CH 56

The Holy Sphere I touched was emitting a light strong enough to completely illuminate the darkened room.

“…!”

The people all at once looked surprised at the bright light.

I had proven my power by saving Daisy in front of the priests before.

But now, I was showing my abilities in front of the many believers in the Temple of Elium.

“Oh! God Hetuse.”

“Sir Hessed. I’m deeply moved.”

They struggled to cover their dazzling eyes and sighed in admiration.

‘Hm. It feels like I’m doing some kind of magic show.’

I carefully removed my hand from the sphere that was emitting light like a light bulb.

The hall became dark again.

Praise for me burst out among the believers.

“Saintess! I see a miracle.”

“What kind of scoundrel dares to spread such false rumors!”

“Calm down, Your Grace the Duke!”

“The Nine Gods. Blessings to Elium!”

The sight of them clasping their hands together and exclaiming exclamations made me want to leave.

[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, looks at you with a proud face.]

[The God of Love, Odyssey, winks his eyes and gives you three rounds of applause.]

[The God of Benevolence, Oman, stomps around wanting to hug you.]

And the Gods seemed to be appreciating me as if they were watching their kindergarten daughter giving a presentation at a school festival.

I felt a burning sensation in my ears and spoke to Reihausd in a low voice.

“Can I leave now?”

As if he hadn’t heard me, Reihausd still looked solemn and said to the believers.

“I guess everyone who has eyes has seen it. If any rumors like this are heard again in the future…”

Everyone in the audience looked at Reihausd’s lips.

As he opened his mouth, the choker moved along with his protruding neckline.

“…Our Elium will never sit idly by.”

At Reihausd’s words, each of them nodded their heads and made serious expressions.

Not long ago, all members of Baron Ragefield’s family had been expelled, so the nobles were keeping their guards up.

After finishing speaking, Reihausd looked back at me and said.

“The Saintess can go in now.”

Then he bowed his head a little closer, whispering.

“Ah, I won’t disappoint you with the allowance for earlier.”

As I was about to leave, I straightened my shoulders to his words and put my hand on his shoulder. And gently stroked him with gratitude.

As expected, money is the best.

I brought my tired body back to my room. After the Hunting Festival, I even did a show to prove my holy power, and my body was very tired.

[The God of Benevolence, Oman, offers a discount price for the lash.]

Aiming for me, who was taking a break in fatigue, Oman offered me to purchase a new relic.

‘It’s enough.’

I closed my eyes and lay on the bed.

As of today, I have completely become a real saintess. Now I have really crossed a river of no return.

What will my life be like in the future? Will I continue to live as a saintess like this?

I was about to give up for a moment, but I jumped up and shook my head.

No. I can’t!

In any case, after four and a half years, I will definitely hand over this burdensome position to Camilla.

When I counted the allowance for participating in the Hunting Festival and the huge gifts of the Emperor, my current assets exceeded 20,000 franc.

20,000 franc is enough money to buy a small one-story house on the outskirts of the capital.

It would take quite a while to reach my target of 100,000 franc, but the money was gradually gathering up.

‘Ariel, way to go! Come on!’

***

After a while.

The first day of the month has come.

I prepared to go out secretly.

The first thing I did was to pretend I was asleep and deactivate the oracle. The Gods wouldn’t have noticed it, as it would often be deactivated when washing or sleeping.

Apparently, in the Magic Night Market, there were also dark magicians and black magic guilds that were the source of the power of the ‘Magic Realm’.

It was obvious that the Gods overprotecting me would nag me with concern or disturb me. No one will know how bothersome they were when I asked Noah a while ago.

I  wore a dark blue-colored dress, the only one in the Saintess; closet, and took care of my pockets.

[Your Money: 20,100 franc]

If there are any sensitive magicians, I might get caught, that’s why I also wore the pendant that suppressed my power that I bought at the shop last time.

I was also wearing Hessed’s bracelet, which was the first holy relic I bought at the shop, to protect my body.

After I left the temple, I went to the stable. Then I saddled one suitable horse and rode on it.

It was easy to leave the temple after going out to the auction house with Dwayne a few times.

The boundary between the outside and the inside became very strict after Daisy was attacked, but the boundary between the inside and outside became relatively loose.

As the horse ran in the dark, a jingle and the clashing of coins could be heard in the bag. After leaving the temple and running for a while, I arrived at the outskirts of the capital.

There were shabby houses everywhere compared to the decent houses I had seen before. Also between the narrow alleys with a musty smell, there were lights and tents.

As I stopped the horse and entered the night market, I could feel the eyes of the children.

The children squatted in the dirty alley and eagerly ate long loaves of bread that the magicians probably gave them for their night market seats.

This was also the moment when I realized that the gap between the rich and the poor was wide.

Then, a familiar voice was heard from behind.

“Saintess.”

I turned around and saw Noah.

“…Noah?”

Noah jumped off the stairs to the second floor. Then he stood in front of me, greeted me politely, and lifted his head.

“I forgot to say that Magic Night Market is dangerous for women to go alone.”

“Did you come to accompany me?”

Noah nodded his head.

The child’s kindness warmed my heart.

I smiled, thanked Noah and started walking alongside him.

“In the night market, merchants entrusted with sales by the guilds often charge unreasonable prices to unfamiliar customers, so be careful.”

“Do you think I’m going to be deceived?”

“No. Not at all.”

What a straightforward fellow.

I was a little nervous about the gloomy atmosphere, but having a companion made me feel more confident.

The night market here was different from the large and pleasant night market of the Rose Festival.

There seemed to be at most about twenty shops with seats, and there weren’t many customers. However, most of the guests were wearing suspicious clothes, and I assumed that they were magicians.

“The price of bat eyeballs is crazy these days. It’s 10 franc for a pair, what is left even if you make a potion?”

“If I have this artifact, can I curse people to get hives?”

The voices of magicians could be heard around.

As if I was one of them, I slowly began to look at the stalls.

“Ew…”

There were also disgusting and terrifying ones.

‘Isn’t it crazy to serve rat meat as a delicacy? Who are the people lining up there?’

However, there were also things that were beautiful enough for me to open my eyes.

“It is a music box that improves skin.”

As I couldn’t take my eyes off the colorfully shining music box, the store owner quickly approached me and explained.

“Does this make your skin get better?”

“Yes, if you turn on the music box for 10 minutes a day, magical music that has a positive effect on your skin plays. These plants here didn’t have a magical sound, so they didn’t grow this much, but these leafy plants play magical music for 10 minutes a day.”

Indeed, the eggs of the plants that played magic music were rolled and the leaves were lush.

“It’s a lie. Please don’t believe him, Saintess.”

Then Noah lifted his heel and whispered in my ear.

After all, there are false and exaggerated advertisements everywhere.

I shrugged and shifted my gaze to the side.

But next to it was an egg the size of my fist.

“Whoa, what is this?”

It was a colorful egg that looked like a Russian doll Matryoshka.

“It’s an egg of a demon.”

The shopkeeper asked me with suspicious eyes.

“Since you don’t know about demonic creatures, you don’t seem to be a magician.”

“Ah yes. I’m not a magician, but a magician’s… assistant.”

I quickly surrounded myself for fear that he might cheat on me as I was an innocent person.

“The Master is a very vicious one, and I have several items to buy, so I come and take a look.”

It also meant that if he tried to hit me, the violent master wouldn’t let him go.

“A demonic creature is a creature that wakes up when the owner’s magic is poured on it. This egg has a high grade among demonic eggs, so there’s a high probability that a useful one will be born.”

The store owner quickly cleared his guard and explained.

“Is it like a monster?”

“It’s similar, but it’s more like a pet as it’s intelligent and has the ability to interact with its owner.”

My curiosity grew when I heard the word ‘pet’. When I was young, it was my dream to have a dog.

“Noah, what do you think?”

I turned to Noah and asked.

“It’s truly a high-grade egg. I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard that the thinner the stripes, the better.”

Noah, who accompanied me, explained in detail. He was a great source of information for the first night market I visited.

“But when you see that he tried to cheat with the music box earlier, he’s unbelievable.”

I agreed with Noah’s words.

However, I was curious as I couldn’t find such thing in other stores.

“How much is the price?”

“1,000 franc.”

“…1,000 franc?”

I opened my mouth wide in surprise at the unexpected answer.

“It’s a unique grade egg, shouldn’t you pay 1,000 franc to stay? The devil’s eggs are forbidden to trade, so you can’t buy them at the merchant. Besides, unique grades are very rare in our night market. You’re lucky today.”

I replied, raising my eyebrows.

“Still, I think 1,000 franc is too much.”

“If you leave today, you won’t be able to get a unique grade, will you be okay? It seems that the customer really likes it, so I will deduct 100 franc.”

When I showed my concern, the owner cut off 100 franc.

“Saintess, let’s just go.”

Noah urged me to leave the store with a fed-up look.

Yet somehow, I kept my eyes on the egg.

‘What should I do?’