The next morning was pretty normal. We got up, ate breakfast and then the Hero had asked if anyone wanted to stay, but as no one had any reason to, we packed up our camp and left.

Our journey then went surprisingly normal. We were even avoiding as many creatures as we could. It’s almost impressive how quickly we were traveling. Even Greg, who needs buffs to keep up, was traveling effectively.

Speaking of Greg, we continued our testing whenever we camped, but we didn't really accomplish much. We did, however, get him to recover from his mana poisoning faster than usual. He was all better after a few days, so the results were obvious.

Greg also gained a new appreciation for Melly after continuously being subject to my raw mana, considering how horrible it apparently feels when it invades you. Ah, always lovely to hear how disliked my mana is. I feel so happy.

Haa, the Saintess’ mana hurts people. I don’t think anyone would believe it, even if I told them myself. Haaaa, this might actually cause me some problems once the church finds out. Like, if they knew originally, they might have even automatically failed me when I tried to become a saint candidate. Well, it shouldn’t be too bad, considering how docile my mana becomes when used in a spell. And, well, it’s not like they can fire me now that I’m properly the Saintess.

Anyway, after a remarkably calm ten days exactly, we arrived at a city a bit after noon.

“So, shall we head straight to the church?” The Hero asks as soon as we enter the city.

“Might as well, at least that way, should they have an opening ready, we can leave right away. And, even if we do need to wait until tomorrow, we can always just head to an inn.” I suggest.

“Any objections?” He asked, to no disagreements. “Okay, let’s head to the church.” He says as he leads the way. Ah, I shouldn’t even be surprised that he knows the way. Haa, hopefully things go well.

When we got there, I led us to the reception.

“Hello, how can we help you?”

I hand her my ID. “I need to talk to the Bishop.”

“Hmm, well… the Bishop is quite busy these days, so she doesn’t have time right now.” Haa, I had to say, well think, something.

“And when would she be free?” I ask, just in case she was actually busy right this moment.

“Hmm, maybe in three days? Though that’s a rare break, so probably a week or longer.” She sighs with a shrug, but I can tell she’s looking down on me, yay being an orphan.

“Well, that’s too long.” I start.

“Too bad, that’s just how things are.”

Haaaaa, I really didn’t want to have to do this!

“I don’t think you heard me.” I challenged, my words filled with an alarming amount of venom. “I need to talk to her, now. Or are you going to disobey a direct command from the Saintess?”

“Uh, well…”

“I recommend you obey, or you will surely regret it.” The Hero adds.

“FINE!” She says in a huff. “I’ll lead you to the Bishop’s office.”

I nod to the Hero as we are led to the Bishop. Haa, I hope she’s reasonable, but I doubt that. This is likely a whole different level of dislike compared to the last bishop.

“The Saintess is here to see you.” the priestess declares once we arrive.

“I’m busy.” I hear back.

“She ordered you to talk to her.” She continues. Haa.

“... Fine, let her in.”

The door is opened and we get glared at fiercely as we enter. Despite being a fairly old woman, with fully gray hair, the Bishop seems to be quite energetic.

“What do you want?” She demands. Haa, screw politeness.

“I need to use your Gate.”

“No.” She declares.

“I need to use your Gate.” I say again.

“I already told you no. I will not-”

“And directly inhibit my divine mission?” I calmly question. I have no reason to be worried. Either she helps us, or…

“Ha, Letting you use my Gate is in no way necessary.”

“Oh, but it is. We need the Gate now, it’s urgent.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Well, that’s for the Pope to decide, not you.”

“Huh? What, are you going to report me to the Pope? You will lose that case. What could possibly give you confidence, you arrogant brat.”

“A dragon.” I say.

“What?”

“A dragon. We have a dragon that needs to be butchered. So yes, you will get in trouble for inhibiting us. So, I recommend you allow us to use your Gate, before you get into severe trouble.” I smile. It’s surprisingly nice to abuse your power. I need to be careful to not abuse that.

“Impossible! That’s absolutely impossible! You’re lying!”

“Then report me afterwards.” I shrug. “Better than the alternative” I smirked.

“You!” She points at me. “I knew you weren’t worthy of the position, you rat!”

I raise my eyebrow. “Huh, insulting the Saintess, inhibiting our mission, denying the Gods’ judgment, you are in big trouble. I recommend you obey, before I force my way to the Gate. If we have to walk back, I can guarantee that you will be hunted down.” I threatened.

“Fine! You will regret this.” She threatened through grit teeth.

“No I won’t.” I say as I get up. “Let’s go to the capital, we’ve got a mission.”

As I lead everyone to the Gate, Melly asks. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m used to ignoring people’s opinions. Besides, she is basically guaranteed to be punished for her actions. It’s not like she can hurt us. The church has a way to know if anything happens to us, after all.”

“Okay, as long as you’re fine.” She relents.

“Don’t worry, Melly. Eli is too excited about her revenge to care about what happened.” The Hero smirks confidently. “Besides, slaying a dragon, especially so early in our journey, will likely remove most of her opposition.”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t hurt.” Yeah, she’d normally be right, but I really am fine this time. As I said, this Bishop was an idiot. Like, even if I was abusing my authority frivolously, how she acted could potentially negate any of her complaints, allowing me to get away scot free!

Besides, the support of my lovely companions is more than enough to get me through any harassment, though it’s too embarrassing to actually tell them that directly.

“Don’t worry, Eli’s thankful that she has us to care about her, what’s some hag’s hatred in comparison?” He says. I couldn’t help but stare at him in shock. Did he read my mind!? The Hero, noticing my look, gives me a wink. I just blanked. NOPE! I DO NOT want to think about that. Like, is he actually a God or something? Haa, whatever, I’m going to trust him. I really do need to talk to him about his weirdness though…

We soon arrived at the Gate room, and, while some paladins glared at us, we weren’t stopped.

I hear exclamations of wonder around me as we witness the Gate in all its glory. I laugh and say. “Just wait until it is opening, that’s when the true wonder happens.” Ah, I can’t help but smile at how excited everyone is.

“Any advice?” Melly asked nervously. “My family always warned me to be cautious around these.”

“Just relax and accept the Gate’s light. It is not your enemy, so you don’t need to resist it.” I see Rapunzel giving me an odd look when I say that.

“Ah, I’ve just been through a Gate before, so I’m confused by your advice.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that my advice is a bit odd, but trust me, Gates are soo much better to experience this way.” I cheerfully replied while practically bouncing in excitement.

“I’ll try.” Rapunzel hesitantly says.

“BRACE! We’re opening the doors!” We hear the technicians shout, cutting off any further discussion. They sure didn’t waste any time setting this up.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Soon, the door starts to open, as prismatic light escapes. I temporarily forget about my companions as I dance through the sand like light. Sadly, the light is only here for a few minutes.

“Looks like you had fun.” The Hero teased once the light faded.

“Hmpt, it’s fun, what about it.” I pout.

“Nothing, I understand how you feel, though even I wouldn’t dance through the light.” He says as if my dancing was somehow impressive.

I turn to everyone else, and see them staring at me in wonder. “What?” I ask.

“You really are the Saintess.” Rapunzel says.

“Huh?” I blank. What? Of course I am.

Noticing my confusion, she continues. “No, I mean, you seemed like the saintesses described in legends. You looked divine as you danced.”

“I’m not nearly that grand.” I deny as I blush.

“Rapunzel is right. Even just accepting the light, like Melly and the Hero did, is an impressive feat. To become one with it, to dance as though guided by the light, that is most wondrous.” Gregory agreed.

“Yeah, I could barely follow your advice to nervously accept the light, but I’m far from being able to accept it to such an extent.” Melly says in admiration.

“Same here. While I can act mostly normally before the light, I can’t act nearly as freely.” The Hero admits.

“Yeah, I couldn’t even accept the light because of how frightened I was. It was almost like the dragon in a way, in how all encompassingly oppressive it was. I’m sorry I couldn’t take your advice, but my instincts wouldn’t allow me to.” Rapunzel admitted with a sigh.

“Indeed.” Hansen adds. “It was too much for me.”

“I am impressed with how Melly handled the light though. While I expected the Hero to be fine, she was, despite this being her first time, able to quickly adapt to the light.” Greg complimented.

“It’s nothing much. I just trusted Eli enough to reject my instincts.”

“That trust is impressive enough on its own.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Okay, let’s go. We’re being stared at.” I interrupted, trying to end this topic.

“True, though most of them are staring at you.” The Hero corrects.

“Yes, they are mumbling in amazement at how you dealt with the light.” Rapunzel reports.

“Yeah yeah, as expected of the Saintess, right?”

“Mostly, but they are also talking about how you might actually be worthy of your position and so on.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” I replied in confusion. “I don’t know how dancing relates to worthiness though.”

“Haa, geniuses.” The Hero mumbles.

“I do not want to hear that from you.” I argued. For a brief moment, he looks genuinely hurt, before giving me an ‘oh really’ look. What was that? Oh yeah, I am fairly certain he’s been a hero elsewhere before, so he probably spent quite a bit of effort to get to his level. “Sorry.” I whispered to him. He quietly nods back in acceptance.

Moving on, we passed through the Gate and were greeted from the other side, while Greg looked around in confusion at how seamless and stable the Gate was. “Hello, I’m told you had an emergency.” The man questions. Yeah, they were definitely informed biasedly.

“Yes, is this the central church?” I ask.

“Yes it is.”

“Then I need to meet with the Cardinal. It is quite important.”

“Understood. While the Cardinal is currently in a meeting, if your business is important enough, I can lead you to her.” He questioningly offers.

“Good, I’ll apologize for my rude behavior afterwards.” It is quite important, though not exactly urgent. I have an odd feeling that waiting politely would get me scolded though, so I won’t disrespect the dragon.

“Oh! Understood. Please follow me.” He says in surprise. That Bishop is so screwed.

We were led to a room that we could hear talking coming from. Before the man could even knock, I just barged in. Um, I may be giving a bit too much respect to the dragon... But, who cares, it’s a dragon! It’s the least I can do! Considering we dropped a mountain on top of it…

“Who dares- Saintess!? What are you doing?” Someone shouts.

“Dragon.” I cleverly respond as my brain fails to work. I am, only now, realizing that I actually just barged in without any plan whatsoever.

“What?” I obviously asked.

“Dragon.” I repeat, gesturing to the Hero to pass the baton, as I clearly can’t handle it right now. Man, abuse my influence once and I’m already acting bullheaded and making mistakes.

As everyone starts to question us, the Hero PULLS OUT THE DRAGON’S CRYSTAL CORE! I regret my decision!

Everyone, including me, was instantly petrified from pressure as we once again experienced the dragon’s presence. At least it was far weaker this time. Still, the Hero just had to go with the most excessive method he could, didn’t he.

After freeing myself, I start healing everyone as I remember what cores are. They are often called monster crystals, based on their similarity to the mana crystals that form underground wherever a decent amount of mana sets. However, mana doesn’t usually set in living things, as our insides are way too fluid and mobile, so it is all but impossible for normal living things to create one.

Unless they have a lot of mana, that is. As such, only extremely powerful creatures could ever create one. As a result, they are immensely valuable. And that’s not even taking into account unique uses of such cores.

Soon, everyone had ‘calmed down’ enough to talk. “By the Gods, Saintess Elizabeth, what was that!?” Cardinal Caitlyn shouts.

“A dragon core.” I answer. I’m quite helpful aren’t I? Haa.

“And where did you get one!?”

“A dragon.” Nnnn! Before she could respond, I continued. “We’ll explain everything, so please save your questions until then.” I then looked to my comrades. “So, who’s explaining what happened?” Since I apparently can’t say anything other than dragon…

Everyone looked towards Melly, who just shrugged before regaling everyone with a slightly embellished tale of how we became dragon slayers.

“And now we're here, requesting your aid with butchering the dragon.” She finishes with a bow. I applauded her performance, though most everyone else was too stunned to even react.

“So, you’re telling me that you all killed a dragon?” Cardinal Caitlyn asks.

“Yes!” I replied. “Also, thank you for the anklet, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the dragon’s presence without it.” I smile

“Haa, I understand. Thank you for telling me this as soon as you could.” And I’ve even been praised for rudely barging in. “I’ll gather people right away to harvest your dragon. By the way, does everyone already have a place to stay for tonight? If not, you are welcome to stay here. That way, you can pick up your, prize, tomorrow morning.” She smiles.

Before we could say anything, the Hero agreed. “That sounds good to us. Thank you.” Well then.

We looked at him in slight confusion before he explained. “We’d need to meet back up here tomorrow anyway. Besides, we need to discuss loot distribution and to plan out our upcoming break.”

“I see, that sounds agreeable to me.” Greg accepts.

“Lovely. Now, shall we head somewhere where you can leave the dragon?” Cardinal Caitlyn asks.

“Yes, let's.”

“Everyone else, please gather the best butchers you can. Feel free to request aid from elsewhere, even other countries.” Cardinal Caitlyn commands. “Now, let us head to the third warehouse.” She then leaves as everyone scrambles to accomplish their new assignment.

We quickly follow Cardinal Caitlyn as she personally leads us to the warehouse. Once there, she ordered everyone to leave. “Okay, while we wait for the paladins and butchers to arrive, would you mind explaining to me why you decided to fight a dragon!?” She glares at me.

“He did it!” I declare, pointing at the Hero. “I’m just a healer. I heal, he leads.” I say, immediately selling out the Hero as if I was back at my church.

“Oh, and why didn’t you stop him?”

“He said we were fighting a ‘fire lizard.’ By the time we knew we were fighting a dragon, we’d already angered it. At that point, all running would do is increase the potential casualties. Anyway, we are supposed to follow his directions, and they’ve been working out so far.” I finished with a shrug.

“Why did you lie to your party then?” She asks the Hero.

“I didn’t. Where I’m from, dragons are often referred to as just fire breathing lizards.” He shrugs. “Besides, I knew we could kill it, but if I specifically said that we were fighting a dragon, everyone would have stopped me. So, as Eli said, it’s all my fault, though she was definitely the MVP. Without her, we would have definitely died.” Aww, now I feel bad.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be alive without Eli. She saved my life.” Melly adds.

“Haa, fine. I’m not blaming her. She had promised to be careful though.” Oh yeah, I did. “I’m just worried about everyone.” She sighs. “Oh, it seems like the paladins are here. You can leave your dragon here with them, if you wish.”

“Yes, we will guard it with our lives.” A paladin declares as he salutes.

“Understood, I’ll leave it under your protection.” The Hero says while handing the paladin his bag. “Be careful though, you can still feel its presence.” He advises.

“I- Understood. We will make sure to live up to your trust.” He bows, followed by the other paladins. Huh, he’s increased their morale that easily. That’s our Hero.

“I thank you for your trust, Hero. I wouldn’t even expect Saintess Elizabeth to trust us that much.” Cardinal Caitlyn says in surprise. Hey!

“I know that I can trust you. Besides, if I couldn’t trust you, is there anyone in this world I could trust?” He asks with an amused smile.

“You may be right about that. Now, shall I escort you to your rooms?”

“That would be nice.” He accepts.

“Follow me then.” She says as she leads us to the guest rooms. “Feel free to choose whichever rooms you wish. Should you need anything, all you need to do is ask.” She said as she left. Well, I did interrupt her work, and then give her more work.

“So, what now?” Melly asks.

“Well, we should probably eat something.” Rapunzel suggests, looking at the Hero.

“I know. I shall start preparing so we can have a feast tomorrow morning. I’ll prepare something simple in the meantime.” He explains.

“Okay, let’s go with that. Shall I show you to the kitchen?” I offer.

“That would be helpful.”

And so, we went to the kitchen. I had to reveal my identity for the chefs to let us use the kitchen though. And, they were quite unhappy about that. At least, until the Hero offered some food for them to try. When he then said that he wanted to prepare better food to celebrate our victory, they all volunteered to help. After some arguing, they decided to bring everyone in and just work in shifts so that everyone could help.

I didn’t really care about all that though. As long as I could eat the Hero’s food, everything else was insignificant.

After eating a quick meal casually made by the Hero, we then returned to our rooms “So, what now?” Melly asks.

“We should probably just rest.” Rapunzel suggested.

“Oh, why’s that?” Melly asks.

“Well, we have a big day tomorrow, with everyone questioning us about every little thing about the dragon, while several people will likely hound us to purchase various parts. So, we should make sure to rest properly in preparation.”

“Haa, that’s going to be quite annoying huh. Yeah, you’re right, we should just rest for now. At least we will have a proper feast to prepare us for the day.” I sigh.

“That’s our plan then. Goodnight everyone. Tomorrow’s going to be very exciting.” The Hero said before heading to his room.

Oh, everyone’s sleeping separately, as we rarely have the opportunity to use such luxurious rooms. I was a bit worried about my ability to fall asleep, but I guess either these beds are just that amazing, or I’ve just been through enough where my past problems are just that insignificant. Either way, I’m glad that I can get some proper rest.