TGPFC 09

Chapter: 09

“I’ll definitely succeed and make things easier for you, Priest.”

In her previous life, by the time she achieved success, this orphanage was already gone.

Priest Marceria had lived a life of hardship and died young from illness, and the orphans who lost their guardian were scattered in all directions.

Priest Marceria smiled gently.

“Don’t say that. As long as you’re happy, that’s enough.”

Even knowing those words were sincere, Prim stubbornly held on to what she had said.

After the meeting ended, Priest Marceria lifted Prim in her arms and stepped out of the room.

But she soon stopped and smiled. Rosien was leaning against the corridor wall. Since it was late, the boy had dozed off, propped against it.

“Rosien.”

“…!”

At Priest Marceria’s voice, Rosien’s eyes snapped open and he sprang to his feet.

“Are you done talking? All done?”

When the two nodded, he stretched with a big yawn. Watching him, Priest Marceria asked,

“Were you waiting here the whole time?”

“Yeah, well…”

Rosien scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Were you worried I’d make Prim walk?”

“It’s not that. I was worried someone might bully her.”

Prim stared at Rosien in surprise, but his face remained completely calm.

“She’s small and kind of like a little white puppy, so there might be people who’d want to pick on her.”

“I’m… a dog?”

Prim blinked as she asked. Only then did Rosien realize how it sounded and jump in alarm.

“No, no! No—no, no!”

“You said ‘no’ five times. Strong denial is strong affir—”

“No! You’re a white skylark! A skylark! A cat! A chick!”

“What kind of chick is white?”

“A white-feeling chick… right! Lily-of-the-valley! Lily-of-the-valley!”

As the two children bickered, Priest Marceria smiled warmly, then slowly pressed her lips together with a trace of bitterness.

She worried about what would become of the boy once the girl left—but there was nothing she could do.

Though the morning sun had not yet risen, Prim gently tugged at Rosien in the neighboring bed.

“Rosien.”

“Mmm…? Prim?”

Though he had been asleep, Rosien woke up immediately. Children who had wandered the streets for long periods slept lightly and woke at the slightest stimulus.

“I want to go to the temple.”

At her whispered words, Rosien fully woke and climbed down from the bed.

“We’ll have to come back soon.”

Once the sun rose, it would be time for breakfast, and they needed to return beforehand to get ready together.

“Yeah. Still.”

Rosien readily turned his back. Prim reached out and climbed onto it. Suppressing a yawn, Rosien quietly slipped out of the orphans’ dormitory.

“Alright. What are you going to do at the temple?”

“I want to pray.”

“What are you going to pray for? That you pass the perfumer exam?”

At moments like this, her heart felt strangely ticklish.

The Rosien she remembered from her past life was a man who did not pray to gods.

But even he had once been like this—wondering if he should pray to pass an exam.

Prim hugged Rosien’s neck tightly and spoke softly.

“That’s not something prayer can solve. I have to do it with skill.”

“….”

Rosien fell silent for a moment. Prim cautiously glanced at him. Had she said something strange?

“…Well, still, it’s okay if you pray for me.”

“Huh? It’s okay? I can pray for you?”

Rosien’s back shook slightly, as if he were holding back laughter. Prim hurriedly corrected herself.

“No, I mean—it’s good. It’s a good thing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? It’s not just ‘good.’ If you’re praying for me, shouldn’t I be thankful?”

“You’re right. Thank you. I’ll make all the perfume you use, too. Even the ones with blessings you spray on your sword.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I really could become a grand lord someday, right?”

“Yeah.”

Prim answered immediately, without smiling. That was why she had come back.

Instead, Rosien became flustered.

“H-Hey. Don’t tell anyone else….”

“Tell them what?”

“Our future. It’s just a secret between us.”

“Okay.”

Prim wondered if there was any need to be embarrassed, but she didn’t point it out and nodded obediently.

Rosien seated Prim in the frontmost row of the dim temple, still dark before sunrise, and plopped down beside her.

On the altar a short distance away lay the bouquet she had made and offered not long ago.

Prim clasped her hands and closed her eyes. Rosien, wearing an indifferent expression, followed suit, clasping his hands and closing his eyes as well.

Breathing in the faintly fading scent of the bouquet, Prim murmured inwardly.

‘Barin.’

Soon, Barin’s sulky voice responded.

— You could’ve at least learned a prayer in a whole day.

‘I’m in a bit of a rush right now. I’m sorry. Barin, could you give a revelation and send an inquisitor here? The Corvas baron and baroness are heretics.’

The Corvas couple had adopted children from various places, and of course it was not to raise them well.

They intended to use those children as materials to create fragrances imbued with dark power—using the blood and tears of pure children.

Why else would they have latched onto her the moment they saw her and cherished her so, insisting on adopting her?

Because she was a child who could shed blood and tears just by standing up. Why else would they take in a cursed, unsettling child like her?

With such fragrances, they planned to deceive high-ranking nobles and prince-electors and seize power.

Every one of their attempts ended in failure. From the start, bodily fluids like human blood and tears almost never functioned as perfume ingredients—so their perfumery was doomed to fail.

Yet until their crimes were fully exposed, not only Bianna but other children continued to be sacrificed.

The gods never accept human sacrifice. Thus, any murder carried out under the pretense of offering something to a god was heresy.

In her previous life, wasn’t that also why Yulberon’s followers had hunted her down? Because she had caused people to die in the making of fragrances.

Barin remained silent.

Prim cracked one eye open slightly. Rosien sat with his eyes closed, seemingly praying however he pleased, and the bouquet trembled faintly.

— I… I don’t even have any inquisitors….

‘Ah.’

The present Barin had no inquisitors—no followers, even—aside from Priest Marceria and Prim.

— You know it’s just you two for me right now!

Humiliation and flustered embarrassment could be felt in the god’s voice. Prim whispered again.

‘Of course I know. I just thought—couldn’t we ask Yulberon, the god of Justice and Pride?’

— Th-that… ah….

The six gods of Aiser, the six gods of Noxlark, and Barin—the fringe god of the outskirts, of baked potatoes and asparagus—made thirteen in total, all overseen by the inquisitors directly under Luminoxia Ayla. In addition, each god had their own inquisitors.

Among them, the inquisitors under Yulberon, the god of Justice and Pride, were infamous for their ruthlessness.

The leader of those who had chased her in her previous life was also a follower of Yulberon. With a title like “Justice and Pride,” what more needed to be said?

To mobilize inquisitors directly under Luminoxia Ayla required the command of the Seat of the Gods and proper evidence. But inquisitors belonging to individual gods could move on nothing more than a divine revelation, even without evidence—just as they had pursued her in her previous life by following Yulberon’s oracle.

Prim knew of Baron Corvas’s crimes because she had seen the future, but she had neither the power nor the means to gather evidence right now. This was the best solution she could think of.

— …My little lily-of-the-valley.

‘Yes. Prim is here.’

Prim answered quietly.

— It’s not that I’m refusing to contact Yulberon out of wounded pride. …It’s just, um, ahem—right now, even being able to give you a revelation isn’t possible with just the scent of that bouquet alone.

Barin hurriedly continued.

To convey my will so clearly to a follower requires an enormous amount of power. It’s really not easy! Do you know how big a deal it is to directly reveal a god’s intent?

‘Then how is it possible right now?’

All she had offered Barin was a single bouquet—so how?