Chapter 72
We arrived at the Royal Palace, greeted by the hospitality of the people.
"Master! Welcome!"
The guards, who were fewer than before, welcomed us. I nodded briefly to them and hurried into the Palace.
The number of people wandering around the Palace was noticeably low, so there was no cheering like before.
But every now and then, some people who recognized us came over and asked for a handshake, and I had to deal with them one by one.
Our group was able to reach our destination, the main Palace, after a little time had passed.
"Every day is fun."
Zain was still in a cheerful mood. Troy also seemed to be in a good mood, with a smile on his lips.
"...I'm the only one who's having a hard time."
I sighed deeply and entered the main Palace. And then I naturally moved my feet toward the reception hall.
The current reception hall of the main Palace was where the patients who were injured in the massive monsterization incident were gathered.
Arhen had generously given up the place for the patients, saying, 'There's no king anyway, why do we need a reception hall?'
As I opened the door and entered the reception hall, I saw the patients, who had decreased significantly from the first day.
'There are only six left now.'
I smiled faintly.
As soon as the incident was over, I gave all the healing potions I had to the injured. I distributed the potions I made with healing skills and the ones I made with normal ingredients according to the severity of the injuries.
Of course, the ones I made with normal ingredients also had similar effects to the high-quality potions made by alchemists. I still had the recipe from the original work in my head.
Anyway, thanks to using healing skills occasionally, the skill level had also increased.
[Healing (Active) LV.3
Grade: Legendary
Description: The effect increases proportionally to the skill level.
LV.1 Heals the wounds and restores the fatigue of living beings.
LV.2 Heals the mind of living beings.
LV.3 Removes the poison and curse of living beings.
LV.4 ??? (Locked)
LV.5 ??? (Locked)
Experience: 31/40]
A skill that can remove the poison and curse of others. I didn't expect to get something like this. It had a similar effect to the 'Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng' elixir, but the elixir's effect was still better. The elixir's effect was always maintained.
But there was a huge advantage, so I had no reason to be particularly disappointed. The elixir only applied to me, but the skill could be used on anyone.
In that sense, the only thing that was a bit regrettable was that the experience required for skill level up increased by twice.
'It was 20 before, but now it's 40.'
A whopping two times, if this trend continues, the experience required will surely be 80 after it reaches level 4.
'But I'll be level 4 soon because of this incident...'
As I thought that and entered the reception hall, the doctor who was taking care of the patients came up to us.
"Master! You're here!"
He was originally the Royal Physician of the Bahano Royal Family. He was taking care of the patients under Arhen's order.
"Master, your healing potions are very effective! Do you also practice alchemy? They seem to be more effective than the ones sold in the market!"
"That's not the case."
I handed the healing potion to the doctor, who was shining his eyes at me.
With this, the remaining patients would all recover, so my job was done here.
"Master. The princess asked me to tell you to come see her when you visit."
As we left the reception hall, greeted by the royal physician, the servant who was waiting with a dignified posture came up to us.
He was the person we rescued from the detached Palace before, so his expression was very bright when he saw us.
"I see. I understand. Zain, Troy."
I took Zain, who was having a friendly conversation with the patients, and Troy, who was surrounded by children, and moved again.
"By the way, it's been a while since we saw the princess."
Zain said with a smiling face as usual. He was right, we hadn't seen Arhen for the past few days.
"The coronation is in two weeks, so she must be very busy."
Arhen was currently preparing to ascend to the throne.
Although it had only been a few days since King Hebius died, the work was progressing quickly.
'When you think about it, it's only been a few days, but there's been a lot of work.'
Three days ago, Celos was executed. He was crucified on the city gate for the crime of disrupting the kingdom.
'That's why I flinched every time I went in and out of the Palace.'
And two days ago, the funeral of King Hebius and Prince Haven was held. Originally, the royal funeral in Bahano was held for a week, but since King Hebius and Prince Haven were no different from criminals, Arhen expressed her opinion and the funeral ended in a few hours.
After hearing the news of the Palace, the nobles who came up to the capital held a meeting to discuss the next king. Arhen, who was the only direct descendant of the royal family, said she wanted to discuss the next regime after stabilizing the kingdom, but the nobles opposed.
After the monsterization incident, the surviving nobles were all on Arhen's side.
'If I had to give a reason.'
The surviving nobles were the ones who opposed King Hebius when he favored Celos.
Strictly speaking, they were the faction of Arhen's sister Melina, but they supported her because they knew the relationship between Arhen and Melina well.
The second reason was obvious. Arhen was currently receiving full support from the people. A hero who wielded a sword and ran around the country to save the people in crisis. That was Arhen's position now.
So Arhen had no choice but to accept.
'Well, it's inevitable since there's no competitor anyway.'
As I thought about this and that, the servant's footsteps stopped.
As the door opened, a decent-sized reception room appeared. Arhen was drinking tea inside.
"You're here."
Arhen smiled as she saw us.
Her outfit, which was neat compared to when I saw her a few days ago, caught my eye first.
She was wearing a white uniform, and she looked far away from the time she spent in the western tower.
"Please sit down."
We sat down across from her, following Arhen's words. But Arhen's eyes were sunken.
"You look tired."
As I said that, Arhen smiled faintly.
"I wish I could sleep well. I have a mountain of work to do, day and night."
Arhen complained.
'I can't help it.'
I didn't need to explain the situation to understand the situation. King Hebius had been obsessed with Happy and had not paid attention to the state affairs. So all the work was Arhen's share, and at the same time, she had to rebuild the capital Bahano, which would not be enough even if she had ten bodies.
"You'll be in trouble before you ascend to the throne."
Zain joked with a business-like smile. He finally returned to his usual self.
"Don't worry. I won't close my eyes before the coronation."
Arhen laughed heartily. Then she quickly turned serious.
"The reason I called you today is, nothing else but..."
I easily guessed what she was going to say next. She must have wanted us to attend the coronation.
But we had already stayed in Bahano for several days. We were taking a break while taking care of the patients. But it was time to leave now.
'Sorry, but I'll have to say no to the coronation.'
But what she said next overturned my expectation.
"On the day I ascend to the throne, I'm going to declare Kyros Church as the state religion of Bahano."
"...What?"
I unconsciously asked back, losing my color. Then Arhen repeated herself.
"Kyros Church will be the state religion of Bahano."
My ears weren't wrong. My goodness. Is this for real?
- Oh my, my child! Your good deeds have become our revival!
Kyros also exclaimed with excitement.
'Ha, haha. I guess so.'
I couldn't easily continue the conversation after hearing the unexpected words. Then Arhen put down her teacup and smiled.
"You look very surprised. Do you dislike it?"
"...No, no, no. I don't dislike it. I'm just shocked, that's all."
I picked up the teacup in front of me and gulped it down. Ouch, hot.
"I see. You must be shocked. But I... when I was fighting against the monsters with you, I decided then."
"What did you decide..."
"If you really want to save Bahano, I'll gladly stand by your side. This is the least I can do for you."
"No, it's a great honor."
I tried to speak calmly, but my heart was pounding like crazy. State religion, state religion!
"Ma-master. This is not a dream, right?"
Zain asked me with a surprised look. Then Troy slapped Zain's back.
"Ow! What are you doing, all of a sudden!"
"To show you it's not a dream."
"You brat!"
I ignored the two who were bickering.
"Anyway, there's not much time left until the coronation, so how about setting up a temple in the capital?"
"Yes, of course. That's what we're planning to do."
I had already converted the land and building of the Rizes Church's Bahano branch into Kyros Church's temple. That was all, though.
"If you have a preferred location, let me know. I can give you anywhere you want."
Arhen was generous. This was the dignity of a King.
---This child has also become my believer, so she's willing to give anything.
I realized then that Arhen had become a believer. I see. I was too late to notice because too many people became believers at once.
'That's good.'
I smiled at the corner of my mouth and thought.
The temple of Bahano had to use the underground passage of the fruit shop building to get to the temple.
'So I'd like to improve this.'
Since the fruit shop building collapsed during the monsterization incident, I thought it would be better to open up the passage.
That way, the accessibility of the believers would be better.
Anyway, the fruit shop building was also bought by the Rizes Church for deception, so it was mine now.
"Then..."
I slowly opened my mouth.
"I want to use the temple that the Rizes Church used in Bahano as the Kyros Church's Temple. It's going to be abandoned anyway, so I think it would be better for us to use it."
"Really? Then... how about changing the exterior? The location of that place is not that good either. It would be fine to open up the road."
Fortunately, Arhen seemed to know the location of the temple in the capital. That was good. I could communicate better.
I immediately explained my plan to Arhen.
First, I started with the fact that I accidentally found the passage and went there and saw the Rizes Church's temple. Then I said I wanted to open up the passage and change the exterior of the temple building to look like a real temple.
The current exterior of the Bahano temple was no different from a normal building, so I wanted to change it.
That way, people would come out of curiosity.
I explained earnestly. How could I resist free remodeling.
"I see. Do as you wish."
I heard Arhen's confirmation at the end of the long explanation.
I tried to pull down my smirking lips.
"The construction should start as soon as possible, right?"
"Of course."
I had already taken everything that could make money from the temple in the past few days, so there was no problem to start remodeling right away.
"Is there anything else you want? Something you need. I want to show my gratitude to the savior of the kingdom as much as possible."
I had been waiting for those words.
"There is."
I smiled. This was the moment I achieved my purpose of coming to Bahano.