I don't know how I got here.
Now I'm surrounded by all the people of the Rusthia capital, celebrating me as if I were a hero, me, Cardinal Darwin. I'm serious; I can barely understand how I ended up here.
It all started after the attack on the royal castle. I wanted to look for Princess Kharla, but a dying artificial maid begged me to help the king.
When I reached the king, he was trapped under a pile of debris and only survived because his personal artificial maid, who accompanied him, used her body to protect him.
I understand that they all share the same mind, so the same maid who was torn to pieces and asked me to help him is the same maid who protected the king, just in another body.
It's amazing how devoted those things are to this person.
I pulled the king from the rubble and used my healing magic to keep him alive, as he had received some blows and I wanted to prevent internal injuries. When I finished administering first aid with the help of his personal maid—who, curiously, was almost intact from the explosion and subsequent collapse of the ceiling—it was clear she was made with better materials.
Anyway...
With her help, I took the king to his royal quarters while the other servants and soldiers of the castle attended to the other victims of the explosion.
Once in the royal chamber, I placed the king in his bed and once again made sure he was safe under the watchful eye of that maid. She truly scares me; I feel that if I accidentally hurt the king, that thing would kill me without hesitation.
The first thing the king did upon waking was to look for his artificial maid.
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“Amaria, are you alright?” So that maid’s name is Amaria; what a silly name.
“Yes, my king, both I and the other maids are fine. Some of us sustained some damage from the explosion, but the runic blacksmiths can repair us, though we’ll see that later. Now you must thank Cardinal Darwin.”
The king looked at me with a bitter face, like someone seeing a piece of shit on their shoe.
“Darwin was the man who brought you here safe and sound. He also tried to warn us about that guy who blew up the palace event hall.”
The king calmed his expression and looked at me in a somewhat kinder way and said, “What was your full name?”
I replied, “My name is Darwin de Ángelo, I’m the cardinal who was in charge of watching over Princess Kharla Dante. By the way, she is missing; I think we should search for her.”
The king only heard what he wanted to and said, “Darwin de Ángelo, a great name, a name worthy of being a saint of the church. I would like to give you a promotion in reward for your great work, but the position of Pope is currently occupied, so I can offer you the title of Saint of Rusthia.”
What the hell is this crazy old man saying? I don’t want such a silly reward, not to mention it sounds like sacrilege.
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty, but I don’t think I deserve such a title. I only did my job, and it was only because your maid asked me in the midst of the explosion’s chaos. Even though she was in pieces, she is the one who really saved your life and the one truly deserving of your praise.”
As I talk to the king, I feel myself growing more and more desperate. I just want to know if Kharla is safe and not be with this crazy old man.
The king responds:
“You are treating my Amaria and her sisters like anyone else, and you’ve just shown them a lot of respect. That is very atypical.
Since I was a child, I surrounded myself with my artificial maids, and even as a toddler, I noticed that people in the palace tend to distance themselves from them. They don’t see them as real people, even though I know they have feelings like anyone else.
You are the first person in the palace to notice that. You are special, Darwin, and I will give you the role you deserve.”
I think this crazy old man hit his head too hard. Everything I say falls on deaf ears.
…
And that’s how I ended up here; now the king himself is proclaiming me Saint of Rusthia. My fellow church members look at me with envy and hatred in their eyes, as I theoretically now have more authority than them, only below the pope.
I didn’t want this; I want to go home. Although I will use my new authority to obtain information about Kharla’s whereabouts. She is the only person missing from that party; everyone else was found, either dead or injured.
Only she has not been found.
So she is not dead; instead, she was kidnapped. The kidnappers should keep her alive. We just have to wait for them to make their demands, and with the new authority I have, I will be able to influence decisions that lead to her rescue.
But I hope the kidnappers don’t take too long to make their demands…
I don’t know how long I can endure all the nonsense from the king…
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Map of the world and places where our protagonists have been
(All the purple territory is a monster zone and does not belong to any country.)
image [https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/078/583/298/large/duval-saul-4324343.jpg?1722507341]
(The yellow territory represents the different countries narrated in the story.)