Dessert as Compensation
The Deserted Cathedral
The men who had been hiding among the refugees drew their daggers in unison.
Fwaba-bak—
The assassins surged toward Karoline in eerie silence.
"Your Highness, get back!"
Only then did her escort knights draw their swords—but there were five attackers. Two moved to hold off the knights while the remaining three drove straight in toward Karoline.
Just as the lead assassin swung his dagger at her, a whisper of steel flashed through the air. Luise's blade severed the man's wrist.
"Kugh!"
The severed hand and dagger spun off into the air, and Luise caught the stumbling man under the jaw with her pommel. His eyes rolled back and he dropped like a sack of grain.
It was a chain of strikes worthy of genuine admiration. The second assassin was already subdued—Alicia had taken care of him before he could even complete his lunge.
Which left the third, the one hanging back furthest of all.
"Holy strike."
Pak—
My palm bolt slammed into him and he staggered, half-stunned. Wait, he's still standing after that?
"Triple Convergence, Blueshift."
Bak—
My fist detonated against Assassin No. 3, and his body burst like an overinflated balloon.
The remaining two were finished off by Karoline's escort knights, exactly as expected. In an instant, the relief shelter dissolved into an asylum of shouting and screaming.
And amid the chaos, Karoline's hood slipped back just slightly, revealing her expression—shock, wariness, and beneath it, relief.
"Your Highness, that was dangerous—"
Her eyes swept quickly over our carriage, and then she raised a hand to stay her knights.
"It's all right. They're with the Holy Radiance Church. Thank you for your aid."
"We should move somewhere safer," I said, stepping up in front of Karoline. Then, rising onto my toes, I brought my lips close to her ear and whispered, "Princess Karoline."
"…!"
Her pupils wavered. Then, with a look of quiet resolve, she nodded.
The royal palace of Bern, once we'd been escorted there, was old. Ornate yet antique—and old. It looked sound enough at a glance, but the gardens had been left half-tended and cracks spidered across the buildings here and there.
Compared to the Holy Radiance Empire, the richest nation on the continent, the decline hit me with surprising force. Honestly, the city of Rosnitz itself had felt off. Maybe that was the whole point—a kingdom visibly falling apart.
We followed Karoline into a parlor deeper within the palace. Small enough that it clearly wasn't meant for grand state receptions, more a room for private guests—but it still carried a certain regal dignity.
And above all: an enormous dessert sat on the table.
A conical tower of round cream puffs, draped in glistening threads of melted sugar spun fine as silk. A croquembouche. I'd seen one in a photograph once, back in my old life. The air in the room was thick with an almost maddening sweetness.
Forget the quest. I want to eat that. Right now. Serve me seconds—
No. Bad. Down, girl.
My reason had nearly crumbled for a moment there. Was this the princess's strategy—clouding my judgment with sugar? I would have to remain vigilant.
"First, allow me to thank you once more for your help at the shelter," Karoline said, bowing her head with courtesy. Then, carefully: "Could it be… that you came from the Holy Radiance Inquisition?"
It was an understandable mistake. I, after all, had been forcibly shoehorned into a Black Lily Gothic dress thanks to the Ink Lotus incident, and Alicia had hidden her face beneath her hood and one of those white masks favored by the Inquisitors.
I exchanged a glance with Alicia. Tap. She pulled back her hood and removed the mask.
Karoline's eyes went wide. Ah, so she can identify her by looks alone.
"Allow us a proper introduction. I am Alicia of the Holy Radiance Church, and this is the Celestial Zenith Divine Spirit."
Karoline stared at us blankly for a moment, then slowly and formally inclined her head. "I am Karoline von Bern of the Bern Kingdom. It is an honor to meet the Saintess and the Celestial Zenith Divine Spirit."
Even a rotten mackerel is still a mackerel, huh. The fact that she recognized us on sight suggested the kingdom's intelligence network wasn't as decayed as everything else.
"Is the King still…?"
"Yes. He remains bedridden."
"We'll take a look at him."
"You— you will?"
Karoline's voice trembled at the sudden offer. "After we finish our discussion here, of course."
"…Thank you, Divine Spirit."
The biggest reason Bern was such a mess in the first place was the King wasting away in his sickbed. Though even Alicia wouldn't be able to cure him outright—it wasn't an ordinary disease, after all.
Yum.
I settled into a chair and started in on the desserts the maids brought out. Of everything on offer—clearly made with the royal court pastry chef's whole heart and soul—the croquembouche was in a league of its own.
Crunch. A nutty, almond-scented puff giving way to custard cream within, while the caramelized sugar on the outside delivered a sweetness with a delicate, shattering crispness. A flavor that literally melted the brain. My tongue ached from the sheer perfection of the combination, and somewhere in my skull a grand orchestral anthem began to swell.
I'd come expecting nothing from some backwater kingdom, but tasting this, my resolve was reaffirmed: D. E. S. S. E. R. T. I would live for dessert.
"Ever since rumors of the holy sword began to spread, strange movements have increased throughout the capital," Karoline told Alicia. "The attack on me today… I suspect it was no coincidence."
"Have you identified who was behind it?"
"The moment they were captured, they attempted to take their own lives…"
"A pity."
"The holy sword said to have appeared beneath the abandoned cathedral has shaken the entire capital. The ministers seek to elevate the sword's master, the high nobles are mustering private soldiers, and the people have begun to believe it a sign of salvation."
"That's not a holy sword, though. It's a demonic one," I said, swallowing the last of the cream puff in my mouth.
"The reason you came from the Holy Radiance Church—could it be…?" Karoline murmured, as if something had just clicked into place.
Not quite what you're thinking.
"Saintess. Celestial Zenith Divine Spirit."
"Yeees?"
"I know it is shameless of me to ask. But please—I beg of you."
Karoline bowed her head deeply. And there it is. The main quest.
"Please investigate the holy sword beneath the abandoned cathedral. The royal house cannot be trusted. The ministers, and even the knight orders, have already splintered into factions. With only my own escort, an investigation down into the cathedral's depths would be impossible."
Her hands were trembling faintly. "If that sword truly is a demonic blade—if it is a calamity that will drag the kingdom into even deeper chaos—then all the more reason it must be confirmed."
I gave a mental nod. This was a request that, in the original story, would have gone to Ruan. But the protagonist now was me—Nirvana, at your service.
Alicia's gaze turned to me. I dabbed my mouth with a napkin and accepted, doing my best to look as saintly as possible. "We accept."
"R-really?"
"That's why we came in the first place. In exchange, we'll handle the disposal of the demonic sword ourselves. Sound fair?"
"Of course. Truly… thank you. I swear I will repay this debt."
Repay it, hm. I rather doubted this kingdom had anything substantial to offer. Money? The Holy Radiance Empire was the richest nation on the continent. A noble title? The Empire again. A fief? Empire. Political power? Empire. Whatever they handed over, it would be a downgrade from what I could get back home. And it's not like this is some eroge where I could accept that kind of "reward" anyway.
Besides, collecting payment directly from the princess was the amateur move. The winning play was to modestly refuse—banking favor points—then cash in everything at once once the King recovered. When I ran the numbers, only one form of compensation survived the audit.
I looked at the still-towering pile of croquembouche.
"Then, as my reward—"
"Yes?"
"Have them make plenty of desserts. I'll be eating them instead of meals."
"…?"
Silence settled over the parlor. Karoline, every inch the princess, struggled to restore her composure—but her eyes refused to cooperate.
"Pfft. How very angelic of you," Alicia said, smiling warmly.
"Supply lines are a serious matter, you know. You tasted it yourself, Saintess. Their desserts are delicious."
"They certainly are."
"Is that… possible?"
At my question, Karoline snapped back to her senses a beat late. "Y-yes, of course. I shall give special orders to the royal pastry chef. No—in fact, for as long as you remain in the palace, the royal pastry chef will be assigned to you exclusively."
"Ohh."
As expected of a royal palace. Power is power.
Compensation negotiations: complete. "Shall we go see His Majesty before we set out, then?"
At Alicia's words, Karoline lifted her head. "Ah—I cannot promise he will be cured."
"Just looking is enough."
The King's chambers lay at the very heart of the palace. As Karoline approached, the captain of the royal guard saluted.
"I must see my father."
"The Prime Minister has ordered that no outsiders be admitted, Your Highness."
Ohh. Court politics in action.
"These people are not outsiders. His own daughter is requesting to check on my father's condition—do you truly intend to stand in my way? Whose guard are you, exactly? The Prime Minister's?"
"B-but…"
"Step aside."
Faced with Karoline's coldly incisive words, the captain finally fell back a step.
Stepping into the bedchamber, we were hit by a miasma of a hundred different herbs. Upon the bed lay a King wasted away to little more than skin and bone.
"Allow me a moment to examine him."
Alicia drew near the bed. From her fingertips bloomed holy radiance—a warm, pure silver-white light. Healing sacred arts wrapped themselves around the King's body. Alicia's healing arts were imperial-best level too. She didn't hold the title of Saintess for nothing.
Ssss…
Beneath the King's nape, something like fine black threads writhed.
"…This is no illness," Alicia said quietly.
"Then…?"
"A curse. It has been accumulating inside his body for a very long time."
"C-can it be cured?"
Alicia couldn't answer at once. "Purifying it now would be difficult. Even if I forced the purification, His Majesty's body would not survive it. The curse's corruption is too deeply entwined with his flesh."
"Hhk…"
Karoline's face drained white. "Do not despair just yet," Alicia continued gently. "If we remove the source, he will most likely return to how he was."
"Ah—?"
"Though first, we'd have to find out what the source is…"
"It's the demonic sword."
Every head turned at my interjection. "The Prime Minister of this kingdom laid the curse using the demonic sword. The more sacrifices the blade devours and the stronger it grows, the stronger the curse becomes. Nifty little system, right?"
"The Prime Minister…?"
"Yes, this kingdom's Prime Minister. Marquis Igel? Something like that."
"H-how could you possibly know that?"
Karoline was visibly flustered. "Because I am the Celestial Zenith Divine Spirit," I answered, shamelessly.
"Ahh… O Celestial Zenith Divine Spirit. God has not yet abandoned Bern."
I'd just straight-up named the kingdom's Prime Minister as the culprit, and all she did was offer a prayer of thanks. Well, I wasn't about to take it back either—after all, the man holding half the palace in his grip right now was the Prime Minister, Marquis Igel. Karoline had probably suspected as much herself.
"Then we'll head out to investigate the abandoned cathedral tonight," I said.
"Tonight? Surely you should wait until daylight—"
"No need to waste time. We'll go at night."
Once you descend underground, night and day are equally dark anyway. The whole point of this trip was leveling Luise, and her mind's eye isn't fazed by darkness in the slightest.
Main quest acquired. Supplies secured. Party in full strength. The conditions were perfect—which meant it was time to go grind.
