The Lunarian Exodus

A little after Souma and Sill's meeting, there was a major move

underway in the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State...

The hardliners who wished to join with Fuuga's new faction won the

political battle, and began suppressing the moderates. The hardliners

opposed Maria of the Gran Chaos Empire who had wrongfully assumed the

title of saint. Fuuga's burgeoning fame following his unification of the

Union of Eastern Nations worked in the favor of the hardliners. Because

this was a struggle among the higher-ups of the church, most of the

individual believers who made up the general populace never knew about it.

As a result, the suppression was done quietly, in the shadows. Moderate

bishops were taken in as heretics one after another. One night, as all this

was happening, the time came for an old moderate cardinal and the saint

candidate under his protection, Mary, to say their farewells.

"You're certain...you can't come with me?" Mary asked sadly, and the

old cardinal nodded.

"I have always intended to stay in this country to the bitter end."

"But if you stay, you'll be..."

"Hoh hoh hoh... I'm getting on in years. I wait only for Lady Lunaria's

guidance now, so I have no lingering attachment to the mortal realm." The

old cardinal placed a hand on Mary's shoulder and continued. "But you are

all still young; still with many things to accomplish. You must live, and

keep the faith, no matter what. May the blessings of Lady Lunaria be upon

you."

"Yes..." Mary said, tearing up. The old cardinal smiled at her.

"Ahh, I do have one worry though. That rotten bishop Souji is in the

Kingdom of Friedonia. I couldn't bear to see the believers in that country

fall into depravity because of him. Mary, watch him closely, and see to it

that he attends to his duties seriously."

"I most certainly will..." Mary said, nodding, and placed a kiss on the

old cardinal's hand. Then, rising, she said, "I'll take my leave now."

Bowing once, Mary left the cardinal's room. Wiping her tears as she

walked through the halls of the church, she passed another girl. She was a

cute little thing with a baby face and short black hair.

Mary bowed, thinking to walk past her without saying any more,

but...stopping and turning to look back, she called the other girl's name.

"Anne."

The girl she'd called turned to face Mary. There was no light in her eyes,

making her look almost like a puppet.

"Anne, I heard you were chosen as Fuuga's saint," Mary said.

"It is a greater honor than I deserve..."

Anne pressed her hands to her chest and bowed her head. Mary was

worried, seeing her like this.

"Do you understand the fate that awaits you?"

"To support God's chosen king, Lord Fuuga. That is the mission heaven

has bestowed upon me."

In Lunarian Orthodoxy, saints were tools that connected the Lunarian

Orthodox Church to influential figures of the time. In order to please these

figures, they had to accept anything that was done to them. They were like

puppets at the whims of their owners. This duty was taught to them, and

they were raised solely to carry it out.

It had been the same for Mary, who was chosen as Souma's saint. Now,

however, Mary understood how warped it all was. And precisely why she

couldn't help but extend a hand to the girl in front of her.

"Anne. Will you...come with me?"

"I do not understand what you speak of."

"Once you see the broader world... In the Kingdom, you'll be able to

find a life other than as a saint."

"Whyever would I do that?" Anne looked completely mystified. "I have

been blessed with a mission from Lady Lunaria. Why should I need to

abandon it? Why now, when I have at last been able to discover the reason I

was born?"

"Well..."

Saints were often orphans. This was because it's easier to instill faith

into a person who has nothing to cling to. In doing so, they became loyal to

authority figures, and willing to give their lives for the faith.

Mary had tried to warn the nearly one hundred saints of the danger of

their predicament, and urged them to flee the country, but roughly half of

them chose to stay. Were Mary the same person she once was, she might

have made the same decision.

Obedience to the teachings of the Lord is a virtue. However, when

people speak to you of the Lord's teachings, if you do not consider that they

may be giving you a warped interpretation, that is not obedience but

blindness. The higher-ups, in particular, are prone to infighting, and

corrupt easily, after all.

However, even if she invited her, Anne would likely not give up on

being a Saint. Knowing that so well that it hurt, Mary closed her eyes.

"May Lady Lunaria's blessing be upon you, at the very least..."

"Yes. And upon you, Lady Mary," Anne responded without a hint of

irony.

She had nothing but the purest of faith, and no malice for those she dealt

with. That only made it all the sadder, but Mary turned and walked away

quickly. She didn't have that much time left.

Mary headed for a disused chapel near the eastern gates of the city

walls. When she arrived and headed in, she was surrounded by a number of

girls and priests. They numbered nearly eighty in total.

"Lady Mary!"

"Lady Mary, what will become of us now?"

They were the saint candidates who had agreed to escape with her, as

well as priests of the moderate faction. Many of the candidates were

younger than Mary. They had likely been willing to listen to her because

their indoctrination was not yet complete.

In an attempt to calm them, Mary said, "It's going to be okay.

Everything should be organized already."

Then, looking around the gloomy church, she said, "You're there, aren't

you? Come out, please."

When Mary called out, the very next moment a large man clad in pitchblack armor emerged from the darkness. He wore a terrifying black tiger

mask over his head.

""Eek!"" That bizarre appearance made a number of the saint candidates

cry out.

"It's okay," Mary stepped forward as if to shield the other girls, then

spoke to the big man with the black tiger mask. "You're Sir Souma's agent,

correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," the big man with the black tiger mask put his hands

together in front of him and bowed his head. "I am Kagetora. I will take all

of you to the Kingdom at the behest of my master, His Majesty Souma

Kazuya, who received a request that we do so from Bishop Souji Lester."

"I see. We're sorry to trouble you."

Hearing Mary's words, the girls finally realized this person was an ally,

and calmed down.

Seeing that, Kagetora said, "I must urge you to make haste. When they

learn that the saint candidates have disappeared en masse, pursuers will

come after you immediately."

"We know. Please, lead the way."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kagetora led Mary and the girls to the city walls, not far from the

disused church.

Ten carts awaited them there, and men dressed in disguise to look like

traveling merchants. They were all members of the Black Cats.

"These are our comrades. We will have you escape in those carriages."

"Understood. Please hurry aboard, girls."

Hearing Kagetora's explanation, Mary nodded and gave the order.

The saint candidates and priests split up across the ten carts. They were

loaded with empty casks of wine which they hid inside. Then they headed

for the gates, masked as a merchant caravan.

When they arrived...

"Halt! Where are you going at this time of night?!" the gate guards

called out to stop their caravan. One of the men dressed as merchants

responded as representative of the group.

"Yessir. We are from the —— Trading Company, and we came here

carrying offerings of some condiments called soy sauce and miso from the

believers in the Kingdom of Friedonia to Lord ——. Now we're returning

with his gift of blessed wine."

They called it blessed wine, but it was really just wine. The Orthodox

Papal State had branded their own country's wine this way to present it as

something people should appreciate as part of their preaching.

"Is that true?" the soldier asked while peering inside the cart. The

traveling merchant bowed his head.

"Yessir. I have a note from Lord —— right here too."

"Hmm... Everything seems to be in order."

The soldier nodded after checking the note. The —— Trading Company

was fictitious, but Queen Roroa's company did, in fact, ship condiments. As

for the note he presented to the guards, it was a genuine one, provided with

the help of the old cardinal.

The Kingdom and Mary had both been thorough in preparing for this

day. Thanks to that, the carts were not searched.

"Very well, you may pass. May the blessings of Lady Lunaria be upon

you in your travels."

"Thank ye kindly. All right, we're going."

And so, Mary and the girls were able to escape the city. When they had

traveled some distance away, Mary emerged from her cask, and poked her

head out of the cart to talk to Kagetora who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"Where to now?" she asked.

"Under the original plan, we were to follow a poorly guarded route to

the border, but...shortly before time came for the operation, we secured a

reliable ally. We are going to meet with them."

"A reliable ally?" Mary echoed, but Kagetora did not answer. The carts

moved a little further, then when they crested a hill Kagetora pointed ahead

of them.

"There they are."

Mary squinted at the figures in the distance.

It was gloomy because of a cloud passing in front of the moon, so she

couldn't make them out with any clarity, but as she drew closer she realized

there were a number of knights, as well as women with horns and reptilian

tails.

One of the knights approached the carts as a representative of this group.

"You are Madam Mary and her party, yes?"

From the voice, Mary could tell the knight was a woman.

"Yes...and you are?"

"I am Queen Sill Munt of the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom."

Mary gasped as her eyes widened with surprise. She couldn't believe a

knight of Mother Dragon's religion was in the Orthodox Papal State.

The Dragon Knight Kingdom was known to have a contract with the

Star Dragon Mountain Range, the center of Mother Dragon worship.

Lunarian Orthodoxy and Mother Dragon worship were the two largest

religions on the continent, and Lunarian Orthodoxy rejected Mother Dragon

worship as heresy.

"What is a person from the Dragon Knight Kingdom doing here?"

"I have come to collect you at King Souma's request."

"King Souma's?"

"Yes. Because our partners, the dragons, can carry carriages higher than

even an anti-air repeating bolt thrower can reach, and fly directly to the

Kingdom."

Mary was dumbfounded. Partially by the fact that Souma had moved the

Dragon Knight Kingdom to aid them, but also that a country belonging to

their religious rivals had come to their rescue. She had been surprised by

how the different faiths of the Kingdom happily coexisted, but this was an

even greater shock to her.

Sensing her internal turmoil, Sill smiled at her and said, "Do you hate

accepting the help of your business rivals like this?"

"No... Faith is not a business."

The tension slipped out of Mary's shoulders and she smiled back.

"Thank you for doing this for us. We're in your care."

"Ha ha ha, understood. I promise you a safe journey through the skies."

Sill lifted her hand, signaling Pai and the others to transform into their

dragon forms. The dragons each picked up a cart with their horses detached,

then the knights climbed onto their backs, and up into the sky they flew.

From there, it was straight to the Kingdom.

The dragon knights of Mother Dragon worship saved the saints of

Lunarian Orthodoxy. This story would be slightly embellished and spread

by those like Souji and the adherents in the Kingdom who did not desire

religious strife. Later, when rumors that a large number of moderate bishops

had been purged reached the Kingdom, the saint candidates and priests who

escaped said, "The true saint was Mary, who moved the dragon knights'

hearts." While this may not have been true, it did lead them to revere her.

"Why do they try to make me a saint when I've already quit being

one..." Mary was reported to say, troubled.