Chapter 22

Chapter 22

✠

The cardinal’s authority allowed us to bypass the long line and swiftly enter the Vatican. Although there were plenty of children in line outside with their parents and I noticed that there were also quite a few children already waiting within the Vatican as well.

All this was due to overzealous parents who were eager to awaken their children’s divine power. This holiday was especially significant because it doubled as a selection process for “stigma bearers.” In truth, though, the whole event was a sham. Stigma bearers did not awaken their divine powers through conventional means in the first place.

Natural-born children could not possibly possess powers that could match those of the children who were implanted with stigma. If any of them actually had the potential to be divine power users, the Vatican would have already snatched them up and recruited them for training.

The open selection process was just a superficial holiday affair meant to appease parents. It could be considered almost predatory, the way the religious order uses the event to promote their stigma bearers and collect offerings while they’re at it.

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World gravely notes that the stronger the light, the darker its shadow becomes.⟭

The dirty habits of society were present even within the sacred walls of the Vatican.

I followed Cardinal Cartelaya through the corridor and saw an orderly line of children moving along. Their destination was probably the sanctuary or the cafeteria. The children had to complete three days of a religious retreat where they slept, prayed, worshiped, and ate together before gaining the chance to take the aptitude test. It was an extremely monotonous process.

As I observed the passing children, a young priest approached us.

“O, your holiness, Cardinal Cartelaya! You’ve returned to us!”

“Ah, Brother Pavel.”

“The child next to you... Is she a stigma bearer you wish to personally recommend?”

“No, I brought her along this time because she wished to see the Vatican. Of course, she’s free to take the test if she wishes to.”

I vigorously shook my head as Cardinal Cartelaya peered down at me. “No, no! I plan on returning home after the tour is over.”

I had no intention of living a stifled, puritan existence while locked up in the Vatican as some public resource meant to be used for the salvation of this world. I much preferred my secular lifestyle.

Cardinal Cartelaya seemed to have been half-joking, as she chuckled and turned away.

The young priest went right to the point. “I’m terribly sorry to bother you immediately upon your return, but they request your presence at the state council. This quarter’s budget execution meeting has been pushed forward.”

“Well, now. Allie, I’m sorry, but it seems I have to leave you for the time being.”

“It’s okay. Please don’t trouble yourself over me.”

“Brother Pavel, I must ask a favor of you,” she said. “Please show this child around the Vatican for me, would you?

“Of course! Please be at ease, I shall show her around, your holiness!”

Pavel’s confident response was reassuring, but as soon as Cardinal Cartelaya was out of sight, he had an abrupt change in attitude. “You see those kids filing through the hallway? Go and follow them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some important matters to attend to.”

The next thing I knew, I found myself all alone in the middle of the corridor. Hmm, that’s quite all right. I understand he may not have wanted to babysit. I stood there for a moment, pondering my next move, before deciding to be obedient for once and join the children on their little religious retreat.

It was lunchtime in the Vatican, and the kids were all slowly trailing into the cafeteria. As I sat down on the hard wooden bench and looked down at the food they served...

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World bristles in anger, questioning if growing children should be served this kind of food.⟭

I entirely agreed with the indignant deity. The meal consisted of raisin bread, chickpea soup, and a variety of poached vegetables. Beyond cheap, it delved into the realm of totally undignified.

“Ew, what is this? There’s no ham or sausage.”

“It tastes so bad. There’s no seasoning at all.”

“There’s so little... I’m hungry...”

The children began to complain.

“Now listen here! You are not to speak during meals, young candidates!” The daycare priest in charge of overseeing the children put a stop to the complaints under the pretense of upholding Vatican-style table manners. How petty.

Then, all of a sudden, the cafeteria fell silent. The appearance of a certain group of children captured the attention of all the other kids much more effectively than the daycare attendant had. It was quite evident that the new group of children was very different from the rest.

Unlike the visiting kids who wore comfortable clothing of their choice, these children were all wearing white robes typical of the religious order. Each and every one of them exuded considerable levels of divine power, despite being around the same age as me. Their identity was obvious.

The stigma bearers. Elite children being reared up by the Holy Kingdom with great care. He must be among them.

I tried to remember how the pushover protagonist was depicted in the original story. He had brilliant silver hair, a symbol of God’s blessing, and sapphire eyes as blue as the shallow sea. And most importantly… He was super, ultra, mega handsome! The most handsome guy in this world that you could recognize from a mile away.

Hmm, I don’t see him. There were no silver-haired boys in the group. I scanned over the new group again, in hopes of spotting him, but then the kid sitting beside me whispered in my ear, “Don’t make eye contact with those kids. I hear they’re super mean.”

It was good advice. I was already getting dirty looks from one dark-haired little boy in the crowd.

“Thanks. Have some of this.” I pulled out a lemon madeleine from my satchel and handed it to him. It felt good to see his face light up.

“Now, now, if you’re done eating, please start making your way to the sanctuary. It’s time for service.”

I made up my mind as soon as I heard the daycare priest.

I need to get out of here. I turned on the mini-map and planned my escape route before slipping away through the back door. I was successfully able to stick to the walls and escape out into the open area.

There just so happened to be a relatively neglected garden behind the building.

This is the perfect place to complete my quest. I trudged through the overgrown hedges to take a closer look at the weeds. Thanks to the cultivation package I bought in the cash shop, I was able to figure out the names of the plants just by touching them.

“This one’s a wood sorrel, that’s a fleabane... Where could it possibly be? Oh! I found it!”

⟬«Target» [Elephantipes]

Category: Herb

Commonly mistaken as a weed, its large tuberous roots can be used as a medicinal herb once it has grown for about three years. Only grows in environments saturated with divine power.⟭

There were a couple more nearby. I needed to propagate these, so I harvested all of the ones I could find and stuffed them into my inventory.

I felt great after laboring under the sun. I imagine this is what farmers feel like after a good harvest. Just as I was brushing away beads of sweat on my forehead with a proud smile, a voice from behind startled me.

“Are you playing treasure hunt by yourself?”

“Oh my god!” I yelped at the sudden sound.

The unfamiliar voice had echoed from nearby. As I turned to face the origin of the voice, I was rendered speechless by what I saw.

“Wow.”

I didn’t know what else to say after seeing his face. Radiant silver hair. Eyes that seemed to flicker between cerulean and aquamarine as the light glinted off them. And above all else, a handsome face that made me feel like I was having an epiphany.

As I stood there mesmerized, he handed me a handkerchief.

“You wiped your face with dirt on your hands.”

That was my first encounter with the stuffy, stubborn protagonist. A pure, untainted, first-loop protagonist stands before me. The protagonist hadn’t started life as a regressor.

We were currently in tutorial mode, before the actual story began. Right now, the protagonist was just a normal little boy that knew nothing about regressing or anything of the sort. Seeing this reminded me that the tutorial period was a very special time indeed.

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World advises you to exercise extra caution when speaking since you’re in the presence of the original story’s protagonist.⟭

⟬The Advocate of Confidentiality glares down upon you with great intensity to catch you in the act of spreading spoilers.⟭

Finally, I regained my senses. The protagonist’s ocean-like eyes narrowed as if in contemplation before he said something unexpected.

“Huh?”

“Don’t be surprised. I’m just obligated to be kind to others.”

Tesilid reached out and wiped the dirt off my forehead. His stoic expression and half-assed wiping really gave off the impression that he was only doing it because he had to. And I knew the reason as well.

The whole debuff that made the protagonist such a pushover was Tesilid’s “Commandment of the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins.” His divine powers amplified in proportion to his good deeds, which in turn severely restricted his actions and forced many obligations upon him.

He used honorifics when addressing everyone he met in the original story because it applied to modesty, one of the seven heavenly virtues. Young Tesilid, who had yet to become truly modest, muttered to himself, “Why do I have to be the only one with this sort of obligation.”

Why, you ask? You have to spew your kindness everywhere you go so that it opens up the possibility for a harem. But it was a little puzzling to hear him complain like that. Doesn’t he get points docked for revealing that he only did it because he had no choice? For sincerity reasons, I believe. Using the word “obligated” was somewhat prohibited, but he’d already violated that rule twice.

Tesilid took back his handkerchief and commented, “I came over here because I felt the presence of a holy relic, but I didn’t think it’d be owned by such a small kid.”

“You’re a kid too. But what do you mean by holy relic?”

“You mean you don’t know? Your necklace. It’s the holy relic of Saint Agnes. She was one of the heroes that contributed to shutting down the dungeons. The Day of Sacrifice is meant to pay respects to all of her accomplishments.”

“H-hero?”

Cardinal Cartelaya, whatever could this mean? She just told me it was a friend’s keepsake. She never mentioned that her friend was a heroic saint.

Tesilid’s tone of voice suddenly changed, as if interrogating me. “Wasn’t that originally in Cardinal Cartelaya’s possession?”

“Now, don’t get any funny ideas. I got this as a gift from Cardinal Cartelaya.”

“A holy relic?” Tesilid approached me as he asked again, “You don’t seem to have any divine powers though?”

Ah, how diligent. I guess he really is the protagonist. His penetrating stare bore straight into me. It was just for a moment, but he almost had me there.

Gurgle!

What was that? I think I just heard a loud grumble coming from somewhere.