Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 603

Su-ho’s venomous words.

At that harsh, poisonous condemnation, Bell was momentarily left speechless.

“W-What did you just say?”

“Why? Do you think I said something wrong?”

“In all my life, I’ve never heard something this rude.”

So dumbfounded was she that she straightened her posture.

But Su-ho continued speaking.

“As I said before, you started the disrespect first. If you want kind words, you should speak kindly first. You claim following and carrying out God’s words is everything, yet you tell me—a properly elected Pope who reached this place with the help of God—to get out without even giving me a trial, just because my perspective differs from yours?”

“That’s...!”

“Roland said something like this. At some point, the Paladins seemed to have lost their minds. Instead of treasuring what truly mattered, they became consumed by laws and God’s words, killing what should be protected and sheltering what should be killed.”

Su-ho rose from his seat.

“The very first one I met, Ruinberg, was exactly like that. He didn’t seem like a religious man, but a fanatic. To him, people and neighbors didn’t matter. God’s words mattered most. And you’re exactly the same. Every inconvenient thing gets brushed aside with excuses about religion and God, while all you cared about was preserving your own peace of mind and image.”

“I only cared about preserving my peace of mind and image?”

“No? Then why did you heal even evil people who were destined to bring disaster, leading countless innocent people to their deaths? Is that the altruism and goodness and God’s teaching you spoke of? What crime did the people murdered by those men commit?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot?! Of course I took measures before healing them! I called other people in so they couldn’t do anything reckless—!”

“You think controlling someone’s heart means they’ll actually stay controlled? Even if it seems like you’ve taken measures for the moment, what happens if someone already determined to commit evil simply finds another way? Are you going to stay beside them forever and stop them every single time?”

“If I could, then I would.”

“Talk realistically. What if there were dozens of them instead of one? What if it happened while you were asleep? You’re a Saintess, but you’re still human. You’re not some omnipotent being capable of controlling everything. That’s why prevention exists.”

Su-ho looked at her with the coldest eyes he had shown yet.

“Wake up. Even hypocrisy is still a form of good. How long are you going to keep hiding behind religion?”

At last unable to endure it any longer, Bell sprang to her feet and shouted back.

“What did you just say?!”

“I said stop hiding behind religion.”

“Watch your mouth...!”

“You should be the one watching your mouth. I can already imagine it. How many innocent people must have suffered because of your pathetic stubbornness.”

“You...!”

Bell rose from her seat, glaring fiercely as she pointed a finger at Su-ho’s face.

The finger raised upward from beneath her chin looked ready to pierce straight through his skull.

But Su-ho did not even blink.

There was no reason for him to be afraid in the first place.

Setting aside the fact that she was a legendary Saintess and the Cleric Master, he simply could not imagine Bell actually defeating him.

That was why Su-ho continued firing back at her with the same dry gaze.

“If what I’m saying is wrong, then refute it. Explain it and convince me. Even if you’re a priest serving God, are a few words from scripture really more important than the lives of the people standing before you right now? And do you truly think the God you believe in genuinely wants actions like that?”

“What do you know about me?!”

“You’re right. I don’t know much about you. But unlike you, even after gaining the Pantheon’s power and becoming Pope through the Conclave, I still value the people beside me more than the words of the Chief God Quai. Because I believe that’s what true justice is. And.”

Su-ho’s eyes turned even colder.

“You said it yourself earlier. That among all the Saints and Saintesses, you were called the greatest Saintess in history. But even if you’re praised as the best among fools so deluded that even Roland shakes his head at them, what’s so impressive about that? Here’s what I think. Among all Popes in history, you’re considered the greatest because you lived more like a puppet than anyone else. Because that’s the standard idiots like you use.”

“That’s ridiculous. We are servants of God from the very beginning, beings meant to follow God’s words. So what exactly is wrong with acting according to God’s teachings?”

“To be precise, you shifted the responsibility onto God.”

“What?”

“If the thing on your shoulders isn’t just decoration, then think about it rationally. How can you save an evil man when you can’t even estimate how many innocent people will die because of him?”

“So what, then?! Was I supposed to ignore a life dying before my eyes?!”

“So deaths you can’t see are acceptable?”

Su-ho took a step toward the shouting Bell.

Bell unconsciously stepped back.

“You used pity, sympathy, and God’s teachings as a shield while ignoring the disasters that would come later, all just to preserve your own nobility and moral righteousness. But did that really come from a heart that cared for others?”

“To me, ordinary people and evil people are lives with equal value.”

“I think so too. But does one life carry the same weight as two lives? Of course not. No one would kill the many just to save one person.”

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