Book 1, Verse 27

“What?” I asked, unsure if I understood what she was saying.

“You heard me; are you an idiot?”

“I told you to shut up already!” Vivian yelled at Elisa.

“Vivian, I can take care of myself.” I said.

She looked a little hurt, but eventually nodded in acquiescence.

Niels took a few steps away from me, exchanging his place at my side with Elisa.

“What do you mean by that?” I questioned.

Elisa smirked.

“Do you actually believe in all this ‘God’ stuff? You do realize that the existence of mirra disproves any possibility of God, right?” She said confidently. “Because if you do believe in God despite all the evidence to the contrary, then that makes you an idiot.”

Oh my goodness.

I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t even keep walking forward. I had to stand still and take a deep breath.

“What, did I already make you concede?” Elisa said smugly.

The rest of them stopped as I took a moment to process what I was hearing.

Elisa was perfect!

All I had to do was lose an argument to her and I could finally be free of this priest role!

How would I play this?

I couldn’t give up immediately; I had to put on a little show of me ‘defending my faith;’ but right after that was done, she would make a second argument and I would lose on purpose.

I shook my head playfully.

Even if I was trying, there was no way for me to win; when it came right down to it, belief in God didn’t make any logical sense.

Thank you, Elisa.

“Hey! You got anything to say?” Elisa asked.

“Of course he does! Give him a second.” Vivian said hopefully.

I stood up straight and looked Elisa in the eyes confidently.

“Really? How exactly does the existence of mirra disprove the idea of an all-powerful creator?” I said with a serious expression.

Elisa didn’t bat an eye.

“Well, see, in all the experiments and spells cast using mirra, the greatest wizards have come to the conclusion that priests–such as yourself–never actually possessed ‘divine power’ from God; it was always just you guys hoarding all the magical knowledge for yourselves and lording its power over others.” She said proudly.

That was a good point; however, it missed one small detail.

“Even if that’s true, that doesn’t disprove the existence of God; it only disproves the claim that priests have divine power.” I said with a smirk.

Elisa frowned.

“Fine. That’s not the really stupid part anyway.” She breathed in deeply. “How can you believe in a faith that insists that someone from ‘another world’ died for your sins? That implies the existence of another world in the first place!”

That was it; I couldn’t reasonably argue against that.

I suppose that maybe her claim was wrong, based on the fact that I was from that world. But there was no way for me to argue that point without revealing that information, and the whole reason I was pretending to be a priest was to avoid looking completely insane.

I sighed in relief and put on my best ‘distressed’ face.

“O-oh, well.” I stuttered. “You see, we have faith that–”

“Where did the book come from?!” Vivian said, interrupting my defeat.

“What?” Me and Elisa said in unison as both of us turned to look at her at the same time.

She looked away since she was taller than both of us. After a quick moment, she regained her composure and kept speaking.

“W-what I said was; where did the holy writ come from? If it’s completely ridiculous, then how did someone get the idea to write it? And, er, how did it become so widespread?” Vivian sounded unsure of herself.

In that moment, I realized that Vivian was a lot more intuitive than I had given her credit for.

However, I also realized that she might have inadvertently ruined my chances; but that was only if Elisa couldn’t recover.

Elisa looked at me awkwardly.

“Um.” She hesitated.

No.

No, you cannot fumble this.

“Oh! Obviously, someone just made it up.” She said confidently to Vivian, then redirected her attention to me.

Thank goodness; now I could finish–

“Then, er, why would people be willing to die for it? I mean, if people knew that what they believed in wasn’t true, why would they die for a lie?”

Elisa opened and closed her mouth once or twice.

Okay; I had to admit that I was a little impressed by Vivian’s ability to argue.

“Who… died?” Elisa said hesitantly. “I’ve never heard of anyone getting executed for their faith.” She sounded a little mumbly.

“Before the church pact; all the countries tried eradicating the church through brute force. That’s why the pact was created in the first place.” Vivian said, gaining some confidence. “Or did you not know that?”

Niels chuckled a little bit.

Elisa turned slightly red.

“They probably didn’t know that it was made up.” Elisa said, quickly regaining some of her lost pride as she took a deep breath.

“But you don’t have any evidence that it’s made up.” Vivian retorted.

Elisa huffed.

“Of course I do! The fact that it’s completely ridiculous is enough proof!”

Vivian looked away for a few moments.

This was getting exciting.

“Really? What’s so ridiculous about it?” Vivian said calmly.

Elisa looked shocked.

“The fact that there’s a savior from ‘another world!’ What kind of idiot would believe in something as stupid as another world existing?” Elisa narrowed her eyes at Vivian. “Aside from that idiot.” She pointed at me offhandedly.

Vivian looked noticeably upset.

“Could you quit insulting Shinko?!” Vivian blurted out. “He’s not even arguing anymore! You’re just being mean at this point!”

Elisa smirked.

“Oh come on, what’s wrong with being right? He’s so much dumber than me it hurts to be in the same area as him.” She shrugged and looked at Vivian. “Wait, maybe that’s why you two are such good friends!”

I inhaled sharply as I realized what Elisa was doing.

She was distracting Vivian from the main point of argument; a shrewd tactic, but if Vivian caught on, it would make Elisa look pretty bad.

Vivian fumed.

“L-listen, if there’s one thing Shinko’s taught me, it’s that being mean and selfish doesn’t help anyone!” Vivian replied.

“It helps me.” Elisa shot back smugly.

The four of us had stopped walking and were standing on the path through the tall forest, intently listening to or engaging in the debate.

“Maybe that’s why we found you all alone!” Vivian replied.

Elisa twitched.

I wouldn’t have gone along with Elisa’s ad hominem tactics; I think it lowers the potential for actual communication when it comes to effective arguments.

Vivian didn’t seem to have the same concerns about them that I did.

“Listen here you mewling brat, I can stand on my own two feet! I don’t need to be escorted around by a pair of guys to have value.” Elisa retorted.

Niels rolled his eyes when Elisa said that.

“See, you don’t know us at all, and you especially don’t know me.” Vivian said, her voice suddenly calm. “See, they aren’t escorting me.”

Vivian disappeared in a flash.

Elisa looked around, panicking.

I watched as Vivian appeared behind her and wrapped her left arm around Elisa’s neck.

“I’m escorting them.”

Elisa scowled, then broke free of Vivian’s grip.

The two women stared at each other.

As exciting as what Vivian had done was, it looked like the point of the argument had been lost. I shook my head disappointedly as I prepared to keep moving. Niels did the same as both women kept staring at each other.

They were both breathing somewhat rapidly as their eyes locked onto each other.

Elisa huffed and looked away, before starting to walk with me and Niels.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad that the argument had been forgotten; I kind of liked being a priest. The fantasy it provided was admittedly nicer than…

I shook my head in remembrance of what had happened last night.

As the three of us started walking again, Vivian spoke up.

“Wait, did you think we were done?” She said, confidently.

We all turned around, and I looked at Elisa.

She was surprised.

I redirected my attention to Vivian and couldn’t help smiling.

“I haven’t proven that Shinko isn’t an idiot yet.”