The Fortune-Teller Saintess - Chapter 74

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

The Fortune Teller Saint

Chapter 74

I reflexively hid behind a nearby tree. Then Lucian naturally stood behind me.

After a moment, Nein glanced back at Wilrend and spoke irritably.

“Mind your own business. What does it matter to you, old man, whether I keep it in my heart or my head?”

“It’s certainly not something I can interfere with. I also know that incident left you deeply wounded. But Nein.”

Wilrend, who had been speaking sympathetically, suddenly spoke in a serious voice.

“If you keep pushing away people who approach you like this, your wounds will only deepen.”

“….”

“Wounds inflicted by people can only be healed by people. From what I can see, someone who can heal your wounds has appeared, so is it really okay to push them away like this?”

Nein closed his mouth. Wilrend looked at him with pity and added.

“I sincerely hope you won’t get hurt anymore.”

“…Damn old man.”

Nein clicked his tongue and suddenly whipped around to look this way. Nein’s purple eyes looked directly at me.

I tried to avoid that gaze, but Nein scowled and shouted toward us.

“Come out. Unless you want me to drag you out myself.”

“…Nasty bastard.”

“Holy Lady, I can hear everything, you know?”

“Huk.”

I revealed myself with an embarrassed face.

Nein, who had been looking at me with his arms crossed, turned his gaze to Lucian beside me and scowled deeply.

“That bastard again?”

“Why are you suddenly picking on Count Lucian?”

“I don’t like how he follows only the Holy Lady around.”

“It can’t be helped. I’m the Holy Lady, and Count Lucian is a holy knight.”

At my words, Nein closed his mouth. As if displeased, magic power began seeping out from Nein’s body.

To calm him down, I hurriedly changed the subject.

“Anyway, how are you feeling? Have you calmed down a bit?”

“I’ve always been rational.”

‘Yeah right.’

I was dumbfounded but didn’t voice my thoughts. Good job holding back, Ellia.

Instead, I walked up to Nein and extended my hand to him.

“Let’s go back. I really need your help to resolve this matter. And you can apologize while we’re at it.”

“Do I look like someone who apologizes?”

“Mm, no. But.”

I looked straight up at Nein and spoke clearly.

“I think you’re a wonderful guy who at least knows how to acknowledge his own mistakes.”

“….”

“…You handle Nein very well.”

“Shut up, old man.”

Nein snapped at Wilrend, then grabbed my hand and started walking.

Leading the way, he said quietly.

“Just so you know, I’m not going back because of you, Holy Lady.”

I widened my eyes and burst into laughter.

“I know.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Just because I’m happy.”

“What?”

Nein looked back with narrowed eyes.

Startled by that, I hurriedly mumbled.

“I’m happy that we’re going back together!”

“…You find happiness in the strangest things.”

Did I catch a glimpse of longing in Nein’s eyes, or was it just my imagination?

I couldn’t take my eyes off Nein’s white head and swallowed my confused emotions.

‘Why did I say that?’

Because I’m happy? Well, of course I’m happy about this situation of going back with Nein, but.

‘This is almost like….’

It’s like I have feelings for Nein, isn’t it?

***

We returned to the room where Jacad and Robelina were.

My stomach was churning because of the thoughts I had on the way, but I didn’t have time to worry about that.

Because something amazing had happened.

“I’ll admit it. Earlier I spoke too emotionally. I apologize for that part.”

At Nein’s words, the room became cold in a different way than before.

“…Did the sun rise from the west today by any chance?”

“I confirmed it rose from the east on our way here, Your Majesty.”

“Ah! I get it. Today must be the day the world ends?”

As we each made our comments, veins bulged on Nein’s forehead.

“Want me to show you what destruction looks like?”

“S-sorry.”

“We were just so surprised….”

“Ha.”

Nein let out a short sigh and turned his head away sharply.

‘See, the kid is good-natured after all.’

I watched him with a pleased expression, then turned my head toward Robelina.

It was to check what she had talked about with Jacad.

“Rina, did anything happen while we were gone?”

“Um, well, the thing is.”

“Something did happen?!”

I was surprised and stuck my face forward.

‘That bastard Jacad really didn’t miss his chance!’

When I looked at her with excited eyes, Robelina flinched and carefully spoke up.

“It seems like Priest Rowen was… a heretic, Ria.”

“Huh?”

“I guess you didn’t know either.”

“N-no. I wasn’t surprised about that.”

“Huh? Then?”

“…Now that I think about it, that’s incredibly surprising! Priest Rowen was a heretic!”

I take back what I said earlier. Jacad was a stupid, gullible fool who didn’t know how to seize opportunities.

I let out a deep sigh inwardly and returned to the main topic.

Priest Rowen was a heretic.

“When you say heretic, Rina… do you mean Priest Rowen was a mage, or that he actually served a different god?”

“The latter.”

“But he was someone who belonged to the Temple?”

“You heard it too, Ria. What Priest Rowen said before he attempted suicide.”

Robelina’s serious words brought back a memory I had momentarily forgotten.

‘Everything is for the Prophet!’

‘…He definitely said something like that.’

Could this ‘Prophet’ be the god that Rowen believed in? Or someone behind the scenes?

‘No, maybe it could be both.’

Otherwise, there would be no reason to risk one’s life so blindly for a single person.

As I pondered deeply, a memory suddenly came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, when we left that house….’

It felt like I might grasp some clue.

Feeling I needed to check immediately, I hurriedly turned to look at Nein.

“Nein, could we go to that house where Priest Rowen was hiding?”

“I remember the coordinates, so it wouldn’t be difficult. But why there?”

“There’s something I want to check.”

Answering seriously, I headed to the village where Rowen had been hiding, together with Nein, Robelina, and Lucian.

***

“It’s an unpleasant place no matter when we come.”

“Indeed it is.”

Robelina and Lucian each made a comment as they looked around inside the house.

I too couldn’t help but pause when my gaze fell on the spot where Rowen had tried to take his own life.

Fortunately, it seemed no one had visited in the meantime, as the inside of the house looked the same as when we had visited. Even the broken fragments of the mana stone from that time were still on the floor.

Nein, who was looking around inside the house, asked me with a puzzled voice.

“Why did you want to come back here?”

“I saw something back then. I’m sure it was in this room….”

As I entered the room with its door blown off and gaping open, ‘it’ immediately revealed itself.

“Found it.”

I narrowed my eyes and picked it up.

The three people who followed me in tilted their heads as they looked at the object in my hand.

“It’s a statue of someone praying?”

“And a very clean statue at that. The kind that doesn’t suit this abandoned house, one that someone must have treasured.”

“You’re saying that someone was Priest Rowen?”

“That’s right.”

I nodded at Robelina’s words and examined the statue, turning it this way and that.

“If Priest Rowen, who serves another god, treasured this, then this statue must surely be a heretical object. There might be clues left somewhere… Found it.”

When I turned the statue upside down, an emblem carved on the bottom was revealed.

An emblem that looked similar to the one used by the Temple at first glance, but was actually completely different.

It was a heretical emblem.

Robelina and Lucian, who had deep faith in God, hardened their faces as soon as they saw the emblem.

“So Priest Rowen really was a heretic.”

“Such wicked objects should be destroyed immediately.”

“Wait, Count Lucian.”

“Yes?”

Lucian, who was raising his scabbard, paused at my restraint.

I held up the statue slightly and spoke to my companions.

“Don’t you think we could use this?”

“Ria, you don’t mean….”

“No, no! I don’t mean I’m joining the heretics!”

I hastily made excuses and added with an awkward smile.

“If we do this right, we might be able to expose Priest Rowen’s crimes with this.”

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