Chapter 161
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Movement, no matter the scale, tended to tilt things in your favor if you managed to act first. That was just how it worked—whether it was hauling supplies across long distances or darting behind an enemy’s back in a skirmish. If you moved faster than anyone else, you controlled the flow.
And Ms. Sakura… well, her whole thing was that she could move without time even touching her. That was why Martina and her people had come all the way here, to this sprawling Dungeon City, trying to secure her as a “Saint” before anyone else could.
”Secure,” though, was maybe too harsh a word. Martina’s faction was supposedly the gentle type—the kind that wouldn’t force her to join the Holy Church, and would just shrug if she refused. But their rivals? The hardliners wouldn’t hesitate to drag a Saint away kicking and screaming. Which was why Martina’s group had rushed here before those people could even get close.
Once the lord of the city heard all this, he leaned back in his chair and eyed her.
”Hm… and you don’t even know who this ‘Saint’ is supposed to be?”
”No, my lord. The divine ‘oracle’ varies in accuracy each time, so…” Martina bowed her head lightly as she said it.
”That’s not something you can rely on, then. So how do you plan on finding her?”
”…”
Martina’s face twitched just for an instant, subtle enough that anyone else might’ve missed it—but the lord didn’t. His brows rose.
”So you do have some method up your sleeve.”
”No, not exactly…” she said carefully.
”Then what’s got you hesitating?”
”It’s… internal affairs of the Holy Church. I’m not sure how much I should speak of it here.”
Her eyes slid toward Frederica as she said it, hinting at the obvious—that having an unexpected guest here was making her wary. Fair enough, considering Frederica had been invited in only at the very last minute.
”Rest assured,” the lord said, calm as still water. “Anything said here stays here. That was the condition for allowing her in.”
”If you say so. Though… it won’t actually help us find the Saint,” Martina admitted softly, almost as if asking permission, before finally laying her cards on the table.
”You are likely familiar with the ‘Ceremony of Benediction.’ By rule, the results are never released to the public.”
”I’ve heard as much, yes,” the lord said, nodding.
”But… within the Holy Church, those results are actually compiled and stored.”
Ah. So those so-called “Listeners” who performed the ceremony weren’t literally bound from speaking—they just couldn’t say anything. Writing it down was another matter. Which meant my own data was probably sitting in their archives right now. Great. I’d have to be even more careful about covering my tracks.
The lord didn’t seem the least bit surprised by any of this. “That makes sense. It’s only natural they’d want to keep track of exceptional or dangerous individuals.”
”Exactly. And when the oracle spoke of the ‘Saint of Instant Step,’ we searched that archive. But… there was nothing even close, so it’s likely she’s never taken the Ceremony at all.”
”I see. So that was your original plan,” the lord murmured. “But that means… it could be any girl in this city. And if word gets out, people will start trying to capture every promising one to sell to the Church.”
”Most likely,” Martina said, regret slipping into her voice.
”And if you can’t use the Ceremony… how do you plan to find her?”
”If we could persuade any women who’ve never undergone it to take the Ceremony… but just announcing that could make them targets.”
”True enough.”
”Which is why… we have no intention of forcing the search.”
”Hm? You’re fine with that?”
”Yes. What our faction truly wants is the credit for discovering her—and the priority in negotiating with her.”
Apparently Saints often ended up on friendly terms with the faction that discovered them, which made formal cooperation requests a whole lot easier later on. Not full-on joining that faction, of course, but still—a connection.
”So if someone offers her to you for a fair price, you’ll accept it. And if not… they might try force,” the lord summarized.
”Exactly. The first is acceptable. The second is not—especially for our relationship with this city.”
At that, a flicker of understanding passed through the lord’s eyes. “Ah. So your true aim is… disruption.”
”You’re perceptive, my lord,” Martina said quietly. “Reinforcements from our faction are coming, but in scale, we can’t match the hardliners. They’ll likely send many agents, disguised in countless ways, to avoid open conflict with your country or this city. We simply don’t have enough hands to watch or counter all of them.”
”In other words… you want my cooperation to balance the scales.”
”Yes. If they know you’re watching, they’ll have to tread lightly. And if the Saint hasn’t revealed her powers openly yet, time is on our side—after a while, they may assume she left the city and pull back.”
”You want us to hold them off until then…”
The lord’s mouth tightened. “Hm.”
Martina stiffened. “Is… that too difficult?”
”Not impossible,” he said slowly, “but this city thrives on adventurers bringing back riches from the dungeons. And those adventurers depend on the Church for healing. If I move against the Church openly…”
He didn’t need to finish. The Church could quietly retaliate—raising healing fees, refusing treatment. Nothing bloody, but enough to choke the city. Martina seemed to understand, though she still tried, “Then perhaps we could send in more clerics from our faction—”
The lord cut her off with a shake of his head. “We would need a good reason. And if it’s clear they came because of our sabotage, the entire Church might withhold their support from this city or even our whole country.”
”That wouldn’t happen… we could explain—”
”Can you guarantee that?” His gaze pinned her in place. “If your faction is smaller, the majority could simply drown you out.”
”…gh.”
Martina faltered. Beside her, Roselia stood silently in her role as bodyguard, though her eyes flicked toward her charge in quiet worry. The whole room had gone still, tension buzzing faintly in the air.
And the lord wasn’t wrong. If he refused, the hardliners would run wild, scouring the streets for their “lottery ticket” Saint—and girls would start vanishing. They didn’t even know the Saint’s age. Children would be easiest to snatch. Which meant Ms. Monoka’s orphanage, full of little girls, would practically paint a target on itself. Monoka herself… given her looks, someone could easily pretend they were “securing a Saint” just to abduct her.
If the lord stayed out of it, the city guards would only handle normal crimes, not Church-backed kidnappings. They’d hesitate, and people would get hurt.
I needed to do something.
And then, finally, Frederica spoke, voice careful. “Father… what about requesting help from Silver Orchid? Lady Ferris is there.”
…Huh. Not a bad idea. Ferris had ridiculous raw strength—if she and her team stood in the way, even the hardliners would think twice about abducting anyone. And Ms. Anju, that maybe-cleric who often worked with them, didn’t seem the type to side with the hardliners either.
But the lord still frowned. “I’d like to… but that would mean keeping them in the city. They wouldn’t be able to earn in the dungeon.”
”We could compensate them—”
”Which would make it obvious we hired them. Even if we paid secretly… if Silver Orchid’s strike team stayed here without losing income, the Church would notice.”
”…ah.”
Frederica’s shoulders drooped as she understood. Silver Orchid had to earn enough to support all the women they sheltered. If they suddenly stopped dungeon runs yet had no money issues, suspicion would flare—and it wouldn’t take long for someone to connect that to Vermillion House.
”Then… what about Golden Lion? They’re the biggest—”
”Which means they rely on the Church the most. They can’t risk angering them.”
”Ugh…”
Shot down again, Frederica fell silent, worry written all over her face. She supported Monoka’s orphanage, so this wasn’t just some distant political problem to her. Usually she was all fire and sharp edges, so seeing her look like that felt… unfair.
I sighed inside. I could try sabotaging the hardliners myself, but if they were in disguise, I’d never catch them all. Not enough eyes or ears. The only trick I could think of was scattering those “No Soliciting” red scarves as trackers—if someone went missing, we’d notice.
But they might not wear them. Might lose them. Wash them. And if people realized the ones handing them out were saboteurs, it’d just paint bigger targets on their backs. So… not an option.
How do I keep things safe without open sabotage…?
And then—oh.
Wait.
If Ms. Sakura just revealed herself before the hardliners even got here… wouldn’t that solve everything?
Notes:
• Frederica – The receptionist. The daughter of powerful figure in the town.
• Ferris – The representative of Silver Orchid
• Anju – The cleric from Silver Orchid.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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