The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 33

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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 33
“How much have you uncovered?”
I raised an eyebrow at the question, and Arden answered slowly, dragging a gloved finger across his chin.
“Not the complete picture. I’ve discovered that part of the Parade Route has been altered after the inauguration ceremony concludes, that there’s an Excluded Ceremony within the rite itself, and that the Temple Organization is actively making contact with unsavory elements in the shadows to obtain something in secret.”
I’d expected him to bring me at most one piece of information, but Arden had gathered far more than I’d anticipated.
“So you don’t yet know the revised route, what the Excluded Ceremony entails, or what the Temple is secretly trying to obtain—is that why you haven’t told me?”
“I can reveal the first two, but I must ask your patience with the third. I’m still investigating that matter and cannot provide a proper answer.”
Arden withdrew a map from his coat and unfolded it.
“Normally, when the Holy Festival Day celebration is held at the Main Temple, the parade follows this route.”
His finger traced the marked route on the map—exactly as I remembered it from the Holy Festival Day and the Saint Inauguration Ceremony in this life.
“But this time, they’ve charted the route like this instead.”
Arden’s finger moved smoothly in a different direction.
“They’ve deliberately changed a parade route they’ve been insisting on for years. And the original route is far cleaner and more efficient, too.”
Even after five hundred years had passed, I’d spent eighteen years in the Temple Territory in this life and knew every street of it—especially those near the Main Temple.
The revised Parade Route for this inauguration was slightly narrower on the return to the Main Temple, but it wasn’t remote or particularly odd. Which made it all the more suspicious.
“Something feels off about this. I need to investigate this route.”
“I’ve already sent people to examine it carefully and watch for any sign of what the Temple is scheming there, and I’ve instructed them to continue surveillance even if nothing suspicious appears.”
Arden nodded at my words and added to them.
The Temple would never let me leave before the inauguration, so I had no choice but to entrust the investigation of the altered route entirely to Arden.
“Then what about the Excluded Ceremony? Is this document I have here the revised order of ceremonies with that omission reflected?”
I withdrew the ceremony order form I’d received from Archbishop Marius and laid it before Arden.
Arden lifted the document and examined it slowly, then set it down before me and pointed to the blank space between the Crown Bestowal and the Escort Knight Appointment Ceremony.
“Here. After the Crown Bestowal, there was supposed to be an inauguration address by the Saint, but they’ve removed it. I suspect it’s an attempt to obscure your influence over the faithful to some degree.”
Of course. The entire purpose of the Saint Inauguration Ceremony itself was to imprint the Religious Order’s Saint upon not just the faithful but the general public.
And then, by controlling a puppet Saint, they wielded the Order’s will under the guise of the Saint’s influence.
But I hadn’t allowed myself to be manipulated from the selection process onward, and I had no intention of doing so in the future. So it seemed they meant to significantly cut down my public influence while they had the chance.
“Where exactly are you getting all this information from?”
The Parade Route might be something shared, but the latter two pieces of intelligence weren’t the sort of information passed to the Holy Knight Order—at least not through official channels.
Arden smiled faintly, his cold face somehow suiting the expression well.
“The Main Temple has eyes and ears in all directions.”
Which was to say that Arden’s own eyes and ears were quite extensively distributed throughout the Main Temple.
I suppressed a quiet laugh.
Arden was far more capable than I’d initially assessed. And he clearly had no intention of remaining merely my “loyal Escort Knight.”
The way he was openly laying his cards on the table made it seem unlikely his aim was to become a shadowy power behind the throne, controlling me as he pleased and standing against the Archbishop.
Yet taken as a whole—his methods of gathering intelligence, the timing of his risk-taking, and his actions to this point—this man clearly had a purpose beyond protecting me.
I couldn’t yet discern what that purpose was. But one thing was certain.
Arden was no man standing in this place by mere chance.
It baffled me why someone so capable hadn’t risen to prominence in the Holy Knight Order and remained merely a mid-ranking knight unknown even to the higher-ups.
Judging by how other Holy Knights treated him, he didn’t seem to be lower rank; I’d classified him as mid-tier.
In my assessment, Arden was a far superior figure compared to Johann, who’d been mentioned as a candidate for the next Grandmaster. Though that might simply be a matter of my personal taste.
I did prefer the cool, dark-haired Northern Duke type like Arden over the glittering blond prince type.
Instead of dwelling on that, I bit into the Green Apple I was holding. I was beginning to suspect they deliberately chose these bitter fruits for me.
To be honest, I coveted Arden’s intelligence network quite a bit.
Though it didn’t match the level of the network I’d built during my time as the Third Saint, in my current circumstances even a network like Arden’s was something to be grateful for.
In my previous life, any news I wished to know about the Temple reached me within a minute. Expecting that kind of efficiency now would be unrealistic.
That had been possible because I’d carefully selected most of the Temple’s personnel myself, or filled the ranks with my own loyal followers sworn to me for life.
“For now, please continue monitoring the upper echelon of the Religious Order. In the current situation, you’re the only one I can truly trust.”
I lowered my lashes and made the request of Arden, feigning deep concern. After all, I had no choice but to use him for now.
“Do not worry. So long as Your Highness does not walk the same path as your predecessors, I will always stand with you.”
Arden rose with a light smile. His words somehow felt as though they concealed a blade.
It was the feeling of someone ready to drive a knife between my shoulder blades should I ever change my mind.
“Then rest.”
Ten minutes after Arden closed the door and left, once I was certain he wouldn’t return, I withdrew the Hidden Funds I’d been keeping concealed in my coat.
“Oh, my lovely little ones!”
Pondering where to hide them, I approached one of the framed paintings hanging on the wall.
The frame displayed a painting of fruit arranged on a large platter. I tapped three times on the red grapes, once on the pear, and finally twice on the halved orange.
With a soft click, the frame swung open, revealing an empty space.
Empty wasn’t quite accurate—it was filled with Premium Alcohol. It served as a sort of wine cellar.
Different types of alcohol required different storage temperatures, and maintaining each one individually was tedious, so I’d employed a trick: I’d frozen time in this space alone using the Blessing that Caritas had granted me.
Freezing human time violated the Law of Cause and Effect greatly, but freezing the time of alcohol didn’t breach it at all. Enzyme agents living forever hardly affected the world, did it?
So even though the alcohol had been aging for five hundred years, it was in perfect condition—as if it had been stored away just yesterday.
Caritas must have been exasperated after bestowing the Time-Stopping Blessing on this space, because she appeared in my dream that very night, stared at me intently, and kept tapping her wings against her own head.
Caritas, would I have willingly shouldered the burden of leading a crumbling Religious Order if I weren’t the sort to have my head cracked open by necessity?
Plainly put, I could have stayed in the Imperial Palace’s employ as their personal healer, taken a noble title, enjoyed a fat stipend, and lived comfortably off imperial favor—the way those court vultures kept probing to see if I would.
I slid the bottle backward and carefully set down the jewels and gold bullion. Tapping the painted surface where it split down the middle, the door slid shut again with a soft whisper.
To be thorough, I made my way toward the next hidden mechanism, intent on verifying that all the secret compartments and devices scattered throughout my quarters still functioned properly after five hundred years.

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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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