Abandoned Lady Awakened in the Dungeon – Sacred Mark? A True Saint? No I Am Just a Monster Foodie! - CH 49

“Saint Meldiana-sama…”

Douglas, the church knight, calls the saint’s name.

Meldiana, without removing her veil, addresses the priests.

“What are you waiting for? The adventurers own the rights to what they obtain from the dungeon. And if they are the goddess’s relics, they belong to the Church. Prepare it now.”

Other than the priest in charge of Lysette, the two priests step back at her command.

—Are they really going to pay 100 million gold for it?

Before they left the dungeon, her friends agreed to sell the relic and dragon materials, pay Lysette and Dee’s fines, and split the rest.

Lysette argued that her share was excessive, but the majority vote prevailed.

She had planned to sell it at a higher price in order to increase distribution to everyone, but she never expected it to go through without a price negotiation.

She figures it doesn’t matter because it’s church gold, not Meldiana’s or the Marquise’s gold.

“Congratulations, Onee-sama. You are now a free woman. I had faith in you.”

Meldiana’s true motivations are unknown.

Not just because of the veil.

“Onee-sama, may I examine the relic more closely?”

“Yes, of course.”

Lysette hands Meldiana the strand of burning hair.

And when Meldiana’s gloved fingers come into contact with the flames.

“Hot, it’s hot!”

The flames ignite the glove, quickly spreading through the veil and engulfing Meldiana in flames.

“Water!”

Meldiana screams and rolls on the floor as Lysette casts Water Magic on her.

Meldiana is immediately doused in water, and the flames are extinguished.

“I’m going to use recovery—.”

Hilde rushes over to help Meldiana with her burns.

“No! Don’t look!”

A shrill cry reverberates through the air.

The veil has burned away, and the figure she sees is not the one Lysette is used to seeing.

Her lovely green hair had faded and lost its luster, her body was as slender as a dead branch, and her skin was deeply wrinkled.

It was the appearance of an elderly lady.

“Meldiana, what the hell happened?!”

Duke Bern, who arrives with a drawn face but is trying to calm down, expresses concern for Meldiana, who has assumed the form of an elderly woman.

Hilde’s healing abilities quickly healed Meldiana’s burns.

Meldiana hid her face with a jacket that her father, the Marquis of Claudis, had given her.

“… Onee-sama, how could you have done this to me…”

In a weak voice, she said.

“What?! Was this done by Lysette?”

Lysette has no idea. Meldiana looks like that, and she doesn’t know why.

Meldiana remained silent and sobbed softly.

Bern, the Duke-heir, glared angrily at Lysette.

“What a fool you are, Lysette—the Goddess will punish you for making your sister look like this!”

“I really have no idea.”

“Don’t lie, Meldiana is crying!”

He makes obnoxious gestures and denounces Lysette.

Even if Lysette denies everything, he will not believe her.

“…What the hell is the matter with him?”

In hushed tones, Dee inquires.

“My sister’s current fiancée is the duke’s heir, and he’s my ex-fiancée.”

She responded quietly.

“The relic, too, is most likely a fake! How can it be a goddess relic if it harms Meldiana, the Saint?”

He screams.

The other side will not listen to Lysette.

Lysette sighs slightly.

—After all, on the surface, there is nothing but trouble.

She’s beginning to miss the simple life of Dungeon, where power is everything.

Leonhardt takes a step forward at that point.

“The goddess recognizes Lysette and bestows a portion of her body on her—we are the witnesses—let us refrain from making false statements.”

“I don’t need some random adventurer telling me what to do!”

“…My name is Leonhardt Wilfried, and I am the second Prince of Ville.”

—Leon?

The Duke-heir Bern opens his mouth with a gasp when Leonhardt’s name is mentioned.

Meldiana, who had sat down, looks up and the acting Marquess of Claudis swallows.

“Ah, yes… a hero’s descendant bathed in Dragon Blood. You also have the skill 【Dragon-Blood(Awakening)】, which is proof of royalty, indicating that you are a prince with the right to the throne.

The Elven alchemist, Lanial, announces the appraisal results with a smile.

“If our testimony isn’t enough, a church knight is a witness as well.”

“Yes. I swear by the Goddess, Church Knight Douglas, that I speak the truth.”

Douglas salutes Lysette, who is holding the goddess’ relic.

“The Fire Goddess appointed Lysette-sama as her messenger and entrusted her with the relic. We witnessed the entire exchange on the sixth layer of the dungeon.”

“But…But, if that’s the case, why did you harm Meldiana, the goddess’s daughter?”

“Because she is a fake Saint.”

Leonhardt stated the doubts that many of the audience members had been harboring.

As expected, Lysette panicked, and Dee was drenched in cold sweat.

“H-Hey.. Don’t argue with the church…”

“It is evil when a wrong is done by force.”

Evil

—Leon is fighting for my sake. On the other hand, I…

Leonhardt is trying to fight what he cannot stand.

Something Lysette has given up on and never confronted.

“Insulting the Saint is unforgivable, even for foreign royalty! Seize these infidels!”

But no one followed the Duke-heir Bern’s orders.

In the first place, he has no authority to give orders within the Church.

Leonhardt takes a step forward.

“Meldiana…you stole the Holy Mark from Lysette, the true Saint, and pretended to be a Saint…you imprisoned Lysette for a crime she did not commit…you even placed a bounty on her life…”

“N-No.”

“Then, if you say otherwise, show us proof that you are the Saint.”

He has a calm voice and expression when he speaks. His demeanor is solemn.

Meldiana looked down in silence under the quiet pressure.

The answer is nothing but silence.

A long silence, as if time had stood still.

All eyes were fixed on Meldiana. It was a look of suspicion.

—Meldiana, you are…

Looking at the broken barrier on the surface, and the curse of the earth that was about to overflow, Meldiana had clearly failed in her role as the Saint.

Is she truly not? Or is it simply impossible?

This may have increased their mistrust of Meldiana.

Lysette took a step forward.

—I won’t run away any more.

Lysette made up her mind as she looked at Meldiana, who was still in a slumped position.

Then she looks up at the cathedral’s stained glass windows and sees the goddess’s image there.

If Lysette is still Saint, as Luludu, the fire goddess, stated, then—

Lysette raises her gaze to the ceiling and beyond the sky.

A light shines in the depths of Lysette’s chest, as if in response to her gaze where the saint’s Sacred Mark once appeared.

Then a light falls through the church’s roof and envelops Lysette.

A sacred power manifests itself as a light pillar.

“The Blessing.”

Blessing from the Goddess of Salvation and World Protection

—Bless this earth, bless it, and bless it with peace.

Lysette closes her eyes and, guided by the power, casts a large-scale barrier spell.

She mends the broken barrier that encircles the entire Norun dungeon territory.

As she opens her eyelids again, she sees a sparkling light floating up from the ground around this place, like a drop of water on the surface of the water.

Lysette’s barrier repair was successful, and the curse will not erupt around this location for the time being.

“Saint-sama…”

“…The true saint is…”

Priests and church knights cast reverent glances at Lysette.

They christened Lysette the Saint.