DYBA 18

Chapter 18

The one who was most ecstatic about my healing ability was none other than the fraud, Priest William.

“Oh my, Saintess! *Sob*, I have committed a mortal sin by failing to recognize a person of such noble standing!”

His act of prostrating himself and wiping away tears as if he had never hurled harsh insults was quite a sight.

“*Sniff*, the truth is, in the past, I believed in a different sect and, *sob*, lost my mother and younger sister. This time, I was afraid I might lose the Black… I mean, the Pope, who is like family to me, due to my poor judgment, *sniffle*!”

But what good would his pleading do?

‘Wow, frauds must have the same repertoire no matter which dimension they’re from.’

I was even bored because I had heard excuses like this *way* too many times.

‘Nothing works better for eliciting sympathy than family.’

Which made him all the more detestable.

Tch. I crossed my arms and looked down at him before answering.

“So?”

“You’ll comfort me… Huh? So, what?”

“Yes. So what are you going to do about it?”

“Ah, no……”

What, did he think that just because I’m the Saintess, I’d say ‘I understand everything!’ and empathize?

‘Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not kind enough to be like that.’

“That’s your problem, Fraud—no, Priest William. You dared to harass the Saintess; you didn’t think an apology would be enough to let it slide, did you?”

“That’s a real misunderstanding, Saintess! I, I was just worried that the precious sacrificial offering I bought at a high price might go wrong—”

“Why did you suddenly buy a sacrificial offering? This elf, it was prepared by Priest William, right?”

It was a fact you could figure out with a little thought. The Pope originally served the god Pride.
He knew full well how much the god favors elves, and what kind of punishment would befall him if he treated such a being recklessly.

‘So, it doesn’t make sense for the Pope to suddenly bring an elf, calling it a sacrificial offering.’

Someone must have subtly coaxed him from the side. Otherwise, with his simple-minded personality, he wouldn’t have made such a decision first.

‘Of course, I don’t know why that fraud spent money lavishly to buy an elf.’

I stared at him wide-eyed, and he wiped his tears and admitted it.

“But it was all for you, Saintess, and Lady Arte! It was a matter the Pope himself agreed to!”

He was skillfully shifting the blame onto the Pope and even trying to deceive me in the process. His skill was truly exceptional.

“Regardless, you were the one who initially suggested it, right, Priest William?”

Trying to wriggle out like a loach? Hmph, not a chance.

When I pinpointed his fault, the fraud’s face turned red and blue, flushing hotly.

His attitude changed in an instant.

“Ha! So, are you saying you’re going to excommunicate me now, Saintess?”

‘Oh my? You could become an actor.’

His shift in attitude was so swift.

When tears didn’t work, he now turned defiant. Frankly, this reaction was unexpected.

‘The Pope would definitely take my side.’

After all, a Saintess, whom even Lady Arte personally revealed through an oracle, is more important than just one priest. There’s no need to even compare their value.

“Go ahead and try to excommunicate me! I never imagined that a Saintess, who should be compassionate, would slander me like this!”

He probably knew that too. In fact, this behavior seemed like he was urging me to excommunicate him quickly.

‘Well, if that’s what he wants, I should grant it.’

Although I felt a bit uneasy, I couldn’t just leave a fraud like that alone.

“Priest William, why are you acting like this? Huh? Saintess, please have mercy.”

Amidst it all, only the Pope was stuck in the middle, flustered and struggling.

‘I’m sorry, Pope.’

“Priest William. In the name of the Saintess, I excommunicate you from the Arte sect.”

***

“*Sob*… *Sniffle*…”

Morning, as the sun slowly rose towards the zenith.

A man clad in a black robe was trudging up from the basement to the ground level, making crying sounds.

He hung his head low and sobbed for a moment, but only for a moment.

“*Sob*, *sniff*, heh, hehehehe! You fools.”

The man, William, suddenly burst into loud laughter.

“They have no idea the excommunication was all part of the plan, acting like they’ve done some~thing great! Heheh, it’s hilarious!”

Of course, it was an earlier exit than originally planned. That was because the success of the request was uncertain.

He, William, was the one who operated a small dark guild and perfectly handled all sorts of dirty work without hesitation.

“Tch, if only that girl calling herself a Saintess or whatever hadn’t shown up.”

If it weren’t for that, he could have completed the request perfectly.

But the plan he set up afterward wasn’t bad either.

No, it was actually even better!

“Then again. It’s thanks to the Saintess that I got to buy the elf, keukeu!”

The sect was already crumbling, but this incident would surely finish it off for good.

“Just for infiltrating for a few months and flapping my lips, I get a huge reward!”

Where could you find an easier request than this?

‘Destroy the Arte sect by any means necessary.’

When he first received this request, he thought it was absurd.

Who would be crazy enough to go out of their way to ruin some pseudo-sect with few followers anyway?

But the moment he received the massive advance payment, those thoughts vanished completely, and now that the job was finished, he felt refreshed.

He felt immensely grateful to the person who had entrusted him with such a request.

Moreover, he even managed to secure unexpected profits on top of it.

He turned his body towards the direction of the Church of Grid, the god of earth and charity.

“Those vicious sect members bought an elf as a sacrificial offering? Of course, I have to report it, kkeul kkeul!”

After all, he was merely ‘a humble priest led astray by the sect’s coaxing’, wasn’t he?

This whole thing was also the Pope’s doing, stubbornly buying the elf from the black market.

“Exactly! I can’t just stand by and let such an atrocity happen!”

And it was all the more tragic that some so-called Saintess, who came from who-knows-where, excommunicated such a righteous man.

“Keukeukeu.”

It was the perfect story he had concocted from the moment the Pope made a fuss about receiving an oracle.

“Kyah, perfect. The reward will be swe~et!”

It was a bit of a shame that things didn’t progress to the point where the elf was actually sacrificed, but in a way, it might be better that it was alive. It was clear physical evidence.

“Tch, still, I should have half-killed it. If possible, having one or two more elves would have made the scene more realistic.”

But what could he do? That girl who appeared sooner than expected ruined his original plan.

Not only that. While he felt good thinking about the reward, it was bitterly disappointing that he couldn’t completely drain the Pope dry.

“I’m sure he had some money stashed away. Ugh, damn it. If only that Saintess or whatever had appeared a little later.”

He could have subtly coaxed the Pope and taken all his remaining money.

He clicked his tongue repeatedly as he stepped onto the ground.

Suddenly, thinking of the Saintess reminded him of the divine power he had seen earlier.

But William immediately dismissed it as a trick.

“Healing? Hah, how stupid. You have to lie appropriately.”

She must have used some trick, like magic.

But an excessively big lie, while good for attracting attention at first, was bound to be exposed quickly.

“Kkeul kkeul. That girl’s a fraud too. I can smell it all over her.”

But what can you do? I’ve already swindled that place dry.

“Hmm hmm, what should I do next? Coaxing the slum kids… saying I’ll help them meet good parents? Heheh.”

Or, picking old people’s pockets for the first time in a while wouldn’t be bad either. The drought was severe this year, so the Crown Prince had provided a lot of support.

“Someone has to clean up the filthy slum vermin, and that’s me~”

Anyway, the Empire should be grateful to me.

He let out a dry laugh and moved his steps towards District 2, where the Grid Church was located.

But not long after, he had no choice but to stop.

“What’s with this dirty cat.”

A small cat was blocking his path.

He didn’t like the sight of it sitting squarely in the middle of the alley, staring at him.

“Tch, damn, I really don’t like its eyes.”

Especially those red eyes, like those of the black cat revered as a ‘divine beast’ by the four major sects.

Of course, he wasn’t a devout believer in any god and wouldn’t even scoff at such doctrines.

“How dare a beast block my way?”

Damn, just thinking about the money that was probably snug in the Pope’s back pocket made his mouth taste bitter.