Chapter 12

(Oh? So that must be the elder sister who took the water and food without permission. Then the girl behind her must be her daughter. Still, that woman is surely old enough to know better, yet she has nearly half her breasts hanging out…)

While slipping into her robes the Shiki on which she had written the direction and distance calculated from the map to guide them to the mana pool they were about to visit, Princess Kana found herself distracted by the deeply exposed neckline of the lord’s elder sister.

She had already seen several examples of how women in this world dressed, including Shaila, her attendants, and Lady Clutchfield, but not a single one of them had exposed nearly that much of her chest. On top of that, the woman’s breasts were pushed upward to an almost unnatural degree.

(She has probably pushed them up from below like this, then squeezed them tightly together in the middle… But if she goes that far just to show off her breasts… then she really must have that sort of… proclivity…)

After giving the matter far more thought than it deserved, Kana reached the conclusion that the woman had an exhibitionist streak. Of course, the woman herself had no idea the princess had labeled her as such and was instead presenting her somewhat self-serving argument to her younger brother.

“Oh, how awful. You make it sound as though I shouldn’t have come at all. But this is my family home, and we merely came to offer our greetings to the Saintess, you know?”

She raised the fan in her hand to her mouth, tilted her head, and smiled, but neither her deliberately revealing attire nor her coquettish manner had any chance of working on her furious younger brother. Worse still, her words showed not the slightest awareness that she had done anything wrong, which seemed only to grate further on Clutchfield’s nerves.

He clenched his teeth so tightly that one could almost hear them grinding, and it was obvious even from the sidelines that he was barely restraining himself from laying hands on her.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what you did when you evacuated to the temple!”

“How rude. If you’re talking about the water and food I took with me, then you’re directing your anger at the wrong person. All I did was move those precious supplies somewhere safer. Whatever could possibly be wrong with that?”

She smiled again as though to say, So there was no problem, was there? In an instant, Clutchfield’s fury swelled even further. The look in his eyes had gone beyond anger and could fairly be called murderous intent.

“You removed that much without the permission of me, the lord of this territory, and you still have the nerve to say such a thing…”

However, as though throwing cold water on his anger, the bearded man cut in.

“Ahem! My lord, forgive me, but might I ask that you leave your family discussions until later? At present, we are in the middle of discussing the Saintess’s attitude toward the Temple Head, as well as the extremely important matter of why she failed to come and greet the temple immediately after arriving here.”

“Indeed! And I hear the Saintess healed the people of the territory, but we must clearly establish who requested that healing. The temple fully intends to have that person pay the proper fee for every individual who was healed!”

Seizing his opportunity, the Temple Head also raised his voice at the lord. Then, as if believing first impressions were everything, he tried to address the Saintess while glaring down at her imperiously, but—

“Tell me, Burley. Are these people perhaps touched in the head? They did absolutely nothing themselves, yet they demand payment. What miserly creatures they are. Ah, could it be that in this world, stealing credit for another’s accomplishments is a requirement for becoming a priest?”

Kana’s sarcasm, delivered in the guise of an innocent question, beat him to it and left him unable to say anything. Burley, whom she had addressed, promptly played along.

“Oh, certainly not! People such as these are an exceedingly rare exception. I have heard that most priests strive always to act righteously in accordance with the teachings of the Drāra Faith, our state religion: 【My eyes are ever upon you, and my guidance is ever with your conscience.】 These particular individuals have most likely fallen prey to some grave misunderstanding. Therefore, Saintess, I believe there is absolutely no reason for you to concern yourself with them.”

He replied with theatrical phrasing, complete with exaggerated gestures as though delivering lines in a play. Even Clutchfield, who had been somewhat displeased when his anger was interrupted, eagerly joined in.

“Quite so. Furthermore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the will of the Saintess, whom God sent into this world, is itself the will of God. Therefore, anyone who dares criticize her words or actions would be the one lacking proper devotion. So please pay them no mind whatsoever.”

Kana thought that reasoning had a few problems of its own, but the dumbfounded expressions on the priests’ faces during this cheap little farce were rather amusing, so she decided not to comment on it.

“I see. Then let us simply ignore them.”

With that, she returned as though nothing had happened to putting away in her 《Status》 the tools she had used to make the Shiki.

The Temple Head and the others, who had witnessed the entire exchange, were so astonished that they were left speechless. Until now, the temple priests had enjoyed no small degree of respect from the people and had even been treated with deference by the lord, so they had assumed that if they negotiated in a somewhat overbearing manner this time as well, their demands would immediately be accepted.

Yet the Saintess, who was supposed to fall under their authority, showed not the slightest hint of respect toward them. A huge, rugged knight had practically labeled them outcasts of the church who refused to follow God’s teachings, and to top it all off, the lord had explicitly declared that the Saintess ranked above the temple’s priests. Perhaps it was only natural that they were stunned.

But while the priests stood there dazed, someone spoke to Kana. It was Sharley, the lord’s elder sister. Based on her past experience, she was confident that her status and charms had been enough to grant most of her wishes, and she clearly expected this occasion to be no different. With a pleasant smile but a tone that unmistakably looked down on the other person, she said,

“Oh, Saintess, do wait. You must hear my request. After all, I came all this way specifically for that purpose.”

At those words, Kana became mildly curious as to just what kind of request someone with an exhibitionist streak might make, so she decided to hear her out for the moment.

“A request, you say?”

“Indeed. You see, I twisted my ankle the day before yesterday, and it still hurts a little. So I thought I would have you heal it with that glowing snow of yours.”

As she spoke, she briefly lifted the hem of her dress. At once, the gazes of the bearded man and the white-bearded old man, who had supposedly been standing there dumbfounded, converged upon the sliver of ankle that appeared. Kana herself, however, immediately lost interest after hearing such an disappointingly ordinary request. With an openly disgusted expression, she said,

“How utterly trivial. Have that old geezer over there, the one practically drooling over you, heal it instead. I refuse.”

She jerked her chin toward the Temple Head, then returned to what she had been doing.

Meanwhile, the Duchess Dowager, whose request for treatment had been refused, froze in shock, her face twitching as she sputtered, “…Wh-Wh-Wh…” But perhaps refusing to accept reality, she soon staggered and collapsed backward toward her daughter.

“Mother, are you all right?”

Those words finally seemed to bring the bearded man back to his senses, and he rounded on Kana in a rage.

“Hey! This lady is the Duchess Dowager Bamford! She went out of her way to come here, and that’s the attitude you take?! We have been tolerating your insolence because you’re from another world and because you’re the Saintess, and now you’ve let it go to your head! And you even called the Temple Head an old geezer! Just how impertinent can one little girl be?!”

Behind him, the Temple Head, who had been called an old geezer, had veins bulging on his forehead as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. His original plan had been quite simple: 【Once we arrive at the estate, we will immediately seize control of the situation through intimidation, reprimand the Saintess until she submits, then order her to make her glowing snow fall and heal the dowager duchess’s foot. Once we have confirmed the spell’s effects, we will force the lord to apologize for using the Saintess without the temple’s permission and collect our compensation.】 It had been an extraordinarily convenient plan—for them.

Yet every part of that plan had been thoroughly ruined, and to make matters worse, he had even been called an old geezer. Enraged beyond measure at having never been humiliated so badly, the Temple Head made a grave mistake. He resorted to force.

Of course, he knew that the extermination force’s knights and the territorial soldiers surrounded them, but aside from the lord himself, most were merely lower-ranking nobles. He calculated that if they quickly seized both the lord and the Saintess, everything afterward could be dealt with through his own authority as a man born into a count’s family and the influence of the Duchess Dowager.

“S-Seize this irreverent Saintess and the lord! Put them before a Trial Before God this instant!!”

At those words, several burly men waiting at the rear rushed forward. They were all technically priests, but they also normally served as the Temple Head’s guards and each had a fair degree of confidence in his fighting ability. Yet the moment Kana’s magical power stirred ever so slightly—

Splat!

Every man who had charged forward was slammed face-first against the floor, unable to move. They had surely never dreamed that several grown men could be subdued in an instant by a single young girl. Still pinned to the floor, they stared wide-eyed as though utterly unable to comprehend what had happened.

“Y-You dare resist?! Insolent brat! Get up at once and…”

But the Temple Head said nothing more. That was because every man in white robes present, himself included, was forced flat against the floor.

“W-What are you doing?! We are priests of the sacred Drāra Faith! Do you think such barbarity will be forgiven…?!”

Kana gave a dismissive snort at the shouting bearded man and increased the pressure of her magical power just a little. He immediately fell silent. Granted, noises like “Gugh!” and “Gyoghh!” could be heard here and there, sounding like crushed frogs, but Kana paid them no mind. Instead, she turned toward her faithful fox and gave a slightly wicked smile.

“They truly are unpleasant creatures. Would you not agree, Suō?”

“Indeed, most certainly!”

The white fox with flame markings bowed his head as he answered Kana’s question, then raised it again with a grin and twirled one forepaw.

“Bind!”

At his command, thin cords appeared and wrapped around the men again and again, completing their capture in the blink of an eye.

“At last, some peace and quiet. Come to think of it, yesterday we made a hollow that would be perfect for dumping rubbish. Suō, I hate to trouble you, but take these fellows and toss them in there. Ah, but first, Kaō. Strip away everything unnecessary. Those gold chains hanging from their necks and their rings may not amount to much, but they should contribute something toward restoring this land.”

At those words, the white fox with flower markings happily stamped one forepaw.

“At once! Strip!”

In an instant, everything except their undergarments was stripped away and piled before Kana. Naturally, the rings and gold chains were among the items. Sitting on top of the pile was a ring of keys.

“Then, Suō, I leave it to you.”

“As you command, Princess!”

Holding several cords in his mouth, Suō flew out through the door that had remained open since the priests entered, with the priests dangling from the ends of the cords. There came several noises like thud, clang, accompanied by groans, but they rapidly faded into the distance, so no one could know exactly what had happened to whom.

Then Kana turned toward Clutchfield, who had been watching the spectacle with evident admiration.

“Now then, the place where Suō has gone to dump that rubbish is the hollow created during yesterday’s purification. If nothing happens, he should return in about a day. Before then, take control of that building yourself. Here, these are probably the keys.”

With that, she handed him the ring of keys that had been lying on top of the clothes. Kana smiled and remarked that, at the very least, they should now be able to recover the water and food. Clutchfield bowed again and thanked her, but—

“W-Wait, Uncle! Why have you been bowing your head to someone like her this whole time?! That’s ridiculous!”

Clutchfield’s niece, who until then had been helping her nearly fainting mother into a seat and fanning her, suddenly raised her voice.

“I’ve been keeping quiet and watching all this, but what is wrong with you?! You weren’t merely rude to the priests—you treated them like garbage! You refused Mother’s request even though she’s a duchess! And now you’re acting all high and mighty toward Uncle too! Just who do you think you are?!”

“Well now, it is difficult to answer ‘who do you think you are?’ when the person asking has not even introduced herself.”

Kana thought there was simply no way to answer such a question, but her response only seemed to anger the girl further.

After all, until now, the only people who had ever spoken to Chantel, a duke’s daughter, on equal terms were members of the royal family, her relatives, and people from other ducal houses of equal rank. Consequently, she had regarded even the Saintess as so far beneath her that she was not even worth speaking to any more than absolutely necessary.

Yet the Saintess before her now behaved more imperiously than anyone else present and treated Chantel’s rank as though it meant nothing whatsoever. She could not tolerate that.

Besides, surely a Saintess was supposed to be some woman who smiled like a fool while obediently using healing and purification magic whenever the priests ordered her to.

“So what if you have a little more magical power than everyone else?! A Saintess should act like a Saintess and quietly heal the injured and sick! Now stop standing around and heal Mother already! She’s feeling even worse because of you. That’s an order!”

“Tell me, would it have been better if I had Suō throw these two away as well?”

Ignoring her niece’s heated tirade, Kana instead asked the lord. But Chantel was unaccustomed to having her words ignored, so she reached out to grab Kana’s arm and force the girl to face her. However—

Bang!

“Eek!”

A chunk of ice about the size of a child’s fist struck the back of her hand. As Chantel clutched it and trembled with rage, Kana glanced aside.

“Oh, Kaō. My thanks.”

“Princess, the honor is entirely mine!”

“What in the world is wrong with you?! I am the daughter of a duke! I will never forgive you for refusing to do as I say!”

“Why should I have any reason to obey you? Nor do I feel any obligation to grant your mother’s ridiculous request.”

“Of course you have to obey! I am a duchess dowager, and you are a Saintess! A Saintess’s job is to heal people’s wounds, isn’t it?! Then do your job!”

Her mother, apparently having finally recovered, joined the exchange between her daughter and Kana, once again presenting her thoroughly self-serving logic, but—

“If we are going by that reasoning, then I am Kana of the Tsuchimikado family, while you are merely an exhibitionist woman. I have neither the inclination nor the obligation to heal exhibitionists.”

Those words seemed to strike Clutchfield directly in his sense of humor. After all, his elder sister, who believed she was proudly displaying her magnificent body, had just been called an exhibitionist woman. He turned away, covered his mouth with one hand, and desperately fought to suppress his laughter. The woman herself, meanwhile, had gone scarlet with fury.

Just then Suō returned, so—

“What do you think? Shall I have him throw them away?”

Kana once again asked the lord.

“I don’t believe we need go quite that far.”

As he spoke, the lord cheerfully jingled the ring of keys Kana had given him.

“With these, it looks as though we’ll be able to recover the water and food. After that, I’ll simply toss them into a carriage and drive them out of my territory, so there’s no need to worry. Until then, I can put them in the dungeon.”

“If that satisfies you, then I have no objection.”

The mother and daughter immediately reacted to the somewhat ominous word dungeon, protesting in shrill voices.

“I most certainly am not satisfied! Daryl, you cannot possibly be serious!”

“Exactly! And if you put us in a dungeon, Aunt Belinda will surely be heartbroken!!”

“I find it extremely difficult to imagine that my beloved wife would be heartbroken upon learning that people who held tea parties without the permission of Belinda, the mistress of this estate, and replaced the decorations in its rooms however they pleased had been thrown into a dungeon.”

Clutchfield’s response was utterly cold, and appealing to his emotions did not seem likely to work.

“Oh, Uncle must have been deceived by this woman! Maybe she’s even brainwashed you! Come to your senses, Uncle! This woman surely isn’t a Saintess at all, she’s—”

“Ah, how noisy. Suō, Kaō!”

““As you command!””　

“Bind!” “Strip!”

Accompanied by the slightly malicious amusement in the white foxes’ voices, a fresh mound of clothes appeared. Naturally, beside it lay the two women, wrapped tightly from head to toe in cords.

“Finally, some quiet. Now then, if you’re going to the temple to recover the water and food, you would be wise to take Burley and Henry with you. Can I leave that to the two of you?”

When Kana looked toward them, both men nodded, and so the extermination force’s elite unit departed for the temple together with the lord, who asked for their assistance.