Overseas Priest

Seeing the ice crystals Benjamin had summoned, Spencer's eyes lit up with curiosity. Yet he did not retreat because of it.

"Mage Benjamin, I don't think you need to hold such great hostility toward us," he said. "As far as I know, the vast majority of mages do not worship any deity. Your existence does not conflict with ours. Only organizations like the Holy Light Church can become our enemies."

"So what?" Benjamin snorted. "You broke into Caritas, turned Glory into this, and slipped something into the wine I was about to drink. Did you really think I knew nothing?"

Even without a direct conflict of interests, unknown religions often came into conflict with mages. Whether it was the church or that An-whatever Hu-whatever cult from before, supernatural wielders of godlike abilities such as mages often became a major obstacle to the spread of religion.

--Some people could wave a hand and accomplish what only gods could ordinarily do, so why would the masses still need religion?

Not everyone liked entrusting their souls to hollow idols.

When a religion was weak, it always seemed friendly and harmless. But as an organization grew step by step, its desire to spread the faith at any cost only became stronger and stronger.

"This was merely our way of drawing your attention," Spencer said, shaking his head. "Besides, I did not do anything to them. Joy, anger, love, and hate are merely the most primal emotions within the human heart. I only helped them cast aside those hypocritical doctrines and return to their true selves."

"You make it sound so pleasant..."

Benjamin laughed disdainfully. Suddenly, he waved his hand, and a sheet of ice blades condensed in midair before dropping into the empty space ahead of him. At the spot where the ice blades