That evening. I chatted with the priests following Reihausd.
“Since Chief Priest Heinz acted according to his own will, the Priest Council decided to propose a proposal to suspend Chief Priest Heinz.”
“I see.”
However, even if the suspension proposal is proposed, it won’t pass because it doesn’t fill the majority. Heinz already had many priests on his side.
“Still, thank you, everyone. The priests are a great help to me.”
The priests looked at me with wide eyes.
They showed a firm will to believe in me and follow me no matter what, but to be honest, the God of Love, Odyssey’s blessing buff, was helping.
‘No matter how sweet Camilla smiles with her voice and acting skills, it won’t be as good as Odyssey’s blessing.’
“Saintess. We’re unconditionally on the side of the Saintess.”
“I believe in the ability of the Saintess you’ve shown in Ares Mine!”
“Blessings of the Nine Gods to the Saintess!”
“Thank you.”
I got up from my seat listening to their cheers.
After we were done, I returned to my room.
“Sainteeessss!”
“Kyuuuu!”
Daisy and Kyuu were waiting for me in front of the door and ran into me.
“Wait. Let’s go in first, then we can talk.”
I pushed them away and entered the room.
“Where have you been?”
“Kyuuuu, kyuuuu!”
Daisy asked as she helped me take off my dress.
“I was indebted to His Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“My goodness. He’s always been there to help! His appearance earlier was really like a prince on a white horse.”
Daisy talked at length about how nice and cool Kyle was.
While I was with Kyle, I told him what could happen if Camilla were to take my saintess position.
I don’t know the details, but I saw a ruinous future through the oracle.
Kyle believed me completely, probably because he had seen what I had been doing.
Now Camilla has been labeled by Kyle as a danger to his political stability. Just like he did towards the Empress
“Are you okay?”
I asked, looking at Daisy with a worried look.
“Yes. Of course. Before entering the prison, I packed a lot of beef jerky under my skirt, so I didn’t starve.”
Daisy replied with a grin.
“Don’t pretend you’re okay, tell me if you’re sick. Understand?”
“Don’t worry. But what is that?”
Daisy asked, pointing to the box I had placed on the bedside table.
Kyuu jumped up close and opened the top of the box. Then, the Raid statue was revealed.
“This is the one I’m talking about…”
I started talking by placing it next to the six statues on the desk.
[The God of Art, Mond, protests that he did not look like that.]
[The God of Justice, Hetuse, evaluates that it looks exactly like Mond.]
[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, is satisfied with his statue.]
[The God of Benevolence, Oman, clicks his tongue, saying that the attire of his statue is too old-fashioned.]
I smiled lightly.
“It’s the horse.”
“The horse… Are you talking about chess pieces?”
“No.”
The Raid statue was placed randomly between the six statues.
“The horse I ride.”
Sometimes there are things that you know naturally without being told. And when the enemy thinks you don’t, it becomes an advantage.
“I fight on horseback, and Camilla fights without a horse.”
I had a deep smile.
***
At that time, Camilla’s room.
“Did you hear?”
“What the hell is correct…”
She heard the whispers of priestesses behind her.
Camilla looked back with an expressionless face. The priestesses were startled and vacated their seats in a hurry.
“…Ariel.”
Camilla was left alone in an empty room where everyone had left, and she gritted her teeth.
All of this happened because of Ariel. She never imagined that even the noble Crown Prince of the Empire would have been on her side.
This was the cause of her defeat.
Ariel, how far has she stolen her destiny?
Camilla looked in the mirror with a cold expression.
The statue has disappeared. And since then, her face has been getting feeble.
She ran her fingers through the mirror.
“I have to get it back somehow.”
Heinz was running outside now to recruit more priests. However, public opinion to believe in Reihausd and Ariel was growing.
Camilla felt it was going to be a tough fight.
“As long as there is the statue… It’s a problem that can be solved with just the statue.”
Camilla muttered nervously.
That object must be near Ariel.
‘Where did she put it…’
Ariel’s place?
Or maybe she left it to someone else.
Camilla bit her lip.
Then, Heinz knocked and came into her room.
“Heinz!”
Camilla didn’t even look behind her while calling him nervously.
“Yes, yes. Saintess.”
“Please proceed with the holy power confirmation procedure.”
Heinz asked Camilla’s words back as if he was puzzled.
“Are you talking about the current time?”
“I will prove my holy power in front of the Crown Prince and the believers. It’s clear who the real one is.”
Although the statue wasn’t there, she was Camilla, and she was convinced that she had stronger divine powers than Ariel.
[There was no holy power confirmation procedure, so you’re not yet a saintess. Even if you took control of the temple, you’re not the owner of this place.]
Ariel’s cheeky words kept ringing in her ears.
Anyway, all of this will be resolved once she takes the position of the saintess.
And the statue will be recovered. After recovering the statue…
“I will give you a more miserable end than the prophecy.”
She will never let Ariel go.
***
The next day.
I met Kyle in the garden of the temple and enjoyed a moment’s leisure. To prepare for any possible danger, the Paladins, including Dwayne, were standing guard around us.
“Why don’t you leave everything else related to Camilla up to me?”
Kyle asked, furrowing his eyes.
“I haven’t even started yet.”
I took a sip of tea and answered calmly.
“As I think about it, I want to take the soldiers and push them in.”
“Pardon?”
“The sword is mightier than the horse.”
“Don’t say anything that will overturn the Empire.”
I responded with a smile at his joke.
Then, a familiar chuckle was heard.
Looking back, Reihausd was standing there. His face was clean, as if he had never been covered in blood.
“Sir Reihausd!”
I called out to him with a shout of joy.
There was a slight red mark on one side of his face, which caused me a bit of guilt, but he rationalized that it was all love.
“You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
I looked up at him with a worried face and asked.
At that time, Reihausd, who had come closer, approached with his upper body bent. Then he took my hand and put it on his cheek.
“I knew it the moment you touched me.”
His golden eyes were full of me.
“Ariel, it’s you.”
“Uh…”
“You woke me up by hitting me hard.”
[The God of Benevolence, Oman, smacks his lips, saying that he’s a real thing.]
“Strong… and hard…”
No, Reihausd. Why is he like this…
“Ha, hahaha…”
I quickly removed my hand from him and smiled awkwardly.
“I want you to stop talking like a pervert and get to the point.”
Kyle interrupted our reunion, frowning. It was nice timing.
[The God of Justice, Hetuse, agrees with Kyle.]
“Anyway, I have something to ask you. Why did you attack Camilla that day?”
That’s something I’ve been curious about all along.
The day I ran away with Camilla’s statue, Reihausd appeared out of nowhere and attacked her. Thanks to that, I was able to escape, but his appearance was unplanned.
“That day, I discovered that a Golden Crown she had saved was eating a rabbit carcass.”
‘A Golden Crown with a rabbit carcass?’
I was startled and opened my eyes wide to look at Reihausd.
Golden Crown is a bird that eats only dew and grain. It was absurd that such a bird was eating a rabbit carcass.
“I caught it and it rebelled violently. It seemed that its condition wasn’t good, so I gave it holy power, and an unknown dark energy came out of its beak.”
“Dark energy?”
‘Perhaps…’
That might be what I had been deducing about Camilla’s identity.
“Yes. That’s why I went to Camilla’s residence to ask for the whole story, then I saw she was about to attack the Saintess.”
He said as he recalled.
“Heinz and the Paladins led by him were around, so I got beaten… I don’t remember anything after that.”
While listening to his explanation, he was making deductions about the identity of the ‘dark energy’, and a priest approached him.
He walked up to Reihausd, whispered something in his ear.
After quietly listening to the report, Reihausd looked at us and said.
“I heard that Camilla requested her holy power to be checked.”
At those words, Kyle’s eyes widened. However, I nodded leisurely.
“It was expected. In any case, there are things I would like to ask the High Priest before going through the holy power confirmation procedure.”
“Tell me anything.”
“Please spread the rumor that my holy power is disappearing. Especially to Camilla.”
“Pardon?”
Reihausd asked if it was an unexpected statement, widening his eyes.
I didn’t care and continued talking.
“I want to be as specific as possible. So that she can be as vigilant as possible.”
“Do you have any plans in mind? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you to come forward in person…?”
“I want to live a quiet life, but I need them to let me live quietly.”
I let out a small sigh.
Then, Kyle, who was looking at me quietly, smiled and opened his mouth.
“Seeing that you’re strong against trickery, the Imperial Palace would suit you better than the temple.”
[The God of Destruction, Ciel, agrees with Kyle.]
At that, Reihausd shook his head and spoke to Kyle.
“What are you talking about? The Saintess is a precious asset of the temple.”
[The God of Art, Mond, agrees with Reihausd.]
[The God of Knowledge, Hessed, says that there is a Lloyd’s building with strategic location in the capital, and it’s very comfortable.]
The Gods began to quarrel by dividing the factions into the characters they supported.
I smiled and looked at them quietly. It was the last calm afternoon before the storm.