CH 88

The next day, I went out for the first time in a while. I bought six statues of Gods at a shop downtown.

Today, too, I decided to spend a late afternoon with Camilla.

Yesterday we made something similar to Japanese sweets, but today I was going to learn embroidery from Camilla. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it well though.

In the evening, I thought of praying to a statue like Camilla.

I crossed the fountain side with Dwayne towards the meeting place with Camilla.

However then, from somewhere, the voices of priestesses whispered.

“Oh, my God…”

“How did this happen?”

“Certainly, until yesterday…”

They seem to be surrounding something.

“Saintess. Are you here?”

When they noticed my gaze, they hurriedly bowed their heads to me.

I approached them curiously and asked.

“What is it?”

They took a few steps back, revealing a golden cage between them.

And I saw a pair of birds lying sadly on the floor.

Beautiful birds with golden feathers.

It was a Golden Crown.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

Golden Crowns were auspicious beings associated with Hetuse, the God of Justice, and usually lived up to one hundred years.

There is also a popular belief that the death of a Golden Crown means the wrath of the Gods because it doesn’t get sick easily.

But is this Golden Crown bird dead?

“What is this? Is the Golden Crown bird dead?”

Dwayne’s panicked voice could be heard from behind.

“Last night it was still alive, yet this morning it was found dead.”

A priestess bowed her head with a pale expression.

“Did you report this to the High Priest?”

I asked in a tone, as calm as I could.

“We just discovered it too.”

“It’s definitely not a good sign.”

“That bird.”

A priestess raised her head at my words and looked at my expression.

“Yes?”

“It’s a living creature, so it can die.”

I said as I looked at the pair of Golden Crowns that had slumped and died.

It wasn’t good to assign meaning to each death. It could have just died naturally.

“…If the Saintess says so, then it must be so.”

“That’s right. They might have died because the environment wasn’t good…”

At my words, the priestesses’ agitation gradually disappeared.

“Anyway, report it to the High Priest.”

“Yes. I understand.”

I put my hand on the golden cage.

If they hadn’t died, they could have been saved somehow, but it was a pity.

And it was then.

“My goodness…”

I heard a familiar voice and turned around. Camilla was standing there.

The priestesses turned around and glanced at Camilla.

“The Golden Crown birds are dead…”

Camilla walked towards the cage as if she was possessed. Her blue eyes were quivering.

“Saintess.”

Camilla, who found me late, was polite. Soon her gaze turned to the cage.

I pulled my hand from the cage.

She stood in front of the cage and pursed her lips.

“How weird…”

Her voice flowed clearly into my ears.

It was a warm voice, yet somehow I could feel the muscles in my back tightening.

Then Camilla reached for the cage.

“It’s dead birds. There may be a bad disease…”

One of the priestesses opened her mouth, yet Camilla didn’t care and brought out the two birds in turn.

The sight of the two limp bodies of the birds resting on Camilla’s white palms gave it a strange feeling.

I stood still and watched Camilla’s actions.

She put the birds on her hand and closed her eyes. Then she licked her lips and whispered something.

Different from normal prayer… I heard a voice I couldn’t understand. It was a sound that only she and those closest to her could hear.

At one point, I felt my shoulders stiff enough to become stiff.

What is this feeling of deja vu?

“Oh, my God…”

“It can’t be!”

It was the cries of the priestesses that awoke me from the strange sensation that came on suddenly.

I woke up and saw the birds on Camilla’s hand.

They were flapping their wings.

I looked at Camilla with a surprised expression.

Her gaze was on the birds with a more relaxed expression than before.

“…!”

The birds were sitting on Camilla’s hands with bright eyes.

Camilla smiled with her twinkling eyes as she watched the birds and then moved her gaze to me.

‘The ability to revive the dead… Did Camilla have that in the original story?’

I narrowed my eyes.

Camilla was a saintess with great holy power, but she didn’t have the ability to revive the dead.

Even the Gods can’t do that.

But how…

“How did this happen?”

Exclamations of surprise rang out from everywhere.

“Goodness…”

“It’s holy power. It must be holy power!”

“But there is the Saintess and yet another holy power…!”

I looked at her with her confused eyes.

Had the prophecy changed completely?

Since they only gave me, a fake saintess, divine power, the real saintess, Camilla, might have received even greater power.

‘But to say that’s the case, that energy just now…’

“Camilla. Is it true that you just saved the birds?”

I asked her in her calm voice.

“I… “

Camilla’s eyes widened as she looked at me.

“…Do you have holy power?”

I asked her again.

Even holy power can’t bring a dead bird back to life.

“Tell me how you did it.”

“I don’t know, Saintess…”

At that moment, Camilla’s eyelids closed and she collapsed helplessly.

As soon as she did, the birds in her hands flapped their wings and flew away.

The priestesses ran around her and supported Camilla’s body. In the garden of the temple, the wind was blowing.

***

“Are you awake?”

When the lying Camilla opened her eyes, I held out a glass of water.

Camilla looked at me a little startled and she pulled herself up from the bed.

“I moved you to my room first.”

Dwayne was waiting outside the door.

Camilla took the glass I gave her and looked into it for a long time before she held it out to me again.

“My throat… It’s not dry.”

What is it?

There was a subtle feeling in the eyes looking at me, so it bothered me for a while.

However, thinking of Camilla, who had been enjoying herself, I thought it was an illusion and received the glass again,

After a while, Camilla opened her mouth.

“Did I collapse after saving the two Golden Crowns?”

I looked her in the eyes without saying a word and nodded my head.

I saw Camilla’s green eyes flicker.

“Did you originally use this ability?”

After a while I asked her, and she hesitated before opening her mouth.

“It hasn’t been long since it appeared. At first, I helped neighbors who were injured in the mines, and then I worked at the temple.”

It was the original story I knew.

“I know it will surprise everyone, but they were so pitiful, so…”

Camilla let out a little sigh, tucking her own slightly disheveled hair behind her ear.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Her little lips twitched.

I looked at Camilla for a moment before opening my mouth.

“No. You saved a life, how can it be a mistake.”

Camilla’s eyes widened at my words.

“Good job. Camilla.”

“Saintess!”

She held my hand and bowed her head.

“I… Actually, I have something to confess.”

I answered, holding her hand with my other hand.

“Tell me anything. I will listen.”

“What the Saintess said the other day… Do you remember? Something blue flickers before my eyes.”

As I listened to her, I felt my heart thump and sink.

‘Perhaps…?’

Camilla confessed to me with tears in her green eyes.

“That’s an oracle, isn’t that? I think an oracle has been coming down to me ever since. Since I was in Ares…”

I calmly patted her on the shoulder, trying not to panic.

Camilla was the real female lead, of course it’s something she deserved.

“It’s alright. Camilla.”

“But the Saintess is here…”

The original Camilla was lovable and delicate, but she was a strong-willed woman befitting a saint. And the Camilla in front of me was no different.

That’s why I was able to speak calmly.

“Let’s gather the high-ranking priests and check whether you have holy power or not. There is a procedure, so it will probably take a few days.”

The appearance of a saintess with great holy power to save the dead, and two of them in one era is impossible.

Therefore, if the manifestation of holy power is proven, the procedure to confirm whether or not the holy power exists will be opened.

Camilla’s eyes widened at my words.

“…You seem to have consumed a lot of energy, take a good rest today.”

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders with a slightly stiff face.