Three days had already passed since Daniel repelled Prince Oliver and drove him out of Batian.
With just one day left until the Saint Vote.
It was a bit unique that two people who had been hostile just a few days ago were now calmly chatting.
“How much could we sell the information that the candidates for the Saint of a nation are actually enjoying a debauchery party due to brainwashing?”
The noblewoman grinned chillingly, covering her mouth with a black lace-gloved hand. Sitting on the bed, the Saint candidate Mikaela furrowed her brow in response.
“Are you referring to dogs licking each other when you say ‘debauchery’?”
The noblewoman fell silent at those words.
To Mikaela, all the other Saint candidates were no competitors on equal footing, but mere pet dogs beneath her.
What could be the reason these two were together?
The story begins with the noblewoman, who was left alone in Batian like a guard dog after Daniel drove out Prince Oliver.
The nun of Demeter, whom the prince intended to make a saint, had been murdered. While Mikaela led the charge, the entire cathedral was complicit.
Knowing the bishops were lackeys of the royal family, they had banded together to cut off the roots ahead of time, resulting in the sacrifice of Lucia, a nun of Helios.
From the prince’s perspective, he couldn’t negotiate with a new nun and, having been chased away by Daniel, had no influence over Batian.
Thus, the noblewoman also intended to set aside her private emotions of shame and rage due to the annihilation of the Chokugen Faction and withdraw from Batian.
Out of the blue, the person closest to becoming the saint and a central figure in the cathedral, Mikaela, made a counter-proposal.
She asked for help.
It was truly funny, but Mikaela could say she had already won this saint vote.
To ask for help after having secured her victory already?
But the prince, having heard the noblewoman’s report, promised Mikaela support that exceeded what he had given to Nun Demeter.
Mikaela was not just looking to stop at the saint vote. She was already confident that she would become a saint and began to consider the following steps.
However, she concluded that even if she became a saint, it wouldn’t be wholly satisfying.
The bishops, who claimed to have killed Nun Demeter, would demand a share of the sanctity once she became a saint, shaking her firmly.
So she betrayed the cathedral.
Mikaela, the candidate most likely to win the saint position, sided with the royal family.
‘A woman like this becoming a saint just proves the world is decaying.’
The noblewoman, as the second-in-command of the Chokugen Faction, had faced the despicable aspects of nobility and the filth piled beneath the archbishops countless times.
But the thought that a woman who should be the most virtuous could actually have a serpent’s head was something else.
In such a filthy world, perhaps someday God would wash everything away and bring a flood.
The noblewoman smiled again, thinking that would be amusing.
*
“What are you going to do about this!”
The oldest bishop in the cathedral, who led the meeting, rarely shouted in anger.
The bishops and paladins seated before him had nothing to say, merely letting out heavy sighs at the table.
“Look around the cathedral! It’s full of assassins brought in by Mikaela! Those guys are about to step into our cathedral with their filthy feet!”
As the Saint Vote day approached, the new members of the Chokugen Faction brought in by the noblewoman were closing in around the cathedral.
They were surveilling everyone exiting the cathedral, signaling a determination not to allow any unnecessary variables.
“Is it because we couldn’t even catch a single girl that we’ve gotten into this mess? Do you not realize how heavy the weight of the name ‘Saint’ is?”
Those trapped in this predicament could only listen to the old bishop. Though older and prioritized, they held the same position and could respond if necessary.
But they had nothing to say.
The situation was so dire that they couldn’t even make futile excuses or openly show displeasure.
All the candidates for saint had fallen under Mikaela’s control.
The imprint of the Goddess Aphrodite whispered the language of love, turning all the candidates into her slaves.
Simply because one had betrayed, all the saint candidates had become lackeys of the royal family.
Even more humiliatingly, the archbishop, the highest authority of the cathedral, was also being manipulated by the imprint of the Goddess Aphrodite.
That’s why only the bishops and paladins, excluding the archbishop, had been gathered like this.
Neither in the history of the Saint elections nor in the cathedral’s long tradition had they faced such profound disgrace.
“Huh.”
The bishop, who had just been furious to the point of his face turning red, slowly took a deep breath and asked quietly.
“What about the assassination?”
For these desperate individuals, extreme measures were their only remaining option. Since Nun Demeter was already dead, another candidate’s murder would greatly harm the cathedral’s side.
But it was still better than letting a pawn of the royal family sit as a saint.
One of the paladins, dressed in blue, spoke with his head hung low.
“I failed. The woman by Mikaela’s side is not an ordinary skilled individual.”
Who would dare discuss assassination in front of anyone?
The noblewoman was the second-in-command of the Chokugen Faction, specializing in assassination.
It was no different from a puppy unaware of the fear of a tiger explaining the Forest of the Demon Realm in front of Daniel.
“Sigh.”
The vote was tomorrow.
Since only the individuals present had voting rights, they could manipulate the results to their liking.
But as mentioned, all the saint candidates had fallen under Mikaela’s control, and her imprint had spread throughout Batian, making it clear that if they didn’t vote for Mikaela, a riot was imminent.
How could such a situation have occurred?
Even if they now cursed and regretted their past complacency, the outcome wouldn’t change.
While they were fuming with their heads in their hands, a young boy waddled into their meeting room.
“Hey, you can’t come in!”
The guards tried to stop the boy, but he somehow dodged their hands without any great movement.
“Let’s skip the nuisance and get straight to the point.”
The boy presented a proposal like a poisoned apple that they could not refuse.
*
“……”
For Lucia, the nun of Helios, sunlight was a mercy the god bestowed upon humans: love and a proof of existence.
Though she had spent her whole life striving for it, she had never once considered it trivial or taken it for granted; yet, the divine grace could not reach her simply by digging into the ground and building a wall underground.
Sister Lucia was eating and drinking the provided water and food, but she felt her body drying out. In truth, she was extraordinarily thin.
She couldn’t get a proper night’s sleep due to her confinement and was haunted by dark circles under her eyes. It was fortunate, or maybe unfortunate, that she couldn’t see herself in a mirror because it was dark.
“Oh, Helios…”
Here, all Lucia could do was pray. Unlike those times when she pleaded for her life with lingering attachments, there was now nothing left.
The only thing to rely on was God, so all she could do was pray.
Though she was in an underground space devoid of any point of divine warmth illuminating the vast continent, paradoxically, Lucia was drawing closer to God in this situation.
Above her head, an artificial ray of light was cast.
The light from the corridor illuminated as the door opened, and it was the one time a day she could see the only light during meal time.
It was laughably amusing, but Lucia gained numerous theological insights and realizations from that small light. Of course, whether she’d be able to share them with someone was another story.
“But it doesn’t seem like it’s time for the meal yet.”
Of course, in the empty underground room, she couldn’t accurately grasp the concept of time, but after living this way for several days, Lucia had developed an unwanted sense of timing.
According to her senses, there was still some time before mealtime.
“Finally found you.”
A girl entered with the light behind her.
Her reddish-brown hair shone brightly in the light.
The friend she had made for the first time outside the monastery.
Though calling her a friend would be a stretch due to the briefness of their relationship, in that moment, they shared deep friendship. External factors had played a significant role, of course.
A delinquent friend whom one would say doesn’t suit a nun.
“May…!”
“I was worried you were dead!”
May, leaning against the doorframe, approached Lucia with a relieved smile.
“How did you get here? No one should know I’m locked up here!”
“Your voice is hoarse. Here, drink this.”
Lucia brought the water bottle that May handed her to her lips. Overwhelmed by the sweet lemon scent wafting from inside, she gulped it down.
“Oh, oh. You drink well!”
May patted her head as if treating her like a child, and Lucia, setting the water bottle down, slightly pouted her lips.
“D-Don’t treat me like a kid. If you get caught being here…”
“Don’t worry about that. Look, I brought a present!”
From May’s hoodie pocket, she produced the usual candy, but that wasn’t all. Layered on top of the candy was.
“A key?”
“First, eat this.”
May tore open the wrapper and stuffed the candy into Lucia’s mouth. For a moment, Lucia was surprised, but the sweetness bursting in her mouth brought overwhelming pleasure.
Clink!
The shackles binding Lucia fell away.
As her hands were liberated after such a long time, she felt a mix of freedom and confusion.
“How did you have this key?”
When Lucia, not grasping the situation, looked to May, she pointed at the boy standing nearby.
“Hello.”
“Hello, sir?”
When the boy casually raised his hand in a bored manner, Lucia reflexively answered back. May whispered in Lucia’s ear as she be swept along with the flow.
“He saved us. Isn’t it amazing? But there’s still something more amazing ahead.”
“Amazing thing?”
As Daniel slowly approached Lucia, he handed her a blanket draped over his arm.
“Sister Lucia. You must become the next saint.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, before that.”
Daniel caught Helios’s priest, who was dragged in from behind.
Totally unaware that such a situation would occur, he had roughened up Lucia, so he immediately tried to apologize.
He thought he might elaborate on Helios’s mercy and tell her to maintain decorum as a saint candidate.
Regrettably, he wouldn’t even get that chance.
Smack!
Lucia’s powerful spike hit the priest’s cheek perfectly, and he collapsed to the floor, knocked out cold from the shock.
“Divine punishment, you bastard!”
