“Ah yes,” Louis blandly replied, “I suppose you might not have. The original texts defining the faith are open to anyone who might want to browse, but the first written drafts they’re based on have been lost long ago. If you read through those, then you’ll see how those tenets were crafted.”
As he put it, the doctrines of Luminism were put in place to protect those who worshipped Luminus. She, Louis, and other high-level vampires were one thing, but the lower ones lived off human blood, and the blood of those who lived happy, contented lives was apparently more attractive to them. In the bad old days when monsters ran roughshod over the world, the human race had its hands full just surviving, which meant the poor quality of their blood created its fair share of problems among the vampire community. In response, Luminus took advantage of a move she had planned to switch gears and offer her protective hand to the humans. (This “move” was caused by Veldora, apparently, but I opted against asking for details. It’d just be stirring up a hornet’s nest.)
“Protecting the defenseless allows them to lead happy lives. By ‘spicing up’ their lives with fearsome demon lords, followed by the relief of being protected from them, we ensure they can savor as much happiness as possible. The citizens of Lubelius are kept safe under the name of their god.”
Humans, to put it in a rough way, were kind of like livestock to them. Vampires lived off their blood—but as it was described to me, they needed rather small quantities, enough that the human “victim” wouldn’t even notice. There were far more humans than vampires out there, so it made sense. A little blood donation now and then ensured a life free from existential threats. A real win-win situation.
“So did they write the holy scriptures of Luminism to help keep needless slaughter by the monsters at a minimum?”
“That’s right,” Louis said to Hinata. “Precisely.”
“To me, the most important thing is the faith itself,” added Luminus. “All of you here—you can cast your holy magic thanks to the faith you have in me, correct? That is how the arrangement works—it is an absolute law. It is my family’s duty to protect my people, and to me, the rest matters little.”
So to sum up, the faith’s refusal to accept monsters stemmed from a need to grab the hearts of the people and bring them into the faith. No, maybe that tenet doesn’t need to be so strictly enforced. Bending too much along those lines would cause chaos in the Western Holy Church, but there was no need to go that far. Basically—the way I was reading this—if the people here could find a reason to accept us, the rest of the kingdom would fall in line.
It sounded like we had an agreement, then. But Renard’s frown said he still wasn’t convinced.
“I understand, then, that our doctrine is not based on the will of our god, Lady Luminus. But practically speaking, that is the exact doctrine all of us have spent our lives following. I fear that simply doing away with it would create issues…”
He had a point. Completely ignoring everything built up to now would lead to a huge backlash from the faithful, not to mention the current Church organization. Even if Luminus herself came out in public to appeal to the masses, there was no saying if anyone would believe it was her—and there was no way Luminus would do anything that proactive anyway. There was every chance of rifts forming between the paladins assembled here and the more hardcore factions of the Church.
“But we have to do it,” Hinata solemnly said to the troubled-looking Renard. “I was hoping we could keep silent on this until things settle down, but we have a force of a hundred paladins here, and I’m sure the other nations are aware of us. Plus, those journalists were there to see a Battlesage be defeated, weren’t they?”
Her gaze went from Renard to me. She was right. Diablo said he had defeated a man named Saare, one of the Three Battlesages. Another one was on the scene but apparently fled in rapid order. If the press saw all that, it could ruin this force’s reputation as protector of humanity. If rumors started spreading that the paladins were defeated, it could lead to all kinds of needless confusion. Diablo said it was possible to coerce the media, if need be, but… Ugghhh, what a pain.
“Okay, well, how about we just say Hinata and I dueled to a draw? Then we signed a truce after discovering the Seven Days Clergy’s scheme. People already know I’m a slime for the most part, but if we spread the word that I’m an otherworlder, you think that would be a bit more convincing?”
“I do appreciate that proposal,” Hinata said, “but are you fine with that? Wouldn’t a demon lord fighting me to a draw affect your reputation?”
My reputation? Do I have much of one, really? I feel like I’ve done nothing but get yelled at by Shuna lately. Whenever problems come up, I toss them right into Rigurd’s lap. For the most part, my main responsibility in town lately has been joining Gobta on his assorted jaunts. I didn’t think a draw or two is gonna trash my rep that much.
“I don’t see the problem. I mean, hell, you can say I lost for all I care.”
Who won, and who lost, didn’t really matter, I thought. But everyone on Hinata’s side stared at me in shock.
“Um, look, in all of history, there’s only been a tiny handful of times when a human defeated a demon lord, you know? If you just say ‘Oops, I lost’ like that, that really will wreck the balance of power around here. It’d create trouble for you.”
“She—she’s right!” bellowed Renard. “You are still just a fledgling demon lord. Let another force push you around right now, and that could invite interlopers aiming
