Chapter 37 - Elder Marxen
Elder Marxen was a huge existence in the Vios Empire. He was here to “heal” me, but he went around making a mess of things.
“Saintess, it seems like you’re still not used to dealing with divine power.”
“…”
“Now, follow after me. You need to softly touch your power as if you’re holding a child.”
He was making me use my power as soon as I recovered.
“Now, Luciana. That’s not how you do it. Are you really taking proper care of the saintess?”
“…”
He started nagging Luciana for no reason.
“You’re a paladin or something? What do you do?”
“I’m Callian, the captain of His Majesty’s guard.”
“Oh. You look young, but you’re quite high up. I had no idea.”
“Haha, I see.”
He also started nagging Callian, who had come to look at my condition because of my dad’s urging. However, that wasn’t all.
“This place is quite dreary. It’s inappropriate for recuperating.” He badmouthed the estate we were at. “Saintess, how do you feel about going back to Vios to recuperate?”
He even tried to get me to go back to Vios, even though I had barely escaped from there. After saying inappropriate things, he made a mess here as if this were his room!
My never-ending patience was slowly depleting. I asked Luciana with a lifeless smile, “When will the elder get lost?”
“Saintess… your vocabulary… And I heard he’ll be departing soon.”
He was leaving soon! Which meant he hadn’t left yet! “Tell him to get lost faster. If this goes on, I’ll have to bury his body.”
“Please be patient…” Luciana also didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t deal with him any longer.
“Are all elders from Vios like this?”
“Not everyone, but the majority…”
“Ah…” I suddenly felt reality hit me. “I want to disband the Senate.”
There was no hope or future for Vios if there were eleven other people like him in the Senate. “This is why they’re failing.”
I was relishing in my newfound knowledge when a knock at the door interrupted me. Luciana came back after checking who it was. “Saintess, Sir Ludwig is here.”
“Ludwig!”
Ludwig walked in and got down on one knee as soon as he saw me. “I greet the first light of the world.”
“Welcome.” I was a lot healthier so I could meet with people again.
Ludwig finished his greeting and raised his head with a worried expression. “Saintess, are you okay?”
“As you can see, I’m healthy!”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
Ludwig choked out his words as if he were about to cry. I didn’t know if it was because of the dream, but he felt a bit unfamiliar. Ludwig was definitely more reliable and outstanding in Priscilla’s memories… However, right now, he looked more like a huge dog.
“It has been a while, Ludwig. Have you been well?”
“I was worried about you.”
“Thank you.”
“Without you… I don’t…” Ludwig choked back his tears and looked down.
“…?”
“I’ll work on my divine training so that something like this never happens again.”
“Huh? Why would a paladin do divine training?” Only priests did prayer training. It helped them increase their divine power by cleansing the mind and body. ‘It’s not something paladins can do?’
Ludwig didn’t see how confused I was as he clenched his fist. “I’ll do my best to become useful to you.”
“You already are!”
“…”
I felt like I was raising a fanatic. ‘Well, whatever.’ “Ludwig, did you find it?”
“Yes.” Ludwig took out a battered object. “Here it is.”
“Oh!” He placed the object that was about the size of my fist on my hand. I asked, “Nobody saw you?”
Ludwig solemnly nodded.
“It’s really light.” This was the crazy magician’s core that was buried in the lab. It was the source of mana that had fueled the research. It was important, so I had Ludwig take it away. ‘I might be able to use it later.’
As I looked at the core, Ludwig asked me, “I looked for this object because you told me I had to, but what is it?”
“This? It’s a relic.”
“…”
He didn’t believe me. Ludwig made a face as if he had heard something he wasn’t supposed to.
I raised my shoulders. It was a bit old, but it was genuine. ‘Duke Ravenhook even robbed Thales’s grave to get this.’ I was excited to make all that hard work go to waste. “Hohoho. If I have this…”
Ludwig seemed to have felt something, but his hand was on his sword. He didn’t recognize what the object was, but he instinctively felt that it had immense power. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
“Why would it be dangerous if it’s a relic?” It was only dangerous if the person using it was dangerous.
