Chapter 78

Just then, a man stepped out of a carriage and called out to Aiden.

“How rare to see a guest standing in front of my house. Now, who might you be? Your face is familiar…”

Recognizing the face—which had wrinkled slightly with the passage of time but still retained its former look—Aiden brightened with relief.

“Teacher, it’s me! It’s Aiden!”

“Aiden…?”

The man’s—Cardinal Samuel’s—pupils dilated.

Soon, his brow twitched slightly, but he dismissed the guards blocking the path and laughed brightly.

After guiding Aiden inside the residence, Cardinal Samuel pointed to his head and asked.

“Good heavens, Aiden. How did you get here? And what’s with that hair?”

“There were circumstances. I know I have no shame, but this unworthy disciple has an urgent request.”

“A request?”

Despite having walked here with such confidence, his tongue felt tied now that it was time to actually ask. However, there was nowhere left to retreat. Aiden braced himself, picturing his daughter’s face.

“D-Do you happen to know?”

“Know what?”

It seemed the news had not yet reached Cardinal Samuel’s ears. Since there were more than just one or two heretics being pursued besides Edelina, it wasn’t particularly strange.

“The truth is, my daughter is in great trouble…”

“Your daughter? Do you mean Edelina?”

“Yes! You remember her.”

Cardinal Samuel furrowed his brow as if he were exhausted just thinking about it.

“How could I not? You bragged about her every time we met. But what about her?”

“Well, Edelina has been accused of heresy….”

Aiden left out any mention of the Saintess and poured out the current situation Edelina was facing. He even desperately explained why Edelina was innocent. As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and eventually, they filled with tears.

“Edel never conducted that research with strange intentions! I can guarantee that it was strictly for the purpose of defending against magic beasts and contributing to the progress of this world!”

Tears blurred his vision, making Cardinal Samuel’s face appear hazy, but Aiden struggled to read his expression. Would his plea work? He worried that saying these things might actually disadvantage Edelina.

As soon as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve, the Cardinal spoke.

“I also believe the world needs talents like Edelina. I happen to be part of the faction that believes doctrine should change accordingly, too.”

The corners of his eyes curved, making it look like he was smiling at a glance, but his mouth remained flat, creating a bizarre image. Nevertheless, Aiden pushed that observation out of his mind. Because he was so desperate, the Cardinal’s words sounded incredibly sweet.

“But the thing is… the Saintess and the Pope have joined hands and issued a warning, saying they’ll use this opportunity to expand their influence. It might not be easy.”

“What do you mean, it might not be easy…?”

“You know, everyone is walking on eggshells. They might feel the risk is too high.”

From the meaningful nuance in his words, Aiden easily caught the Cardinal’s drift. To change their minds, he would have to offer a higher amount than usual…!

“I can ensure the compensation is not disappointing.”

“Now, now~ Do I look like the kind of person who desires such things? However, seeing your sincerity, I shall personally speak well to the Inquisitor who will be in charge of Edelina.”

As the Cardinal gave a thin smile, Aiden’s intuition flared.

‘It worked!’

At the same time, he felt disappointed in Hereis. According to Samuel, the Saintess was merely a pawn trying to catch heretics, yet hadn’t Hereis just spouted irresponsible words about her being trustworthy?

He had wondered why the Saintess, the highest authority in the Church, wasn’t actively helping!

And as a result, what happened? If it hadn’t been for his own bold judgment, wouldn’t Edel have been essentially waiting for her execution date?

Admiring his own brilliant judgment, Aiden clenched his fists.

“Th-Thank you! I will never forget this grace!”

“Oh, hush~ Grace between us?”

Aiden bowed repeatedly to express his gratitude.

My Edel, Daddy did it!

As tears of joy filled his eyes, Cardinal Samuel, looking at him with pity, handed him a handkerchief. While Aiden was busy wiping his tears, a subtle voice reached his ears.

“By the way, how on earth did you evade the Holy State’s inspections?”

“Ah, that is….”

When an answer didn’t come easily, Cardinal Samuel immediately made a displeased sound.

“My, my. Can’t you even tell me…? I am your teacher. Do you think I would do anything to harm my own disciple?”

Aiden laughed awkwardly and tried to smooth it over.

“I was lucky. Since they were busy searching for Edelina’s whereabouts, the surveillance on me was weak.”

It was true to an extent. Edelina had been expelled from the Academy, and since the family estate where Aiden stayed was quite far from there, the investigation had focused on the Academy rather than on him.

However, once it became known that Aiden’s whereabouts were also unknown, a wanted notice had been issued for him as well….

“I don’t even know where Edel is. I’m so worried, but I thought it would be better to ask for your help a day sooner rather than going to find her, so I came here.”

“Oh dear….”

“We can’t run forever. Thinking about what would happen after we’re captured, I thought this way would be much better….”

Having finished his plausible excuse, Aiden let out a sigh of relief inwardly. Cardinal Samuel seemed convinced. He kept nodding in agreement and reacting sympathetically to Aiden’s words.

“You must have suffered. Leave it to me now and rest easy.”

“Thank you, truly thank you…. Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease.”

If he was away for too long, the Saintess might get suspicious. Aiden bid his farewell, saying he couldn’t take up any more of the Cardinal’s time. Samuel saw Aiden out to the gate with the utmost sincerity. He even waved with a smiling face. Aiden also raised a hand lightly before leaving the residence with a light heart. Staring intently at his retreating back, Samuel ordered the knight guarding him.

“Call everyone.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve caught a lead. A big one.”

Sometime during the exchange, a fishy sneer had settled on Cardinal Samuel’s face.

‘Ah, I’m sleepy.’

There was nothing to do. To be precise, there was nothing left to do. That’s right. In the short time I spent talking to Edelina, the protagonist had run off to get ingredients for the antidote.

‘He went quite far, too.’

When I checked with the location tracker, he wasn’t even in the Holy State. It was too late to follow him, and he’d be back soon anyway. In the meantime, I had to find a strategy.

‘A strategy on how to speak so his Mental Health doesn’t plummet, that is.’

Because when he returns, I have to tell him that the antidote he just freshly gathered is no longer needed. And on top of that, the fact that a trial must be held. It would be weirder if the protagonist’s mental state didn’t shatter. I tried to brainstorm lines that would minimize the damage as much as possible, or at least help him recover. The blood rushing to my head because I was hanging upside down kept distracting me, though.

‘If only I had thought this through at the start, neither the protagonist nor I would have had to do the same job twice.’

It was an annoying situation. After the event ended earlier, I sat and thought it over, and the problem with the Oath suddenly occurred to me.

In the game, you secretly hide a processed pill-form antidote in your sleeve and eat it along with the Demon Poison Grass.

This was possible because surveillance during the Oath wasn’t strict, and since Ivanke had issued an order to proceed humanely, the priests and supervisors could barely lay a finger on Edelina.

Up until then, the only technology to detoxify demonic energy was Divine Power, so there wasn’t even a need to check for anything else.

‘But it’s different if Holy Water exists.’

Of course, Holy Water isn’t something just anyone can get, but the friendship between Edelina and the protagonist is known to the whole world, and I had already expressed my desire to the Inquisitor once to release Edelina.

There’s no way the other side hasn’t prepared for the possibility of Holy Water. Rather than taking the risk with the Oath, standing trial quietly is several times better.

‘The ending is close. I have to play it safe.’

By the time the case for Edelina’s trial was won, the Emperor would likely have returned from his royal procession.

If I could meet the Emperor, place the protagonist in the position of Duke, and push for a marriage depending on the situation, my plan to return to “Sweet My Home” would be perfectly achieved.

Well, even as a figure of speech, I can’t say I’ll miss them, but it’ll be a tiny bit disappointing.

Just a very little bit.

“Saintess!”

‘Crap, what now?’

The one who threw my door open was Edelina.

“I found it!”

“Lower your voice.”

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

Only then did Edelina realize she was shouting loud enough to shake the hallway, and she hurriedly closed the door.

“Sit down first. Calm down while having some tea.”

While Edelina let her excitement simmer down, I poured tea from the kettle into a fresh cup and handed it over.

I gave it to her with the intention of having a slow conversation, but perhaps because it had cooled slightly, Edelina downed it in one go without hesitation and continued speaking without even catching her breath.

“Originally, the form of the mana stones themselves was fascinating and beautiful, so their natural state was highly valued, right? That’s why there was no need to process them. It would only lower the price.”

Edelina added that, in the first place, mana stones hadn’t been discovered in large enough quantities to warrant it anyway.

“The mana stones collected in large numbers through this incident seem to have exhausted their use; they don’t emit demonic energy or attract magic beasts, making precise research difficult. The only thing we could figure out was that, unlike the mana stones we usually know, these are in a highly refined, processed state. From that, our research team was able to find that high purity is necessary to draw out the property of attracting magic beasts. So, I immediately brought in raw mineral mana stones and tried to refine them. Wow, that was really not easy. It seems impossible with current technology—I wonder how those guys did it. Well, research is likely ongoing even without me, so I don’t know the current status, but anyway. I stepped away from refining early on and decided to focus on researching the components of high-purity mana stones. Then, goodness, I discovered that it has properties similar to a Holy Relic! I was writing a thesis on that when things turned out… like this. But listen. A thought suddenly occurred to me earlier, so I tried an experiment….”

I nodded for now. I tuned out about half of it because it was too long.

“Actually, I had been keeping some of the Holy Water you gave me, Saintess.”

…?

“I soaked the mana stone in Holy Water, but since there was no particular reaction, I tried heating it up.”

What?

“Do you know what happened when I dropped the heated mana stone into the Holy Water?”

I didn’t know what happened, but I had a bad feeling.

“Bubbles started rising like crazy, and I thought it was going to explode!”

Are you insane? You conducted that kind of experiment right under my residence?

I regretted my past self for not listening more closely to the Marquis’s complaints about how she almost blew up the house with a handmade bomb.

“It didn’t explode, but the water turned purple! Having heard that water changes color when contaminated by demonic energy, I just immediately smashed the mana stone with an axe!”

“…….”

“Oof, it was a waste. But I discovered an amazing fact through this. That mana stones can be restored to their original state using Holy Water!”

Just how far do the functions of these Instant Recovery Potions go?

What exactly is the system providing me?

A chill ran down my spine.

“Anyway, though it’s a bit different from my research topic, a revived mana stone can be used quite effectively. If we experiment with it in a properly controlled environment, we might discover new facts, and it can be used as it is! If applied in a way like luring magic beasts away from cities, the great task of total liberation from magic beasts won’t just be a pipe dream!”

“The utility is endless, then.”

“Exactly! On top of that…! Ah, I’ve been talking too much. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to feel embarrassed. It’s quite interesting to hear Professor Edelina’s views.”

“Is that so?”

Those things don’t matter to me since I won’t be a person of this world soon anyway.

But I suppose good is good.

I gave up on thinking and decided to just play along appropriately.

“That’s an incredible discovery. Good work.”

“Thank you!”

“Hehe. You’re the first person to listen to my story for this long. Except for my research colleagues…. I was always ignored as an oddball among the young ladies of my age.”

Oh, dear.

“If we had met at the Academy, maybe we could have become quite good friends!”

As if embarrassed, Edelina fiddled with the back of her head and confessed in a small, crawling voice.

“…To be honest, I was skeptical about asking the Saintess for help at first.”

That’s understandable.

From Edelina’s perspective, I’m the head of the Order of Ralphican. Would such a person harbor a heretic?

They’d usually just snatch them up, thinking ‘caught you red-handed.’

“Even if we went through the events in the Marquisate together, heresy is a different matter.”

Edelina continued, her gaze fixed on the empty air.

“There was nowhere left to run. I followed Hereis with the mindset of ‘whatever happens, happens.’ Honestly, I think I had half-given up. I even thought about just telling the truth and dying, getting it over with. But I didn’t know you would show me such consideration and try to help.”

“…….”

“There was a reason Hereis told me to trust the Saintess. I feel sorry toward Hereis…!”

…? No, you should feel sorry toward me, why him?

I was left speechless.

“I should apologize to Hereis as soon as he returns. Um, and if I’m to stand trial, I suppose I should turn myself in? I’m nervous, but I think I can accept whatever result comes now.”

Why is she saying such ominous things?

“Um, Saintess. If something goes wrong with me, please take good care of Hereis. Tell him not to be too sad…. And please release the research results I mentioned for the public good. You don’t have to say the discoverer was me. Ahem. I’m getting gloomy for no reason. Well, I’ll be going now… Ah. I enjoyed the tea! You have the same taste as I do!”

‘…’

It’ll be fine.

Even though Edelina left after setting up a whole forest of death flags.

We just have to do well at the trial.

‘I should get to my own work, too.’

A pitch-black screen. The deactivated Omniscient Viewer Perspective.

There’s still no word from the protagonist.

‘Should I do a check-up for the first time in a while?’

Affection has piled up quite a bit. It’s about time to check.

No sooner had I finished the thought than a blue window popped up.