In the end, the weakening of the Goddess Faith was an unavoidable objective for the God Word Religion.
The God Word Religion had been working to raise people's Skills and Status through the System while simultaneously spreading a wide network among the Human race, all in the name of maintaining the world's stability.
In other words, they sought to minimize the damage to humanity as a whole while devising countermeasures against the Demon race.
The fact that the Demon race held a clear advantage in Status yet still struggled to conquer the Humans was largely due to those efforts.
They coordinated to prevent large-scale wars between human nations, channeling the pent-up frustration toward the Demon race instead.
Through such meticulous manipulation of hearts and information, they had held all of humanity together.
But once the Goddess died, her authority would crumble.
For the God Word Religion, whose very doctrine centered on the voice of God, the fact that the voice had changed was an unavoidable crisis—one that could not be sidestepped.
Some decline in faith was inevitable.
If many people then defected to the Goddess Faith, the balance of power could flip entirely.
The Goddess Faith lacked both the rhetoric to control hearts the way the God Word Religion did and the expertise to manipulate information.
If the God Word Religion's operatives infiltrated the Goddess Faith and properly re-educated it as a successor, things might have been different. But if they were going to go to that much trouble, it was far easier to simply crush the Goddess Faith and carry on as the God Word Religion.
Above all, the Goddess Faith didn't understand the System.
As Pope, he could not simply overlook the idea of installing such an organization as his successor.
Originally, the Goddess wasn't supposed to die until far, far later in the timeline.
But someone—somewhere out there—had wasted MA energy on a D-rank attack against her, drastically shortening her lifespan.
The God Word Religion had probably intended to spend many more centuries gradually declining the Goddess Faith.
Instead, they were forced to change plans and hurry to erode her power even if it meant war.
The God Word Religion had been steadily preparing for the Goddess's death.
Information manipulation was one part of that preparation.
To prevent confusion when the voice of God changed, they would spread rumors beforehand suggesting that the voice might indeed change.
They would gradually widen the reach of those rumors until they permeated the populace, then add a story that lent them credibility.
For example: the Goddess had become pregnant, and her husband would serve as her substitute during childbirth.
In any case, at that time they would not specifically name the Goddess of the Goddess Faith—instead, they would declare that the God of the God Word Religion was the Goddess.
Those who realized it, would realize.
Even if it wasn't the truth, ordinary people had no way to verify it.
If the God Word Religion had already made an official announcement, it would lend credibility when the voice of God actually changed.
The fall from grace would be significantly softened by that alone.
But if that was the plan, why was there any reason to destroy the Goddess Faith?
That's what you'd think, but it wasn't that simple.
Within the Goddess Faith, there were voices that identified the God of the God Word Religion with the Goddess.
As the Pope said, there weren't many people who would leap to the conclusion that the Goddess had died just because the voice changed.
And people who would lose the will to live over that? I really didn't think they existed.
However, the fact that there were voices equating the God of the God Word Religion with the Goddess also meant it could become a vulnerability that caused the Goddess Faith's own authority to collapse.
A man like this Pope could certainly pull that off.
But he wouldn't bother.
He didn't have time.
The Goddess dying meant there was no time left.
The reason the Goddess Faith—with its inconvenient truths buried in its doctrine—had survived until now was purely because it was useful as a fictional enemy for the God Word Religion.
Or perhaps it was something like the Pope's last shred of affection for the Goddess.
To think that he couldn't bring himself to destroy a religion that worshipped her.
Taking all of these calculations together, the Goddess's death would become a world-shaking event.
With no time to spare, there was simply no room to deal with political and ideological squabbles with the Goddess Faith.
That was why it had to be destroyed now.
The preemptive destruction of the Goddess Faith—moved forward by several centuries—must have been enormously difficult for the God Word Religion as well.
And there I was, back then, showing up like a fool when I was being called the Nightmare of the Labyrinth, and they happily used me as a scapegoat.
Looking back now, I guess it couldn't be helped.
At the time, I didn't fully understand what the God Word Religion was, so I went and stirred up the battlefield out of spite.
My bad, my bad.
The God Word Religion's campaign to destroy the Goddess Faith was still ongoing.
Though they wouldn't call it a war, they were building a diplomatic encirclement to weaken the Kingdom of Salierra's national power.
They were waiting for the Salierra Kingdom to strike out in desperation.
Once that happened, they would crush them in one fell swoop. And even if it didn't happen, they would gradually overwrite their ideology.
For that purpose, they were secretly taking in war orphans and children of the poor and educating them in the God Word Religion's way.
It was ruthless, but the path the Pope chose would not change.
Even if it meant piling up ten thousand corpses, if there was even a one-in-ten-thousand chance it would save others, he would execute it without hesitation.
That was the man called Pope Dusty.
A monster among the Human race, one even the Demon King acknowledged.
In some ways, darker than the Demon King himself.
It was impossible to change this man's will.
Unless you offered a path that didn't contradict that will, no negotiation could even begin.
Today's negotiation was about cooperation against the Elves.
That was why there was a high chance he would agree.
But somehow, we ended up divulging more of our own information than expected, and it felt like we were about to run aground.
I was tired of doing all the talking myself, so I just wanted to promise cooperation against the Elves and be done with it—but then the vampire kid had to go and stir things up.
I seriously thought the Pope was going to lose his head over that.
Well, on the bright side, it meant I wouldn't have to deal with her later, so personally I was fine with it.
The result was a knockout loss for the vampire kid.
It was obvious at a glance that a young girl still struggling with her sense of self couldn't compete with this old man.
He was an ideological monster—you could call him the embodiment of the Human will itself.
"I have seen your resolve, clear as day."
The vampire kid had frozen up, so I repeated the declaration of departure that had failed earlier.
"I hope we can build a good relationship going forward. Let us meet again on another day."
All right!
Time to leave!
"Please wait."
What now?!
Let me goooo!
I wanna go hoooome!
"Is the Demon race's invasion a certainty?"
"Yes."
"Approximately when?"
"As soon as we are ready."
Leeeeet me gooooo!
"Understood. When do you plan to visit next?"
"Ten days from now, same time."
"Then we will make preparations accordingly. Thank you so very much for taking the time to visit us today."
"Thank you as well for the warm welcome despite the sudden visit. Until then."
I bowed, and this time activated the teleportation.
A barrier?
Like that would stop me!
I casually tossed the vampire kid and the Oni boy somewhere inside the mansion, then teleported once more.
I arrived in an otherworldly space.
My space. Mine alone. No one else here.
I'm tired.
Super tired.
I want to sit around here for a while without seeing anyone.
Actually, I will.
The thought that I'd have to go through all of this again in ten days made me so depressed I could die.
I half wanted to just laze around here for the full ten days.