If there's one aspect of Estelle's magic that deserves praise, it's that she suppressed the luminous effects.
Light was naturally generated when magic was activated, but since I purposely extinguished that light, people who were used to seeing recovery magic... I wondered that if a saint like Estelle judged that I was not activating magic.
Although "recovery" is the "core words" I had uttered, I omitted the incantation part...and other saints usually didn't omit it, so what I said was something like a spell, I hoped that people would think that Estelle had cured her illness on her own.
I put on a fake smile and faced Estelle, who was rolling her eyes.
"What's wrong, Estelle? Maybe you're feeling a little better?" (Fia)
Since I was not a real saint, I didn't know if she'd been healed or not, so I askd her in a dumb tone.
Then, Estelle looked as if she had been pinched by a fox.
"Huh, um... yes, I'm completely better. I'm a saint, so I can kind of understand the extent of the illness or injury, but the illness has completely disappeared without a trace." (Estelle)
Estelle said this with a strange look on her face, as if she didn't seem to understand what happened.
So I clapped my hands innocently.
"Wow, that's amazing! Since we were together with Unicorn boy and Mythical Bird boy, they must have had amazing powers!! I also helped out a little by 'cheering' them, but Estelle was the one who cured the disease itself." (Fia)
As I continued to applaud happily, Estelle turned her head blankly towards me...and then began to shed large tears.
"What!?" (Fia)
Therefore, I looked around her whole body in surprise.
"Um, is there any pain somewhere? From what I see, your chest and your back are healing, and I can't find anything else that's bad." (Fia)
I looked at her blankly, and Estelle shook her head.
"Lady Fia, there's no pain anywhere." (Estelle)
Even as she answered that, new tears began to fall.
"B-but, the tears..." (Fia)
"Yes, I'm sorry. I feel like my chest is congested and I can't stop crying." (Estelle)
Estelle's words startled me, and I looked at her chest.
"Huh, what about your chest? ...But I think your chest has healed..." (Fia)
"Yes, all the evil spirits have been exorcised. Instead, a warm light flows into my chest, and that light is so comforting that I can't stop crying." (Estelle)
"You know..."
In other words, I blinked, wondering if it was okay to say that she was cured of her illness.
Then, Estelle looked at me and smiled with tears rolling down her face.
"It's amazing. The power of a saint is this great. And it was meant to be like this. My heart hurts with emotion as I was touched by her overwhelming power and kindness." (Estelle)
After hearing her words, I thought that Estelle might be a very sensitive saint.
That's why I felt that I might be feeling many times the pleasure I feel when the illness was expelled from her body.
I was glad that Estelle's illness had been cured, but I hadn't expected her to be highly sensitive, so I was wondering if my explanation earlier had convinced her, when a startling voice came from behind me.
"Fia, Fia, what in the world did you do?"
"Oh, that's right! What's going on? You can even cure such a serious illness!?"
When I turned around in surprise at the voice, Cerulean and Dory, who had been on the verge of fainting earlier, were standing right behind me.
Their complexions had returned to their original color, as if the whiteness they had before was a lie.
"Well, the color has returned to both of you! Are you feeling better?" (Fia)
When I asked, wondering, Dory started talking faster than usual.
"We have a phobia of patients, so we don't show any symptoms in a room with only healthy people! Actually, we don't care about that!! What the hell is going on? I can't believe that's happening again... " (Dory)
Dory pointed to the sacred stone necklace I was wearing around my neck and was about to say something, but then he seemed to realize something and stopped.
Dory then looked at the Count and Estelle as if to confirm, but the Count was dumbfounded and Estelle continued to shed tears, so neither of them seemed to realize the importance of the sacred stone.
As a result, Dory looked relieved and turned to me again, but he couldn't bear to keep quiet and muttered under his breath, "I can't believe it, what power it has!"
Then, he took a step back, seeming satisfied.
Cerulean also took a step back, shaking his head, "It's good to be outside the norm."
I looked at them and wondered what was going on.
This was because the two of them acted as if they had been cured and destroyed the story that I had worked so hard to create, that "I was just cheering for them, and Estelle was the one who cured me of the disease."
I thought it was a bit of a painful explanation myself, and that's fine in itself, but after looking at the series of words and actions of the two, after all maybe I should explain that Estelle's complete recovery was due to the power of the sacred stone.
Like Dory and Cerulean, who were convinced without me saying anything, people who knew the value of sacred stones could be explained just by showing them the sacred stone, so I thought they would be more convinced if I explained it using this stone.
However, Estelle didn't know about this stone in the first place.
And judging by Dory and Cerulean's attitude, it's probably best not to talk too much about this stone.
Even though I was worried about this, I decided to attack until the very last moment.
Therefore, I grabbed Estelle's hands, who are still crying, and looked into her face.
"Estelle, you may be disappointed, but I'm not a real saint!" (Fia)
"……what?" (Estelle)
I saw Estelle looking confused, as if she couldn't understand what was being said, and I thought, "Looks like Estelle wasn't convinced by the explanation that she had healed herself. I was right to switch tactics," as I said to myself.
Then, I put on a particularly serious expression and continued talking.
"Actually, I'm a member of a clown troupe. So, I'm not a real saint, but a saint with seeds and tricks." (Fia)
"...Huh? ...Huh."
Estelle seemed to be completely unconvinced, but I answered honestly, so I lowered my voice a little, as if I was telling her a secret.
"And my companions are court jesters!" (Fia)
Hehe, with this phrase, I think you'll think not only Cerulean and Dory are court jesters, but also me.
Expecting this, I blinked my eyes.
"And, you know, I'm the king's favorite! That's why the king has given me special items. Because of that, I can do things similar to the power of a saint." (Fia)
I looked at Estelle while caressing the sacred stone necklace.
Well, it's probably not a lie.
These jewels were given to me by the people of Sutherland, but this story only came to fruition because Commander Savis, who was present at the time, showed understanding.
In other words, it could be said that it was because I had obtained permission from the King, Commander's superior.
And since I'd been working with Cerulean all day today, I couldn't help but say that I was his favorite.
So, to sum it up, I'm the king's favorite, and this sacred stone was given to me by the king!
After coming to a conclusion that suited me, I returned my gaze to Estelle.
I was hoping that since she had been touching the necklace so persistently, Estelle would have realized that this gem had special powers and that it was because of it that she was cured of her illness.
However, contrary to my expectations, she made a difficult face and tilted her head to the side.
...You don't seem to understand what I was hinting at.
Even though I worked hard to create a story that was on the border between truth and falsehood, I wondered if there was no result?
When I tried to look down in disappointment, I saw Cerulean's angry expression on his face, so I felt like I was losing money by getting angry even though I didn't have any results.
As expected, Cerulean started complaining to me as if it were just another blow.
"Fia, I don't think you should use such misleading expressions! The king is not interested in any women! In other words, in that sense, he is not interested in you!!" (Cerulean)
Oh, now that you mention it, it's rumored that the king hates women.
The current king was a Doppelganger, so I wondered if he's taking precautions to prevent him from causing problems with women and having trouble finding a successor?
If that's the case, I thought I'd done something wrong, so I decided to talk to Cerulean.
"Cerulean is right! Rather than people like me, the king likes young boys who like to imitate horses and tall men with feminine vibes!!" (Fia)
"Fia! That would be a problem!!" (Cerulean)
Even though I had taken the trouble to say something that Cerulean liked, I was immediately retorted in a screaming voice, and I grimaced, thinking that Cerulean would have a lot of orders.
It was getting more and more troublesome for me, so I decided to summarize the story so far in order to convince Estelle.
"Well, Estelle, the king has given me various effective seeds and tricks, and I used them to cure your illness. However, these seeds and tricks are a great secret, so I'm going to tell you today. I want you to keep quiet about what happened, okay?" (Fia)
Then Estelle blinked her tearful eyes and smiled.
"Of course!!" (Estelle)
When I saw Estelle nodding loudly, I felt happy that it was a good answer.
However, when Estelle continued to speak, I felt like I had been slapped on the head.
"This is just me talking to myself, but Lady Fia is a special person to this country! That's why the royal family is keeping her under wraps, and the church isn't even aware of her existence." (Estelle)
"What?" (Fia)
What Estelle told me was so outrageous that I looked at her in shock.
But Estelle clasped her hands together and stared dreamily into the sky.
"There are not that many saints, and we have opportunities to meet each other regularly, so we know each other’s faces. However, I have never seen Lady Fia even once. If she's a saint living in the area, it's possible that I haven't seen her yet, but if she lives in a royal castle, it makes sense to think that she's kept a secret by the royal family." (Estelle)
"Eh, no." (Fia)
My eyes widened as Estelle told an amazing story.
What should I do? Earlier, I hinted that I was a court jester, but it was misunderstood, and people assumed that I lived in the royal castle.
No, I actually live in a knight's dormitory within the royal castle...but that's probably not what Estelle is talking about.
Unfortunately, Estelle's plausibly told creation story that didn't have a shred of truth in it.
While I was thinking that I had to make a correction, Estelle clasped her hands together and looked determined.
"I will never say anything else about Lady Fia, a saint who is kept secret by the royal family! I promise!" (Estelle)
Looking at her sparkling eyes, I realized that I had failed in my attempts to persuade her.
It seemed that my supposedly perfect explanation was conveyed to Estelle as a complete misunderstanding.
As soon as I understood that, the expression on my face completely disappeared.
Author's Note
Thank you for always reading!
We would like to inform you that volume 7 of the comic will be released on October 12th (Wednesday)!
This is the volume where the Great Saint plays an active role in Sutherland!
This is a volume full of fun, such as the eradication of yellow spot disease in the past editions, the first appearance of Sirius, which is only found in the novel version, and the awakening of Curtis...
(I read ahead, and it was the most interesting volume so far!)
Thank you very much for your support◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧*˚‧