Making the Church Competent Through the Power of Faith!(Gacha): Chapter 21 (Patreon)

If Lucian was asked if he felt guilty about stealing from his fellow exorcists, even if they belonged to another organization, he would say that he didn’t without hesitation.

It wasn’t like he was leaving them destitute or without proper weapons or supplies on the battlefield. While he most certainly cleaned their vaults nearly clean of practical supplies and items, they could quite easily replace the lot.

Of course, the organization would take a hit, but their budget would recover.

Lucian wouldn’t have stolen from them if he felt like fellow Exorcists would suffer due to his actions.

At most, the higher-ups of the organization were going to have a headache, get angry, and throw a tantrum about someone having stolen from them. They simply couldn’t let their exorcists deploy into the field without proper supplies and support, so it would be refilled as soon as possible.

Hell, Lucian was fairly confident that they had another reserve, at least one more, somewhere. Maybe even a secret vault belonging specifically to the Cardinal overseeing this organization.

He felt no guilt about stealing from his fellow cardinals' pockets when they went through the effort of striking at his own budget. All he did was essentially put the financial burden of the Burial Agencies’ budget onto this organization.

Lucian, of course, said a prayer of thanks for them subsidizing the Burial Agencies’ budget.

One might call this karma.

Lucian and Griselda walked down the uncrowded street. The fact that several blocks down had been barricaded and pedestrians were not around at the moment meant that the area was rather empty.

A few doors down was the location where all the kids were. The building where they threw all the young ones to 'mingle,' as it were. The future generation, so the Church’s ranks, the higher-ups, all believed it was a good idea to let them get to know each other, even if they wouldn’t see each other again years down the road.

Lucian noted that, surprisingly, the coordination and good will towards other denominations of the faith were much more cohesive. At least on their side of the fence, Protestants and Catholics weren’t at each other’s throats.

Muslims and Christians didn’t kill each other on sight.

Jewish rabbis could sometimes be seen talking good-naturedly with Catholic priests when faction coordination was called for.

Of course, this was under their world-view. The more mundane divisions of each faith still held their strict views and contempt towards one another. Perhaps some of that also carried over between factions on the supernatural side as well; however, it was significantly less abrasive and hostile.

The Jewish Temples wouldn’t go out of their way to help the Catholic Church, but also, they wouldn’t point and laugh if a church exorcist died on a mission.

When the enemies of their faith were quite literally present, watching them in the darkness, ready and willing to pounce if they saw a moment of weakness, those age-old disagreements and grudges were set to the side.

It didn’t suddenly mean everything was harmonious, but at the very least, on the supernatural side of things, they weren’t needlessly antagonistic towards one another. There was a greater purpose that they all acknowledged.

It was an important understanding because on the Christian side of things, the Catholic Church acted as a sort of hegemon, but the other denominations were present. In this Holy Sword selection, there were quite a few Protestant faithful present.

Even Irina was in fact a Protestant and fought next to Xenovia, a Catholic, without any problems.

Perhaps more than the other Abrahamic religions, compared to ages past, the Catholic Church and Protestant Church have become much more friendly in the passing years.

The security was just as prevalent compared to the other building they had come from. Perhaps a tinge less since it wasn’t the heart of the organization and the location of the Holy Swords being stored.

But as they walked up the steps of the grand building, Lucian noted all the Exorcists standing around, at each corner, at various spots that gave them a view of entrances and exits.

He nodded to himself that they were at least taking things seriously when it came to protection of the younger generation.

This time, no one stopped them as they came up.

The Exorcists bowed as he approached, calling him with the same reservation as before. And with the look in their eyes, they very clearly recognized Sister Griselda as well, so no one had the courage to block their way.

They walked inside, and it wasn’t what Lucian was expecting.

He expected a grand banquet hall, perhaps a bit of a soiree. But a young man, not even eighteen, went sliding across the floor, a sword sailing out his hand, coming right towards Lucian.

Griselda snatched it out of the air before it could harm him, not that it would be capable of that.

Rather than a party, it looked like they were fighting.

“Who’s next?” One person sat at the 'center,' the proverbial stage, as the other kids her age were in a large circle around the room.

Her words were arrogant and full of confidence.

It was none other than Xenovia, Griselda’s daughter.

“Xenovia, dear. Be careful of others when you’re playing.” Griselda called out as she tossed the sword to her, letting her daughter catch it.

Xenovia flushed ever so slightly in embarrassment. “Sorry, Mother Griselda.”

Lucian noted that the sword, in fact, all the weapons inside the hall—because there were quite a few lying about, on weapon racks, or placed on tables—all lacked edges. This whole thing was very clearly planned out by the higher-ups.

It made sense, in hindsight, that they weren’t here to socialize in the normal sense. They were trained to fight and slay monsters, so getting to know one another with weapons was perhaps rather normal.

It seemed like everyone in the hall now recognized their arrival, and there was a slight tonal shift. Griselda was renowned within their circles, but once she was noticed, everyone also saw the bright red robes next to her.

“Your Eminence!”

“Greetings, Your Eminence.”

“Your Eminence.”

More of the same was repeated by a plethora of young and old around the hall as they all welcomed his arrival.

As tedious as it was, his position within the Church automatically had them all look at him with a certain amount of reverence.

Lucian put a hand up as if to acknowledge their greetings and tell them anything further was unnecessary. “There’s no need for anything overly formal. I’m merely here to take a look at the younger generation of Exorcists.” He smiled good-naturedly.

In these words, the atmosphere lightened up as well. Given them permission to not treat his person with continued difference while in the room. The Catholic Hierarchy was stiff and uncompromising in some aspects.

Without permission, while in the room with a cardinal, lower-tiered members of the congregation had to more or less watch and patiently adhere to the cardinal's presence at all times.

Lucian had no patience for that most of the time.

“Xenovia, come over here and introduce yourself.” Griselda called to her daughter as the room returned to normal.

It was clear this was a casual visit, so they knew it was okay to act in kind.

“Greetings, your Eminence.” Xenovia politely bowed her head. “I’m Exorcist, Xenovia Quarta.”

“Greetings to you as well. My name is Lucian Graves. I’m the Head of the Burial Agency and your mother’s superior. I believe we will be seeing more of each other in the future.”

“Much more.” Griselda stated.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.” Griselda said with a smile. “Alright, Xenovia, you can stop being so stiff; you’re not good at following etiquette anyways.”

“Haah? Can I relax now?” Xenovia noticeably slumped her shoulders. “Hi Mom, why’re you here?”

“I just wanted to come visit. Can’t a mother see her daughter?”

“Mom… I’m not a little kid.” Xenovia huffed. “Irina, come over here, come meet Mom’s boss!”

“Ah!? Xenovia, you can’t just shout in front of a Cardinal like that!” Irina awkwardly shuffled over.

“Eh? "It's fine," Mom said. "It's fine.” Xenovia said casually.

“Greetings, Your Eminence.” Irina curtsied, less than a bow, but since she was a Protestant, it was more than enough. “I’m Irina Shido. I’m here representing the Protestant Church for the Holy Sword Selection.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Shido.” Lucian smiled.

“Hey, Mom’s Boss—"

“Xenovia, there’s a difference between losing the stiff attitude and being rude.” Griselda interrupted.

Xenovia pursed her lips. “I just wanted to ask about that Ash Lock Thing. I want one too.”

Lucian cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that it’s proprietary knowledge for our Burial Agency.”

“Besides, aren’t you already going to get your own weapon? Don’t be greedy, Xenovia.” Griselda lightly chided her daughter.

Regardless, Lucian preferred this side of Xenovia. Even if he was a cardinal, he didn’t care for all the pomp and circumstance that came with it.

“We –” Just as Lucian was about to say something, he felt something, specifically within the Bible under his arm.

He quickly unfurled it, and Griselda caught on that something may or may not be wrong.

[Ding!]

[New Quest Created!]

[Defend the Assembly of Young Exorcists.]

Unknown forces intend to disrupt or eliminate the younger generation of Exorcists. Don’t let any of them die under your watch.]

[Reward: 1 Faith.]

“…cardinal?” Griselda looked at him, because at this point, she knew his Bible was not normal. So even if she didn’t know what it was exactly, his sudden action of taking it out and looking at it in concern had alerted her. \

Lucian’s eyes quickly scanned the room.

Weapon racks lined the walls; there was a table with refreshments, drinks, and food. There were Exorcists lined up along the walls at various points, and the room looked rather secure at first glance, but he knew he wouldn’t get a sudden warning unless something was seriously going to happen.

Some of the children were fighting, causing a bit of a distraction for the gathered people. He looked towards the exit, and there was nothing there. He then looked at the entrance further inside, presumably where the kitchen was.

He saw one of the staff wheeling a cart out; it had fresh snacks and drinks on it, presumably to replace the ones that had been sitting out for a while.

At first glance, there was nothing strange about it, nothing to even notice. In fact, he didn’t notice anything off about it either, but he furrowed his brow as he looked at the man wheeling the cart out.

His gait was a bit off, and his build didn’t look like someone who served refreshments.

He stared off to the side, at a large stained glass window, and Lucian followed his gaze to see a shadow approaching from outside, getting bigger and bigger as it got closer.

“Griselda!” Lucian pulled out his sword and threw it towards the window.

A bird burst through, glass flying everywhere. As soon as it was inside, it appeared to transform into a person, wearing a vest with what looked like bombs attached.

But as soon as it appeared, his descent was abruptly halted as the force of Cloudcrack penetrating his chest sent him flying backwards and out the window. The commotion caused an immediate halt to the normal festivities or soiree.

And everyone shuddered and held their ears as an explosion outside rippled outwards and shook the building.

Griselda moved just as fast. She found her own target, someone Lucian didn’t notice earlier, speaking volumes about her own skills and perception.

An exorcist in the corner had taken out something of his pocket, and Griselda was slashing his hand clean off his wrist.

The immediate chaos descended, but it only took a second for everyone to react.

Even if they were young, the kids were training to fight monsters.

And the Exorcists acting as security also moved as well.

Several of the staff members pulled out hidden weapons and began to fight the Exorcist guards.

Lucian’s eyes narrowed in on the same man from before wheeling out the cart as he kicked it forward with a hefty amount of force, it wobbled and slid across the ground on its side, the cloth hiding the bottom compartment came undone to reveal a bomb underneath as it fell into the center of the room amidst the crowd of everyone.

Several eyes landed on it at the same time, and plenty of people jumped away, ducking out of cover.

“We Walk in the Grace of God.” Lucian spoke as his shoes changed shape. Once second, he was on the other side of the room; the next, he was grabbing the handle of the card and hefted it up and threw it over his shoulder and right out the broken window from before.

The explosion rippled out almost immediately, tearing apart the stone wall from the outside, collapsing part of the building as several of the people inside were caught up in the shockwave.

Lucian even felt the ringing in his ears even with empowering himself with the Light. There were screams and shouts around the hall as Lucian reoriented himself; he vaguely felt like someone called his name.

Xenovia had called out to him because she saw first, but several others also ran at him because of the man that had kicked the cart forward from before; he had burst out of a cloud of dust and smoke with a dagger in hand, aiming at Lucian’s neck.

To their surprise, Lucian swung his bible up and deflected the dagger. Even the attack was utterly bewildered at the action. In that brief moment, Lucian grabbed hold of his head as his Holy Power surged.

“Judgement.”

A blade made of Holy Power appeared above his head, and it judged him guilty.

It fell down, piercing the man and pinning him to the floor.

Lucian reached into his bible in one fluid motion and pulled out a Holy Gun and simply pressed it against the man’s head and pulled the trigger.

There was fancifulness about it, no gloating or words exchanged.

The fighting had more or less ceased. It wasn’t a prolonged attack; it was an assassination attempt, a terrorist attack, if anything. It was supposed to be quick and dirty by the looks of it.

The handful of intruders were dealt with just as they came, no match for a proper Exorcist. If anything, they appeared to be suicidal soldiers sent here to die without a care about their lives.

Lucian looked down at the dead man on the ground and noticed something particular. He pulled at his shirt, ripping it open, and saw a snake tattoo, like a collar, around his throat. He saw various parts of the body, stitched, of disfigured.

He pushed at the man’s lips to see his teeth, and they were strange, misshapen.

Pulling open an eyelid, he saw that his eyes were mismatched.

“Cardinal.” Griselda approached him after checking on her daughter, the two younger girls right behind.

Lucian wiped off his hands and dusted himself off. “Looks like disposable Homunculi or alchemical creations. They’re not human in the truest sense.”

He spoke openly, but he realized that he was being stared at.

In fact, quite a number of people in the room were looking his way.

“There’s no need to worry; I’m fine. Tend to the injured.” He reassured them, completely unconcerned by the splattered blood on his face that matched his Cardinal garb.

Though that just made them look at him even stranger.

Despite the destruction from the explosions and the few cries from pain or broken limbs, the room calmed down enough to evaluate the situation. The whole attack probably didn’t even last ten minutes as it was.

That is, they had never seen a Cardinal fight and kill like that so openly before.

@***@

More Exorcists had poured in.

The few injured were being taken out on stretchers, at least for a couple that couldn’t walk by themselves. The worst of it were only broken bones and a few stabs or cuts. Perhaps a few concussions and bruising, but no one died or was in danger of dying.

“Make sure to retrieve the bodies. I want full autopsies done as quickly as possible. Identify those tattoos; they look magical. I want a list of known sources.” Griselda was sending out orders as below Lucian; she was the highest level of authority present.

“Yes, Sister!” An Exorcist bowed his head and ran off with a few more behind him.

Griselda let out a sigh as things calmed down. The cleanup was taking longer than the attack was.

“Mom, is the sword selection going to be cancelled?” Xenovia approached her, Irina by her side.

Griselda smiled. “Don’t worry, the Church won’t cancel it. They can’t let an attack of this caliber affect normal operations. If something like this was viewed as enough to disrupt the Church’s plans, it would happen much more frequently in the future.” She explained it properly even if they were kids.

If they were going to be exorcists, it was important for them to start understanding more intricate details and methods of the Church and the greater world.

Griselda was just happy that no one died. She was fairly confident she could have personally handled everything by herself with minimal collateral. But minimal collateral would have most likely been with casualties.

“Mom, is that guy really a Cardinal?” Xenovia.

“What do you ask?”

“Aren’t Cardinals supposed to be boring and old and stuffy and need to be protected? Sine when do Cardinals kill the bad guys like that?”

Griselda’s eye twitched slightly. “Have you forgotten about Cardinal Strada?”

“Yeah, but that’s him.”

While she wanted to chide her daughter for that, she also couldn’t really argue with her logic either. It was difficult to place him as the standard for almost anything resembling normalcy.

“Mom, what’s the Burial Agency? I heard some of the others talking about it after what happened, and they were talking about the Cardinal too. Is it strong? You haven't mentioned anything about it?”

"It's…well, that’s a difficult question to answer. It’s best that you don’t know much right now, dear.” Griselda said evenly.

“Miss Quarta, what was that thing the Cardinal did? He raised his hand and went, ‘Judgement!’ and a holy sword came down on that bad guy. Was that a Sacred Gear?” Irina asked.

Griselda noted that there were several people doing their best to appear not to be eavesdropping.

She couldn’t blame them in all honesty. A cardinal came in, they were attacked, and he personally stepped in to disarm several of the attacks, disable their explosives, and then execute one of them in plain sight with relative ease.

It certainly left an impression.

Not to mention that some of his methods were quite flashy in appearance.

Not just Judgement, but his Ash Lock too was shown off.

Griselda cleared her throat. “It was simply a holy spell." She answered as if it were simply the most normal thing. Even if she didn’t properly understand it, she didn’t want to look like she was confused either.

“Eh? Mom, can I learn too?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Griselda said vaguely. It was learnable, from what she understood. And she also intended to learn some of that herself anyways.

“What’s Cardinal Graves like, Miss Quarta? He seemed reliable; I didn't know Cardinals fought either.” Irina asked.

"Well…" She found herself smiling. “He not only fights alongside us, but he also takes missions by himself as well. He is a very reliable man, and it’s a pleasure to work under him. He’s kind as well and compassionate under his normal cold exterior. He also is rather fun to tease.” She cleared her throat, realizing she was drifting off topic. “Suffice to say, Cardinal Graves is a good man, so treat him with respect in the future.”

Irina just smiled brightly. “Thank you, Sister Quarts! I wonder if I can join the Burial Agency later too? Oh, my chaperone is here; I better tell him I’m alright!”

“Go reassure him.” Griselda gave her a kind smile in return.

Xenovia walked, and Irina walked away expressionlessly. “Hey mom, is  Cardinal Graves going to be my new dad?”

“……”

“….”

“Maybe.” Griselda said plainly.

“Mm.” Xenovia just nodded as if it were a normal thing. “Where did Cardinal Graves go? He disappeared after the fighting.”

Griselda’s eye twitched slightly because she knew very well why he disappeared. “The Cardinal is handling…very important matters.”

She knew for a fact that he ran away just so he didn’t have to deal with cleanup or reports.

@***@

Lucian had quickly made himself scarce.

If almost all attention wasn’t focused on the smoking building in the distance with a half-collapsed wall and wounded being shuttled out, they may have seen a cardinal running away as if running for his life.

He felt like he made the smart decision to escape when he did because he knew it was going to be a mess afterwards.

A brazen attack like that in the middle of the Vatican, in broad daylight, during an important ceremony?

The Church was going to be whipped up into a frenzy and Lucian didn’t want any part of it. Let those others handle the mess; he had other priorities and didn’t want to get pulled into the whirlwind of the aftermath.

It also suited him well enough because he wanted to check a few things too.

He made it back home to the Bunker, all alone.

Griselda was staying with her daughter, dealing with cleanup.

Father Anderson had already left on a new set of missions.

Asia had already boarded a plane and was flying off to Romania to join in Paladin boot camp, so he had the bunker to himself for now.

He pulled open his Bible and looked at a former quest.

[Quest: Announce the Existence of the Burial Agency to the World]

[Objective: Earn a reputation deserving of the title of the Burial Agency]

[Reward: ????]

[Completion: 1%]

The completion rate of the quest had gone up. There was an argument to be made that he could have stayed behind and milked the reputation gain, increasing the prestige of the Burial Agency intentionally in the aftermath of that terrorist attack.

The young and impressionable kids would have probably eaten it up.

However, that wasn’t the kind of burial agency he wanted to create. It wasn’t going to be built on such flimsy foundations. Actions spoke louder than words; their reputation was going to be earned through proper means, not networking or exaggerations.

And there was an important line to straddle here. The reputation of the burial agency needed to increase, but it needed to be proportional to their strength. At the moment, they simply weren’t strong enough to become overly infamous just yet, so he wasn’t overly concerned about that facet.

He had no problem using dubious means to achieve his goals, and he wasn’t here balking about the idea of being fast and loose with certain words or interpretations of events or praising their own organization.

The fact of the matter was, the reputation of the burial agency had to be infallible.

The Burial Agency in Lucian’s mind did not exist with such hollow ideals.

He changed the page on his Bible, looking over the most recent quest.

[Ding!]

[Quest: Defend the Assembly of Young Exorcists.]

Unknown forces intend to disrupt or eliminate the younger generation of Exorcists. Don’t let any of them die under your watch.]

[Completed]

[Reward: 1 Faith.]

The quest was easy enough, though the particular was about no causalities. If he hadn’t acted in time, there may have very well been a few dead from that initial bombing. Turning into a bird to dive in through a window, strapped with a bomb vest, it was certainly a novel approach that took everyone off guard.

He just shook his head at the absurdity of it.

In a world where magic was available to both the good and the bad, there was going to be no end of strange or odd methods of trying to kill people.

Suicide bombings weren't rare, and transformations weren’t rare either. Combined, it was novel; that was about it.

The Church would now be prepared for that sort of thing in the future.

Looking at the single Faith, he decided to take his mind off the annoyances to roll.

He flicked his finger, and the gacha began to roll.

A multitude of colors flashed by as the rolling passed by every rarity. He took his eyes off it for a brief moment to open a draw, about to take something out, but suddenly the entire room was filled with a bright light.

A bright red light.

Immediately, Lucian’s eyes widened because he had never gotten a red rarity before.

[Congratulations!]

[You Receive: Moses’ Staff]

[Warning: Mythological Ranked Items cannot be stored within the Storage Space.]

Without warning, the Bible plopped out a wooden staff onto his desk.

An unassuming, walking stick. Something you might find the equivalent of in any forest you hike in. If he tossed it out into the street, nobody would notice anything particular about it just by sight alone.

But immediately, he saw its true information.

[Moses’s Staff (The Prince of Egypt)]

[Rank: Mythological]

[Allows the user to call upon the ten plagues unleashed upon Egypt and the Egyptian pantheon, utilizing the power of heaven.]

[Warning: Use with Caution.]

Hesitantly, Lucian put a hand on the staff.

‘Thus Saith the Lord.’

'Thus Saith the Lord’

‘Thus Saith the Lord.’

“Fucking nope.” He dropped it immediately. “This is going right into the ‘Don’t fuck with this’ armor.”

Right after a drink.

A bottle, probably.

Maybe more.

@***@

A/N

Setting up some future stuff and a little bit of excitement, Lucian finds an excuse to slip away with his prize of goodies he commandeered beforehand and not have to deal with the annoying aftermath. So he just throws out his one roll out of curiosity and gets just the tiniest tiny little something.