“Go on.” (Yorishiro)

“The people inside the church that think of its well-being have all unanimously come to me to express their displeasure. If the current hero and the Founder have both stepped in the wrong path, they had no other person to rely on but me. And so, I had no choice but to appear before you like this.” (Ates)

“Those two as well?” (Yorishiro)

The gaze of Yorishiro was directed at the other former heroes, Kyouka and Sarasa. The two are trembling just like the time when the current heroes first met Yorishiro.

“We are talking about you here, so you must have thought that the more pawns the better and had them involved in this as well.” (Yorishiro)

“Wa?! ……In that case, could it be that the notice telling us about the Hero Alliance was your doing, Ates?!” (Kyouka)

Kyouka roars as she asks, but Ates didn’t falter one bit.

“I don’t know what you are talking about~.” (Ates)

She simply smiled. How wicked.

“Well, you were more useless than I expected, and it proved that the heroes of the trash churches are, as I thought, trash as well.” (Ates)

“Ates-sama!!” (Karen)

Karen-san speaks out boldly.

“As I said before, by having the heroes cooperate, we can manage to oppose the monsters in a more effective way! That way we can protect even more people—!” (Karen)

“Karen-san, that very thinking of yours is incorrect.” (Ates)

Ates says cold-heartedly.

“What the heroes protect is the Church’s authority.” (Ates)

“Ugh!!”

“By having the people be saved by the hero, they will respect and light up their religious belief towards the Church that the hero is affiliated to. The hero fights for that sake. What you say is the very definition of mistaking the method and objective.” (Ates)

“But—!!” (Karen)

“A group is often a brittle thing. There are times when it would easily crumble by losing their old conventions, their authority. Karen-san, what you are trying to do holds the danger of ending the Light Church. Do you properly understand that?” (Ates)

Being gazed straight by Ates, Karen-san was unable to say anything back.

As I thought, even for Karen-san, the former hero is also a natural enemy.

“The people that you say must be protected, they are able to live in peace thanks to the church. Is creating chaos in society with your narrow perspective also a duty of a hero? It looks like you have absolutely no self-consciousness that you are hero. Isn’t that right, Yorishiro-sama?” (Ates)

Being directed a disgusting gaze, Yorishiro speaks indifferently.

“Ates-san and the others, I understand now that you are displeased with the measures of the current churches. It is obvious that change invites opposition. The previous heroes being the ones taking the forefront in the old conventions’ side might, in a way, be inevitable.” (Yorishiro)

Meaning that the old conventions are chanted by the past people huh.

“Then this should be the best opportunity. Whether it is a person or an organization, it is impossible to continue concentrating forever in one thing. The time will come when the old ones that don’t fit the requirements of the era must be replaced for the new. This is the moment for that.” (Yorishiro)

“…Are you saying this is the best opportunity to prove that?” (Ates)

“That’s right.” (Yorishiro)

“And how will you be proving that?” (Ates)

As if they already knew what the both of them would be saying from the very beginning, the conversation continued smoothly, and Yorishiro spoke the conclusion.

“Obviously, by fighting.” (Yorishiro)

• 179: Beginning of battle

“Dividing the teams into current heroes and previous heroes, we will be having a match. How about ‘the one who wins will have their opinion pass’?” (Yorishiro)

“”””Eeeeehhh?!!!””””

“”Eeeeh?!!””

The current hero and previous hero teams were shocked by it. The only one who was calm about it was Ates.

“That’s unexpected. Yorishiro-sama, who would always make careful preparations in order to achieve her objective, has decided on such an impulsive match like this.” (Ates)

“The ones who win at the end are not the ones who don’t neglect preparation, but the ones who can adapt to the flow.” (Yorishiro)

“Whatever. But why did you make it a team fight? If we are to put an end to all this in a match, shouldn’t it be enough with a one on one fight with Karen-san and me?” (Ates)

Saying this, Karen-san who was standing at my side had her shoulders quiver.

“Don’t misunderstand. The Hero Alliance has the approval of all the five current Founders of the Churches. If you want to cancel the Hero Alliance, you will have to convince them all.” (Yorishiro)

“And I am saying that’s being domesticated though. Kyouka-san, Sarasa-san, that’s how things are. What are you going to do?” (Ates)

“”Eek?!””

Being suddenly called, the previous fire and water heroes get surprised.

“If you don’t want to, I don’t really mind, you know. I can easily wring the neck of these greenhorns by myself after all. If you two are scared of fighting with your already dulled arms, you can go to the spectators seat and tremble there obediently.” (Ates)

“Don’t get conceited, wicked hero! Leaving aside the other half-assed bunch, my pupil Mirack is not one to so easily fall! If I don’t take the stage, you wouldn’t be able to do jack-shit! If it’s a battle, I will be rampaging!” (Kyouka)

“I have to accept the challenges that are being sold to me, or I would be a disgrace of a Hydra Ville merchant. This is a good chance to confirm if Celestis-san has dulled with all that playing around as an idol.” (Sarasa)

Mirack and Celestis stiffened their faces and went ‘Uwaaa~’ at that.

But those former fire and water heroes, aren’t they being controlled skilfully by that wicked light hero?

“Well then, now that the talk has been wrapped up, I will have you let me stay here for today. Whichever the case, there’s the need for time and preparation in order to make that fight an official one. Isn’t that right, Yorishiro-sama?” (Ates)

“Fine. We will be telling you the time and place when it is done.” (Yorishiro)

Once again sparks flew around, and the face off of Yorishiro and Ates finished.

Before leaving the room, Ates stops her steps in front of Karen.

“Karen-san, that’s how things have ended up as. Let’s fight with all we have in the designated date.” (Ates)

“U-Uhm—!” (Karen)

“I think that you are not worthy of being the light hero. I plan on proving that in this fight.” (Ates)

Saying this, Ates left the room this time for sure.

Kyouka and Sarasa followed fit.

“Be prepared, Mirack. That lukewarm tenacity of yours, I will be beating it down at that day until it turns into shape!” (Kyouka)

“I will also be taking my leave here, Celestis-san. In order to, at the very least, not make it an embarrassing defeat, cancel all your idol plans and concentrate on training.” (Sarasa)

Is what they said as they left.

Seeing them off, the current heroes Mirack and Celestis reacted by saying…

“Sis was oozing the aura of a small fry!” (Mirack)

“They were poured the pressure of Yorishiro-sama and the former light hero after all. Are you saying that the previous heroes were so whipped when dealing with the Light Church?” (Celestis)

Even so, I think that Mirack and Celestis are also being smoothly dealt with by Karen-san, in the good sense of the way, or at least that’s what I want to believe is how it is.

***

“…And so?”

The storm passed and we are now in the parlor room of the Light Grand Church.

Now that the previous heroes have left, the amount of people has finally lowered.

“The weakling smell has gotten thinner and it is finally easier to breath.” (Celestis)

“The sudden jump in the average age of this place has finally stabilized to normal numbers.” (Mirack)

Mirack and Celestis go ‘fuhihi’ as they laugh.

Was the pressure and stress from their senpai’s really that much? But it looks like even the outsider also felt it. The wind hero Hyue who was trying to join the conversation said…

“Wow, that was tensing. I couldn’t keep up with the conversation and, in the middle of it, I turned into air.” (Hyue)

“Truly a wind hero.” (Mirack)

“Truly a wind hero.” (Celestis)

Truly a wind hero.

“But what are we going to do about this? Isn’t a match a bit too much all of a sudden?!” (Haine)

While I was cleaning up the wreckage that was left when the former heroes destroyed the wall, I reprimand Yorishiro regarding the duel.

That Yorishiro was nonchalantly drinking tea.

“…This is an event that I predicted.” (Yorishiro)

“Eh?”

“The five churches have been at their throats for a long time. At the time when the churches were established, they stole many worshippers from each other in order to offer as much prayers as possible to their Gods, and there was even a period when churches were at war. Since the appearance of monsters and ethereal, the fighting had drawn back in the surface, but even with that, there hasn’t been a single moment where the churches have gotten along with each other.” (Yorishiro)

“But that is about to change, right?” (Haine)

“That’s right. Thanks to the effort of these young heroes here, the relationship between the churches is rapidly increasing favorably. It is also due to the fact that we have mutual enemies that are the Mother Monsters and the Demon Lords, but all churches uniting as one has not occurred even once in all of history.” (Yorishiro)

But that’s exactly why…

“There will always be people who will go against something that has no precedent. The heroes are the face of the church. It is hard to ignore that influence even for the people that have already retired. Knowing that the ones that have caused this change were the current heroes, they have no choice but to have the former heroes shoulder the responsibility of stopping it.” (Yorishiro)

That means there’s someone pulling the strings in the shadows?!

“In other words, this is not simply a fight to see who is in the right but…!” (Haine)

“A pure political conflict.” (Yorishiro)

And in reality, even if we were to only look at the Light Church, there’s the Cardinal, Archbishop, and the Aurora Knights’ General and also several other high-ranked knights. Due to them being born in a good family, they have obtained high positions.

If the five churches cooperate and the fight against the monsters seriously begins, just by requiring them to show their abilities in a situation that needs them to, it would trouble them heavily.

If we change to a new system, the dissatisfactions of the people that have gotten used to the old system would be many.

“We have begun a fight to eradicate monsters. For the sake of that, we will be joining hands with the heroes that have been enemies until now, and that will better the situation between churches. By doing something we have not been able to accomplish before, we have made a big step.” (Yorishiro)

Okay?

“Even so, the future prospects are bleak. The existence that has been born from the Mother Monster, the Demon Lord. To identify the identity of that, we have gathered the strength of all churches, but there have been no tangible results yet. In the middle of that, a problem appeared, not in the monster related side but in the human side.” (Yorishiro)

Thanks for explaining the situation.

“I want to use this opportunity to bring out to light all the ones who are against this change.” (Yorishiro)

“…Ah, could it be that that was why Yorishiro-sama challenged the former heroes to a match?” (Celestis)

Yorishiro nods at the question of Celestis.

“That’s right. The puppeteers in this occasion will use many means in order to have the previous heroes win. The ones who move are enemies. They are the insects that are squirming inside us… Everyone…” (Yorishiro)

“““Y-Yes?!””” “-Dasu!”

The current heroes tremble in unison.

“Understand that this is a fight we can’t avoid. By winning this, proof that you are in the right. I will find every single enemy that is lurking in the shadows. By overcoming this difficulty, we will do one more step towards peace!” (Yorishiro)