Chapter 19

“Ugh, this is a disaster! The Sun Church’s Saintess! The Saintess is coming!”

“…Please calm down and explain.”

He had a rough idea why.

But he couldn’t mention the Gallery, so he pretended not to know and waited for the Lord to speak.

“The Sun Church’s Saintess has announced a Pilgrimage! Ugh, and her route includes our city..!”

Whether he had rushed over or not, the Lord was barely catching his breath.

His words were a mess, but he could roughly understand what he was saying.

“I see.”

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder one thing.

“But if I may ask, why come to me instead of Priest Margaret?”

The Saintess’s visit and the Lord urgently seeking him out were separate matters.

If he needed someone connected to religion, be it in terms of experience or the size of the church, seeking out Priest Margaret would have made more sense than coming to him.

However, the Lord’s answer to that was simple.

“Priest Margaret got wind of the news first, took a leave of absence, and went into hiding..”

“…”

With that, the Lord pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his breast pocket.

As he unfolded it, a familiar handwriting caught his eye.

-The Sun Church’s Saintess is coming, I hear.

I’ll use my accumulated leave and take a break.

So, take care of the Healing Center and handle the Sun Church Saintess business for me, Priest Flawi.

“Oh..”

Experience really was something.

He had gone into hiding the moment he heard the news, which was impressive in many ways.

Of course, that meant he was the one left holding the bag.

“Understood. However, I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I’m a bit flustered. Is there something I’m actually expected to do?”

“There is one thing. In fact, that’s what I came to ask of you.”

“I’m all ears.”

The Lord hesitated for a moment.

But it wasn’t something he could avoid saying, so he finally spoke up.

“We would like you to host the Sun Church’s Saintess at the Church of Flowers.”

“..You mean at our church, not the Lord’s manor or the Church of the Earth?”

It wasn’t an attempt to dodge the request.

He was asking out of pure curiosity.

The church had just been completed and had only two members, so he couldn’t understand why he was being asked to host the Saintess.

“With Priest Margaret gone, you, Priest Flawi, are the only one who can serve as this city’s representative priest.”

He wondered why it had to be him, but recalling what he and Priest Margaret had in common, he couldn’t argue.

Heal—more precisely, the fact that he was one of only two people in the city who could use a Miracle.

‘..I’m tempted to just disappear too.’

He gave it serious thought for a moment.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

After receiving the church from the Lord, it wouldn’t look good to refuse his request.

Even if it had been a scheme to get him to settle in the city.

“I can do that much. But if I may ask, when will the Saintess be arriving?”

The Pilgrimage route posted on the Gallery wasn’t short.

It was a schedule that passed through several cities, so he figured he’d have at least some time to prepare.

But the Lord’s answer that followed surpassed all expectations.

“In four days..”

“..?”

For a moment, he thought he’d misheard.

“Did you say four days?”

But the Lord, though averting his gaze, didn’t deny it.

He thought he finally understood why Priest Margaret had fled so early.

“She’s arriving sooner than expected. Do you happen to know the reason?”

“Hahk, I’d like to know that myself. Why must I be subjected to such trials..!”

“How unfortunate.”

The Lord’s face looked like he was genuinely about to burst into tears.

At the very least, he wasn’t lying or hiding anything.

“For now, let’s do our best to host her properly. So please, don’t cry.”

‘Especially with a face like that.’

With a face that looked like he’d exploit his own citizens, his whimpering was rather off-putting.

“Hmph, I do ask for your good graces.”

With that, the Lord, finally calming down, left with Charlotte, who had been waiting outside the church.

Seeing them off, he couldn’t help but fall into thought.

‘I can’t figure out why she’d skip her known route and come here first.’

But someone who knew would know.

“Goddess, do you happen to know anything?”

-Uh, no idea

-But hey, if she’s a Saintess, she’s Dad’s Saintess, so maybe you could ask her?

The reply came after a short delay.

-Hmph, she scolded me..

“…”

He hadn’t really expected much.

-How mean!

‘As I thought, the only place to look for info right now is the Gallery.’

Ignoring the Goddess’s voice, he opened the Gallery he had turned off.

He wondered if any new information about the Saintess had been posted.

True to the Gallery’s nature of being filled with all sorts of info and nonsense, he found what he was looking for without much trouble.

Title : Why is the Sun Church Saintess suddenly going on a Pilgrimage?

Author : Anonymous(71.71)

A figure like the Saintess usually can’t move freely, even for political reasons, right?

But she suddenly announces a Pilgrimage and supposedly already left. Something’s off.

[I know something]

–[Oh, what is it?]

–[It’s because she’s going to be the bride of Ham Pil-won, the 29th descendant of the Ham clan from Gangneung, which is me]

–[Lmao this guy’s insane]

He scrolled past the comment full of nonsense.

Then one comment caught his eye.

[Think about why the previous Main Admin died]

–[? Why the previous Main Admin? Didn’t he just die?]

–[You idiot, the previous Main Admin was the Vice Tower Master of Blue Horse Tower]

–[??? Is this for real;;]

That part was news to him too.

But something did come to mind.

It was the Gallery error that occurred right after the news of the Blue Horse Tower Vice Tower Master’s execution.

It was too coincidental to be pure chance.

And if his memory served him right, the reason for the Blue Horse Tower Vice Tower Master’s execution was none other than suspicion of Demon Summoning.

–[So did the previous Main Admin really get executed for researching Demon Summoning?]

–[I wouldn’t know about that. Maybe he was unfairly caught while researching dimensional travel to go home]

–[But if you think it really was Demon Summoning research, then both the execution and the sudden Saintess Pilgrimage make sense, don’t they?]

‘Demon Summoning, huh.’

Thinking about the existence of Demons he’d seen while studying Theology, the Saintess’s sudden Pilgrimage announcement wasn’t hard to understand.

Of course, it was still just speculation, so he couldn’t be certain, but there was no more plausible theory.

Having gathered the general information, he closed the Gallery.

Not long after, he lay down on the bed.

‘I’m tired.’

Perhaps it was because so much had happened in a single day.

Not long after lying down, his eyes were already growing heavy.

…

……

“Nngh.“

Waking with a feeling of having had some restless dream, he massaged his stiff left arm.

He had woken up early in the morning, but it seemed the sun rose even earlier for others, as the workers had already arrived and started working before dawn had even fully broken.

‘They’re early.’

It was a surprise, considering he’d been worried they might not show up after yesterday.

But looking closer, the faces were different from the workers he’d seen yesterday.

‘New people.’

However, they hadn’t replaced the old workers.

That much was clear, as the carts were loaded not with shovels or lumber, but with flower seeds and saplings.

Puzzled by the items that had nothing to do with the church repairs, he watched in silence.

Then, a man in notably clean clothes approached from among the workers and bowed his head.

“My name is Otto, an administrator for the Millers. The Lord sent me with his apologies and gratitude.”

It was all a gift from the Lord.

‘So he does have a conscience.’

Of course, the words that came out of his mouth were, unlike his inner thoughts, quite priestly.

“Excessive wealth is forbidden to a priest, but I can hardly refuse flowers. Please convey my thanks to the Lord.”

“I will be sure to pass it along.”

And so, the church’s barren yard was filled with flowers and Flower Tree saplings.

It wasn’t a particularly large reward compared to the work he’d agreed to do, but it was a windfall of things that would have been a burden to buy with money anyway.

“Oh, are those Flower Trees?”

Malza Priest, who had come outside without him noticing, was staring at the flowers and saplings with sparkling eyes.

“They’re called Elderberry saplings, apparently.”

“Elderberry?”

“I hear that in early summer, beautiful flowers bloom, and once they’re fully grown, they bear fruit every summer. The fruit can be eaten or used to make wine, they say.”

It was a tree that suited the Church of Flowers in more ways than one.

And since he’d actually thought about making wine with crops grown at the church, the Elderberry saplings were a rather welcome gift.

‘I’ve received my down payment, so I can’t exactly slack off now.’

He stroked the leaves of an Elderberry sapling that came up to his chest.

Then, as if watering it with the wish that it would grow well without pests, he was casting Heal when—

-Good morning! Oh..

The Goddess, who seemed to have just woken up, started to speak but fell silent.

“What’s the matter?”

-You’re not supposed to cast Heal on trees like that..

“?”

He learned why not soon enough.

It was a subtle difference, but the sapling had definitely grown.

‘..Not bad.’