The Saint’s Manual for Redemption - Chapter 5

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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 5
Before I could say anything, Arden beat me to it.
“It’s no trouble. That room will do just fine.”
The Innkeeper, uncertain what misunderstanding had taken root, smiled warmly and handed the key to Arden.
And Arden promptly handed it to me.
“Then, rest well.”
“And you?”
“It’s my duty to guard the Candidate. I’ll keep watch outside your door, so sleep without worry.”
So he meant to stand vigil outside my room all night—surveillance, or protection, just like at the Holy Temple.
I couldn’t trust this man the Holy Temple had assigned as my guard, couldn’t know how deep the Temple’s reach extended through him, and so I couldn’t afford to lower my guard entirely, no matter how faithfully he kept watch.
I couldn’t simply surrender my safety to someone who wasn’t on my side.
I had no choice but to enter the room alone and set down my things. A quick survey showed the space was sparse—a bed, a table, nothing more—arranged with austere efficiency.
Even as I unpacked, the stew’s aroma from downstairs kept drifting through my thoughts, so I threw on my outer robe carelessly and opened the door.
As expected, Arden stood outside, keeping watch.
Before I could offer the excuse that I was heading down for Beef Stew, not fleeing, or suggest he join me, Arden caught the edge of the open door and slipped inside before I could stop him.
He entered quietly in a single fluid motion, then slowly closed the door behind him.
Then he simply looked at me.
He seemed about to speak, but his lips sealed shut again.
The stiff wariness and formal pretense from our first meeting had vanished, replaced by a strange silence and hesitation that wrapped around him.
At last, Arden opened his mouth.
“This is your last chance. Give up now if you will.”
Was this manipulative scheme the Temple’s doing? Had they attached Arden as my guard precisely to execute it? I wanted to scoff inwardly and meet his gaze firmly—
But concern and pity swam in those deep blue eyes, the color of the deep sea.
“Do you know how many priests have been sent to Delheim Village until now?”
Of course I had no way of knowing.
“How many?”
Arden hesitated briefly, then spread both his palms open.
“…Ten? What kind of illness could possibly—”
“Seven of them died or disappeared in that village, and three who barely managed to return contracted the illness and were isolated. They died in the Temple.”
They might as well have sent me there to die.
I’d thought it was merely setup for a public humiliation, a pretext to expel me from the Temple, but our successors were far more vicious than I’d imagined.
Arden’s lips compressed into a line, his voice heavy.
“…The Temple threw you into danger deliberately. Hoping you wouldn’t come back alive.”
Where could I even begin to unravel this mess?
As a deep sigh escaped me in the face of mounting despair, Arden seemed to interpret it as an emotional response to the situation and continued quietly.
“If you wish, I can hide you in the Hawelin Clan Territory.”
“Rather than returning to the Temple?”
Arden gave a bitter smile at my question.
“If you turn back here and return to the Temple, you’ll be charged with impersonating the divine will and sent to the Heresy Inquisition.”
So according to Arden, I was left with exactly two choices.
I could die a martyr in that village like the ten priests before me.
Or I could return intact and face the Heresy Inquisition, be tried for the crime of impersonating divine will and aspiring to the seat of a saint, and be sentenced to death by burning at the stake.
But though Arden didn’t see it, I knew the truth. I had only one choice that was truly certain.
“In other words, if I’m to return to the Temple unharmed, I must resolve Delheim Village’s problem one way or another?”
I shrugged and turned his words back on him, and something like bewilderment flickered across his face.
“What were you hearing when I spoke?”
His tone carried a note of exasperation.
“I heard perfectly well with both ears. It’s just that spending my whole life silent and hiding doesn’t suit me at all.”
I watched him for a moment as words seemed to gather behind his eyes, then smiled gently and added:
“If you wish, you can stop being my guard now. I’m capable of looking after myself. I won’t ask you to sacrifice yourself for my sake.”
Yet this man, at least, didn’t wish for my death here.
So this was the final consideration I could offer him.
His gaze met mine without wavering. Behind those earnest blue eyes lay something more complex than duty or command—tangled threads of emotion I couldn’t name.
“I’m done,” he said.
Arden’s answer was short and resolute, like a man whose resolve had been firm from the start.
I was waving him away when he added:
“—Sending you alone to that village.”
This man really does know how to wrong-foot someone with a delayed strike.
“You must have fallen out of favor with your superiors too. Not only assigned to guard an eyesore of a saint candidate, but thrown together with her into a mission like this.”
I laughed softly and kept my tone deliberately light. I’d confirmed his sincerity, but I hadn’t entirely set aside my suspicions either.
“My assigned duty ends at escorting you to the edge of the village.”
Hmm—hearing this, Arden certainly seemed less like a sacrificial pawn the Holy Temple had discarded, and more like a watchdog set over me.
“Had I fallen out of favor with my superiors, I would have walked into that village with you knowing nothing at all.”
“Then why are you insisting on entering with me now, even though you know?”
The question emerged from genuine curiosity, and Arden blinked slowly before answering quietly, his lashes lowered.
“I suppose I’ve become curious about the reason for that confidence of yours.”
Staking his life on mere curiosity.
Rather than gratitude at being trusted, suspicion bloomed larger. As one of the Three Holy Maidens who had witnessed centuries of trials, my sense of self was simply too vast for pure sentiment.
Still, thanks to him, I’d learned that Delheim Village itself was a trap—so it wasn’t a total loss.
“Well then, we’ve said all there is to say—”
I tilted my head, studying Arden.
“Shall we get some Beef Stew?”
The moment the words left my lips, Arden stilled—just for an instant. His otherwise composed expression flickered with something like fatigue.
“You don’t dislike Beef Stew, do you?”
“There was a colleague once who went mad for it, so I ate nothing but Beef Stew until I was sick of it.”
Extraordinary—there existed another soul like me.
Whether purifying corrupted lands or in the thick of a Demon King Raid, I’d always ordered Beef Stew first whenever I stopped at a village inn.
Each inn prepared it differently, and there was a peculiar joy in tasting the variations.
The moment that first spoonful touched my tongue, memory surfaced: my former self finding happiness in Beef Stew despite exhaustion and wounds, and my ex-lover’s gaze watching over me.
It was probably just illusion that Arden’s eyes, fixed on me from across the table, resembled my ex-lover’s.
‘Does he never tire of it…….’
That exact expression.
Like descendant, like ancestor—the resemblance was damnably perfect.
***
After a brief night’s rest, we rode in the carriage several more hours until we finally arrived at the edge of Delheim Village.
“This is…….”
I stopped short upon spotting the stone pillar driven into the ground at the village entrance, and Arden spoke its nature aloud in my stead.
“A Holy Stone.”
“Ordinarily Holy Stones are placed as barriers on lands corrupted by Demonic Corruption, to prevent further spread, yes? As far as I know, it’s almost unheard of to plant them for an mere Epidemic.”
I let my words trail off, sounding too much like an insider. It was entirely possible that mining practices and handling procedures had changed in the five centuries since my time.
“It’s possible what plagues this village isn’t a simple Epidemic at all. It’s a village where ten priests met martyrdom, after all.”
The village entrance, struck by the misfortune of an Epidemic, lay silent. Unnaturally so.
A rural settlement without walls, without gates, with no shadow of a living soul in sight.
Before stepping inside, I paused, and Arden glanced in my direction.
“Let us proceed.”
I caught his wrist as he extended an arm slightly, as though to escort me, and Arden gave a wry smile.
“Should you wish to reconsider, speak freely. My offer to shelter you in Hawelin Clan Territory remains on the table.”
“That’s hardly likely. I’m merely returning your trust in me.”
I pressed my right thumb firmly against his forehead.
Gentle light spilled from my fingertips, and for a fleeting moment, a faint Holy Mark bloomed on his brow before fading.
“This should ward off most Epidemics. But if symptoms do manifest, you’ll need Healing rather than a Blessing—tell me at once if that happens.”
Arden gazed at me intently.
His expression was as composed as ever, yet the faintest tremor flickered somewhere in his eyes.
“Why do you look like someone experiencing Holy Power for the first time?”
“I’m not.”
He shook his head briefly.
“How disappointing.”
I clicked my tongue and stepped forward first.
The sound of wind stirring an ancient roof brushed past my back, and footsteps matched mine, falling into rhythm beside me.
The true trial was beginning.

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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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