The Culprit is the Holy Kingdom...

We retaliated against the merchant who had sent the assassin, and when we interrogated him using the evidence found at his shop, we learned there was an even bigger mastermind: apparently, it was the Holy Kingdom.

… Why would the Holy Kingdom try to assassinate some random merchant in a mere Imperial village?

Well, okay, it's not exactly a "mere village" anymore.

It's practically a town at this point. Official recognition is right around the corner, too.

"What do you think, Rokuko?"

"Didn't Core No. 10 in the Holy Kingdom act as the Pope or something?"

"Yeah. And come to think of it, they still haven't picked a successor."

"Maybe all that mess is related? Why don't you ask Narikin-dono about the situation?"

Right, we'd sent our subordinates — Narikin-dono the Living Armor and Rokufa-sama the angel — into the Holy Kingdom.

I immediately possessed a small bird to get in touch.

[Heeey, Nari — huh? Aren't you in a pretty nice room?]

"Hm? Oh, Master. It's not time for the regular report, but did you need something?"

Human-form Narikin noticed right away and smiled.

Taking a proper look around, the room was huge — big enough to fit several king-sized beds — with a red carpet, white furnishings with reliefs, and gold-trimmed white porcelain vases with paintings on them. Everything looked expensive.

There was also a desk like an office desk. Papers and pens were set out on top of it, giving the impression Narikin had been working there just a moment ago.

"Ah, Rokufa and Naana are out on an errand. And this is a private room inside the temple."

[A private room… inside the temple? What's that about?]

"Yes. As per your orders, I've been gathering intelligence on the Holy Kingdom. Right now I'm investigating who is likely to become the next Pope."

Makes sense. If we're looking into the Pope, infiltrating the Light God Church is only natural.

[… I see. I do remember something like that in your regular reports… wait, did you say you had infiltrated the Church?]

"I reported that two or three reports ago, I believe?"

… Now that he says it, I vaguely remember it. Hm. With so much going on, my memory's gotten fuzzy.

I recall hearing things were proceeding smoothly and that the Pope hadn't been decided yet… but I might not have listened too closely because Soto had me running around.

"After becoming a priest and slipping into the Church, my guardian of record died and I inherited their estate, someone I met at a casino agreed to back me, a doodle I did of Rokufa sold for a high price… one thing led to another, and I ended up with a decent position."

What on earth happened…

Well, higher status does make both gathering intel and pulling strings easier.

[Even so, if you'd been in such a luxurious room, I should've remembered it.]

"Ah. Naana advised me that changing the reporting location might cause confusion, so I've been doing the regular reports from an inn outside the temple."

[… Toy, this has to have been deliberate…!]

Naana is a former assassin being operated by Toy via the [Possession] skill. In other words, it's Toy.

So it wouldn't be strange at all for her to pull some petty interference with me.

"… Strictly speaking, it isn't a crime, so I believe the way you're using 'deliberate crime' is incorrect."

[That doesn't matter. Ah — no, right, I mean that doesn't matter for now… An assassin came to our village the other day.]

"My. How peaceful."

[… Huh? Don't you mean not peaceful?]

"Muh? Ah, no — inside the Holy Kingdom, slave-driven suicide bombings are the mainstream tactic. Lately, the sound of explosions have rang out often — twice a day, even. So, comparatively speaking, assassination is the gentler option on the surface. My apologies, I let their local sense of normal bleed into mine."

[O-oh.]

Apparently that kind of thing is rampant among those aiming for the papal throne.

"So, the assassin… ah, was sent from the Holy Kingdom, then."

[More or less.]

In a situation so chaotic with frequent suicide bombings, it'd actually be hard to trace which person in the Holy Kingdom sent the assassin… or so I thought.

"It was likely the Saintess faction."

Narikin named a suspect without a moment's hesitation.

[The Saintess faction? Saintess… Saintess Alka?]

"Yes. A faction pushing to make the Saintess the Pope. Since there's a rule that a Saintess cannot become Pope, they're working on getting that rule abolished first. Golen Village could serve as a blemish in Saintess Alka-sama's past. They probably wanted to erase it somehow."

[Makes sense.]

We don't have proof, but it's hard to deny they're the most suspicious.

"That said, the Saintess herself has no intention of becoming the Pope, so her surroundings are the ones running wild of their own accord."

[Huh. In that case… would lending a hand to a rival faction count as payback?]

"Oh! An excellent idea."

[Alright, then tell me which rival faction we could realistically support.]

"Understo — oh, pardon me. I'm getting [Telepathy] from Rokufa-sama… Ah, ahh."

Narikin touched his temple, his expression turning a bit bitter.

"My apologies. As of just now, one promising rival faction has disappeared."

[… What, did you have them assassinated?]

"No. But in a sense, this may be convenient."

[Convenient? How so?]

Narikin straightened, bowed to me formally, then turned just his face back toward me.

"The current most likely candidate for Pope is me."

[… Come again?]

The spy we sent in has become the leading papal candidate? How does that even happen…?