"Hooâ"
A light breeze swept across the boundless grassland, rolling up waves of green and tugging at the hems of a man and a womanâs clothes.
The boy and the girl faced each other from a short distance away, one expression indifferent, the other eyes dim.
After a long time, Charity finally spoke slowly.
"You came to ask about the Sanctuary?"
Charityâs voice was still as cold as ever, yet it now carried a kind of lifelessness.
"You said it yourself." Reiger said calmly, "As long as I beat you, youâd tell me everything."
Charity fell silent for a moment.
"Iâve already told you."
"You only told me this operationâs objective."
"Thatâs not enough?"
"What do you think?"
Their words were succinct; it didnât sound like a conversation so much as an exchange of blows.
But there was no longer any will to fight in Charityâs eyes, not even a trace of fighting spirit. Seeing Reiger standing before her with that bland expression, she only spoke again after a long pause.
"What do you want to ask?"
At that, Reiger answered without hesitation.
"What kind of organization is the Sanctuary, really?"
"What is this organizationâs ultimate goal?"
"Youâve done so many thingsâwhat is it youâre after?"
The first and second questions went to the root; the third spelled out the pure doubt in Reigerâs heart.
Charity did not know whether she was thinking or weighing her words. After a long silence, she finally spoke faintly.
"The Sanctuary is a very mysterious organization. Its exact origin is impossible to trace, because it was a power personally founded by the leader, âHeavenâs Huntâ."
"Though I am a Saint Envoy of the Sanctuary, I only joined on âFlame Princessââ recommendation. I was never very interested in the Sanctuaryâs goal or origins, so among all the Saint Envoys Iâm just at the bottom."
"Itâs not just me. Even âTyrantâ, âBa Serpentâ, and âTerabitâ know very little about the Sanctuary. Only âColossusâ and âFlame Princessâ understand it well; those two are also the people our leader âHeavenâs Huntâ trusts the most."
Although the Saint Envoys were the seven highest-ranking figures in the Sanctuary, in reality the true decisionâmakers were only âHeavenâs Huntâ, âColossusâ, and âFlame Princessâ. The remaining four were the lowerâseat Saint Envoys; it was impossible for them to know more about the Sanctuary than the first three.
Including Charity, the âIce Maidenâ, the four lowerâseat envoys generally acted on the instructions of the three upperâseat envoys. Thus the ones who had truly been determining the Sanctuaryâs course of action were always âHeavenâs Huntâ, âColossusâ, and âFlame Princessâ; the other four were nothing more than somewhat higherâgrade enforcers, seldom involved in any real decisionâmaking.
Under such circumstances, Charityâs understanding of the Sanctuary was indeed not as extensive as Reiger had imagined.
At the very least, she did not know the Sanctuaryâs exact origin.
However...
"The Sanctuaryâs goal is to ignite an unprecedented revolution on the continent of Akasha."
Charity told Reiger this.
"A revolution?"
Reiger raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." Charity said flatly, "Once, the Akasha Continent had only a single kingdom."
"During the Ancient Magic Civilization Period, all of humanity lived under the rule of one king. The continent back then couldnât exactly be called peaceful, but there was only that one external enemy: monsters."
"By the present era, the four great nations and numerous small countries stand all over the continent, contending with each other, giving rise to endless conflict and making countless people into sacrifices of war."
"We believe a world like this is twisted."
Therefore, a revolution was needed.
"The continent doesnât need that many nations."
"For a country to rule over humanity, one is enough."
"Just like in the Ancient Magic Civilization of the past."
The Sanctuaryâs goalâor rather, the goal of the Saint Envoysâwas to return the continent to how it had once been, to restore its original state.
"So you go around capturing refugees and slaves, using living humans as raw materials to remake them into Magic Automatons, all to realize the unification of the continent and liberate all humankind from endless war?"
Reiger couldnât help but speak with a mocking edge.
"What an exquisitely selfâserving revolution."
Reiger certainly wasnât going to be blinded by a doctrine that sounded lofty on the surface.
He hadnât forgotten what happened in the Meipros Territory, hadnât forgotten where those Magic Automatons came from, and hadnât forgotten what âTerabitâ did in the royal capital Yeluf back then.
Everything they had done was built on massive sacrificeâand not selfâsacrifice, but the sacrifice of others.
Sacrificing others to fulfill your own exalted ideals?
Put nicely, thatâs "those who achieve great things do not bother with trifles." Put bluntly, itâs being a whore and still wanting to put up a chastity arch.
So generous, so "great"âdid you ever ask the people you sacrificed for their opinion?
All youâre doing is changing the method while still leaving ordinary people to live in hell.
"Thatâs what âHeavenâs Huntâ kept telling us from the moment we joined." Charity, however, was not provoked by Reigerâs attitude; she spoke as if it had nothing to do with her. "Iâm not interested in that soâcalled revolution, nor in what the continentâs future situation will be. I only joined because âFlame Princessâ invited me."
That was very much in character for Charity.
If this cold, icy Valkyrie suddenly started caring about the state of the continent, about humanityâs future, and developed some grand compassion for the masses, that would be what truly felt wrong.
The only reason she joined the Sanctuary was a single one: because âFlame Princessâ invited her.