Chapter 128

The Saintess 6

The gargoyle wound up becoming an assistant, despite being research towards making the aforementioned gargoyle.

If anything, it's more of a super valuable sample than an assistant.

"I don't understand master's nerves~..." [1]

I'm not at fault here, it's because of Rokuko's bad luck... no, good luck.

By the way, the gargoyle is a stone demon statue with wings on its back. I wondered if it could fly, but they seem to only be for show. Don't they get in the way?

The gargoyle doesn't appear to talk either. It also seems to be the type that indifferently follows orders, like golems... The joints are fully connected like statues normally have, but they can still bend somehow. Even looking at it, it's mysterious. It feels like ordinary stone when I touch it, the same as the raw materials I use for [Create Golem]...

"Well, researching progresses faster when it's actually getting done. I set the laboratory up in the dungeon for now, so research magic tools as much as you want."

"Thank you so much~"

Wearing the white doctor robe, Nerune answered energetically. For some reason, she looked happy even with the robe on.

There was some DP left over this time, so I also wound up making a room to use for moving around with the dummy core.

It was a pointless expense, but well, the dummy core was 5000 DP and the two rooms were 400 DP total, adding up to 5400 DP. Now that we have the saintess' and Rin's income, that's somewhere around two or three days' income. I mean, that saintess is spending twenty-five gold per day to stay in the suite. That's enough to be 25000 DP just by converting it into DP.

Because of this and that, the saintess has already been here for around half a month and has become a terrific earner. Our storage is practically overflowing with gold coins. It'll probably be alright even if we wound up using some as DP.

... Rather, setting aside her inn fees, isn't that saintess going to go bankrupt here soon with her gambling habits? It'll be great when she heads back to where she came from. What was its name, the Holy Kingdom?

The room is set up just above the core room... They're arranged vertically, but are treated as the same floor. If an intruder enters this room, they'd need to do something unexpected like destroying the core room's ceiling to get here. People that would do something like that without a hint for it don't exist.

"I'll also help out with the studying. There's [Create Golem] too after all."

"Oooh, with Goshujin-sama's [Create Golem] you could make golems that already have grooves on them~. That way I only need to melt magic stones on them~"

"... Reproducing those difficult shapes sounds like it'd be hard."

Also, don't you have to inscribe things onto the magic stone itself too? So much work...

Yep, just practice making water magic tools for now. I'll prepare a lot of magic stones. Using the options for the type of magic stone I want from the catalog, it's easy to choose what kind of attribute the magic stones come with. It's a bit late to say it, but DP really is convenient.

*

The saintess returned after being eaten by the black wolf in the dungeon on that day as well.

she wasn't feeling particularly off put though. The reason why? The inn's suite was just too comfortable, rather, she practically wanted to stay in the inn forever.

Furthermore, the inn had a game room that often held something called rat races.

Something else that was just as unbelievable was its meals, as well as its hot spring. The inn was simply too wonderful.

Winning a small amount from the rat race that had just been held, the saintess was cheery. She continued, squandering her earnings by betting it all on the proceeding race.

"Fuu, all things considered, this bedding is simply wonderful. I'd like it for my house as well."

Drinking orange juice she'd ordered through the room service, she flopped down onto the futon.

It only cost a single silver.

Oranges were easily obtainable in Pavuera. However, it wasn't comprised simply of the fruit's juice, but with a generous amount of sugar, a luxury good. Given that, she agreed to its price.

Furthermore, the fee was subtracted from the gold coin the saintess' attendant had paid with beforehand.

"... Hmm, this Village Chief-san is obstinate, even though he has shown me so much hospitality... ah, did Cent pay the fees?"

Currently, the saintess had only been thinking about ways to somehow deal with that threatening black wolf monster and repay his hospitality. Even though she was paying money, she was receiving supplied from the village's precious winter supplies.

It might appear as though the saintess wasn't doing anything, but she was steadily memorizing the black wolf's movements.

After three days, she had gotten to the point that she was able to dodge its first attack. She was able to attack three times. If she could invoke the unique magical skill she had as a saintess by gaining more time, it'd be her win.

The monster was probably of the dark attribute. For the saintess, it was a very advantageous attribute for her.

However, the difference in the basic capabilities was so overwhelming that it was a trifling thing for it to kill her. She needed to gain more time somehow.

Following a knock at her door, she heard her attendant's voice.

"Alka-sama, do you have time?"

"Nn... come in."

"Excuse me."

Cent opened the door and came in.

(... Incidentally, what has this attendant been spending his time doing since coming here? Wha—no way, has he been at the rat race, playing this entire time...!?)

Thinking up to there, the saintess abandoned the idea. Such a serious attendant wouldn't do something like that, surely.

"So, what business do you have, Cent?"

"I am anxious about our remaining funds."

"It was the races after all...!?"

"? What do you mean?"

"Nothing. However, if it is about not having enough funds, it is necessary for us to ask the country for additional funding. I will write a letter, make certain to send it immediately."

"Yes, thank you."

Concerning the letter, it'd likely be delivered within a few days if they put out a commission for it through the adventurer guild.

However, it wouldn't be certain whether or not the commission would be completed. To be certain, she would put out multiple commissions.

"Now then, for the letter's contents... ah, yes. Along with noting Village Chief-san's hospitality, let's write that I still haven't received the dungeon core's destruction rights. If I go through the story from the start, I should say that Village Chief-san said he would hand it over after gaining the empire's permission."

"I see, in that case, we can translate that as Village Chief-dono wanting to hand us the dungeon core's destruction rights, but can't as they are handled by the empire. That should work well."

The saintess accepted her attendant's suggestion, including her remarks about Kehma's reception, and turned to speak to him.

"He is a very serious and good person, but his lack of flexibility could be called his only fault. It is a good thing that we can trust his diligence, though."

"He would be a good vassal. If he could be formally scouted and brought to the Holy Kingdom..."

"I'll include that as well... If I write five, at least one should make it."

The five letters written, all with the same content, she handed them to her attendant.

However, she was running out of funds that she should have prepared more than enough of. Just where was it disappearing...? She'd somehow manage.

"Should I economize a little until the additional funds arrive...? It might also be a good idea to bring out some of those iron golems that I've been leaving behind. Would those help for meal fees?"

"Yes. I am deeply sorry for allowing it to reach the point of troubling you."

"It's fine, it'll be between you and I."

Then again, they had enough funds to stay through the winter by just switching the saintess' room from the suite to the standard room type, but there was no such proposal coming from her attendant. For the saintess that was doing such painful work by dying and returning, the attendant simply hoped to ease her mind even a little. He couldn't propose such a thing, nor did he wish to.

Once the saintess had made certain that her attendant had left with the letters, she laid back down against the soft bedding, resting.

Feeling her body sink into it, gently being enveloped, she—

"I still want this bed..."

—fell asleep, murmuring.