Chapter 347: The Saintess Candidates

“Actually, in the early days, the Church also didn’t truly have the idea of starting a war just to select a Saintess. After all, to maintain peace by destroying peace is such a stupid thing that not even someone kicked in the head by a donkey would do it. But their actions nonetheless made the great ship of history sail inevitably in that direction.”

“At that time, the Saintess candidates weren’t the mere few we have now, but numbered in the hundreds. Those children who had been cultivated toward becoming Saintess from a young age existed for one purpose only—to let the Church later ‘raise Gu’ among them, so that in the end they could pick out that final, most outstanding Saintess. Back then, they also wouldn’t hide their identities the way they do now. They would travel the continent openly as Saintess candidates, constantly training themselves for that goal that was barely hopeful, accepting trials from all sides as well as from each of their fellow travelers. And that created a problem.”

Pink Bear instinctively went to pull out a cigarette, but the nun beside him glared fiercely, and he sheepishly put it away again.

“What problem?” Muen asked.

“The position of Saintess... was too tempting.”

Pink Bear continued:

“To all the major powers of the continent, the position of Saintess—capable of guiding countless Goddess believers across the land—was simply an irresistible forbidden fruit. Everyone wanted to pluck it and taste it. And for those Saintess candidates, help from all sides was likewise practically tailor-made to become the blade stabbing at their fellow travelers. Thus, both sides hit it off at once. And so... representing the various powers—not merely with their own strength, but holding both authority and might—the Saintess candidates made a dazzling entrance. After that... came exactly what I just told you...”

Pink Bear looked at Muen:

“War began.”

“...”

Muen’s breathing involuntarily hitched. He hadn’t expected that this ceremony, which now didn’t even seem all that solemn and dignified, had once been synonymous with chaos and terror. Even without seeing it with his own eyes, he could imagine how, in those days, hundreds of Saintesses, innumerable factions and nations, would contend for that single Saintess seat—how cold and fierce it must have been.

“Of course, as the Church gradually moved toward stability, they naturally quickly called a halt to that struggle that only added chaos, and then constructed a new method for the Saintess election.

That is the present-day Musheng Ritual.”

Pink Bear paused, then continued:

“It’s still the Church that, through its intelligence network and believers spread across the continent, selects suitable persons and then the current Saintess chooses from among them the most fitting candidates. These chosen ones become the new Saintess candidates. They will be personally instructed for a period by the current Saintess, then once more, either under their original identities or ones fabricated with the Church’s assistance, they undertake a mundane-world trial. Only this time, the trial does not allow exposing one’s identity. And to compensate for the Saintess often not developing in the direction of combat power, the Church specifically permitted helpers called Divine Attendant Knights. How to recruit Divine ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Attendant Knights strong enough is itself a component of the trial for the Saintess candidates. After all...charisma is also a factor that a true Saintess cannot go without, isn’t it?”

Pink Bear’s voice suddenly grew a little deep.

“I see.”

Everything clicked for Muen; he then rubbed his chin, looking toward the Saintess on the stage, and asked in puzzlement:

“I certainly know the role of Divine Attendant Knights, but I’ve heard that once a Saintess successfully inherits the seat, the Divine Attendant Knight will often choose to stay and assist the Saintess... Yet as for this Saintess’s Divine Attendant Knight, how is it that I’ve never heard of them?”

Pink Bear’s body stiffened slightly. He let out an unnoticeable soft sigh, did not answer, and changed the subject:

“To follow up on your earlier question: although this way of doing things looks a lot more like child’s play, whether the Musheng Ritual or the former Saintess War, the cruel essence has not changed in the slightest. They even went so far as to invite renowned geniuses and elites from across the continent to participate in this ceremony, just to make the result fit the Church’s original intention even more closely. ...That’s right—that’s the scene you’re looking at now. Though called a ceremony, in essence it’s still a trial—a final trial directed at the Saintess candidates. The victor can sit upon that resplendently radiant throne; the defeated... throughout the ages, there have been no small number of bones left piled here. Not to mention that this time, the ceremony is...”

“Still raising Gu?” Muen murmured.

“Yes, still raising Gu. But it has to be admitted that the Saintesses selected through this method are indeed all extremely excellent.”

Pink Bear said with feeling:

“Whether it’s the Saintess before last who suddenly abandoned her duties to pursue true love—you know how she ended—or the previous Saintess who sacrificed her life after a very short time on the seat...The former’s statue still stands tall in the city she once saved. The latter... also saved many people in that beast tide. They were both worthy of the name Saintess.”

As Pink Bear’s voice fell, Muen also fell silent. His gaze toward that figure within the light suddenly changed a little. So under that blazing radiance, there truly was a responsibility and burden beyond common imagination?

Then...

Muen searched the crowd for that delicate, weak girl. But he found nothing. Obviously... she didn’t need to separate from people like them at this time at all.

...

Under everyone’s attention, Margarita’s Divine Attendant Knight walked out from beneath the lights. It was a man with a flippant expression, stubbled beard, who looked a bit slovenly, but when he appeared, not only did the tense atmosphere on site grow even more intense, Muen also heard the gasps of surprise from Senior Fanny and the others behind him.

“You know him?”

“Of course.”

Senior Fanny nodded solemnly. “This one shows up in the newspapers all the time. He’s the direct heir of the Northern Divine-Intent Style Sword Dao—Paul Marvin!”

“Divine-Intent Style?”

“A school founded by that Sword King in the North.”

Pink Bear added on the side, “As for that Sword King... let me put it this way: that veteran Crowned, Indra King—whom I could easily defeat earlier with just a little borrowed external force—still has to bow his head and salute as a junior before him.”

“Tsk tsk, even that old guy sent someone. As expected, because of that, everyone this time has dug out the fellow they keep at the very bottom of their chest?”

“I see...”

Muen ignored Pink Bear’s self-aggrandizement and fell into thought. “Something’s off...”

The name Paul Marvin did ring a bell for him—not the sort you’d mention in a few throwaway lines and then forget, some background extra whose only role is to serve as a face-slapping prop for the protagonist. But in Muen’s memory, he shouldn’t be appearing at this point in time. Could he have remembered wrong?

...

“Anne.”

At the Saintess’s call, the second Saintess candidate took the stage. Her appearance likewise drew the whole venue’s gaze, even making Muen instinctively jab Pink Bear with an elbow:

“Look, your white silk loli.”

Pink Bear rolled his eyes and ignored him.

In the center, the loli-statured girl walked with firm steps to the Saintess.

“You... haven’t changed much, have you.”

The Saintess smiled and continued asking that question,

“So you...”

“I will become the Saintess!”

Before the Saintess could finish, the white-silk loli lifted her chin proudly.

“Very good. I look forward to your performance.”

The Saintess likewise placed a crystal into her palm:

“Let your knight come out.”

“Reta, come here!”

At the white-silk loli’s command, a tall, burly figure pushed through the crowd, casting a massive dark shadow across the floor. Everyone involuntarily held their breath. Because that figure looked less like a person and more like... a monster. At least three meters tall, his robust body was covered in traces of stitching and splicing. Metallic constructs replaced nearly half his body, bringing a kind of ferocious beauty. Yet such an eye-catching “monster” had been standing before everyone without anyone noticing.

“An artificial weapon manufactured by the Iron-Stone school of the Stone Cauldron Society?”

Pink Bear blurted, stunned:

“They really are willing to spend...”

...

The third Saintess candidate.

“Fei’er.”

“Coming~”

At the call, a poised beauty—not in a formal dress, but in a mage’s long robe—yawned her way to the Saintess. Behind her followed a woman with neat short hair, face still expressionless under the crowd’s gaze, with a spear on her back taller than a person—strikingly conspicuous.

“Thunder Lance, a very famous adventurer.”

Senior Fanny introduced softly next to Muen; it seemed they had worked very hard on gathering intel.

The Saintess’s eyes swept over Fei’er’s mage robe and asked:

“Compared to magic, you still chose this side in the end?”

“Yes~”

Fei’er sounded sleep-deprived. “I found that the mage path has its limits, so I chose this side.”

“Hehe, you’re still far from the point of saying something like that.”

The Saintess smiled and handed over a crystal.

“Who knows.”

Fei’er took it, still yawning:

“Maybe the moment I become Saintess, I’ll regret it.”

...

The fourth Saintess candidate.

“Freya, it’s your turn.”

As that figure in a plain long skirt stepped out, the venue unusually fell quiet. Everyone looked at that girl and, for a moment, couldn’t speak.

“Alike—far too alike.”

Muen’s gaze moved back and forth between the Saintess and the girl named Freya, and he couldn’t help but sigh:

“It’s like they were carved from the same mold.”

But this likeness did not refer to appearance. It was the aura.

The girl named Freya wore her long hair down, hands folded over her lower abdomen, her movements elegant and serene, her whole body seeming shrouded in a faint holy light. And that face—entirely different from the Saintess’s—yet bore a sacred smile identical to the Saintess’s. Everyone who looked upon that smile couldn’t help but feel a breeze on their cheeks, the warm shine of a rising sun. It didn’t feel like deliberate fakery or imitation; that natural, seamless quality resembled the Saintess now standing on the stage to a striking degree.

“Long time no see, Saintess-teacher.”

Freya knelt gracefully. “You are as captivating as ever.”

“You are also as charming as ever, Freya.” The Saintess smiled.

“But it just so happens, Saintess-teacher, that you don’t seem to like me very much.” Freya smiled as well.

“That must be your misperception.”

The Saintess placed a crystal into her palm:

“Where is your knight?”

“He’s always been here.”

From Freya’s shadow, a figure was somehow standing there, clothed in black, expression calm, as if one with the darkness.

“Say hello, Brian.”

...

“So it really is her!”

Muen again heard Senior Fanny’s exclamation:

“Eilena Robel of the southern Blair Kingdom—the one who once resolved a plague and saved many people, already called the future Saintess by some of the populace—she actually is truly a Saintess candidate! And that one behind her—that’s the Blair Kingdom’s famous genius, the ‘Shadow Ghost’ Brian, who could kill across ranks at thirteen!”

“They both sound incredible, don’t they?”

“Mhm mhm!”

Fanny nodded vigorously, visibly excited. Before coming, she had anticipated meeting some extremely outstanding people, but she hadn’t expected to meet so many!

Even Pink Bear sighed at the side: “The quality of this round of the ceremony is scary good.”

“Is it.”

Muen glanced away and continued looking at the four figures kneeling respectfully before the Saintess and at the Divine Attendant Knights behind them, saying nothing.

Having been immersed in cultivation and staying alive, he wasn’t all that clear on the many renowned geniuses and powerhouses across the continent, nor did he have the leisure to care.

Fortunately, he had a certain grasp of the original plot. But that’s where the problem lay.

In his memory, while these Divine Attendant Knights certainly had some skill, most of them existed to let the protagonist Ariel show off and slap faces, mere supporting ‘mob’ roles as foils.

Well, that extremely common type—the kind of vulgar beat that most readers still love to see.

Except.

These folks now appearing...

Which of them looks like a mere extra! Every single one had “badass” and “powerful” written across their face. It felt like you could fish out any one of them and they could go to some other story and rampage as the protagonist!

“Could it be that something’s gone wrong again? But this is my first time in the Holy City, and it’s also my first time seeing these people. It can’t all be on me.”

Muen frowned, sinking into thought:

“Or is it simply that my memory is too fuzzy, and these people just look and sound scary because of their reputations and appearances?”

Muen didn’t get to think for long. Because next came the entrance of the final Saintess candidate.

“Liya, it’s your turn.”

At the Saintess’s call, the girl who had been waiting at the edge clenched her little fists hard, mustered her courage, and stepped into the light that everyone focused on. The girl was cute in looks, with a stunning figure. Judging by appearance alone, she even outclassed the few before her by a notch. Only, she seemed overly tense and shy, head lowered, steps a touch too quick. After kneeling before the Saintess, she adorably patted her chest—making Margarita’s face go pale—and let out a tiny breath of relief.

“How was it? Have you rested well during this time?” the Saintess asked.

“Very well. Thank you for your concern, Saintess-teacher.”

“And the question I posed before...”

“No.”

The girl answered like that, with firm conviction.

“I see...”

The Saintess looked into the girl’s eyes, and after a moment, revealed a smile that seemed even gentler:

“It seems you’ve made up your mind.”

She raised her hand, and a crystal once more condensed in her palm.

Except—

This crystal, which by rights should have been passed into Liya’s hand, remained suspended above the girl’s already cupped palms, and didn’t drop for a long time. Liya couldn’t help feeling puzzled, tilting her little head adorably.

And just then—

“One last question.”

Looking at her, the Saintess suddenly put away her smile and showed a somewhat serious expression:

“Liya... where is your knight?”