The following is still from the perspective of the novice apprentice saint.
My name was Nina.
I was a novice apprentice saint who had just returned to the Royal Capital from Tower City.
And at that moment, I was facing an overwhelming crisis.
Somewhere along the way, my precious Saint Nectar had vanished!
To think I would lose something so important given to me by Lady Iris—how could I have been so careless?
I was certain the canteen had still been in my bag while I was on the carriage. If that were the case, the only possibility was the boy I had bumped into earlier in the city. I might have simply dropped it, but it wasn't the sort of thing that would just fall out.
Which meant I had likely been pickpocketed. It seemed the public order in the Royal Capital had deteriorated during my absence.
That said, trying to track down that boy now would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. With that realization, there was only one path left to me.
I decided to head toward the location where the female merchant in men’s clothes was supposed to be opening her new shop. I had actually entrusted the barrel of Saint Nectar I received from Lady Iris to her. The plan had been to have her transport it to the Saint Cathedral later, but under these circumstances, I couldn't afford to wait.
Hurrying through the city, I eventually reached the street where the new shop was meant to be. However, when I arrived, I found the merchant looking utterly despondent, sitting motionless atop her carriage.
"Merkel-san, whatever is the matter?" I asked.
Merkel, the merchant dressed in men's attire, looked up with a hollow expression. "Nina-san... is that you?" she replied, her voice frail and devoid of energy.
Something was clearly wrong.
"I thought you would be busy preparing for your grand opening. Did something happen?"
"As you can see, I have nothing but time on my hands..."
"But the shop you were going to buy was that vacant building over there, wasn't it? Why aren't you going inside?"
"Because... a noble family swooped in and snatched the rights to the property out from under me. It seems the building is now the property of a certain Ducal House."
Merkel muttered the name of the family under her breath. Hearing it sent a jolt of surprise through me. That was the name of Lady Iris’s birth family.
Merkel didn't notice my reaction to the name. She let out a heavy sigh and continued.
"I’ve dreamed of owning my own dining hall in the capital for so long, but now it feels further away than ever..."
During our journey, Merkel had prepared meals for me every single day. She had told me that while she had spent her life as a merchant, her true dream was to manage a restaurant and make it the best shop in the Royal Capital.
As I was trying to comfort her, telling her that things would surely take a turn for the better, I felt eyes on us from around the carriage. Looking around, I realized we had been surrounded by several children. Every one of them wore tattered, filthy clothes; they were clearly from the slums.
A boy of about ten years old stepped forward as their representative and marched right up to me.
"Hey, Big Sis! I finally found you!"
Big Sis? I had several younger brothers, but this boy certainly wasn't one of them. Then who...? Ah, I saw it now!
Looking closely at his face, he was definitely the pickpocket who had bumped into me earlier that day.
"You're the one from before! Give me back my Saint Nectar!"
"You don't even care about the wallet? Look, Big Sis, by 'Saint Nectar,' you mean that sweet stuff that was in the canteen, right?"
"Y-yes, that’s right. Wait a minute... if you know it's sweet, did you actually drink it?"
"I drank some... but that tiny bit wasn't enough! Please, I'll apologize for stealing it, just give us more of that honey!"
"No matter how good it tasted, I have no intention of giving nectar to a thief!"
"It’s not for me! I mean, I want more too, but I need it for my sick sister and my friends. When they drank that stuff, their symptoms actually got better!"
It seemed there was more to the story.
Out of curiosity, I let him speak. It turned out they were orphans living in the slums, surviving day to day by stealing. When he had swiped my wallet and canteen earlier, he had shared the nectar with his companions since sweet treats were a rare luxury. To his shock, the moment one of his sick friends consumed it, their illness had vanished.
He realized this nectar might be the key to saving his sister, who was in an even worse state. Driven by that hope, he had been running all over the city searching for the nectar’s owner.
The Saint Nectar produced by Lady Iris—now an Alraune—contained potent Light Recovery Magic. It wasn't surprising that it could heal illnesses.
Despite everything, I was still an apprentice saint. Since I was a child, I had admired Lady Iris, who protected the people from the Demon King's Army and healed the suffering with her magic. If she were here, she would undoubtedly help these children.
Furthermore, I was born a poor commoner myself. I couldn't help but see the faces of my own younger siblings in these orphans.
"I understand. I will share the Saint Nectar with you."
"Nina-san, are you sure?" Merkel asked. "Saint Nectar was being traded as a high-end luxury item back in Tower City. You're just going to give it away to these orphans for free?"
As a merchant, Merkel likely couldn't wrap her head around giving away such a valuable commodity. But I wasn't a merchant; I was an apprentice of the Church. Helping those in need was part of my calling.
I retrieved some of the nectar from the barrel still loaded on Merkel’s carriage and handed it to the boy.
"Thanks, Big Sis!" the children shouted as they sprinted back toward the slums.
Well, now that I had done a good deed, I felt I deserved a little reward myself. I dipped my finger into the barrel and took a taste.
—Oh, it was heavenly!
The flavor was simply divine. Just a single taste made a sense of happiness well up from deep within my soul. While it was a shame to give away such a precious resource, I felt good knowing I was spreading the "faith" of the nectar's flavor to the residents of the capital.
As I licked the remaining sweetness from my finger, I began to think. I had solved one problem, but the issue of Merkel’s shop remained. I promised her I would do everything in my power to help her find a new location and then returned to the Saint Cathedral.
The following day.
The time came for my second audience with the Holy Mother.
When I entered the room, I found several Church Executives present alongside her. I hadn't expected an audience with so many people, and it caught me off guard.
The Holy Mother gestured for me to take a seat. "Nina, start by telling us exactly what transpired in Tower City."
Still trembling with nerves, I recounted the events. I spoke of the Priest who had turned traitor for the Demon King's Army, and the attack by the Golden Birdman Garuda-Hraesvelgr and the Spirit Princess Vergissmeinnicht. I explained that I had cooperated with a Dryades of the forest to repel those Heavenly Kings.
Naturally, this was a fabrication—a script Lady Iris and I had carefully prepared. It was as close to the truth as possible, but keeping Lady Iris’s existence a secret meant some discrepancies were unavoidable. A little fiction was a necessary evil.
"A Dryades? They are spirits of the same nature as the Spirit Princess Vergissmeinnicht. Did this spirit truly cooperate with you, Nina?"
The intensity in her eyes was staggering. It was terrifying, and the Holy Mother’s suspicious gaze felt like it was piercing through me. The only reason I didn't buckle under the pressure and confess everything right then and there was the Saint Nectar I had consumed before entering.
Even now, my mind was comfortably hazy with the thought of that sweetness. In other words, the nectar was giving me courage and strength! It really was incredible stuff. I definitely needed to drink more of it. Recently, I didn't feel like myself unless I had some; it had become an absolute necessity.
"Is it true that the Dryades helped you? Could you have been deceived? Perhaps you were merely a pawn in some internal power struggle within the Demon King's Army..."
"N-no, nothing of the sort!" I insisted.
After all, the Dryades in the East Forest was an enemy of the Demon King’s Army whose life had been targeted. Though, if they found out she was actually the Spirit Princess’s younger sister, it would probably only make things worse. I decided to keep that detail to myself.
"Well, whether this spirit is truly an ally will become clear in time. If they are an enemy, the Demon King's Army will surely make a move."
The Holy Mother cleared her throat, and at that signal, the Church Executives filed out of the room. It seemed my interrogation was over. Thank goodness.
"Now then, Nina. I would like to offer you some personal advice."
Advice? I wondered what she could possibly want to tell me.
"Nina, you have accomplished the impossible—the defeat of the Four Heavenly Kings. Not even the Saint of the Lamp, who married into royalty and does as she pleases, has achieved such a feat. You should be proud."
"Th-thank you very much..."
"However, you are still a novice. You are a commoner with no backing. From here on, you will undoubtedly face jealousy and sabotage from those who envy your success."
My heart sank. If I ended up on the Saint of the Lamp’s bad side, I would be finished. I wouldn't just lose my place in the capital; I’d be cast out of the Church. At worst, they might even send me to the most dangerous front lines to be killed.
Well, Tower City was already the front line, so perhaps it wouldn't be that different from my usual life...
"Therefore, I have an idea to protect you. You have gained achievements that are disproportionate to your standing. If that is the case, you simply need to create a track record that matches them."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"The previous Saint, Iris, was adored by the masses. That girl traveled from town to town, village to village, healing the sick and injured regardless of their status. That is how she built her reputation. However—"
The Holy Mother turned a sharp, biting gaze toward me.
"You are a nobody. I can use my influence to secure a respectable noble as your patron, but that alone won't win the trust of the people. You must build your own legacy."
"To get a patron and earn trust... I have to build a legacy?"
"Precisely. If you intend to climb any higher, it is a necessity."
Climbing higher... I didn't think I was capable of that. I wanted to be like Lady Iris, but actually doing what she did was a different story.
"You could travel the lands performing healings to earn trust, or perhaps engage in charitable works. If you're feeling ambitious, you could even go and slay another Heavenly King."
"You make it sound so easy, but there’s only so much I can do..."
"What are you saying, Nina? You defeated the Four Heavenly Kings. Compared to that, charity is a simple matter."
It was true that charity was far more realistic than hunting down another Heavenly King by myself. But how should I go about it?
That was when I remembered the events of the previous day. The boy from the slums and his sick sister, the Saint Nectar infused with magic, and Merkel, who had lost her shop.
Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea.
"Holy Mother-sama, I have a request. May I speak?"
The Holy Mother held immense power within the Church and had connections with nobles close to the royal family. Between the orphans, Merkel, and my own need for "results," there was only one way to make everyone happy.
Lady Iris, please watch me. As an apprentice saint, I’m going to do a wonderful job!