"The Child of God? There's actually a Child of God on this island?"
Xenovia looked at Cid in surprise. After a brief hesitation, she nodded.
"There probably… is. What's wrong? Are you interested in the Child of God, Cid?"
"I wouldn't say I'm particularly interested. I just figure someone like the Child of God must be incredibly strong. After all, they're connected to the God of the Bible, one of the strongest beings in the world."
Especially when it came to spellcraft, anyone tied to the "God of the Bible" had to be a mage-type. At the very least, SSS+ level, maybe even comparable to Shiva, the God of Destruction.
Just thinking about the massive spell system within "The Law of Life," with its tens of thousands of formulas, made Cid's excitement rise.
He really wanted to know how far he could go using pure magical ability alone, without relying on his core technique of dismantling spells.
As for what level he would be if he did use that ability, there was no point even discussing it. That technique could hardly be called magic at all. With it, he was basically the death of all mages.
All he could say was that back when he faced that seemingly endless library of knowledge, the idea for that ability had come to him in a moment of inspiration. The result was absurd, yet somehow, he had actually pulled it off.
The downside was that he had not properly developed any basic skills, while completely mastering the most complex and difficult ones instead.
That was why Cid felt his title as the "God of Magic" did not quite fit. It was all brute force rather than true mastery.
Cid could take the magical knowledge he had learned and create new spells, but without refinement by others, those spells would likely only be usable by him.
To put it simply, how do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
Cid's version of magic had only three steps. Open the refrigerator, put the elephant inside, close the door.
For everyone else, they would have to consider expanding the refrigerator's space, reinforcing it, controlling the elephant, lifting it, and solving a whole series of problems.
That was the issue. Cid knew his mastery of magic could not compare to the God of the Bible within "The Law of Life." At the very least, he could not construct those tens of thousands of spell formulas. Dismantling them, however, would take him three minutes at most, or under a minute if they were not being actively controlled.
But setting that aside, he did not even know how strong his true magical ability was. That was why he was eager to fight a powerful mage.
"Isn't that obvious? He's the Child of God, the one who has received the greatest blessings from our Lord. An existence like that must be not only powerful, but also possess a holiness that surpasses even the saints."
As she spoke of her faith, Irina Shidou's eyes shone with admiration, her voice filled with reverence for the unseen Child of God.
"I see, I see. So do you know where His Highness the Child of God is? I'd also like to pay my respects."
And fight him while I'm at it. If Roland Augustus wins, then the Child of God is nothing special. If he loses, he will just switch to Shadow and beat him until he loses his memory.
Putting on a look of admiration, Cid smiled and eagerly questioned the two idiots in front of him.
"Um… well… actually, we haven't found any clues about the Child of God yet…"
At Cid's question, Irina Shidou's expression froze. She let out an awkward laugh, looking embarrassed, but quickly regained her confidence and spoke with renewed enthusiasm.
"But I have a feeling we'll find the Child of God very soon…"
Before she could finish, Xenovia shoved her aside.
Staggering from the push, Irina Shidou looked annoyed.
"Hey, Xenovia, why did you push me?"
Ignoring her, Xenovia scratched her head, looking conflicted. After a moment, she sighed and spoke.
"Cid, I suggest you don't get your hopes up too much about the Child of God. There's a good chance it's just a false rumor spread by some believers."
"What?!" X2
Cid and Irina Shidou both froze. Irina immediately grabbed Xenovia by the shoulders and started shaking her.
"How could it be fake? Even if Rudolf-senpai was locked up for doing something wrong, his faith in the Lord is genuine. There's no way he would lie about something related to the Lord."
Being shaken back and forth, Xenovia only twitched slightly at the corner of her mouth, recalling how, when she first received the mission, a senior nun had come to her and told her that it would be fine even if they failed to find the Child of God.
"Rudolf-senpai's faith is definitely genuine. But it seems he was hit on the head by something, which caused some memory issues. There's a high chance he simply misremembered things, or even experienced hallucinations."
Xenovia didn't voice everything she was thinking and instead chose to state a more grounded conclusion.
"Even so, what about the Church? If this were false information, why would the Church specifically send us here to search for the Child of God? They must have some way of confirming whether the Child of God exists."
Xenovia herself was puzzled by this point. She could not understand why the Church had not simply declared that the Child of God did not exist.
She had been present when the Armed Apostle Rudolf was escorted back to the Church headquarters for trial, so she had a partial understanding of the situation.
At first, the Church leadership had no intention of interrogating Rudolf. They planned to lock him away directly, seemingly to keep whatever crime he had committed from becoming known. Because of that, she did not know what Rudolf had actually done.
However, she had seen his condition when he was brought back.
There were no obvious physical injuries, but his mind seemed unstable. He would space out from time to time, as if something was wrong with his brain.
The later interrogation only happened because, after being brought back to headquarters, Rudolf suddenly mentioned the words "Child of God" in front of everyone.
From what she later learned, during questioning by the Church leadership, Rudolf said he could not remember where he had seen the Child of God or what they looked like. The only thing he was certain of was that the Child of God existed on Itogami Island.
No one doubted Rudolf's faith. So even though his account sounded unreliable, the Church leadership still reported the information upward.
As someone involved in the matter, Xenovia was assigned to the mission of searching for the Child of God, and she had no objections.
However, that very night, Rudolf-senpai and Sister Griselda, one of the Archangel Gabriel's [Q – Queen], came to see her.
When she saw the expression on Sister Griselda's face as she said, "It's fine if you don't find the Child of God. Just treat it as a vacation," Xenovia immediately understood.
Sister Griselda clearly believed the Child of God did not exist.
After all, she was Gabriel's [Q], a top-tier nun qualified to reside in Heaven.
Watching Xenovia struggle with her thoughts, Cid fell into contemplation.
Rudolf… why does that name sound so familiar?
Well, if I've forgotten it, then it probably wasn't anything important.