Marcus listened intently to Stella’s explanation about her cracked pendant. With her silencing spell, she could freely speak, and Marcus learned enough to seriously ponder what his next moves should be.

  It was clear that her familiar was quite important to Stella. She was a great light spirit, a light elemental to be specific, and her name was ‘Lady Siris’. It seemed like Stella regarded the creature as somewhat of a mother figure.

  According to Stella, Siris usually took the appearance of a small white fox with red eyes. She apparently acquired her back when she was just eight.

  As an elf, this should be expected. They do have a lot more affinity for forming contracts with spirits.

  But damn, a greater spirit? Aren’t they legendary?

  The most important piece of information he squeezed out of her was the fact that this light elemental great spirit apparently accounted for more than half of Stella’s firepower.

  For now.

  Stella’s stats should more than double soon. Considering she was only at level 55, she still had nearly forty-five levels to go through.

  At the moment, she was gold-ranked according to the system. If she could reach level 100 like Marcus—though there was a massive if there because he only reached level 100 after fighting in hell—she could easily increase her base stat attributes four times on average.

  It may sound small, but that was a difference between him, someone with around 1800 total stat attribute points at diamond rank, and her, someone who only had around 380 at gold rank.

  Not to mention, the [Saint] class was beyond blessed.

  The [Hell Ranger] class, for example, offered moderate [Strength], moderate [Vitality], low [Magic], high [Perception], high [Speed], and low [Dexterity] stat bonuses for its base stat attributes.

  Stella’s [Saint] class, on the other hand, offered moderate [Strength], high [Vitality], high [Magic], moderate [Perception], moderate [Speed], and high [Dexterity] stat bonuses for her base stat attributes. Not a single ‘low’ bonus, and three ‘high’ bonuses.

  In addition, all of these, whether the class’s bonus was low, moderate, or high, were double the value of the bonuses found in other classes for each rank.

  For a point of comparison, Stella right now had 1056 bonus points total from the [Saint] class alone. At gold rank.

  That was insane!

  At level 100 diamond rank, even Marcus only had 1600 bonus points from his [Hell Ranger] class, with most of his points stacked on his [Perception] and [Speed] stat attributes.

  Such was the way of the blessed saints. It was a class for a well-rounded fighter and defender of mankind. He or she who wielded it had no weaknesses and was either good or extremely good in all six stat attributes.

  Normal classes in comparison always had strengths and weaknesses. Marcus’s [Hell Ranger] class strengths were in his [Perception] and [Speed] stat attributes, considering his class was essentially a part of the [Scout] branch.

  He was thus extremely capable at detecting his enemies and moving rapidly, but his [Magic] and [Dexterity] stat attributes were less than desirable.

  If he tried magecraft, he’d be absolutely garbage at it. Not only would his spells be weak, but he wouldn’t even be able to cast them quickly.

  Even if he himself received a [Mage] class for his new open slot and worked to reach level 100 for it, he doubted he could match a full-fledged [Saint].

  In other words, I’m training my direct replacement. I may be stronger and more experienced now, but I’m not someone favored by the goddess.

  Well, I am somewhat of a scum myself. It’d be stupid for her to bless me.

  When he said earlier that a [Saint] could wield the power to potentially delete a continent or heal its inhabitants in a snap of his or her fingers, he wasn’t lying.

  They were supposed to be walking demigods subservient to the goddess’ will of keeping peace and harmony in the mortal realm.

  But there was no such [Saint] in recorded history who reached that level. Most died before reaching Stella’s level, while the strongest only reached level 60 or 70 before dying.

  Potential simply didn’t matter if the people picked as [Saints] were so kind and pure that they could be easily used, manipulated, and discarded at will.

  I cannot let her end up in that same fate. No way am I wasting her potential.

  The best part about it is that once he’s done with his training program for her, she wouldn’t be beholden to anyone but herself and the goddess. Even if he goes power crazy, he is just human, so he should die in a few decades, unlike her.

  Indeed, this elf might be the first to break that cycle. And should she break that cycle, Marcus was sure that with her long lifespan, the bastards from hell wouldn’t be crawling back anytime soon.

  He could already imagine it. No matter how hard they tried, Stella the Ashen Saint would slaughter them all.

  Sometimes, I can’t believe my strategic foresight.

  “So, if I’m reading this correctly, Marcus leaned close to her. “While your familiar is unresponsive, you can still sense your contract with her?”

  “Yes.”

  “And, you have a friend in your home country who is an expert at dealing with spirits?”

  “Yes. I’m sure that he can be trusted too.”

  “I’ve made my decision,” Marcus said, as he finished thinking about Stella’s words. “We’re going to Sordale. Then, we’ll try to reawaken this Lady Siris you speak of.”

  “Wait…already? You agree?”

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  “Why wouldn’t I agree?” Marcus scoffed. “I can’t always keep watch on you. You need a companion at your side to protect you. This familiar of yours is therefore necessary.”

  Of course, I would never be such a rat bastard as to send her alone straight into an army of a perverted count and a chapter of the Death God Cult.

  But, you never know what might happen.

  He simply wasn’t the type of man to let a person of such potential die. If that ever happened, people should write him down in history books just to shame him for incompetence.

  Like those bastards at the Holy Church.

  “I…I see,” Stella was quite moody earlier, but Marcus saw her lips curling up slightly. “Thank you, Sir Marcus. I truly don’t know how I’ll repay my growing debt to you.”

  “Forget about it,” Marcus waved her off. “You can repay it by working hard. Should the worst come to worst, I will value having a [Saint] ready to face it.”

  “I’ll do my best not to disappoint you then.”

  “Right. But don’t get your hopes up just yet. The documents I retrieved from the count’s estate are quite a big pile.”

  Once again, Marcus’ eyes turned into a small, grey dot.

  “I expect to have a sizable shit list to deal with while travelling to Sordale.”

  Marcus and Stella were now back at the hotel.

  Before the two could begin their analysis of the intel he retrieved from the count’s estate, Marcus decided to check on something from his inventory that was bothering him.

  Why? Because in his extremely clean room, his sensitive nose picked up a scent from one of his bags of holding.

  Specifically, the one containing his laundry.

  “S-sir Marcus,” Stella’s normally pale face turned green as she pinched her nose. “It reeks!”

  Quickly, Marcus began stuffing the dirty clothes and uniforms, mostly old used backups, straight back into the bag of holding he used to contain them.

  “Demon blood,” Marcus frowned. “Guess they’ve been rotting like crazy in there. Tch, filthy…”

  “Why are you keeping those things with you?!”

  “I hate filth, but you must recognize the necessity of strategic reserves. I ought to ram this ideal into your brain one day. That’s why I’m planning to clean them once I have free time.”

  A look of horror appeared in Stella’s face as she looked up at Marcus.

  “Sir Marcus,” her eyes trembled a bit. “Are you saying…that you hate filth, but you’re hoarding filthy things?”

  “What are you…?” If looks could kill, Marcus was definitely showing it as he stared at Stella. “Say, are you insinuating something? You think I’m wrong? Or is my hearing incorrect?”

  But, instead of shyly backing down, she closed her eyes and shouted.

  “You silly man! Those two are absolutely irreconcilable. Not in this world at least.” She grabbed his hand and immediately pulled him out of his room. “You’re coming with me. With the money you acquired, you have enough to buy clean, fresh clothes.”

  “But my strategic reserves—”

  “We’ll find better clothing, and then you’re throwing them away! Trust me, not even the finest detergent can save those things.”

  “Detergent?”

  His question unanswered, Marcus found himself dragged straight into a shopping spree. While business today, after his ‘brazen’, ‘barbaric’, and ‘brutal’, attack—according to the local newspaper—was down, it was still open.

  And it turned out, while a princess and a [Saint], Stella had a keen eye for what looked good for men. And so, he found himself being dragged from shop after shop, testing out new clothes.

  It was a bit strange. Stella was adamant about trying out new things that she declared as ‘more normal’ than Marcus’s uniforms, while Marcus insisted on only grabbing the basics.

  T-shirts, basic pants, suits, and greatcoats, all in grey, dark blue, or black colors, in the end were what Marcus bought.

  Though he only bought the ones that Stella approved. At the very least, now he had bags of clothes that would make him look less abnormal.

  “You’re quite tiring, Sir Marcus,” Stella huffed as the two walked through the streets. “I don’t get why you refuse to take advice from a true professional. That’s why you’re the type to think that you can save clothes splattered in rotting demon blood as ‘salvageable’.”

  “Tch. You were trying to make me buy superfluous clothes. I am not wearing colorful crap while travelling.”

  “B-but in special functions—!”

  “As if I’m ever meeting up with nobles and royalty to show off.” Marcus placed a hand on his chin. “And even if I did, I'd prefer looking like this.”

  “I see…” Stella’s shoulders sagged. “Fiiine…I suppose I can let this slide.”

  Pfft. I’m the one who should ‘let this slide’. She absolutely got too carried away.

  At least now, he could get rid of those disgusting backup clothes. He should be ready to set out from Almarche now.

  “Anyway, if you’re hungry,” Stella placed her hand behind her, sped up walking, and stopped in front of Marcus with a cheery smile. “I found another good restaurant last night.”

  “You’ve only stayed in this city for a literal day, yet you seem to have tried out all of the food here.”

  She raised a finger, as if lecturing Marcus.

  “First of all, it is a necessity when travelling to learn the culture of the local population. One of the methods to achieve this is to consume the food they eat.”

  “And where did you hear that lesson?”

  “Back when I was in the academy, I took a brief elective about strategies for military occupation.”

  “...You definitely just twisted whatever lesson that subject gave you into an excuse to eat out whenever you’re travelling.” Marcus fought the urge to slap his face.

  Stella was shaping up to be a truly difficult student to properly train. She absolutely did not have a single trait of a good soldier in her.

  It was a miracle she got this far as [Saint]. If she were a [Saint] back in the old days, she’d definitely be dead before reaching level 40.

  All the more reason to keep an eye out for her safety.

  At the same time though, Marcus didn’t mind. She was a normal woman in a largely peaceful world simply trying to live while having the responsibility of a heroine shoved onto her shoulders.

  He could hardly blame her.

  “But alright,” Marcus relented. “Let’s go check it out. I will not overspend, though. I’ve spent fifty gold on these clothes already.”

  And I was supposed to get to work analyzing those documents today.

  “Don’t worry. The restaurant I’m talking about is cheap.”

  “Everything is cheap to you.”

  “Hmm? What was that, Sir Marcus?”

  “Nothing.”

  Even he couldn’t help but smile a bit as he walked behind Stella.

  What a terribly amusing [Saint].

  He remembered his words to her back on that rooftop after he killed the count, how he’d teased her a bit after she looked so stiff and horrified about the massacre.

  I suppose I'm the one who should loosen up.

  I’m the abnormal one after all.

  While this world was still quite cruel and terrible, he couldn’t deny how beautiful it was and the people who lived here.

  This was the normalcy they fought for, no?

  Marcus thought, maybe he should definitely get a taste of it…just a little bit. He was going to travel through this world to finish his job anyway, so he might as well experience it too.

  And so, as he followed the saint, who had a bit of an upbeat force with each step she took, Marcus felt something he hadn’t felt for ages.

  He felt excited about something as simple as food.

  I wonder what overpriced food she wants to show me this time.