Chapter 61
The daily routine of Rowena, the Saintess of the Empire, was practically the same every day.
First, as soon as she woke up, she groomed herself.
“I shall pray.”
She would head straight to the Temple to offer her prayers.
There was a significant difference in the method of prayer compared to the Holy Kingdom’s.
“Get rid of all the empty formalities and just do what you really want to do. Do only what”s necessary for prayer.'
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Tell me right away if you need anything. You are the Saintess of the Empire, after all. It wouldn”t look good if you were excessively frugal.'
“I will pay thorough attention to ensure I never become a burden to the Empire.”
'Don’t be so stiff, just relax, relax. When you think about it, the Saintess of the Empire is right below the Imperial Family, isn’t she?'
All the trivial, superficial elements had been completely swept away.
Without a single showy display, if they gathered to pray, they would simply pray.
Even so, the Temple where the Saintess prayed couldn’t be shabby, so everything was of the highest quality.
Perhaps because of that, even without doing anything special, the number of believers increased day by day.
Now, there were even people praying outside the Temple.
“At least when praying, everyone is equal. Those who arrive early sit in the front row.”
Furthermore, the Crown Prince’s order completely crushed the seating arrangements based on status differences.
“Do you think it makes sense for a Commoner to sit next to me!”
“If you dislike it, how about moving to another seat?”
“A Knight… why are you here…”
“Here, I am a paladin.”
“…”
Inside the Temple, the status gap disappeared.
The Temple had transformed into a space purely for prayer.
“It would be nice if His Highness came too.”
Rowena, in the midst of offering her prayers.
Was conscious of the only empty seat in the Temple.
The seat behind her.
Hoping that the Crown Prince’s empty seat - the seat of an existence above the Saintess of the Empire - would one day be filled.
Rowena silently continued her prayer to start the day.
And just as the prayer was coming to an end,
“Saintess Rowena, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is calling for you.”
“…!”
As if someone had listened to her wish.
Rowena smiled, knowing she had been summoned.
“What could he be calling me for?”
Since he is a busy person, perhaps he couldn’t pray in a public place.
Could he be calling me to pray privately in a place like his office?
Or perhaps he wants to share some light conversation over refreshments.
With such expectations, Rowena sought an audience with the Crown Prince.
“Rowena, how much do you know about the Demon Race?”
As soon as she heard the Crown Prince’s first words,
“The Demon Race is… the Absolute Evil that the Holy Kingdom is most wary of.”
She instinctively realized that this was not a situation where she could enjoy everyday happiness.
++++++
“The Imperial Territory is vast, far too vast.”
If this expansive Imperial Territory were to entirely turn into a Demon Realm,
What I needed to do right now was turn the entire Empire into a Holy Land within five years.
Honestly, as soon as I had this thought, I felt at a loss, wondering how I was supposed to turn it into a Holy Land.
[ The Empire Status Window has been upgraded! ]
[ You no longer need to Check the Convenient Empire Status Window separately! ]
[ The Empire Status Window will display a simple summary by default, and you can Check detailed information whenever you wish! ]
[ Additionally, you can now temporarily allocate points to the Tech Tree that was in the Convenient Empire Status Window. ]
[ When points are temporarily allocated, the Empire Status Window will display the expected value of investing in that Tech Tree. ]
[ Now, try advancing your Tech Tree more easily! ]
[ For the Great Empire! ]
As soon as I heard the message that the status window upgrade was complete, my tension completely melted away.
Because,
'It’s here, as expected.'
Among the Tech Trees that I previously wondered why they even existed, there was one called “Empire Sanctification”.
Its effects were incredible.
[ Empire Sanctification: Imbues the Imperial Territory faintly with Divine Power. The benefits obtainable from the land increase by 1%. ]
The effect at the end was just an added bonus; the real deal was the first part.
the fact that I could imbue the land itself with Divine Power.
I could also invest about 5 points into it.
If I allocated all the points I would earn from now on into sanctification, it was certain that the Imperial Territory itself would become a mass of Divine Power.
But it made no sense to just look at this one thing and completely let go of everything else right now.
“If you know the Demon Race well, this will be quick. Rowena, the Empire might become a Demon Lair in five years.”
“We must prepare.”
“Starting with holy water, I want Consecration Work to be applied to weapons across the board. Of course, I’m not telling you to do it alone. I will provide all the necessary support.”
Under Rowena’s direct command,
There was a need to prepare to consecrate the Empire itself.
Even right now, Black Mages only die when slashed with weapons coated in holy water.
The Demon Race would likely be even worse, definitely not any less.
“Since not everyone can be like me.”
If the appearance of the Demon Race in the Empire was inevitable, naturally, the weakest would be the first to die.
To prevent that, all imperial citizens needed to be equipped with countermeasures against the Demon Race.
Of course, it was an absurd scale, and I couldn’t be sure if it could be done within five years.
“Even so, it makes no sense to just sit back and watch the imperial citizens die.”
It was right to do my absolute best for now, as far as I could.
“I’m sorry for seemingly burdening you with a heavy load for no reason.”
“Not at all. It is simply what I must naturally do as the Saintess of the Empire.”
Saying so, Rowena slowly raised her head and met my eyes.
Her visibly stiff expression entered my line of sight.
It seemed inevitable.
I was called out of the blue and told that the Demon Race was scheduled to invade the Empire.
And I was suddenly appointed as the leader and told that preparations were necessary.
Honestly, even I would have various bad thoughts creeping up on me.
“I want to ease her tension somehow; since it”s something we have to prepare step by step over five years, there’s no need to be this stiff already.'
So,
“I don’t understand.”
“Pardon?”
“To my eyes, you are much prettier, you see.”
I decided to just spit out the thought I’d had for a while.
Isn’t Rowena better than Mirne?
Of course, Mirne was a beauty objectively speaking.
Since she’s the Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy, I suppose you could say it’s a given.
But Rowena was by no means lacking either.
If we were talking about preferences, I would be for Rowena unconditionally.
I just blurted out whatever came to mind to lighten the mood because it felt too stiff.
“Ah, aah… th-thank you…?”
Fwoosh.
In an instant, Rowena’s face flushed bright red.
“…Your Highness! What about This Humble Woman! What about This Humble Woman! Tell This Humble Woman! Tell This Humble Woman she is pretty too!”
Arveda, who had been quietly listening to the conversation next to me, started huffing and puffing through her nose.
Wait, was that a sentence with enough impact to cause this much of a stir?
“To think that just stating my subjective preference would create this kind of atmosphere.”
But come to think of it, the mood itself had definitely lightened up, so maybe my intention worked perfectly.
“Of course, Arveda is pretty too.”
“…Eek! This isn’t the feeling I wanted… This Humble Woman will make an effort to hear Your Highness naturally say she is pretty!”
Arveda stretched both her arms high into the sky and glared at Rowena as if telling her to just wait and see.
Rowena, seemingly paying no mind to Arveda, had her gaze fixed on me even more intensely than before.
“It seems I will need to learn how to groom myself to some extent to continue catching Your Highness’s eye.”
“There’s no need to go that far. You don’t have to overdo it.”
“No. How could the Saintess of the Empire show a shabby appearance? I will do my absolute best to groom myself.”
“…I’ll cheer for you.”
“Thank you!”
Rowena bowed her head with an incredibly energetic demeanor.
I sent Rowena off with a vague farewell, saying we should grab a meal together sometime later.
“…Your Highness! I, Teo! I am in awe! I also want to grow up quickly to be as cool as Your Highness, to become the kind of man who… doesn’t look awkward at all when saying such things, but rather looks cool!”
“Suddenly?”
And as soon as Rowena left the office, Teo opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.
“I had only been thinking about it before, but as expected… as expected, I realized that sometimes you have to boldly reveal your inner thoughts like this! To bestow such a teaching upon me again today… I, Teo, am moved!”
I don’t think I’ve ever bestowed any teachings upon him.
“But again today?”
Have I bestowed teachings upon him before?
When on earth was that?
Based on my experiences so far,
I thought it was best not to clear up Teo’s deep delusions, misunderstandings, and admiration.
Without bothering to continue the conversation any further, I immediately moved on to my next task.
“Pavan, did you say you faintly remembered the location of the World Tree?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
To make the plan of planting the World Tree in the Empire a success, I sought advice from the Heterogeneous Races in the Empire.
Among them, I was able to get an answer from Pavan: he knew about the Elves.
“But since the Elves are quite closed off… I think only you and I, Your Highness, would barely be able to sneak in by masking our presence.”
“Sneak in? Where to?”
“The Elves' Forest. Naturally, if we enter through the Official route, we will be rejected immediately.”
A field with a party size limit, huh.
“Did they design it this way on purpose?”
While I strongly felt that they had deliberately set up the perfect stage for the Protagonist to shine,
for the first time in a very long while,
[ Villainess is in the forest. ]
“Hah.”
The Villainess Ring reacted.
It seemed the Elves had quite a lot of backstory going on as well.
“I should resolve it for them.”
Right now, while Mirne was suffering from the Confession Attack, it was the perfect time.
It was the perfect time to treat the World Tree as just a big tree.