12.

Kim Buja, posing as the pope, was more serious than ever.

"My child, do you know why such deep darkness has fallen upon the continent?"

An innocent child who knew nothing shook his head while sucking on the candy offered by Kim Buja, who wore the mask of the pope.

What would a small child know?

His gaze was on the child, but Kim Buja's words were directed at the people gathered in the village.

"It is because God actually governs both darkness and light."

To them, the words he spat out were benevolent, noble, and logical.

"Why do people think God only handles the light? That is due to the arrogant and insolent monopoly of the ruling class to protect human selfishness and power. They even use divinity as a means to protect their own power. Oppressing darkness and praising light. The imbalance was created by human greed. Can't you see it in the fact that God does not personally bring down the hammer on black magic and demons?"

Of course, it was just his own logic. If one wanted to refute it, they could do so endlessly, and there was no way to prove it anywhere.

But the listeners nodded, captivated.

The enemy of the common people is always the ruling class.

In reality, as long as they didn't cause direct harm, people were more afraid and fearful of the nobles who sucked their blood, exploited, and oppressed them than the demons that only appeared in history books.

Kim Buja aimed for exactly that. The words needed for agitation showed sufficient effect just by being spoken.

People were swayed, and the epidemic he spread, and the black magic planted fear in the people and anger toward the ruling class.

"The fall of the Empire proceeded due to the conspiracies and schemes of the Allied Forces, who grasped the intentions of the princess. She sought to better align with God's will by harmonizing light and darkness. At that time, this servant of God, blinded by power, spoke falsely to keep his position, and because of that, the continent was engulfed in chaos and darkness."

Buja continued, "The real darkness is the Allied Forces. They use light as a shield and are trying to dye the continent in darkness. Light and darkness. These must coexist; leaning too far in one direction eventually causes the balance to collapse. We must set it right."

Simultaneously, he spat out contradictory words and marched forward without hesitation. There was no need to worry about consistency. Right now, Kim Buja's goal was only one thing.

The degradation of the pope's authority.

Knights disguised in paladin outfits accompanied him as he went around spouting all sorts of strange things.

The epidemic they spread without hesitation and the black magic they taught were sufficient to devastate a kingdom, a village.

They moved haphazardly, but the goal was simple.

'To rebuild the Empire, I first need to imprint the idea that black magic itself isn't an evil to be eliminated, but just a rare form of magic.'

It didn't matter if it came as terror or whatever.

Like dungeons, people just needed to get used to it.

The goal was to render the issue of whether the imperial princess used black magic so dull that it became largely irrelevant.

That was faster than proving the princess had been framed.

To achieve that, everyone needed to roll in the mud together.

The truth wasn't important. If the truth had been enough, would the Empire have fallen in the first place?

He simply spread the rumors. He even mobilized every last knight remaining in Teheran Castle for this purpose.

It was a gamble where he staked everything.

If the Allied Forces were to strike Teheran Castle now, the Imperial Army would effectively have nowhere left to stay. Since no personnel remained to defend it, the word "strike" hardly even applied.

They simply wandered here and there like ghosts, causing chaos.

For now, that was the extent of it.

Whether this would end as a final, desperate struggle or become the spark for a turnaround remained to be seen.

However, Kim Buja acted with absolute conviction. And that conviction gradually began to take shape and reveal itself.

"The pope made a direct announcement. He claimed that forces trying to slander him are impersonating him."

"I'm sure he did."

The best way to deal with controversy is don't feed the trolls.

If you just sit back and watch, the groups making noise with false facts will eventually lose credibility and fade from public interest.

The pope likely intended to let the problem die out naturally.

However, Kim Buja hadn't woven his web entirely out of lies.

The temple was indeed corrupt. There was no way to confirm if the pope had dabbled in black magic, but the fact that he had joined hands with the Allied Forces meant he knew something about it.

At the very least, he was a bystander. That fact alone, spread as a rumor, dealt a direct blow to the temple.

A crack in their absolute faith. For those who made a living off belief, it was a prelude to ruin.

Judging that simply starving the rumors wouldn't solve it, the pope must have decided to step forward himself.

He ordered, "Let's move to the next operation."

That was the pope's biggest mistake.

* * *

In the wake of the pope's announcement, the temple declared a massive war against black mages.

How dare they impersonate the pope, the agent of God, and harm civilians! The declaration was grand and pompous, but unfortunately, there was no progress.

The continent was vast, and the kingdoms were many. While there were large, prosperous kingdoms, there were also those that barely maintained a single castle in the remote corners of the continent.

No matter how widespread the temple was across the continent, their forces couldn't reach such places.

Even if they did arrive, the Imperial Army, composed solely of elites, would have already achieved their objectives and moved on.

There was only one thing the temple could do.

"I've been cursed! Heal me!"

"A plague has spread. We need Holy Water!"

The Imperial Army moved relentlessly, and the temple chased after them.

The Allied Forces also announced they would dispatch troops and began gathering an army, but there were no significant results.

No, rather, the chaos intensified.

At some point, the pope impersonators stirring up the continent began appearing not just in one place, but in several places simultaneously.

The atmosphere, which had relaxed with the belief that peace had come following the Empire's fall, instantly turned ugly.

It became even worse than when the war with the Empire was actually taking place. The war between the Empire and the Allied Forces had been a battle between armies.

While there were victims among the Empire's people, those in the Allied nations had merely watched from afar, relieved by the claim that evil was being purified.

But not anymore. Direct damage was now raining down upon them. Naturally, voices of resentment and anxiety began to rise. And mixed within was a growing suspicion.

"Was the Empire actually framed? The Empire has fallen, so why are the black mages running even more rampant? At least when the Empire existed, they didn't run wild like this. Could it be…?"

It was a reasonable doubt. To dispel this suspicion, another announcement was made.

"It is the work of the surviving princess and her remnants!"

A statement to decorate the final chapter. At the same time, a video that could be seen by everyone on the continent was projected across the sky.

13.

From the main gate of the empty Teheran Castle, the princess walks out alone, wearing a shabby robe.

Her steps toward the vast wasteland halt in front of the pure white saintess who is waiting for her.

The meeting of two women. The eyes of these two women, whose beauty alone is enough to topple kingdoms, are filled with sorrow as they stand together.

Without saying a word, the princess drops to her knees.

Above her head, the saintess takes a small bottle from her bosom.

Highest-grade Holy Water!

The tears of God are said to take twenty years to produce a single vial!

A Holy Water so rare that even within the temple, the pope and the saintess hold only one bottle each.

Carefully, but without hesitation, she pours it. Though the bottle is small, the Holy Water flows endlessly, drenching the princess from head to toe.

The Holy Water, soaking into the land where not a single blade of grass grew, instantly fertilizes the soil, proving its authenticity and increasing the video's credibility.

The water seeped into the ground and vanished, yet the princess remained unharmed. That was it. But it was a video containing a very clear message.

Turning around, the saintess spoke to the sky. To those watching, it felt as if she were making eye contact with them.

"God has spoken. Do not succumb to evil. Do not collapse in the face of darkness. My child, believe only what you see. I have just witnessed it. The reality of the truth that was hideously concealed. I will drive away the darkness currently unfolding across the continent. I will purify the rotten order. I will no longer succumb to darkness."

Every resolute word she spoke dug deep into the minds of the people. They wanted to cheer for her; they wanted to help her. In this time rife with confusion, fear, terror, and anxiety, the video imprinted one thing onto the people.

"The only one we can trust is the saintess."

The political situation, or the fact that the saintess had originally accused the princess, none of it mattered anymore.

After all, few people accurately grasped the current situation. Unlike reality, there was no internet here.

Therefore, Kim Buja's single strike—a five-minute miracle created by spending all 50,000 gold earned from clearing two additional dungeons—was a definitive hope for the Imperial Army, which had nothing left.

Sixty days. A time both short and long.

The finale of the Gold Mission ended with the signal flare of a new change.

* * *

The saintess headed back to the religious order.

In the middle of the empty Teheran Castle, Kim Buja handed the remaining gold to the princess—about 500 gold.

His gaze, filled with regret, had not yet shaken off the despondency of blowing 50,000 gold in a single heartbeat.

"When will you come back?"

The princess asked him with eyes full of worry.

"Hmm, well? I don't know exactly."

Kim Buja scratched his head.

Even if he wanted to give a definite answer, it was ambiguous because he had to check the situation first.

"I'll come back eventually, so don't worry and take care of yourself. You know, right? Your body belongs to me."

"Yes, of course. I will be waiting only for you, Mr. Buja. I'm keeping this safe, too."

Despite his words, the princess nodded brightly without a hint of disappointment.

Shaking the location tracker he had given her before, her words were charming enough to make his heart race. Moreover, her skin, soaked in Holy Water and not yet dried, was glowing—radiating light, even.

Unconsciously, his hand stroked the princess's hair. He had definitely seen and felt it. The princess was strong. But wanting to protect her and feeling anxious about her safety was unavoidable.

As he lowered his hand, he noticed a hairpin in the princess's hair.

"It's a bit cheap, but keep wearing it."

Sixty thousand gold earned from three dungeons. An item purchased with 10,000 of that gold.

He had debated about three hundred times whether to take it with him before placing it on her hair, but in the end, it settled there.

Then, he turned his back without lingering regret.

"I'm really going now."

Even if he wanted to stay longer, there really wasn't much time left.

As Kim Buja walked away purposefully to disappear as coolly as possible, the princess's urgent voice came from behind his back.

"Mr. Buja!"

"Huh?"

As he turned his head, the princess, who had run up to him, brought her face close.

Her two lovely hands grabbed his cheeks and pulled.

His head lowered automatically.

And then.

Smooch.

It was the second time he felt the soft touch of her lips. This time, it lasted quite a while.

The princess approached him aggressively.

"Haah."

Taking a breath, the princess spoke shyly.

"May the blessing of the Highest-grade Holy Water be with you, Mr. Buja."

With the scent of the princess in his arms, his vision flashed white.

* * *

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