Chapter 70

The people, who had been savoring the thrill of victory and survival against the magic beasts, looked utterly dumbfounded. Because the speaker was the Saintess, no one dared to protest; they simply stood there with their mouths agape like goldfish. However, a solemn voice soon rang out from somewhere.

“Of course. We were able to survive thanks to the Saintess’s protection, but other places surely weren’t as fortunate. Stepping up to provide relief is undoubtedly what Ralphican would wish for.”

…?

-Was that line from Edelina?

-?? Not the Marquis?

It was none other than Edelina!

“E-Edel?”

The Marquis and the protagonist stared at Edelina simultaneously, their expressions filled with disbelief.

…It seemed I had unexpectedly inducted the poor soul, Edelina, into the Order of Ralphicanism. Following Edelina’s lead, Darian, the Commander of the Rubel Knights, shouted out vigorously.

“I’ll go as well! It’s not enough for just us to survive. We should live by helping one another. Now, Saintess! Where should we head first?!”

“Ah, well… we do have strength to spare, so I suppose we can go.”

“I can certainly go as well. Ah, but first we must report the matter of the magic stones. Since searching for them will likely take the longest. Still, that massive energy is hard to ignore, so if we focus on tracking the aura of the stones, we might resolve this faster than expected.”

Ilian and Arianne agreed in turn. Now, the only one left was the protagonist.

Ping!

“Ah, it’s either 1 or 3~.”

-3 seems a bit overkill

-Go with 1

“But doesn’t 1 feel a bit like he’s doing it reluctantly?”

-Hmm, I guess so

-Then 3 lol

-Just do whatever you want~

“Okay, number 3!”

As time began to flow again, the protagonist stared at me for a moment with complex eyes, then recited the dialogue from the option in a somewhat hollow voice. Despite his lack of energy, the soldiers who had been in a daze found their strength again, perhaps thanks to the protagonist’s ‘Persuasiveness Enhancement’ trait.

“Yeah! We can’t be the only ones taking it easy!”

“Isn’t everyone someone’s precious person?!”

“I’m worried about my distant relatives, too.”

“I hope Ralphican looks upon us with pride!”

It was quite nice to see them each coming up with their own reasons. Thus, the forces of the Marquissate, having finished their reorganization, set out to provide support, starting with the nearest territory.

And then…

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Reputation was rising without a moment’s rest.

A thousand shop points, and even new items. The constant ringing of notifications wasn’t over yet.

‘Those aren’t mine.’

I shifted my gaze to the Omniscient Viewer Perspective.

-Wow, that’s cool as hell

-This hype is insane

-That reputation gain is sweet

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The messages popped up in such rapid succession that they even began to glitch out into pixels, unable to handle the load.

“I guess it’s because I took the Saintess route~? This route is so refreshing. Before this, I almost died from frustration while dealing with all that sweet potato.“¹

-That’s because you’ve never seen a happy ending.

-LOL but for real, the vibes are actually good this time.

The atmosphere was great. Taking a closer look at the illustration on the screen, a magic beast about as tall as a five-story building lay collapsed at the protagonist’s feet. It looked like a bipedal creature, a mix between a crocodile and a wolf.

That wasn’t all. Carcasses of smaller magic beasts were piled up endlessly. Even from just a glimpse, I could tell there had been a desperate struggle.

“Saintess! My goodness. Where are you going again?!”

“Emily.”

“Saintess, I am here as well~.”

“…Even Priest Kalat has come.”

“Are you on your way to walk in the garden? Come to think of it, I heard the camemones have already bloomed. It must be because the weather has turned warm. They said they planted some in your private garden too, so let’s go see them!”

After the situation was settled, I had returned to the Holy State. As Kalat had predicted, the Pope had hidden the fact that I had run away from the Church. By the time rumors of the Saintess being in the Marquissate began to spread, it seemed it was no longer possible to cover it up.

I could guess just how pissed the Pope was through Emily; as soon as I returned, she lamented that the Pope had been so terrifying and that if something like this happened again, her neck was as good as gone.

Well, anyway, I was on my way for a walk because I was sick of being confined to my room. I didn’t expect to run into those two right at the door, though. As I headed toward the garden, the two of them followed right behind me.

“Saintess, did you hear? They’re saying Sir Hereis is a hero of the continent!”

Kalat stood beside me and flourished something with a “Ta-da~.” It was a newspaper, neatly pressed as if it had been ironed. Because he shoved it right in front of my face, my eyes drifted to it even though I didn’t want to.

Appearance of a New Hero?! It’s a hot topic as it’s revealed the Saintess received a revelation before the so-called ‘Magic Beast Terror’ incident occurred!

The hero’s identity has been revealed to be Hereis Rubel. Do you know Hereis Rubel? There isn’t an Imperial citizen who doesn’t. He is the eldest son of the recently deceased Robert Rubel and the nephew of the current Duke. As the son of Robert Rubel, who caused a public stir, he…

According to the testimony of the people of the Peyers Marquissate who witnessed it, he was like a hero appearing in a legend…

What’s more surprising is that in the Empire, he is already known as the hero who saved Lanta Village…

‘Not bad.’

I liked the fact that it subtly emphasized that people were saved thanks to the revelation I gave the protagonist, and it was a very positive sign that a public connection between the protagonist and me had been established.

“This is a tremendous achievement. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he saved the northern part of the continent single-handedly!”

‘It was a relief his mental state didn’t completely shatter.’

If the Bad Ending credits had rolled due to poor mental strength management, or if he had stormed out saying he couldn’t do this anymore while trying to dig into the secret of Drott’s death, things would have been very difficult.

The moment he had a breather, Mo Je-won poured mental recovery items into him, and he survived. It was only possible because shop points had been supplied thanks to the reputation.

“There are even stories going around about how he found out about the magic stones and even informed other countries!”

“To a subordinate’s question of whether it was okay to just give away facts discovered with such difficulty, he even left behind a famous quote: ‘To weigh profit against human lives is to be worse than a beast’~.”

I was the one who told him to inform other countries, though. It got distorted and ended up sounding like the protagonist did it. Well, it doesn’t matter. As long as someone gathered reputation points, it’s fine.

“I also heard he personally marched to the estates that requested support and crushed the magic stones? Kwoo~ Sir Hereis is cool as expected!”

“To think he’s done this right after receiving a medal! The whole country is buzzing with stories about Sir Hereis lately.”

It wasn’t just Kalat and Emily making a fuss. No matter where I went in the Great Cathedral, everyone was talking about it. The Pope looked displeased, but seeing him unable to show it was hilarious. He brought it on himself. If he hadn’t been so petty and had released the revelation earlier, he wouldn’t have had to feel so hurt. Anyway, there was a lot to be gained from this incident.

‘It’s basically the same as fulfilling all the ending conditions.’

Now, once the investiture ceremony is over, I plan to formally request an audience with the Emperor.

“Well, all of this is thanks to the Saintess’s revelation…!”

I replied to Kalat’s words with a bright smile.

“It is the grace of Lord Ralphican.”

“As expected of the Saintess! How devout…”

“No. I only regret that the grace couldn’t be delivered to more people.”

The eyes of the two, which had been sparkling with praise for me, instantly filled with gloom.

…And for good reason, because casualties had actually occurred due to the Pope’s selective dissemination of the revelation. Even though it was covered up by reporting an exaggerated version of the protagonist’s exploits.

‘I wonder if they were walking on eggshells around the Papacy or if they were worried about inciting anxiety…’

The uncomfortable truths were left out of the articles. It was true that thanks to the protagonist, the majority of countries that didn’t receive the revelation were able to avoid the attacks. But there were also places that didn’t.

Hmm. Where was it?

‘I can’t remember the name.’

They said it was a small city-state in the north. Because it was in a mountainous region and isolated, the entire nation was reportedly overthrown without receiving any support. It was at a level beyond recovery, so neighboring countries were taking in refugees.

No matter how small the country, other nations that saw it blown to smithereens bowed their heads to Ralphicanism in fear. The Pope’s scheme, which deserved to be condemned for its lack of ethics and morality, had certainly exerted its effect without regret.

“By the way, I didn’t know magic stones possessed such a wicked power!”

‘Magic stone’ refers to stones that possess demonic energy. Since they didn’t emit enough demonic energy to affect the body, they were a type of ore traded at high prices among collectors under strict control. They said they were rare and had mysterious shapes and colors, giving them a sense of scarcity.

“I thought they were just ornamental stones.”

“But to think they actually attract magic beasts! Collectors must be in an absolute frenzy right now! Thinking, ‘I bought this for a lot of money, should I throw it away?’ and all that!”

According to the investigation of the discovered magic stones by Edelina and the other scientists, the results showed that the magic stones were emitting an aura that continuously attracted magic beasts. When this fact was revealed to the public, it caused a massive backlash.

This is because if magic stones with such power were activated simultaneously to cause accidents, it would be difficult for that to happen naturally. This was also the background of why this incident was labeled as ‘terrorism.’

“Ah, right! Because the Saintess gave the revelation in advance and minimized the damage, thank-you notes and gifts have arrived from various countries! Would you like to open them?”

Emily spoke brightly on purpose to break the somber mood. I had gone to see what kind of gifts had come in last time, but they were all jewelry, so it wasn’t interesting. It would have been more fun to guess how much they were worth.

“I’m fine with the gifts.”

“Ah…”

Emily became dejected at my firm refusal.

“Instead, after the investiture ceremony is over, go out and play with me.”

“Huh? Play? Where?”

“Emily, have you ever been to the Imperial Palace?”

“A-Ah, no?”

Leaving the bewildered Emily and Kalat behind, I gave a thin smile. Once the investiture ceremony is over, I can finally escape this game.

‘For some reason, the world seems a bit brighter.’

I wondered if the day was particularly good today. Looking at the clear, bright sky, I squinted at the intense sunlight, but a smile naturally hung on my lips.

“The sky is really pretty. Right?”

“Yes…? Uh, I think it looks the same as usual…”

“Emily, at times like this, you’re supposed to just agree…”

Kalat’s familiar nagging. Emily, pretending to listen while subtly talking back. The days of listening to this kind of chatter were now numbered.