The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 44

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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 44
Taking advantage of Elise’s moment of shock, I pressed further.
“You dreamed of a doll in your sleep, and when you told me who gave it to you, you had nightmares of your family being harmed—is that right?”
Elise gave a faint nod. I showed her the half-broken doll I’d brought with me.
“You’re safe now. There’s no one left who can do such a thing.”
At the sight of the doll split in two, Elise trembled visibly, her small hands moving across her own body as if checking whether she too had been cleaved in half.
This was definitely the work of the Ecclesia Cult.
Here was someone out there slaying Demons and Purifying lands corrupted by Demonic Energy with exhausting thoroughness, while others were stoking that very corruption and summoning Demons instead.
What had the later generations been doing? Instead of wasting time decorating the Main Temple with bizarre contraptions, they should have been dragging Ecclesia Cult members in and burning them all at the stake through Heretic Inquisition. Were they keeping Inquisitors around just to boil soup?
Usually, they scattered dolls throughout the ritual site’s perimeter. If they were too far from the site, the victims wouldn’t count as proper sacrifices.
Which meant there were likely more children with dolls somewhere within Lebon County.
I didn’t know how far along the Assimilation had progressed for the others, but judging by Elise’s case, the rate should be similar across the board.
So my options were two: hunt down each doll and Purify them one by one, or find the Ecclesia Cult members and deal with them directly.
Personally, I preferred the latter. It was far cleaner and more efficient.
“All right, now you can tell me how you came to receive that doll, yes?”
“Well… that is…”
The girl, fidgeting with her fingers, reluctantly confessed. A child named Kana—the Nursemaid’s daughter and her playmate—had brought the doll one day and given it to her.
Together, they’d used Elise’s Brooch to prick their fingers and smear their blood onto the doll.
“Where is this Kana now?”
Elise’s Mother answered in her stead.
“She’s recovering at home. The Nursemaid mentioned that since the symptoms are identical, it seems Elise must have passed the illness to Kana. She said Elise showed the symptoms first, and Kana displayed the same signs afterwards.”
Well, technically speaking, it was backwards—Kana was the one who’d received the doll first and given it to Elise. It wasn’t an illness exactly, but it was far more sinister than one.
“Send for the Nursemaid. I need to examine Kana as well.”
“Oh, couldn’t you heal Elise a bit more before you go?”
Elise’s Mother clutched urgently at my sleeve.
“Our daughter has been ill for so long. She’s still so pale…”
“All the Demonic Energy has already been purified.”
It was true. What remained in Elise now was nothing but ordinary exhaustion. Rest would restore her.
Elise’s Mother gripped me desperately, unwilling to let go no matter how many times I explained it was merely depleted vitality.
Did she expect me to restore her daughter’s life force entirely? There was no Divine Power reservoir like my chamber in the Main Temple here, and I’d be burning through my reserves hard for the next several days anyway.
“We don’t even know how many more dolls they’ve made beyond the first hundred.”
I spoke as gently as I could, but with unmistakable firmness.
“If they’ve crafted one hundred and five, then a hundred lives are already compromised. Even with Elise freed, that leaves one hundred and four.”
I was saying, in roundabout terms, that we needed to hurry.
“If those cultists complete their ritual and summon a Great Demon from beneath this land, the territory is finished. It will become uninhabitable. Do you truly believe your daughter’s vitality matters more than that?”
Hearing this, Count Lebon couldn’t restrain himself and rebuked his daughter-in-law.
“Is that what matters now? This girl is to become the future mistress and lead House Lebon—how can she lack such judgment?”
Elise’s Mother finally released her grip on my sleeve. I gave her shoulder a light pat.
“Elise has weathered the crisis. Once this is settled and I return, I’ll examine her again.”
One must manage future patrons carefully. At those words, Elise’s Mother’s expression brightened.
While Elise’s Mother went to summon the Nursemaid, I stepped out of Elise’s chamber and carefully surveyed the nearby corridor, wondering if there was any reason her Assimilation had progressed faster.
Arden posed a question to me.
“It seems evident there’s nothing more you can do to heal that girl, yet you make such a promise. Are you soft-hearted toward children, or…?”
I answered with complete honesty.
“Count Lebon has rather deep pockets.”
Arden’s gaze shifted to me.
“And how did you come to know that?”
“Count Lebon made a sizable donation to the Main Temple, and we—the Orphanage children, that is—had to move it to storage. We had to count every single Gold Coin and Gold Bar by hand.”
I paused briefly before continuing.
“It was grueling work. That day we couldn’t even eat, just labored continuously—and let me tell you, Count Lebon and the other aristocrats who gave large donations were insufferable about it. But later, once I was older, I came to understand that this temple’s finances, and even the Orphanage’s, are sustained partly by donations from such people.”
Arden grew quiet for a moment. I let out a small laugh and shrugged.
“So shouldn’t I do right by the money they’ve given?”
That reasoned argument satisfied him. But my true thoughts were entirely different.
Do right by it, my foot. They gave that money to the Cult, not to me—why should I care?
My real goal was to divert even a third of what Count Lebon donated directly to me.
In other words, to build a personal network with House Lebon and secure funding in my own name rather than the temple’s.
My influence within the temple was still negligible—too soon to touch matters like Indulgences—so I had to cultivate connections however I could.
But Arden mustn’t know this. I owed him honesty in many things, but I couldn’t yet trust him completely.
If he found out I’d become mercenary, or worse, started seeing me as overlapping with the third generation Saint, there’d be hell to pay.
Shortly after, the Nursemaid arrived in response to the summons. Arden and I exchanged a brief glance, then nodded silently to each other before entering the room together.
“Your daughter’s doll nearly killed Elise! The young lady of House Lebon—brought to the brink of death by a mere doll!”
The Nursemaid’s face had turned quite pale as she listened to Elise’s Mother’s hysterical screaming. Her fingers repeatedly clutched and released the hem of her skirt, her anxiety laid bare. I asked calmly, without rushing.
“Did Kana have a doll she carried with her constantly?”
Before I’d even finished speaking, the Nursemaid’s face contorted.
As if that single word had toppled the last pillar holding her up, she collapsed where she stood and burst into tears—a flood of sobs she’d been holding back all at once.
“Yes, she did…… Please, save my daughter too……!”
The Nursemaid covered her face with the back of her hand, sobbing. It took her a long moment to speak again.
“It was so strange…… She’s not a greedy child, but she seemed obsessed with that doll. She wouldn’t let go of it—not while sleeping, not while eating, not while washing. Once, I took the doll and hid it.”
I already knew what was coming next.
“After that, she suddenly…… Her face became so vicious. She didn’t seem like my daughter anymore.”
The Nursemaid’s voice trembled.
“Then she grabbed a knife from the kitchen and came at me. Demanding the doll back…… saying she’d kill me if I didn’t give it back…….”
Silence fell over the room. I felt Arden’s jaw clench tight. I exhaled sharply.
‘An exorcist couldn’t do better, honestly.’
I spoke to the Nursemaid at once.
“Take me to where Kana is. Now.”
Understanding from my firm command that this was urgent, the Nursemaid’s steps quickened as she guided us.
We hurried out of the castle. The Nursemaid’s House, situated near the fortress, was an old wooden structure, its neglect evident at a glance.
“Kana is inside.”
The Nursemaid pointed to the inner room with a trembling hand.
The moment I carefully opened the door, I nearly froze in place.
Kana lay convulsing on the floor, foam flecking her lips, her hands clenched at her heart.

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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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