Chapter 28
Although I said let's hear the conditions first, in reality, there wasn't much I could get from the Saintess.
Money?
Damian was the youngest son of the prestigious Carsaril family, which had amassed enormous wealth.
Of course, it was difficult to say that the family's wealth was Damian's, but if I wanted, I could receive massive financial support, so it wasn't particularly necessary.
Honor or power?
Considering the honor and power the Saintess had in the original work, it wasn't bad, but…
These things could be obtained without much difficulty by relying on the influence of the Carsaril family, without needing to cling to the Saintess.
Moreover, the honor and power given by the Saintess are accompanied by great responsibility as they are made up of reverence and faith.
The moment I accepted them, I could be bound by all sorts of shackles, which could act as a bad move.
Therefore, what I wanted to get from the Saintess wasn't these trivial things, but an affirmation that she would act as my ally in the future.
So, while I was contemplating how to bring this up and proceed with the conversation, Ruen calmly opened her mouth, "...Is there anything you want? Having lived in the convent for a long time, I'm not very good at sensing what people want."
Should I speak directly or indirectly?
As both had clear pros and cons, I was conflicted, but suddenly wanting to confirm Ruen's sincerity, I gave a direct answer without beating around the bush.
"I want an ally."
"...An ally? That's quite a romantic idea."
Hearing my answer, Ruen looked at me with a somewhat bitter expression, then smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm not sure exactly what you mean by ally, but if you mean a relationship of cooperation without betrayal, I'd rather ask you for that."
This alone was enough.
I didn't know if Ruen would become a true ally, but as long as we were bound by a contractual relationship, it would be difficult for her to become allies with Dale, so it wasn't a bad deal.
Moreover, I'll be able to keep getting information from Liana.
This alone made it quite an attractive deal.
Thinking it was a satisfactory deal, I nodded, and the Saintess slowly let go of my hand and said, "Then we'll continue the rest of the conversation later. It was really nice to meet you, Sir Damian... no, Damian."
Judging by the fact that she didn't use honorifics, it seems she was expressing a kind of familiarity.
I nodded at those words and briefly replied, "I was glad to meet you too, Ruen."
At those words, Ruen smiled lightly and then left.
As I silently watched the place where Ruen had left, this time Liana slowly approached and spoke to me, "It was a good deal."
At those words, I smiled slightly and said, "It was a good deal, but I don't know why you're talking as if it's over."
Liana rested her chin on her hand, looked at me, and then smiled slyly and said, "That's why I'm sitting here, isn't it?"
At those words, I realized it was time to receive the “payment” for helping Ruen in earnest, and opened my mouth.
I had three things to ask Liana.
The first was about the whereabouts of the impotence cure to lure out Dale.
The second was the question of how she knew so much about me.
And the third was why Ruen specifically chose me.
Deciding to ask these three things step by step, I started, and Liana spoke lightly, "The impotence cure does exist. However, the manufacturing method has been lost, so it's impossible to make it right away."
"Really?"
"Yes. There are medicines that can make it temporarily better, but these are literally temporary..."
At the word temporary, I thought it was rather good and said to Liana, "Then can you tell me about that?"
"Oh, come on. I'm an information merchant, you know. You keep trying to strip me of information like this... Even if we've become allies, isn't this too much?"
It seemed she judged that it would be good to get closer since we became allies.
The haughty appearance she first showed had completely disappeared, and a playful demeanor took over Liana.
Hearing those words, I jokingly replied, "Should I give you money instead?"
"...I'd be grateful if you did! But I'd get scolded by the Saintess, so I'll just tell you. Besides, it's not entirely unrelated to the church."
I nodded, and Liana calmly added, "I'll write down the related formula separately and send it to you."
"Thank you."
"It's nothing. So what's the next question?"
"How do you know so much about me in such detail?"
According to the original work, Liana had the ability to obtain information by placing magical devices that act as her eyes and ears all over the world.
Of course, because it was such a good ability, there were major side effects.
Even considering this, it was undeniable that this ability had overwhelming power in terms of information acquisition.
So I could somewhat understand how she found out my information, but what I didn't understand was how she knew so much about the delinquent youngest son of the Carsaril family, who wasn't a famous person or anything, so I asked,
"Actually, I found out because of Sir Loraine. Whether Sir Loraine reaches Sword Master or not is an extremely important matter."
Recalling the meaning that Sword Masters held, I thought I understood roughly, when
Loraine, who was beside me, said to Liana as if feeling wronged, "So that's how you knew I was reading romance novels..."
"That's correct. It's a cute hobby, I don't know why you're trying to hide it so much. It's not even an embarrassing hobby."
"..."
Loraine closes her mouth, seemingly not wanting to talk about this.
Seeing this, I thought it would be better to change the subject and immediately moved on to the last question.
"So why did Ruen choose me?"
"This is simple. The capable young master of the Carsaril family who has crossed both the church and black mages. I think that explains everything."
Having the same enemies they want to deal with, being someone who had proven their ability, and having a family that the church and black mages couldn't easily touch.
The moment I heard this, I could understand why Liana suddenly approached me expressing “interest” at our first meeting.
She came to draw me in from the beginning, so she approached showing all kinds of interest.
I looked at Liana, thinking I had done something more interesting than I thought.
***
After finishing the conversation, I immediately returned to the lodgings.
It had become late evening, and Siren had been slumped down saying nothing, so I thought it would be good to let her rest soon.
So, as soon as I returned to the lodgings and was about to lie down on the bed to relieve the deeply accumulated fatigue,
"Um, Damian. I have something to say."
Siren approached me hesitantly, with Daisy perched on her head.
"What is it?"
"I want to be helpful, too."
"You're already plenty..."
"No. I didn't do anything today."
Unlike Loraine, she seemed sorry for not being able to give any opinions or helpful words.
I patted Siren's head to show it was okay, but she was still just crumpling up with a gloomy face.
As I was thinking about what to say, Loraine, who was beside me, calmly provided the answer, "Then how about magical growth? If Siren becomes an archmage, wouldn't that be tremendously helpful to the young master?"
At those words, Siren's eyes widened as if she had realized something, and she said, "Yes... I'll try harder. And I'll make it so no one can touch Damian."
Just as I was about to say thank you, Siren, unlike before, showed an overflowing will and said, "Let's go, Daisy. We're going to become the best mages."
"Myeong myeong!"
With those words, Siren left somewhere with Daisy perched on her head.
I looked at Loraine, thinking I didn't understand why she was taking Daisy with her, but Loraine also didn't seem to understand well and just shook her head.
Like Siren, I also needed to become stronger.
Until now, only enemies I could handle had appeared, so I didn't have much difficulty in dealing with them, but as Elisia said, if Dale, the original protagonist, started struggling to kill me, it would be difficult to cope with my current abilities.
So it would be good to build up strength so that Dale couldn't kill me no matter what state he was in...
As I was continuing this thought, I could recall one strange point.
Come to think of it, was Dale's character originally one that burned with such revenge?
Of course, it was a natural course to be greatly angered and hateful after being hit with a mace by a stranger and ending up in a “not-so-good” state.
But funnily enough, this natural course was rather evidence that it wasn't like Dale.
How should I put it, his way of thinking is a bit ordinary.
In the original work, he was clearly a character obsessed with a hymn to humanity, firmly believing in human goodness.
In reality, he felt more like an ordinary person than Dale-like, so I couldn't help but feel strange.
I thought it was an odd feeling and pondered for a moment, then shook my head.
What's important now is not Dale's identity, but how to counterattack.
Deciding to start by considering what kind of plan would be good, I closed my eyes.
***
The next morning at dawn, I heard something knocking on the window of the lodgings, so I opened it and saw,
"Chirp chirp."
A bird holding a basket in its beak.
It didn't seem to be an ordinary bird, as I thought it was stronger than a normal bird, and when I looked inside the basket, I saw a letter.
It must be the recipe for the impotence cure.
I picked it up and was about to send the bird back, but feeling a bit sorry to just send it back like that, I fed the bird a few fruit seeds, then to express my gratitude to Liana, I put some tea I had brewed for Loraine in a glass bottle and placed it in the basket.
Of course, if I send it like this, she won't know what it is.
I didn't forget to write a note saying to drink the tea I had put in.
Thinking this should be enough, I sent the bird back and then examined the letter Liana had sent.
[Potion ingredients:
Blue leaves soaked in moonlight - 2 pieces
Blood of Conteroil - 30ml
Starlight moss - 3 pieces
…
…
Put the starlight moss in 400ml of purified water and heat with mana-infused fire.
Note that when heating, you shouldn't make the fire too strong...
…
…]
As expected, the potion manufacturing recipe was written.
Even if I looked at it, I couldn't follow it, so I was about to skim through it and put it in my chest when
I discovered writing that was difficult to overlook.
[Movement detected from the church to appoint Dale as a hero.]