"Though the meal is lacking, it’s not as if you didn’t already know that—so why were you so shocked today, of all days?"
The first day Ordell had arrived at the Grand Temple of the Sun God, she’d been horrified by the state of the dining hall and immediately ordered that her meals be brought only to her room.
Since then, in the past two years, she hadn’t set foot in the dining hall even once, so she likely hadn’t seen what anyone else was eating.
But that doesn’t mean she was unaware.
She had personally given the command to cut down the meals of the priests so her own food quality could be raised.
And now she’s acting shocked?
"Did she really not expect it to be this bad?"
Come to think of it, while Ordell used to scream a lot, she had never once laid a hand on the children.
Maybe she was weak when it came to kids.
Could she truly be trying to change?
Was it not just a momentary whim, but genuine remorse?
Before the thought of “no way” could even form, the hope that maybe—just maybe—it was real change flared up first.
"……."
Irik was thinking the same thing.
Ordell, who had abruptly ceased her indulgences and tyranny.
He’d already been shaken when she even refused the saintess’ seat—which, fake as it may have been, still used to satisfy her vanity.
But not even that compared to what she’d shown today.
She’d looked genuinely saddened by the children’s meager meals and the desolate state of the garden.
He hadn’t seen her cry, but it had definitely looked like sorrow.
And really, it was all because of her excessive indulgences in the first place.
"……Is she going to say she’s leaving again?"
That would be a disaster.
Even a tyrannical saintess was better than having none at all—without one, the Grand Temple couldn’t continue to exist.
Besides, misconduct from saints or saintesses wasn’t exactly rare.
The problem was that Ordell was a fake, and the Grand Temple had no money to support her extravagance.
But if they lost their saintess altogether, the other temples would pounce on the opportunity to completely destroy the Grand Temple of the Sun God.
Each temple competed over the number of believers.
To strengthen the god they served, they’d try to absorb the weaker temples. That’s why a saintess had to be present no matter what.
"What?! What do you mean? Are you saying the saintess said she wants to leave?!"
Dietrich, having overheard Irik’s murmur, nearly exploded.
"No. That’s not going to happen—so don’t go around repeating that anywhere."
Irik, who had no intention of letting Ordell leave, shut Dietrich’s mouth firmly.
If he were going to let her go, he wouldn’t have endured the humiliation from Count Kiris in the first place.
No matter what it took, he would keep Ordell here.
* * *
"Reward acquired."
As soon as I returned to the bedroom, I claimed the reward for accepting the quest.
【‘The Sun that Crawled Back from Death’ bestows their first blessing upon the user who has become their saintess. User’s divine power increases.】
Jackpot!
Golden light poured from the air and wrapped around my body like warm sunlight.
I clapped my hand over my mouth.
An increase in divine power… How much would it rise?
At least 10%, right?
Even that would be a big improvement from now—!
【Current Divine Power: 5%】
"……."
I bit my lip at the 3% blessing.
Right. Our Sun God was broke.
If they had a lot to give, they wouldn’t have appointed a fake like me as their saintess in the first place.
【User’s divine power has reached 5%. Skill ‘Body Enhancement’ is now unlocked.】
"Ah."
Did the Sun God hear me curse?
I’d been wondering how to even use divine power.
It seemed each time divine power reached a new threshold, a skill unlocked. I’d need to work hard to build it up.
The problem was how?
"Since I get divine power from the Sun God, the only way is to increase the number of believers…."
There are two main ways to increase followers.
One is for a saint or saintess to show overwhelming power and attract people.
The other is to serve people and make them revere the god.
"Neither of those are realistic."
I hit a wall right from the start.
With only 5% divine power, the first option was clearly impossible. The second was tricky too.
The Sun God’s domain is healing.
The temple priests are specialized in healing, but due to the sorry state of our god, none of them can perform strong healing.
Even alchemists’ potions outperform us.
Naturally, people flock to the alchemists instead of the temple, and that’s how we got even poorer.
"System, is there any way to strengthen the Sun God’s power other than increasing followers?"
【Search complete. One alternative method confirmed.】
"There is?! What is it?"
【Make offerings.】
"……?"
Offerings?
As in, voluntarily offering money or valuables to the god…?
So in short, they want me to hand over money?
Wow. You reincarnate me into a penniless body, and now you’re asking for cash?
"Hah. I can’t just take back the money for feeding the kids, so I guess I’ll have to donate all the money from selling that blue dress…."
I’m not leaving the temple anyway, so what good is a secret stash?
I might as well donate it and raise my divine power.
But only up to 40%.
I have no intention of becoming a real saintess. I just need to protect myself and unlock the heavenly secrets system.
What else is a real saintess going to do in this world besides fight enemies?
So I’ll continue being a fake saintess until the end.
"Good, perfect. Then, before earning money, the first thing I need to do is…"
Clean up the inside of the Grand Temple.
Even the poor have corruption.
And that’s my specialty—as a former police officer.
* * *
I returned to the dining hall for lunch.
I was a little worried people might freak out when they saw my face, but I had no choice.
They’d be seeing me regularly from now on—they’d just have to get used to it.
"……."
"……."
"……."
As soon as I stepped inside, a cold silence greeted me, and it made me hesitate for a moment…
But I steeled myself.
"Welcome, Saintess."
At least Irik welcomed me.
Following his guidance, I took the head seat and glanced around the table.
Not just the priests, but even the apprentices and attendants had gone pale and lowered their heads.
The maids and servants waiting on them looked equally grim.
It was an awkward silence—but I kept my expression composed.
I would show them. Show them the new me.
"Here it is."
Irik personally set the food down in front of me.
Just as I’d requested—it was the same soup everyone else had.
A thin, watery soup with no meat in sight.
"……Are you really okay with this?"
"What’s there not to be okay about? I’m eating the same as everyone else."
I started eating right away.
It didn’t look great, but surprisingly, it tasted fine.
Maybe Ordell had a picky palate, but back in my past life, I’d often gone hungry—so for me, this was perfectly satisfying.
"It’s delicious."
As I continued eating without hesitation, I could sense Irik’s subtle relief.
Unlike him, Dietrich was openly staring at me with wide, horrified eyes.
When I slurped down the rest of the soup straight from the bowl, he looked like his eyes were about to pop out.
"Now that I think about it, I’ve been served delicious meals all this time, but I never once praised the head chef."
As I set the bowl down and said that, Irik gave me a puzzled look.
"Shall I summon the chef for you?"
"No. I’ll go to the kitchen myself—might as well take a look while I’m at it."
"Pardon?"
Irik seemed startled, but I stood up and headed straight for the kitchen.
Irik and Dietrich hurried after me.
"Wh-what do we do?"
"Should we stop her…?"
Voices of concern floated from behind me.
They probably thought I was going to nitpick and find fault in the kitchen—but just wait.
They were about to be in for a shock.
BANG!
I flung the kitchen door open, and Chef Kento—his brown beard scruffy and unkempt—along with the kitchen staff, all turned to me with startled eyes.
"Wh-what brings the Saintess and the Head Priest to such a humble place…?"
"It’s nothing serious. The meal today was so satisfying that I thought I’d offer my compliments."
Is this… sarcasm? Is she roasting us in a roundabout way…?
Their expressions clearly betrayed what they were thinking.