I was astonished to see that it looks like a chat window in a game, and I reached out my hand and tried to touch it. But my hand lightly penetrated the window as though it were only visible to me.
Then a new text appeared.
[The bored Beings* of the Beginning are interested in your excellent adaptability]
(T/N: 'Beings of the Beginning' refers to some beings who live at the beginning of the world.)
"The Beings of... the Beginning?"
It wasn't Korean, but I could read the writing since it was a buff I got from possessing Ariel.
[The bored Beings of the Beginning are interested in your excellent adaptability]
Even if I reread it, I couldn't understand what the hell it was talking about.
'What is going on?'
After some time, the translucent window gradually became transparent, and the text was gone. I blinked and wondered if I just had a dream.
Tok tok.
Someone knocked from the outside, and the door opened as the handle turned.
I turned my head from the window and looked at the open door.
"......!"
I thought it was Annie because the silver tray flashed in the sun, but it was a man I saw for the first time with my meal.
Wearing a white uniform, he was very tall and broad-shouldered, and his eyes were slightly cold, but his golden pupils contained warm light.
His hair was as brilliant as his eyes, and if my hair were gold in the sand, his would be an intense bright gold as if it had been extracted from a gold thread.
"Ariel."
I stared at him with widened eyes, and then he called me as he put the tray on the table. Only then did I find out who he was.
"I brought you a meal."
The person who always called Camilla by her name when she became a saint in the original story.
A priest with as much influence as the imperial family in the empire, the man who is the chief administrator of this place...
"Reyhas de Elle."
The man who brought Ariel to the temple, the man who made her a fake saint.
His name was whispered from my lips as if it were new.
'De Elle' is a unique title given to the high priest.
When he heard me, his golden eyes glowed, and his red lips formed a faint crescent-like line.
"Are you calling me by my name today?"
"Ah..."
Only then did I recall that Ariel, the fake saint, had used the title 'High Priest' on him. I hurriedly dealt with what I had just done.
It was strange that Ariel, who was not even Camilla, the real saint, who knew she was fake, called him comfortably by his name.
"I'm sorry, High Priest. I daze out too much..."
"It's nice to hear it though?"
But he interrupted me with a soft voice.
When he saw me with a slightly surprised expression, he smiled and jokingly said,
"I've actually forgotten that I have that name."
A cool breeze blew in through the open window.
His shiny, golden hair fluttered slightly.
"I hope you will continue to refer to me that way in the future."
I looked at him with blank eyes, and then I came to my senses. I was held in his brilliant, golden eyes.
I thought for a moment and opened my mouth,
"What I just said was a mistake."
The original Ariel would have liked it with her eyes twinkling, but I don't want to break the wall between us.
"How dare I call the High Priest by his name."
It was good not to cross the line because I will not live in the temple for the rest of my life anyway, and I will not see the real Camilla's face once she gets here.
"......"
He was silent for a long time, looking at me while smiling.
After a while, he said,
"As I've said before..."
"......"
"Now that this is Ariel's home, you can have and do anything you want."
Reyhas was a brilliant and gentle man, as depicted in the novel.
"As long as you understand that freedom comes with responsibility."
But this is a story only for Camilla.
And I wasn't Ariel, who might have stupidly said, 'Can't I just call you Reyhas without the title?'
"Of course, High Priest."
"I've often wanted to hear my name from Ariel, but it's too bad."
A smile was still hanging around his mouth, but there was a lot of pressure on my part.
"Thank you for bringing me a meal."
I turned and bowed my head.
The High Priest was the only person in this temple who knew that I was a fake to smoothen out the temple life; therefore, there was nothing to bug him in his eyes.
"Maybe it's because it's been a few days, but today..."
His feet stopped before he said something.
He said as his divine, radiant golden eyes gazed upon me,
"You look a little different than usual, Ariel."
I smiled awkwardly, looking at him with the most perplexed, ironical look on my face.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
A few days have now gone by. I sat at my desk and organized some of the things I had checked.
'It's the 722nd year in the Holy Calendar and 82nd year in the Imperial Calendar now.'
It was five years before the real saint, Camilla, appeared.
I am currently in the Ilyde Empire, a religious country where the monarchy and the divine regime coexist.
99% of the country believed in God; what was important was not the monotheist system. There are nine gods with various titles and names, and many temples are dispersed here and there.
Hetus, the God of Justice.
Hesed, the God of Knowledge.
Odyssey, the God of Love.
Monde, the God of Art.
Ciel, the God of Destruction.
Oman, the God of Benevolence.
Kairos, the God of Death.
Reid, the God of Eternity.
Bellatrix, the God of Lies.
These nine were the Gods.
Then there may be a question about which God does this temple and the saint believe in.
When I read the novel, I saw Camilla mention some gods, but I wasn't sure which one she was serving.
This may be because the main story centered on the romance with the male leads rather than on her duties as a saint.
The answer I found is that <Elium Temple> is not a place of only one God, but a place where all nine Gods are consecrated.
Thus, the Elium Temple was the most special of all the temples, and the saint, who was born with great affinity with the Nine Gods, was a special being. It would therefore be right to describe the saint as the religious leader of the empire.
Looking back, I discovered a strange part while reading a book in the temple's library. The only person who can receive an oracle is the saint, and oftentimes, an oracle with wisdom comes straight from one of the Nine Gods.
The journal titled [The 7th Saintess Heard an Oracle], which the maids gave me, described the process of receiving an oracle like this,
[A blue, rectangle-shaped light just like a screen appeared before my eyes, then the words of God appeared brilliantly as if they were etched into my eyes and disappeared.
Then it* faded away and disappeared, but the words of God remained as clear as if they were engraved in my heart.]
(T/N: 'It' refers to the window-screen, not the text that has disappeared before.)
Since humans cannot comprehend the language of God, it appeared that the oracle came down in this form.
'Well, it doesn't matter. I'm a fake saint.'
After all, the real saint is Camilla, and I'm just a fake saint who can leave after acting for the next five years.
Since the oracle is said to come down only occasionally, it seemed that there would be no problem even if I didn't receive them for a couple of years.
'Moreover, I don't think there was a story about oracles in the original story.'
I was lost in thought with my head snooping.
In the original story, there was a scene in which Camilla used the 'Sacred Power', but there was no depiction of the oracle.
As my thoughts deepened, I shook my head.
"I don't know, it doesn't matter. Now I'm going to read a book that will actually help me."
I am now in the temple's library with as many books as the Imperial Palace's library.
The saint can freely use this place, and the temple is occupied, so it was perfect for hiding alone because only some people came.
I wrote down my plans for the future on a blank paper. The salary records and real estate books I saw in my previous life were useful.
The actual name is 'Monthly Budgeting to Maintain Dignity', but it's the same as the monthly salary, so I chose to call it that.
◎ Salary for Saints: 1,000 francs × 12 months × 5 years = 60,000 francs
◎ Additional Budget for Saints: 10,000 francs × 5 years = 50,000 francs
◎ The price of a two-story store in the capital city: 100,000 francs for large size, 70,000 francs for medium size, and 50,000 francs for small size
To my knowledge, a franc amounts to approximately 10,000 won in Korea. The unit under a franc is 'pin', and a pin is about 100 won.
In other words, if I add up the supplementary estimates, I will receive 220 million won a year.
Three meals a day were provided at the temple, and much of it was charged to the temple, so if I were to save money diligently, it would be over 1 billion, so it was calculated that I would enjoy a fairly relaxed life even after retirement.
'Good!'
There will also be stockpiles of the nobles' offerings and private property, so I will have plenty of money if I sell them.
Before I possessed her, Ariel spent her money the minute she received her salary, so she only had a balance of 300 francs, but I was different.
"If I save enough money to buy a nice building..."
But then something blue suddenly appeared before me.
[The bored Beings of the Beginning are curious as they look at your paper]
I looked at the window in surprise.