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Chapter 2
After coming down from the mountain, I safely arrived at a nearby village.
Quite a bit of time must have passed, because the sun had risen long ago and the streets were crowded with people.
‘Alright, getting here was a success. Next is…’
I needed to go where the protagonist was!
I thought carefully.
‘In the novel, the protagonist spent his childhood at the duke’s estate in the duchy.’
Fortunately, thanks to all the stories my brother—the “adventurer,” or so I believed—used to tell me, I knew a fair bit about the empire’s geography despite being trapped inside the temple for years.
‘And it’s not like the duke’s residence is hidden. If I ask around, I should be able to get there.’
But there was a problem.
‘…How exactly am I supposed to get there?’
In my current condition, walking all the way seemed impossible.
I thought I had recovered, but perhaps because I had walked all night, my forehead felt slightly feverish again. If I pushed myself too hard, the fever might return completely.
‘Maybe I should hire a carriage?’
I fiddled with the two gold coins in my pocket.
They were something I had brought with me before leaving my room.
‘Brother gave these to me for emergencies.’
He had secretly slipped them to me during one of our past meetings, but I had never had a reason to use them.
‘This is exactly the kind of situation they’re for. Don’t be stingy!’
Clutching the coins tightly, I headed toward the area where carriages gathered.
One coachman was loudly advertising his services.
“One gold coin to the capital! Two gold coins to Liberamon! Cheap, cheap!”
Liberamon!
That was the name of the region where the duke’s estate was located.
‘And the fare is exactly two gold coins!’
I immediately approached the coachman.
“Um, could I hire your carriage? To Liberamon, please.”
“Hm? You’re traveling alone, kid?”
The coachman looked me up and down.
Clenching both hands tightly, I answered,
“Yes. I have something urgent to do.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Fortunately, the coachman agreed easily.
“The fare’s five gold coins.”
“…What?”
I froze just as I was about to hand over the coins.
“But you just said it was two…”
“I said that? Hah, don’t be ridiculous. If you want a ride, stop talking nonsense and pay up.”
I didn’t have five gold coins.
When I hesitated awkwardly, unable to pay, the coachman frowned and waved his hand dismissively.
“What’s this? No money, but you’re wasting my time? This is why I shouldn’t bother with bratty kids. Stop being annoying and get lost.”
Just like that, I was chased away.
‘This is bad. I really need a carriage… Should I ask another coachman?’
But the moment I looked their way, the other drivers snickered.
“Five gold coins sounds too cheap, honestly.”
“He won’t make any profit at all. I wouldn’t even let her ride. You’re too generous.”
It seemed the other coachmen wouldn’t help either.
‘What do I do? I can’t suddenly make more money…’
I stomped my feet anxiously before letting out a deep sigh.
‘What am I even doing right now? If I stay this weak, I won’t accomplish anything. I already made up my mind.’
If I wanted to save my brother, I needed to change first.
‘I need to be confident! If I shrink back and do nothing, it’s all over!’
Taking a deep breath, I marched back to the coachman.
“Oh? You came back? I told you to stop fooling around.”
The coachman sneered at me.
Without even blinking, I replied firmly,
“I think you’re the one fooling around, mister.”
“W-What? Hah, what’s this brat saying now?”
The coachman let out an incredulous laugh.
But I refused to back down.
“You told everyone else it was two gold coins, but told me it was five.”
“I told you, I didn’t say that! And even if I did, so what? Who are you supposed to be?”
“I’m a saint candidate.”
I showed him the temple emblem attached to my wrist.
It was basically an identification badge given to temple members.
Of course, even saint candidates like me had one.
‘I never thought I’d actually use this someday.’
Though it felt strange, I pretended to stay calm.
‘Because black magic has been spreading through the empire, the temple’s authority is incredibly high right now. Nobody would dare mistreat someone affiliated with the temple.’
And with no true saint currently existing, saint candidates were supposedly treated even more importantly.
I had never left the temple before, so I had never experienced it firsthand.
‘Even if it’s power I never wanted, I need to use every advantage I can.’
Because somehow, some way, I was going to save my brother.
“A saint candidate…? Is this real? I-I mean, is it really genuine?!”
After seeing my emblem, the coachman panicked and even changed the way he spoke.
Slowly, I infused divine power into the emblem instead of answering.
The emblem flashed with white light.
“Gah!”
The coachman nearly jumped out of his skin.
Deciding to push further, I straightened my shoulders.
“You just tried to scam a saint candidate.”
“Ughhh…”
“I wonder what exactly I should report to the temple about this…”
As I shook my head in disappointment, the coachman turned pale and quickly bowed deeply.
“I-I’m sorry! I’ll take you there immediately!”
Success!
I hurriedly climbed into the carriage.
“Thank you. May God’s blessings be with you.”
“…?”
Perhaps confused by how different my attitude was compared to before, the coachman stared blankly at me.
Without avoiding his gaze, I spoke confidently.
“What are you waiting for? Please depart already.”
“Y-Yes, of course…”
Soon, the carriage rattled into motion.
‘Being bold actually suits me more than I expected.’
I thought to myself while watching the scenery pass by.
The carriage finally arrived at Liberamon late at night.
“Thank you for your hard work! I’ll be going now!”
“Ah, um…!”
I tried to pay him since he had brought me all the way here, but the moment I stepped out of the carriage, the coachman fled immediately.
He was probably terrified I’d report his earlier behavior to the temple.
Watching the carriage disappear in a cloud of dust, I thought,
‘Is this really okay?’
Sure, what the coachman did earlier—trying to cheat and mock me—was wrong.
But I was still a saint candidate.
‘I’m supposed to be kinder and more generous than ordinary people.’
From the outside, it now looked as though I had refused to pay him out of spite.
A proper saint candidate would probably feel guilty about that, but…
“Phew. At least I saved money.”
That kind of generosity had nothing to do with me.
It wasn’t like I’d chosen to become a saint candidate in the first place.
And in a situation where I needed to use everything available to me, saving money was a good thing.
‘Besides, he’s the one who ran away.’
Completely discarding the matter from my mind, I walked on lightly.
A short while later—
“Here it is…!”
After asking a passing patrol squad for directions, I finally arrived at the Argent Ducal Estate.
“Who goes there?”
As I approached the main gate, the guards immediately became wary.
“Hello. My name is Winiel, a saint candidate. I have something important to discuss with the Argent family. Please allow me to meet Young Master Cain Argent.”
Once again, I used my status as a saint candidate.
“A saint candidate? Ah… p-please wait a moment.”
Thankfully, it worked again this time.
After checking my temple emblem, the guard looked startled and repeatedly glanced between me and the emblem before hurrying into the mansion to ask for permission.
‘I can’t believe this thing is actually useful.’
Back at the temple, I’d honestly thought it was worthless.
Leaning against the wall, I waited for the guard to return.
“Ah…”
Suddenly, dizziness hit me.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten anything all day.’
Unlike the coachman, who had eaten preserved food during the trip, I had brought nothing with me and had completely gone hungry.
‘I barely ate while I was sick, too.’
Hilla had continued giving me the same hard bread regardless of whether I was ill or not.
I forced myself to eat enough to survive, but I hadn’t had the strength to chew properly.
‘My fever feels worse than before.’
Touching my increasingly hot forehead, anxiety crept over me.
‘What if I finally meet him but can’t explain things properly?’
Just as it became difficult to even stay standing, the guard returned.
I quickly straightened up away from the wall, preparing to enter.
‘Of course they’ll let me in. I’m a saint candidate.’
But the words that came out of the guard’s mouth were completely unexpected.
“I’m sorry, but it seems meeting the young master will be difficult.”
“What? Why?”
“Well… a saint candidate suddenly appearing unannounced this late at night made them suspicious.”
“What? But you saw the temple emblem!”
I pulled out the emblem again and infused it with divine power.
White light flashed brilliantly.
But the guard merely shrugged.
“Fake ones are pretty convincing these days.”
“That’s ridiculous! Who would impersonate a saint candidate?!”
I shoved the emblem toward him.
“If you think it’s fake, try it yourself. If it’s fake, then anyone should be able to make it shine.”
“Eh, you probably rigged it so it only works for you.”
The guard didn’t even try listening to me.
“If you really wanted to visit the duke’s estate, you could’ve contacted us formally through the temple. So why show up in the middle of the night looking like that? Honestly, you do seem suspicious.”
I clamped my mouth shut.
Honestly, he had a point.
A real saint candidate should have been able to request a formal audience through official channels.
Instead, I had appeared suddenly in the middle of the night.
And my appearance was a mess.
“Alright, enough. Head home. Pretty bold of a kid to impersonate a saint candidate. We’ll let you off just this once.”
Shoo, shoo.
The guard had even dropped formal speech now, coming outside the gate to physically push me away.
“No…!”
I tried bracing myself against him, but it was useless.
I was shoved away effortlessly.
‘I’ll get inside somehow.’
After being kicked out, I circled around the estate, searching for an opening.
But perhaps because they were knights of a ducal household, there wasn’t a single gap I could exploit no matter how carefully I watched.
‘What do I do? Should I forge a fake temple letter and try again?’
It was an absurd idea.
I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if I got caught.
‘Then maybe I should come back tomorrow. Things might be different during the day. If they realize I waited outside all night, maybe they’ll believe me.’
But despite deciding that, my feet refused to move.
‘I can’t believe I have to turn away while standing right in front of the estate.’
I felt unbearably anxious.
I wanted to rush in immediately and beg for help.
Just as I let out another heavy sigh—
“!”
A murky energy suddenly brushed against my senses.
‘This is… black magic?’
I whipped my head toward the direction the energy was coming from.
It was the forest right beside the duke’s estate.
What was happening over there?
‘W-Wait a second. Black magic is used to summon monsters. If black magic activates there right now…!’
A monster would be summoned, and the temple would naturally become involved to deal with it.
‘Then they might find out that I came here…!’
I have to stop it! Quickly!
Turning pale, I sprinted into the forest.
Huff, huff.
My breathing quickly became ragged.
Thankfully, the source of the energy wasn’t far away.
‘Over there!’
After weaving through the trees, I finally stopped near a small pond.
And there—
A monster that appeared to have been summoned through black magic.
And—
“……”
A boy stood there blankly, holding a sheathed sword.
