Where exactly was the gold content in that garish gold decoration?
It lay in the fact that the Church and the royal family loved using it.
Astraea wasn’t particularly fond of the aesthetic sense of humans in this world.
Lucius’s plain white robe was acceptable, but Maximus’s blue armor was truly something else.
Well, except when Luo En wore it.
After excluding Luo En in her mind, Astraea silently sneered at the inexplicable preference for tacky gold displayed by the royal family and the Church.
Even the All-Father’s divine effects were gold in color. These humans were beyond saving.
But pulling her thoughts back to the present, Astraea was now facing a group of people who could decide the fate of the Kingdom. The damned All-Father had suddenly bestowed his blessing upon her without considering her feelings at all…
“Uh, please rise, my loyal subjects?”
The little elf watched the king, who had been bowing with his hand over his chest, his face turning dark, while the Pope, who had heard a woman’s voice, raised his head with a stiff expression.
Were there any other women in this room besides the two elves?
Unfortunately, what the Pope saw was exactly the scene he least wanted to see.
That short elf with the big chest was emanating a golden glow, and the All-Father’s presence was also radiating from her.
At that moment, the Pope felt it would have been better if Maximus had been the one glowing gold. But now he had already bowed his head, and in front of all these people, he had to make some gesture, right? Besides, the All-Father’s presence emanating from that elf could not be faked.
No matter how bold the Pope was, he wouldn’t dare distort divine will in front of the All-Father himself.
He couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Ah, Lady Saint.
But the Pope ignored this. He squeezed out a stiff smile. Watching the Pope, whose face looked like he was constipated, slowly rise, Astraea knew the Church was going to canonize her!
This was big news. The message spread from the communication arrays in the Royal Capital to all corners of the Kingdom, even reaching the distant Western Region.
The All-Father had revealed himself in the Royal Capital, personally purging the poison from the former Regent Duke’s body.
A wave of pilgrimage fervor surged through the Church’s branches across the land, and some fanatics even returned from the Expedition Front to make pilgrimages to the Royal Capital.
This had an even greater impact than the king’s previous return to power. And Astraea, at the center of this storm, sat listlessly in the Church’s dressing room. Dozens of nuns specially trained by the Church were bustling about, preparing the elf’s appearance.
Of course, the Pope hadn’t spread the news that the new Saint was an elf. Even the priests present that day had been placed under gag orders.
Are you kidding? If word got out about Astraea’s true race, wouldn’t the fanatics on the front lines rush back overnight and tear the Royal Capital’s Church apart?
The Pope’s original plan was to lock Astraea away entirely, using the pretext of the Saint’s seclusion to keep everyone from seeing her, but Lucius and Luo En had vetoed that approach.
Left with no other choice, the Pope settled for the next best option: finding a way to disguise Astraea as a human.
This disguise, of course, wasn’t like Astraea’s crude brute-force Disguise Magic. The nuns helping her had each mastered exceptional skills of their own.
The Pope had even called in Aiouwen specifically to add an extra layer of protection using elven magic.
“So, mmph… why did Maximus agree to that insane Pope… mmph…”
The little elf, her cheeks being freely squeezed and poked by two nuns inspecting their makeup work, spoke indistinctly.
Not a single person had opposed the Pope’s canonization. She really hadn’t expected that. A whole room full of people who could decide the fate of the Kingdom—what was wrong with humans? How could they pull off something this absurd?
Meanwhile, Aiouwen, under the wary gazes of two Church priests, cast a proper elven Disguise Magic on Astraea.
Now, no matter how you looked at Astraea, she appeared to be a human girl.
Her pointed elven ears were optically disguised into ordinary human ears by Aiouwen’s magic.
Even if her Magic Circuit malfunctioned, it wouldn’t matter. A micro backup array, drawn with special paint on the little elf’s ears, would automatically activate the moment it detected magic failure.
Beyond that, most of the nuns’ work was cosmetic.
They placed a laurel crown symbolizing the All-Father upon Astraea’s head. Even the collar she had refused to take off no matter what was decorated by the nuns.
At least it now looked more like a Neck Ring than a Collar.
As for the Q-version Elf Goddess Bell hanging from the front of the collar, that had the nuns stumped. No matter how they worked on it, it remained completely unchanged.
In the end, it wasn’t until Astraea retrieved the bell and golden light emanated from her that the bell finally changed its form.
The Goddess was still the Goddess, but her clothing had transformed into the traditional long robe of the Kingdom’s nuns. The Q-version Goddess’s pointed ears were hidden beneath a nun’s wimple, making it completely impossible to tell this was elven jewelry.
It was just that Astraea couldn’t shake the feeling that the Q-version Goddess’s expression looked somewhat reluctant.
“You agreed to it yourself, didn’t you?” Aiouwen said, irritated, reaching out to flick the little elf’s forehead.
The elf clutched her head, but her eyes sparkled. “Gold coins! Those were gold coins! As long as I’m the Saint, I’ll have endless gold coins!”
“Ouch! Well… they just offered too much!”
“Seriously!”
“Can’t you have some higher aspirations?”
Aiouwen sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead. She couldn’t figure out what kind of chaos had occurred in the Elven City-State to produce an elf as bizarre as Astraea. Did Astraea possess the legendary genes of a dragon?
The flat-chested elf stared at the size of Astraea’s bust, malicious speculation running through her mind.
“Your own mess, you clean it up yourself. I’m not sticking around.”
Her task done after casting the Disguise Magic, Aiouwen was immediately escorted out of the Church by a group of nervous priests, leaving Astraea, who had been hung out to dry, sighing in despair.
Astraea was just about to collapse ungracefully onto the dressing table, but she quickly found even that small liberty being taken away.
“Ahem.“
An elderly nun holding a discipline ruler pushed open the door.
“Lady Saint, I am the nun responsible for teaching you etiquette.”
The old nun spoke dryly, not even bothering to give Astraea a proper look.
Astraea felt her voice sounded like two dry rags being rubbed vigorously together.
Smack!
“That hurts!”
Before the little elf could finish her thought, she immediately felt something whip across her backside. After yelping in surprise, she realized the old nun was already standing right beside her.
The ruler in the old nun’s hand was still trembling slightly, clearly the source of the blow she’d just received.
This nun had moved from the door to her side and struck her at a speed she couldn’t even perceive! Astraea’s heart raced with shock. This seemingly ordinary old nun…
“Lady Saint, etiquette lessons begin now. First, sit properly.”
“Ow!”
“No unnecessary sounds. You are the face of the Church!”
“As the All-Father’s representative, how can you be so weak!”
“Ow ow ow ow!”
“Wh-what did I do wrong this time?!”
“My apologies, my hand slipped.”
This woman was definitely hitting her on purpose because she didn’t like her!
As the old nun stoically withdrew her ruler, Astraea, tears streaming down her face, gazed up at the night sky.
The Canonization Ceremony was set for two months later. Astraea had never felt her life so bleak.
After being tormented all day by the old nun, Astraea only wanted to throw herself into Luo En’s arms for comfort.
“Luo En~”
Spotting the familiar figure at the doorstep, Astraea excitedly lunged and buried herself in that warm embrace.
Luo En caught the little elf steadily, then smiled and ruffled the head of his beloved.
Astraea had been tormented all day, but he hadn’t gotten off easy either. As Astraea’s guardian knight and the future Chief Paladin of the Saint, Luo En had been dragged by Lucius into intense sparring sessions all day long.
Under Lucius’s relentless coaching, Luo En’s improvement was remarkable. From being cut down before he could even draw his sword in the grass to now barely matching Lucius’s sword-drawing speed, his achievement was nothing short of impressive.
Even Lucius himself admitted that Luo En was exceptional knight material.
“Luo En, look! The red marks that horrible old nun left on me!”
Astraea rolled up her sleeve to show Luo En the traces of abuse on her arm.
But when Astraea went to show him, she discovered those marks had vanished without a trace.
Confused, the little elf refused to believe it. She dragged Luo En inside and felt herself all over, only to find her skin perfectly smooth, without a single red mark. Fear of the old nun welled up in Astraea’s heart again. So that’s why her hitting technique had felt so strange—it was all leading to this.
She could hit without leaving a mark, which meant Astraea couldn’t even cry to Luo En about it. Huffing in frustration, Astraea could only curl up in Luo En’s arms and refuse to leave.
She was angry, and the consequences would be severe. If she couldn’t sleep holding Luo En tonight, she’d never recover!
“Ahem, Astraea, I haven’t showered yet.” Seeing the little elf clinging to him like an octopus, Luo En felt somewhat embarrassed.
After intense training all day, he was filthy. Even if Astraea didn’t mind, he minded for himself.
Though he did enjoy the soft feel of the little elf, he had to admit.
Without a second thought, Astraea blurted out, “Hmph, then just shower with me.”
“Huh?“
This time Astraea paused for half a second, but then she licked her lips and looked up at Luo En. “I said, why don’t you just shower with me! Hehe~ You little minnow Luo En, you can’t possibly fail at something this simple, can you?”
Seeing the small-framed but big-hearted Astraea teasing him like this, Luo En felt he couldn’t call himself a normal man if he didn’t do something.
Something was getting hard. It must be his fist, right? Anyway, let the battle begin!