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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: A Successful Deception
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In the end, Sembus was made to pay me a ransom of 20,000 gold, plus an additional 10,000 gold in damages, for a grand total of 30,000 gold.
Even as he fled with his tail between his legs, taking Jeremy with him, the glare he shot me was scorching.
*‘Too bad for him. My plan doesn’t end here.’*
Sembus would soon be crying his eyes out. It was a shame I wouldn't get to see it myself, but what could you do?
I hummed a cheerful tune, eagerly awaiting the events that would soon unfold.
* * *
The shocking news reached Sembus a day and a half after he had left the Sun God's Grand Temple, a place he couldn't stand the sight of.
A holy knight cried out with an unbelievable report.
“S-Sir Priest! S-Sir Jeremy has disappeared!”
Words that were utterly impossible to believe.
“What are you talking about!”
Sembus, who had been eating in his carriage while his attendants prepared their camp, shot up from his seat, completely forgetting the tray of food on his lap.
The dishes clattered to the floor, instantly soiling the carriage’s interior.
“Where could Jeremy have possibly gone!”
“Well, I just checked to see if he was all right inside, but the carriage was empty!”
Impossible!
Sembus immediately rushed to Jeremy’s carriage.
In front of the open carriage door, people stood with blank, dismayed expressions.
He soon wore the same expression as them.
“...How in the world.”
The carriage was completely empty. There wasn’t a single trace, as if no one had been there from the start.
“Where in the world could he have disappeared to…”
Sembus had deliberately ridden in a separate carriage from Jeremy.
He hadn’t wanted to face that doll-like, expressionless face, which he found utterly creepy.
Besides, since Jeremy was being controlled, there was no chance of him escaping on his own, so Sembus had let him ride alone…
“How could no one have noticed his disappearance!”
Sembus roared at the men standing guard nearby.
He had brought three holy knights and even more soldiers. There were attendants to serve them as well.
And yet, no one had a clue until Jeremy was gone!
“I-I apologize. The carriage windows were covered by curtains, so…”
The holy knight in charge of the escort bowed his head, his face pale.
Sembus pressed a hand to his forehead.
The fact that Jeremy was being controlled by divine power was a secret, so the windows of his carriage had been covered with thick curtains.
On top of that, thanks to the divine power, he didn’t need to eat, so no one had brought him any meals.
That was why his disappearance had been discovered so late.
“Find Jeremy at once! If you can’t, you’ll all be killed by the Saintess and the Saint!”
Sembus began to fly into a rage.
At the most terrifying threat in the world, everyone turned pale and scattered in all directions.
*‘Damn it. Where in the world did he go? He’s supposed to be devoid of his own will because of the Great Sea God’s divine power…!’*
It was strange enough that he tried to assassinate the Saintess without orders, but now he had just vanished without a trace!
Why was he suddenly going rogue?
Could there be a problem with the divine power? No, if that were the case, the Saintess or the Saint would have come themselves.
Sembus frantically rubbed his face.
He had no idea how to handle this mess.
* * *
*Knock, knock.*
Still forbidden from exercising, I was lazing about aimlessly in my room when a knock on the window made me shoot to my feet.
“You’re here!”
Outside the sun-drenched window, Jeremy was waving.
His focused, pink eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
“Welcome back, Jeremy.”
As I opened the window, Jeremy slipped inside with nimble movements.
I picked a leaf from his hair and asked,
“Did you manage to fool that Sembus fellow?”
“Yeah, moving stealthily is my specialty.”
“Aigoo, well done. Here, I saved these for you, so eat up.”
I had Jeremy sit on the sofa and handed him the cookies that had been prepared for me.
He must have been hungry, because he immediately started munching on them.
I watched him with a pleased smile.
With Jeremy’s return, the little play we had planned was a perfect success.
You see, I never had any intention of sending Jeremy to the Great Sea God’s temple in the first place.
A few days before the people from the Great Sea God’s side arrived.
I had made a proposal to Jeremy.
*‘The Great Sea God has no intention of letting you go. So, they’ll be sending people to retrieve you soon.’*
*‘I don’t want to go.’*
*‘I don’t want to send you away, either. So we’re just going to pretend to send you back.’*
*‘Pretend?’*
*‘After all, slipping away from people unnoticed is a piece of cake for you, right? It’s not like the Saintess, the Saint, or the High Priest will come for something like this themselves.’*
In other words, I told him that once I got the compensation money from the Great Sea God’s people and released him, he should lie low for a day or so and then escape.
*‘Of course, this is all your choice. I won’t mind if you choose not to escape, or if you escape and go somewhere else. My main goal is the compensation money, after all.’*
As long as I got the money needed to rebuild the Sun God’s Grand Temple, I didn’t care what Jeremy did afterward.
That was his freedom to choose.
*‘But if you do come back here, I promise I will one day give you your complete freedom.’*
*‘…’*
*‘I will break the half-curse that binds your body. No matter how long it takes, I will do it.’*
Jeremy gave no answer at the time.
He still hadn’t given me an answer even as he left the Sun God’s Grand Temple with Sembus, his face blank as if he were still being controlled.
And now, I had received his answer.
“Since you came back to me, I’ll keep my promise and make sure you’re freed from the Great Sea God.”
I promised Jeremy.
Having devoured all the cookies in no time, he stared intently at me.
*Does he want more?*
“...When you break the curse, do you always collapse while coughing up blood like last time?”
“I’m not sure about that myself.”
*It’s because my divine power is only at about ten percent right now. It should be fine once I get stronger, right?*
“It’s hard to say there won’t be any repercussions. The curse is divine power, and I’m only human, after all.”
“...”
Jeremy said nothing more. He was glaring fiercely at the empty plate, which made me think he wanted more, so I rang the bell to call for Monica.
“Oh my! He really came back?”
Monica, who had just entered, was startled to see Jeremy sitting quietly in front of me.
It seemed no one else knew Jeremy had returned.
“It’s better than him shamelessly running off for good, but seeing him so comfortable here again is kind of annoying…”
Monica muttered, glaring at Jeremy.
She looked like she was about to smack the back of Jeremy’s irritating head.
“Monica. Could you go get some more snacks? And please let the High Priest and the Captain of the Holy Knights know that Jeremy has returned.”
I was already worried he’d lost some brain cells because of me; getting hit again would be a real disaster. So, I quickly gave Monica her instructions.
Fortunately, she seemed more interested in my request than in the back of Jeremy’s head.
After Monica left, I looked at Jeremy again. More specifically, at his neck.
“The necklace seems to be working. That’s a relief.”
At my words, Jeremy unclasped the necklace he was wearing. The large red gem at its end shimmered brilliantly.
That was none other than a gem I had pried off the jewel box—the holy relic, ‘A Box Made Out of Boredom.’
I had removed one because I thought it would be inconvenient for Jeremy to carry the whole box around.
How did I remove a gem from an indestructible holy relic, you ask?
Well, you just use another holy relic, of course.
As it happened, there was a holy relic of the Sun God that took the form of a dagger.
*‘Saintess, are you really, truly going to do this?’*
Of course, Airic had tried to stop me.
To not only damage a holy relic that wasn't even ours, but to do so using one of the Sun God's own holy relics.
*‘The god will be furious.’*
*‘It’s fine. I’ll be the only one punished anyway. The Sun God will protect you, High Priest, so you don’t need to worry.’*
It was a self-deprecating joke about me being a fake saintess, but far from laughing, Airic had just looked stern. He even shot me a terrifying glare.
It seemed I had no talent for telling jokes.
