The Saintess's Confession and the New Offering
Let's convert! But the shock lasted only a moment before my brow furrowed. The list of posts on the bulletin board was refreshing like crazy, dozens of times per minute, but every single title and nickname was plastered with distorted tentacle shapes or bizarre, unrecognizable symbols that looked like hieroglyphics.
"Damn it, the language is different. If you're going to hack it, you should at least give me a translation function."
I clicked around with my mouse, searching for a translation button, but I couldn't find one. However, as I scrolled down, a single, newly refreshed post written in perfect Korean caught my eye.
"Oh, isn't this the guy whose head got smashed by my support beam earlier?"
Intrigued, I quickly clicked on the post.
The content of the post was ridiculous. In the center of the screen, there was a massive meme of a furious frog with bulging veins, flipping over a desk. Below it, text filled with rage was written.
[I am the Seven Calamities, the true troublemaker of this gallery. Who was the bastard that threw a miracle at my Kappa minion I was controlling near the river and smashed its head in? Are you trying to have a go at me, you Yaksha? I’ve warned you time and again in this gallery that I called dibs on the Mom inside that castle first, so don't touch her! If you don't confess immediately, I'll find you and tear your dimension apart.]
"Ahahahaha!"
I grabbed the monitor and burst out laughing.
Dozens of comments were being posted in real-time below the text. But the comments were also just bizarre, unrecognizable hieroglyphics. Just then, a small golden notification popped up at the top of the comment section.
You can decrypt and view the comments on this post by paying 10 Divine Power Points.
"10 points. It's not cheap, but information is power."
To grasp the opponent's movements, I paid the points without hesitation. As I did, the distorted symbols smoothly translated into Korean, revealing a comment section that looked like a comedy sketch.
I had obtained an excellent source of information to track the enemies' movements, but it seemed like I still had a long way to go before I could fully utilize the gallery's functions.
"Oops. Now is not the time for surfing the web."
I hurriedly turned my gaze elsewhere. The ward where the Kappa had died under the support beam was a bloodbath. The monster was dead, but the situation was far from over.
The condition of the child whose neck had been slightly scratched by the Kappa's claws was critical. I thought it was just a simple abrasion, but the area around the wound was turning black and rotting, swelling up in a grotesque manner. The lethal miasma of the Outer God and the vicious blood of the Kappa that had been on the creature's claws were rapidly consuming the child's small body.
"Sob... what should I do? Oh God, please..."
Aria was hugging the child, sobbing, not knowing what to do. If this were the era of past glory, it would have been a minor toxin that would have disappeared without a trace with a single 'click!' of a low-level priest's divine power. But now that miracles had dried up, that small wound was nothing short of a perfect death sentence that would cut the child's life short.
The other nuns and children were also wringing their hands, watching the child's blackening face with desperate expressions.
"Damn it. Since there's no healer, she's going to die from poison damage."
I hurriedly scrolled down my inventory. Fortunately, there was something I had bought for first aid previously. An old brown bottle that had been shoved into a corner of a plastic first-aid kit. The true divine magic of modern technology and medicine, known as the panacea.
Without hesitation, I clicked on a bottle of Povidone-Iodine solution and selected [Bestow Tribute]. This time, I didn't even need to spend any Divine Power Points.
Will you send the item to the refuge in Eden?
[YES]
Whoosh! A rift in the dimension opened on the ceiling of the ward inside the screen, and a small brown plastic bottle dropped onto Aria's lap.
"Huh?"
Aria looked down at the strange bottle that had fallen onto her lap with a tear-stained face. Her intuition as an exceptional saintess reacted immediately.
She was certain that this was a cure.
Recalling the memory of when the water bottle cap had opened automatically—and how she had followed suit and closed it—she inferred what to do, grabbed the round cap of the brown bottle, and twisted it open.
Inside, a bright red liquid was sloshing around. It looked like someone's blood, and the pungent, strange smell of disinfectant that stung her nose was unlike any herb in Eden.
Aria hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip hard and made a decision. She turned the brown bottle upside down and poured all the red liquid onto the child's blackening neck wound.
Ssssss—!
"Aaaah!" The child screamed in pain.
But a miracle occurred. As soon as the red Povidone solution touched the wound, the miasma of the Outer God that had been swelling up black began to melt away, bubbling as if it were burning. The foul, fishy stench and the miasma were completely consumed by the pungent smell of iodine.
Within just a few seconds, the swollen wound subsided, and a faint, reddish complexion began to return to the child's pale, blue face. Her breathing also became much more comfortable.
"Oh my... oh my!"
The nuns and children were astonished, unable to close their mouths. "Sister Aria! What on earth is that red holy water? Did the God of Light finally grant us a miracle?"
As the questions poured in, Aria stood there, holding the empty brown bottle blankly, her lips trembling. "Th-that is..."
She couldn't bring herself to say that it was medicine obtained through the favor of an unknown, heretical Outer God, so Aria flushed and trailed off.
Meanwhile, watching the dramatic scene of healing from behind the monitor, I stroked my chin with satisfaction. "Hmm, as expected, the ultimate panacea is the red medicine. What great pharmaceutical technology that can even handle the poison damage of a cosmic horror Outer God in one go."
It was just when I was admiring the insane cost-effectiveness and efficacy of Povidone-Iodine.
Ding-dong—!
A dull doorbell sound rang through the room from the front door. Looking at my smartphone screen, a [Delivery Completed] notification had popped up.
The grocery delivery I had ordered through the food mart app had arrived.
"Okay. The timing is absolutely perfect."
I stretched and stood up from my computer chair. "Finally, the daily bread to bestow upon my little lambs has arrived."
I walked toward the front door with light steps, a smile that seemed to reach my cheekbones plastered on my face.
***
Leaving behind the ward building, which was still intact despite the door being smashed and the support beam collapsing after the danger had passed, Aria and the nuns gathered in the chapel for a meeting.
Although it was right after they had comforted the children and put them to sleep, the nuns' faces were still filled with excitement and astonishment. Their gazes were focused entirely on Aria, who was kneeling before the altar.
"Saintess! What on earth happened?" "That red holy water and the food you gave us last time... could it be that the great God of Light, Lumen, has finally broken his long silence and returned?" "The oracle has finally been delivered! Oh, God of Light, you have not forsaken us!"
The nuns clasped their hands together and poured out praises in voices filled with joy. It was a blind joy that the hand of salvation they had waited for so long had finally been delivered through their saintess.
However, Aria's expression as she listened to their praises was dark and miserable. She kept her forehead pressed to the floor, remaining silent for a long time before finally parting her lips with difficulty.
"It is... not Lumen."
At those words, the heat of the hymns that had filled the chapel cooled down coldly. "What? What do you mean by that..."
Aria slowly raised her head. Her cheeks, stained with tears, were pale with shame and despair.
"He is not the God of Light. The food, and the miraculous holy water that saved the child just a moment ago... they are all heretical items that I obtained through the favor of an unknown Outer God."
Silence. A terrible silence, where not even the sound of breathing could be heard, weighed down the chapel.
"Oh my... this act of heresy..." "It's apostasy. For the Saintess to collude with a heretical Outer God..."
Whispers of astonishment erupted from the nuns' lips. At the shocking confession from the saintess they had trusted and relied upon, some took a step back, and others shook their heads as if they couldn't believe it.
But in truth, none of them were completely surprised. Perhaps they had just been pretending not to know and turning a blind eye to the truth.
Those strange steel cans and snacks wrapped in plastic that Aria had shared. They had all faintly intuited that those were by no means holy food sent by the God of Light. They had just swallowed that uneasy feeling for the sake of survival and tried to brainwash themselves into believing it was a miracle of the God of Light.
Just as such heavy guilt and silence were intersecting, one of the youngest nuns bit her pale lips and stepped forward.
"For starters... let's convert!"
At her sudden outburst, the nuns' gazes focused on her.
"Faith or apostasy, the children are starving to death and being torn apart by monsters right now! The God of Light has forsaken us, but didn't that unknown Outer God give us food and medicine right away? We can repent later, when the God of Light truly returns, and shed tears of blood then. Shouldn't we try to survive for now?" "How can you say such a terrible thing! Are you suggesting we sell our souls to become puppets of a heretic?" "Then are you suggesting we all die of starvation here with dignity!"
Starting with the young nun's statement, the inside of the chapel instantly turned into a chaotic mess of debate. Survival instincts and religious beliefs clashed fiercely, and they shouted viciously at each other.
Aria closed her eyes tightly in the middle of that pandemonium. Her head felt like it was going to split. She couldn't even judge whether she had truly done the right thing, or if her choice to sell her soul to save the child was salvation or corruption. Now, she couldn't even bring herself to offer a prayer of repentance to the God of Light, whom she had devoted her entire life to believing in, so she just stared blankly into the void.
That was when it happened. Vroom—!
A familiar and strange distortion of space occurred in the air above the old altar. The nuns' argument stopped abruptly. Everyone's gaze turned toward the altar, filled with astonishment.
Thud. Thud. Clatter.
The air tore open, and heavy objects began to pour down onto the altar. Everyone held their breath and approached cautiously to confirm what they were.
"Wh-what is this..."