Free Lunch (1)
This truly had an overwhelming effect.
“Welcome, Saintess!”
“You look beautiful today as well. Is there something different about you now that you’re the Saintess?”
“You don’t even need to come out in person today, Saintess. Only patients we can handle on our own have shown up. What? Ah, to be honest, we’ve been rather negligent until now, haven’t we? From now on, we’ll follow your example and share the miracle of healing with a heart of reflection and atonement.”
What on earth was going on? At first, I’d been quite flustered by the sudden shift in attitude and mindset overnight. After all, I didn’t recall doing anything in particular. Still, thanks to Peter quickly grasping the situation and explaining it to me, my confusion didn’t last long.
“With Princess Yulia’s manifestation of divine power, things are being turned upside down even as we speak. And above all, it’s all thanks to you, Lucia, that she obtained that power.”
“Uh, so that’s why everyone—regardless of age, gender, mage, knight, or cleric—is treating me so favorably?”
Of course, most people had already been kind and well-disposed toward me. After all, I was the Saintess, and I’d proven my power here as well. Even those who were lukewarm believers or drawn only by my immense wealth in gold coins rarely showed outright hostility. But this level of active goodwill was rare indeed.
Paradoxically, it was because I was the Saintess. Approaching me too freely carried personal and political burdens alike. Fundamentally, the Church and secular powers existed in a relationship of checks and balances. If anything, a Saintess who had suddenly appeared as the face of the Church’s new miracle-based currency would naturally feel burdensome to them.
“You enlightened the Imperial Princess of the rival Church and helped her manifest divine power. To the kingdoms south of the Empire, you’ve done something deeply satisfying, so anyone who gets close to you is automatically seen as a good person.”
The deep smile on his face was likely born from satisfaction at having formed a close relationship with me early on. In short, it meant he thought he’d made a rather shrewd low-point investment. Judging from his reaction, he still seemed unaware that the real reason I’d come here was because of King William IV’s request—his own father’s words—to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t be swayed by the wrong sort of person. Well, all’s well that ends well.
That said, this incident seemed like it should give the Imperial side every reason to be wary of me. Yet—
“Um, is it really true that the Princess awakened her divine power thanks to you, Saintess?”
“That’s what she says. Thanks to that, I’m receiving far more credit than I deserve, which makes it rather awkward to simply rejoice. I didn’t really do anything, after all.”
“How can you say you did nothing? Your appearance at the theater was the very image of a Saintess driving out darkness. Honestly, I’m starting to question whether the Imperial Church even began this rivalry for religious reasons. With a Saintess like you here……”
The man speaking now was the third son of an Imperial ducal house. Being a third son placed him somewhat removed from the line of succession, yet not so far removed as to hold no real power within the family. While it would be a stretch to say his words represented his house’s official stance, the fact that someone of his position was openly criticizing the Imperial Church in front of me carried significant weight.
“What is the situation in the Imperial Church that makes you say such things?”
So I asked, feigning complete ignorance and pure curiosity. At that—
“Recently the Imperial Church has begun issuing its own church currency following the gold coin standard, but it’s clearly inferior to the gold coins in every way. On top of that, they’ve suddenly declared tithing mandatory—for nobles and commoners alike.”
“I haven’t seen the currency they plan to issue, so I can’t say much about that, but mandatory tithing? Wasn’t that already a dead letter? The Council already finished interpreting the doctrine on it.”
Tithing meant offering a portion of one’s income to the Church as a donation. Just as in the world I came from, where different religions and regions demanded one-tenth or one-thirtieth, this world’s Church had once collected tithes in a rather haphazard manner. However, because divine power already existed here, receiving miracles in exchange for money made tithing feel like outright exploitation under the guise of religion. “Why should we pay again when we’re already buying miracles with money?” people had asked. Thus it had become a dead letter, declared unnecessary by the Council. Ironically, as the Church weakened over time, the loss of this revenue was later cited as one of the reasons for its financial difficulties.
“It seems the Imperial Church is in quite desperate need of money.”
“Exactly. The Church is the Church. I can understand that nobles need money no matter what they do, but the Imperial Church these days is simply too, too greedy for wealth.”
I felt a slight twinge of guilt at that. After all, when it came to being greedy for money, I wasn’t exactly in a position to throw stones. My policy had always been to make the Church great through money. When I first arrived here, the Church had been struggling financially and steadily losing ground to secular powers. That was why I’d created the gold coins, fought to raise their value, and thrown myself into all sorts of marketing efforts that a Saintess normally wouldn’t need to bother with.
“I don’t really have much room to talk on that front, but even so, they’re going too far.”
“What you do, Saintess, ultimately benefits those who have nothing. Even among the nobility, the fact that you use it as a pretext to share miracles with those who would otherwise struggle to receive great ones makes it incomparable to our Imperial Church.”
Ah, so public sentiment had turned due to the oversupply of inferior goods. No matter how much of a steady seller you were with virtually no substitutes, if you ran your business into the ground, people would start looking for alternatives they’d previously thought didn’t exist. And right on cue, a powerful substitute from within the same industry had appeared—saving countless noble bloodlines and even poaching their best regular customer.
“Thank you for seeing it that way. Sometimes I wonder if I’m truly suited to be a Saintess, but your words give me strength.”
“The very fact that you say such things sets you apart from the Imperial Church on a fundamental level. Those people demand money even from my own family as if it’s only natural, and because we have more wealth, they ask for even more—as though we’d simply entrusted our money to them for safekeeping.”
In short, the Imperial Church had successfully broken away from the existing “business” to stand on its own, only to have its customers openly complain about its poor payment attitude. No wonder everyone was so taken with my approach. If I were to put it unkindly, I could say I only cared about money—but rephrased, it meant that if you paid, I would treat you properly.
“It might sound ridiculous coming from me, but one should be moderate in one’s greed for money.”
“Precisely. That’s why I’m telling you this—would it be possible for you to visit the Empire in the near future? It would, of course, be an official imperial invitation.”
“My, so you’ve been acting as a representative of the Imperial family?”
“The Princess’s position is quite different from before. I was rather taken aback myself, but in any case, your safety will be guaranteed on the honor of the Imperial family. The Imperial family has also been quite displeased with the Imperial Church crossing the line recently.”
Just from this conversation alone, I’d already achieved a major success in terms of information gathering. If responding to this invitation yielded even more results, that would be ideal. Still, this required careful consideration.
“I’ll think about it. Honestly, I didn’t expect the Imperial Church’s conduct to differ so greatly from the Imperial family’s views.”
From everything I’d learned and researched so far, the establishment of a separate Imperial Church had largely reflected the Imperial family’s unwillingness to accept a hero from Brien. Yet now this scion of an Imperial ducal house was testifying that a clear rift had already formed between the Imperial Church, the Imperial family, and the nobility.
“Of course. If necessary, I can provide related information as well. By now, the Princess should have received all the details regarding the Imperial Church.”
“By now? She didn’t know until recently?”
“Well, she originally came here solely to find a marriage prospect…… And to be honest, before she became close with you, Saintess, she hadn’t really grasped any significant power.”
That meant Yulia now held real power worth mentioning. However, once that conversation ended, I couldn’t meet Yulia right away. It wasn’t because she had other engagements—it was because I suddenly had far too many of my own. Immediately after the third son of that ducal house, over ten more Imperial nobles were waiting to see me. In the current situation, how could I refuse or postpone their requests?
Thus, the content of what each person I met had to say was essentially the same: the Imperial Church’s every action was distasteful, and they wanted to know how to align themselves with me instead.
“Fundamentally, they underestimated the customers who pay them. They treated them not as people deserving respect and good service, but as mere piggy banks that spit out money.”
“Customers who pay? But aren’t they all believers?”
“That’s right, they’re believers, Yulia. But approaching them with that kind of soft, naive mindset won’t do any good. Those in power aren’t that innocent to begin with.”
After finishing that long string of appointments, I finally had time with Yulia. It was essentially a private lesson—one she had actively requested. Both the Empire and the Church had, at least, agreed to entrust Yulia, who had manifested divine power because of me, to my care.
“Um, it’s not that I think it’s bad, but your way of thinking, Lucia, feels like you’re converting everything into monetary value.”
“It’s not just a feeling—it’s reality. Think about it, Yulia. If the Church truly helped people without receiving anything in return, would people continue to feel grateful and deepen their faith?”
“They wouldn’t? I only learned this recently myself, but the Imperial Church lost a great deal of support across all classes because they were too greedy for money……”
Combining my experiences from my previous life with my short time in this world and careful reflection, I’d come to understand that simply pursuing money itself rarely drew heavy criticism. On the contrary, it usually earned admiration.
“The Imperial Church didn’t end up that way just because they pursued money, Yulia.”
“Then why?”
“Like I said earlier, it’s because they didn’t know how to be grateful to those who gave them money. They underestimated the customers who paid.”
Treating guests well was important. That was why I was saying this even during what was supposed to be a religious tutoring session. Whether merchant or cleric, one must never treat visitors carelessly.
“Then, what I was trying to say……”
“If the word ‘customers’ feels too off, I’ll just say ‘visitors.’ Those visitors should be treated as important, if not precious. You’re smart, Yulia, so you probably understand by now, right?”
“In the end, it means that as a Saintess, you cherish people, doesn’t it? It sounds obvious at first glance, but if you can’t do even that obvious thing, you end up like the Imperial Church.”
“You understood perfectly.”
“Heheheh……”
For the record, she was currently sitting on my lap, legs tucked to the side just like before, looking down at me slightly. Anyone else who saw us would probably be shocked. Still, this position made it easier to tuck her hair behind her ears, and more importantly, it was Yulia’s own preference, so I usually went along with it. Of course, my personal tastes played a part as well. I mean, why not—she was beautiful. Especially those distinctive golden eyes, which I wanted to see up close like this.
“Next, something equally important.”
“Yes, I’m listening, Lucia.”
“Be careful never to let what you do become free. No matter how many people thank you at first, if it keeps happening, you’ll end up in a world overflowing with people who think such things have no value and are naturally free.”
“Even so, continuing to serve or accept only minimal compensation as if it were volunteer work is something only a god can do. We’re not gods, are we?”
As our eyes met, Yulia nodded as if entranced by my words. She really was an excellent student.