24. The Lame Priest (Final)

The priest named Naero limped through the crowd, his lips pressed tightly together, utterly exhausted.

He had endured a long and arduous journey before finally reaching this fortress, but his exhaustion had little to do with the journey itself.

"God-Emperor bless us!"

"Terra above, a saint. But why is he all alone?"

"God, look at him—how much has he suffered?"

Hearing these words, the priest truly did not know what to think. He only felt as though a fire were burning in his belly, threatening to scorch everything dry, causing him unbearable pain.

To keep himself from collapsing just like that, he could only keep his eyes fixed ahead and avoid making eye contact with anyone along the road. Even so, he could not avoid hearing them.

This grand fortress of the Ecclesiarchy's headquarters possessed countless landing pads, at least several thousand of which were off-limits to civilians. But officially recognized "devout ones" like him naturally would not land there.

He had to land amidst the crowd, just as he had now.

There was no avoiding it. He had to take this road.

A moment later, when he reached the end of the path, the shuttle that had brought him there happened to take off. The hum of its engines briefly drowned out the crowd's whispers.

A door slowly opened before him, pouring out a swath of pure white Radiance. Something stirred within him, and he turned his head to look.

In that fleeting instant, even he could not say how many faces he saw.

Men and women, young and old; beggars standing shoulder to shoulder with wealthy men, all rising on tiptoe and craning their necks just to glimpse the devout one's true face.

Fervent faith had become a terrifying force, surging endlessly through this place. The crowd should