Chapter 260
Chapter 260
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The God and the Saintess
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No ifs, ands, or buts.
The heresy trial, waged by the church under the banner of the saintess's authority, wrapped up just like that.
The city officials were, as expected, up in arms.
It was a blatant overreach—the church placing the saintess's authority above the city's own stance.
The church's high-handedness had been tolerated solely because of the weight carried by the name "saintess."
If the saintess declared, "This city... impure," the city had no choice but to scramble into compliance.
Otherwise, holy knights, wandering knights, and self-proclaimed heroes from across the continent would swarm in.
But now, the cause and fallout boiled down to a single phrase: "the saintess's misunderstanding"?
That left the city with no reason to stay quiet any longer.
All eyes from the city nobles and Bondales officials turned to her.
That girl in white.
To Fienne, the councilor's proxy.
Her sudden appearance one day, turning back-alley thugs into model citizens and even taking over a corrupt councilor's seat—it had already made her infamous throughout the city.
"Dragging her councilor's proxy into the demon label... With her personality, she won't let that slide."
They figured Fienne would unleash merciless revenge against the church.
After all, nothing was scarier than a power holder with justification on their side!
"It's fine. No need to stir up trouble."
But her response was astonishingly rational.
An insult to a noble's man was an insult to the noble themselves!
No noble could stomach that easily.
And this wasn't just any insult.
"I-Is that really okay, Lady Fienne? They treated your people like demons. That means—"
If the heresy trial had ruled guilty?
If it concluded that Fienne's man was a demon?
In that case...
Fienne would have instantly been slapped with the church's highest suspicions.
Rumors of her being the devil's lackey would spread like wildfire, burying her socially in an instant.
Yet she reacted with such composure?
"I could demand accountability and compensation with full justification. But outright denying the saintess's position would put us at direct odds with the church."
"..."
"And right now, as the councilor's proxy, I represent the city to some extent. So my relationship with the church would naturally affect the city as a whole. That's why... I think stepping back here is the right move."
"...That would leave a clear precedent that the church and saintess owe you one."
"Exactly, Lord Drei. With that precedent on record, the church won't be able to raise its voice in our city so easily anymore. Not even high priests, or even an archbishop."
"And in Bondales, where the church's influence is already weak, it'd be even harder for them to take root."
"Precisely."
Religions plant roots in cities under the guise of faith, gradually building power.
Among the city's power players, the church was quite the headache.
Fienne's decision as councilor's proxy was a perfect check on that.
"Oh...!"
Councilor's proxy Fienne.
Talent scout Drei.
Admiration burst from the city nobles watching their exchange.
Truth be told, some city nobles had eyed Fienne with displeasure.
A vagrant of unclear origins suddenly snatching a top city seat?
Ask them to recognize some unproven upstart as their equal among city nobles?
As their leader, no less?
Not easy for the prideful city nobles.
But Fienne's actions here planted a new impression.
"To think that far in such a short time..."
Placing the group's interests over personal honor—it was a sight rarely seen outside seasoned nobles.
"We respect Lady Fienne's choice!"
One by one, the city nobles present voiced their support for Fienne.
And so...
Fienne's judgment convinced all the city nobles and even earned their respect.
A mature, devoted decision worthy of the councilor's proxy!
...They had no idea.
'I survived...?'
That the councilor's proxy was just dodging scrutiny after getting exposed!
-Her? She's actually a vampire.
-Me? True Ancestor.
-So why didn't she get caught?
-Beats me. That guy must've done something.
The holy ritual powered by the first saintess.
Normally, a vampire's identity would've been revealed without issue.
Even if the aura was altered by "that man's" influence.
Yet she passed unscathed?
All thanks to "that man."
Because the ritual ran on his aura—
The vampire influenced by him got a free pass.
-We're holy vampires who don't bite people recklessly!
Their unbelievable innocence was proven by sheer luck and fortune.
In this situation, pushing further out of greed?
If the saintess grimaced and said, "Retry?" it'd be a disaster.
"..."
Was Drei thinking the same?
He gave Fienne a wry smile.
A certain man's face floated in their minds.
Rishir.
It had been quite some time since he left.
Bondales felt an immense void matching his presence.
Yet somehow...
They felt his presence more strongly than ever.
"World Tree's father...? And now a saint...or what? What the hell is he up to...?"
A voice catching on chuckles and smiles.
Rona forced the sentence out.
And so, the saintess incident seemed resolved.
However.
The morning after the heresy trial.
At Gus's mansion, a gathering formed once more, centered on Fienne's group and Palrag's.
"It bothers me."
The trigger was the grand mage's unease.
"You mean the saintess?"
Palrag nodded at Drei's question.
He addressed the group.
"Didn't you all sense something off about that saintess?"
"Off how—"
"...Drei. You said it yourself. Current saintess Asrania is so weakened that she's hogging all the church's elixirs and blessings."
"Yes."
"Yet there's no sign of her recovering from that weakness."
"From what my friends reported, yes."
"But here's the strange part."
"Pardon?"
Palrag recalled.
During the trial.
That moment her composure slipped due to the sudden incident.
The other side she revealed then.
"That saintess... She seemed to be hiding power. Power vast enough to surpass even me."
"The saintess hiding power...? Why...?"
Rona's murmur voiced everyone's doubts.
"You all."
Then Palrag addressed the room.
Those present were ones he'd handpicked by his strict standards.
Ones who could empathize with his wild leaps as fellow experts(?)
"Doesn't that saintess seem suspicious somehow?"
"...!!!"
Doubting a saintess, no less.
Even for non-believers, it stirred discomfort.
"W-Wait...! Duke Palrag! Isn't that too hasty—too dangerous a thought!?"
Gus panicked as if rebellion was being plotted in his own home.
"He's right. Tampering with a saintess... Even if it's a frozen breath, it could lead to unbearable consequences."
Gadena, fellow ancient texts expert, voiced similar concerns.
"Hm..."
Palrag sank into thought.
He lacked certainty too.
How to interpret this.
How to explain it.
Vague, foggy thoughts clouded his mind like mist.
Then...
He murmured softly.
"Rishir..."
A cue, an invitation to approach via the situation where Rishir's aura disrupted the saintess.
"Why bring up that man's name here—"
"Aha!"
Gadena looked at Master Meltas, who cut him off.
"Meltas. 'Aha'? What—"
"Indeed..."
Now Fienne nodded, interrupting him.
Looking around, it wasn't just them.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
'Rishir,' huh.
Makes sense.
"Duke Palrag!!! Thinking as you said—it does seem suspicious now!!!"
"Hm. As expected of Master Meltas. I see why the world praises your wisdom."
Gadena felt his mind reeling amid their enthusiastic feast.
"Wisdom... That?"
Doubting a saintess.
Gadena had zero intention of playing along with the madness.
He tried to slip away before their influence warped his thinking.
"Gadena, where are you going?"
The gray-haired elder called to the elf.
"..."
Gadena was at a loss for words.
Like bursting out of class mid-lesson?
He felt like the abnormal one among normals.
Heard it.
Rishir.
Got it?
"World Tree..."
The elf invoked the great being to shield his sanity amid the chaos.
But instead of the holy tree, a human face appeared.
"Ah."
The elf's mind reeled.
Elf Gadena joined their scheme.
"Swept up" fits better, but anyway.
Having spent considerable time in Bondales, Gadena had grown fond of it.
Now, he had one wish.
'They'll snap out of it after this blows up in their faces.'
For Bondales's key figures to awaken from madness before venturing further.
For the human saintess to perform a miracle!
"I won't deny it. Your suspicions were correct. I hid my power and my identity. A heretic spy infiltrating to sow chaos within the church—that's me."
"No—"
Gadena's wish was denied.
The saintess faced Fienne's group with a "so it came to this" expression.
She drew them aside for a calm talk and spilled every truth.
Gadena briefly wondered if they were pranking him in sync.
"Would a heretic spy reveal themselves so easily?"
The saintess smiled at Gadena's valid doubt.
A devout smile no mere pretender could fake.
"I'm prepared to atone."
The saintess closed her eyes gently, clasping her hands.
"Your timely arrival must be the God's appointment."
Gadena and Fienne's group were momentarily awed.
By the saintess's faith—
Pure, unwavering, absolute.
That's when Palrag sensed the change.
"You..."
He stared at the saintess.
"Lost your power?"
Palrag had come, nerves on edge, determined to pierce her hidden identity and strength.
And his eyes clearly saw it.
The saintess had lost all hidden power, reborn as her true, visible self.
Undeniably frail now.
Her aura evoked a dandelion seed—fragile, ready to scatter at a breath.
Yet somehow...
Palrag felt her presence more vividly than before.
Their eyes met.
"...!"
He swallowed involuntarily.
Her eyes held a light no fire or darkness could extinguish.
"Yes."
No regret from the answering saintess.
Despite losing power beyond a grand mage's grasp.
"How...?"
"The God took it back."
"All your power...?"
"No. It wasn't power. A vain, foolish mistake of my past."
"..."
They didn't believe in the God.
But now, they felt the God's presence.
Through the saintess.
"You... met the God?"
Palrag asked cautiously.
The saintess formed a spotless smile.
"I believe so."
Fienne's group returned to Gus's mansion after their audience.
"Is this really okay...?"
Gadena muttered doubtfully.
They ultimately didn't expose her identity to the faithful.
Simple reason.
The changed her was too saintly to denounce—
-Is that so? Then... not yet the time. The God's will. I accept.
She seemed every bit the saintess.
"The God... Lord of Holy Flame, does He truly exist?"
Rona, once a succubus denying all holy beings, voiced her turmoil.
"..."
Councilor's proxy.
Tower master.
Grand mage.
Great noble.
No one answered Rona.
"Perhaps—"
"Hm?"
Then the elf spoke.
Gadena.
With a troubled look.
"That God the saintess claims to have witnessed... What if it's him?"
"Him?"
"Rishir."
"..."
They turned to Gadena one by one.
Then the heavy mood shattered.
Pfft.
Laughter erupted.
"Gadena. Looks like you're getting used to it. But too immersed. Way off base."
Like a master smiling at a disciple's absurd theory?
Meltas beamed fondly at Gadena.
"..."
Gadena realized what he'd said too late.
Blood rushed to his face in embarrassment.
'Bondales. Time to escape.'
He sensed anomalies in his own thinking.
Rishir, reclaiming the "vessel" from Asrania.
His first act: restoring the aura Tara had lost.
Not difficult.
The first saintess at the pinnacle of holiness.
She needed resolve, not aid.
"Oh..."
Tara reclaiming her aura from the vessel.
Rishir exclaimed unwittingly.
Her already awe-inspiring presence grew even more robust.
'This is the true... first saintess... Huh?'
As Rishir admired Tara's aura.
He stared at the "vessel."
"..."
Interpreting his gaze somehow—
Before reclaiming all holy aura, Tara handed it to Rishir.
"Lady Tara?"
She left wordlessly.
"She's embarrassed."
The fairy Shuyen explained.
"Embarrassed...?"
"Yeah. Wants to say thanks, sorry, all that—but afraid she'll break down crying if she does. Putting on a front. She did it once before. Seems tough, but super sensitive. Cries buckets..."
"So giving this to me is..."
"Like shyly offering a single flower?"
Shuyen!!!
Don't spout nonsense!!!
Tara's distant shout was choked with emotion, as Shuyen said.
"Aha..."
Rishir smiled wryly, carefully pocketing the necklace.
That night.
Tara Dorin was sleepless for once.
Her mind tangled from the day's events, sleep evaded her.
"..."
Many thoughts and emotions swirled—
But dominating now: one worry.
Saintess Asrania.
The possibility of someone behind her.
Threatening the church.
Tara pondered.
If a backer existed, what kind?
What being could threaten the church with pure "holiness"?
-Tara Dorin...
"...!"
She bolted up, eyes wide.
A voice from somewhere meshed with her doubt.
"This voice..."
Unmistakable.
The demon she'd purified in life.
Purified darkness.
Once incarnation of evil, purified by Tara into a holy being.
Tara had confirmed its heart leaned holy over foul.
But what if...
It was an act?
Or it reclaimed its foul heart later?
That explained a holy being threatening the church.
"Huff... Huff...!"
Tara chased the voice, breathless.
Her frail, unrestored body creaked under the strain.
Yet she didn't stop.
Because...
The voice came from Rishir's room.
'No way, that vessel...!!! Did its aura linger in the vessel!?'
The purified darkness lurked in the "vessel."
Waiting for Rishir to be alone and defenseless!
'Rishir's in danger...!'
Tara raced desperately to his room.
Bursting through the door.
-Tara Dorin...
The purified darkness addressed her.
Stealthily, so sleeping Rishir wouldn't hear.
Plotting some vile scheme behind his back?
Tara listened tensely.
-Save me...
"?"
-Free me from this... I'll do whatever you say...
"..."
The demon's secret scheme unbeknownst to the man.
Begging its old nemesis saintess for life.