Chapter 19
Light novel: Episode 19
Manhwa: Chapter 10
I mean…
Thinking about what’s ahead, it makes sense to give it. But when it begs so blatantly, it just makes me not want to.
Is this what they call reverse psychology?
【Donation Box】
Maybe it sensed my cold stare, because the glowing, over-the-top letters suddenly calmed down and changed into a more polite font.
Alright, alright. Kind-hearted me will let it slide.
I dropped the entire pouch containing the 2,000 gold into the donation box.
I saw Lute widen his eyes as the pouch suddenly vanished into thin air, but I didn’t have time to explain.
With the sound of hundreds, maybe thousands, of coins clinking and tumbling down, a flurry of system messages unfolded before me.
【2,000 gold has been deposited into the Donation Box of the ‘Sun Crawling Out of Death.’】
【Thanks to the devout offering of a faithful follower, the ‘Sun Crawling Out of Death’ recovers a portion of its strength.】
【The ‘Sun Crawling Out of Death’ bestows a blessing upon the Saintess who has devoted herself to Him. User’s divine power has increased.】
【Current Divine Power: 10%】
With the blessing of the god, my divine power rose by 2%.
And in that moment, I understood why the Sun God had urged me to reach 10%.
【User’s divine power has reached 10%. Saintess-exclusive skill ‘Blessing’ has been unlocked.】
【Skill: ‘Blessing’】
- Grants healing power through divine blessing.
- Allows new blessings to be bestowed upon existing sacred items.
Blessing! I can even bestow blessings on sacred items?
So this was it. This is why the Sun God went so far as to consume His precious power just to tell me.
With this, I could turn Lute Sieri into a full-fledged ally!
“Subspace magic? But I thought priests couldn’t use magic…”
When he asked about the pouch vanishing into thin air, I shook my head.
“It’s not magic. Let’s just say it’s a power only the Saintess of the Sun God can use.”
After giving a vague explanation, I stood up from my seat.
“All necessary procedures are complete, so I’ll go retrieve the relic now. Please wait just a moment.”
Lute’s expression visibly brightened. He must’ve been worried I’d take the money and vanish.
“What about the High Priest?”
After leaving the drawing room, I asked Seth, who was standing nearby.
“He hasn’t returned yet.”
Good then I need to finish this quickly before he gets back.
“Let’s head to the sanctum. I need to fetch the relic.”
At the basement of the grand temple.
There lies the sanctum, a place where sacred artifacts and relics are enshrined, and where no ordinary person is allowed to enter.
The Relic of Light that Lute was seeking was also housed there.
“Wow…”
After descending deep underground with Seth, we finally reached the entrance to the sanctum.
The moment I stood before it, a gasp of awe escaped me.
The massive marble doors were covered in incomprehensible geometric symbols, and the sheer pressure they emitted made my chest tighten just from looking at them.
I wondered if it was the same divine script written in the registry, or perhaps a different language beyond our understanding.
One thing was certain—it radiated the same sacred aura as the registry.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve come here, but no matter when I visit, it always feels intimidating.”
“You too, Captain? I feel the same. It’s like this heavy pressure pressing down on you.”
Nodding, Seth placed his hand on the door and slowly infused it with divine power.
As the intricate carvings across the door glowed golden, the massive doors began to rumble and slowly open.
From the growing gap, a rush of radiant light and astonishingly pure, crisp air swept out and washed over our entire bodies.
“Unbelievable. How can a place like this exist underground?”
Despite the absence of lights, a soft glow poured down from the enclosed ceiling above.
It resembled sunlight streaming in from outside yet it was something distinctly different. It was the light of the Sun God.
Even though his power has weakened, he still maintains the light that protects the sanctum.
Perhaps thanks to the divine blessing, the space was filled with flourishing grasses and trees, so vibrant, it was hard to believe we were underground.
It was a stark contrast to the garden of the temple above, which we had been forced to abandon due to poverty.
“This place maintains itself like this even without any upkeep?”
“Yes. It’s because this is where the hand of the god touches most directly.”
Thank goodness. Unlike the ruined garden outside, this place remained untouched.
It would’ve been heartbreaking if such a beautiful place had been ruined because of the lack of money.
Someday, I’ll earn enough to restore the outer garden too.
“But where would the Relic of Light be? Since this place is managed by the High Priest, I don’t know much about it.”
Seth said this sheepishly, sounding a bit apologetic.
I patted his shoulder, telling him it was fine.
Alright, do your thing, AI system. Show me where the Relic of Light is.
【The AI system will now search for the ‘Relic of Light’ at the user’s request.】
Soon, a map of the sanctum appeared before me. I followed the trail of small, glowing red dots as they slowly moved across it.
Sacred artifacts and relics imbued with the power of the Sun God are usually placed where the light can reach them.
But the map led me deeper and deeper into a corner untouched by light.
Before long, we arrived at a place densely overgrown with trees, where not a single ray of the underground light reached.
In a shadowy corner that looked far too gloomy to be called a sanctum, a single ornate jewel box sat in silence.
“The god has spoken. This is the Relic of Light.”
“As expected of the Saintess.”
The way he genuinely admired such a shameless lie made my conscience sting a little…
I gave a fake cough and opened the lid of the box.
A golden necklace adorned with a radiant red gem lay neatly atop a silk cloth.
Truly, it was a gorgeous necklace, fit for an empress of an empire, and it was beautiful enough to mesmerize anyone…
But it felt far too out of place to be called a relic. Rather than sacred, its excessive extravagance made it deeply unsettling.
I’d known this from the original story, but it’s even more repulsive to see it in person.
“This is… the Relic of Light…?”
Seth also seemed to feel the dissonance, his reaction uneasy.
“Rather than light… it feels more like…”
“More like a relic of darkness, right?”
He trailed off, so I finished his sentence for him.
His startled expression made me chuckle.
“Strange, isn’t it? It’s so ornate and beautiful, yet it feels dark and heavy.”
“Saintess…”
“Do you think it’s right to give something this repulsive to Duke Sieri?”
Seth didn’t answer. But I didn’t need his answer.
【Activating skill: ‘Body Enhancement’.】
Crack!
With divine power gathered fully into both hands, I crushed the necklace I was holding into pieces.
I’ve been wanting to throw it away since the first time I saw it, and now that I had, it was incredibly satisfying.
“L-Lady Saintess! Why would you destroy the relic…?!”
Seth’s face turned pale at my sudden action.
I explained the reason for my behavior in a matter-of-fact manner.
“This isn’t a relic imbued with the Sun God’s power.”
“…What?”
“As the Saintess, I can feel it. The vile energy packed inside this necklace.”
I opened my clenched fist, and the shattered fragments dropped to the floor with a dull tap, clatter.
The ‘Relic of Light,’ a key item in the novel 〈Sacred Idella〉.
It was believed to be the only cure for Lute Sieri’s illness, but in truth, it was not a relic of the Sun God.
On the contrary, it was a core of evil that needed to be destroyed.
【The ‘Relic of Light’ has been destroyed by the divine power of the ‘Sun Crawling Out of Death’.】
Rather than the system message, I looked down at the necklace fragments on the floor.
This thing wouldn’t heal Lute Sieri, rather it would only make his illness worse.
At first, it offered noticeable relief, so Lute carried it around like a sacred charm, unaware of the truth.
But the malevolent energy within it would slowly eat away at him, worsening his condition day by day.
And the moment the relic’s power completely consumes Lute, he would lose all freedom and become a slave to its creator.
That was how Lute became the villain in the original story.
The one who created the Relic of Light was none other than the Sun God’s longtime enemy and the final boss that the protagonists would eventually face.
“V-Vile energy? But this is clearly a relic personally crafted by a high priest from two generations ago…!”
To the appalled Seth, I calmly revealed the truth.
“He was either a traitor, or never believed in the Sun God to begin with.”
In truth, it was both.
Though he was born with the Sun God’s divine power, he turned his back on his faith and began worshipping the Sun God’s enemy.
As a reward for his devotion, he received power from that being and with that power, he created what is now known as the ‘Relic of Light’.
Truly, the name couldn’t be more blasphemous.
“H-Heavens… How could this be? H-How could someone turn against their god…? And to think they brought a relic made with another power into the sacred ground, pretending it was holy…”
Of course, for someone like Seth, more devout than anyone in the Grand Temple, such treachery was incomprehensible.
“If we hadn’t known the truth and given that relic to Duke Sierrie… who knows what might’ve happened… It’s all thanks to you, Saintess. It’s a blessing you inspected it first.”
“But we can’t exactly tell the Duke the truth outright. I already accepted the money, after all.”
“Ah! Then what should we do?”
“The Duke probably has no idea what the relic even looks like. So there’s only one thing we can do.”
“Wh-What is that…?”
What do you think?
“We swap it.”
I’ll just give him the real thing instead, one imbued with my ‘Blessing’ and filled with the Sun God’s true divine power!
One so thoroughly blessed that evil would never even dare to approach it.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
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