Chapter : 2
He is handsome!
He is brilliant!
He seems young, too!
But!
He looks a bit sensitive!
…What if you took all those traits and molded them into a man? He would look like this.
A white, delicate face beneath bright, absolutely pure blonde hair. A firm body that makes you sigh just by looking at it.
The man, his elegant features contorted in annoyance, snapped at the adulterous couple.
“What exactly is the reason for stirring up dust in a public place? Do you have no sense of morality?”
“Who are you to…” The mouth of the adulterous man, who had spun around defiantly, immediately clamped shut when he saw the Imperial Knights uniform the man was wearing.
Whether they responded or not, the man’s attention had already drifted from the couple. Fixing his gaze on me, who was serving beside the adulterous woman, the man said:
“I’d like to buy some handkerchiefs.”
“Ah, um…”
I quickly handed the adulterous couple over to Elly, who had approached quickly, and headed for the counter.
“Navy blue with silver thread embroidery, right?”
“Yes.”
“Fifty sheets again today?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“……”
We clearly know each other, but this is incredibly awkward…
“Aren’t 50 handkerchiefs heavy to carry around?”
“Do you think they would be heavy?”
“You only ever buy navy blue. You must like dark colors.”
“Do you know what I like more than dark colors?”
“What?”
“Staff who calculate quickly.”
“……”
I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
I wrapped the 50 handkerchiefs in paper packaging and handed them over. He comes so often that I already pre-package them in batches of 50.
The man took the handkerchiefs, immediately tore one open, and meticulously wiped his fingers that had touched mine.
He left without a goodbye. Pushing the entrance door open with his shoulder, as if he didn’t want to touch it with his hand.
When I looked back, the adulterous couple had disappeared too. A colleague approached and asked:
“Who was that? He was handsome.”
“Oh. My academy junior.”
“Huh?! Seraphina, you’re an academy graduate?”
“Yes.”
“Wow… Then why are you working here? Shouldn’t you be working in the Imperial Knights like him? Or at least a palace civil servant?”
“Well.”
I have to pay a 40 million Gold development fee to the school to graduate, you know? That’s the price of a small carriage, and they won’t let me graduate unless I pay it. And I couldn’t pay that money. Because I didn’t have it. That’s why I’m working here, to save up and graduate.
“Anyway, that guy is really handsome. Like a prince.”
“Yeah, well.”
“He seems to come often.”
“Yeah. Almost every day.”
He buys handkerchiefs every time he comes.
“What’s that man’s name?”
“Him? Arden.”
I replied, watching Arden walk away. He doesn’t seem to be cold in this weather. He just walks along wearing only one coat.
Just then, a middle-aged man coming from the opposite direction of Arden sneezed, Poo-ech-chu!!!
Arden stopped abruptly. He looked down at his coat, which he was wearing over his uniform—and which might have been hit by maybe one droplet of spit—with an expressionless face.
He immediately took it off and threw it into the trash can. Arden, now only in his uniform, continued walking with his usual long strides.
“Oof.”
I shook my head unconsciously.
‘He must have a tough life.’
He was popular when he was at the academy, you know? But whenever a guy or a girl got near him, he’d act like that. So, I think he graduated without ever dating anyone.
What good is being handsome? Which woman would ever take him…
“Excuse me! You gave me the wrong clothes!”
“Oh my, let me check for you! Could I see the receipt? Haha, you threw it on the floor… I will pick it up and read it for you…”
“Elly, are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine! Just a little tired.”
“You have every right to be tired. Hurry on in.”
“Bye, everyone!”
It was past midnight when I parted ways with my colleagues in front of the clothing shop. Our shop owner, Mrs. Scrooge, always gave us work exactly five minutes before closing time, saying, ‘I don’t want to pay extra wages, so leave immediately when closing time arrives.’ (May she go bankrupt.) That meant the last 30 minutes of work I did were unpaid. (I will definitely get revenge.)
I started walking towards my boarding house, where I’ve lived since I was a student, because the rent was cheap—a boarding house where the rent for four months was equivalent to the price of one dress at the Scrooge clothing shop.
“Ehhh-woo-woo-woo-woo.”
I hunched my shoulders against the cold and sighed.
“I was startled. I can’t believe I lifted that person like that earlier.”
It’s been two years since I suddenly developed superhuman strength. I thought I had gotten used to it, but if I let my guard down, I still can’t control my strength. Its strength I got through suspicious means, so I can’t even go to the hospital.’
Well, I don’t have money for the hospital anyway. Seriously. If something was going to appear suddenly one day, why couldn’t it have been money instead of strength?
“Ehh-woo-woo-woo…”
I sighed once more, pulling my worn-out coat closer—a coat that let the wind whistle through.
Why do people like the adulterous couple live so well, enjoying their secret meetings in broad daylight, while honest people like me have to clean up the napkins they leave behind?
“The world is wrong.”
Working every single day without a break, my monthly salary is only 1.5 million Gold. Even if I saved every single penny, it would take me over two years to collect 40 million Gold. Isn’t that a problem?!
“Ehh-woo-woo-woo!”
Just then.
Something damp touched my calf. I looked down and saw a dog. A Maltese. A somewhat foolish-looking Maltese was pressing its black, wet nose against my leg. Not “foolish.” A “mongchong” (a cute way of saying silly/clumsy) looking Maltese. Small, very plump, and wearing a yellow backpack someone had given it, the Maltese shook its body.
Then it opened its mouth.
“I finally found you, Seraphina!”
“?!”Can a dog talk?! And it knows me!
“Seraphina, listen closely!”
To what?!
“You are destined to become the Magic Saintess!”
“……”
What Saintess?
“So.” You, Maltese, are not a dog, but a divine beast. “And you came to me after receiving a divine oracle to find the Magic Saintess?”
“Exactly!”
“Huh. Even a dog is running a scam.”
“I’m not a dog!”
The scammer-mongchong Maltese protested that it was a divine beast.
“I’ll explain everything!”
In my room on the second floor of the boarding house, where the wind whistled through the window cracks. The Maltese, claiming to be a divine beast, stood proudly on all four paws. But his expression was still mongchong…
The Mongchong Maltese spoke:
“Seraphina. The world is now filled with the power of evil, woof.”
People who clearly committed wrongs but are ambiguous about being punished by the law. Sneaky nobles who cleverly slip through the legal net with money, power, and connections. It is time for a Saintess to teach those people that justice is alive in the name of God—
“A Saintess is needed, woof!”
“I see.”
“She infiltrates the bad guys’ mansions to collect evidence! And she steals the stolen goods back and returns them to the owners!”
“Right.”
But listen, doggy. Infiltrating other people’s houses and stealing things, all in the name of executing justice—isn’t that just a criminal, not a Saintess?
“That’s why you have to hide your identity!”
Me, the ordinary me, by day, and the Magic Saintess by night!
“Oh, I even have to hide my identity?” How seriously do you want me to commit crimes?
Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.
“No. I won’t do it.”
Because I won’t do it.
“Why!”
It seemed surprising to be refused. The Maltese protested, jumping up and down so much that its ears flapped.
“Why! Why won’t you do it!”
“Wouldn’t doing it be weirder?”
Magic Saintess? That’s something teenagers do.
‘My dream-filled maidenhood ended long ago when the 40 million Gold academy development fee was placed on my shoulders.’
Meaning, I won’t be fooled into thinking, ‘Gosh! I was a special being after all!’ and follow a talking dog that suddenly appeared on my way home from work, telling me, ‘Chosen human! Be the Magic Saintess!’
“First of all, I’ve never even heard the term ‘Magic Saintess’ before today.”
“Of course not! The Magic Saintess only appears when the world is in chaos!”
A being sent by God to purify the world and roll the wheel of history in the right direction!
“She doesn’t appear just anytime!”
“Originally?”
“Yes, originally!”
“When was the last Magic Saintess active?”
“950 years ago!”
“Are you kidding me?” That’s before the empire was even founded! “Why dig up some ancient relic and ask me to do it… Wait a minute.” I narrowed my eyes and asked: “Did God specifically point me out?”
“Yes!”
“Why?” I haven’t donated a penny to the temple or prayed, have I?
“Seraphina! Do you remember touching the statue of God at the main gate on your academy graduation day?”
“……”
How did you know that?
