I ignored the stares people gave me like I was some lunatic and calmly looked around the kitchen.
“This is my first time in the kitchen, but there are so many curious-looking things. Are these all cooking tools?”
I lightly tapped the knife stabbed into the cutting board and poked at some unfamiliar utensils.
Chef Kento didn’t seem too pleased with how casually I was handling the tools, though he couldn’t voice his complaints outright—thanks to my notorious reputation.
“Saintess, the knives are dangerous.”
Dietrich couldn’t take it anymore and stepped in to stop me.
He must also think I’m just here to nitpick and find fault.
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Alright, I’ll come back tonight—be sure to give me a proper guide then.”
I smiled sweetly and turned away in response to Kento’s brave offer.
Thinking I was leaving, I heard the kitchen staff sigh in relief.
But my real reason for coming here was only just beginning.
I activated the map system, which included all hidden passageways.
My target: the space right next to the food storage room.
Just like I’d seen in the novel, I tapped a section of the wall in a set rhythm.
Tok, todok, tok, tok, tododok.
“Wh-what are you doing?! Stop that!”
Kento shrieked behind me.
When I turned around, his face was white as a sheet as he stared at me in terror.
Wow, could you be any more obvious that you know exactly what’s there?
Click!
“Gasp! W-what is that?!”
“There’s a space like that in the kitchen?!”
The wall I tapped slid open to reveal a hidden passage.
The kitchen staff gasped in shock.
Though that shock quickly shifted focus.
“Wait, there’s something in there?”
A few pouches lay tucked inside the passage.
Dietrich, after exchanging a glance between me and Irik, stepped into the passage to check.
Chrrrrk.
The moment he loosened the drawstring, what spilled out was unmistakable: money.
A lot of it—an amount hard to come by in this impoverished temple.
“Oh my, how surprising! So much money hidden here! I just tapped the wall on a whim, and to think this would come out!”
Isn’t it amazing?
Beaming, I let out a delighted laugh and declared:
“It even looks like someone went out of their way to hide it. Was it embezzlement, perhaps?”
Dietrich’s face immediately hardened.
He’s quick-witted—he would have realized right away.
A hidden passage no one should know about, and bags of money stored inside.
And Kento, who clearly panicked when I began to uncover it.
Anyone could see it was suspicious.
“…Chef.”
Irik, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
His eyes, glaring sharply at Kento, were cold enough to make even me flinch.
Well, it’s no wonder. The man he’d entrusted with the temple’s meals had been stealing from their already meager funds.
“What explanation do you have for this?”
Wow. I didn’t know polite speech could sound this threatening.
“I-I don’t… I mean…”
“You’re not going to claim ignorance, are you? Your reaction when the Saintess opened the hidden passage was clearly not the reaction of someone who knew nothing.”
Exactly.
He practically screamed “Stop!” like a thief caught red-handed.
“I—I can explain! I’ll explain everything!”
“You better explain it thoroughly.”
Irik stepped forward toward the now-ashen-faced Kento.
He was much taller, and the way he loomed over Kento made the chef visibly shrink back.
“If you can’t provide a valid reason why a mere chef with no divine power knows of a secret passage, I’ll be forced to question you as the Head Priest responsible for maintaining the order of the Grand Temple.”
“I-I, uh…”
“And that… won’t be a very pleasant process.”
Irik, as graceful as ever, delivered the final blow.
“There’s also the option of handing you over to the Commander of the Temple Knights.”
The Commander—a figure even scarier than the Head Priest himself.
Especially in terms of physical strength.
The threat landed. Kento’s face turned a ghastly shade of blue.
“S-So, the thing is… It’s… It’s like this…”
Kento inched slowly toward the opened passage, seemingly ready to explain.
But at that exact moment, our eyes met—and something in his face changed.
“You… You! If it weren’t for you!”
He suddenly lunged at me, hands raised like he meant to strangle me.
Yes, me.
“Saintess!”
Irik and Dietrich both shouted and reached for me—trying to shield me.
But even though I’m far below their divine power, I can still take down a regular person.
Because I have the system.
【Activating skill: ‘Body Enhancement’.】
Thank God I unlocked this.
“Tsk. You wanted recognition that badly? Well, I can’t say no to such dedication. If the chef insists—then here’s your reward.”
Smiling, I extended my right hand.
Gathering all 5% of my divine power into my middle finger, I flicked him on the forehead.
CRACK!
A loud crack like a walnut being crushed echoed through the kitchen.
“Kugh—ghghgh…”
Kento didn’t even have time to scream. He staggered, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes until he finally rolled his eyes back and collapsed backwards with a thud.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Silence.
Everyone’s eyes darted between me and Kento’s foaming, unconscious body.
“H-Hiiiek!”
As Kento’s forehead visibly swelled with an alarming lump, the kitchen staff clung to one another in fear.
Hmm. If I leave things like this, my image might take another hit.
With a solemn expression, I raised both hands toward the unconscious Kento.
As if offering him a holy blessing.
“I offer my gratitude to the chef for preparing such delicious meals all this time. But now, you may rest peacefully.”
Perhaps moved by my heartfelt blessing, one of the clustered kitchen staff slowly collapsed to the floor.
“Head Priest, be glad! For us to gain this much money—it must surely be a sign of divine mercy!”
“…Well.”
“Now we can finally feed the acolytes a bit more. Isn’t that wonderful?”
I smiled radiantly at Irik.
In return, I received an overwhelming wave of uncomfortable stares.
* * *
While Dietrich sorted through the embezzled funds, Irik handed over the kitchen staff to the temple knights for questioning.
To find out whether anyone had helped Kento.
As I watched the servants leave with uneasy eyes, I made one request to the knights.
“Please don’t be too rough. They could all be innocent. Remember—they’re still our people until the truth comes out.”
The servants widened their eyes in shock—as if they hadn’t expected me to take their side.
Even the temple knights looked surprised.
All part of my plan to change my image.
“Saintess.”
Once everyone else had left and only Dietrich and I remained, Irik called me quietly.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
I expected him to start interrogating me about how I knew all this.
But he asked if I was hurt first.
“I think I hurt my finger a little.”
“There’s no need to go this far next time.”
It was a joke…
Still, Irik took my right hand and gently channeled divine power into it.
It was a healing ability I couldn’t use myself due to my low divine power.
A golden glow enveloped my finger.
Warm and soft—just like Irik himself.
Too bad he focused all the healing on my middle finger, so now it was the only one glowing brightly.
I couldn’t stand looking at my radiant middle finger anymore, so I quickly pulled my hand back.
“Could you explain the situation a little? How did you know about all of this?”
The secret passage’s location, the tapping code, even the existence of Kento’s stolen stash.
As I’m a fake saintess, Irik hadn’t told me about the secret passage, so he must’ve been especially puzzled.
But I had my excuse prepared—and I declared it boldly.
“It was a coincidence!”
I mean, I couldn’t exactly say I read it in a novel.
And Irik wouldn’t be able to press me too hard anyway—so I might as well bluff confidently!
“…Excuse me?”
“I’ve always had great instincts. Sometimes, I just get a feeling.”
Sure, I could come up with a more plausible lie…
But I wasn’t done here yet.
For now, this much would do.
Leaving a baffled Irik behind, I approached Dietrich.
“How much was it in total?”
“Ah, 9 gold and 87 silver.”
Dietrich clearly thought my story was absurd, but still answered dutifully.
100 silver made 1 gold, so that was just about 10 gold.
How much divine power would I gain if I offered that?
At least 1%, right?
【Your divine power increases by 0.01%.】
“…?”
Are you kidding me?!