Chapter 96

* * *

Cicada - Cicada - Cicada

On a mid-August day when cicadas were deafeningly chirping.

The scorching summer heat was like poison to me, who was highly susceptible to it.

“Huff. Huff.”

I was wearing a sleeveless dress, hanging from the tree swing, and fanning myself with my hands.

“Lilith! Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong, brat? You look like a dried-up jellyfish.”

“H-Hurry, give me that and push the swing...!”

In their hands, my twin brothers held glasses of fruit juice with floating ice cubes.

Leon quickly handed me the juice and pushed the swing.

“Ahhh.”

“How’s that? Feeling better?”

“Mmm! Big brother, you’re the best!”

Theo quickly climbed onto the seat next to me and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

“You really can’t handle the heat, huh? It must be tough.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m dying….”

I ended up lying on Theo’s lap.

The shade of the tree and the occasional breeze made it somewhat bearable.

‘Man, I wish I could feel the air conditioning.’

If I hadn’t experienced the advanced technology of 21st-century Earth, I might not have thought of it….

But with the heat being so unbearable, I naturally thought of air conditioning.

“By the way, where did Uncle go?”

“Dad? He’s busy these days.”

The protagonist is busy with the original work.

He’s also busy with his main job of exterminating monsters….

‘And he’s probably busy with that business too.’

‘The business that starts with “ban” and ends with “ran.”’

Dad will surely handle it well, but as a daughter, I tried to recall the original work.

‘At this point, he should be starting to make a move on the temple. Has Dad already started working on it?’

The temple was where the protagonist had already laid the groundwork before the original work even began.

Of course, it was natural.

This country practiced a crazy theocratic dictatorship, claiming that the emperor’s will was the will of the gods.

To weaken the power of the royal family, the power of the temple had to be weakened.

By the way, the old high priest of the “Pavil Temple” I met when I first arrived in the city is the villain.

He chants, “The Emperor of Primarin is almost a god!” and is busy greasing his belly with fat donations.

And, the one Enoch Rubinstein chose as the counter to the Pavil Temple is—

‘How old is High Priest Zadkiel now? He’s a year or two older than Chesier, I think….’

* * *

Seraf Temple.

This temple, located in the Seraf district on the outskirts of the city where poor commoners live, looked pitiful at first glance.

The dilapidated one-story building looked like it could collapse at any moment, and the makeshift relief tent outside was filled with the continuous groans of the sick.

“High Priest Zadkiel! We received a reply from Viscount Gertrude!”

Zadkiel Terrot, the young priest of Seraf, who is fourteen this year, stopped checking on the sick in the tent and ran out with a bright smile.

His pink hair, like spring flowers, sparkled in the summer sun.

‘Please, let it be good news!’

Wiping the sweat from his chin, Zadkiel quickly opened the reply.

[To the Seraf Temple.

Your audacious request was not even worth responding to, but I am replying to avoid further annoyance.

Donations? What mad noble of this city would donate to such a place?

The mere exchange of letters with you will anger the gods.

If you don’t want to be accused of heresy and burned at the stake, do not contact me again!]

“Ah.”

Zadkiel scratched his cheek with a troubled smile.

None of the several nobles he had asked for donations had given a positive response.

“High Priest! Are you busy?”

“Ah! No, I’m not!”

A voice called out to Zadkiel from the relief tent. The young boy ran back to the tent without showing any signs of fatigue.

There were dozens of sick people, all commoners.

They suffered from unknown internal injuries but could not receive proper treatment.

“Cough!”

When a middle-aged woman with a sickly appearance coughed up blood, Zadkiel was startled and checked on her.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. High Priest….”

After wiping the blood and placing a new cold towel on her forehead, Zadkiel massaged her stiff arm.

“Hang in there. You’ll get better soon. I can only pray for you, but….”

“No, High Priest. Cough. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have survived this long. Thank you so much.”

Zadkiel smiled bitterly at the woman’s gratitude.

This young priest, Zadkiel, was born with an extraordinary amount of divine power and was skilled in healing magic through long study.

Zadkiel believed that God had created him to help the poor and the sick, so he did not hesitate to use his abilities to heal and care for the sick.

“I wish I could be more useful….”

However, healing magic is primarily effective for external injuries. It was useless for internal injuries with unknown causes.

All the sick people in the relief tent were suffering from internal injuries.

“No, High Priest.”

The middle-aged woman, despite her cracked and dry lips, forced a smile and held Zadkiel’s hand.

“It’s an honor to receive your care before I die…. It’s a great blessing to have someone as noble as you take care of people like us….”

“……”

Zadkiel held back the urge to cry.

There were dozens of sick people like this woman in the relief tent.

If there were enough resources to provide them with even a thin gruel, or more people to help care for them….

But the temple’s finances were barely enough to cover the priests’ basic needs.

Zadkiel gave his food to the sick, patched up his old priest’s robe, and prepared medicine.

‘Oh God.’

The reality was too heavy for a fourteen-year-old boy.

However, Zadkiel never lost his smile.

Love everyone, even those at the lowest rung.

He believed without doubt that this was God’s will.

* * *

‘High Priest Zadkiel first appeared in the original work as an adult, so I don’t know what he’s doing now.’

If he had been living in the temple since he was young, he would be at the Seraf Temple now.

There are two temples in the city.

One is the Pavil Temple, where the old high priest is.

The other is the Seraf Temple.

Both temples worship the same god, but their doctrines are different.

Pavil reveres the emperor as a god.

Naturally, they don’t treat commoners as human beings.

In contrast, Seraf believes that the emperor is the emperor and the god is the god.

The teachings of God are to care for even the common people.

‘The beginning of this crazy dictatorship was distinguishing between the two.’

The imperial family divided those who revered the emperor as a god into the “New Sect” and the rest into the “Old Sect” to start their dictatorship.

Naturally, the Old Sect was marginalized.

There are temples and believers in other regions as well, but….

‘They don’t openly reveal which doctrine they follow.’

Why wouldn’t there be believers who think commoners are human beings?

But if they reveal their beliefs, they will be completely isolated.

Just like the Seraf Temple.

‘To openly care for commoners in a city where the emperor’s eyes are wide open….’

I shook my head, imagining the bleak situation of the Seraf Temple.

“Ah, my stomach hurts….”

While I was lost in thought, Leon groaned.

I stopped thinking and asked.

“Big brother, why? Is your stomach hurting?”

“You know I told you not to eat ice.”

Theo looked at Leon’s empty glass, which had been drained of ice.

“He kept eating cold things at home because it was hot, and he suffered for a week. He was always running to the bathroom. He’s a poop monster, a poop monster.”

Ah, it must be a stomachache.

Leon, sitting next to me, rubbed his lower abdomen and frowned.

Theo, unable to bear it, said,

“Go and have a cup of salvacion tea.”

“Ah, no. It’s too much trouble. Why isn’t there a magic spell to cure stomachaches?”

Leon grumbled.

‘Hmm, that’s true. The lack of a cure for internal injuries is the most frustrating part of this world’s setting.’

I sighed inwardly.

The world of my previous life, with its advanced science and medicine, was so convenient.

If you were sick, you could go to the hospital, get a diagnosis, take medicine, or have surgery.

But here, medicine was almost undeveloped.

Fortunately, external injuries could be treated with magic, but not internal injuries.

Treatments could only be attempted if the cause was known.

And even then, it was all about medication.

There is a universal cure called salvacion, but as you know, the royal family is strictly controlling its distribution.

“Leon, are you just trying to stay close to Lilith?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Leon hugged me and rested his cheek on my shoulder.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen the brat, and I only have two hours. Where’s the time to take medicine?”

The twins said they would go to the royal palace for training after their rare free time.

They were assigned to the extermination team for the upcoming monster hunt in the central province next month.

“Sigh.”

I sighed, feeling sorry for Leon and Theo, who were suffering at the tender age of twelve.

This crazy world….

“Let your big brother’s illness be completely cured.”

“Haha.”

I gently stroked Leon’s stomach.

Of course, it really works.

I’m Primarin, who can heal anything, whether it’s an external or internal injury.

1sec

Is it because it’s just a matter of going to the bathroom once?

The bracelet Oscar always wears on his right wrist only glowed for a second.

‘Hehe. If this is all it takes, I can do it a hundred more times.’

Leon, feeling my touch, suddenly sat up.

“Wow.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I really feel better.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes!”

“Ahaha. My hands are magic hands~!”

“Haha! Is that so?”

Leon chuckled and hugged me again.