"The meals are poor, sure, but it's not like you didn't already know that. So why are you so shocked today, of all days?"
On her first day at the Temple of the Sun God, Ordell had been horrified by the state of the dining hall and had immediately ordered that all her meals be brought to her room from then on.
And for the past two years, she had never once visited the dining hall, so she likely had no idea what the others were eating.
But it was impossible that she truly knew nothing.
After all, it was she who had commanded the priests to reduce their own portions in order to improve the quality of her food.
And now she was suddenly acting shocked?
"Did she really not expect it to be this bad?"
Come to think of it, even though Ordell often yelled, she had never once laid a hand on the children.
Perhaps she was actually soft when it came to them.
Could it be that she was truly trying to change?
Not just some fleeting whim, but genuine remorse?
Instead of immediately rejecting the idea, a small hope that maybe—just maybe—it was true began to rise first.
"...."
Eirik was thinking the same thing.
Ordell, who no longer demanded luxury or behaved tyrannically.
Even when she rejected the position of the Saintess—which, though fake, still satisfied her vanity—he had been utterly bewildered.
But that wasn't nearly as shocking as what she showed today.
She had looked sorrowful upon seeing the children's meager meals and the desolate garden.
He hadn't seen her cry, but her expression had clearly been one of sadness.
And all of it had been the result of her own indulgence.
"...Is she going to say she's leaving again?"
That would be a problem.
Even a tyrannical saintess was better than no saintess at all—without one, the temple could not survive.
Besides, saints and saintesses behaving badly wasn't exactly rare.
The real problem was that Ordell was a fake, and the Temple of the Sun God didn't have the funds to support her extravagance.
In any case, if the saintess disappeared, the other temples would pounce on the chance to crush the Temple of the Sun God entirely.
Each temple competed for followers like rivals, after all.
To empower their own deity, they'd try to absorb any weak temple. That's why they needed a saintess—no matter what.
"What?! What did you say?! The saintess said she's leaving the temple?!"
Dietrich was horrified after overhearing Eirik's muttering.
"No. She absolutely won't, so don't go around saying that to anyone."
Eirik, who had no intention of letting Ordell go, sternly silenced Dietrich.
If they were going to send her away anyway, he wouldn't have endured such disgrace from Count Kiris.
So no matter what, he would find a way to keep Ordell here.
"Quest reward acquired."
Back in my bedroom, I immediately claimed my quest reward.
['The Sun That Crawled Out of Death' bestows its first blessing upon its saintess. Your divine power increases.]
Amazing!
With the system message, golden energy poured from the air and wrapped around me—like warm sunlight.
I covered my mouth with my hand in awe at the Sun God's blessing.
Divine power increase. How much would it go up?
At least 10%, right?
Even that much would be a big improvement from now…
[Current Divine Power: 5%]
"...."
I bit my lip at the measly 3% blessing.
Right, our Sun God was broke now.
If they had more to give, they wouldn't have made someone like me their saintess in the first place.
[You've reached 5% Divine Power. Skill 'Body Enhancement' unlocked.]
"Ah."
Did the Sun God hear me curse?
I was already worried about how to use divine power.
It seems like a new ability unlocks every time my divine power reaches a certain threshold, so I'll have to work hard to raise it.
The problem is… how?
"I have to receive divine power from the Sun God, so in the end, the only way is to increase the number of believers…"
There are two main ways to increase the number of followers.
One is to demonstrate powerful abilities as a saint or saintess to attract people.
The other is to serve others and spread the majesty of the god through good deeds.
"Neither of those is possible."
It was a roadblock from the start.
I had only achieved 5% divine power, so the first option was clearly off the table, and the second was shaky too.
The Sun God's attribute is healing.
The priests are also specialized in healing, but the problem is our god lacks the power to perform any strong healing.
So much so that even potions made by alchemists are more effective than divine healing.
As a result, people naturally turned to alchemists over the Temple of the Sun, and that led us into deeper poverty.
"System, is there any other way to increase the Sun God's power besides gaining followers?"
[One additional method found.]
"There is?! What is it?"
[Make an offering.]
"…?"
An offering?
That meant voluntarily giving money or valuables to the god…
In other words, the system was telling me to hand over my cash?
Wow. You possess me into a broke character and now you want money?
"Hah. I can't exactly take back the money used for the kids' meals, so I guess I'll just have to donate the entire sum from selling that blue dress…"
There was no chance I'd be leaving the temple anytime soon, so what was the point in hiding away a secret stash?
Might as well offer it all and increase my divine power.
But only up to 40%, max.
I had no intention of becoming a real saintess. I just wanted enough power to protect myself and unlock some world secrets.
In a world like this, being a true saintess only meant constantly fighting enemies.
So I was determined to keep playing the role of a fake saintess to the end.
"Alright, perfect. So the very first thing I need to do before earning money is…"
Cleaning up the temple from the inside.
Corruption exists even in poor places.
And rooting out corruption—well, that was my specialty back when I was a detective.
I returned to the dining hall at lunchtime.
I was a bit worried the others might freak out at the sight of me, but there was no helping it.
They were all people I'd be living with from now on, so they had to get used to me eventually.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The moment I stepped into the dining hall, I was greeted by a cold, heavy silence. It shook me a little…
But I steadied myself.
"Welcome, Saintess."
At least Eirik welcomed me.
Following his lead, I sat at the head of the table and looked around.
Not just the priests, but even the apprentices and pages had gone pale and lowered their heads.
The maids and servants who were helping out also looked gloomy.
The silence was deeply uncomfortable, but I managed my expression with resolve.
I'll show them. A completely changed me.
"Here it is."
Eirik personally placed the food in front of me.
Just as I had requested, it was the same soup served to everyone else.
A very watery soup, not a single piece of meat in it.
"…Are you really okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm eating the same meal as everyone else."
I immediately began eating.
It didn't look like much, but surprisingly, it tasted quite good.
Maybe not to Ordell, with her refined palate, but to someone like me—who often went hungry in my previous life—it was a very satisfying meal.
"It's delicious."
As I continued eating without hesitation, I could sense Eirik's relief.
Unlike him, Dietrich was staring at me in utter shock.
And when I picked up the bowl and drank down the rest of the soup in one go, his eyes practically popped out of his head.
"Now that I think about it, I've been eating good meals all this time, but I've never once praised the head cook."
When I said this after setting down the bowl, Eirik looked at me in surprise.
"Shall I call the head cook for you?"
"No, I'd like to go myself. It's a good chance to take a look at the kitchen too."
"Pardon?"
I didn't care whether Eirik was flustered or not—I stood up abruptly and headed straight for the kitchen.
Eirik and Dietrich hurried after me.
"W-What do we do?"
"Should we stop her…?"
I could hear worried voices behind me.
They must've thought I was going to the kitchen to nitpick or lash out.
Just wait.
They'll be shocked soon enough.
Bang!
As I flung open the kitchen doors, the head cook, Kento—with his messy brown beard—and the other kitchen staff all turned to me, startled.
"Oh m-my, Saintess and High Priest… What brings you to such a humble place…?"
"Nothing serious. The food you made today was especially satisfying, so I came to offer praise."
Wait… What?
Was she insulting him in a roundabout way by calling the poor soup "satisfying"…?
Their expressions made their inner thoughts painfully obvious.