Banishment is Fine: As a Genius Saint, I Can Shine Anywhere. - Chapter 3

Should I write something like, ‘Sending a protective talisman as a blessing to His Majesty’? But then again, Boranzon might just take it for himself…

Meteora pondered this with a troubled expression.

Seeing her hesitate, Lionel quickly spoke up.

“Ah, my bad. I asked for the impossible.”

“That kind of thing isn’t within a Saintess’s domain, after all. Guess I’ll have to use that method.”

“That method?”

Lionel nodded, though his face showed reluctance.

“Given the situation, it’s our best bet.”

“Can I ask what it is?”

“Simple. I’ll use my name.”

Meteora raised an eyebrow slightly.

“You mean not as the Knight Commander, but as a noble-born aristocrat?”

“I hate the way you put it, but yeah, that’s the gist of it. I don’t like using that name, but I don’t have the luxury of pride right now.”

His expression darkened, but his voice remained calm and logical.

For someone like Lionel, who valued merit above all else, leveraging his noble lineage must have been the last thing he wanted to do.

Since he was willing to go that far, Meteora felt she should respect his decision, and so she nodded and agreed with Lionel.

“That helps a lot.”

“I wish I could’ve done more myself.”

“You’re already doing more than enough. If you could do even more… well, to put it bluntly, you’d become too convenient. And too much convenience leads to complacency and laziness. Personally, I prefer a bit of inconvenience.”

“…I can’t say I dislike that way of thinking.”

Complacency and laziness were formidable enemies in life. Once one fell into that trap, it was difficult to return to a disciplined and serious way of living.

In Lionel’s case, as a knight who fought against monsters, vigilance must have been deep-rooted in his very bones.

“Anyway, while we were talking, we’ve finally made it back to the border. We could’ve checked the Stakes faster if we had walked along the border directly, but with all the monsters infesting the ruins of nearby villages, we had to take a detour.”

“I don’t mind. The monsters that have settled inside the country will need to be dealt with eventually anyway.”

After all, since they had placed protective talismans along the border, the monsters that were trapped inside had no way to escape.

That meant they would only venture deeper into the kingdom in search of food.

The town that had warmly welcomed them just the other day was well within the monsters’ expanding territory.

If they didn’t exterminate them now, the people of that town would be in grave danger.

“We knights will handle the monsters. That’s why the temple needs to hurry up and fix the Stakes already.”

Lionel’s words were practically a sign of frustration, and Meteora nodded in agreement.

When she had been exiled from the Central Temple, she had felt anger and exasperation.

But at the same time, there had been a small part of her that thought, ‘At least now I can see the state of the border for myself.’

However, what she had actually witnessed was worse than she had imagined.

That only strengthened her resolve to fix this situation as soon as possible.

(But now that I’m away from the capital, I have no idea what’s happening at the Central Temple. I just hope that the remaining Saintesses aren’t collapsing from exhaustion without me there…)

That worry weighed on her mind, and she let out a deep sigh.