I’d sold three small artificial jewels to raise some funds, and thus my public-facing reason for coming to the royal capital was complete. I figured I’d take it easy for four or five more days, then buy some souvenirs and head home. Next, Reiko would arrive as a Rank C hunter and make a name for herself in the royal capital branch. Her immediate goal was to get to Rank B; she could use our rental house when that time came.
While Reiko worked on that, I decided to have Kyoko sell some rare and interesting products in the royal capital.
The continent had been in peril because of some greedy jewelers, but catastrophe had been avoided thanks to my hard work.
I...saved this country—this continent! Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha...
But the bigger worry was the Temple. Supposedly, the previous generation’s Angel hadn’t had an especially positive relationship with them. That was widely acknowledged by everyone...except the Temple associates themselves. It made sense, considering that the Angel disliked being in the spotlight. It was hard to believe, but it was said that the Temple sought to put her in the public eye and use her to increase their own social standing and thereby receive more donations from the people. It was no wonder she’d tried to distance herself from them.
However, the Temple had never mentioned their own wrongdoings to the future generations, including their own priests in training. That was why there were some things that the royalty, nobility, and general populace knew but the priests didn’t—the relationship, or lack thereof, between the Temple and Angel being one of them. Other than a select few Temple officials, most of their associates hadn’t realized the previous Angel had been avoiding them and firmly believed they would be unconditionally accepted by her. I was unsure what this Angel thought of them, but the fact that she’d been working as a stray priestess spoke volumes.
Besides, why would the Angel, who could speak directly with the Goddess Celestine, need to listen to or take orders from members of the Temple? Did they actually believe a pope or cardinal, who were appointed by other humans, were higher in rank than someone who’d been chosen by the Goddess herself? What made them think they had the right to give her orders? It was no wonder this Angel hadn’t affiliated herself with the Temple and had instead chosen to be a free priestess—also known as a stray priestess—so she wouldn’t have to take orders from anyone other than the Goddess and her kin.
If the Angel had fallen into the Temple’s clutches, they may have become so arrogant that they’d start needlessly interfering in politics and the lives of the people, or even forcing people to give donations. That was why we hadn’t told the Temple about her existence, but we wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for long. Some aristocrats were quite devout—a phrase that sounded good, but they were the type to value religion over national politics and society’s well-being, and would happily leak information to the Temple in exchange for favors. To make matters worse, they wouldn’t consider their actions wrong—they’d believe they were serving the Goddess and would receive well-deserved blessings in return. Criminals who knew full well that they were selling information in exchange for bribes were far better in comparison.
Then there was that region where the Angel had revealed her powers. There were ordinary inhabitants, hunters, and merchants there, and among them were loose-lipped individuals, visitors from other countries, and those who understood such information would make good money. There was no way to stop the news from getting out. It would’ve been one thing if the information getting leaked was going to be completely accurate, but it’d be a different story entirely if the details got muddled. For example, if word got out that “she could heal the sick and wounded” but the crucial part of “if you mess with her, the continent will be put in danger” was missing, or if the rumors claimed she was a stupid girl who could be easily manipulated...it would be over for us all.
On second thought, that wouldn’t happen if the Angel was alive. If the continent was destroyed, all of the people the Angel cared about would perish along with it. The Goddess Celestine could be careless and rash, but even she wouldn’t...
No, she’d send just the Angel and the people around her to another continent before sinking this one...
No. No, no, no, no! I won’t allow that to happen. As the Lord Chancellor—nay, as a man of this continent—I will stop that from happening no matter what! I will put my life on the line to follow in the footsteps of Fearsome Fran!
“There’s someone here who wants to see you...” the proprietress of the inn said to me, though I couldn’t imagine who’d want to visit me now. Sure, I knew some people from the Tavolas Trade Company’s royal capital branch and that one clinic, but none of them knew I was here at this inn, or even in the royal capital for that matter.
“Who wants to see me?” I asked.
“They’re priests from the Temple,” she answered.
“Ah...”
How did they find out I was here? And what had they heard about me? I mean, I already knew it was some far-fetched story that was a terribly distorted version of the truth. They either wanted to prop me up as a saint, even if my blessings were nothing to write home about, or intended to use me as a tool until I wasn’t useful anymore. Whatever the case, all I could think of when it came to the Temple were the people from Rueda... In other words, I felt disgust before anything else, and it made me not want to deal with them.
Sure, there were probably some priests who earnestly wanted nothing more than to worship Celes and offer salvation to the people. There were some priests who lived in poverty and some who worked in soup kitchens and provided relief to the poor districts, but those types of people probably wouldn’t have formed a clique to barge into an inn to bug a priestess who’d only been in the royal capital for a day. The proprietress had implied there was more than one of them—why would they need such a big group just to talk to a little girl? The only logical explanation was that they intended to strong-arm me into doing something or to kidnap me.
“I don’t know any priests in the royal capital,” I said. “As you can see, I’m just a stray priestess, so the Temple doesn’t think highly of me. I’m sure they just want to find some excuse to shake me down for some money or to take me away somewhere. Please tell them I’m tired from my travels and I’m sleeping.”
“Understood!”
She was probably used to getting demands to see guests who were staying at the inn and did what she could to protect them, even if she was dealing with influential people. I appreciated that. There was probably nothing she could do if the police or royal knights made the demand, but if she was willing to send away priests, that made this an earnest and trustworthy business in my book. It even had a bath too. I was a woman traveling solo, so I’d obviously ruled out cheap lodging where rooms were shared with others and opted for an inn that was on the more expensive side. It wasn’t as if I were hurting for money anyway. It seemed I’d made the right decision.
I was mulling over my thoughts when I noticed a commotion downstairs. Judging by the timing, the priests were probably arguing with the proprietress of the inn, but there was no reason for me to poke my nose out there, and it would only make things worse anyway. I decided to leave it to the staff, since they were probably used to handling this sort of thing. Religious affairs were a pain to deal with—especially if it involved fanatics.
I mean, I have religious fanatics worshipping me! I know what I’m talking about!
The commotion downstairs continued for some time, and I realized the priests had decided to push their way through. It seemed even the inn’s staff couldn’t hold them back or remove them by force. Maybe the priests had foreseen this and brought some muscle along for this exact reason. Maybe the inn had a tough guy or two on their staff instead of guards in case they had some rowdy customers, but they were unlikely to have hired any actual mercenaries or hunters. The Temple side probably had soldiers and shady agencies to carry out their illegal and dirty work...right? Y’know, like the Hellsing Organization and Iscariot Organization. Even Japan had Buddhist warrior monks. What was up with religious groups having their own military anyway?
Anyway, they seemed to have gotten past the inn staff and were making their way upstairs. I could hear the staff desperately shouting after them as the footsteps approached. This was definitely trespassing and obstruction of business. Forcible obstruction of business, even.
All right, if you wanna play that way...
I removed my outerwear, unbuttoned the top two buttons on my shirt, and exposed my shoulder.
Suddenly, the door opened without so much as a “Pardon me.”
“Your Holiness, there’s something—”
“Aaaaaahhhhhh! A stranger barged into my room while I was changing! It’s a burglar! A kidnapper! A rapiiist!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, being overly descriptive with my exclamation.
“What? Huh? Ah! No, I didn’t mean to! We’re from the Temple, and—”
“Ahhh! The criminals are claiming to be Temple associates! I can’t help but wonder if they’re trying to falsely pin the blame on priests or if they’re actually priests who are trying to force themselves on a helpless priestess!”
I sounded rather calm and descriptive for someone who feared for their life, but no one would pay attention to that detail.
“N-No! That wasn’t our intention at all! Calm down! Please, be quiet!” the priest pleaded.
“Eeeeek! He just ordered me to be quiet! Stay away from meeeee!”
I didn’t listen to a word they said. I merely trembled in fear at the sudden intrusion without even attempting to converse. There was nothing they could do.
With the window wide open on the second floor, my screams projected far and wide. Not to mention, this was a luxury inn located in the center of town. Which meant...
“Stop right there! You’re under arrest for trespassing and sexual assault!” a group of armed men barked as they flooded into the room.
Yep, the guards’ headquarters was right around the corner.
Even so, their response seemed a bit too fast. It’d only been thirty seconds or so since I’d first started screaming...
“And a guard station just so happened to be built right next to this inn?” I asked.
“Yes. The headquarters and station have different functions, so although the headquarters is close by, we determined that a station would be necessary to be more responsive in case of emergencies,” the guard answered.
“Ah, what a wonderful idea! You really do care about the people,” I said.