“W-Wait! Fine! I’ll cooperate with you!”
I can’t win against Pino in most things, but I have the upper hand when it comes to this one matter. Delighted everything went perfectly according to plan, I flash Pino a devious grin.
“Thanks, Pino!”
“…I have never doubted your title as Holy Priestess as much as I do right now.”
“Hey, I’ve told you a million times,” I say, preparing my best retort for Pino’s hateful glare, “I’m an ordinary high school girl.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“DO you understand why Cladorca was built in that location?” Pino asks.
“Because it’s a good spot for trading with Grantz?” I venture.
“Is it not because it is an easy location to defend from enemy invasion?” Lex speculates.
After obtaining Pino’s cooperation through cheap—smart tactics, he immediately started breaking down the strategy for purifying Cladorca.
“Wrong,” he explains as he points at the map spread out on the table. “While both of those hold true in some sense, they aren’t the fundamental reason. It’s the Bebetor Mountain Range behind the city that deserves our attention: an abundant water spring bubbles right near where Cladorca was built.”
“Ugh, that doesn’t bode well for me.”
“Good for you, Miss Priestess, you guessed it before I said it.”
Nothing good about that.
“Cladorca survives off this spring,” Pino continues. “But like I initially explained, it produces an overabundance of water—enough to flood the entire city if released. Thus, Cladorca built floodgates near the spring’s source to control it.”
“…I think I see where you are going with this. We can release the purified spring water into Cladorca, flooding the region,” Lex surmises.
“Correct.” Pino nods.
“But the water won’t stop coming, right? Am I gonna have to purify all of it until the city is flooded…?”
“I like that idea. You will just have to keep spitting into the water until you turn into a dried-up husk.” Pino sneers.
“No way! Not happening! Not in a million years, buddy! I’ll disgrace myself as a human being long before my mouth dries out!”
“I’m kidding. Relax.”
“…Huh? How so?”
I mean, I’m glad he’s kidding, but I’m not sure what the alternative is.
“Naturally, we will still need your assistance, but this should drastically reduce the load on you.” Pino brings a tall box from the back of the room. He places it on the table and opens the lid. Inside is a flower with four pure-white petals inserted in a glass vase.
“Isn’t this the holy flower?” I ask.
“This is what you went to view the other day, right, Lady Mizuha?” Lex says, peering into the box.
“What’s this got to do with anything?” I look at Pino.
He sets the lid aside and settles back on the sofa. “Considering the time it first appeared, it is extremely likely this flower grew from your holy powers. Based on that, I came up with the theory it may also possess purifying abilities—”
“Does it?! DOES IT?!” I lean forward, hopeful.
“It does not.”
“It doesn’t?!”
I was super hopeful that I could finally graduate from being the Holy Priestess of Spit—this is a major letdown.
“You got my hopes up for nothing!”
“Don’t be so depressed. I discovered it has the fascinating ability to stop rot and decay,” Pino casually informs me. I nearly missed the point because he said it with barely any inflection.
“Wait, isn’t that an amazing find?”
“Yes, it is amazing. You can view it as having the power to strengthen or maintain the effects of holy water. The effects were lost when zombies stepped on it, but it can stop natural decay.”
“In other words, after purifying the area around the spring source, all we have to do is maintain it with Holy Flowers…” Lex mutters, catching on to what Pino was alluding to.
Pino smirks. “Now you don’t need to use as much saliva.”
I would have preferred an alternative that doesn’t involve any saliva at all, but at least now I can maintain some dignity. I smile at Lex and share in this joyful moment with him.
“We still have to work out the finer details, but that’s the general gist of my strategy.”
“I knew I could count on you, Pino! Thank you so much!”
“You have my utmost gratitude as well, Master Pino!”
“It’s too early to rejoice. To be clear, the two of you are incapable of pulling this off alone. Cooperation with Grantz Kingdom is essential,” Pino states matter-of-factly, pulling Lex and I down from cloud nine. That problem is arguably the hardest one I have to face right now.
“…Yeah, I know.”
“How will you do it? His Majesty won’t fall for your cheap tricks.”
“I’ll figure that one out on my own. It’s something I have to do myself.”
It’s not like I came to this world of my own volition with a list of things I wanted to do. But things are different now. I’ve discovered what I want to do here, and I postponed my return to my world because of it. I have to solve this problem not as the Holy Priestess, but as an individual.
Sensing my resolve, Pino suddenly laughs. “Looks like I was being meddlesome for nothing. I will prepare things on my end while you handle yours.”
“Okay. You can count on me—to help you with Cia.”
“Wha?! I wasn’t talking about that!” Pino’s eyes dart away, his face redder than a tomato.
Beside me, Lex cocks his head, demonstrating just how dense he really is.
At any rate, Pino has helped us figure out a strategy. Right now he is so flustered, it makes his usual poker face seem like a thing of the past, but my opinion of him hasn’t changed since the day we met.
He truly is a scholar I can depend on.