Hunter Seo Jio expressed no particular wish to return.

“We don't know how the saintess's condition might develop, so I think it would be best to stay by her side and watch over her. If the Moon Cult doesn't mind, I'd like to remain here and care for her until she's recovered at least a little...”

“It would be an honor for the Moon Cult if you would. With you here, Hunter Seo Jio, I'm sure the saintess will soon regain her stability. In fact, I wanted to ask you myself.”

The bishop, who had come to visit Jio in his sickbed, asked, “More importantly... how are you feeling?”

“I'm fine.”

“I hear that a great deal.”

“Ah, so you hear it often.”

“The Moon Cult is full of fools.”

She suppressed a sigh with practiced ease.

“They stubbornly insist they're fine when they're nothing of the sort. And even among those who aren't quite so aggravating, there are so many brethren who try to slyly brush the matter aside.”

“But I said it because I really am fine...”

“You would certainly have fit in well had you joined the Moon Cult, Hunter Seo Jio.”

“That's high praise for a trainer.”

“No, I mean it sincerely.”

He had been born with a priest's disposition.

“...”

Including the foolishness.

'... There's no way subduing that much mystery didn't strain him.'

Hunter Seo Jio appeared to be a saint with an exceptionally vast vessel, but a human was still human until they set foot on the path to divinity. The blood he had coughed up during their conversation was proof of that.

'It would be another matter if he hadn't strained himself to begin with, but after that display, there's no denying how hard it was on him. He knows that himself, yet still behaves this way. What else can I call it but foolishness?'

Above all, he seemed remarkably practiced. Not merely at handling mystery, but at dealing with people, both as a priest and as a fellow human being.

'Is that why he's still pushing himself?'

She couldn't be certain.

'He wouldn't allow us to treat him.'

And the Moon Cult had always respected individual views. Only by respecting the greatest possible diversity among those with even a modicum of intelligence could such insignificant beings as themselves reach the highest realm.

'Even if it means a priest harming themselves... respecting their wishes is the right thing to do.'

Here, at least.

She recalled the report of Collector's alleged response to news of Hunter Seo Jio's injury, but ultimately decided not to probe any further.

“Please accept this.”

“What is this...?”

“An access pass.”

He had done an extraordinary service for the Moon Cult.

“We will honor you as our benefactor, Hunter Seo Jio.”

“Benefactor? That hardly seems fitting for an outsider who's only spent a few days with your order.”

“But look at what you've accomplished in those few days.”

The Moon Cult always looked at results.

“We don't dismiss the value of the process, but what matters most is what one has accomplished. And you have accomplished more than enough, Hunter Seo Jio. You were the first to resolve something... that the Moon Cult had been unable to resolve for years.”

“... Years?”

“The saintess's existence holds such great significance that we did everything we could to keep word from getting out. Concealing it became impossible no matter how hard we tried, but this year marked the fourth year since her troubles began.”

“...”

Seeming deep in thought, Hunter Seo Jio asked, “How old is the saintess?”

“Seventeen this year. But...”

The bishop gave a faint chuckle.

“She doesn't look it, does she?”

The saintess had stopped growing at fourteen.

“As I just mentioned, the trouble began four years ago, when she was thirteen. Her exceptional vessel and character earned her the position of saintess at the relatively young age of eight.”

“That sounds decidedly young to me.”

“Age does not determine who becomes a saint. But even allowing for that, she was indeed young. All the more so considering that saints are generally chosen in their early teens...”

There had been no choice.

“The Moon chose her.”

Her teacher had chosen his own child.

“Are you familiar with the nature of the Moon Cult? Fundamentally, we are the Moon's disciples, not his children. As we pursue knowledge and wisdom, the Moon assists us in countless ways.”

“And the saintess is his child rather than his disciple?”

“On the surface, at least. That is...”

Could she tell him this?

“...”

She had already thought it through before coming here. Hesitation was pointless.

“... Hunter Seo Jio, what I'm about to tell you is a closely guarded secret of the Moon Cult.”

“... I feel as though we're getting close far too quickly. I'm having trouble adjusting...”

“So am I.”

The bishop, too, was a Moon Cult priest accustomed to its insular traditions and culture. Revealing matters this intimate to someone who, only days ago, had been a complete stranger and an outsider was no easy thing for her either.

But she had decided this was the right course.

“It would be no exaggeration to say that I had you recognized as our benefactor so that I could tell you this secret. Many opposed it... but I persuaded them.”

The position of the Moon Cult's “benefactor” was not easily earned. It meant accepting an outsider as another brother in discipleship, a member of the same community—and one with senior standing.

“You must be wondering why I would go this far. But when I saw you guide our saintess back here that day, I thought no one but you would do.”

“That's a heavy burden.”

“Please bear with it.”

After all, it was Hunter Seo Jio who had worked a miracle despite everything it cost him. Even though the bishop had tried to stop him. That meant he, too, was willing to offer substantial help.

“... I wouldn't have wanted this much from you either, if you hadn't worked such a miracle.”

“Ah, are you trying to lure me in? I seem to recall a few similar recruitment attempts from the Sun Cult.”

“Rather than that... I'm forcing your hand.”

The miracle he had displayed was certainly an achievement worthy of a benefactor, but even so, she was revealing her true intentions remarkably soon. It was because she had seen his foolishness.

“You pity the saintess, don't you?”

“...”

“... That's why I'm doing this.”

“You want to exploit my sympathy?”

“Yes.”

She didn't know whether this would secure his help. But the saintess needed another saint—a guide. And Seo Jio was an ideal candidate: deeply compassionate, with a vast vessel and a ready goodwill toward others.

'That certainly doesn't mean he's stupid... Which is all the more reason to tell him of my own accord. It would be much more efficient to get to the point and leave the rest to his judgment.'

Steeling herself once more, she finally came to the point.

“If fortunate, a saint of the Moon Cult becomes the next Moon.”

“I believe I've heard that before.”

“You probably understand it as becoming another Moon. A separate Divinity, in other words.”

“Then I take it that isn't the case.”

“A saint of the Moon Cult who becomes a Divinity... is devoured.”

That was the truth of the “Moon.”

“In effect, they are sacrifices.”

At last, the bishop let out a hollow laugh. Only an old woman remained where the upright bishop had sat. Having decided to stir Hunter Seo Jio's compassion and fashion it into a flimsy shackle, she had no reason to hide her face any longer.

“The ‘Moon’ we serve is an aggregate of countless pieces of information. Our teacher is a Divinity who holds the knowledge and wisdom of all dimensions, absorbing information he does not possess—and even information he already has. So...”

“He learned ‘how to communicate with humans,’ too. That's why you serve the Moon as your teacher. He will bestow the knowledge and wisdom you seek.”

“And how do you suppose that immense Divinity learned to communicate with people?”

“By devouring them.”

“Precisely.”

Of course, he couldn't consume just any human. If he could, the Moon would never have been recognized as a Divinity of the natural order in the first place. He was a traditional god because he gathered only information.

So in the end, it was the humans who were wicked.

“During the Great Catastrophe...”

“I'm listening.”

“... That was when a saint became a Divinity for the first time.”

“I've heard that as well.”

“Through that saint, people realized.”

Ah.

“A saint can be devoured by the Moon once they become a Divinity.”

That was an immense blessing to those who knew of or served the “Moon.” Wasn't that vast being, once considered something close to a calamity, growing gentler and kinder?

The cold moon had taken on warmth.

“It was only natural. The Moon absorbs every piece of information from a saint who has become a Divinity. That includes how the saint once treated humans, what they thought, and the attitudes they held.”

“So the Moon Cult keeps producing saints to make the Moon as kind as possible, making it even a little easier to obtain the wisdom you seek? Because the more saints he absorbs, the more human he becomes?”

“That sums it up. But please don't misunderstand. Our teacher bears no ill will. We disciples have brought all these sins upon ourselves.”

Divinities were said to be fate and nature. The Moon was no different. He merely existed as he was; raising saints who need never have been made and offering them as sacrifices was entirely the work of humans.

“In our defense, this is one of the things we disclose before anyone joins. Those who cannot accept it are permitted to leave after their memories are erased.”

“Then all the Moon Cult's priests consented to their own deaths when they joined.”

“Yes. Some of our brethren may have joined without a care, thinking they would never become saints anyway, but most... strive desperately to become one.”

“I'd like to know why.”

“Because if they become saints, and then Divinities, they can become the ‘Moon.’ Many of our brethren see it not as death, but as another beginning.”

An enormous storehouse of precious knowledge gathered from every dimension.

“We have all gathered here to become part of it.”

They had come to this for all manner of reasons.

“To become more perfect.”

“That sounds frightening to me.”

“Your expression is rather impassive for someone who says that.”

“I hear stories from time to time.”

“Do you...”

So this man, too, must have lived through things far from ordinary.

“... The Moon Cult's first saint hoped our teacher would bestow information that could save Earth from devastation... and chose to become a mystery he could absorb.”

And the Moon had learned that saint's mindset.

“Ever since then, it seems the Moon has considered it acceptable to absorb any ‘child’ who becomes a Divinity. Had the Moon Cult devoted all its efforts to it, we might have changed that arrangement. But we didn't.”

“For supreme knowledge and wisdom?”

“Yes.”

“You're confessing to me.”

“...”

After a pause, the bishop spoke.

“... Forgive me. In my position, I have had no one to listen to these contemptible excuses...”

“Do you care for the child?”

“I thought of her as a daughter.”

“So that's why you reacted that way.”

“How did I react?”

“You looked as though it didn't matter whether the saintess lived or died, as though you would both welcome and resent either outcome. You seemed conflicted.”

“That's true, too.”

Even as she wondered why it had to be that child, she couldn't imagine anyone else as saintess. That she had grown attached nonetheless must mean that she, too, had failed to become “perfect.”

“That is why I'm clinging to you like this, Hunter Seo Jio.”

“What would you like me to do?”

“Please make the saintess perfect.”

“Nothing can become that.”

Having said that, Hunter Seo Jio smiled.

“But I will help.”

“... Thank you.”

That alone was more than she had hoped for.

“Your own end... won't be an easy one either, Hunter Seo Jio.”

Perhaps that was the way of all saints.

(To be continued)