Chapter 74: Holy Water…? – 3

Chapter 74: Holy Water…? – 3

“…I’m tired.”

“You worked hard. It was your first time, so it must have been awkward, right?”

“……Honestly, if that crazy bastard Angelo hadn’t been there, it would have been much more comfortable, unnie.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

After my introduction, the Duke’s family banquet quickly concluded.

Since all the purposes of the banquet had been achieved, all that was left was light dancing and social talk… but that ended surprisingly quickly.

The dancing, in particular, was quite fun. The trait I bought earlier seemed to be really effective.

So much so that Christie, who was my partner, even asked if I had formally learned it.

……Unfortunately, after dancing a few songs with Christie, countless dance requests came in, so I couldn’t enjoy it any further.

Anyway, the promotion for the newly opening potion shop was complete, and although there was a minor incident of a duel in the middle…

Still, leaving behind the well-concluded banquet, Christie and I got into the carriage.

“By the way, it seems you have to concentrate a lot when making potions.”

“Of course! If you make it wrong, you’ll end up with a healing potion that drains your stamina when you drink it. I actually have some of those lying around at home.”

“Thanks to that, the expressions of the nobles from magic-wielding families were quite something to see, weren’t they?”

“Huh? Why is that?”

I genuinely asked because I didn’t know why, but Christie’s expression subtly changed.

As if asking why I didn’t know that.

…But soon, she opened her mouth with a small laugh.

“Well, this is just like our Lucia. Completely unaware of her own charm.”

“…So, what is it?”

“Simply put, the mana manipulation you showed while making the potion was amazing. I’m a layman when it comes to magic, so I don’t know much, but the nobles who use magic had sparkling eyes, didn’t they?”

“Handling mana during the potion-making process is quite a pain in the ass, you know.”

In fact, I’ve had a lot of trouble because of it.

And today, handling the ingredients was especially damn tricky.

‘It can’t be because I was nervous… so what kind of trickery was going on?’

*……I’m innocent. We didn’t do anything, you know.*

‘Then, if it’s a potion that can be called the unique domain of the system, who could intervene in that process?’

*Even if they can’t intervene in the process, anyone can intervene with the ingredients. To be precise, they can ‘be intervened with’.*

I was about to ask another question based on Ria’s words, but Christie spoke first.

…With an answer that perfectly resolved my current doubts.

“By the way… handling ‘Trace of God’ in front of a priest from the Holy Kingdom, Lucia is truly amazing.”

“…There was a priest from the Holy Kingdom?”

“Because it’s the Duke’s family banquet, held for the first time in over a decade, nobles from all sorts of small nations and a Bishop-nim, who can be called the head of the Holy Kingdom’s Imperial branch, came.”

At the same time, I found the answer.

A while ago, with Ria’s help, I reorganized the novel’s settings, and among them was a setting about the relationship between priests of the Holy Kingdom and items containing divine power.

-> Priests are those who contain divine power in exchange for sacrificing their own mana. Therefore, when items containing divine power are handled in front of a priest, the power of that item is absorbed by the priest.

So, from the priest’s perspective, they just had to stand there, and the item’s power would be absorbed automatically.

…And from my perspective, handling an item containing divine power, I had to block the divine power that was trying to escape and be absorbed, while simultaneously making the potion.

“…Wait, so that means a priest from the Holy Kingdom saw my potion.”

“Right?”

“……I’ll have to be extra careful on dark nights from now on.”

Those bastards from the Holy Kingdom will never let their livelihoods be taken away.

They are those kinds of people, and only those kinds of people remain in the Holy Kingdom’s church now.

And… the potion I made is clearly something that takes away their livelihood.

Furthermore, thanks to that crazy bastard Angelo spouting nonsense about holy water, there’s no way a priest from the Holy Kingdom would pretend not to know about my potion.

“What, are you worried? No matter how powerful the Holy Kingdom is, as long as the Imperial family and the Duke’s family of the Empire are wide awake, they can’t do anything to you, can they?”

“…I don’t know about the Imperial family, but they might be a bit wary of the Duke’s family. At least I won’t be branded a heretic and dragged off to the Holy Kingdom in broad daylight.

Instead, my house might be set on fire at night, called a witch’s house, or I might quietly fall asleep forever.”

“……Are you very worried?”

Well, to be honest, it was fifty-fifty.

I couldn’t predict what those corrupt priests and the Pope of the Holy Kingdom’s church would do… but at least they wouldn’t assassinate me or drag me away as a heretic.

Because officially I’m a person of the Empire, there are diplomatic issues with the Imperial family, and they wouldn’t dare touch someone from the Duke’s family.

For a while, anyway.

“I should worry to some extent. If I live without any sense of crisis, something really big could happen.”

“That’s true. Still… don’t worry, if there’s any problem, I’ll be the first to rush to you.”

“Wouldn’t I have already bolted to the Duke’s family before you even arrived, unnie? I’m not so weak as to be assassinated by some mediocre guy.”

After that remark, just as I was about to ask something else, the carriage stopped, as always.

…Looking outside, it was already my house.

Given the situation, it seems I’ll be saying goodbye to Christie for a while… so I should at least say a final farewell.

“Then, if we get the chance, I’ll see you next time, unnie.”

“Alright. Stay safe until then.”

“…You, Defense Force Commander-nim, be careful too. You still have to keep kicking criminals’ asses.”

“I’m getting promoted soon?! Of course, I’ll still kick the asses of those who deserve it, though.”

***

“…Let’s see, what did I write down…”

*What are you looking for so intently?*

“The setting book I wrote down last time. There’s a main character I need to find.”

After saying goodbye to Christie and coming home, I immediately took out the setting book I had made earlier.

Since I had meticulously recorded the settings for various main characters, it would be a great help in preparing in advance.

*But why?*

“Why? To prepare, of course?”

*…I think she’s asking what you’re preparing for.*

“……In a situation where it’s obvious the Holy Kingdom, the church, will make a move, if I’m digging through main character settings, there can only be one, right?”

A main character belonging to the Holy Kingdom, and in the main story, a main character who successfully purified some of the corrupt church in cooperation with the protagonist, the Hero.

At the same time… the main character with the worst circumstances within the novel.

She was the true Saintess-nim of the messed-up church.

“The church is a mess, but there are still a very small number of people who purely follow God’s will. The Saintess is one of those few.”

*Thanks to that, she almost got replaced, but due to various circumstances, she was practically demoted to assisting the Hero.*

“…Perhaps in the current situation, the Saintess is most likely to make a move, right?”

*……Why are you looking at me when you say that?*

The system basically prefers me to get involved with main characters.

After all, the branching point itself led to changing Christie’s fate, who is a main character.

There might be various reasons… but I think it’s probably because it makes for a better story.

‘A pretty girl made potions and ran a business!’ is less rich as a story than ‘That girl got involved with various people and experienced various things!’

*…Of course, there are also branching points based on the Saintess as a main character, but that doesn’t mean she will or won’t come, right?*

“Even without the system, from the Holy Kingdom’s perspective, they have to take some action against me, who is taking away their livelihood, and the most realistic option is to dispatch the Saintess.”

Currently, the Holy Kingdom, specifically the high-ranking officials of the church, dislike the current Saintess.

Naturally, it’s because she is one of the ‘very few devout people’ who truly tries to spread God’s will.

To be precise, although I don’t know the exact situation of the church, it can be said that the Saintess’s ideal is to create the most ideal church according to God’s will.

Naturally, she was also someone who would obviously have a fit if she found out about the corruption the current church was committing, based on profiteering using healing.

Because of her personality, she was also someone whom the church intentionally blocked information from and merely used.

Thanks to her unique aura, friendliness, and beauty, she enjoys absolute support and popularity among the common people of the Holy Kingdom,

Conversely, the Saintess was also the most hated person within the church.

“It’s funny, isn’t it? They raised her that way to improve the church’s image in the first place.”

Naturally, the Saintess didn’t become a Saintess because God chose her.

The church arbitrarily creates them by educating children who are good at handling ‘divinity,’ the divine power handled by priests.

Completely shielded from the true nature and corruption of the church, she is literally raised as the church’s image maker.

Furthermore, they deceive not only the people but also the children who become Saintess or Saint into believing they are chosen by God.

And the current Saintess was someone who was strongly educated in God’s mercy and the proper conduct of a believer during her training, in order to restore the crumbling image of the church.

As a result, it’s a truly church-like contradictory situation where they themselves created an ideal church and believer, and then dislike her for acting that way.

“…The problem is that such a large bomb seems to be coming my way.”

The Saintess’s external activities were already quite frequent.

Because many people trust the Saintess, who shows the ideal image of a believer, even if they don’t trust the church, her external activities were active to secure believers.

Therefore, it would not be strange at all for the Saintess to come to the Empire.

…Only, her real mission would be to investigate me.

“It’s obvious, that damn heresy or black magic…”

In conclusion, it was an obvious situation to get involved with a main character… but I felt no particular emotion.

Even more so because I had already met two of the most suffocating main characters.

One was the biggest mastermind and villain of this world, and the other was the only main character who died.

So, one more main character coming into my life wouldn’t change much.

……There was a time when I thought that.