Chapter 85 - 2.46

"O-oh dear Heavens.. this light is.." One of the priests spoke out loud, his mouth gaped wide as he shielded his vision from the intense light. Trembling, he fell to his knees and lowered his head to the ground.

"Our Goddess has spoken! Our Goddess has given us her light!" One shout turned into two, five, and soon, the entire hall was ringing with shouts of worship and praise.

This day was marked down as a legendary event in which a Saintess candidate named Ariel Maine was blessed by the Goddess' grace and received bountiful rewards for it. The word was spread far and wide, and reached the ears of everyone including the house of Maine.

The First Child Ezra Lancaster also gave his approval towards the candidate directly, confirming that the blessing she had received was truthful and should be celebrated. In front of all the watching eyes, he asked the Cardinal for permission to mingle with the candidate. Everybody knew how much the First Child loved the Goddess, so no one found it odd that he wanted to get along with whoever was his kin.

The Cardinal also thought similarly, and remembering his last meeting with Ezra, he permitted the request. He thought that with this, the future powerful Saintess will be tied down to the Holy Land, and she might even be able to shake the mind of Ezra, who up until now refused to stand in the name of Palla.

Their strength would grow! It seemed like the day when the Holy Land would stand taller than the Empire was nearing.

Ariel Maine's features were uplifted, her eyes sparkled as clear as a pristine sea, and her hair becoming the embodiment of light itself. Those who saw her appearance were instantly amazed and awed.

The rise of Ariel Maine began.

Hearing this joyous news, the Duke, who thought that he could make use of the situation tried to send messengers to Xu Jiaqi in order to relay what she should be doing from now on. Reginald still thought that he had a leash on Xu Jiaqi and that he was free to do whatever he wanted.

He couldn't have been more wrong. Xu Jiaqi deflected all the messages and calls with the excuse of focusing on the Saintess candidacy program and hid away, nurturing her plans. She left Zenith to deal with the envoys and the people who went to seek her out after hearing the great powers she had.

Zenith was not happy, but he complied with her orders since he too, was enraged by how the Duke acted. The daughter that he had thrown out suddenly showed signs of being successful, and now he wanted to take a bite out of the cake even though he had done nothing but stump her growth?

Zenith imagined how much better his lady's conditions and strength would have been if it wasn't for the fact that the Duke allowed injustice to be made against the lady. How much brighter she would've shone.

Of course, the lady herself was lazing around inside the Tower since her powers were mostly dormant right now. The effects of the Goddess' blessing were truly spectacular. She felt like she had stepped over the limits of human achievements. The pinnacle of strength comparable to none but actual deities.

More than anything, she preferred to think about Ezra and the Goddess' love story. She hadn't gotten a chance to proclaim her plan yet because they chose to not speak about their feelings after the incident. Everything had gone back to normal, even though there was a clear elephant in the room.

With an amused look, she frequently visited Ezra's Tower, which was a displeasing fact to Zenith. However, since he was also aware that the two of them were basically peas of the same pod, he couldn't exactly forbid it.

The second trial, Xu Jiaqi passed through it with ease due to the Goddess' aid. The third was also similar. The fourth, which was determined to be the last test before the Saintess was chosen, was a breeze to Xu Jiaqi who was now unparalleled in terms of Holy magic.

Xu Jiaqi's rise was indeed unobstructed because of how great the Goddess' blessing was.

Hence, on the fateful day of the Saintess election... The one who was chosen naturally turned out to be Xu Jiaqi. The Cardinal presented the title with a wide smile blooming on his face.

Although he did specifically request for a daughter from Maine to be sent here, he actually did not want to form an alliance with Maine. He just wanted to plague the Duke with some trouble since he would have to send his daughter here, and this fact would impact her future in both bad and good ways.

When Ariel was sent instead, he felt disappointed. But after learning about her deeper... Isn't she just the perfect Saintess candidate?!

She was akin to Ezra. He had seen them form a close bond over the candidacy period and was able to confirm that this girl was only keen towards the Goddess! No matter how hard her father tried to extend his claws over her, Xu Jiaqi refused all forms of contacts.

Thus, this candidate was someone that did not have a backing, but was simultaneously backed by the most powerful sponsor.. the Goddess herself. She did not have much connection to the mortal world.

So, this was perfect!

The Cardinal could rest easy about the Saintess shaking up the balance between the two forces of the world. The Holy Land and the Empire. He had been worrying a lot about the outcome of the situation if the Saintess came out to be Serenia Aubellin, who placed second in choice after Xu Jiaqi.

Serenia was brought by the Crown Prince of Varadan, so electing her would be the same as binding themselves with the Empire. Whereas electing Princess Glazelle would essentially do the same thing, but just not directly towards the Crown Prince.

If that bond was created, he could only imagine how much the Empire would try to use the Holy Land's influence. The Crown Prince was smarter than his father. Much more cunning.

The only way to bypass electing Serenia was.... the Goddess' influence, which was bestowed upon Ariel Maine.