The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Flamme was already going through her paces in the open yard of the church.
Because of what had happened yesterday, she had suffered from insomnia, unable to fall asleep all night; thus, she had gotten up exceptionally early today.
The main reason was the competitive drive burning inside her.
Yesterday, the sweet bread she had created using her replication magic had been easily seen through by Link.
To a girl who prided herself on being a genius, this was no small blow.
Flamme bit her lower lip softly, repeating the movements over and over, casting the [Spell to Duplicate Items] again and again as she quietly competed with herself.
I won’t fail next time!
I’m definitely going to fool Master!
While Flamme was practicing bitterly, inside the cathedral, Link was taking a stroll and chatting with his old friend Anduin, whom he hadn’t seen in years.
The two laughed and talked, reminiscing about amusing things that had happened in the past.
Yet before they had walked very far, Link noticed something abnormal about Anduin.
His walking pace seemed significantly slower than before, and after walking for only a short while, fine beads of sweat were already glistening on his forehead.
Link began to study his old friend without drawing attention to it.
He could feel that the other man was forcing himself to keep going, doing his best to match his steps to Link’s walking speed.
This sight brought a sudden realization to Link…
He realized that Anduin truly had grown old.
Time flew, and heroes aged.
Seeing the way Anduin struggled to keep up, a bittersweet feeling suddenly welled in Link’s heart.
He quietly slowed his pace so the other man could walk more easily.
Thinking back to the past, the two of them had been the finest rear-guard members of their party.
That position prioritized one thing above all: running fast.
But with Anduin’s current state, if he were asked to join an adventure now, he could probably only be assigned as the party’s vanguard.
The two walked along, chatting casually about this and that.
After covering another short distance, even with Link having slowed down, Anduin still couldn’t quite keep up.
Thus, upon reaching a clean spot on the ground, Link simply came to a halt, pulling Anduin down to sit on the ground with him.
The moment he sat down, Anduin pulled a silver flask from his breast pocket and gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor on his own.
As the spirit went down his throat, his stern, tense face finally relaxed considerably.
Only after screwing the cap tight and stowing the flask away did Anduin look up at Link.
“By the way, regarding that magic you mentioned yesterday, what specifically do you need me to do?”
“Help me search for clues in the sacred scriptures that record the Goddess’s magic.”
“You really don’t stand on ceremony, do you? Deciphering sacred scriptures is extraordinarily troublesome.”
“Oh? It’s only troublesome? That means it can be done, right?”
Those words gave Anduin an immediate bad feeling, and he instantly tried to stop Link’s dangerous line of talk.
“I haven’t…”
Before he could finish, Link cut him off.
“Then I’ll take it as you agreeing. Thank you so much! I’ll owe you a favor for this one.”
“Hey! I…”
Seeing Link’s rogue-like behavior, the skin on Anduin’s face twitched.
In his memory, this guy Link had never once repaid a favor he owed.
He had an excuse every single time.
He couldn’t let this guy slip away so easily this time.
“I’m old, and my memory is terrible. Since you’re willing to owe a favor, you’d better repay it on the spot. Nowadays, except for the faces of beautiful maidens, I tend to forget everything else.”
Link hadn’t expected to be outmaneuvered.
Since he was the one asking for help after all, he opened his mouth and said, “Then what do you need me to do?”
“You’ve heard about it too, haven’t you? The plague raging north of the Royal Capital. A while back, almost all the surviving children from the villages north of the Royal Capital fled here to my place. You know how it is—in these chaotic times of war, true believers are few and far between to begin with. Though my current title is Archbishop, I don’t actually have many believers left. So I need money. Not only do I need to feed the children here, but I also want to help even more people.”
Hearing this request, Link rolled his eyes, leaning back in a tactical tilt while spreading his hands wide.
“Do I look like a rich man to you?”
Anduin looked at Link with utter disdain, not feeling the least bit surprised by his reaction.
“Alright, stop crying poverty here. I’m not asking for your money. I want you to help me brainstorm a way. When it comes to using shady or devious means to get money, I think you’re still very skilled at that.”
“You should’ve said so earlier! Money I don’t have, but methods? I’ve got plenty of those.”
Link spread his hands, beginning to help brainstorm a solution.
A moment later, a stroke of genius struck.
In his mind, he recalled a certain genius girl who excelled at magic.
First, he told Anduin to head back to the kitchen, grab a basket of eggs, and wait for him in the church courtyard.
Then, he went off to find Flamme, who was still locked in battle with her replication magic.
A few moments later, everyone gathered in the church courtyard.
At this moment, Flamme still had no idea what her master had called her over to do.
Link shot a glance at Flamme, pointing at the basket of eggs Anduin had brought over.
“Flamme, use that spell of yours that doesn’t cost a thing.”
Under the watchful eyes of Link and Anduin, Flamme began her magic debut.
First, she aimed her hand at the basket of eggs and activated the [Spell to Duplicate Items].
Before long, under the effect of the magic, the single basket of eggs turned into two baskets of eggs.
Seeing this, Anduin whispered to Link, “It seems your disciple has inherited your style of doing things.”
Link didn’t deny it in the slightest.
He raised a single finger, saying to Anduin, “This is only the first step of the plan: recruiting believers on a massive scale.”
“What do recruiting believers and these eggs have to do with each other?”
Anduin truly couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Trying to understand this seemed even harder than deciphering the magic within the sacred scriptures.
Link had no choice but to explain to him, “Haven’t you heard? Hand out an egg, and faith takes root; stop giving eggs, and faith hits zero.”
Hearing this, Anduin finally had a sudden flash of understanding.
Still, it was completely understandable that he hadn’t known about such things; when it came to talent in pulling off this sort of scheme, who could possibly match Link?
By the afternoon, the Iweizer Cathedral was packed to the brim with a massive, bustling crowd.
Standing at the highest vantage point of the church, Anduin looked down upon a scene he hadn’t witnessed in many years.
He turned to Link behind him and asked, “What do we do next? It’s rare to gather them all here—should we solicit donations from them?”
“Anduin, have you forgotten? We never scam the weak.”
“Then what did you have them come here for?” Anduin asked in confusion.
“To have them help spread word of something.”
“What kind of thing could possibly make them spread the word for you so obediently?” Anduin’s cold face was written all over with disbelief.
“A secret.”
“A secret?”
“If you want to spread something far and wide, you have to package it as a secret.”
Based on Link’s lifelong experience as a dragon, that was indeed how things worked.
And sure enough, matters unfolded exactly as Link had anticipated.
Those believers who had received their eggs to kickstart their faith took less than a single day to spread a secret across the entirety of Iweizer.
No one knew where the secret had originated, yet every single person would say, “This is something I heard with my own two ears—whatever you do, don’t tell anyone else!”
The secret went like this: In order to warn those who were sinful, the Goddess had sent down a plague as a divine admonition.
If one wished to atone for their sins, they could go to the Iweizer Cathedral, where Indulgences personally blessed by her hands were available.
As long as one prayed with a sincere heart, they could be spared from divine punishment.