TMD - Chapter 76 < The Saintess’s Strategy (4) >

When Ronove hurriedly ran into the VIP room where Vine was staying to report.

“Tsk.”

Priest Cladda clicked his tongue as he watched Ronove walking hurriedly.

He thought he was an unpleasant person because he was rushing around without dignity in a place where there were VIPs.

Didn’t he almost bump into him?

Thump, thump.

He shook off his clothes in the direction Ronove had passed as if something had gotten on them and started walking again.

“Ah.”

Then he frowned as he looked at the water stain that had just brushed past his clothes.

“Even the clothes are dirty.”

Was he Vine’s servant? He shook his head as he thought of the purple-haired servant who had come into Vine’s room.

It was clear that he was quite frivolous for someone who would serve the Saintess.

“Morning prayer is coming up soon.”

He couldn’t leave with something on his clothes, so he examined the hem again. He frowned as he stuck his nose into the hem, wondering what kind of water it was.

“What is this...?”

At first, he thought it smelled pleasant. But what immediately hit him was a very strong smell.

It was as if it had been rolling around in an uncleaned sewer for ten years.

He instinctively took his hands off the clothes because of the smell that made him feel uncomfortable.

“I should ask the maids to wash this part.”

Then he decided to go to the maids of Orobas on the first floor himself. He didn’t want to go to his room and pull the rope to get it taken care of, or he would be late for prayer.

And soon he came to believe that his judgment was guided by God.

“Wasn’t that person hot earlier?”

When he went down, he saw two maids changing the carpet. He could see water on the corner of the carpet that had been pushed aside.

And next to it was a teapot soaking in tea water and a tray with cups on it.

There weren’t many people around this early in the morning, so why would anyone spill tea?

Cladda clicked his tongue. He thought that the two maids must have spilled it while walking around, playing around.

“Oh, it’s the priest. Hello!”

He nodded halfheartedly to the maids who greeted him with bright faces. Then he tried to pass by.

“...?”

But soon he stopped walking. As he passed by the tray, he could clearly feel it. The fragrant scent he had sensed from the hem of his clothes earlier.

Of course, the hem of his clothes had smelled strong right after that, but not now. He looked around at the maids as if he was possessed.

In the meantime, the maids were talking.

“I thought he had something urgent to do.”

“It must have been hot because it was just boiled...”

“That’s right. But didn’t he have some manners? And his purple hair is pretty.”

The story seemed to pierce into his ears.

Wait, purple hair? The one who had brushed past him earlier had purple hair too.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have purple hair, but it wasn’t common.

“Did you bump into him and spill this?”

Cladda asked the maids. The maids who had thought he had passed by lowered their heads in surprise.

“Yes? Yes.”

There couldn’t be two purple hairs. He tilted his head.

“Hot water?”

“Yes... I’m worried he might have been burned, but I didn’t ask which family he belonged to.”

At those words, Cladda recalled the image of the purple-haired man.

He didn’t look like he had been burned. Besides, it must have been quite some time since he had climbed from the first floor to the third floor of this large mansion. Since he worked in a noble family that valued appearance, it would have been more than enough time to treat him if he had been burned.

“I don’t think there’s any need to worry.”

He was about to turn around. The maid said.

“Considering that he came up in a hurry around the time the morning bell rang, is he a new servant we don’t know?”

Anyone who moved quickly in the morning was likely a servant of Orobas, so he said that.

However, Claddag felt something strange from those words.

“...It was around the time the morning bell rang?”

It was definitely around that time that he almost collided with the man.

No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t have gotten from the first to the third floor that quickly.

“Yes. The bell rang right after we collided and passed.”

Cladda stopped moving.

He had clearly heard the bell ringing when he passed the man.

So that meant that he was on the first floor right before the bell rang, and was in the middle of the third-floor hallway when it rang?

It was an unbelievable speed. He glanced up.

“No way...”

Then he dipped his fingertips into the tea and sniffed it. Of course, there was no strong smell from the tea.

Then, the smell must have come from him.

“Have you smelled anything strange from him?”

At that, the maids looked at each other.

“Smell?” 

They seemed to have no idea. A smell that ordinary people could not smell, but that evoked an instinctive aversion in them...

“...!”

Could it be, magic? Cladda opened his eyes wide.

***

Of course, Cladda was not the only person going to the temple for morning prayer.

One of those who went to prayer habitually, although with a less sincere heart, was none other than the paladin Tallis.

Of course, he had a slightly more impertinent purpose.

If he prayed morning prayer diligently, wouldn’t the gods look at him a little more?

Then wouldn’t his divine powers become a little stronger?

He was a paladin who could not become a priest because of his lack of divine power, and he had a complex about his lack of divine power.

'Originally, those who became paladins and then became priests when their divine power increased rose to higher positions. The previous high priest was the same.'

The senior paladins consoled him like that, but it was no consolation.

After all, more people stayed in the position of paladin because their divine power did not increase.

But does faithfulness really get rewarded?

On his way out for his morning exercise, he heard a voice coming from inside a dark warehouse.

"... holy water... "

Holy water? It was a word that magically stopped his steps.

He looked toward the door and saw that the warehouse was a place inside a building where sunlight did not reach to store various miscellaneous items.

They were hiding in a corner, talking cautiously as if they were trying to avoid people's eyes.

"That splendid light, I'm telling you. It's definitely holy water."

"How do you know that?"

"My brother's friend is a priest. That's why I saw it in passing."

Showing holy water to a commoner. Frowning, he continued to listen.

Where on earth could he have seen the holy water?

He might have doubted that a commoner could see the holy water that even those in the temple would have difficulty seeing.

However, strangely, he did not feel any doubt. Instead, he was only concerned about one thing.

Where is the holy water?

Could I have it?

If he could just drink it, it wouldn’t be a dream to have powerful divine powers...

“Really? You said that in the old days, you were blessed with holy water when you were born? Then the monsters couldn’t approach you.”

“But why was such a precious thing underground in Orobas?”

Underground? Talis’s ears perked up.

“Orobas used to be a sacred family too...”

“Really?”

“My brother’s friend told me.”

His sharp and somewhat indifferent voice continued the conversation.

“So there must have been something like that underground.”

“But why didn’t I know about it until now? I’ve been cleaning here for years.”

After a moment to shrug, a calm voice answered.

“The holy water is so expensive. Of course, they hid it.”

A sharp voice answered a beat later. 

“...Then shouldn’t we also hide what we saw?” 

The two maids became quiet right after that. Talis had been listening to the story with his body stiffened without realizing it. Then, when he heard the maids tidying up and coming out, he quickly moved away from the warehouse door. Then he thought.

“Holy water...” 

Gulp. His mouth started to water. Even more than rational thoughts, he couldn’t stop thinking about the holy water. If he drank it and his divine power increased, wouldn’t he be able to leave his name as a great priest? 

If honor follows, then wealth and power naturally follow. He gritted his teeth as he thought of the priests who had secretly looked down on the paladins, calling them swordsmen. 

“It’s basement...” 

That precious holy water, of all places, was underground in Orobas. He was convinced that this was an opportunity that the gods had given him, looking down on him. Of course, it was a bit strange to become a messenger of the gods and steal from others. 

“It was Orobas who was wrong to try to use the holy water without even reporting its existence in the first place.” 

The holy water was so precious that its existence had to be reported to the temple. It was to be used in times of emergency.

So Orobas had definitely committed a sin.

How many monsters could be defeated with the holy water?

It was reprehensible that he had hidden it. If he had the holy water, he would be able to save many more people. Then naturally, his name would be raised...

The corners of his mouth went up at the pleasant thought.

“Good.”

He should search the basement today.

If it were normal, his head wouldn’t have worked in this direction, but strangely enough, he had that thought.

‘If there’s a place where the holy water can be hidden, it would have to be a place with few people.’

He should take a look around the basement.

Fortunately, he was one of the knights with outstanding physical ability. He didn’t feel like infiltrating somewhere, but wasn’t this also for His sake?

After rationalizing, he quickly left.

The morning prayer had already disappeared from his mind a long time ago.

Holy water.

That one word remained.

Previous                Next

Support Novellate!