5.
Even though Marigold couldn’t see, she knew the moment spring arrived. Perhaps her blindness made her feel the winter’s retreat even more vividly.
From the moment Lancel Dante first brought her here, Marigold had never felt fear or unease around him.
Whether it was his firm palm supporting her back or his hand correcting her course when she strayed, Marigold felt strangely at ease with him.
“You mustn’t trust him too much! All the noblemen in this empire are beasts! Beasts!”
“Still…….”
“Miss, your gentle nature is your greatest flaw. It worries me sick, truly.”
“Hmm.”
It was only natural that Pina’s nightly nagging, born of worry, would become a callus on Marigold’s ear. After all, Marigold felt no aversion toward the nobleman Lancel Dante. In fact, she was remarkably comfortable around him. From Pina’s perspective, it must have seemed as though her mistress had been completely fooled by some strange man.
“Morning prayer? I’ll go with you, I suppose.”
“Hmm.”
“Why? If you’re feeling stifled, why not go outside for a while. Even if you can’t see anything, the air will feel different.”
“Hmm.”
“Where shall we go next?”
“Hmmmmm!”
“If you’re tired, you can just lean on me. Why have you been so stiff since earlier?”
That night, Marigold burrowed deep under her blanket, realizing that Lancel Dante’s voice was the only thing that had been on her mind throughout the entire spring.
“I heard this is the knight’s family estate. He hasn’t even been here for a year, has he?”
By now, Pina seemed just as puzzled as Marigold.
“Anyway, he’s definitely an odd one. I can’t figure out why he’s being so kind to you, Miss.”
“……I don’t know either.”
There was nothing for Marigold to do in this mansion.
Apart from her habitual twice-daily prayers, the maids took care of all the laundry and cleaning. She even received assistance with her meals.
It was as if Marigold was a child again.
“Well, maybe he’s just a good person? It’s certainly much more comfortable than living at the temple.”
“Still, there’s nothing I can do to repay him.”
“Well, Lancel Dante said it himself: just relax and take it easy.”
“…It feels strange to only receive kindness.”
It wasn’t just about the convenience she was receiving. She simply wanted to do something for him in return. But as a blind woman, there was nothing she could offer Lancel Dante. If this life continued, it would remain that way.
Marigold found her own uselessness unbearable.
“Mary, why don’t you try using your healing magic?”
The change came as spring faded and summer approached.
6.
When you think about it, “healing” was a truly bizarre thing. The ability to heal people made ordinary magic seem rather mundane in comparison.
Having lived for centuries in an era where even a needle prick could prove fatal, one couldn’t help but find the very existence of healing magic strangely out of the ordinary. It seemed to disrupt some sort of balance, like those ridiculously overpowered noble classes in games.
While the game did have healing magic, Lancel distinctly remembered it as being a skill of a priest, under the name “white magic.”
However, Lancel hadn’t seen anything even remotely similar to white magic in the past two hundred years.
If such magic truly existed, Lancel might have found religion by now. After all, the ability to heal people—wasn’t that the most undeniable proof of divine power?
“Ugh!”
“Still no response?”
“Uuuuugh……!”
“Do you feel like something is about to happen?”
“Ugh…Ugh…!”
Lancel had been badgering Mary, who was straining with her palm outstretched toward him, for about an hour before finally reaching his conclusion.
‘As expected… There’s no way such divine power could exist in this world.’
It was only after seeing Mary collapse onto the bed after exhausting all her energy trying to squeeze out some kind of “healing” that Lancel came to such conclusions.
‘The so-called protagonist of this game who’s spent years praying for hours every day can’t even use divine power? Game over. This is practically proof of its non-existence.’
“I’m completely useless. I might as well go beg right now.”
“Hmm…”
Lancel stared at the dejected Marigold, recalling memories from his previous iteration.
‘Right.’
In fact, this was already the second time he’d brought Mary to the mansion from the Salvation Church.
The dazzling first iteration had already existed.
.
.
.
The story went back to the moment Lancel first saw the game’s system screen notification.
==========
—Fame Event: The Church of Marigold has been established for the first time by believers! Your myth truly begins from this moment forward.
※Marigold’s Karma has decreased by 1 point.
==========
‘One church is equal to 1 karma point? So, we need two hundred churches then?
It’s not like churches are some trendy coffee franchise that runs with a goal of opening about two hundred branches.
This might be doable.’
With enough money, building two hundred churches wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible. After repeating the process a few times, it should be a piece of cake. Lancel was beginning to feel like things were progressing too smoothly.
That’s why he immediately ordered the construction of two more churches in nearby areas.
There was no law required for the building of churches to be extravagant, and Lancel had already mastered countless tricks for raising funds—tricks that would conveniently shift all responsibility onto him a decade later.
“You’ve finished it? Are you certain?”
“I have visited the site several times to confirm, Sir Lancel. Are you doubting the Thieves’ Guild, an organization that thrives on its reputation?”
When the first church was completed, bad news arrived. No notification appeared indicating that Marigold’s karma points had decreased.
‘So it’s not enough to simply build a church?’
But later, when a second church was built…
==========
—Fame Event: The second Church of Marigold has been completed!
※Marigold’s Karma has decreased by 1 point.
==========
“That’s it!”
“Eek! You surprised me!”
Lancel’s voice startled Marigold, who was walking with him.
‘One counts, one doesn’t count. What’s the difference?’
It was only after visiting the churches in person did Lancel understand the difference.
“Please bless me.”
“Please help me make a lot of money, Saintess.”
“Make women flock to me!”
The difference lay in whether or not believers actually visited and prayed. A church that had no visitors was just an abandoned building.
Thus, a third church was built.
“Why did it not work this time?”
The situation was driving him mad.
He had spent more money to hire a decent priest. The church even had a dozen or so visitors each day. Yet, there was still no notification that Marigold’s karma points had decreased.
‘What was different this time?’
Lancel quickly identified the key difference.
The statue of the Saintess.
It was the presence of a statue modeled after the mythical Saintess.
He had deliberately avoided making a statue of the Saintess, fearing the misinterpretation of his churches’ affiliation with a specific sect. But in fact, it was the answer all along.
Lancel swiftly crafted the statue and placed it inside the church.
==========
—Fame Event: The third Church of Marigold has been completed!
※Marigold’s Karma has decreased by 1 point.
==========
‘This is it!’
Later, Lancel discovered that the building of more physical temples wasn’t necessary.
Only two things mattered:
- A statue of the Saintess.
- Believers praying before it.
‘It’s this easy?’
Lancel had decided then.
‘Let’s build just a few dozen per round.
If I repeat this cycle at least four or five times, Marigold’s karma points will quickly go from 200 to 0.’
… … At least that’s what Lancel thought.
Ten years passed.
.
.
.
[Playtime: 10 years, 0 days]
—Marigold turned 25.
—No marriage partner.
—No achievements.
[Normal Ending 36: The Noble House’s Freeloader, Marigold]
—This ending was added to the “Album of Memories.”
—Album opening.
‘What a worthless, parasitic life.’
Receiving kindness without giving back was embarrassing, but once you got used to it, it wasn’t so bad.
“I’m sorry, Sir Lancel, but I still can’t live without you. Since things have come to this, just marry me and make it a fait accompli! We’ll have children and raise them together! Not too many—just seven! Three daughters and four sons! Yes, let’s do this right now!”
You can’t keep living like this, Marigold!
[Normal Ending 36: The Noble House’s Freeloader, Marigold – FIN.]
—Would you like to restart the game?
.
.
.
============
—Permanent Damage: Marigold has lost sight in both eyes.
※Marigold’s Karma points have been reset from 163 to 200.
============
Marigold’s karma points had reset to its original state.
“Stop messing around and just build all two hundred temples within ten years.”
That’s what the game’s system screen seemed to be telling him.
“Haha.”
Lancel could only laugh.
7.
“I’m a person of no use. I might as well go begging right now.”
“Hmm…….”
Lancel’s reverie ended as he looked down at Marigold, who had collapsed in exhaustion from her desperate attempts to manifest her “healing” ability.
‘If…
If she had…
…what would happen if she had actually manifested her healing abilities?’
Two hundred churches? That would have been nothing. Everyone who witnessed her miraculous healing would worship her. She might even found a massive religion that would spread across the entire continent. Yes, all within ten years.
But that was impossible.
‘It’s foolish to cling to fantasies.’
In this life alone, Lancel had already built seven “Holy Maiden Churches,” with the Empire’s permission.
But building two hundred churches within ten years seemed impossible. He needed a far more revolutionary method.
“Young Master.”
“Come in.”
Hesti entered with a knock.
“There’s a visitor outside.”
“Who is it?”
“Someone from the Holy Knight Order of the Martyr’s Church.”
‘The Holy Knight Order?’
“They’ve come to invite you to join their pilgrimage group. It seems they are aware of your efforts towards building churches.”
Lancel’s eyes widened.
‘A pilgrimage group.’
A procession of priests skilled in combat, traveling to slay monsters, bandits, traitors, and demons.
Of course, Lancel had no intention of joining them.
“Tell them I’m not available.”
“Understood.”
The monsters, bandits, traitors, and demons they claimed to hunt were merely excuses. In reality, these fanatics stirred up trouble, inciting wars and plundering across the Empire, leaving devastation in their wake.
Lancel had encountered these pilgrimage groups several times during his days in the provinces. They were nothing more than ruffians—unreasonable, unyielding thugs.
Unsurprisingly, the fear of religion soared during that period, while faith plummeted to its lowest point.
Even Lancel had no desire to fight them. After all, the Emperor himself had approved their pilgrimage. Who would dare stand in their way?
They were a genuine natural disaster, backed by both divine authority and imperial power.
Unless one intended to fight the entire Empire, they had to be avoided at all costs.
Every region that the pilgrimage group passed through would surely turn into hell.
Then, suddenly, a lightning bolt struck Lancel’s mind.
‘Wait.’
“Mary.”
Lancel lifted Mary’s upper body from where she lay face down. He gazed into her opaque, silvery eyes.
“I need your help.”
“Me… a mere parasite?”
“On the contrary, you’re the only one who can do this.”
Marigold’s expression turned blank. Lancel continued in a voice more earnest than ever before.
“From now on, you will stand in the heavens, Mary.”
