Sudden Secret Outburst
The moment the door to the hut opened, I was startled.
A warm, cozy atmosphere wafted out from the dilapidated shack that was barely holding together.
In the middle of a blizzard, how could it feel this warm? In such a tiny little house? That was impossible. This had to be…
“Magic…”
One of the knights muttered behind me.
Yes, this was the magic cast by the mage. Warmth, cold protection, every little detail. So gentle and delicate.
It was certainly the kind of care that befitted the princess and saintess.
And the woman who had come out from inside that small house was also quite unique. She carried herself with grace and beauty. Her face seemed to bear the words “Born with grace.”
If this woman wasn’t Pethia, then what was I? A serf’s daughter?
I stepped forward, pushing past everyone ahead of me, removed my hood, and knelt in proper court manner.
“Daniere family’s Arian greets the temple leader.”
“Oh, you’re the chamberlain’s daughter. You resemble your mother.”
What?
My face instantly froze. Saying my mother resembled me wasn’t a compliment.
What did that mean? Did I look terrifying? Like I could chew people’s souls like meat?
I was staring blankly at the temple leader in confusion when she smiled faintly.
“Louise is quite a beauty, isn’t she?”
“Ah, ah yes. Thank you, temple leader.”
Ah, beauty…
My mother was indeed beautiful. And I did resemble her.
Ah, but strangely, I had never once thought of my mother as beautiful.
My brothers probably felt the same. The only ones who ever called my mother beautiful or lovely were my father and grandfather.
That was right. Even my grandmother never said such things.
The woman in front of me was the third person.
I had no choice but to feel goodwill. It had been a long time since I had met someone who only praised my mother. It was hard to dislike anyone who saw only the good in my mother.
Besides, this woman was clearly of a generation close to my mother’s, yet she carried herself with such refinement.
Truly, she radiated an otherworldly distance.
“Oh dear, you must be freezing out here in this cold. Please come inside, everyone.”
My knights and I entered with glad hearts, but the guide stopped and shook his head, stepping back.
Why again?
No, I could guess why Paul had shown that irritated “Ah, I thought he was a regular customer. Looks like he’s just another vagabond” attitude. He probably judged that someone like me entering a poor temple wouldn’t be much help.
But why stand outside in this freezing cold when there was an obvious reason?
Both of them looked as though they would never enter, no matter what.
Even as a serf, leaving them out here in the blizzard felt too cruel.
If I ordered them to enter, I might, but I hated the idea of forcing them when they clearly wanted nothing to do with it.
In the end, I closed the door and left the two guides outside, allowing only my knights and myself to enter the hut that had been named a temple.
And I was truly shocked.
…There was nothing at all?
The temple leader Pethia’s “Please come inside” had been literal.
When I stepped in, I had naturally assumed someone would offer me tea to drink.
I had been imagining myself sipping some refreshing tea befitting the temple’s image while discussing the life of a disciple.
But the house had nothing. Not even a cup, let alone snacks.
How on earth did Pethia live like this?
Pethia guided us to a small statue. It was Gerka’s statue, yet it was used as a household altar.
A palm-sized statue, yet it was clearly placed inside the temple.
Even though this temple looked like an ordinary palm-sized hut at first glance, it was actually an ancient temple built inside the Grand Hall of Demia, where the gods had ended the war.
It was like a human heart.
Entering a sanctuary and standing before a statue without performing the proper ritual was unthinkable. Did she want a punishment?
Besides, there were no atheists in this world. The only possible atheist was me, a soul who had come from the twenty-first century, but the real issue was that I knew the gods were real.
Of course, we all knelt and worshipped the deity.
And then I heard the god’s voice.
{ Gerka. }
Was this a hallucination?
{ I believe I have issued a somewhat… inconvenient revelation. }
It was definitely a hallucination.
“Somewhat”? A god? How could a god have such little conscience? A god.
{ …I will make concessions in completing this revelation. I will grant you one ability you require. If it is a power within my domain, it is possible. Now, speak. }
Wasn’t this just like a modern boss? A god? I was getting fired up.
I covered my mouth and moved my lips.
“Must it be right now? I want to think about it seriously. What ability is truly necessary to complete the revelation, and I’d like to consider it carefully.”
{ Now. Immediately. }
“Instant teleportation is possible?”
{ I am the god of wisdom and learning. }
“Copying money.”
{ Do you think that relates to wisdom and learning? If no proper request comes again, this offer is null. }
This was strange.
It felt less like a god and more like a slightly strict supervisor?
I had never held a real job, but I had done part-time work. The boss’s tone back then was exactly like this.
By the way, what kind of ability could the god of wisdom and learning grant within his domain?
Prophecy? No, there was a separate god of prophecy. Then this couldn’t be Gerka’s power.
I realized anew just how useless Gerka was. A god with no skills at all?
After thinking long and hard, I finally recalled the one ability Gerka could grant me.
If I hadn’t read web novels in twenty-first-century Korea, I probably wouldn’t have thought of it.
“Make me able to view the status. In an extremely detailed version.”
I had kept my eyes closed for a long time, then opened them suddenly, and my vision was momentarily blocked.
When I squinted against the glare, I faintly saw Pethia.
Ah, if only my eyesight could recover a little more, I wanted to check Pethia’s status first.
In the end, Gerka granted me the ability I had asked for.
The reason I had prayed so long wasn’t because it had taken time to convince the other person.
It had taken a very long time to fully understand what the “status” was.
Eventually, I had no choice but to believe that Gerka had said “I understand. I am granting you this ability right now” and finish my prayer.
Understanding? That was ridiculous.
But wouldn’t it still be helpful?
To gain the goodwill of the Hamilcar people, it was important to know what they needed.
If I could view the status, it would help at least a little.
After a long time, my vision cleared, and what I saw was Pethia. More precisely, Pethia holding an empty bowl.
When our eyes met, Pethia smiled shyly.
“Gerka is pleased with your sincerity.”
I dropped my jaw while staring at the palm-sized bowl that was being offered with what looked like a blatant demand for a bribe.
Only then did I realize what she was doing to me right now.
She was scamming me…
The temple leader Pethia, a princess and saintess, was extorting a bribe from a twelve-year-old me?
With this empty bowl? After making me worship before a palm-sized statue?
This wasn’t robbery, then what was it…
At that moment, I instinctively turned around.
Those guide people from earlier. Why hadn’t they come in? I had known that there was a robber disguised as the saintess here.
I couldn’t fight Pethia. It wasn’t because she was the saintess or the princess, and I couldn’t because I had to survive here for years, and I couldn’t because I needed her support.
Her face showed no greed, and she was simply looking at me as though receiving it was the most natural thing in the world.
Probably that was how she had survived. The only way she could live on this mountain peak where snowstorms raged even in summer.
I couldn’t curse her for this. I could curse her brother and father for trapping her in this territory, but not her.
I respectfully placed three gold coins on Pethia’s bowl. Pethia made an innocent “Oh dear…” sound.
Of course it was a large sum, but to react so openly to three gold coins… She had once been a princess.
While she stared blankly into the bowl, I called up her status.
“Tell me about Pethia’s body, soul, life, and fate.”
The command was grand, I thought, but the moment I finished speaking, countless things floated before my eyes.
[ Saint Pethia ]
The letters floated haphazardly. I couldn’t tell what criteria they had been grouped by, but some information was clustered together and some was separate.
Countless clusters sparkled in the space.
[ 44 years old, female, divorced, temple leader of the Grand Gerka Cathedral, saint ]
[ Loves sweets but dislikes bitter food, wants to try smoking, the being whose wavelength matches Gerka the most. ]
[ Possesses prophecy ability ]
I read the various letters and suddenly paused.
Had I skipped any letters I shouldn’t have? I tried reading them again.
[ 44 years old, female, divorced, temple leader of the Grand Gerka Cathedral, saint ]
Divorced?
Pethia the princess was divorced?
That was impossible. If Pethia the princess had ever married, I would have known.
She hadn’t married. In her youth, she had become a priestess by accepting Gerka’s choice.
After becoming a priestess, of course she couldn’t have married…
Was it possible? Was it possible?
Had she had a secret marriage? And even gotten divorced?
I checked the status once more. It clearly said “divorced.” It wasn’t a widow.
“Ah, no way…”
I muttered without realizing.
This wasn’t the kind of secret I had wanted.
I had only wanted to know her small wishes or deficiencies. Just for fun.
But why was a nuclear-level secret bursting out?!
--- **SYSTEM NOTIFICATION** **⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙** **{ Gerka: Your request has been processed. The ability has been granted. }** **{ Gerka: Please be careful. The god of wisdom and learning does not make idle promises. }**