CHAPTER 163: EXCHANGE

I follow the saint inside, it was a bit easier than expected, of course maybe because my magic was quite high when I fought the paladins so it was easy to deal with them.

My milk really works wonders during fights, the power boost is very useful, in the past fighting so many paladins would have been impossible, but thanks to the magic boost it wasn’t that difficult.

And of course they also had to limit themselves not to cause damage to the city and since I didn’t cause any damage they had to be even more limited.

"Saint Beatriz, where are we going?" I question, this woman is quite strong, it was strange to receive her attacks, they didn’t hurt my body, but caused a strange feeling, if she were a Yandere I feel it would be instant death.

"To my room, I still have 8 minutes of rest and I want to discuss some things...and check others" She says as we climb a very long staircase that goes up until we reach a very high place.

We both enter a large and well-organized room that has the window open and a cup of tea on a small table, the room is very beautiful, but what catches the eye is a painting.

A painting of a woman very similar to me except for the eyes and hair which are white instead of black.

"..."

"Interested? She is the former saint..." Beatriz just says that as she sees my interest in the painting, she goes to a drawer and takes out candles, white chalk and kneels on the floor making some drawings and adjusting 7 candles.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m going to give you the freedom you want, no necromancer will be able to control you, but you also won’t be able to be healed by necromancers" She says getting up after drawing everything.

"Stay up here" She says as I step into the circle, soon the drawing on the floor glows and the candles light up with white flames.

"...Why did you come after me?" She questions while closing her eyes and standing in front of the circle where I’m standing.

"Because I knew I wouldn’t be purified by anyone, but if I surrendered to the church they could just lock me up somewhere after failing, I imagined you as the saint wouldn’t mind trying to help me"

"And that’s why I sought your help and not that of priests or other church headquarters" I respond honestly to her question.

"I see...but why be my servant?" She asks another question.

"Because I want to improve and be someone so undeniably good that nothing and no one can judge me as evil" I need to be so good that Yui would approve.

"So you don’t want to be someone who follows God, but only to be someone good" She speaks outright, and I think it’s a problematic question.

"Yes...I’m not doing this for the god of this world or the like...does this reduce my chances of staying here?" I question with doubt.

"I think not, as long as you don’t say that to others, as it is blasphemy and they won’t accept it" She speaks, calming me down, she seems like a reasonable person.

"I’ll do a trust test with you, I’ll let you take care of my food, take care of my room and walk with me to protect me, I’ll evaluate your behavior and from that deduce if you are trustworthy"

"You said you would prove your word with actions, so I will observe your actions directly" She opens her eyes and steps back as the flames on the candles grow.

"From the composition of your body, you must have been a noblewoman from some kingdom, killed by poisoning and had your body stolen from the tomb, it’s sad, I’m sorry you were taken from your rest" The Saint speaks with sorrow in her voice.

"It’s okay, it’s not a big deal to me, Saint Beatriz" I say to her.

"Just call me Beatriz, we’ll be spending a lot of time together and I prefer you call me by my name, also stay in this circle for an hour and you’ll be immune to being controlled" Beatriz says while sitting in the chair, taking the cup on the table and starts observing the painting while drinking the liquid from the cup.

"Was this person important to you?" I question.

"Yes...she is my mother, although I know her almost entirely from stories I’ve heard...she was an incredible saint, and I’m following in her footsteps"

"I imagine you, Shizune, also sought me out because you know I’m the highest authority in the church, you sought protection, and I understand that this is a natural thing, but I ask that you don’t try to use me"

"It’s not my intention to use or offend you" I tell her, it’s true that I sought her out knowing she could keep me safe, but it’s not like I want to use her.

"Okay, then..." She just says that while we hear a knock on the door, she asks to enter and a maid appears with several papers.

"Saint Beatriz, these are the papers you requested, your rest time is up so I brought them" The maid says as Beatriz looks at the cup and then at the painting, letting out a sigh.

"Leave them on the table and you can leave" She speaks politely with a gentle, but obviously false smile, as if it had been practiced thousands of times before, it’s too perfect to be natural.

The maid leaves the papers and leaves the room while she picks up some of the papers, it seems she has a life full of work.

Meanwhile, I notice that one of the candles turned pink and then turned back to white for a moment.

’I think that wasn’t supposed to happen...’

"Beatriz, this circle I’m in..."

"It will do some things to keep you free, that’s why I told you to stay there, if you get out of the circle it will dissolve and if anything other than you is in there it will change a bit, that’s why I don’t approach" She says without looking at me.

’Should I tell her that there’s a slime inside my head?...’ I feel tempted to tell, but it may be complicated to try to say that now.

Also, it will be even worse to explain the effect of the slime, after all it serves to make me more "daring" in my decisions.

’I’ll keep it a secret for now’ It may not be the best choice, but I still don’t trust Beatriz, and she didn’t say this thing would fail, she just said it would change a bit.

"I’m good at administration, if you need help" I offer to help to distract myself.

"...the church’s funds have fallen by 20% due to recent attacks by necromancers, what do you suggest?" She questions without looking at me.

"Well...I could organize a special fund to keep saved for this situation, while increasing security in attacked areas to prevent an increase in crime and increase people’s faith in the church"

"If more people see that the church is doing things to help them, their faith will increase, if faith increases more donations will come, if more donations come the invested money will have some long-term return"

"..." Beatriz thinks for a moment.

"Are you suggesting using people’s faith to make money?" She looks at me with a serious look.

"Wrong, I’m suggesting that you make people realize that by donating to the church it’s not just something useless, but something that benefits them as well, I’m saying for the church to help people in order to gain more faith and then with the extra money maintain a cycle"

"The more grateful the people are, the more prosperous things will become, if they donate to the church, the church can use that money for new things that increase faith and generate more donations"

"Both sides come out winning, it’s not a relationship of use, but a relationship of mutual companionship" Beatriz thinks for a moment.

"Hmm..." She just makes a strange sound and expression and jots down some things on a paper, but doesn’t say anything else, I don’t know if she liked the idea or disapproves, but she doesn’t seem as serious anymore.

"You’re also a mage like me, do you have any advice to reduce expenses? Recently I’ve been needing to heal a lot of people, you as an outsider and with more experience may have some advice" She questions me while I think about the answer.

"...I can...give you a special potion that will temporarily increase your mana by up to 3 times..." I say a little embarrassed, I’m literally offering my milk without saying so, it seems the slime works well.

"3 times?" She looks at me shocked, this must be a huge increase for the standards of magical potions, which are expensive and rare to make.

"How much would it cost?" She questions trying to assess the price.

"Completely free, I know how to make it and won’t need anything from you besides privacy, such a thing is a secret I can’t share" I can’t just say drink my milk, it’s a potion.

"For free...how many can you make?"

"Well...I think almost 2 liters a day..." I have a lot of milk, maybe because I have very large breasts so they store and produce a lot.

"2 liters of potion per day...temporary 3x effect...The necromancer who revived you, does he know about this?" She asks worriedly, for a mage this "potion" would be something incredible that they would pay a lot for.

"No, no one knows" Estella knew, but now she’s just a pile of ice fragments.

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want to help, you said you’re having a lot of mana expense to heal people, I want to help with this problem" Theoretically, if I offer 3 cups of milk, one at breakfast, one at lunch, and one at dinner, she will always maintain maximum mana reserve for use without losing the effect.

I’m someone who knows how to take advantage of opportunities, it may be a little embarrassing to keep giving her my milk, but if it’s to be an undeniably, absurdly, and incredibly good person, it’s okay to be like this.

"What will you really need?" She questions suspiciously.

"Nothing more than an empty tea cup, and privacy to make the potion, I can give it to you at breakfast, lunch and dinner so you’ll maintain the effect working all the time"

"I’ll try this potion once...I’ll give you privacy, but if it’s any kind of poison I’ll know and know that I won’t die from it" She speaks seriously.

"If you distrust so much, why accept?" I question why she’s just accepting everything.

"I’m not sure...I just think God guided you to this place so that you can cleanse your sins and purify yourself, so I’m guiding you on a path that I judge to be safer and more stable"

"I’m giving you chances to prove your worth as I evaluate you, now please be quiet, I need to work, just wait, we’ll talk tonight when I’m free" She says, turning her full attention back to the papers, I just remain silent, waiting.