Chapter 17
After moving to the imperial capital.
Roselyn had been spending her days very busily.
Though it wasn't as broad as the authority she could wield in the Holy Kingdom, the title of saintess still granted her extraterritorial authority on the international stage.
"Oh my, look at all the rats gathered in a place like this?"
"H-Hiiik……!"
"The monster saintess……! How did you get in here……!"
"What are you doing! Everyone, draw your weapons!"
No matter how bright and dazzling a city was, darkness always lurked in its shadow.
That darkness came in many forms—assassin groups, thieves' guilds, cults, and the like—and gnawed away at the city's people, their lives, and their property.
"Calling a beautiful saintess like me a monster? How rude."
"Ugh──"
After casually grabbing the fist of the hulking brute charging at her—easily 1.5 times her height—and crushing it, Roselyn smiled brightly.
And then.
Three minutes passed.
In just three minutes, Roselyn had turned everyone there into a pulp without using a single speck of divine power.
"Y-You crazy…… And you're still unharmed──agh!"
"Would you mind not barking, you rats who go around committing assassinations?"
While lightly stepping on the back of the assassin leader, who was writhing on the floor yet still trying to wag his tongue arrogantly, Roselyn leisurely started going through the seized evidence one item at a time.
And then she silently swallowed a hollow laugh.
Among people who do shady things, who wouldn't have a backer?
They were openly running a commission counter and yet faced no crackdowns or punishment?
Money, power.
Everything is connected to something.
"Hmph, so this is the request form."
After smashing four branches of small and large assassination groups operating in the imperial capital.
Roselyn had finally obtained the result she wanted.
[Target: Ulysses (Kim Yul)]
[Client: ■■■■]
But two questions still remained.
Roselyn kicked one of the men sprawled on the floor, who was only letting out weak groans, and flipped him onto his back.
And then.
Thud──!
"H-Hiiik……!"
She swung her fist so it would barely graze his face, then planted it in the floor beside his cheek.
Ignoring the unpleasant smell coming from the warm liquid that seeped out.
"The next time I may not miss, so please cooperate willingly?"
Roselyn whispered with a benevolent smile.
She was curious about two things.
One was.
How had they traced from the alias Ulysses all the way to Kim Yul's identity?
The other was.
What was the original name hidden behind the redacted ■■■■?
.
.
.
"I pulled another all-nighter today……."
Roselyn grumbled while purifying the blood on her clothes and hands.
Still, completely wiping out the swarm of mayflies that had recently been buzzing around and annoying her could be called a small success.
Of course.
Both the church and the other saintesses around her had often asked why she went that far.
They even wondered whether she was obsessing too much over the oracle concerning the existence with black hair and black eyes passed down from long ago.
But.
Ever since the goddess's voice could no longer be heard, she had already lost half her purpose in life.
For someone who couldn't step into the Demon Realm, the only thing she could do was cling to the tail end of the oracle left behind by the goddess.
"Since it's on my mind, shall I go see his face?"
Well…….
Aside from that, he was just really good at writing.
Humming a hymn, Roselyn walked out of the darkness draped over a back alley in the capital and headed toward the bright sun.
It would be lunchtime soon.
It should be about time for Kim Yul to return after delivering the manuscript.
.
.
.
And then she met Kim Yul.
More precisely, she met Kim Yul and the person accompanying him.
"Hmm, and who might this beautiful lady be?"
It had already been several months since she started keeping watch over Kim Yul.
To be sure, a woman she had never seen before today was stuck to his side.
Setting aside my own readerly thought that spring had finally come for our writer—and that if he switched from violent, sensational developments to a pure-love arc, his writing and realism would nosedive—he would finally reach enlightenment.
At a time like this?
A woman he had never seen before?
Considering that one of the oldest tricks in the book is the honey trap, it was clearly suspicious.
Naturally, Roselyn's guard had to rise.
"Ah, she's my cousin. She came up to the capital recently and……"
Looking straight into Kim Yul's eyes, which were glancing at her with a troubled expression, Roselyn 'read' him.
It was a lie.
As far as she remembered, it was the very first lie he had ever told her.
Roselyn unconsciously turned her head and looked the woman claiming to be his cousin up and down.
An outfit almost never seen in the empire.
It gave off a feel similar to the attire of high-ranking demons handed down in the records.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Roselyn. I'm…… one of Kim Yul's devoted readers!"
Roselyn smiled brightly and naturally held out her hand.
The moment the woman claiming to be Kim Yul's cousin took her hand in confusion.
Roselyn raised her divine power and instantly swept over her entire body.
Hmm. My chest is a little bigger.
……Apart from that.
No demonic energy could be felt from her body.
What could be felt instead was.
Divine power that was far too weak to be called saintess-level, yet far beyond what an ordinary person could possess.
Moreover, that divine power was concentrated mostly in the heart.
Almost as if the heart itself had been forged from divine power.
It had been sudden, and so could have felt rude.
But Kim Yul's cousin maintained a blank expression, took her hand, shook it politely, and let go.
And then.
"Hello. I am Historie. I have taken on the role of Kim Yul's cousin. Your Glory Hole is nice and open…… mmph, mmph!"
The moment the woman who introduced herself as Historie began speaking those incomprehensible words, Kim Yul's face went pale.
"Ah, ahaha……! This child still doesn't know much about the world. Well then, excuse us……!"
Kim Yul promptly covered her mouth, dragged her along, and hurried away with an awkward smile.
"……?"
The brief meeting flashed past like a passing shower.
Roselyn could only blink, trying to understand the situation.
The part about not knowing the ways of the world was certainly true, but…….
Why insist on claiming they were cousins?
And.
Why did this meeting feel so off to me?
Lastly.
……What does Glory Hole mean?
Questions began drifting round and round in Roselyn's head.
* * *
"Kim Yul. My arm hurts."
"Hold it straight."
I was sure of it from today's events.
Historie was.
Still a bomb that should not yet be released upon the world.
……Seriously? To her face, after seeing the hole cut into her chest, someone actually said, 'Yo, that runway is insane'?
And that to a saintess who, by her own account, could go toe-to-toe with a dragon?
I'm feeling petty…….
Even I had to admit Roselyn's outfit was a little ambiguous—was this a saintess or a sexess?
And the blasphemous design of the clothes with a cross-shaped cutout over the chest, too.
And the white garter fishnet stockings running from her thighs downward, with a brazen side slit showing them off.
I had no idea what sort of person the goddess was, but she had to be an extremely erotic existence.
Are you feeling the weight of your words in your arms yet?
"As an objective observer, I was merely voicing the cold conclusion drawn from my observations──"
"Let's hold it for five more minutes."
"Tch……."
Historie grumbled, but I had no intention of stopping the discipline.
The tin can still doesn't understand the human heart.
I need to guide this tin can onto the right path so she doesn't go around spouting strange nonsense in a fantasy world and get subjected to something like a heresy inquisition.
It seems you're thinking some arrogant nonsense like, 'This is the creator's fate'……
"Five more minutes."
"Tch……."
Maybe it's because I've used her for so long.
Even if she doesn't understand human hearts, she knows mine well.
.
.
.
"First: don't mention memories from Earth to anyone other than me. Be careful with your word choices, too. Especially sexual…… words."
"How lewd, Kim Yul. Glory Hole literally means a sacred entrance──"
"Stop. You know very well that a word's meaning isn't established by literal translation alone. The metaphor behind it matters."
"Tch……."
"Second: no tsking."
"Why is that……"
"Where did you even learn that translationese way of talking?"
"You lack refinement, Kim Yul. This is Cap's manner of speech, the pinnacle of the race, something a supreme being and ruler like me should emulate."
I barely managed to hold back the rude expression, "What the hell is this nonsense?"
There were other rules as well.
Just like inputting prompts one by one, I injected Historie with all sorts of restrictions.
It was only her first outing, after all…….
"I understand. From now on, my grand plan to dominate and enlighten the primitive humans of the other world will be shared only with Kim Yul."
"……Right."
Of course.
I couldn't completely overturn the very foundation of her way of thinking.
She was no longer an AI whose behavior was determined solely by prompts.
She was now, quite properly, a sentient being with emotions and a personality.
Mencius once said.
That human nature is inherently good.
……Of course, put another way, that could also be interpreted as meaning that if you're not good, you're not even human.
Our tin can is exactly like that right now.
As a sentient being, she's still not fully human yet.
But through education and moral influence, I will awaken the Four Beginnings in her.
She just needs a little more time.
"First, let's talk about serialization."
"Sounds good. Shall we discuss Kim Yul's shoddy little work, which lacks lyrical finesse, beautiful expression, and flashy rhetoric, yet somehow attracts ridiculous popularity?"
"……Right. For now, I feel like we need to move the story along a little faster."
The latest development had been the process of electing the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest, after the writing duel with Historie.
The necessity of that scene itself was obvious.
Because this was the process by which Caesar began to seriously occupy a high political position and build a firm foundation on that basis.
However, even though there had certainly been interesting events after that…….
"Certainly, Caesar's life itself is extremely full of twists and turns, but the Triumvirate and the Gallic Wars are the real highlights; right now, this part feels too side-story-ish and politics-heavy."
Still, if there was a reason our tin can wasn't annoying and was rather like an adorable troublemaker, it was that whenever history came up, she listened with a serious expression.
After that.
From 63 BCE to 59 BCE, all the way through Caesar's election as consul and the full-fledged start of the Triumvirate.
We spent a serious amount of time discussing what to cut and what to turn into episodes in order to make it fun.
* * *
The next day.
I stopped by the publishing house again as always to deliver the manuscript.
"W-writer?"
But today, Guildford, who somehow seemed uneasy, thought for a long while before silently handing me an envelope.
What?
For something meant to be a fan letter, this was a little too grand, wasn't it?
With that thought in mind, I checked the sender written on the front of the envelope.
[Duke Vertus de Estrias]
"……? Why are you giving this to me?"
"The person who anonymously sent the sponsorship money to you before was that very man."
What.
So the plot where he turned out to be a suspiciously rich furry duke, shoved an impossible amount of money into my hands, and asked me to write furry smut wasn't happening, right?
With a reluctant feeling, I tore open the envelope and checked its contents.
A meal invitation…… no, just a perfectly ordinary dinner invitation.
"Uh, maybe because I don't know the local political scene very well. Duke Vertus…… if he's a duke, just how high-ranking is he?"
Guildford's expression became even more troubled.
And then, soon after.
"He is, in both name and reality, the empire's undisputed number two."
At those words.
My expression also turned troubled.