“Sorry, I’m not interested in that condition. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”
Why am I the one who has to go defeat the Demon King again? Before crossing over, I already went through that long, annoying main storyline with the Initial Hero.
Now I have to do it all over again, and there’s no skipping this time!
Truth decisively refused and once again pushed open the door leading to the central area of the church, but Bazelle hurriedly called out:
“I’m not talking about conditions, but benefits!”
Joining the Hero’s Party is the lifelong dream of nearly every adventurer.
If the Demon King is successfully defeated, everyone in that team’s names will be recorded in the annals of history, celebrated for a thousand years.
Who could possibly refuse such a chance to be immortalized?
Truth could…
Bazelle now realized that the Ninth Saintess truly knew nothing. Today, it was probably impossible to negotiate with her smoothly. Better to let the clan chief try instead.
But before reporting back, at least he needed to find out what exactly the Ninth Saintess wanted, so he could explain it properly:
“Alright, since Your Holiness isn’t interested in the Space Pendant or joining the Hero’s Party, may I ask what exactly you want? Our Sun Family sincerely wishes to befriend you.”
“Is that so…? Well, actually, the first thing I want to know is the coordinates of the Scourge Fire Meteor Sky Island. Can you help me get them?”
There wasn’t much news about any disasters around Deya City, but since someone was actively offering to run errands, Truth reluctantly decided to ask.
The coordinates of Firefall Island? Hearing this, Bazelle immediately fell silent. He hadn’t expected the Ninth Saintess’ request to be… so cheap?!
The coordinates of Firefall Island? You could easily find some adventurer in the royal capital and get them to buy it for a bit of Gold Coins!
Now Bazelle suddenly felt an urge to retract that exceptional-grade Space Pendant — giving it to Truth felt like a waste.
It was like inviting someone to a grand Manchu-Han banquet only for them to turn away without even hearing about it and eat a bowl of snail noodles instead.
Taking a deep breath, Bazelle cautiously asked:
“If I help you obtain the recent travel route of Firefall Island, would you consider our Sun City’s sincere invitation?”
“No problem. I’ll consider it.”
Truth replied casually, just “considering” for now. Maybe for decades, even. But if the new Hero kept pestering her to join his team…
Truth wouldn’t mind sneaking off to kill the Demon King herself. Let’s see how they’d manage to defeat him then!
After exchanging a few polite words, Bazelle, having grasped Truth’s general personality and level of understanding, disappeared into the shadows. Truth finally pushed open the door.
As the two-meter-high wooden door gently swung open, the lively central area of the church instantly fell silent.
Everyone, including Tia, turned to look at Truth, who had just revealed half her body from behind the door.
Immediately, except for Tia, everyone solemnly knelt halfway and bowed deeply to the Ninth Saintess.
They were all dressed magnificently, mostly local or visiting dignitaries of Deya City:
“Greetings to Your Holiness, the Saintess!”
“Uh… no need to bow so low, just a regular greeting?” Truth said softly to Tia beside her. The dignitaries looked puzzled but then stood up.
No need for such deep bows? Shouldn’t they reply with something like “Honored Greetings”? Truth felt it was a little odd for the Saintess to say that, but whatever, just being able to see the Saintess was enough.
Then came the usual otherworldly ritual of gift-giving. Compared to Truth’s old world, this otherworld was far more blatant. Maybe this was what they called “simplicity.”
“Your Holiness, I come from the Muttro Family. This is a token of our family’s respect.”
“I’m Lyman, the director of Deya Bank. Here is the most precious Golden Lion Coin from our bank…”
“I’m President Edwin of the Adventurers’ Association. I brought this for Your Holiness…”
……
“So, may I accept their gifts?” Truth whispered to Tia.
“It’s best not to refuse. They just want to get on your good side for now, and if you reject them, they might try other means.”
“If it were just exchanging for more valuable gifts, that’d be fine. But if some fools resorted to extreme methods to flatter you—like kneeling outside the church day and night praising you—that would quickly ruin your reputation.”
“If you shoo them away, you’d earn a bad name for being unkind to the faithful. If you accepted, it’d be even more troublesome. People would think you’re falling for their tricks…”
So troublesome. Do I really have to reveal my preferences to them? Truth looked at the piling gifts, all tagged with “Gift from XX Family.”
They were all fine-looking clothes or rare magical items, none of which interested her much.
Wait, maybe now was the chance to get them to find evolution materials for Suna? After some thought, Truth cleared her throat and said to the crowd:
“Actually, I’m interested in researching all kinds of strange materials, like Red Serpent Fangs, Ghostfire Stone Fragments, Lava Drakel Reverse Scales, Indomitable Fiery Bugs…”
Since gifts could be openly given, then she could openly make requests, right?
So Truth listed all the evolution materials Suna needed, from low to mid-tier. As she finished listing twelve materials, the first to react had already rushed out of the church.
The next second, most people inside the church followed suit!
Within five minutes, all the auction houses and Black Markets in Deya City were flooded with dignitaries, all with the same demands: the twelve materials Truth had mentioned!
It was clear these nobles genuinely wanted to improve themselves…
“Tia, from now on you handle negotiations with them. This will probably be very annoying.” Truth dumped all the Saintess’s future work on Tia, who frowned slightly.
“What do you mean by ‘probably annoying’ and then just hand it over to me? Get lost! I’m not the Saintess; I can’t make those decisions…”
“I can speak well of you in front of the Hermit.”
“The Saintess is right!”
Tia immediately smiled in satisfaction and then added:
“But you still have to attend tonight’s meeting. It’s a high-level conference of Deya City, where you need to decide the city’s future direction.”
“One meeting is fine. Oh, and here—take this and raise it.” Truth tossed the Dragon Egg she’d been holding into Tia’s arms. Tia nearly dropped it in surprise.
“A Dragon Egg? For me to raise?!”
“Good luck.”
“No, I can’t afford to raise dragons! Besides, didn’t that Fire Dragon give it to you? Shouldn’t you be the one to…”
“The Law Enforcement Bureau requests an audience with Your Holiness!”
Suddenly, a voice from outside the church interrupted Tia’s excuse. With Truth’s permission, several enforcers entered, escorting a twin-tail girl handcuffed at the wrists—it was Rachel.
Rachel looked very displeased. She said nothing upon reaching Truth. An enforcer explained:
“We caught her at the city gate. Before Your Holiness’ Divine Selection Ceremony began, she had been spreading all sorts of vicious rumors about you to mislead the faithful!”
“Oh? What exactly did she say?”
“She said Your Holiness is two-faced, loving nothing more than trampling on others’ dignity, utterly unworthy to be Saintess. She also claimed you would surely make a fool of yourself during the Divine Selection Ceremony. In short, she has been defaming you constantly.”
“We wanted to arrest her from the start, but because she’s a Demon Hunter and protected by the Sixth Saintess, we waited until you broke all the rumors during the ceremony before bringing her here for your judgment!”
Defaming me? Interesting… Truth narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Rachel, who looked guilty and dared not meet her gaze.
Rachel never expected someone like Truth could summon a Fire Dragon during the Divine Selection Ceremony and awe everyone, especially without the Sixth Saintess’s help.
She had thought Truth would embarrass herself easily.
Had the Goddess not noticed Rachel was unfit to be a Saintess? What Saintess would have to kneel naked and apologize, let alone be humiliated?!
Or did Truth’s acting fool even the Goddess? That shouldn’t be possible…
Though many questions arose, Rachel’s immediate goal was to either escape or gain Truth’s forgiveness. Now that she was the Ninth Saintess, maybe she could act a little in front of the faithful?
Like granting her a pardon to show her noble, selfless character.
Soon, Truth made a quick decision about Rachel’s fate and waved her hand:
“Take her to the marketplace and behead her!”
Sorry, the second trial upholds the original verdict.