The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 75

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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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Chapter 75
Had Lien seized the child’s consciousness again with that vile magic of hers?
Cecilia watched the girl with suspicion.
But the child, though introverted, no longer trembled at her touch as she once had, nor was she excessively shy.
“Yes! I—I’m honored to meet you!”
Sena found this so strange that she leaned over to whisper to Marie.
“Really, why are you acting like you’re meeting the Saint for the first time?”
“But I can’t remember!”
Despite lowering her voice, their bickering carried plainly across the room.
‘So it really is Marie.’
Only then did Cecilia relax, placing a hand over her heart.
After all, she’d given such a stern warning this morning that if Marie deceived her again, she was genuinely prepared to give her a spanking.
The children quickly resolved their little quarrel and rolled up their sleeves with determination.
“We’ll help you unpack!”
“I’d be grateful.”
Sena quickly hung her coat in the wardrobe, then picked up the Flower Bouquet that had been sitting on the table alongside the luggage.
Cecilia, who had been watching the small figure, suddenly opened her mouth.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“Yes? Ask me anything!”
“Why are you always so kind to me?”
The wide-eyed child blinked, then answered as if the question needed no thought at all.
“Because I like you so much, Saint!”
Cecilia couldn’t tear her eyes away from that radiant smile.
The child, growing shy at her own words, set the Flower Bouquet on the windowsill without a single petal out of place, then picked up her luggage.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to say it out loud…”
Sena’s murmur never finished.
Cecilia had stridden forward and embraced the girl tightly.
‘No matter how deeply I distrust people, I was testing Sena. I must be insane.’
She couldn’t lift her head—ashamed that she had doubted this pure, gentle child, even for a moment.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes?”
Sena tilted her head in confusion, unable to understand why Cecilia had apologized out of nowhere.
Cecilia held her with crushing force, stroked her hair three times, and only then released her.
“Saint? Did I do something praiseworthy…?”
“Nothing, really. I just missed you so much. Oh, I brought some gifts from the Monastery. Marie, would you come over here?”
Cecilia pulled several boxes of Cookies and Chocolate from her luggage and handed them over.
The ones with Preservation Magic cast on them were more expensive in their wrapping, but they were from the finest confectioner in the Monastery, and she had wanted to give them to the children.
“Share them together, understand?”
“Wow! Thank you so much!”
Though the gift was modest, the children’s cheeks flushed with joy.
‘Maybe I should suggest opening a bakery near the Temple.’
Lost in such idle thoughts, she suddenly heard a knock.
The visitor beyond the door was none other than Regina.
Only hours before, she had eagerly followed the acolytes, but her complexion had grown noticeably pale.
Perhaps changing in and out of formal vestments was more exhausting than she’d thought. Or perhaps something unpleasant had occurred.
As Cecilia studied her with concern, Regina strode into her room.
She swept her gaze across the space and let out a heavy sigh.
“I thought perhaps only I was being treated poorly for coming from the Imperial Palace, but it seems that’s not the case.”
“So the room you were assigned wasn’t to your liking?”
“Seriously. I heard the Saint stayed here during the Relief Festival as well? How on earth did you manage to spend days in a place like this?”
From there, Regina complained that she’d never seen such an unadorned room before, and that she’d been startled to find nothing but vegetables in the meals provided to her.
‘Is that all? It seems clean and fine to me. It’s far better than other Temples, actually.’
Since Kiar had offered her one of the best rooms, the furniture, including the bed, was of decent quality, even if there were no luxuries.
Still, Cecilia found herself nodding as she thought of the Imperial Palace.
‘Well, compared to the Palace, I suppose it does look shabby.’
To someone who had lived surrounded by such splendor and fine things, this place would seem like a storeroom.
“The meals are certainly excessive in their simplicity.”
“Exactly. There are children here—shouldn’t they be served meat at least three times a day?”
“They’re not children, though…”
Startled by the Crown Princess’s forceful manner, the girls hiding behind Cecilia grumbled quietly.
Regardless, the Crown Princess looked genuinely troubled.
“Look at this—these babies are all dried out! They’re clearly starving.”
“Oh, no, they’re not!”
“I should at least make a donation before I leave.”
At the sight of the Crown Princess pondering the matter so seriously, laughter finally burst forth.
The Temple staff surely hadn’t treated her with any particular warmth, yet something in the way she fussed over Cecilia’s children—whether out of gratitude for the Holy Power she dispensed or something else—wasn’t unpleasant.
“I ought to look into how your donation system works. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Will you be dining separately this evening?”
“……I’ll see you in the evening.”
The Crown Princess spun around like a cat and swept from the room.
Once the stranger had vanished, the children who’d been lurking behind her back ventured a careful question.
“Is she perhaps…… a friend of the Holy Maiden?”
The question caught her off guard, her eyes widening.
Even if two people stood side by side, even if they conversed cheerfully together, no one would dare assume that the Holy Maiden and the Crown Princess were friends.
Yet to these children, untainted by prejudice, that’s precisely what they’d seen.
To their unguarded question, Cecilia parted her lips briefly, then merely smiled faintly.
Neither affirming nor denying.
* * *
The Temple’s morning came early. Before dawn had even broken, thanks to the children who’d arrived, Cecilia found herself rising early as well.
It felt like returning to the Relief Festival days. Setting aside the strange ache of it, she washed her face and hands in lukewarm water with Sena and Marie’s assistance, and finished a light meal.
Around that time, the Archbishop came to find her directly.
“A day most fitting for resting in the bosom of God.”
“Archbishop!”
Cecilia welcomed him with genuine warmth for the first time since she’d met him.
Or rather, the news he’d brought.
“Has a reply come from His Holiness?”
She’d been too eager even to return his greeting properly. Yet Kiar seemed hardly bothered, answering calmly.
“Permission has been granted. If you’re busy, you needn’t go until after the appointment ceremony, but—”
“No, I’ll go now!”
She’d struggled so hard for this day. She didn’t want to delay a moment.
She even asked leave of Sena, who’d been excited about tidying the Holy Maiden’s hair for the first time in a while, and hurried after Kiar.
A bouquet of flowers in hand.
Though the hour was still early, diligent clerics moved busily through the Temple corridors.
“Good morning, Holy Maiden!”
“Holy Maiden, I hope the meal agreed with you?”
“I’ll see you at the appointment ceremony!”
Perhaps because permission had been granted, there were no sharp glances questioning her qualifications. Rather, a few people even approached her warmly.
Cecilia answered with a benevolent smile, drawing the bouquet closer to her chest.
There were two reasons she’d come to the dangerous Grand Temple of her own accord.
One was to verify the Divine Records, and the other was to narrow down the culprit using the Flower of God.
‘But I can’t very well ask all these people to be tested one by one.’
‘I’d better start with those closest to me.’
Cecilia fixed her gaze on the back of the Archbishop’s head a few steps ahead. In fact, Kiar was one of the suspects suspected of being a zealot.
During the Relief Festival, anyone with the authority to sabotage a strictly managed boat must be no small official.
‘If the Archbishop oversaw the Relief Festival, orchestrating such a scheme wouldn’t be impossible for him.’
Above all, his demeanor—utterly unbecoming an archbishop—was suspicious.
‘Though the odds of a gloomy-looking man being the true mastermind are low.’
Better to remain vigilant and suffer a blow to conscience than to grow careless and invite disaster.
Watching for the right moment to drop the bouquet, Cecilia spoke first.
“Why did you become a priest, Archbishop? You don’t seem particularly devout.”
“God saw fit to make me His slave. What can one do about such an unfortunate fate?”
The Archbishop turned to regard her with surprise, then answered with a sneer.
His response held not a shred of reverence for God.
‘Is the Archbishop not the culprit?’
Zealots, at least, had the goal of serving God. A man as faithless as this seemed unlikely to commit all manner of foul deeds in God’s name.
Before she could drop the bouquet and decide what question to ask next, unfortunately, the two arrived at the room where sacred objects were stored.
The holy knight standing watch recognized the Archbishop and the Holy Maiden, straightening his posture in salute.
Kiar, confirming he was indeed the Archbishop in his own way, acknowledged with a dignified nod and turned to Cecilia.
“His Holiness said you likely already know the location.”
“Yes…… I do.”
‘I snuck in like a thief and got caught red-handed by the Pope himself.’
Cecilia laughed awkwardly, remembering that dark chapter of her past.
“My guidance ends here. Since I’m not permitted further, I’ll wait outside.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Unlike before, Cecilia walked forward with quiet confidence.
She’d found the entrance to the secret chamber that day. When she felt along the one bare stretch of wall, a small stone protrusion no bigger than a palm clicked beneath her fingers.
The door creaked open, and at last, the secret chamber revealed itself.

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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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