The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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# Episode 4
‘It’s just a Quest I don’t have to worry about.’
The real problem was figuring out where to get Holy Water and a sword.
“Shall we go see the Pope now?”
Her bright voice nearly tricked me into blurting out “Yes!” before I caught myself.
‘The Pope? Me? Meeting the Pope?’
I’d always understood him to be someone wielding power nearly equal to the Emperor’s.
My breath caught in my throat, and I felt my lips go dry.
“…Yes? Do I really have to meet him?”
Whether in my past life or this one, I was just an ordinary person—the idea of meeting someone as powerful as the Pope felt impossibly daunting.
The moment my reluctance became obvious, the priests began trying to comfort me.
“Please, don’t be so nervous. The Pope is an exceptionally kind and gentle man.”
“That’s right. And since the Pope is like a father to all believers in God, you can treat him like a father too, Holy Maiden.”
* * *
What sort of relationship existed between the Holy Maiden, called the Daughter of God, and the Pope, God’s regent?
‘Father?’
Goosebumps prickled across my skin. I couldn’t believe there was anyone in this world I could call by that name.
‘I had no family in my past life either.’
…Well, in any case, this was fortunate. Where else would I find Holy Water if not from the Pope?
I pretended to give in to their continued persuasion.
‘I’ll just go ask him for Holy Water.’
Just think of the Good Deed Gauge!
This is a mission to obtain no less than a 5-point item reward!
My step grew lighter. I hummed a little tune, holding the hands of the priestesses on either side as we walked.
Perhaps because my perspective was low, everything looked grand and magnificent.
Even the pillar carvings.
“You’ll probably memorize the way once you walk it a few more times.”
“That section is where commoners come to worship, but this area is restricted to nobility only.”
Such a brutally rigid class system.
I kept my mouth shut.
If I hadn’t become the Holy Maiden, I never would have set foot in this place.
Even the cleanliness of the buildings was different. Over there, the shrubbery wasn’t maintained, while here flowers bloomed and the grass was trimmed into neat, rounded shapes.
“As the Holy Maiden, you’re free to go anywhere you wish. Just be careful not to get lost.”
“Of course.”
I was rounding a corner with a careless nod when something suddenly burst forth and crashed straight into me.
“Oof!”
“…!”
My forehead throbbed with a sharp sting, and tears sprang to my eyes.
When I looked up, I saw a young boy whose eyes were already reddening—he must have hit his chin, and he was glaring at me furiously.
His jet-black hair looked starkly out of place against the pristine white surroundings.
His skin was so pale it seemed nearly lifeless, and beneath dark, sharp eyes lay heavy shadows—he looked almost like a corpse.
The boy, slightly taller than me, clenched his teeth and wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes with rough, angry movements.
“W-we greet Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
The flustered priests hurried to bow, shielding me with their bodies.
‘That’s the mad tyrant-to-be Crown Prince? And he’s this young?’
“Who are you?”
His voice was even pleasant. Male lead buff, I suppose?
Despite his haggard appearance, his features were sharp and sculptural.
“We greet Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Following the priests’ lead, I bowed as well, and his hostile demeanor softened slightly.
“Your Highness. This is the Holy Maiden who has newly arrived.”
“A new Holy Maiden?”
He answered with an irritable tone, a bitter smile playing at his lips.
“So. They finally sent one down?”
Interesting—in this world, he was actually blaming God.
‘Refreshing, actually.’
“All that searching, and nothing. Nothing at all.”
It seemed the Crown Prince harbored considerable hatred toward God.
I stared at the boy who would someday cleanly slit my throat in the future, then abruptly turned my head away.
He raised an eyebrow.
“What’s with that attitude?”
“Your Highness, the Saint is still a child and doesn’t yet understand propriety. Please be gracious in your understanding.”
The Crown Prince, who had been studying the priest defending me with a cold gaze, let out a soft laugh.
“A saint without a Divine Oracle? That doesn’t make sense.”
“His Majesty will announce it soon.”
The priest stepped forward, his face rigid. Listening in silence was starting to grate on me.
“Shrimp.”
“……!”
“You call yourself a saint, yet you’re so small. You’re practically a baby.”
“Your Highness is rather small himself.”
“……What?”
He stepped closer to me. I didn’t retreat.
As our faces drew near, he was the one who looked away first.
His ears had flushed red.
What was that? He was the one who came closer in the first place.
‘And besides, I wasn’t even wrong.’
True, one day he’d probably grow into a man who’d break a dozen hearts.
But right now, he was nothing more than a handsome little boy to me.
‘Though he doesn’t look like he’ll become a tyrant.’
His personality was poor, but beyond that—sickly, perhaps—there was nothing more to him.
Unaware of my thoughts, he pouted and grumbled.
“Either way, I don’t believe it.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you do or not.”
“……!”
“My being a saint is an unchangeable fact.”
“How dare you.”
How dare I? What was he going to do about it?
I was the saint, and this was the Temple.
I lifted my chin defiantly.
Let him try to touch me.
The Crown Prince flushed at my unflinching response and looked away in embarrassment.
He seemed to have more shame in him than I’d expected.
“What’s your name?”
The Crown Prince looked at me with an odd expression before asking.
“It’s Dia.”
“……I’ll remember it.”
He left those words and turned to walk past me.
‘Remember it why? So you can really cut off my head later?’
The thought stung, and as he passed, I quietly plucked several strands of hair from his head.
Tug.
It must have hurt—he spun around sharply.
“Hmm~ Hm~”
I walked away with a light step, as if I’d heard nothing.
Even humming a little tune as I went.
“You little——!”
I heard him cursing behind me, but I didn’t care.
Fireworks were blooming in my vision.
[Quest: Can’t We Just Talk Things Out?]
[Progress]
Doll 1/1
Holy Water 0/1
Sword 0/1
Fingernails 0/5
Hair (excluding own) 5/3
(new!)
Ah, I’d plucked two more. Excellent.
‘Well, he had plenty of it anyway.’
Hair grows back quickly at that age, or so I’d heard.
Shamelessly, I stuffed the five dark strands in my pocket.
* * *
The Pope furrowed his brow and released a weary sigh.
The Crown Prince’s condition, which showed no signs of improvement whatsoever, had already become a familiar subject of gossip within the Imperial Palace.
“Sigh…….”
Had he been approaching this wrong from the start?
The Crown Prince, who behaved like an entirely different person whenever he strayed from the prescribed schedule, had grown so severe in his affliction that he now mimicked the sounds of animals.
Everyone who worked in the Imperial Palace had been warned to keep quiet about it,
‘but the rumor that the Crown Prince had completely lost his mind was spreading far and wide. What a mess.’
The Pope felt genuine pity for the young Crown Prince.
The Church and the Imperial Palace had been in opposition since ancient times, though neither harbored particular ill will toward the other.
It was precisely because of this that he had readily accepted the request to examine the Crown Prince’s condition—and six years had already passed.
“Six years have gone by with no improvement whatsoever…….”
By now, the Crown Prince looked at him with eyes full of disgust every time he came.
The Pope couldn’t bear to meet his gaze directly, and each weekly visit had become an ordeal.
Today, too, having discovered nothing new and leaving empty-handed, he had witnessed tears streaming down the boy’s face.
‘……Don’t lie to me. I suppose I’ll eventually go mad and die.’
‘Your Highness, that’s not—just a little longer—’
‘Father knows as well. That it’s all useless. What good does it do to drink Holy Water every time I feel the strangeness? It has no effect!’
He recalled the Crown Prince snorting with frustration just moments ago, pushing himself up from his seat and storming out.
The Pope grimaced at the bitter taste lingering in his mouth and exhaled deeply.
That was when it happened.
His eyes snapped open at the cool rush of Sacred Power flowing through the air from a distance.
The Pope rose from his seat in an instant, driven by pure instinct.
‘At last!’
It had been exactly three hundred years since a new Saint had appeared. He had spent all this time wondering what kind of being she might be, only to let the thought sink into the recesses of his memory.
In truth, he had harbored doubts. A Divine Oracle suddenly descending, and then a Saint appearing in this generation after three centuries of absence—it all seemed like a fever dream.
‘What a blessing.’
What manner of person could she be?
The Divine Oracle had only revealed the Saint’s location, leaving the Pope with no information whatsoever. He’d had no choice but to send Liam blind.
Worse still, he’d been occupied examining the Crown Prince when the Saint arrived, never finding the chance to receive a proper briefing.
The doors of the Grand Cathedral slowly swung open, and a long shadow fell across the floor.
“…….”
And the Pope froze.
‘A… a child?’
A young girl, even smaller than the Crown Prince. A tiny creature who appeared to be no more than four or five years old.
What’s more, from the look of her—clearly underfed—her belly, which should have been round and plump with childhood, was sunken and hollow.
Despite the patter of her small footsteps, the child’s eyes were utterly lifeless.
“How do you do.”
The girl who approached him bowed respectfully and introduced herself with careful formality.
“I’m Dia Irenne. I’m five years old.”
“…….”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She offered a smile as she said these words, but her eyes held no spark of hope or expectation whatsoever.
How was he supposed to accept this? How could he make sense of it?
The Pope stared down at the child before him, his expression utterly bewildered.

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