Chapter 08
I ignored the strange looks people were giving me and looked around the kitchen.
“I’ve never been to the kitchen before. There are so many interesting things here. Are all of these cooking tools?”
I lightly poked at the kitchen knives stuck menacingly into the cutting board and casually picked up some unfamiliar cooking utensils.
Perhaps he disliked the way I handled the kitchen tools as if they were beneath me, because Head Chef Kento began to huff angrily.
However, because of my infamous reputation, he couldn’t openly complain.
“Saintess, knives are dangerous.”
Unable to watch any longer, Dietrich tried to stop me.
He probably thought I was just looking for something to nitpick about.
“Yes, Saintess. If you are curious about the kitchen, please come at night. Then I will have plenty of time to show you around.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that. Then, as you suggested, I’ll come tonight. Make sure you give me a proper tour then.”
At Head Chef Kento’s surprisingly brave words, I smiled sweetly and turned around.
Everyone seemed to think I was finally leaving the kitchen, because I heard them all let out sighs of relief.
However, my real reason for coming to the kitchen was only beginning.
I activated the map system, including all the secret passages.
My destination was right beside the storeroom where the ingredients were kept.
Just as I had seen in the novel, I knocked on the wall in a certain rhythm.
Tap, tap-tap, tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.
“W-What! What are you doing?! Stop!”
Kento shouted from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw him glaring at me with a face as white as a sheet.
Seriously, you’re making it way too obvious that you know about the secret passage.
Rumble!
“Gasp! Wh-What is that?!”
“No way… There’s a place like that in the kitchen….”
The wall I had knocked on opened, revealing a hidden secret passage.
The kitchen staff were startled.
Though the meaning of their surprise soon changed.
“B-But… there’s something inside.”
Several pouches were sitting inside the opened secret passage.
Dietrich looked back and forth between me and Ayrick with a bewildered expression, then immediately entered the passage to check the pouches.
Rustle.
The moment he loosened the strings, money spilled out.
And not just a little.
It was an amount that would be difficult to even touch in this impoverished temple.
“Oh my goodness! There’s so much money! I just felt like knocking here for some reason, so I knocked on it. I never expected money to come out.”
Isn’t it amazing?
I had been waiting for this moment, so I laughed brightly and exclaimed,
“And it’s money that looks as though someone deliberately hid it here. Could someone have embezzled it?”
At my words, Dietrich’s face immediately hardened.
He was quick-witted, so he must have realized it right away.
A secret passage that no one was supposed to know about.
Money hidden inside it.
And Kento, who had desperately tried to stop me from exposing it for some reason.
Anyone could see that there were clear signs of embezzlement.
“…Head Chef.”
Ayrick, who had been silent the entire time, called out to Kento.
Even I was startled by the chilling look in his eyes as he glared at Kento.
Well, the head chef they had trusted enough to entrust everyone’s meals to had embezzled the operating funds of an already impoverished temple.
He must have felt deeply betrayed.
“Would you please explain this situation?”
Wow.
I never knew polite speech could sound this frightening.
“I-I… I don’t know…”
“Surely you aren’t going to say you know nothing about it. The reaction you showed when the Saintess opened the secret passage was certainly not the reaction of someone who knew nothing.”
Exactly.
After turning pale and shouting, “Stop!” like a guilty thief who had given himself away, it was a little too late to deny everything now.
“I-I’ll explain. I can explain everything!”
“Good. You had better explain it properly.”
Ayrick approached Kento, whose face had gone deathly pale.
Being considerably taller, he looked down calmly at the cowering Kento.
“If you cannot properly explain why a head chef without divine power knows about a secret passage, then as the High Priest responsible for restoring order within the Great Temple, I will have no choice but to question you.”
“Th-That…”
“And it will not be a particularly pleasant process.”
After threatening him so elegantly, Ayrick delivered the final blow.
“I could also hand you over to the Commander of the Holy Knights.”
The Commander of the Holy Knights, who protected the Great Temple, was naturally an even more frightening opponent than the High Priest.
After all, he was the strongest in terms of combat power.
The threat worked perfectly, and Kento’s face turned deathly blue.
“S-So, what happened was… you see, this is how…”
Kento slowly approached the opened passage as though he was about to give a detailed explanation.
That was when his vacant eyes met mine.
“You! You! If it weren’t for you!”
Kento raised both hands as if he intended to strangle me and suddenly charged toward me like a madman.
Toward me, that is.
“Saintess!”
Ayrick and Dietrich shouted loudly and reached out their hands. They seemed to be trying to protect me, but…
Compared to the two of them, my divine power was far weaker.
Still, I could handle an ordinary person.
Because I had the system.
【Activating the skill ‘Physical Enhancement.’】
I was so glad I had obtained this.
“Oh my. Did you want to be rewarded that quickly? I can’t help it. Since the head chef wants it so badly, I’ll reward you right now.”
I smiled and extended my right hand.
I concentrated 5% of my divine power into my middle finger and flicked it straight at him.
Where?
Kento’s forehead.
BANG!
A sound like a giant walnut being cracked rang out.
“Ugh… uuuugh…”
The tremendous impact must have reached all the way to his brain. Kento staggered without even managing to let out a proper scream.
He continued glaring at me with bloodshot eyes until, in the end, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed backward with a heavy thud.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Silence descended.
Everyone stared blankly back and forth between me and Kento, who had fainted with foam at the mouth.
“Eeeek!”
Soon, the kitchen staff swallowed nervously and huddled together as Kento’s forehead swelled up terrifyingly.
Hmm.
If I left things like this, my image might become even worse.
I solemnly extended both hands toward the unconscious Kento.
As though I were bestowing a blessing upon him.
“I express my gratitude for the head chef’s hard work in preparing delicious meals for us all this time. However, from now on, rest in peace.”
Perhaps deeply moved by my sincere blessing, one of the kitchen staff gathered together slowly sank to the floor.
“High Priest, rejoice! We have gained so much money! It seems God has shown mercy upon the Great Temple!”
“…That…”
“Now we can feed the servants more generously with this money. Isn’t that wonderful?”
I smiled brightly at Ayrick.
In response, I received looks of extreme discomfort from everyone around me.
While Dietrich sorted out the embezzled funds, Ayrick handed the kitchen staff over to the Holy Knights within the temple.
They were going to investigate whether anyone had helped Kento.
Seeing the servants leave with anxious expressions, I asked the Holy Knights one thing.
“Everyone may be innocent, so please don’t be too harsh during the investigation. Remember that until the truth is revealed, they are all our family.”
The servants widened their eyes, apparently never expecting me to take their side.
The Holy Knights also looked surprised.
All of this was part of my effort to change my image.
“Saintess.”
Once everyone had left and only Dietrich, Ayrick, and I remained, Ayrick quietly called out to me.
“Were you injured anywhere?”
I had expected him to question me about how I knew everything.
But instead, he asked about my safety first.
“I think I hurt my finger a little.”
“You don’t have to do this again.”
I was only joking…
Ayrick infused divine power into my right hand.
It was a healing ability I couldn’t use because I lacked sufficient divine power.
Golden divine power wrapped around my finger.
It felt warm and gentle, just like Ayrick’s personality, which was nice, but…
Unfortunately, because he was concentrating on healing my middle finger, only my middle finger was glowing gold.
I couldn’t bear to look at my brilliantly glowing middle finger any longer, so I pulled my hand away and said I was fine now.
“Could you explain the situation to me? How did you know about all of this?”
The location of the secret passage, the code for the door, and even the existence of Kento’s embezzled funds.
Since I was a fake Saintess, Ayrick hadn’t told me about the secret passage either, so naturally he must have found it even more suspicious.
I confidently shouted out the excuse I had already prepared.
“It was a coincidence!”
I couldn’t exactly say that I knew because I had read the entire novel.
Besides, Ayrick couldn’t interrogate me anyway, so I might as well confidently deny everything!
“…Pardon?”
“I just have a very good sense of intuition. Sometimes I get these sorts of feelings.”
I could come up with a more convincing excuse if I wanted to…
But my plan wasn’t over yet.
For now, it was better to leave it at that.
I left the confused Ayrick behind and approached Dietrich.
“How much is it in total?”
“Ah, 9 gold and 87 silver.”
Dietrich also seemed bewildered by my explanation, but he dutifully answered my question.
Since 100 silver equaled 1 gold, it was roughly 10 gold.
Then how much would my divine power increase if I offered 10 gold?
Surely it would increase by at least 1%, right?
【0.01% increases.】
“…?”
Are you kidding me?
