Volume 3 Chapter 9 General Theory of Silvio's Daughter
When people have a destination in mind, it's easy to organize related information in their heads.
How much of that information connects to their "interests" varies from person to person... but sometimes, just sometimes... they talk about it for the sake of sharing.
"...Hey, Ulrika."
"What is it now?"
"The daughter of Silvio, who runs the Great Church now. How much do you know about her?"
The midnight plains, where they'd arrive at the Great Church by tomorrow.
In the shared mobile base, everyone gathered around as Horace read through the newspapers he'd collected so far.
He asked.
As background, Ulrika was the second disciple and the sharpest mind in the hero community.
While she was limited in creative thinking, her memory for things she'd seen or heard──and her speed of thought in processing that information──was unmatched in the hero community.
When it came to information within the hero community, asking Ulrika was never a bad choice.
"Silvio's daughter? Oh, yeah. She was the top saintess of the Great Church, who disappeared 15 years ago."
"Wait, someone like that disappeared?!"
Cindy, happily patting Ellie's head as she slept on her lap, looked up at Ulrika, shocked.
"I've heard of her too. Never left the Church, always working at the barrier facility."
"Silvio used her power to climb up to Cardinal, right? I think I heard that somewhere."
"She disappeared just days before the Demon Lord's revival, and no one's seen her since. The rumor was that she ran away, scared of the Demon Lord's return."
"...Wait, then why does Silvio still hold power? If the saintess disappeared, wouldn't that ruin her family's authority?"
Ramella tilted her head, confused.
No matter how powerful the saintess was, the timing of her disappearance was the worst possible.
That was the reality.
So, no matter how much they claimed to have pulled power from the saintess, there must've been a limit.
"Back then, Silvio already had his hands on most of the personnel power~. And then, the Demon Lord was born, the barriers vanished, and everything was a mess. The nation fell to the Demon Lord's army~"
"So, the story goes that only Silvio's faction managed to escape. The headlines of the newspapers back then kept repeating, 'Saintess's disappearance out of fear of the Demon Lord'"
"Oh right, there were newspapers back then. It means that only Silvio's faction survived among the Church's main forces"
"After that, no force stronger than Silvio appeared to unite the Church~. So, even with newspapers about the missing saint everywhere, he's still holding onto power~"
"I saw that headline a lot too. If you went to the towns that were affected, you'd find loads of newspapers with that story"
Rangella concluded, turning her gaze to Horace.
"...So, Master. Why bring up Silvio's daughter now?"
"Ah... we're arriving at the Great Church tomorrow, and it just popped into my head"
Horace placed the newspaper on the table and sighed, "Hah..."
"...By the way, what does Ellie think? She's been asleep the whole time, but I'd like to hear her opinion~"
Ulrika asked Cindy, who was using Ellie as a pillow.
Ellie was wriggling her head a bit...
"My girl doesn't know. Parent owes money."
Quite a concise opinion.
There's something helplessly matter-of-fact about it.
Also, since the disappearance was 15 years ago, it's clearly older than 18-year-old Ellie, which seems to be of no interest to her loli-loving self.
"...Oh right, Theocracy Nation has a huge debt~. After Silvio's faction fled from the Great Church back then, they didn't do much to help rebuild or aid~"
"And on top of that, they were asking for more research funds. I couldn't really tell what they were studying, and half the time it didn't look like they had any results... yet they still wanted a 'raise.' I thought, 'Do these guys even plan to pay us back?' Well... doesn't seem like they do."
With Ulrika's explanation and Ellie's added details, everyone seemed convinced.
"So, how much debt are we talking about?"
"Silvio owes 10 billion coins on his own. The Theocracy Nation can't borrow from Adventurers or Bloodline Nation, but the 'Great Church' can. Toss in everything else, and it's 100 billion coins."
"But I gotta wonder, why can 'research' cost so much?"
"Well, that's just it~. With 10 billion coins in 'research,' you're bound to get some 'side product' that leads to innovation~"
No one knows what kind of research could turn a profit.
If anyone did, they'd all be investing in it.
But a nation, a government with power, that's a whole different beast from private organizations.
A nation has ways to prepare massive budgets.
With that, if you aim for 'lofty goals' in your research, eventually you'll get loads of side products.
And if you use them right, that's how you advance.
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