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Chapter 25
Aria nodded as if she had been waiting for that suggestion.
Just in time, she had an opportunity to prove her worth.
“Let me go outside the castle for a while.”
Aria forcibly took a teleportation scroll from Kalin.
A scroll containing intercontinental teleportation sorcery was easily worth more than an entire mansion.
In that sense, “robbed” was the right word.
Kalin, looking at the scroll clutched in Aria’s hand with a gaze full of lingering attachment, said,
“You can make a substitute spell doll to stand in for you while you’re gone, can’t you?”
She nodded.
In fact, that had been the second reason she revealed her identity to Kalin and convinced him.
Now, Aria could secretly go out for a short while.
“You may be able to fool others, but His Grace the Grand Duke and the young lord will notice immediately.”
“I’ll be back before anyone looks for me.”
“Hah… I don’t know if this is the right thing to do. Since I’ve already given you the scroll, if it feels dangerous, come back immediately.”
Aria nodded and moved to tear the teleportation scroll.
“Woof!”
That was when it happened.
Silver, who had been quietly waiting the whole time, suddenly charged at her at tremendous speed and knocked into her.
Before she could block it, the magic activated.
Along with a strange sensation as if her body were being shattered into pieces and reassembled, she opened her eyes again.
In the Holy Empire, Garsia.
“I told you not to suddenly pounce on me.”
Aria flicked Silver on the head, who had teleported along with her.
Silver let out a short yelp.
“Uuuh….”
It was like he was grumbling.
It meant: “But you need me, don’t you?”
Silver often carried Aria around the castle, going back and forth between the main palace and the detached palace, and he took great pride in that.
“Woof!”
There’s nothing in this world that can run faster than me.
That was what Silver claimed.
It was because he felt threatened by the jaguar that had recently grown very close to Aria.
‘There’s no way a wolf is faster than a jaguar…’
Aria thought that inwardly, but sighed as if to say, do as you like.
Anyway, she had planned to walk without transportation, so given the lack of time, Silver’s intrusion was actually good timing.
The coordinates on the scroll had naturally been set to the Papal State.
“Run straight in the direction of the rising sun.”
Recalling stories she had heard in her previous life, Aria climbed onto Silver’s back.
Wherever there was light in the world, darkness also coexisted.
‘Even the Holy Empire, called the land chosen by the god, wouldn’t be an exception.’
Even if the Pope worked day and night to aid the poor, people who starved to death were bound to exist.
‘The easternmost village.’
In the Holy Empire, it was called “the lowest place.”
It was said to have originally been an empty ruin with only foundations left, but as vagrants and criminals with nowhere to go began to gather, it had formed the shape of a village.
In short, it was a lawless zone managed by no one.
“Stop loitering and get lost!”
It was just as Aria got off Silver’s back and was about to enter the village.
A vagrant, staggering around with a bottle of liquor, bumped into her and shouted.
“Huh? What’s this? That’s a strange hair color. If your face is decent, you’ll sell for a good price.”
And as if interested in her pale cherry-blossom-colored hair, he reached out to pull off her hood.
Grrrr—
At that moment, Silver lowered his body and let out a low growl, as if he would lunge and tear out the man’s throat at any second.
“Eek!”
Only then did the drunk vagrant notice Silver, baring his teeth with blazing eyes.
He immediately panicked and ran away as fast as he could.
Aria was a bit… dumbfounded.
‘I almost got kidnapped before I even stepped into the city.’
If she were an ordinary child, she would already have been sold as a slave.
Thinking that she understood why even the Pope had abandoned this place, Aria made a slightly displeased face.
“Wait here for now, Silver.”
“Whine!”
Silver protested.
But Aria stroked the wolf’s head and said,
“You’re too big and too noticeable. If I take you inside, all sorts of criminals will rush in. They’d try to sell you on the black market.”
No matter how amazing Silver was, if professional hunters, smugglers, or slave traders got serious, he would inevitably be captured.
After pushing Silver toward a patch of bushes to hide him, Aria tightly pulled her hood closed.
Her goal was to go quietly and return quietly.
Before she knew it, the sky began to turn pitch black, and darkness fell.
Aria naturally melted into the shadows.
“P-Please, save me!”
“Kyaaah!”
“If you’ve been sold as a slave, don’t be lazy—work properly!”
“Die!”
“Hahaha! Do you think you can run away?!”
“Die! Just die!”
Once night fell, all kinds of ominous sounds echoed from all directions.
So this was why it was called “the lowest place”—because you could see the lowest depths of humanity.
Aria walked even more carefully, holding her breath.
Did anyone even remember that there had once been a temple here?
It was land that had completely lost its former glory.
To the point that no one could even imagine that a holy relic was hidden here.
“You’d never imagine that a holy relic would be sleeping in the ruins of an abandoned temple.”
“Indeed. If not for the Saintess who looks down even upon the lowest places, no one would have found it.”
Saintess Veronica was destined to discover the holy relic in this now-ruined temple.
‘That would’ve been how it went, originally.’
Aria stood against the half-collapsed temple wall and moved about five steps forward, then knocked on the ground.
Then she walked around, repeating the same action.
How long had she been doing that?
At some point, when she knocked, she heard a hollow, empty sound.
‘Here.’
She brushed away the dirt with her hands, revealing what looked like a wooden plank.
It was the entrance to a secret passage.
Just as she grabbed the plank and started to lift it—
“…What is it? So noisy.”
A human voice was heard.
Aria froze stiff in that position.
Slowly, she rolled her eyes.
A vagrant, who had been sleeping on the ground as if dead, was tossing and turning in his sleep, mumbling.
“Mm…”
Soon, he started breathing steadily.
He had fallen back asleep.
‘Phew…’
Aria silently let out a breath of relief and lifted the plank again.
Then she carefully climbed down the ladder installed inside.
It was so dark she could barely tell front from back, but thanks to her good eyesight, Aria calmly surveyed her surroundings.
‘It’s nothing but dust and cobwebs.’
But soon, she found a pitch-black box hidden among them.
When she opened the lid, the holy relic that had been mentioned countless times by people lay sleeping inside.
‘Judgment of God.’
The holy relic written about even in scripture.
A story of how God sent down lightning to punish humans who tried to challenge divine authority, and the branch of the tree struck by lightning came to contain God’s power.
‘I found it properly.’
After confirming the branch inside the box, Aria took it and stood up.
Now, all that was left was to leave this place.
Just as she was thinking that—
‘What? Just now… something…’
As she placed her hand on the wall to stand up, she felt something strange.
‘It’s just a wall.’
She tapped the wall.
Could it be on the other side?
‘I can’t break through the wall.’
As she paced back and forth, troubled, she noticed a brick that had been clumsily patched in.
It looked like it could be pulled out.
Aria grabbed the loose brick and carefully, slowly pulled it out.
Inside was a small space—barely big enough for a hand.
After hesitating a moment, Aria reached her hand inside and felt around.
Her fingertips caught on something.
‘This is…’
A soft, palm-sized velvet box.
She opened the luxurious box, completely out of place in this setting.
Inside was a neatly designed necklace, shaped like a teardrop.
‘The necklace the Saintess always wore.’
Why was this here?
She wondered if this was also a holy relic, but it didn’t seem like it.
There was hardly any divine power felt.
Only traces remained.
‘What is this even used for?’
It didn’t seem likely someone would just store jewelry here for no reason.
‘…Hmm, I can’t even guess.’
Aria put on the necklace-shaped item around her neck and stood up.
It would be better to think about it after getting out of here.
She climbed back up the ladder and lifted the plank, just like when she had come down.
“Finally came out.”
At the same time, she found herself surrounded by vagrants laughing among themselves.
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