Chapter 13
The Retired Saintess Raises House Prices Episode 13
Episode 13
Including Holy Knight Malik, the other Holy Knights couldn't stop marveling whenever they returned from purification prayers with Saintess Shuana.
"She doesn't budge an inch, I tell you?"
"She doesn't fear ghosts at all."
"Even if something happens right in front of her eyes, she just keeps reciting her prayers and stays composed. Saintess Shuana is a 'real saintess.' So noble."
Mikhail sneered at his rowdy subordinates back at the lodging.
"Enough already."
"You know it too, Captain. There are plenty of saintesses who just rattle off prayers out of habit. Because their faith is shallow, evil spirits swarm them."
He understood the Holy Knights' complaints.
While the saintesses sat praying, the Holy Knights had to protect them and the nearby residents from any potential dangers.
Even if they couldn't drive away evil spirits with holy power infused in their swords, they could at least push back the encroaching ones a step, like holding torches in a jungle.
Most saintesses would flee midway through prayers, claiming they heard strange noises, leaving the rest to the Holy Knights.
Then the tedious battles with evil spirits always fell to the Holy Knights.
...But Shuana was different.
Mikhail had thought his men were exaggerating as they praised Saintess Shuana noisily, but he was wrong.
The moment they entered Floriana, a suffocating chill hit him like a wave.
But Saintess Shuana seemed utterly unfazed.
He'd initially suspected she felt nothing at all, but that doubt vanished quickly.
When Shuana asked where to pray, she suddenly turned her gaze toward the distant sea.
Following her eyes, one of his subordinates was already entranced by a ghost.
The knight was conversing with empty air.
"The way out of the village?"
"Why do you have so much luggage, elder? Shall I help?"
"Oh my, we couldn't possibly accept that. Haha."
"You lost your baby? But it's right there on your back, crying. Looks hungry."
It wasn't just one or two.
They were all seeing something.
Not one or two had slacked on aura-based holy power training.
And they'd clearly forgotten all the guidelines they'd memorized on the way to Floriana.
<Do not speak to or react to anyone who didn't cross the village entrance with your group.
If someone asks for directions out of the village, turn indifferently and say you don't know as a first-time visitor.
If someone grabs your clothes begging for help, tell them to go to the vigilante corps.
For a young woman searching for her lost baby, say the baby is playing at the daycare.>
And so on.
Weak, foolish idiots.
Mikhail inwardly cursed as he spread his holy power-infused aura wide.
Only then did his subordinates snap out of it, clamping their mouths shut and looking to him.
After glaring at them reproachfully, Mikhail turned back to Saintess Shuana.
Calm as ever, she was heading into the ruins he'd indicated for the prayer.
Even to eyes untrained in holy power, ghosts were visible there—the most yin-heavy spot in Floriana.
Shuana strolled right in, knelt, and naturally began her prayer.
At first, the dark clumps huddled in the corners screamed toward her.
Amid the eerie shrieks tearing at their throats, Shuana didn't waver in the slightest.
【Get out!!】
【Get out now!】
The knights plugged their ears at the ghosts' screams; some even fainted.
A woman in ragged clothes covered in brown bloodstains and burn scars all over her body grinned brightly and began dancing beside Shuana.
Even Mikhail, shielded by a holy power barrier, caught snippets of her song.
He couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like wind whistling through a small hole.
Or like stifled giggles bursting out.
Sususu, susususu.
Hehehe. Pfft hehehe.
The laughter grew louder.
But Shuana remained unfazed.
Her prayer voice didn't tremble even slightly.
Then the ghost's laughter gradually faded.
The specter, thrashing wildly as its bones twisted, slowly blurred.
Soon, only Shuana's prayer echoed.
Even after finishing, Shuana hadn't broken a sweat. As if she'd seen and heard nothing.
[Only the voice of Moandalla calling me fills my ears.]
He recalled her words at the village entrance.
Mikhail Severino had no choice but to acknowledge Shuana as a true saintess.
Shuana was a real saintess.
She might even be the only one fit to succeed the great current Great Saintess.
As Mikhail fell into the delusion of naming Shuana as the next Great Saintess, she was riding back to the Temple in the carriage, still plotting her escape.
'How can I bolt without anyone chasing me down completely?'
Should she fake her death?
Like the potion Juliet took in Romeo and Juliet—something to mimic death temporarily before waking?
But that's fiction, and this is a novel's reality, so probably not.
Ah, Shakespeare hyung. Why's the world like this.
Dying in the Temple would mean burial there, never leaving.
And if she mistimed it and woke up sealed in a coffin, how would she open the lid?
Unless someone pried it open from outside.
No matter how she racked her brain, no safe escape came to mind—just sighs.
Why possess a body like this, of all things.
As Shuana sighed repeatedly, the carriage slowed.
Then a low, polite voice came from outside.
It was Mikhail.
"Saintess Shuana. If you're carsick, shall we stop briefly?"
"Pardon? ...Ah, yes. Sure."
Shuana agreed to his offer in a slightly puzzled tone.
No carsickness, but delaying the return to the Temple was good.
Mikhail must've been deeply moved by this purification prayer.
On the way to Floriana, he wouldn't have cared if she got carsick or the carriage flipped.
Now he stops just because of a few sighs.
Has the fanatic hunter finally learned to consider others?
As the carriage halted, Shuana opened the door for fresh air.
Mikhail stood there as if waiting, extending a large hand.
"The ground is wet. Please step down carefully so you don't slip."
The fanatic hunter was now playing the gentleman.
"Thank you."
Mikhail smiled faintly, gripping her hand firmly as if worried she'd slip in the mud, acting like it was nothing.
"...They say when people change suddenly, death is near."
Mikhail's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Shuana.
"Could it be, Lady Shuana, you can even see remaining lifespan?"
As if.
"No, I just meant why you're suddenly being so nice to me."
"I'm merely respecting the messenger who spreads God's words."
Mikhail smiled as if it were obvious, and Shuana mirrored him, lifting the corners of her mouth slightly.
