The Genius Perfumer of the Fallen Cult - Chapter 3

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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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The Genius Perfumer of the Fallen Religious Order Episode 3

Since that day, Prim had been cursed so that thorns sprouted wherever she stepped, piercing her feet. Whatever her soles touched would sprout thorns that wounded her feet, making it impossible for Prim to even wear shoes.

At midnight, her wounds would heal as if washed clean, but because of this, not even a single callus formed. Those thorns always brought the pain of piercing through tender new flesh.

And because Prim had taken the curse in Rozien’s place, Rozien carried her on his back. In her past life, until his life came to an end.

“Ugh!”

Rising from her spot, Prim groaned from the pain caused by the thorns that sprouted beneath her feet, yet closed her eyes and focused on her sense of smell.

A gentle breeze blew.

Dust, the scent of very old marble, and then other fragrances could be felt from a little distance away.

Light purple heather soaked in sunlight, the bitter-sweet smell of wild roses with small buds, the low and faint musk scent of pink-bloomed musk mallow, the earthy smell of thistle, and lily of the valley blooming cool and clean in the shaded places.

Prim opened her eyes again and went in search of the fragrances she had detected. From the scattered heather bushes, she broke off the stem that gave off the sweetest fragrance.

Breaking the branches of wild roses with her bare hands was quite painful, but there was no time to look for scissors.

‘Going back and forth would be even more difficult.’

Prim looked at the garden path dotted with her red footprints and squeezed her eyes shut.

She removed the largest thorns before breaking them off, but the small thorns still pricked her hands. Still, Prim silently surveyed her surroundings.

When she gathered several flower stems of musk mallow and thistle together, it formed quite a decent-looking flower bouquet.

Finally, in front of the lily of the valley clustered together under a large tree, Prim hesitated for a moment.

Since it was an ingredient she had used abundantly in the fragrance she had made intending to die—how abundantly must she have used it for Varin to call her little lily of the valley?—her heart wavered slightly.

“But I still have to do it.”

However, she couldn’t leave a fragrance unfinished just because her heart wavered. Prim broke off the lily of the valley with force.

The lily of the valley that grew only in this region was called Sangbertal lily of the valley after the territory’s name, and this species had an even more clearly bubbling distinctive flower fragrance.

However, when the flowers were made into fragrance materials, the concentrated toxicity was much stronger than ordinary lily of the valley, making them unusable.

Prim’s creation of perfume with the lily of the valley from this place was the first and last time, with her final perfume from her past life.

Prim examined the condition of the lily of the valley and added it to the flower bouquet she was holding.

In appearance, it couldn’t match that flower bouquet that Marseria had offered and left until it withered completely, but the fragrance was different.

The sweet flower fragrance of wildflowers that seemed to have grown somewhat thirsty blended with the soft and warm scent of musk mallow, while the clear and transparent fragrance of lily of the valley evoked the morning dew of early summer.

Like transparent glass bells ringing out, it felt as if she had instantly departed to a splendid summer villa.

“Hmm.”

However, it was slightly different from the fragrance she had initially envisioned.

It seemed to be due to the bitter fragrance from the broken stems and the vivid water scent that only fresh flowers, not refined fragrance materials, possessed. Moreover, the musk mallow flowers didn’t give off the fragrance she had expected.

After pondering briefly, Prim searched around the musk mallow.

When she crushed the musk mallow seeds that looked like black snail shells with a stone, a somewhat rough but sufficiently warm musk scent rose up.

She brushed away the crushed pieces with her hands and plucked some leaves from thyme growing randomly nearby, sprinkling them together over the flower bouquet.

Then the originally intense and vitality-filled fragrance of thyme was faintly layered over the flower bouquet, dancing and cheerfully revealing the refreshing heat of early summer.

A faint smile appeared on Prim’s lips as she smelled the fragrance. It had been a very long time since she had made a fragrance with only such raw materials. It seemed she could forget all the sharp pain she felt at her feet.

‘With this, Varin should be able to speak, right?’

Flowers and trees eat water and light, animals eat grass and other animals, magical beasts eat animals and humans, and humans eat grains and bread. Then what do gods eat?

They eat fragrances.

Gods take well-made fragrances as their meals to gain powerful strength, and with that strength they bestow miracles and divine oracles.

Having seen the god’s power, the number of believers who trust and follow increases, the faith and fragrances they offer also increase, and the god who consumed those fragrances becomes even stronger.

Conversely, if there are no believers who trust and follow, the offered fragrances also disappear, and as the available power weakens, the vicious cycle of losing followers continues.

This was exactly Varin’s case.

As time passed, he was slowly forgotten among people, the offered fragrances decreased, and even the power he could exercise as a god became weak, so now all that believed in and followed him was just one small temple orphanage in this palm-sized territory that had completely failed.

Prim organized the altar and placed the freshly made flower bouquet on top. It had been a very long time since she had gathered and worked with living plants rather than refined fragrance materials and fragrant oils, making it feel somewhat awkward and even a little embarrassing.

Prim looked around once for no reason, then clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and called the god’s name.

“Um, Varin?”

— ….

Prim opened just one eye slightly. The flower bouquet was quiet.

“Won’t this work?”

Just as Prim muttered this and was about to remove the flower bouquet, rain suddenly fell from the clear sky and a gentle light began bursting forth centered on the flower bouquet.

And Varin’s urgent voice rang out.

— Hey, you call my name right off the bat without even a single prayer!

“Oh, Varin. You were there. So what happens if I don’t become a perfumer and offer fragrances?”

After a brief silence, Varin spoke.

— …What about the prayer?

Prayer? What prayer?

Prim’s eyes widened.

“Is there… a separate prayer for Varin?”

— There is, I have one too! Of course I do! I’m a god too!

Prim rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, thunder suddenly struck and raindrops began falling from the temple’s holey ceiling, starting to wet the interior.

Prim moved stealthily on her knees to a place where the rainwater wouldn’t reach and thought.

If even the god of such a temple had a prayer, where could she find it? She might be able to find out by asking Marseria Priest, but….

“I’ll look for it. Later. It’s impossible right now.”

— ….

The flower bouquet trembled.

Seeing that movement, Prim cleared her throat.

Since she usually spoke directly about only business matters, there weren’t many people around her. That would have been one of the things that made her end difficult.

Prim decided to explain the impossible reasons in more detail and ask about his well-being before getting to business.

“I can’t look for books right now. I’ll ask the priest later. But Varin, how is the fragrance? Do you like it?”

— …It’s a wonderful… fragrance.

Varin was actually upset, but still answered honestly.

The flower bouquet contained a summer resort villa from the Southern Country.

It felt like pleasant fragments of early summer were rippling in the sunlight.

It was a warm and joyful fragrance, as if dancing a waltz while splashing water droplets and getting tanned in the sun.

Varin wandered through that fragrance and thought. In her past life, this was the reason Yulberon had hurriedly sent down the Inquisitors.

Those Inquisitors had rushed to ‘escort’ Prim. Not to question her crimes and execute her.

Yulberon must have known that Prim intended to kill herself.

And he absolutely could not let her die.

To think she could create such a fragrance with just a flower bouquet made from wildflowers scattered across the fields, not high-grade fragrance materials, not flowers and plants carefully and preciously cultivated.

How could he give up a perfumer who could reconnect the severed voice of a god and manifest that voice on earth?

— …I think I can give divine oracles for three days.

“I see. That’s good. There are hardly any proper fragrance materials here. So what you were saying… what happens if I don’t offer fragrances?”

— A god just praised your fragrance and that’s all you have to say?

Prim answered quickly.

“I’m very happy. Really.”

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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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