Lara was able to quickly take control of the Temple of Glory with the full support of the Emperor. Her method was somewhat coercive but the effect was certain.
The news was being delivered not only to the Temple of Glory in Dandelion, but also to all temples around the continent. Since God had returned, the real priests should be able to use divine power.
While Lara was cleaning the temple, Demian planned to gather the Barbarians and search for the bases of the demon worshippers. The Barbarians were very pleased with Demian's suggestion, they said that they were already feeling under the weather and were contemplating returning to the hunting ground.
Meanwhile, Valentine completed another pair of long-distance magic receivers. Lara took one and gave the other to Demian.
"Milady, do we live here now?"
Konny came into the temple with her luggage and looked around. It was the abode where the High Priest had stayed. As the saintess, Lara owned everything in the temple, including the abode of the High Priest. Whatever belonged to God also belonged to her.
"After the war, I will turn this place into a sanctum, too."
"That's a good idea. Might as well be a God who likes money."
The High Priest's abode was filled with expensive antiques and works of art. Lara looked around the abode with Demian.
"What are you searching for?"
"Secret passageways or secret storages… Or something like a safe."
"Yeah, there ought to be something like that."
"Hurry up and look for it."
"Why don't you call the High Priest and ask him directly?"
"He's locked up in prison. I don't think he'll answer us easily anyway."
The High Priest's abode was built on a steep rock wall. In every way, it was a structure that seemed to have a secret space in the basement. When Lara asked the priests, she heard that there was an old library, a wine cellar, and a graveyard for the former High Priests in the basement.
Which of the three has a secret space?
"Prolly' the wine cellar."
"It is probably the wine cellar."
Lara and Demian said at the same time.
"I should read all the books in the underground library. I wonder, what in the world are in those books that made him hide them and keep them all to himself."
"There must be some artifacts in the cemetery too. You'd better look into it with Valentine."
"That's a good idea."
Lara walked fast.
The entrance to the basement was deep inside the abode. The High Priest did not leave the key to anyone, so the door was tightly locked. Lara stood in front of the door, she stared at Demian, and then the lock, alternating between the two.
"What?"
"I know you can open this without breaking a sweat. As far as I know, you're someone who can even toss a bull with your power."
"Just tell me to open it."
Demian smirked and grabbed the doorknob with both hands. As he slowly concentrated his strength, the lock made of thick and heavy iron collided. A sound of something dislocating could be heard, it was the sound of the iron scratching each other. Lara raised and covered her ears.
Demian ripped off the knob with a short shout. Then, he gave the door a good hard kick. It was an iron door about as thick as the span of Lara's hand. After breaking and forcing the door open, Demian shrugged to Lara, who looked at him in admiration.
"You're welcome."
"For what?"
"Your eyes are saying thanks."
For the safety of the saintess, access to the abode of the High Priest to outsiders was strictly prohibited. Since the Emperor's faithful knights were guarding outside the abode, Lara and Demian were able to go down to the basement with ease of mind.
When they went down to the basement, they found stairs made of stone, faded silver candlesticks, and old murals that were too difficult to recognize. The basement was much deeper than Lara expected. Cold and heavy air wrapped around the body, and the sound of their footsteps echoed through the wall. The road was as complicated as a maze, and they might get lost in the basement with just one mistake. After passing several crossroads, Lara stopped and said.
"We should go back. At this rate, both of us might get lost. We have to be prepared to find the way and…"
"It's okay."
"What's okay?"
"Where do you think this is? The House of God is right above us. You can just ask God to take you out."
"I can't overuse God's power like that."
"Then, we just have to be careful so that we don't get lost."
Demian scratched the wall with a dagger and left a trace.
"You're welcome."
"For what now? And my eyes are not saying thanks this time."
After that, Lara took the lead. She chose only one direction whenever there was a fork in the road so as not to be confused. After wandering in the basement maze for such a long time, they first found the cemetery. It was a stone chamber where the coffins of the previous High Priests were kept.
"They're arrogant."
There were several stone chambers in the large cemetery. And just like a temple, in them were stone coffins and stone statues, each carved with the appearance of the High Priests. Aside from the stonemasonry, there were also artifacts that originated from the priest's respective lifetime.
"I guess they wanted to be a God."
Lara's comment was no different from Demian's.
The stone statues all looked similar. It was closer to depicting a God rather than depicting a human. The sun decorations were cast like a halo on the back of the neck, and the symbols held and the inscriptions on the tombstones were all reminiscent of God.
"Let's keep going for now."
Demian held Lara's hand and passed by the cemetery. They left the wide cemetery and entered the basement maze again. After going back a long way, they chose a different direction at the crossroads this time. They even passed accommodations that were believed to have stayed by the basement manager, armory, and spaces that were presumed to be prisons.
After wandering for a long time, Lara and Demian finally found the old library.
"Oh…"
Lara let out a low sigh.
There were not many books. There were only around hundreds of books on the bookshelves, with one or two seemingly very important books stored separately in locked-up wooden boxes.
"They're black magic books."
Lara muttered. Everything that should not be in the temple was there—A study on black magic, the origin of black magic, research data on black sorcerers, information about the demons they served, the purpose of the demon worshippers, and the unidentified power they used.
That was not all. Lara took an old book out of the box and hurriedly read the cover. Then, she muttered a curse word without realizing it.
"Bat-shit crazy."
"Why?"
"This book is about making fake divine power with black magic."
"Crazy guys."
The books in the locked boxes seemed to be related to the secret the temple wanted to hide.
The last place to check was the wine cellar. Lara and Demian predicted that there would be a real secret space in the wine cellar, and their guesses were exactly right. There was a narrow stone chamber deeper than the cemetery or library. It was the secret space of the High Priest, which, for the regular priests, was only known as an old wine cellar.
Lara found two God statues there.
"No way."
One was the God of Fate that she knew well. A smile of unknown meaning, a beautiful face, caring arms as if he would hold anyone in it, and a mural painted at the back, depicting the rising sun in a field full of flowers.
The other statue was of a completely different God. He had sharp horns, huge black wings, a smile that looked subtly cruel even though they had the same face, and a mural depicting hell behind him.
On behalf of Lara, who lost her words and stopped, Demian read the inscription on the wall.
"Life and death, good and evil, light and darkness were essentially one."
"Demian."
"Thus, God was perfect. He made this land by mixing the Gods realm and hell, and made humans by mixing demons and Gods."
"Look at this."
There it was, the name of the God–the God who loved humans so much that, because he forgot his duty, was brought to the point of destruction.
Lara pointed to the tombstone with trembling hands.
"Abraxas."