Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

"That is to say - the matter of 'considering the Divine Court as a whole'."

"—!"

"Although he is a strange person... but sometimes he can make surprising remarks."

"Do you really know what 'amazing' means? I'll take that as a compliment."

"Individuals form a group, and the group's will is composed of the will of the individuals, the roots of a tree, the nest of an ant. Then, the group's will is transmitted by the group's leader, the Big Dipper of the stars, the main vein of the leaves. Can this will represent the will of the individuals, or the will of the groups under the group?"

The cold and unmoving voice sounds like reciting poetry, with a unique beauty that makes people indulge in it.

"I... um... indeed, I have never thought about this aspect..."

It was like a new door was suddenly opened. This idea that she had never considered before made Lunicia seem to understand something all of a sudden, but it also seemed like she hadn't figured anything out. She couldn't help but hold her forehead, trying to sort out those thoughts that suddenly exploded and urgently needed to be checked and confirmed one by one.

"That is to say... um..."

"What kind of network is 'Divine Court'? Is it a chessboard or a tree branch? Is it a star road or an ocean current? Ashe doesn't understand. Since she doesn't understand, she can't give any insights."

"That's right. Although I can give advice on national geography, magical monuments, and monsters and aliens, I'm not very clear about religious organizations. If you want to make effective inferences, why don't you introduce them to me, please, Lady Luna?"

"Not bad. Although I don't think we can draw a conclusion after the introduction, I don't intend to keep it to myself. Before Roy and the others finish their work, let's talk about the Divine Court first."

Leaning back on the bench, Lunicia smiled slightly.

"The Glorious Divine Court is a united church formed by the three churches of Light, Night, and Star—"

"Zelti of light and thunder, Levina of night and silence, Shahar of stars and destiny."

"That's right. The Lord of Wrath, the Queen of Secrets, and the Star of Dawn. According to current research, the formation of the Glorious Divine Court was not something that happened later, but has been an unbreakable whole since the appearance of the followers of the Glorious Three Seats. Therefore, there is no need to separate the members of the Glorious Three Seats when discussing this matter. After a whole calendar, it is meaningless to consider such a thing. The followers have long been accustomed to acting based on the same system."

"It sounds like a historical issue that is worth studying."

"Ashe is a word from a long, long time ago—"

"Ashe doesn't understand this either."

"Well, that's not the point anyway." Lunicia coughed lightly. "The highest-ranking one, as the name suggests, is the High Priest. The current High Priest is my adoptive father, a legendary one, Sieli Agris, 'Morning Light'."

"'Qiming Chenhui'... it's not an unfamiliar name."

Ella was thoughtful, and Lunicia continued:

"The title of the Highest Priest is passed down from generation to generation. Well... the position of the Highest Priest is held in turn by the leaders of the three houses of Light, Night, and Star. Now there will be no trouble because of this. It is only the title that changes, and there will be no changes in specific matters. The title of the Zelti believer in office is 'Morning Light', the title of the Levina believer is 'Whispering Veil', and the title of the Shahar believer is 'Manifesting Star', so this title of the Highest Priest can be said to be passed down from generation to generation."

“I got some interesting knowledge.”

"Is this place interesting? Also, don't put too much pressure on Lady Luna's back, and get down here immediately."

"?……OK."

"The High Priest has many duties, including appointing the 'Sword Priests' of each diocese, crowning the leaders of countries that have converted to the Divine Court, and updating the interpretation of the content of the canon according to the times... The most important and indispensable duty is to preside over the Great Sacrifice once every ten years. The Glorious Divine Court does not practice any form of living sacrifice. As a substitute, the High Priest needs to personally take action during the preparation stage of the Great Sacrifice, go on an adventure, and after finding an item of legendary status, offer it as a sacrifice to bless believers all over the world."

"Is this grand ceremony still being held?"

Ashlee tilted her head, and Lunicia touched the top of her head.

“Rain or shine, no matter what happens, the high priest ceremony will not be postponed. Even if for some reason the high priest cannot leave, something else will surely happen next, allowing the high priest to obtain the sacrifices for the high priest ceremony before the deadline.”

“…It would be nice if I could witness it with my own eyes once.”

"I haven't seen it either, the Grand Ceremony of the Glorious Divine Court."

"I... uh, I must have seen it. In fact, I was in the 'special seat' during the last high festival."

Lunicia spread her hands.

"Special seats mean..."

"We'll talk about this next time. The 'highest priest' is the religious leader of the Glorious Temple, and those who assist the high priest are called 'highest deacons'... The current high deacon is 'Sky Sword' Evelyn, a difficult woman to get along with." As if remembering something bad, Lunicia couldn't help but move her hand back and touched her forehead. "Below this level are the 'consular priests' who are in charge of various affairs within the Temple and serve as department leaders. Next are the 'sword-wielding priests' who are in charge of various countries and dioceses. Next are the 'high priests' who are in charge of large cities and important church nodes. At the end are the 'priests' who preside over daily affairs and the 'deacons' who serve as assistants at all levels."

“—Yes, this is it.”

"Hmm...Ashe thinks it's this."

"What does this mean?"

““‘The Consul-Priest.’ ””

They raised their index fingers at the same time, said the same words, and then looked at each other together. It seemed that neither Ashlee nor Ella was very satisfied with this subtle tacit understanding.

"I'll leave it to you to explain this, Miss Ashlee."

This was a rather impolite statement, but Ashlee didn't seem to mind - well, in fact, she quite enjoyed it.

"Let Ashe do it? Ella is undoubtedly better at dealing with interpersonal relationships."

"If you feel you are not good at it, I can continue to do it for you, okay?"

"What... Is this also considered a quarrel?"

"Then I'll let Ashe continue." Ignoring Lunicia's complaints, Ashelyn took over the topic again, "First, confirm that Luna can guarantee that the High Priest 'Sieli Agris' is not a hostile party, but a trustworthy person."

"Of course. If Father Cialis had any 'hostility' towards me, I wouldn't be alive today. Sister Sessin's warning is just nonsense. After all, if this is the case, then no matter how careful I am, it will be useless."

"It's a very constructive suggestion. The goodwill of the highest priest can be said to be the source of Setin's confidence in the proposal that 'Luna can contact the Glorious Temple'. It is precisely because of the personal protection of the religious leader that Luna can only 'be careful of the Temple' instead of 'doing everything possible' to escape from the Temple. Although there is no difference in the execution level..."

"Ah, no?"

"No. When the enemy's true identity is unknown, rash contact will only lead to information leakage. In other words, before being able to contact the highest priest and being within the sphere of influence of the highest priest, any contact with the Divine Court is actually 'unwise'."

"That makes sense... Then again, is it the Consular Priest that we should be careful of?"

"Yes, it's the 'Consular Priest'." Ella picked up the conversation again, "If we move up, the 'Highest Priest' is not an enemy, and the 'Highest Acolyte' can hardly escape the 'Highest Priest's' sight range, so even if she is an enemy, it won't do anything - besides, she sounds like an acquaintance of Lady Luna, so she can be roughly ruled out."

"And if we go further..."

Lunicia bit her lip.

"The influence of the Sword Priest is mostly maintained within its own jurisdiction. Even if it can radiate upward to Zerhal, it is difficult for it to have any impact on me as long as I don't pass through its jurisdiction... The influence of the High Priest in its own territory is not weaker than that of the Sword Priest, but it is easy to be checked by the leaders of the other two God's Courts. If their hostility towards me is too obvious, I will be helpless... The Priest at this level cannot pose a threat to me at all. Is that the case?"

"Luna is a quick learner."

"Ah ha ha……"

"Lady Luna is right. Based on this consideration, the factors from within the Divine Court that are likely to pose a threat to you after you leave Zelhar are most likely at the level of 'Consular Priest'."

Gazing at Lunitia's face, Ella Hepper came to this conclusion.

Chapter 41 The Day of Departure (Part 1)

——The Ritual Bureau served as the political center and was responsible for presiding over sacrifices.

There is no "consular priest". In theory, the highest person in charge of the Ritual Bureau is the "highest assistant priest" himself. The Ritual Bureau has its own secret forces. They are not affiliated with any department, but are directly responsible to the highest priest himself. They are used as a living force in an emergency. It is for this reason that they are "non-existent" on the surface. Even if you try to find information about them, you will get nothing. They will not even be called up when nothing happens. The most secretive force is still the "Black Silence".

"That's the department where Father Sieri and Ms. Evelyn are—"

"Ashe thinks that the 'person in charge of this department' does not belong to this department?"

"That's a little imprecise, but it's okay, Lady Luna."

"Yes...is it...?"

"The Bureau of Ritual doesn't have a corresponding 'consul priest', so we can rule him out as a suspect."

"Not only that, the Ceremonial Bureau is also a department I come into contact with quite a lot. I'm not sure if they know me, but I know their work content very well, so there's basically no need to worry."

"Luna is very relieved."

"That's right. After all, everyone is a busy and good person."

——The Judgment Bureau is in charge of the conventional military forces of the Divine Court and exists as a violent agency.

The regular army of Zerhar of the Holy See and the religious army of the Glorious Temple are all under the jurisdiction of the Judgment Bureau. It is for this reason that the Judgment Bureau can be said to be the most powerful and most restricted department of the Temple. Of course, this is only a nominal restriction. In fact, due to the existence of factors such as "faith" and "justice", it is difficult for the regular army of the Temple to be dispatched for personal reasons of the "consular priests" - even so, the military force that the Judgment Bureau can dispatch at will is already ranked first in the Temple.

Considering the existence of various unknown secret forces that may not even have numbers, this situation is very easy to understand.

"In addition to managing the military, the Judicial Bureau is also responsible for tasks such as conscription and resettlement of retired soldiers."

"The violent agency...?"

"I'm not sure about the others, but my own training as a paladin has nothing to do with them."

"Perhaps, each department can hold a holy warrior training like Luna..."

"As long as you are willing, you can do it. But there are definitely only a few holy warriors who have truly mastered their craft. The main force should be the 'warriors'... um... no, the armed non-professionals."

"Isn't the highest leader of the army the same person as the highest leader of the Divine Court?"

"At least nominally, the Director of the Judgment Bureau is also under the command of the Supreme Priest - I'm not sure what the actual situation is... Father Xiyeli didn't tell me much about this."

"Maybe I don't want Lady Luna to worry too much."

"Maybe there's simply no problem?"

"This is Luna being too blindly optimistic."

"All right……"

——The Foreign Affairs Bureau is responsible for managing the diplomatic affairs of the Divine Court and presiding over the dispatch of mediation work.

As the "face" of the Divine Court, the content of the work can be understood from the literal meaning. In addition to dealing with the daily diplomatic work of the Divine Court, the Foreign Affairs Bureau is also responsible for understanding the relevant situations of various disputes within the Divine Court's sphere of influence, and issuing mediation tasks to other departments when it is necessary. Racial conflicts, corruption, national conflicts... these are all within the scope of mediation tasks. Regardless of the effectiveness or the cost, mediation work is an indispensable part of the Glorious Divine Court. It can be said to be a means of winning people's hearts, or it can be said to be the source of the Glorious Divine Court's high reputation.

The work of the Foreign Affairs Bureau is very heavy, and it has high requirements for all aspects of the clergy. If they do well, they can gain both fame and fortune, but if they are not good enough, they can only receive the lowest salary in the temple. The funding application and remuneration of the Foreign Affairs Bureau rely to a large extent on the efforts of the clergy themselves. Therefore, it is a great place for newcomers who have confidence in themselves and hope to excel in the civil service.

"Mediation is the most unique aspect of the Glorious Divine Court among the three Divine Courts. 'Avoid using war to solve problems' and 'think together about how to resolve conflicts' are also the teachings of the Holy Scripture."

"Even now...it's still going on?"

"Well, at least around Zerhal there should always be such a presence. Other places may not be able to be taken care of, and coupled with the lag in intelligence, it is possible that by the time the mediation troops arrive at a distant place, the battle there may have already ended."

"It doesn't sound like a department that is highly suspicious. Diplomacy - search - diplomats should be smooth people. Will they directly make claims that are unfavorable to Luna?"

"Not all of them are smooth, there are some clever ones, some stubborn ones, and some strong ones. In today's world, will diplomacy become meaningless? If you associate me with 'diplomacy', I'm afraid there's nothing I can do except sell me to other countries."

"I can't deny it."

"Don't be careless, Lady Luna - although I will protect Lady Luna if she is careless."

"Ah ha ha……"

——The Holy Relics Bureau, which is responsible for managing the finances and logistical projects of the Divine Court and is known as the source of life.

Being able to manage wealth, no matter how strict the audit process is, the Sacred Relics Bureau is the most ideal department for those clergy who are more worldly-minded. Expenses, budgets, revenues... Because it is in charge of these things that are equally important to the clergy, the Sacred Relics Bureau has the second largest armed force in the Divine Court after the Judgment Bureau. Of course, these troops under the Sacred Relics Bureau are almost impossible to accept external missions and instructions. The purpose of their existence is only for security, to ensure that the lifeline of the Glorious Divine Court is unobstructed, not blocked, and not cut off.

In addition, the Holy Relics Bureau is also in charge of the internal logistics of the Divine Court. Apart from the unique internal logistics system of the Judgment Bureau, the consumables, supplies, and daily necessities of other departments are basically purchased, produced, and distributed through the Holy Relics Bureau. Due to the large number of business contents and the large number of clergy employed by the Holy Relics Bureau, there are a large number of deacons working for the Holy Relics Bureau in Zelhar, who are engaged in various small and troublesome daily work. Therefore, the Holy Relics Bureau is also the department with the largest number of people in the Glorious Divine Court.

“Finance is the source of life.”

"That's a good point, Ella-san."

"Classmate...?"

"Hmm. They also work very hard in logistics. If the Judgment Bureau is missing, the problem may not be too big. If the External Affairs Bureau is missing, there may be some trouble. If the Sacred Relics Bureau is missing, the entire Divine Court will probably be paralyzed immediately. The frontline personnel can't get supplies, and the rear departments can't get their wages. It's simply the end of the world."

"It's a very important department. What does Luna think of them?"

"Opinions are... just... very important, right? As for the other things, I've hardly ever met anyone from the Sacred Relics Bureau, so I don't know much about them..."

“It cannot be ruled out.”

"I'll just echo Ashlee's opinion here."

——The Sealing Bureau is responsible for handling dangerous magical items, defeating monsters, and clearing ancient monuments.

Independent of the Trial Bureau, which is a regular army, these experts are responsible for sealing evil and dangerous magic items, fighting against evil gods and monsters that exist in the dark side of history, and exploring the deep ruins of various divine courts. Due to its nature, the Sealing Bureau is the smallest in the divine court, but its attrition rate is the highest among all departments: high risk, high difficulty, high reward, high achievement. Some paladins are driven by a sense of mission, while others are simply because they have confidence in their skills. No matter which one, they will choose to join the Sealing Bureau composed of the Investigation Department and the Operations Department.

"Almost every department has its own secret forces, but on this basis, this organization that also looks like a secret force is listed separately as a 'bureau' that exists on an equal footing with other departments?"

"Is Ella finding it weird?"

"In terms of size, the gap is too big..."

"What does Ash think?"

"Ashe doesn't think it's necessary to do so."

"Well, actually, although the paladins and priests of the Sealing Bureau - in this context, they are professions, not clergy - are all very powerful characters, but if they are really compared with other departments, they are somewhat lacking in strength. However, as an independent department, the truly terrifying thing about the Sealing Bureau is the things they seal and keep."

"Ms. Luna, you even know something like this."

"Don't look at me like that. This is what Sister Sessin told me before."

"Yes, yes..."

"The Sealing Bureau keeps all the successfully sealed magic items, monsters, and other things. If other departments want to use them, they need to apply to the Sealing Bureau first. The Sealing Bureau itself does not need permission from any department to use these sealed items. In order to manage those sealed items more safely, this is why the Sealing Bureau was established as a separate department."