Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 84

I was too busy examining the system window and discovered Leo approaching me while holding the priest’s hand a beat too late.

“Are you this child’s guardian?”

“…And?”

My delayed response wasn’t because the other person’s voice was as delicate as singing a hymn.

Nor was it because the face revealed beneath the dull gray hood was as beautiful as the sacred paintings decorating the temple ceiling.

“The child has asked me to bestow a blessing upon his guardian as well. Would it be alright if I gave you a blessing?”

It was simply because he was Giuseppe Aria Sernandel.

Though he was currently one of only four cardinals of the Holy Empire, he would later become the High Priest who would rule over all temples in Jenos Kingdom.

And the protagonist’s final patron.

I swallowed dryly and readily nodded my head.

“I permit it.”

My heart felt like it would leap out of my mouth. Not from fear, but from shock at this incredible coincidence.

I thought his coming to the kingdom would be months away, but who would have thought he was making a pilgrimage around the kingdom’s shrines.

A priest’s pilgrimage meant hiding their rank and traveling the shrines as just an ordinary priest, performing service by bestowing divine power upon people they met along the way.

Naturally, high-ranking priests avoided pilgrimages.

Yet despite holding the power of a cardinal, he willingly met people in the lowest places and personally bestowed blessings upon them.

This was truly befitting of Giuseppe, renowned for his fairness and integrity.

Soon Giuseppe’s gloved fingertips touched my forehead.

I quietly bowed my head without showing any wariness, unlike when I met other patrons.

Giuseppe was the most gentle among the patrons and had never harmed Belinda recklessly.

…He had all exposed her crimes thoroughly through trials and executed her.

Moreover, the current me wasn’t Belinda who had committed all sorts of evil deeds, but Extra 1 who was unluckily trapped in the village. This meant there was no reason to earn his hatred.

Soon he began quietly reciting a prayer.

Then I felt warm energy from the fingertips touching my forehead, flowing through my entire body once.

I stealthily opened my eyes and observed the cardinal before me.

His long platinum hair resembling dawn light swayed gently in the waves of divine power, and his golden eyes sparkled brilliantly like rising daybreak.

Perhaps due to his downturned eye corners, he looked gentle overall, but his well-shaped lips and masculine jawline gave a somewhat stubborn impression.

Soon, the moment some emotion appeared in his languidly lowered eyes.

“It is finished. May God bless you.”

His hand withdrew.

Leo’s divine power increased by 10 from his single blessing, but honestly, I wasn’t sure about myself.

Then, two young children who had been wandering around and watching hesitantly approached.

“Priest, please bestow a blessing upon us too.”

“Of course. Just a moment.”

True to his reputation of being kind to everyone regardless of status, his personality was really good…

“Something dirty got on my hands.”

Good my ass?

I stared blankly at the cardinal who deliberately changed his gloves after giving me a blessing. It might have been my imagination, but the nuance was strange.

‘Did he just say I was dirty?’

That couldn’t be. Right, there must have been some misunderstanding.

Yet I couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling.

Though it was just for an instant, the emotion that had appeared in his eyes was very familiar to me.

* * *

That evening.

A letter that arrived at the inn where we were staying proved that what I felt during the day wasn’t my misunderstanding.

“A dinner invitation from the temple, that’s unusual.”

Fully agreeing with Penandel’s puzzlement, I nodded irritably.

“I don’t know how he found out, but he must have learned that I’m a Blanche. It seems an invitation was sent to the lord staying in the village as well.”

I answered while holding the letter envelope with its bluish luster up to the firelight.

This was actually better. If he knew about me, it would be easier to ask how exactly things were progressing.

Though the sacred relic had been stolen and a landslide that only I knew about was predicted, my heart wasn’t as anxious as it had been initially.

Thinking back, the very fact that the ‘White-Robed Saint’s Sacred Relic’ quest would occur later meant that the relic would ultimately be safely recovered.

Therefore, my purpose at this dinner was to subtly warn Priest Mellio about the landslide.

Yes, I had definitely attended the dinner with that plan, but.

“How can a priest act so recklessly!”

The lord stood up so forcefully that a water glass on the table fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

Cold sweat ran down my back as I stared at the soup I hadn’t even taken a few spoonfuls of.

‘…I think I’m going to throw up.’

The atmosphere of the dinner held at the small temple located at the shrine was somehow ominous.

* * *

30 minutes before the lord stormed out of the dinner.

“Though it may be lacking, I hope you all enjoy it.”

At Giuseppe’s words from the head seat, shadows fell across the faces of everyone seated around the dinner table.

I hadn’t expected a dinner hosted by a priest, who should be frugal, to be grand in the first place.

But hard bread, thin soup, and though fresh, just salad – that was all?

The lord of Marshan Domain, where Porbett Village was located, couldn’t hide his displeased expression.

He had attended this gathering today not only to become acquainted with the high-ranking priest but also to meet Belinda Blanche.

His domain was close to the north, making it barren land with a short farming season.

So he had been making do with income from logging, but there was exactly one area where particularly large amounts of money changed hands.

It was the nobles’ villas formed near Shabert Forest.

‘We shouldn’t have sold that land like that.’

The Marquess of Marshan’s grip tightened on his fork.

Selling the logging land to Adelia Blanche for a high price had happened during his great-great-grandfather’s time.

But who could have known that birch forest would become such a popular tourist destination?

Because of that, the Marshan family had been regretting it for four generations.

And at some point, reclaiming Shabert Forest had become their long-cherished wish.

But that was impossible. It was the Blanche family who had landscaped Shabert Forest and created expensive commercial districts around it for nobles to enjoy.

Having spent big money to turn it into a tourist destination, there was no way they’d give it up.

Though he thought it was a distant dream, an opportunity arose when ownership of Shabert Forest was transferred as dowry to the Blanche family’s good-for-nothing daughter.

‘She surely won’t be able to properly assess the forest’s value.’

If he played his cards right, he might be able to reclaim that land, so he had planned to go directly to the Royal Capital to meet Belinda Blanche, but she had walked right into his hands.

The Marquess of Marshan, who had been excitedly calculating, glanced to his right and immediately lowered his eyes.

‘What kind of woman looks so menacing?’

His assumption that she was only famous in the capital’s social circles and was just a young girl after all crumbled the moment he witnessed Belinda Blanche in person.

“Due to an unexpected stay, I couldn’t obtain formal attire suitable for a dinner. So please understand this appearance.”

Belinda, who entered the dinner hall in hunting attire, surveyed the gathering with murderous eyes as if her prey was among them.

Though everything she wore was of high quality, to attend a dinner in such attire.

Moreover, her gaze was so menacing that the Marquess of Marshan couldn’t even mention Shabert Forest in passing.

Then, Priest Mellio, who had been quietly maintaining her place at the meal, spoke up.

“The temple has not forgotten the help you provided, my lord. If there’s ever anything you need the temple’s help with, please tell me anytime.”

“Haha, what help could there be? I only did what was natural. By the way, have you caught the criminal who dared to steal the sacred relic?”

At those words, Priest Mellio’s gaze turned to Giuseppe.

Giuseppe, who had been eating quietly, smiled warmly and set down his fork.

“I have roughly narrowed down the suspects. Therefore, it seemed proper to explain the situation to those gathered here, which is why I have brought you all together.”

Giuseppe’s gaze swept over the faces of those attending the dinner.

Though he wore a warm smile, the Marquess of Marshan found him somehow unsettling.

“Well then, since we’ve gathered the suspects, shall we identify the culprit?”

Screech.

With the sharp sound of a fork scraping against tableware, silence fell.

The outsiders attending this dinner were Belinda Blanche, the Marquess of Marshan, and a courier from the Temple who served as a communication link between the various shrines.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

Giuseppe gently answered the courier whose expression had hardened.

“Temple couriers transport precious items and information. Along with a sacred oath to never reveal what they carry. However, Priest Iden, your divine power is so lacking that you can hardly be called a priest. This is proof that you have broken your sacred oath.”

“Th-that’s…! Only a Cardinal can measure divine power! I don’t know how high-ranking Priest Giuseppe on pilgrimage might be, but to discuss my divine power like this. This is a terrible false accusation!”

“Did the Magic Tower tell you to make such excuses if you failed to steal the sacred relic and ended up being suspected as the culprit?”

At those words, Priest Iden’s face literally turned white as a sheet.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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