Chapter 10

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Tomorrow, finally, Ririi will serve at the castle as a candidate for the Holy Maiden. She is so worried and anxious that she can't shake off her unease, so she checks the materials given to her with Noah.

"Hey, Ririi. Is this the correct distribution of work for the Holy Maiden candidates? I heard it was supposed to be rotated, but this doesn't seem to be a rotation."

Noah's slightly angry voice makes Ririi tilt her head. She doesn't feel there's a problem with this arrangement, but it seems unexpected to him.

"Can you explain a bit more?"

"Um—"

While flipping through the materials, Ririi recalls the content of the briefing.

The very long briefing started with the mindset required to be a Holy Maiden, followed by the achievements of the first Holy Maiden and the stories of the successive Holy Maidens. It was explained how crucial it is for Holy Maidens to use light magic to protect the country. However, as time passed and the bloodline thinned, the appearance of women in the role of Holy Maiden ceased, and the Kingdom of Saint Aurum began constructing a protective barrier.

About two hundred years ago, when the protective barrier was completed, the role of the female-only 'Holy Maiden' was abolished, and instead, gender-neutral light mages were employed to maintain the barrier.

Then, why has the 'Holy Maiden' been revived in this generation?

The job of light mages still exists, but the number of people who can use this ability is very small. It seems that there are quite a few issues that require light magic, and they decided to widely recruit new light magic users.

Among these issues, some are limited to women, which is why they decided to recruit 'Holy Maidens.'

"Hold on! What's that? They're recruiting Holy Maidens because there are women-only issues? Those guys—"

Noah, who was listening to Ririi's explanation, clenched his fists in anger.

"By the way, to correct you, initially, they planned to recruit regardless of gender. However, coincidentally, the prince's engagement was broken off, and some ambitious nobles manipulated the situation. Before we knew it, the recruitment had changed to a 'Holy Maiden and Crown Princess' position."

By the time they noticed, the announcement had already been made nationwide. The obvious strategy of the nobles whose daughters possessed light magic led to protests from other nobles, but it was too late to retract the announcement as the news had spread widely both domestically and internationally.

Seeing this, the instigators became even more emboldened and loudly stated:

"The people are grieving over the incident with the Aurum Kingdom. This is a good topic and there's no problem with it."

Without a viable alternative to dampen the excitement, the opposition turned to Arthur, the party involved, for advice.

—Proceed as planned. If no Holy Maiden appears, switch to recruiting light mages.

Due to this decision, the recruitment for 'Holy Maiden' proceeded, and now three Holy Maiden candidates are serving at the castle.

"So, that's how it is. It sounds quite complicated."

"It's too late now. The real issue is the content of the work assigned to Ririi."

The first three tasks assigned to the Holy Maiden candidates were:

—Perform healing magic twice a day to slow the progression of the Queen's illness.

—Provide healing magic to the people daily due to the shortage of medicinal herbs caused by the halt in imports from the eastern continent.

—Remove curses from cursed equipment, weapons, and decorations brought to the castle.

The Queen's illness is called Magic Syndrome, a condition where the balance between the body's magic, physical strength, immunity, and hormones is disrupted, causing the skin to harden and the muscles that support the body to weaken. Although there is a treatment that can cure it if taken for a certain period, it is not classified as a serious illness. It is a common disease that can occur with aging, and there should be no need to worry. However, due to the shortage of medicinal herbs, continuous treatment has become difficult, and it is necessary to stop the progression of the disease until a sufficient amount of medicine can be secured.

For the same reason, the church is sending Holy Maidens to provide treatment for the lack of effective medicine, free of charge.

The removal of curses was a problem that had been postponed, and they decided to tackle it seriously this time.

These three tasks need to be addressed immediately, and the Queen's case is a top-secret, important mission. There are also other one-off tasks that will be requested individually as she becomes more familiar with the work.

"I thought these three tasks would be rotated among the three of us. Why did they become fixed assignments for each person?"

"Um—"

Indeed, when it was explained, it was said that the three would take turns. However, two people strongly opposed this. Yes, Olivia and Poppy.

The two argued over who would take the 'healing magic for the Queen' task.

"Poppy is of commoner origin and her manners are questionable. Ririi is out of the question. It's impossible to rotate the healing magic for the Queen. It's only natural that I take on all of it."

"Hey, I can do healing magic too. I also want to talk to the Queen. I want to do it!"

"Your very way of speaking is problematic. Do you think it's okay to bring her before the Queen?"

"Um... I see..."

The person in charge, seeing Poppy's casual manner, could not refute Olivia's opinion and mumbled.

"Hmm. Then, I'll help at the church. If I can help a lot of people, that would be great."

"Then, I'll take the healing magic for the Queen. Poppy will assist at the church. Ririi will handle the curse removal. Is that okay?"

At this point, the person in charge disappeared, and the scene became Olivia's stage.

"It's fine!"

Since it was the job she chose, Poppy agreed enthusiastically.

"It's fine."

Ririi, who can handle the job, agreed to avoid further argument.

"Then, I'll report to the higher-ups that this is the candidates' strong request."

The person in charge ended the briefing and left quickly.

"---That's how it went. I said I can do it, so there's no problem."

"Everyone is so selfish. I'm sorry, Ririi."

Feeling sorry for her cousin who was given the most troublesome and mundane task, Noah apologized.

"It's okay. I've done curse removal before. Plus, it's a job I can do at my own pace without drawing attention."

Being in the spotlight would lead to being chosen as a Holy Maiden, which is something Ririi wants to avoid the most.

---To work quietly and build a track record, then go to the eastern fortress as a capable force.

This is the goal Ririi has set for herself now.

After finishing the preparations, the exhausted Noah and the relieved Ririi retired to their rooms to prepare for the coming day.

The next day, Ririi, guided by Noah, arrived at a warehouse at the northern end of the castle grounds. The location was damp and poorly lit, giving off a dark and eerie atmosphere. When Noah unlocked the warehouse door with the key, a mountain of weapons, armor, and decorations piled up to eye level at the entrance was revealed.

"It's piled up so high we can't even get in."

"Yeah, they just throw them in."

Strangely, it doesn't collapse, but this height will make it difficult to retrieve items.

"The adjacent warehouse is empty, so we'll store the items after the curse removal there, but the amount is—"

"Lord Noah! Let's try it first. If it takes too long for one person, we'll request more help."

Having always worked with insufficient personnel at the western fortress, Ririi optimistically thought that someone would help when she had free time.

"I'll report it to the higher-ups. If it's too difficult or dangerous, let me know immediately."

"Okay."

It's reassuring to have a reliable family member to rely on, and since they see each other every day, she can consult with him immediately if she has any problems.

After Noah left, Ririi started preparing for the curse removal.

Curse removal.

Actually, it was one of Ririi's regular tasks at the western fortress, which she did whenever she had free time.

Adventurers and travelers would bring in weapons and armor they obtained abroad to exchange for money, but cursed items are not bought in the Kingdom of Saint Aurum. Since better items are available, no one needs second-hand, cursed items.

People who brought them hoping for some money would try to dispose of them when they found out they were worthless.

However, because they are cursed, disposal is expensive. In the past, the church would take them, but now, with the increased volume, the church requires donations.

Understanding this, people would discard them secretly.

This led to tragic incidents where children accidentally picked them up and were cursed.

At the western fortress, they set up collection boxes to collect these items at the border, but discarding them didn't stop. So, Ririi would pick them up during her walks, remove the curses, and sell them to earn some money.

"Cursed weapons and armor, the metal used is of high quality, so they fetch a good price."

High-purity gold and beautiful gems are easy to retain curses, and most weapons and armor have them.

The mountain of cursed items in front of her is like a mountain of gold.

"Well then~♪, let's turn this mountain of curses into a mountain of gold♪."

Humming her own song, Ririi drew a circle on the ground. She then drew two triangles inside the circle to form a hexagram.

In the Kingdom of Saint Aurum, magic is activated using incantations. However, there are various methods of using magic across the continent, and in some western countries, the use of arrays is practiced. Ririi had the opportunity to learn this from a traveler she helped. Although she only learned this much, she combined it with her country's magic and made it her own.

By channeling purification magic into the array drawn on the ground, she completed the 'Purification Magic Array.' She then took a cursed crown from the warehouse and used the removal spell to remove the curse. The removed curse was supposed to fall onto the array and be purified. However—

"What! What—"

The removed curse turned into a black, fog-like mass, slid off the crown, and floated in the air.

"It's different from usual!"

Ignoring Ririi's scream, the unclean mist floated for a while and then slowly rose.