[Moments Later]
"Ahh… as expected, we were kicked out."
Luca sighed heavily as he and Legion descended the hill, the Cathars Sanctuary shrinking behind them with every step they took. He felt his shoulder droop slowly, muttering unintelligible words as he dragged his legs on the ground.
'I shouldn't have lost my cool like that.' His thoughts flowed regretfully. 'I let my emotions get the best of me and overdid it.'
As a result, the Bishop turned furious and instantly sent them off.
"If I see the two of you even near the hill again, I will strike you both down from a distance." He had said in unbridled rage—his eyes practically sparkling white.
The way he yelled was still burned in Luca's memory, and he shuddered at the mere thought.
'It seemed like Legion was about to clash with him just from the tension alone. Good thing I dragged them away before things got too intense…'
By 'dragging them away,' Luca meant pleading with puppy dog eyes.
There was no way someone as scrawny and weak as him could handle a hulking monster like Legion. It was better that they left peacefully after delivering their message than creating such a huge scene and causing more trouble for the Heresy Cult.
'It wouldn't even be worth it. These people are clearly uninterested in hearing us out, and they even see us as trash.' It wasn't like Luca didn't understand how they felt. 'I get it, since I also looked at the Heresy Cult with a similar view.'
Things had changed now, but that didn't mean he couldn't empathize with outsiders.
'Haaa… at least we tried, though.'
As he glumly engaged with his thoughts, Legion looked at him and finally spoke.
"You did well today, Luca."
"H-huh…?" The boy was surprised, to say the least.
He was sure that he had screwed everything up by acting out of character rather than approaching things more diplomatically. The whole event would have had pretty much the same outcome, but it wouldn't have been his fault then.
The blame would have fallen on the Cathars for being too unreasonable.
"I thought you would just take those words directed at our Cult like that, but you stood up for everyone and defended us."
'Really? Did I? I was just pissed at the man's attitude, though.' Luca felt a little conflicted hearing Legion's compliments. On one hand, he was glad that the Knight wasn't chastising him and was instead calmly appreciating him, while on the other hand he felt guilty because he knew deep down that he didn;t deserve such praise.
"You also represented Lord Mors well, sharing the gospel in its purest, unsullied form."
'I wasn't convincing at all and simply laid bare my intentions, though. How is that good proselytizing?' He wanted to ask.
Luca had seen a few evangelists preach before, and he always made sure to attend Church anytime he could. As such, he already knew the format on how to pass the message across in a convincing way.
'A direct approach works on some people, but with someone in such an elevated place of power—who clearly has an edge over you, and already has a pre-existing belief system—it is better to appeal to emotions like fear and shame first… before pushing them to the edge.' He reasoned.
The only emotions that Luca managed to evoke in the Bishop was rage.
'I did a terrible job!'
The end would have been the same anyway, though, since he honestly doubted his ability to properly convince someone like the Bishop of the validity of the Heresy Cult's message when he didn't fully understand and believe in it himself.
"My evaluation of you has changed a little, Luca." Legion's deep voice echoed with embers of compassion as he rubbed the confused boy's head. "You are indeed one of us… a true Heretic."
"T-thank you…?"
Luca still didn't think it was anything to be proud of—being a member of such a dirt poor Cult and being looked down on by every other Cult around, while also being labeled an enemy of the whole Continent.
Still, he accepted the praise anyway.
"Let's return and tell Lord Mors the news. He will definitely be disappointed that the Cathars dared to reject his kindness."
'Will he? Lord Mors seems pretty forgiving to me, though… all things considered.' Despite having these thoughts, Luca didn't dare express them.
He could already see the fire burning within Legion's eyes.
"O-okay!"
"Hehe!" Once again, the Death Knight patted Luca as they finally completed their descent down the hill and began heading towards the cliff that stood a short distance from them. There, they could already see the start of the dry woods that would accompany them for the rest of their dreary journey back to the Cult's Headquarters.
Luca trembled, already dreading the journey ahead.
***********
[Meanwhile…]
"Do you know why I have called you all here?" The youngest Bishop of the Cathars muttered, his eyes fixed on the few hundred men—all of whom were garbed in simple armor—that knelt in his presence.
Kneeling at the forefront of these men was a maiden with exceptional armor, whose dark hair danced with the cool winds that whispered within the open fields of the Cathars Sanctuary.
No one said them a word, still looking down as they awaited even more words from the Bishop.
"Those Heresy Cult scum dare come here, taint our Sanctuary, and sully the name of the Cathars by proselytizing to me… a Bishop."
Gasps instantly filled the air.
"Not only that, but they dared say our souls are damned for refusing their false god and choosing to stay on our one true righteous path."
More gasps.
"They can not be allowed to go away unpunished, which is why I mobilized as many of you as I could gather in this short amount of time."
Even taking the Bishop's justified rage into account, a few hundred seemed like overkill for just two people. However, there were two main reasons why he decided to gather this many.
'For one, I don't know how many more of them are beyond that cliff. They could have reinforcements for all I know, since I know that Witch Lili isn't stupid enough to send those two idiots to aggravate us.' He thought to himself with a deep frown.
Then, as he thought of the other reason, his frown grew deeper.
"That Knight in particular… he seems dangerous." The Bishop muttered, rubbing his bald chin while glancing at the kneeling lady at the forefront. "It's why I am sending you, one of our Deacons."
"I understand, Bishop Karl."
"Good. Make up for your grave error by doing what is necessary here. Capture at least one of those two, but if they offer too much resistance, do not hesitate to kill them all."
"Yes, Bishop."
As Bishop Karl looked at the few hundred before him, his smile broadened and his eyes lit up with satisfaction while his hand tightly gripped the walking stick that supported his paper-thin weight.
"Good. Now depart."
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the men got up and began to charge towards the dry woods. The Bishop watched them from where he stood, noticing how their outlines shrunk as they advanced further away.
'This just had to happen when the Archbishop was in his Seclusion and the other Bishops were out…' He sighed, shaking his head slowly.
'No matter… I will have quite the story for those old ones when they return.'
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[A/N]
Is it arrogance or confidence? What lies behind the smile of our dear Bishop? Remember to check out the Character Arts if you haven't already.