The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 48

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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 48
“Then it means Your Majesty still hasn’t granted me your complete trust.”
Arden’s smile turned bitter.
“You’re wrong, Arden. That’s not why I didn’t tell you.”
I cut him off at once. Of course, it was difficult to claim that our trust was perfect. We hadn’t reached the stage where we could turn our backs to each other entirely.
But that was only a secondary concern. The real reason I’d excluded him lay elsewhere.
“If not for that reason, then why?”
Arden asked quietly, his gaze sharpening. There was no expectation of excuses or evasion in his eyes—only the look of someone who wanted to hear the exact truth.
“If I report every detail to you and you handle it, then naturally I’ll become dependent on you. And the moment that happens, the Ecclesia Order’s upper echelon will target you—it’s obvious.”
And if those same upper echelon members eliminate Arden and assign me a new guard—some loyal Ecclesia dog like Johan—what then? That man isn’t to my taste at all.
From the very beginning, when he served as Calianna’s protector during her candidacy, Johan was far too much a creature of the Ecclesia Order.
Arden fell silent for a moment, his expression clearly caught off guard. The fact that I’d been calculating this far ahead seemed to have surprised him.
Did he really think I’d lean on someone so easily?
Perhaps if I’d been a fresh eighteen-year-old, barely into adulthood. But I had already lived for more than a hundred years as the head of the Ecclesia Order, watching every manner of ugliness and suffering imaginable.
I’d witnessed too many times how reliance on another becomes a weakness in a single moment. It was far easier and far safer to resolve things myself.
I turned my attention back to the meal, spearing the fish steak with my fork and murmuring almost to myself.
“By tomorrow, I should be able to leave this territory.”
Once I returned to the Ecclesia Order, the heresy inquisitors would grow busy soon enough. I’d need to sweep up every last trace of those Ecclesia Order heretics, after all. Thanks to that, I didn’t need to worry about being dragged to the Heresy Inquisition Office for a while.
The thought brought a brief moment of peace. Though I was aware that tranquility had an expiration date.
***
The Purification began the next day at the hour when the sun reached its zenith.
The choice of time held no special significance—it was simply when the most eyes would be watching, ensuring that not a single person would miss what I was doing.
Word that the Saint would purify Lebon Castle and its territory had already spread so thoroughly that most of the count’s people had gathered at the base of the castle walls.
Nobles and commoners stood together, all facing the same direction. Their expressions searched for what lay at the root of the unease that had plagued the castle and lands—and whether it could truly vanish.
I stood a short distance from the castle gate. This was where the Magical Contamination began.
The density of Magical Contamination I felt beneath my feet was undeniably high. It wasn’t merely soil corrupted on the surface, but a miasma that had slowly seeped in over long years, establishing itself deep within. The castle’s foundation stones, the underground channels, and the soil throughout the territory were all connected, forming a single continuous current.
“The Saint is performing the Purification herself? Wasn’t the Saint’s role always to remain behind, bestowing blessings from the shadows?”
“Is it even possible for one person to purify an area this vast? Shouldn’t we call more priests right now?”
“I saw the Saint with my own eyes walk through the flames at Sanctum Square. Believe me!”
The ones who’d merely blessed from the shadows were the false saints. I was the Saint who did the real work.
A low murmur rippled through the crowd—a blend of anticipation and doubt.
I made no effort to suppress it. Instead, I drew that entire tide of gazes toward me and stepped forward.
I steadied my breath and lowered my palm to the ground. This was no performance. Pouring Holy Power indiscriminately across such a wide area would be wasteful madness—efficiency required a different approach.
To cover the castle and territory at once, finesse alone wouldn’t suffice. I deliberately spread the Holy Power low but broad. Rather than a wave that drove outward, it moved like roots drinking deep.
At first, nothing appeared to happen. No light. No sound.
“What’s happening? Nothing’s changing.”
“Is it failing?”
As I remained with my palm pressed to the earth and no change manifested, the gathered crowd began to murmur like clouds gathering overhead. Arden stood silently beside me, one hand resting on his sword hilt.
But the earth was the first to respond. Thin golden lines etched themselves across the stone floor at the castle’s base, spreading in brightness like sunlight seeping through ancient cracks—careful, relentless.
In that moment, people gasped throughout the crowd.
“Merciful heavens!”
“The earth is glowing!”
The golden light spread from the castle as its center.
It climbed the castle walls like creeping vines, wound around the towers, and flowed along the paths leading inward.
At the same time, the same phenomenon erupted in the territory beyond the walls.
The soil in the fields drank in light so faintly, and near the roots of ancient trees, black miasma rose like smoke before being consumed and scattered by the golden radiance.
The Magical Contamination resisted stubbornly. Born from the shadow of the Archfiend, it was not the sort of thing that would retreat easily.
A viscous pressure rose from deep in the earth, as if the land itself was declaring that it belonged to the darkness.
I did not close my eyes. Instead, I fixed my gaze on the earth more sharply than ever and pressed my Holy Power deeper.
I sent a clear command through the Holy Power—begone. At that, the golden light blazed even brighter.
The currents that had encircled the castle and territory linked as one, forming an enormous circle. The space within the sphere of Holy Power’s influence rapidly shed its corruption and reclaimed its former pristine state.
Gasps of wonder erupted from the crowd.
“Is that the power of the Saint!”
“Caritas, have mercy upon us….”
“The divine truly has answered our prayers.”
Some wept before the miracle and knelt, while others clasped their hands and offered fervent prayers of gratitude to Caritas. Children opened their eyes wide, gazing in turn at sky and earth.
The golden light was no longer a thin line. Holy Power cascaded down the castle walls like a waterfall, consuming the contamination, and the entire territory wrapped in that radiance trembled faintly, as though exhaling a breath it had been holding.
Then it came. Deep beneath the castle, black miasma convulsed one final time. It was a sickening surge, as if something far below was thrashing in agony.
I didn’t let that current escape my attention. I pressed forward directly, drawing up Holy Power once more. This time, rather than increasing the volume, I heightened the density.
The golden light compressed in an instant and drove deep into the earth. Simultaneously, the black miasma was torn asunder and scattered.
There was no scream. Instead, the stale miasma that had accumulated over such a long time drained away all at once, and the air grew luminous. The difference was palpable with every breath.
“The domain has been purified!”
Someone’s cry rang out, sharp and clear.
Wind swept down from the bell tower of Lebon Castle. It carried a scent entirely different from before—no dampness, no reek of decay, only the fresh smell of air after rain.
I rose slowly to my feet. After a week of pouring Holy Power without restraint, my body felt somewhat heavy, but I could still bear it. Arden steadied me.
Only once I confirmed that the flow of Holy Power had stabilized completely did I lift my head. Hundreds of eyes were fixed on me—a gaze mixed with reverence, relief, and faith.
“The Saint has truly saved this domain!”
The Count of Lebon, who had been making the sign of the cross continuously, dropped to one knee before me and pressed his lips to the back of my hand repeatedly. Only when his son intervened did Lebon finally cease his display of devotion.
As a tremendous roar of acclamation washed over me, I felt certain of one thing.
No matter how much the Ecclesia Order sought to deny me, they could not erase the recognition of those who had witnessed this with their own eyes.
Besides, not anyone can do something like this. Perhaps later I should bring Archbishop Marius out here and let the people see a Purification contest between us.

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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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