So what should I say?

A thief, a maid, a scammer.

And a priest?

Tyreen would say it’s an elemental, and the ancient humans would say it’s a god.

A few days later.

While Egraine and her party were leaving the kingdom after completing all preparations, a royal court hearing was held at the palace.

It was a planned public hearing due to the worsening drought conditions, and even after the Egraine issue, which was pointed out as the cause, was resolved, it proceeded as scheduled without cancellation.

People who optimistically believed that things would get better now that the witch was gone did not have high expectations for the public hearing.

However, the public hearing, which opened as scheduled, confused the participants with unexpected remarks.

“The priest’s abilities may not be derived from the blessing of the gods.”

A moment of silence fell.

Someone sighed.

“…How can such blasphemous words be spoken in this world?”
“Arman Dupont! Were you a heretic?”

As the dam collapsed, the audience rose from their seats and shouted, and Dupont raised his thick glasses.

He was a relatively young scholar in his forties, but he created a well-rounded image with a striped coat that old people often wear, a round and large nose, and large shoes.

Even when presenting papers, fans who had imagined an intellectual and sarcastic appearance through assistants couldn’t help but swallow their disappointment.

The audience, who had flocked like clouds at the news of the famous mystic’s attendance, now found the situation unbelievably awkward.

Dupont, whose forehead was wet with sweat, expressed his discomfort with a glance and corrected his words.

“Exactly, it’s not a direct cause. The power itself is indeed derived from the gods. However, maintaining that power is not the will of the gods.”

“What are you talking about? The humans blessed by the gods are precisely the priests.”

“That’s not it!”

Dupont, who furrowed his brow, pointed vehemently at the man who frowned and ordered his assistant to bring out a large frame.

It was an old frame that seemed to contain a long-held picture.

In the picture, ten people with drops of water on their hearts stood looking up at the sky.

“I personally obtained and researched this picture for over ten years. Only recently did I discover that the people in this picture are ancient humans who received the blessing of the gods in the beginning.”

“What?”

“These ten ancient humans are the first priests.”

It was an intriguing story. Even those who had labeled Dupont as a heretic closed their mouths and focused on his words.

The public hearing was not only attended by Dupont’s fans.

Nobles, priests, and even the king listened attentively to Dupont’s words.

“So far, no commonality among priests has been found. However, after tracking the origins and deeds of past priests, I found one fact.”

“What is it?”

“A common bloodline.”

“Bloodline?”

Some people frowned.

“There has always been a hypothesis that the power of the priest is passed down through bloodlines, but there have been many counterexamples, right?”

“We couldn’t identify the first bloodline. It was impossible to investigate all the records of a thousand years, but when we persistently traced the available data, we found cases where ancestors overlapped. Even a beggar girl can become a priest. Because her distant ancestor was the first priest.”

“…”

“Even if the blood is diluted, the power of the priest is manifested. Through a distant bloodline.”

The audience fell silent.

It was Dupont’s new theory, of all people.

Whenever he presented, his opinions turned the theological world upside down, so no one dared to ignore him.

Someone raised their hand.

“How does that relate to today’s topic of the public hearing?”

The theme of the public hearing was ‘Discussion on Disaster Response Measures.’

“Oh, I’ll explain that now.”
As if signaling to wait, Dupont, unable to catch his breath, continued speaking.

“The power of this god, meaning the blessing of the god, is the reason why Lioresia is so moist and oily. The current drought can be attributed to the weakening of the abilities of the priests.”

“Why is that? Did the priest get murdered?”

“No, the weakening of the priest’s abilities has been going on for several months now. If we speculate, um, it started when the guest from the desert visited.”

In everyone’s minds, someone came to mind. The 5th Prince of the Empire, who left the capital not long ago.

“It was the first time someone from the imperial family visited the kingdom. Imperial and kingdom people have opposite temperaments. They believe in different attributes of gods. I secretly observed the movements of the imperial person. And I noticed. The sun was hotter than usual, and the land was drier than usual.”

“Is it because of the imperial person?”

Dupont nodded.

“The condition of the kingdom’s land is related to the priest. It’s not just the rain brought by the priests; the mere presence of the priests makes the kingdom fertile. Those who have read my previous papers will understand what I mean. Anyway, I continued to observe what could be a coincidence. And I became convinced.”

Behind the thick glasses, small eyes sparkled like a match.

People were taken aback by the gaze, so different from the tension and sweat they had seen.

“The imperial nobles weaken the power of the priests.”

His words brought a sense of stillness.