Chapter – 04
The morning of the second day at the temple began with a parade of clothes, jewels, gold, silver, and ornaments being brought into my room one after another.
“I am Lilet Carilos, the deacon who will be temporarily attending to the Saintess candidate.”
Surprisingly, the temple was quite diligent in providing someone to attend to me, following the escort from the day before. Whether this was just a show to demonstrate they weren’t mistreating a Saintess candidate or if it was for monitoring, only those who assigned them to me would know.
When taking lifelong vows, one discards one’s family and secular surname and is granted the surname of the order. Common clergy use “Carilos,” high-ranking clergy at or above the rank of priest use “Venedio,” and the highest-ranking clergy of cardinal rank or higher use “Nomendis.” So, just by hearing their surname, I could immediately tell their position in the order.
The system of discarding one’s former surname upon taking lifelong vows and receiving the order’s surname was one I had introduced during my time as the 3rd Saintess. I introduced it because I didn’t like how noble-born bastards, who had taken lifelong vows as a way to stay alive after losing power struggles in their families, would act like they were still nobles, stiffening their necks and looking down on other priests.
However, I had clearly unified it under the surname “Nomendis,” meaning “one who receives God’s command,” so I don’t know why it has expanded to three surnames now. I suppose they wanted to play status games within the temple, like noble titles. Seeing that Nomendis, the most original surname, was attached only to the highest-ranking clergy, the answer was basically laid out for me.
After finishing my preparations, I headed to the sanctuary guided by Sir Arden. The Grand Archbishop, the College of Cardinals, and the priests were already gathered. The other Saintess candidate and I stepped forward in front of the Grand Archbishop.
The Grand Archbishop, who had been smiling with a benevolent face, opened his mouth.
“I have reviewed the historical records, but there has only ever been one Saintess in a single generation. The order has decided not to make an exception for this unprecedented event. There cannot be two Saintesses.”
The Grand Archbishop, who made the sign of the cross, continued.
“This, too, shall not be an ordeal, but a blessing to understand God’s will more deeply.”
Blessing, my foot. God wants you people to come to your senses. Why can’t you understand such a simple and clear meaning?
“Therefore, to prevent confusion and to discern the true Saintess whom God cherishes more…… I know this is an act of irreverence before God’s will, but we will unavoidably hold a competition.”
As far as I could see, there was only one purpose for this competition. It was a trap to publicly humiliate me—the Saintess candidate chosen by God, but not by them—by turning me into a fraud, and to shut my mouth.
Oh, Caritas, please strike down these rotten later generations who are playing games behind your back even while you are watching.
Of course, no such lightning bolt of divine punishment struck from a clear sky. God had never really intervened in the world to begin with. That’s why there were deputies of God called “Saintesses” who were overflowing with divine power. I, too, had only heard God’s voice directly when I was transferred here after dying in a truck accident in my life before last. Usually, communication happened through revelations and dreams. That must be why I was forcibly reincarnated again to see this mess.
“Both Saintess candidates, prove that you are qualified to be a Saintess through the test ordained by God.”
There’s no other way. I have no choice but to prove for myself that I am the very test and ordeal ordained by God. Proving things was my specialty, too.
For one, since I am the only Saintess chosen by Caritas, there was no way God would set a test. Therefore, this “test ordained by God” the Archbishop spoke of was clearly a rigged game, designed to be advantageous to the candidate they had already chosen. They could have simply tried pulling the mace stuck in the Religious Court. Then, the real Saintess and the fake one would have been revealed with certainty in one second.
A paradoxical battle of putting forward a fake Saintess as the real one to turn the real Saintess into a fake. A paradoxical situation where people gathered to serve God and receive His will are defying His will and pursuing only their own profits. It was even more absurd because the opposing Saintess candidate, who was subtly wary of me, looked so resolute. She, of all people, would know better than anyone else that she isn’t the real Saintess who received a divine revelation.
“For the sake of a fair competition, the contents of the competition will be announced in three days.”
I scoffed inwardly at the Grand Archbishop’s solemn words. Fair, my foot. Just looking at the fact that they assigned a Holy Knight, counted among the candidates for the next Captain of the Holy Knights, as the escort for the pre-ordained Saintess candidate, it was obvious how tilted this scale was.
He was an elite among elites, famous enough that even I, who had no particular interest in the Holy Knights, had heard his name. I heard he even came from a good family. I wondered if, perhaps, the temple had assigned a promising prospect because they thought I had no interest in the Holy Knights, and I hadn’t realized their good intentions.
So, after the announcement of the competition, I returned to my room and asked Deacon Lilet cautiously.
“Do you know Sir Arden Hwellin?”
Deacon Lilet, who was pulling the ornaments out of my hair with disinterested hands, didn’t even pretend to hear me, continuing her work with indifferent hands. She had been so rough when putting the ornaments in that morning that it poked my scalp, so I figured she was quite grumpy, but it seemed my feeling that she didn’t approve of me wasn’t just my imagination.
Well, I understand her enough. She climbed up step by step through the proper procedures, and it must be unpleasant that a stray orphan girl who isn’t even a Saintess, just a “candidate,” is acting like her superior and receiving her service. But still, isn’t it a bit much to ignore what a person is saying? It would have been a question that could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no,” wouldn’t it?
When I turned to look, Deacon Lilet, with a face devoid of any expression, pressed her thumb and index finger together, showing a gesture meaning “money.”
Yes, if the water at the top is this murky, how can the water at the bottom be clear?
I picked a few gold coins from a box piled with gold and treasures, put them in a cloth pouch, and handed them over. Deacon Lilet, who snatched it and shoved the money pouch into the sleeve of her habit, answered shamelessly.
“I don’t know. There are so many Holy Knights in the main temple.”
Looking at her eyes, it didn’t seem like a lie. I wondered if I should feel cynical about the state of the temple where they blatantly discriminate even with escorts, or if I should feel cynical about the fact that the answer I just received was worth a week’s living expenses for a commoner.
Things have been like this since the second day of my return to the temple; I’m terrified of how many more mind-boggling things I’ll have to face in the future.
Three days later, the competition task was finally announced.
“The task for this competition is to save a village plagued by an epidemic according to God’s will.”
It was excessively simple and ordinary for a competition to discern a Saintess. Since it wasn’t particularly difficult as long as one possessed enough divine power, I even questioned why they had gone to the trouble of making such a flat and easy task a competition subject.
Delheim village in the County of Noirel. That was the village assigned to me for this competition.
Seeing that the competition subject was this easy, there was a high possibility that they had pulled some tricks in the village assigned to me. Because looking only at the result, the structure was such that if I failed even that one village, I would be branded a dropout. As long as I made a mistake or failed, no matter the difficulty of the subject, the pre-ordained Saintess candidate would become the “only one who succeeded” and could easily grasp victory with that single competition.
After packing some travel money and luggage, I left for Delheim village with only Sir Arden one day after the competition task was announced. It was better to move quickly to catch their tricks and find defenses or solutions.
The County of Noirel was close to the main temple if you considered it close. It didn’t even take a full day to reach a nearby village,e not far from Delheim. Perhaps because we departed near noon, the carriage wheels rattled endlessly on the unpaved road, but by the time we arrived at the nearby village, the sun was already setting over the mountains.
“The horses seem quite tired; how about we stay the night?”
I nodded at Sir Arden’s suggestion. There wasn’t a time limit, so a delay of about a day didn’t matter. Since the village was small, there was only one inn. As I entered the simple, small inn, the savory smell of beef stew pierced my nose.
“What shall I do? We only have one room left in our inn right now……”
The innkeeper, who had come running at the sight of guests, spoke to us with a troubled face.
