Atester City.
A city both prosperous and poor.
Its prosperity comes from its location on the border, serving as a hub of trade with foreign races, but its poverty stems from the ever-present threat of war, no one knows when it might break out, and as a frontline city, there’s no way to pour money into its development.
The Inner City is still somewhat decent.
The Outer City appears rather desolate.
Other than the magnificent Great City Walls, the rest of the city’s buildings are practically worthless.
Aililan pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Bishop Wilma, if I remember correctly, each of the Seven Virtues Saints has her own land. What would you think if I chose Atester City?”
Wilma was startled, quickly shaking her head.
“Why would someone as noble as you choose to suffer here? The rich lands near the Holy Land are where you truly belong.”
Aililan smiled and said, “I think Atester City isn’t bad at all! It’s a place where different peoples intersect, and if we develop trade here, it will soon prosper. Then I could help the Chanting Church hold this city.”
Wilma opened her mouth, hesitating before saying, “But do you know, Atester is the Land of Four Wars?”
She seemed to want to say more, but stopped.
Aililan simply waved her hand.
Signaling that she already knew this. But the Land of Four Wars had another hidden trait: it was the geographical center of all crossroads. Such a place could either become the city the world covets, or be leveled by the fires of war.
“Her Highness the Saintess, you.”
“Don’t worry, Bishop Wilma. I’m just mentioning it offhand for now.”
Aililan smiled gently.
She didn’t bring up the matter again.
Gradually, the two walked into the slums.
Here, people wore tattered clothes; anyone with a roof over their head was lucky. Most just made do with a broken shack.
Aililan saw a child have his bones broken for stealing a piece of black bread.
Aililan saw someone, sick, carried by their family to a corner of the street to await death.
Aililan saw slave traders picking and choosing, a bag of wheat in exchange for a boy who had just come of age.
Even in such poverty,
Violence and gangs still thrived.
Aililan felt a heavy gloom settle over her, but before she could ask, Wilma hurried to explain, “Her Highness the Saintess, Emile Cathedral has done its best. We regularly hand out relief grain, and we treat those with serious illness.”
“But you know as well as I do.”
“There’s just no way to save them all.”
Aililan nodded slightly.
Money for Emile Cathedral didn’t just blow in with the wind, being able to lend a hand was already quite something.
The sun gradually set in the west.
Aililan still hadn’t found the person she was looking for. Reality wasn’t like a game, where you could just click somewhere and show up at someone’s door.
The slums here had a population in the tens of thousands, at least the size of a new district in a county back in another world. Finding someone wasn’t easy.
Night fell.
Arrangements by Wilma had
Aililan staying in the Atester City Lord’s manor, and the next day, she met with the main city officials.
Before she fully understood the situation, Aililan wasn’t going to rush
into governing Atester City.
After meeting in the morning,
She went to the slums in the afternoon.
For this, she had studied some basic medical knowledge, enough to treat simple illnesses among the poor, and if there were cases she truly couldn’t help, she could secretly use Holy Light Healing.
She even invited Feng Aotian, the Huangmao, along. At first, that Huangmao was eager, thinking he’d gotten a chance to get close to the Saintess. But within just a few days, he lost all interest in the rundown slums.
Watching the Saintess disappear into the slums,
Vice-captain Pela snuggled up to Fina Nisi, making a scornful remark, “Honestly, I think she’s just got a severe case of Mother Teresa syndrome.”
Fina Nisi pinched the flesh on Pela’s waist with a serious expression.
“Don’t talk nonsense! My adorable Chastity Saintess is the kindest girl in all the world. She always practices her noble ideals with her own hands. That’s the real reason I’m so drawn to her, I can hardly wait to have her.”
“Then why don’t you just eat her up, Captain? Even if the whole Chastity Knights show up, you could take the Saintess they all serve right in front of them. I can’t wait to see what kind of faces those knights would make.”
“You don’t get it. What I want is for her to willingly offer herself to me.”
“Captain, aren’t you a little too gentle?”
“You don’t know just how gentle I can be?”
At those words, Pela’s eyes instantly turned sultry.
If Aililan were here, she’d probably mutter to herself: A woman who’s already lost her own shape is nothing but a plush ball that’s lost her soul.
But for Aililan, getting rid of that troublesome Huangmao was a good thing.
For various reasons, Aililan hadn’t shown any Light Arts, that would only attract more trouble. She just used the simple medical knowledge she’d learned to keep treating and saving people in the slums.
Gradually, she built up a bit of a reputation.
One day, right after finishing a check-up in a house, she discovered her simple Medical Kit, left outside, had been stolen.
Renata’s blood pressure shot through the roof. She couldn’t help but rage, “What are these vile people thinking? Saintess Aililan works so hard to heal them, and they even steal her Medical Kit!”
Rose Knight Melisanis also nodded in agreement, “They don’t know how to be grateful at all.”
Aililan only smiled.
She stopped the two from ranting in anger.
“You don’t get it. Poverty is a sickness, too. Even poor couples have a hundred woes!”
“Maybe someone’s family was in desperate straits, couldn’t afford medicine, and thought there were life-saving remedies in the kit. That’s why they stole it!”
Aililan took a deep breath.
Then smiled sweetly again.
She patted the two on the shoulder and said with a playful laugh, “Let’s look at it another way, because the kit was stolen, maybe it ended up saving someone else.”
Renata felt both helpless and full of admiration.
“You really are… too kind.”
Melisanis, whose eyes had been angry before, softened as she looked at Aililan. An intense urge to protect surged in her heart.
“Don’t forget, Renata Knight, the Saintess’s kindness is exactly why we serve and protect her, isn’t it?”
Kindness is king… no, it’s the reason to be loyal to our Saintess!
But soon, the situation took a sharp turn.
A gang from the slums had set their sights on the poor Saintess Aililan. Among them stood a Doctor, rumor had it Aililan had stolen quite a bit of his business.
“Saintess Aililan, please step behind me.” Renata signaled she could finish them all single-handedly.
And she was just looking for a reason!
As the fight was about to break out,
Suddenly, “Um, are you the new doctors everyone’s been talking about? Looks like you’re in some trouble!” A soft, timid, fearful, and shy voice came.
The girl was half a head shorter than Aililan, with extraordinarily beautiful white hair. She looked thin and wore clothes patched over and over.
Her eyes were covered with a black cloth, it was clear she’d been blind for a long time.
And yet, no matter how tattered her clothes or how much dirt smeared her face, the little bit of her features that peeked through were strikingly lovely.
But the most unforgettable thing was the air of nobility that couldn’t be concealed by appearance, an aura that didn’t belong in the slums at all!
Aililan’s eyes lit up.
“Found you.”
The white-haired blind girl, Theresa.
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