The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 80

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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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Magic Saint Seraphina
Episode 80
[The Mysterious Assailant Who Attacked Rimkins]
[Running the Shop for Ten Days in Place of the Owner?]
[Rimkins Homemade Gelato Owner: “The Employees Weren’t Fired by Me—I’ll Reinstate Them All”]
“Thank goodness. I’m glad the owner is safe.”
The employees who’d collapsed that day seemed to have recovered without incident as well.
I murmured this while gazing at the queue outside Rimkins Homemade Gelato.
The line that usually looped around the shop several times and snaked into the alley had grown even longer than usual today.
That was because Rimkins—a woman in her thirties—had announced she would close up shop after today and go on indefinite hiatus.
‘Truth be told, considering the owner’s physical condition after being trapped for so long, she should rest immediately. But she wants to repay all the customers who’ve visited during that time.’
According to the Capital Guard’s investigation, the owner had remained alone in the shop two weeks ago, cleaning the pot, when she lost consciousness.
When she came to, two weeks had already passed and the shop was completely wrecked.
Despite being fired without warning, the employees had gone looking for her in the middle of the night out of concern, only to be attacked by the assailant.
Now that the owner had finally regained consciousness, while she couldn’t precisely recall what had happened during her captivity, upon learning that the shop had suddenly become famous and money had accumulated in the safe, she nearly fainted.
(I suppose the villain didn’t touch the earnings from the gelato sales. At least that’s something.)
Given that an incident had occurred, a decision was made that all staff would take paid leave starting tomorrow to allow sufficient recovery time.
Not only would their salaries continue while the shop remained closed, but the wages for the past ten days when they’d been wrongfully dismissed would be paid in full as well.
After news of this decision made the rounds, the queue for Rimkins’s gelato truly exploded.
She no longer sold the Double Vanilla Bean Gelato, but instead offered the even more delicious Double Chocolate Gelato.
The shop window that got smashed?
Actually perfect.
The queue can line up right there now.
The mysterious assailant who’d attacked the owner and run the shop in her stead was being actively hunted by the Capital Guard, but…
‘They probably won’t find them.’
Why?
Because the culprit is sitting right next to me.
I looked across from Rimkins Homemade Gelato toward the Café Terrace, where a black rabbit sprawled across Cassian’s lap.
Two-Tone licked its nose with its pointed tongue and asked.
“So what are you going to do with this creature?”
“…I don’t know.”
We’d need to figure things out once it woke up. I shook my head.
This rabbit—who was it?
The Animal Abuser.
The villain who’d been chasing and tormenting me all this time.
A handsome man with black hair and crimson eyes.
That’s right.
The Animal Abuser had actually been a Divine Beast masquerading as a human…
“So I’ve been seriously fighting a rabbit this whole time…?”
I’d even thrown punches at this rabbit, hurled objects at it.
Damn.
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
“Now that I think about it, when I crushed it with that Stone Statue before, it made that ‘squeak!’ sound. That should’ve been a clue.”
The situation had been urgent then, so I’d let it slide, but thinking back later, something felt off. A burly man doesn’t go around squeaking like that!
“What kind of rabbit is this vicious.”
Sure, it chased and harassed me.
But feeding people that strange gelato!
“Dark Rabbit, can you hear me? Wake up.”
I jabbed at the rabbit’s rear end repeatedly as it lay prone across Cassian’s lap, eyes shut and limp.
It didn’t stir.
Two-Tone, its nose buried in the Whipped Cream Cassian had given it, spoke.
“It looks like it lost all its strength from taking a direct hit from Seraphina’s Finishing Technique.”
Even if it woke up, there was a high chance it wouldn’t be able to transform back into a human or speak human language anymore.
“Until it regains its strength.”
“So what do we do?”
“I suppose it just stays a rabbit…”
“Damn.”
I’d planned to wake this thing up and ask it who its master was.
“Is there no way to restore its power?”
Does anyone know? I looked back and forth between Cassian and Two-Tone. Both shook their heads.
“I haven’t encountered any Divine Beast besides Johann Mendelssohn Handel Beethoven Bach Schubert Mozart Debussy Park Yeon Strauss III, either.”
“I was cast out from the Divine Beast realm as a child, so I wouldn’t know.”
“…Then what do we do?”
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to raise it….”
We couldn’t abandon a rabbit anyway.
* * *
“The fact that you abused animals and tormented people doesn’t disappear just because you’re a rabbit smaller than the palm of a hand. When you turn back into a human, you’d better be prepared to pay for your crimes.”
Understood?
Seraphina poked the rabbit’s rear end sharply, brandishing her threat.
She’d been pretending to scold it while constantly poking the rabbit’s hindquarters—it seemed less like discipline and more like something else entirely.
“If it weren’t for the Boarding House’s rule against keeping animals, I would’ve taken you with me and kept watch myself. You’re lucky, you hear?”
Even as it slept, the rabbit’s nose twitched as if sensing something ominous.
Having delivered a satisfying barrage of threats, Seraphina turned her gaze toward the gelato shop across the way.
The still-haggard owner and the reinstated staff members were handing out sample gelato to the customers lined up outside.
Just then, a customer leaving the shop bumped into someone walking without looking ahead, and the gelato tumbled from their grip.
The person who’d collided with them apologized in alarm, while the customer who’d dropped the gelato laughed and waved a hand; the owner handed them a fresh one, and someone waiting in line lent them a handkerchief.
Everyone’s expression was kind.
The owner, the staff, the waiting customers—all of them.
“…….”
“Cassian.”
Seraphina, who’d been watching intently, suddenly called out his name.
As Cassian turned to look at her, she spoke.
“You said something like that before. About how the people who ignored that collapsed grandmother probably thought it was someone else’s problem.”
There are so many people indifferent to others’ affairs in this world.
“But I think you were wrong.”
There are far more people in this world who feel others’ troubles as their own and know how to empathize.
“The proof is right there.”
Seraphina jerked her chin toward the shop.
“There are far more people lined up to comfort the owner and staff who suffered an injustice than there are people standing in line because they were enchanted by some villain’s gelato.”
That nonsense from the Animal Abuser—that negative feelings are stronger than positive ones, that “love and justice are like candles that go out the moment they’re lit”—that’s wrong too.
“Have you ever lit a candle in the dark?”
“…No.”
“I did it just the day before yesterday, and I could see perfectly.”
No matter how vast the darkness, it always gives way before even a handful of light.
“It doesn’t even have to be some grand act of kindness.”
Simply not having the heart to turn away from someone in crisis.
Just that much is enough.
That small measure of tenderness seems to be what keeps people alive.
“I’m always complaining about difficult customers at the Clothing Shop too, but really—one troublemaker just stands out so much that we forget how many kind customers there actually are.”
When I get into a bind with a difficult customer, other customers come over and take my side.
“Maybe that’s how the world turns as well….”
Cassian asked as she murmured to herself.
“So, this time?”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you leaving a message this time?”
“No. This time it’s fine.”
“…….”
“This time, just seeing that sight is enough.”
“…….”
“People will think I’ve gone underground since I haven’t appeared in a while.”
“…….”
“Anyway, they must be freezing—look at all those broken windows over there…….”
“…….”
“Cassian, aren’t you supposed to ask?”
Brrr.
Seraphina, shivering, rose to her feet.
“Oh, Ellie and Hazel are here. I’m going!”
Without waiting for a reply, she bounded away, hopping across the rooftop like she had before.
“Ellie! Hazel!”
“Seraphina!”
“Seraphina!”
She linked arms with her friends and soon vanished into the back of the long queue.
“…….”
A shop attendant. A Magic Saint.
Someone who has seen every kind of ugliness and still refuses to give up on people.
She guards the goodness within herself to the very end.
If a world full of kind people is what makes this life worth living, then she—more than anyone—makes my world worth living in.
‘This is bad.’
I’m a high priest.
I can only love one person for my entire life.
What am I going to do?
Speaking as if the world is kind—
while at the same time telling me that embracing her couldn’t possibly recharge my magic, as if I’m foolish for even imagining it.
‘No. Not yet.’
Cassian shook his head.
‘It’s still manageable.’
As long as I don’t let it go further.
He’d noticed it before Arden did.
But he denied it.
That denial was Cassian’s critical mistake.
How could such a small candle shine so far into the darkness?
In a harsh world, even a kind act glows like that.
–The Merchant of Venice

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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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