-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Investigation Begins
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“The meals are meager, but it's not as if she didn't know. Why was she so shocked today of all days?”
On her first day at the Sun God's Grand Temple, Ordel had been horrified by the state of the dining hall and ordered that all her meals be brought to her room from then on.
For the two years since, she hadn't once set foot in the dining hall, so she would have never seen what the others were eating.
But there was no way she was completely ignorant.
After all, she was the one who had ordered the quality of her own food to be improved, even if it meant reducing the portions for the priests.
And now, she acts shocked.
“Could it be that she never knew just how bad it was?”
Come to think of it, though Ordel was always screeching, she had never once laid a hand on the children.
Perhaps she had a soft spot for them.
Is the Saintess truly trying to change?
Is this not just a one-time whim, but genuine remorse?
Frankly, the hope that it might be true surged forth before the thought that it was impossible.
“…”
Airic was thinking the same thing.
Ordel had suddenly stopped her extravagances and her tantrums.
He had been so bewildered when she'd even rejected the title of Saintess—a title that, though fake, had satisfied her vanity.
But even that wasn't as surprising as what she had shown today.
She had been saddened by the children's meager meals and the desolate garden.
He hadn't seen her shed tears, but it was undeniably a look of sorrow.
And all of this was, in the end, her fault for her lavish spending.
“...Is she going to say she's leaving again?”
That would be a problem.
It was better to have a tyrannical Saintess than no Saintess at all for the Grand Temple to continue to exist.
Besides, outbursts from Saintesses or Saints were surprisingly common.
The only problem was that Ordel was a fake, and the Sun God's Grand Temple lacked the funds to support her extravagance.
In any case, if the Saintess beloved by the god were to disappear, the other Grand Temples would surely seize the opportunity to bring down the Sun God's Grand Temple completely.
The Grand Temples were all but rivals, competing for the number of followers.
They would try to absorb weaker temples to strengthen the power of their own gods, so a Saintess was an absolute necessity.
“What?! What do you mean by that? The Saintess said she's leaving the Grand Temple?!”
Dietrich, who had overheard Airic's muttering, was aghast.
“No. That will never happen, so don't go spreading that around.”
Airic, who had no intention of letting Ordel go, firmly silenced Dietrich.
If he was going to send her away like this, he wouldn't have endured all that humiliation from Count Kiris.
Therefore, he would do whatever it took to keep Ordel here.
* * *
“Claim reward.”
Back in my bedroom, I immediately claimed the reward for accepting the quest.
【The ‘Sun That Crawled Out of Death’ bestows his first blessing upon the user, who has become his Saintess. The user's Divine Power increases.】
Jackpot!
Along with the system message, a golden aura poured from the air and enveloped my body. It felt like warm sunlight.
I covered my mouth with my hands at the Sun God's blessing.
An increase in Divine Power. I wonder by how much.
He'll give me at least 10%, right?
Even that would be much better than what I have now…!
【Current Divine Power: 5%】
“…”
A 3% blessing. I bit my lip hard.
Right, our Sun God is broke right now.
If he could give more, he wouldn't have put a fake like me forward as the real Saintess.
【The user's Divine Power has reached 5%. The skill ‘Body Enhancement’ is now unlocked.】
“Ah.”
Did the Sun God hear me cursing him out?
I was already worried about how to use my Divine Power.
It seems like a new ability unlocks each time my Divine Power reaches a certain level, so I need to work hard on increasing it.
The question is, how?
“I have to receive Divine Power from the Sun God, so the only way is to increase the number of his followers…”
There are two main ways to increase the number of followers.
One is for the Saintess or Saint to display powerful abilities to entice people.
The other is to serve the people and demonstrate the god's greatness.
“Neither is possible.”
I'm at a dead end from the start.
Having just reached 5% Divine Power, the first option was obviously impossible, and the second was tricky.
The Sun God's attribute is healing.
The priests also specialize in healing, but the problem is that our god is lacking in many ways, so they can't wield powerful healing abilities.
Their healing is so weak, it's less effective than the potions made by alchemists.
As a result, people naturally sought out alchemists over the Sun God's Grand Temple, which only made it poorer.
“System, is there any other way to increase the Sun God's power besides increasing his followers?”
【Search results have confirmed one other method.】
“There is?! What is it?”
【Make an offering.】
“…?”
An offering?
An offering, as in, voluntarily giving donations or gifts to a god…
In other words, you're telling me to cough up money...?
Wow, you put me in the body of a penniless person, and now you want money?
“Ha. I can't take back the money for the kids' food, so I guess I'll have to donate all the money I got from selling the blue dress…”
It's not as if I can leave the Grand Temple anyway, so what's the point of a secret fund?
I'll just offer it all up and raise my Divine Power.
But only up to 40%.
I have no intention of becoming the real Saintess, so it's enough to be able to protect myself and unlock the ability to reveal heavenly secrets.
In a world like this, what would a real Saintess do besides fight enemies?
So I'm going to stick to my role as the fake Saintess until the end.
“Alright, perfect. Then, the first thing to do before making money is…”
To clean up the Grand Temple from the inside, of course.
Specifically, rooting out the corruption that exists even in a poor place like this.
That's my specialty as a former detective.
* * *
The next time I went to the dining hall was for lunch.
I was worried people would have a fit seeing my face, but it couldn't be helped.
They'll have to see this face from now on, so they might as well get used to it slowly.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The moment I entered the dining hall, a chilling silence greeted me, and I wavered for a second…
But I steeled myself.
“Welcome, Saintess.”
At least Airic greeted me.
Following his lead, I sat at the head of the table and looked around.
The priests, as well as the apprentices and acolytes, all had their heads bowed, their faces pale.
The maids and servants waiting on them also looked grim.
It was a truly uncomfortable silence, but I steadfastly maintained my composure.
I'll show them just how much I've changed.
“Here you are.”
Airic personally placed the food in front of me.
It was a bowl of soup, the same as everyone else's, just as I had requested.
A very thin soup, without a single piece of meat.
“…Are you sure this will be alright?”
“Why wouldn't it be? I'm eating the same meal as everyone else.”
I began eating immediately.
It didn't look like much, but it was surprisingly delicious.
Ordel, with her refined palate, might not have thought so, but for me, who had often gone hungry in my past life, it was a very satisfying meal.
“It's delicious.”
As I continued to eat without hesitation, I could feel Airic's relief.
Unlike him, who didn't show it much, Dietrich was staring at me with astonished eyes.
When I even slurped up the rest of the soup straight from the bowl, his eyes looked ready to pop out of his head.
“Come to think of it, I've been served delicious meals all this time, but I've never once complimented the chef.”
As I set the bowl down, Airic gave me a quizzical look.
“Shall I summon the chef?”
“No. I'd like to see the kitchen as well, so I'll go myself.”
“Pardon?”
Regardless of Airic's confusion, I shot up from my seat and headed straight for the kitchen.
Airic and Dietrich hurriedly followed behind me.
“Oh, what do we do?”
“Is it okay to just let her be…?”
Worried voices drifted from behind me.
They must think I'm going to the kitchen to find fault with something. Just you wait.
Soon enough, your eyes will be popping out of your heads in surprise.
*Bang!*
I threw open the kitchen doors, and the chef, Kento, a man with a messy brown beard, and the servants working there turned to look at us with startled eyes.
“My, S-Saintess, and High Priest, what brings you to such a humble place…?”
“It's nothing important. I was just so pleased with the meal the chef prepared today that I thought I'd offer my compliments.”
Is that…? Is this some kind of advanced sarcasm to say the soup was bad…?
My words made everyone's inner thoughts plain to see on their faces.
