gabriella was working hard to capture Miss Flame Saint’s words trying to extract any information that might be useful.
That’s right. Hertitz actually did not know about the God of Holy Feathers either.
They knew nothing about it and were even extremely vigilant.
Hertitz carried many weapons including magic weapons from a certain Heavenly Oracle Envoy skilled in creating tools a mysterious magicless longsword and various defensive magic scrolls attached inside the phoenix robe.
Although there were no signs of breakage there was even a teleportation scroll that had failed to activate… It was clear she had made ample preparations.
In other words as the Church’s “undercover agent” Hertitz had been acting alone until now precisely to investigate traces of this God of Holy Feathers.
According to Gabriella’s original guess the God of Holy Feathers was a false god created by the Heavenly Oracle Envoys.
Now it seemed that was also a false premise.
According to what Creis had said she had once fought several Apostles.
Those were not Heavenly Oracle Envoys.
Those Apostles had all been defeated one after another in front of the Celestial God’s powerful combat strength.
However because of the existence of the [Devour] Authority they would not perish.
Instead they continued to exist in a weakened state.
After waking up the Heavenly Oracle Envoys had actually all remained in a weakened state as well.
A rather terrifying conspiracy that even made her shudder suddenly appeared in Gabriella’s mind.
If Creis was not lying then all of this seemed to have the possibility of being true.
However this frightening thought disappeared the moment it existed in her mind because it was simply too absurd.
The Heavenly Oracle Envoys had woken up from hibernation pods.
If the Evil God Isabella had fallen the Heavenly Oracle Envoys into becoming Apostles and made them fight against the Celestial God then no matter what it would not make sense.
And this chilling coincidence also explained why they had not appeared for so many years and had instead hidden in the shadows.
They needed to repair their bodies from the damage after having their power drained by Celestial God Creis.
However Gabriella felt that things were not that simple.
Given Creis’s personality she should not have done something like this.
After all as early as ten thousand years ago Gabriella had discovered that the restoration pods did not have their original meaning.
Celestial God Creis’s restoration pods could only allow the Heavenly Oracle Envoys to preserve their physical bodies and souls before falling into eternal slumber…
Yet that mysterious Heavenly Oracle Envoy had actually been able to make them “revive from death” from the restoration pods.
Even after using a hundred years it still exceeded Gabriella’s understanding.
In short Flame Saint Hertitz and the Heavenly Oracle Envoy organization behind her were indeed acting with the goal of eliminating Celestial God Creis.
All of this was at least within expectations.
For now she had obtained quite a lot of the intelligence she wanted.
As for whether it was true or false she would distinguish it herself.
The remaining information about the Heavenly Oracle Envoys could wait until later when she found another way to draw it out.
Gabriella pretended to smile bitterly and put on a troubled expression.
“I have taken in everything Miss Hertitz said. But it is still different from the Creis I know.”
Hertitz let out a long sigh of relief.
She wiped the food residue from the corner of her mouth and looked at the scenery outside the window.
“You still aren’t willing to leave with me?”
“I think we still need to observe for a while longer.”
“I see… I understand Lord Gabriella.”
Gabriella stood up.
Just as she was about to leave the room she was stopped by Hertitz.
“Wait. May I ask if you know about the [Progenitor Demon]? If it isn’t Creis then they have the greatest suspicion.”
Gabriella turned her head. “Progenitor. It sounds like the original demons.”
“A few days ago at the edge of a human city a Evil Tree forest with a diameter of 126 kilometers appeared. It grew out from underground and split the entire wilderness in two… It is speculated to be the root veins of an Evil Tree.”
“Mm?”
“The next day that Evil Tree disappeared. It vanished without a trace as if it had evaporated from the world. We speculate it was [absorbed] by a Progenitor Demon. After all that is the source from which they were born.”
“If they are still alive now they should be ten thousand years old.”
Gabriella said half-jokingly.
Hertitz sighed.
“Not only that. Five years ago the Flame Lock Knight Order I led also encountered a Progenitor Demon.”
Hertitz stared into Gabriella’s eyes.
“The [Mujin Demon]. Its strength is probably at the Emperor peak level. It might even be an existence on the same level as Lord Olivia.”
Gabriella nodded thoughtfully.
After all this name felt somewhat familiar.
If it was a golden demon it would always make one think of that idiot Simona.
As the Holy Queen she had been so easily eroded by dark magic.
Speaking of this Gabriella even felt a bit relieved.
After all they did not know who had actually created the Evil Tree.