23. Mara’s Counterattack
Mara was hard-pressed by Mintil, but she persevered, never once giving up on winning the game.
A force to be reckoned with, she didn’t give up in the face of adversity.
“It’s okay! The heroine will definitely have a happy ending! As long as I follow the scenario, everything will surely work out! If the game’s events don’t happen, I can make them happen myself!”
Mara, who was mentally resilient, changed her stance from passive to active.
Taking advantage of the memory from her previous life, Mara aimed for a come-from-behind victory.
“Let’s see. In the game, after Eleonora was condemned at the party, the duke family abandoned her. As a result, Eleonora teamed up with the Church of the Goddess to summon the fire dragon.”
…However, as things stood, Eleonora wouldn’t even come close to the Church of the Goddess. Mara thought to herself, if she had the backing of someone as powerful as the king, there was nothing to be afraid of!
“I’ll apply to the church! If I become a saint, I can deliver Eleonora straight to the guillotine.”
In the first place, making an enemy of Eleonora was synonymous with turning against Lydian.
Nevertheless, Mara wasn’t particularly afraid.
At the end of the day, Lydian was still human. Compared to the Demon King, he was nothing. So why should she be afraid of him? Not to mention, in order to defeat the Demon King, the power of the saint was required.
“I suppose he terrified me a bit back then. Still, without my power, he won’t be able to defeat the Demon King. I’m sure he’ll come crying to me later anyway.”
‘Pfft!’ Mara seemed proud.
She jumped into action and immediately went to the Pope of the Goddess’ palace.
Meanwhile, at said palace, the Pope was stuffing his mouth with his favorite baked goods and moistening his throat with honey water.
“Phew. There seems to be no sign of the Demon King’s resurrection. Thanks to that, I got busier.”
Lydian and Eleonora were extremely popular. In turn, dissatisfaction with the domineering and profiteering Church of the Goddess was growing. The Pope was desperate to put out the flame.
“…What blasphemy. To neglect paying a donation despite having received the blessings of Goddess Leticia.”
One of his close aides agreed.
The income of the Pope was tax revenue from the Papal States and donations collected through blackmail. But now, that was a thing of the past as many people refused to donate, saying they didn’t believe in Goddess Leticia.
As the Pope and the others discussed their dissatisfaction with the current situation, a bishop rushed into the room.
“—The saint has appeared!!”
“W-what!? Is that true!?”
The Pope and his entourage stood up all at once.
“She is aware of the existence of the Holy Sword, Levygadar, which is only known by the church. She even says that she can defeat the Demon King!”
The Holy Sword, Levygadar, was a relic of the Church of the Goddess. The sword was embedded in the black ore, Valfarion. Once, a bunch of muscular men tried to pull it out, to no avail.
According to the legend, not only did the sword has the power to exorcize demons, it was also the only weapon that could defeat the Demon King.
The reason why the existence of the blade was kept obscure was to hide it from the Demon King himself. The secret could also pose as a trump card against the Demon King’s absolute power.
“Hmm…. If she knows about the existence of Levygadar, it’s not that far-fetched. All right, escort her to the holy shrine. Let’s see if she can draw the holy sword.”
Thus, in front of the Pope and other dignitaries, Mara successfully pulled out the holy sword. She was still the heroine, after all.
“Now, Pope, will you believe that I’m the saint?”
As Mara puffed her chest, the Pope was trembling with joy.
“Your attitude and manners leave so many to be desired, but you managed to pull out the holy sword!! Welcome, Saint Mara!!”
The Pope was overjoyed and praised Mara, and arranged for her to live in luxurious rooms complete with servants.
“Although my plans went a bit awry, I became a saint! Things are progressing smoothly! Now all I have to do is defeat the Demon King, condemn Eleonora, and marry Lydian to unlock the Hidden Route!”
Mara’s objective was to marry a certain character who could only be unlocked after clearing the game. Lydian was cool, but he wasn’t her bias, per se.
“I sure hope the Demon King will appear soon!!”
Mara waited for the Demon King invasion.
However, it wasn’t that simple. No matter how long she waited, the Demon King never came.
A month or two had passed since Mara joined the church.
After three months, she began to receive complaints from some members of the church.
“Is Lady Mara really a saint? She neglects charity works, and no longer prays to Goddess Leticia.”
“Recently, she doesn’t even step out of her room.”
The servant sighed with a troubled look on his face.
The Pope and others also began to have doubts.
“…Strange. Is she really the saint of the prophecy.”
After five months had passed, the Pope went to speak directly with Mara.
“Since you’ve pulled out the Holy Sword Levygadar, you’re a saint. However, not only there was no demon invasion, you also neglected your duties as the saint?”
“How am I supposed to know when the Demon King will invade!? Anyway, I’m sure he’ll come, so just be patient about it!”
“No, no, I can’t do this anymore! The number of believers is decreasing as the majority of the population switched from the Pope’s faction to the Crown Prince’s faction!! The church isn’t making any money, but you’re splurging left and right!!”
The Pope of the Goddess exploded, his face beet red.
“…Now, that’s a problem. We have to gain more followers! Oh, that’s right! How about summoning a fire dragon!? Everyone will be surprised at its sudden appearance! Then, I’ll defeat the fire dragon. That way, the might of Saint Mara will be on full display!”
Mara spoke, making full use of her in-game knowledge
The fire dragon had an important role in the storyline.
If summoned by Eleonora, who’d mastered magic, the fire dragon would become an evil familiar and bare its fangs at the heroine. If summoned by the heroine, it’d serve as a powerful ally and a loyal guardian beast.
At Mara’s suggestion, the Pope greedily smirked.
“Hoho! That’s a wonderful idea! If we summon the fire dragon, that despicable Lydian will be groveling at my feet, begging for his life! But first, we have to obtain the fire dragon scroll.”
“I know where it is. The wizard named Buffeg has it. The number of archwizards on this continent can be counted on fingers. I’m sure we can find him right away!”
Mara said confidently.
In the game, The Wizard, Buffeg, was a mid-boss. In the past, he stole the Fire Dragon Scroll from the royal palace and colluded with Eleonora to plunge the royal capital into chaos.
But of course, Buffeg posed no threat against Mara, who wielded the Holy Sword.
Contrary to Mara, who was relaxed, the Pope’s expression was grim.
After all, not only was Buffeg the court magician and the close aide of the king, he was also a duke. Naturally, Mara, a commoner, had no clue. Rumors had it that he was a terrifying man who manipulated the royal court behind the scenes. His influence even extended to the king and the crown prince.
Despite his outward appearance, all the influential aristocrats tried to approach him. As if that wasn’t enough, the attendants of the king and queen even paid tribute to him every day.
The Pope shuddered.
“Buffeg…!? Let’s approach things with the utmost caution!!”
Snatching the Fire Dragon Scroll away from Buffeg wouldn’t be an easy feat. But to obtain a tiger cub, one would have to enter the tiger’s den.
The Pope decided to take the risk.
Thus, the Church of the Goddess schemed to get their hands on the Fire Dragon Scroll.
Unexpectedly, it went well.
Time rewound a few years back.
Fire Dragon Scroll was an item used by Lydian to make his engagement with Eleonora official.
However, things settled down before an actual dragon could be summoned, so Lydian quickly lost interest.
“I don’t need this anymore. Buffeg, if you want this, you’re free to have it.”
“Eh!? Are you sure!? This is so valuable!!”
Buffeg was surprised, but since he’d always wanted to add it to his collections, he gladly received the scroll.
Unfortunately, Buffeg was swamped with work and had no time to clean his collections. Thus, it was left to collect dust in the storage room.
After all, Buffeg was in charge of everything that was related to Lydian. Buffeg also had to relay every single advice from the senior vassals to him. Feeling bad, the servants and senior vassals would send him apology gifts every day. Even though all Buffeg wanted was more free time…
To obtain the scroll, the church members sneaked into Buffeg’s mansion while he was busy with work.
Seeing that the mansion had no security whatsoever, the church members helped themselves to his valuables.
“Let’s take this just in case.”
“Oh, this too…”
By the time Buffeg was home, the church members had already gone. When he saw that his mansion had been stripped, he screamed and scrambled to the palace. Half-crying, Buffeg reported everything to Lydian.
“Y-Your Highness Lydian…! A thief has broken into my mansion!!! All the medals and awards I received were stolen… I don’t know where to put my face…”
Lydian stared at Buffeg, who was crying pitifully.
“I don’t really understand, but at least you’re still alive? You make more than enough stipends. You can just buy them again. Keep up the good work.”
“Well, that’s true, but more importantly, the Fire Dragon Scroll has been stolen as well… I’m sorry!!”
Buffeg prostrated himself on the floor and apologized.
Not only was it a priceless scroll, a person with knowledge might use it to summon a fire dragon.
Even though Buffeg turned deep blue, Lydian didn’t seem to be particularly panicked.
“It’s not that big of a big deal? Fire dragons are tremendous in size, so you can’t exactly hide it. We’ll figure out who did it eventually.”
“For His Highness, the fire dragon is nothing but a domestic animal, so don’t worry.”
Dargal expressionlessly told Buffeg.
‘Certainly, for His Highness Lydian, it’s just a pet. After all, even the legendary demonic beast, [Black Wolf], is being kept in a large kennel. In fact, he’s even named ‘Pochitaro’’ (Buffeg)
Actually, the Black Wolf had a name, Bengals. But Eleonora, who didn’t have a good naming sense, decided that “I want a cuter name for him!” And switched it to ‘Pochitaro.’
The black wolf howled sadly, and for the first time in his life, Buffeg sympathized with a demon beast.
‘Hmm, maybe it isn’t as serious as I thought. Even if a fire dragon did appear, His Highness Lydian will be able to defeat it with ease. Or tame it, and let Lady Eleonora name it. But still, the birthday present I had planned to give Elmera was also stolen… No, wait!! As I thought, it’s a serious problem after all!’ (Buffeg)
The birthstone ring was custom-made, so if he were to order it now, he wouldn’t be able to get it in time.
Buffeg slumped his shoulders.
Translator’s Note:
Buffeg x Elmera!?
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