Banishment is Fine: As a Genius Saint, I Can Shine Anywhere. - Chapter 5

“Yeah… that does sound like a fairy tale.”

“In reality, it was probably a group of elite Saintesses from the Central Temple working together to heal people. But the temple wanted to make the Grace of the Gods seem more divine, so they rewrote history—turning it into a story about a single Saintess saving the nation.

At least… that’s what I always thought. But now…”

Chuli furrowed her brows slightly.

“After seeing Lady Meteora, I’m starting to think that it wasn’t just an overstatement.

Didn’t she heal over a hundred people in a single day? Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s impossible. No matter how gifted a Saintess is, healing ten people would leave her drained. If she tried to heal an entire town, the best she could do is dull their pain or stop infections from worsening. Anything more would destroy her body.”

Since coming to this region, Chuli had been treating the townsfolk exactly that way.

 “And even then, by the time I’m done, I can barely move,” she added.

“So perhaps Lady Meteora isn’t just a once-in-two-centuries genius. Maybe she was given a special power—one meant to save the nation.”

“A power to save the nation…”

“But that also means this Holy Kingdom must be facing an impending disaster.

A powerful Saintess isn’t always a blessing—it could be a warning.”

Chuli’s lips pressed into a firm line, as if restraining herself from hope.

“Is this ‘power to save the nation’ something she was born with?”

“I don’t know. Every Saintess is different.

Some show miraculous abilities as babies, and their families bring them to the temple.

Others have no signs of power until one day, it just… awakens. That was the case for me. It happened when I was ten.”

For Chuli, it all started when a crow attacked a cat she was taking care of.

Desperate to help, she mimicked a prayer she’d seen Saintesses do and thought, Heal.

And it did.

Her parents were so shocked that they immediately took her to the temple.

“After that, my training as a Saintess began. Most who awaken suddenly tend to come to the temple around the age of ten.”

“Meteora said she started training at the temple eight years ago.”

Meteora was in her late teens now, meaning she would have been around ten back then.

(And then there’s that nightmare she had…)

Normally, Meteora would mumble in her sleep—things like I know, I know.

But this time was different. She wasn’t just murmuring; she was suffering.

She had screamed No, stop, I’m scared! and even when shaken awake, she didn’t come to.

Lionel had seen plenty of people writhing in pain—soldiers, civilians.

But even he had felt a chill watching her that night.

(Could her nightmares be tied to her immense power…?)

As he pondered,

“Hohoho~! Captain, are you here?”

The door burst open with a loud bang.

A short old man, barely half of Lionel’s height, went in.

“Uh… The head of this temple is…”

“Lord Roadban.”

Chuli promptly answered Lionel’s unspoken question.

“Lord Roadban, what brings you here so late?

…Wait, that weird orb we pulled from the monster—didn’t you take it?”

Lionel narrowed his eyes.

“Indeed! And behold—!”

Roadban reached into his robes and pulled out the orb.

They had extracted it from a massive beast earlier that day.

The moment it was removed, the creature shrank to its normal size—proof that the orb was no ordinary object.

After being driven out of town, Lionel’s group had barely made it to the Fourth Regional Temple while gasping for breath.

When they explained the situation, Roadban had snatched the orb and disappeared into the library.

“Lord Roadban has been obsessed with research since his days at the Central Temple. If anyone can figure that orb out, it’s him,” Chuli had assured them.

So, they let him keep it.

Now, he handed it back with a casual, “I don’t need it anymore.”