"You possess the qualities of a saintess."
"...Who does?"
What? A saintess?
At first, she doubted it.
In her hand was a hunting knife, sharpened to a razor edge, only a hand’s length long.
If some half-baked fraud tried to pull a trick on her, she was prepared to cut off a few fingers, if they tried anything bolder, she’d cut something else.
This was simply how she lived her life.
Outwardly, she looked like a small, frail girl.
That made her look easy to deceive or beat down, and such looks weren’t helpful for a hunter’s life.
Had any monster hesitated upon seeing her?
If anything, they came at her confidently, underestimating her.
Was it the same this time?
But what did she have that made them think they could tempt her with words like these?
Was this guy like that storyteller last year who tried to deceive her?
That storyteller had made advances on her, and Saintess Seiki had detached one of his parts, ensuring he’d never attempt it again.
From her experiences, Seiki knew that showing a bit of force could make things go more smoothly.
‘Looking at me now, they probably won’t make remarks about my appearance.’
Seiki coldly examined herself.
Even without a mirror, she could roughly guess her current state.
Her face was marked with grime from infrequent washing, and her fur hat was pressed down, covering her ears.
The man who spoke to her claimed he was a priest from a temple, with neatly combed platinum hair, holding something like a golden cluster of seven grapes.
She assumed it symbolized something and seemed solid and weighty.
Though Seiki didn’t know it, what he held was indeed a sacred symbol of his God, representing both his status and his order.
‘A weapon?’
It didn’t seem like it.
It didn’t look particularly dangerous either.
The priest’s robes, his demeanor, and the setting—a corner of a small town market, not a remote field or mountain path—seemed harmless.
Would anyone be foolish enough to try a stunt here?
Another reason Seiki sensed no danger was due to her instinct.
Instead, the man before her seemed to radiate a boundless kindness toward her.
After selling some animal hides and buying seasonings like salt, she encountered him, an unplanned meeting.
He approached her on the road, whispering the word ‘saintess’ as if he had something important to say.
The man continued to speak kindly.
He urged her to visit the order, called her a daughter of God, and said she was blessed.
Normally, she would have ignored him, but her circumstances were a bit different now, so Seiki fell silent in thought.
‘Are you going to spend your whole life feasting on animal entrails? Broaden your horizons and see the world.’
Her grandfather had said those words before disappearing three months ago.
Honestly, she didn’t feel inclined.
Why bother? That was her initial thought.
Saint, God, whatever—she had no interest in such things.
People didn’t die to monsters or beasts due to bad luck or divine abandonment, it was simply because they were unprepared and hadn’t trained enough.
But her grandfather was usually right. So, maybe this advice was too.
"What would happen if I became a saintess?"
Despite her vague question, the priest responded with a smile.
"You would receive everything you desire, everything the order can offer. You would become the Saint Child."
The order often used titles like Saint Child to refer to their saints and holy figures.
"My name isn’t Saint Child. It’s Seiki."
Thirteen-year-old Seiki understood the world but hadn’t yet mastered it.
In other words, she was deceived.
Everyone makes mistakes, and at this moment, Seiki believed she had made one in judgment.
Was that priest a bad person?
No, not at all.
The man sincerely rejoiced upon seeing Seiki, blessed her, and truly believed that her happiness and everything she dreamed of lay within the order.
Even if she had ignored the priest or refused to go with him, the Holy Kingdom wouldn’t have left her alone once they knew of her existence.
Later, Seiki was taken to some monastery established by the order.
She entered a monastery on a mountainside, not in the city, and the man who guided her shed tears as he blessed her before departing.
"Oh, the Lord has shown us his favor. All the fallen fruits belong to the Lord, abundance is his gift."
Seiki half-listened and entered the monastery, realizing within two days that she was trapped.
"Where are you going?"
There was always someone guarding the door, and a priest of the Order of Abundance observed her daily routine, teaching her the conduct and teachings of a saint.
Outwardly, she was free to move, but her desired outside activities were not allowed.
It was essentially a prison.
Her body and mind felt confined like a prison.
A prison, she had been confined once before, at twelve, for three days, after a knife fight in the city.
Her grandfather had to sell valuable hides to bail her out, hadn’t he?
This wasn’t much different. So was there a problem?
Yes.
After sensing the odd atmosphere, Seiki began to explore the monastery under various pretexts.
Through her observations, she found.
“What’s that place?”
Below the monastery was a cave, and she noticed signs of human presence there.
She didn’t go down to check, she had neither the time nor the opportunity.
"It’s a chapel for fasting and prayer."
They withheld food and forced prayers, but Seiki caught a faint scent of food coming from there.
Along the way, she saw breadcrumbs and traces left by small animals, maybe mice.
What did that imply?
‘Are they imprisoning people?’
"If I become a saintess, what would I be doing?"
Feigning innocence, she began to ask naive questions.
Some answers were useless, but some were helpful.
She pieced together fragmented information.
"You’d be able to make holy water or potions. The divinity of saints and holy figures is very different from that of ordinary believers. It’s a power that gives generously. In that regard, Saintess Seiki is still inexperienced and needs further training."
That was from Abbot Shilma.
‘Basement, food, imprisonment.’
Saints can make potions.
So, what is her current value?
She had no idea how to harness any Divine Power within her.
If she learned to use it well, what would they make her do?
Most likely, potion-making. Otherwise, why would they confine her here?
Seiki had goals and wanted to experience the saintly life and the order.
She didn’t come here to be imprisoned.
Even if she said, ‘I don’t want to be a saintess anymore. I want to leave’, they wouldn’t let her go.
From then on, Seiki observed the people around her, memorized the building layout, and studied the structure.
It wasn’t difficult.
She’d memorized the forest layout from a young age, including the locations of traps.
Survival demanded it.
Compared to the forest, the monastery's layout, shaded areas where moss grew, and ivy-covered walls were easy to memorize. A structural map formed in Seiki’s mind.
It wasn’t just topography, she also mapped people’s movements and weapons.
In short, she memorized everything in real-time.
This was one of the skills her grandfather had taught her and her only asset here.
Without anyone knowing, she mapped everything.
Her conclusion after constructing the map?
She couldn’t escape without help.
Seiki’s escape attempt succeeded on her first try. It began with her holding a knife to her instructor’s throat during a theology lesson.
It was the knife from dinner. The purpose didn’t matter since it threatened the person’s life.
She had behaved meekly and acted as though she couldn’t fight, so no one could have anticipated this.
In the small classroom, it was only her and the teacher.
Seiki had familiarized herself with her surroundings, so she used that to her advantage.
The window’s position, the monastery’s underground storage, routes people didn’t traverse, areas with powerful people who could knock her out in a single punch, all these factors she had memorized.
Faking an escape attempt and scattering traces everywhere, she hid in the room of a young monk who had shown her sympathy.
“Thank you.”
“...Lord, punish and correct the sins of the order.”
The young monk prayed, silently acknowledging the injustices of the situation.
But there was little he could do.
He simply helped the poor child.
She only asked him to hide her for a short time.
That was enough.
Or, she wanted him to explain why she’d have to remain here forever.
There was no reason for her to stay imprisoned. So there was nothing he could say.
It wasn’t an argument, but he couldn’t refute her points.
Thus, the monk granted her wish.
It was the best he could do.
Why? If he dared criticize the order, he would likely be burned at the stake.
He was a man of conscience within a corrupt order.
Seiki had recognized his character.
When hunting and tracking beasts, one used all available resources.
She had done the same.
The monastery was more like a fortress, and everyone here was a devotee or monk.
Yet not all of them were scoundrels.
After half a day hiding in the monk’s room, when those pursuing her realized they’d been deceived, she disguised herself in the young monk’s robes.
Using a plausible excuse, she left with a priestess who had acted as her nurse.
Two allies—without them, she couldn’t have escaped the fortress-like monastery.
She left behind the hall lined with columns, the statues of seven martyrs, and the carvings symbolizing God with seven grape clusters.
"Thank you."
The priestess smiled, her eyes curling gently, showing a truly kind face.
“Live as you wish.”
“If I leave, won’t you be in danger?”
“Would that stop someone like you, Seiki?”
The woman was gentle and compassionate.
If a God existed or a God’s incarnation, they should be like her.
Recalling the theology she’d skimmed, Seiki nodded.
“Sorry, I have my own path, and I’ll follow it.”
She couldn’t stop just because she felt sorry for her.
Leaving the temple, she ran and walked through cities, tracking and avoiding monsters and beasts.
Midway, noticing a tracker, she even used tricks.
She crossed a swamp full of dozens of lizardmen on foot.
She had chosen a path no one expected, so she thought she had lost them.
After clearing that path, she had no choice but to enter a city.
Naturally, her pursuers followed her to the city.
Was that a mistake?
No. Had she not entered the city to make preparations, she wouldn’t have been able to escape afterward.
She used the silver candlestick taken from the temple to buy supplies.
‘Shame about the knife.’
Her hunting knife had been taken long ago, leaving her weaponless.
She bought a new dagger, thick-soled boots, a cloak, and some clothing with her remaining Krona.
All this was done before her pursuers arrived. Otherwise, the guards would have caught her.
The guards easily let her join a hunting group heading out of the city, believing she was a poor hunter’s child.
Then, she walked again.
If she could hide her identity with a disguise, that would be ideal, but it wasn’t her specialty.
Instead, the skills she’d learned since childhood guided her.
‘Grandfather.’
It was natural to think of the one who had raised and taught her.
The morning air was cold, though the sun would warm things up by afternoon.
She tried to stick to open fields, avoiding ridges, caves, and mountain ranges.
She used her senses to scan her surroundings as she walked.
After several close encounters, she arrived at Pelheim.
She planned to lose the remaining pursuers here.
‘Persistent.’
While leaving the city, she realized that the number of pursuers had sharply increased.
She’d previously sensed fewer than ten, now, there seemed to be dozens.
They spread out, forming a vast net to capture her.
Knowing she was being chased, she avoided dead ends.
But she did enter one.
Heading toward the forest, she severed her escape route.
Why? It was her best chance to flee.
‘It’s not the worst.’
Though she had been injured on the way, she was recognized as a saint by the order.
That meant she had innate divine attributes.
However, she didn’t know how to wield or express them.
If anything, Seiki healed quickly from any wound.
She was immune to poison and had survived injuries that nearly severed her leg.
“Are you a half-blood Fairy or a half-blood Frog?”
“Frogs lay eggs. Did you hatch me from one? That would be my grandfather’s knowledge, not mine.”
“Your mother is my daughter, you little brat.”
Her grandfather would say such things, amazed by her resilience. It had always been that way since she was young.
As humans and Frogs couldn’t crossbreed, she had simply thought of it as a peculiar trait.
How could she have known it was due to Divine Power?
Regardless, Seiki planned to escape northward to shake off all pursuit.
She’d flee into the forest and run north. Simple, but it had taken significant effort to set up.
Another half day passed.
Day or night, she moved even during sleep hours.
She had long mastered avoiding the eyes of monsters and beasts while resting.
Her limbs felt weighted down by invisible stones due to accumulated fatigue.
Upon reaching the city outskirts, she saw a mountain range.
It was part of the Gigante Mountains, known locally as North Pelheim.
The place was incredibly dangerous.
Monsters that breathed fire made their homes here.
Seiki had intended to use the mountain ridge as her escape route.
That was her plan.
Until she saw the people blocking her path.
“Saint Child.”
The woman in the center spoke with a gentle smile.
“My name is Seiki.”
Seiki affirmed her identity. She was Seiki, not the Saint Child.
The woman before her was the one who had congratulated her on becoming a saintess at the prison-like monastery.
Thanks for the Chapter Bro!!! :DD
Thanks for the Chapter.
Is it updated regularly? Also what is release schedule
Creo que he leído el manhwa, talvez lo esté confundiendo.. 🤔