Part 1: Saintess Candidate Arc

26. Purification Magic (3)

Translated by: S3

← Previous Chapter | Chapter Index | Next Chapter →

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

「I don't understand it at all!」

Lily was pouting in anger, reflecting on the events that had just transpired while drawing the Flower of Life on the Protective Barrier (Protect Wall) and pouring Purification Magic (Clear) into it.

Lily, who was trying to resolve the major incident, first decided to call for help.

For the time being, she moved to the main gate to ask to be let into the royal capital, where she witnessed a shocking sight. All the soldiers who should have been guarding the gate were collapsed. Due to the early hour, there were no other soldiers or people around, so no one seemed to have noticed.

She recognized this as a problem, but since she had planned to have Gin go to the castle and contact Daniel, she prioritized that. Before the soldiers woke up, she took Gin to the main street leading to the castle, pointed to the castle, and conveyed her message, which he very much disliked.

「Who's Lord Daniel? I don't know his face!」

Nonetheless, in her desperation, Lily silenced the yelping Gin, told him it was an emergency, and sent him off.

(Honestly. I'm glad we formed that Master-Servant Contract!)

After seeing Gin off, she checked the condition of the collapsed soldiers and cast Healing Magic as a precaution. They woke up immediately, so she explained what was happening outside the royal capital and asked them to defeat the monsters.

However, the soldiers, after confirming the situation with their own eyes, became agitated and completely ignored the monsters, demanding a full explanation from Lily instead.

(I'm the one who wants to know what's going on!)

It was baffling to her why they weren't immediately dealing with the problem right in front of them, when their job was to protect the royal capital. Even if they understood "why this happened" right now, the monsters in front of them wouldn't disappear. She wished they would immediately recognize that preventing invasion into the royal capital was the top priority.

(Oh, seriously. This is so annoying!)

After relentlessly questioning Lily and being satisfied that she knew nothing further, the soldiers finally set out to subjugate the monsters.

Released by them, Lily then moved to the part of the Protective Barrier (Protect Wall) that reached almost to the ground. Steeling her resolve, she plunged her hand into the spot where the black liquid was oozing out.

「Ugh. That's disgusting.」

Although her will wavered at the sticky sensation, she released magic from her inserted fingertip to draw a Sacred Motif. The motif was being drawn gradually, but the "canvas" was, after all, the enormous size that covered the entire royal capital.

「This will take quite a while, won't it? And in the meantime, more slimes will keep being born...」

Since that was extremely troublesome, she realized that by performing Purification Magic (Clear) simultaneously, she could exterminate them without allowing any more to leak outside.

「Even with Lily's magic power, it's impossible to draw a Sacred Motif across the entire royal capital and perform the purification alone. First, rest after completing the motif. Then, perform the purification with other Light Mages. Overdoing it will lead to Magic Depletion and a near-fatal state.」

The plan she had made with Daniel took Lily's burden into account, and she had been strictly told not to proceed by herself. She knew what a near-fatal state from Magic Depletion felt like, as she had experienced it several times in the past.

「Well, it's not like I'm going to die.」

During the planning, the goal was to purify the Impure Mist, and the urgency wasn't high. But now, it was different.

「This is an emergency! Alright!」

With a shout, she immediately poured in the Purification Magic (Clear).

(Once Gin reaches the castle, he'll contact Lord Daniel, and they'll bring the Light Mages, so if I just hold out until then, I'll be fine.)

「Gin! Hurry and come back!」

From this point on, if Lily just focused on the problem in front of her, everything would be solved. The way the black color was erased and sublimated by the beautiful Sacred Motif being drawn was gorgeous, and watching the exterior change rapidly filled her with a pleasant sense of accomplishment.

Honestly, because she was so angry, she completely failed to notice that she was expending a considerable amount of magic power in her rush.

***

At that time, Arthur and Noah still couldn't leave the castle. Daniel had already taken separate action to give instructions to the Light Mages. In front of Arthur and Noah, Poppy and the supposedly departed Olivia were pressing in, each advocating her own theory and blocking their path. In this state of emergency, it had turned into a truly headache-inducing situation.

「Lord Arthur! Just a little bit is fine. Please give me just a moment of your time to talk.」

「Later. This is an emergency.」

「That's what you always do; you avoid me and I never end up getting any time. I won't let you escape today!」

Poppy, who had been kept away by the daily defense and offense with Noah, moved swiftly to ensure the Arthur she had finally encountered would not escape.

「Lord Arthur. Has Lily been found?」

「Olivia. You were supposed to have left with Dylan.」

「My brother has gone to work. With this confusion, he's probably heading to the city to take command right now. More importantly, if Lily has been found, you will be deploying the Purification Magic Array, right? Please tell me the details as well.」

Poppy, who wanted to get her request granted, and Olivia, who desperately wanted to be involved as an interested party, were displaying a surprisingly well-coordinated teamwork.

「Please step back, both of you. Your Highness, I will handle them; please go.」

Noah spread his arms to hold the two back.

「Hey, Noah-kun! Don't touch me in strange places!」

「That's rude to a lady!」

「Your Highness, hurry! I'll definitely catch up later.」

「...! My apologies.」

At the farce unfolding before them, Gin, who had returned to his human form, and Elliot exchanged glances.

「Lord Arthur. You don't necessarily have to force yourself to come along.」

「That's right. I've already finished my request to Lord Daniel. And those older sisters have business with Lord Arthur, right?」

「No. Lily is more important. Don't leave me behind.」

「Wait, Lord Arthur! Wait for me!」

「Lord Noah! Get out of my way!」

Gin and Elliot had absolutely no idea about the human relationships unfolding before them. However, since the two women seemed the most desperate, they somehow felt it would be better to leave Arthur behind.

「Lily didn't say she wanted Lord Arthur to be brought along, though.」

「Lord Arthur, what is your relationship with Lily?」

It was a question born of a child's pure curiosity. However, for Poppy and Olivia, it was an extremely concerning matter.

The clamor of the scene became quiet, as if it had never been there. Even Noah was curious, and despite thinking he shouldn't, his attention was focused on listening.

「She is my fiancée―――――――――candidate.」

The atmosphere froze, and Gin and Elliot looked at each other.

「Oh. His mate, then?」

「If they are mates, then it can't be helped.」

The two decided to take Arthur with them. And so, the three rushed toward Lily's location.

The left-behind Noah quickly ushered the deflated Olivia and Poppy into a nearby room before they could start rampaging again.

(Why did His Highness pause after "fiancée"? Wait, he should know that Lily was never a Saintess Candidate aiming to be a fiancée from the start.)

Thanks to him saying "fiancée" in that place, the two young ladies quieted down, and the two boys agreed to guide Arthur. Was that Arthur's plan, then? Noah pondered this as he rode a horse and galloped down the main street to catch up with the others who were no longer in sight.

***

Having emergency-summoned the Light Mages, Daniel led all of them to the church in the center of the royal capital. It was from here that they would channel Light Magic into the Sacred Motif.

The sky visible from the church plaza, located almost in the center of the royal capital, showed a stunning sight: the Sacred Motif, continuously drawn from below, had already cleared away about half of the black color, with the motif shining against the blue sky as its canvas. It created a breathtaking, otherworldly scene that captivated the eyes of onlookers.

Throughout the city, people peering out from buildings and doorways pointed up at the sky, occasionally talking with those nearby, as they watched the continually changing state of the sky.

「I thought there would be more confusion, but it seems okay.」

The city had momentarily panicked the instant the sky turned black, but now, most citizens were calm thanks to being captivated by the scene in the sky. Surely Lily was handling this without even considering such an effect, but because of her, everything was being saved at the last possible moment.

The Sacred Motif that was constantly being drawn, shining and brilliant. Daniel was deeply moved to see the strategy he had envisioned unfolding before his eyes.

「Oh, I must not forget. Since it's not complete yet, leaving it entirely to her like this would put Lily in danger.」

He felt he absolutely had to grant the request of his adorable assistant (Lily), who had sent word that she needed help and lacked power, so he arranged the Mages he had brought in the plaza. At that location, he encountered Dylan, who had gone out earlier to suppress the chaos in the city.

「Lord Daniel, the situation here has been peacefully suppressed. What brings you here?」

「Sorry, but this is urgent. Please stop interfering further with your siblings' vanity.」

「With respect, Olivia also did her best. It was not intentional.」

「Hah. To defend effort that yields no result—the next generation of the Gold family has become quite saccharine. Or is it merely nepotism?」

Daniel glanced at Dylan with a sharp look and a faint smile, then gave instructions to Oliver, who was standing by, to commence the Purification Magic.

「Now, leaving the rest to them is fine. Well, I would certainly like to hear the thoughts of the next Prime Minister who judged his plans to surpass what I have researched for many years.」

Dylan was inwardly shaken by the pressure, but on the surface, he remained expressionless and maintained his silence. The current King, Daniel's older brother, was conservative and did not see eye-to-eye with Daniel, the King's brother, who advocated for reform when necessary. Because of this, when his brother was enthroned, Daniel was granted the title of Duke, which was limited to one generation, and was further distanced from national politics. Even after that, he continued to be treated unfavorably, being kept at arm's length by the King and sidelined. Over time, that treatment had somehow replaced the true evaluation of his abilities, and the majority of the nobles had come to look down on Daniel. Fortunately, his nephew, Crown Prince Arthur, was fond of Daniel, so his place was barely secured. ――Yes, the original Daniel was one of the highly capable people with a claim to the throne.

(I shouldn't have underestimated him. I've made a mistake.)

「Please don't tell me a joke as unfunny as you truly believed your little girl would surpass me. I don't have much time, but I can spare the time to converse with you until the royal capital is enveloped in this beautiful motif.」

Daniel, who took a step forward without averting his gaze from Dylan, slowly crafted an exquisite smile.

*****

Note: Instead of dealing with complicated future triangle love drama, the other two male lead just give up or .......?

Thank you for reading. If you want to help my hobby please download and install LDP9 with my link down below. Just Click the small yellow LDPlayer Banner.