The morning sunlight shone on Celia’s face, heralding the start of another beautiful day.
At least, it should have.
But in reality, Celia was woken up by noise.
Dong dong dong.
Still drowsy, Celia turned over, wrapping herself tightly in the quilt, trying to block out the disturbance.
Dong dong dong.
Celia buried her head deeper under the covers.
Dong dong dong.
“Making such a racket so early in the morning!”
Fuming, Celia stormed to her door and flung it open, not even caring about the messy tuft of green hair on her head.
“Elent, are you tearing the house down?!”
The noise stopped abruptly.
Celia stared blankly at the scene before her.
The old wooden fence had vanished, replaced by a wall made of solid logs.
Atop the wall, several rounds of thorny brambles were wrapped around it in a crazed fashion.
The whole backyard was sealed up like an iron barrel—not even a breeze, let alone a monster, could get in.
The sunlight was blocked outside, and the once-verdant vegetable patch was now cloaked in shadow.
And the culprit—the apprentice hero Elent—stood shirtless atop the wall, hefting a log thicker than his waist, and waved at Celia.
“Elent.”
“Good morning, Priestess.”
“Huh?” Celia hadn’t recovered from the shock when Elent continued:
“I thought it over, the previous defenses were too weak. Since I received that revelation, I figured I’d upgrade the fortifications a bit.”
“So, what do you think? Even if a two-headed Demon Wolf comes back to life, it’ll never get in now!”
Celia stared expressionlessly at the ugly wooden wall blocking all her sunlight, then glanced at Elent’s eager-to-be-praised face.
Her fists clenched.
She didn’t know about the Demon Wolf, but Celia was certain her dreams of a peaceful retirement had just been shut out.
“Elent.”
Celia took a deep breath, working to steady her voice, then spoke:
“Look at this shadow.”
“Shadow? What about it? Isn’t it cool and refreshing?” Elent was oblivious to the gravity of the problem.
“Fool.”
Celia shook her head, grief and indignation etched in her features.
“All things grow by the sun. Sunlight is the reflection of Saint Celery’s grace in the mortal realm. You built a tall wall, yes, it keeps out monsters—but it also keeps out the blessing of Saint Celery!”
Celia pointed at the wilted Golden Potato Seedlings underfoot, which looked a bit droopy from the lack of light, even though they’d only just been planted and hadn’t sprouted yet.
“Look at these poor children. They yearn for light, and you, you have strangled their faith with your own hands!”
“Strangled their faith?!”
Elent looked at the withered seedlings, an inexplicable sense of guilt welling up inside.
He had wanted to protect this place, but had he become a sinner who blocked the grace of Saint Celery?
“I’ll take it down right away!”
Elent panicked, frantically dismantling the logs he’d only just hammered into place.
“Take it down slowly, there’s no rush.”
Celia called out behind him, then contentedly sat back in the shade under the porch.
Good, looks like her sunbathing plans for today were safe.
“Oh, right, after you’re done, make sure to take care of that pile of trash over there, too.”
Celia pointed at the heap of stinking Demon Wolf corpses in the corner.
“That’s a trophy,” Elent corrected her.
“It can’t be sold and it can’t be eaten, so what’s wrong with calling it trash?” Celia replied with righteous confidence.
“But, that’s a rare monster! Its pelt could fetch ten gold coins at the market!”
How many gold coins?
Celia’s ears twitched as she rapidly calculated the exchange rate in her mind.
Ten gold coins could buy several wagonloads of fine flour, five tins of Baker City’s best red tea, and countless fresh ingredients.
In fact, if she spent carefully, it’d be enough to repair the church’s leaky roof, and even buy a new Magic Stove for the kitchen that didn’t need a fire!
And beyond the coins, this was a C-ranked monster!
Having run wild in the Black Forest for years, the muscle fibers of this wolf must be dense and elastic.
The thigh meat would be perfect sliced thin for charcoal grilling with cumin—sure to be delicious.
The ribs, marbled with fat, would be great braised or stewed.
Even the fearsome-looking wolf head—if she picked off the meat and made aspic…
How could this be a monster? Clearly, this was Celia’s benefactor!
“But then again, all things have souls.”
“Though it committed many evils in life, if it could now improve the church’s meals…”
“No, if it can contribute to the church’s finances, that would count as atonement.”
That was close, she almost slipped up.
“I-is that so?” Elent felt something was off, but couldn’t put his finger on it.
“But the problem is, it’s tainted by too much evil energy. With that stench, not only could we not sell it, we couldn’t even eat the meat.”
“That’s true, meat tainted by Abyssal Aura is poisonous.” Elent nodded regretfully.
“So we can only skin it, and the meat has to be buried.”
“Bury it? What a waste.”
Last night’s Golden Potatoes were delicious, but they were just vegetables. For a carnivore like Celia, a meal without meat was incomplete.
If the only reason she couldn’t eat it was the evil energy, couldn’t she just wash it off?
Celia’s mind worked fast.
Without hesitation, she pulled out the Holy Codex.
“Priestess, what are you doing?” Elent grew nervous at Celia’s battle-ready stance.
“I’m going to give it a Divine Cleansing.”
“Divine Cleansing?”
Before Elent could react, Celia had already raised her hands high and began to chant:
“With this Purifying Light, cleanse all filth and evil from the world!”
A pillar of light descended from the sky, blasting the wolf corpse.
Elent was forced back by the wave of divine power, his eyes brimming with awe and tears.
“So moving! To prevent this monster from decaying with its sins, the Priestess would expend such vast magic to purify its soul?”
“Is this the mercy of the clergy?!”
In that dazzling radiance, Elent seemed to see the soul of the Demon Wolf ascending to heaven in peace.
When the light faded—
The corpse, which had previously been shrouded in black miasma and stench, was now spotless.
Its pelt gleamed as if freshly conditioned, and the meat beneath was a tempting, bright red, giving off a faint aroma of Saint Celery’s sacred herbs—rivaling even the finest wagyu beef.
“All right, it’s clean now.”
Celia turned to the still-moved-to-tears Elent and continued:
“Hero, your job now is to skin and butcher it.”
“For lunch I want charcoal-grilled wolf chops, lots of cumin, easy on the spice.”
“And, as a reward for your hard work just now, you’re allowed to eat the first piece.”
“…”
Elent’s tears of emotion froze on his face.
As expected, he really shouldn’t have expected anything else from the Priestess.