It's been a few days since both Aria and Rachel explored the forest.
Both of their mana pools had recovered and there was no longer any risk of mana exhaustion.
Since the first time– no, the second time she casted magic, she had been training.
Although not as proficient as Rachel, she could casually cast simple spells now without them disappearing mid-cast.
For example, she's able to shoot out small flame from her finger comparable to that of a lighter!
…It's progress.
Don't look at her like that.
Anyways, nothing weird had happened these past couple of days. Although that may be the case, she still felt quite uneasy.
What could be the reason…
Ah right, isn't this what people call 'calm before the storm'?
Is everything building to a big climax where she might actually die!?
To recall her luck in this world…
First, she was transported to another world without consent.
Then she had to try and survive in the wild without any previous experience.
Facing a massive earthquake, naked.
Face gender crisis, naked.
Run away from RPG monsters, not naked fortunately, though still practically 90% naked.
But hey, at least all the major private parts were covered, weren't they?
Shortly after in the anthology, she had been burned alive?
That part of the memory was a bit blurry but from what Rachel had told her when she first found her, her skin had indeed been charred.
Survive a possibly deathly mana exhaustion…
Then she got dragged into a massive tower defense game where she had the role of a decoy.
Speaking of which, what happened to that fiery woman that dragged her over?
Hm…
In any case, she survived the fall that should've killed anyone that had been a victim…
Then…
That god damned dragon.
What did that bastard call himself again?
The bringer of something something.
Damn, just thinking about that bastard made her blood boil.
Those were what she had experienced…
All in the span of one week.
Beginner's luck my ass! This is beginner's misfortune!
Sighing to herself, Aria decided that she had done enough training as of today.
Taking off her protective glove Rachel had provided, she went over to the kitchen to drink a cup of water.
Unfortunately, in the process of pouring herself a drink, a familiar situation occurred.
Everything around her had once again turned grey.
The 'Occurrence' appeared once more.
[Quest Received]
[Quest Received]
[Quest Received]
Unexpectedly, three of the same messages appeared.
Wondering what kind of quest she would receive at a time like this, Aria pressed a finger onto the floating panels.
[Cure The Blind Saint]
[⬛⬛]
[⬛⬛]
Out of the three, only 1 was visible.
"...Blind Saint? Who?"
Aria felt her mind spin. She's already barely surviving this world and now this bullshit 'occurrence' wants her to help someone else?!
Hell no!
Seemingly knowing her thoughts, the panel began flickering as a new panel took over.
[Quest, Cure The Blind Saint]
-Rewards: Saint's eyes, 7% added progress towards the 'end'.
-Punishment: Partial Blindness
-Time Limit: 2 Months and 3 Weeks Remaining
Note: Report to the Administrator to claim the rewards.
Unlike before where they disappeared immediately, the panels stayed this time, allowing her to actually read everything.
"I see… So not only are you forcing me to save a stranger, you're also threatening me with disabilities…! You can go kill yourself!"
Aria pulled on her own hair out of frustration.
It took her a few minutes to finally calm down and access the scenario logically.
"Who even is this 'Administrator' dude? Does he have an office somewhere in this world or something?"
Even though she's not that knowledgeable about online games, she does know what administrators usually do.
Simply put, they are the manager.
They help manage everything under them– in this context, they manage the games they worked on.
There is no deep explanation to this, those are literally their work.
But, why report to the administrator?
…She's too lazy to think of the reason.
Oh well, she'll cross the bridge when she gets there.
"I have two months… That's not a lot of time considering I don't even know who this 'Saint' even is…"
Closing her eyes in contemplation, she figured it would be much better to ask someone who's more knowledgeable in this area…
With that in mind, she closed the holographic panels and the colors of the world returned.
Placing the cup into the sink, she swiftly made her way to the living room where a certain nun was resting.
Trying to not waste time, she thought it'd be a good idea to bring up the main point.
"Rachel, do you know who the 'Saint' is?"
"Cough–!"
In a sudden turn of events, the nun's poker face had been broken.
Is she alright?
Aria walked over and patted her back.
"What happened? Why'd you suddenly choke on air?"
"Cough– My apologies, I've shown something unsightly."
Rachel placed a fist on her lips.
"No, you don't need to apologize for that, are you alright?"
"Thank you for your concern. I've just been caught off guard by your question. But what led to your sudden interest towards the Saint?"
Aria thought of an excuse for a moment before saying,
"No reason actually, I just learned somewhere that the Saint is apparently blind? I'm kind of interested about how they're doing right now, not being able to see and all, you know?"
"Is that so? In that case, you don't need to worry, she's doing well on her own at this moment."
So the Saint is a girl? Do I call her 'Saintess' now?
"Can you arrange a meeting with her? If possible, make it private."
Aria could somewhat tell that the nun was taken aback.
"Pardon me, do you know what kind of position a 'Saint' holds?"
"Ah?"
Thinking about it again… no?
"Your facial expression is saying that you don't?"
Aria nodded with an embarrassed face, scratching her own head.
"A Saint is someone of the highest position in a religious group. Some may call them differently but at their core, they are all a 'Saint'."
"Aria, you wanting me to arrange a meeting with the Saintess is the same as asking a slave to arrange a meeting with the King."
After all, the only position that could compare to that of the Saintess is the Pope. Even so, the Saint is technically of the higher rank.
But the Saint's authority doesn't spread too much when compared to what the Pope could do.
If the Pope were the King, then the Saintess is the father of said King. In other words, the previous King.
While the King would handle everything under his wing, any word from his father could overturn everything he worked for.
For example, if the king were to drop a decree to 'Kill all commoners', The previous King could overrule such a decree with his own, such as 'Capture all commoners'.
Any individual caught going against the Old King could face the punishment of death.
It's no wonder Rachel lost her composure when Aria asked for the Saintess' whereabouts, moreso asking to arrange a meeting.
"...So you can't arrange a meeting?"
"That is indeed the case."
Bummer.
But it was worth a shot.
Although she failed to set up a meeting with the Saintess, as long as she knows where the Saintess is, she'd work her ass out to somehow 'Cure' her blindness.
"I do know where the Saintess is but she's currently under house arrest as ordered by the Pope."
"House arrest? The Saintess? Didn't you say the Saintess is higher in the hierarchy when compared to the Pope?"
"That's right. Since the Saintess didn't object to the punishment, she had been placed under house arrest from the moment she returned from defeating the Demon King."
Why?
A few questions floated across Aria's mind as she tried to process what had been explained.
The Saintess didn't object to being placed under house arrest?
The Pope put the Saintess under house arrest?
It sounded like something that would come out of a novel fantasy… not that she read that many.
I mean, with a title like 'Saint' and 'Saintess', Aria highly doubts their first resort to injustice would be violence.
Wouldn't they first try to preach their beliefs to the doer of injustice?
Ugh, speaking of preaching, Aria got reminded of that time a religious individual would constantly preach their beliefs right outside her door.
Like, sir, can't you do it somewhere else with a denser population of people?
"With that being said, the Saintess' freedom was not really restricted. While 'House-Arrest' may be quite an exaggeration, the place she had access to is pretty wide."
"She has been restricted from going out of the Lesvania Empire Border. In which case, she's still allowed to wander around the Empire at her own disposal, without any legal action needed to be taken."
Too many words… but she kind of got the gist of what Rachel tried to convey.
In short, the 'Saintess' is in other words, a refugee.
The same way North Koreans are trapped inside the border of their own country, the Saintess can't leave the Lesvania Empire.
Most probably, the King of the Lesvania Empire wouldn't actually prosecute the Saintess.
Though some of the details are missing, Aria figured that the pope had enough support to actually place the Saintess under house arrest.
What could they be?
No clue!
She's not smart enough to actually zoom into the reasons as to why the Saintess would be punished, and never would she be.
As long as she could somehow cure this blind Saintess, she'd practically survive for a long, long time.
Her instincts told her so.