Seeing her reaction, Elvin did not press the issue. Everyone had their own secrets, and while it was surprising, she felt it was still within reason. She changed the topic and said, "If you have any personal items, you can pack them. We are moving to another residence, and I would like to introduce you to someone."
"Introduce me to who?"
Elvin explained patiently, "People on my side want to talk about cooperation, since you cured my injury with Holy Light. Don't worry, I won't harm you. You are not from the Ventris family, and I still acknowledge my role as your guardian knight."
"You know I'm a fake?" Alba blurted out.
Elvin fell silent for a moment. She rubbed her face, clearly wondering how Alba thought she had fooled anyone. In the end, she sighed and said she did not care about that, nor about the position of candidate Saintess.
She explained that they hoped Alba would help heal more suffering civilians. Alba's mind raced, unsure whether they valued her healing ability or her strange connection to the God of Light. After everything she had experienced, she could not help being suspicious.
"So, will you come with me?" Elvin asked.
"Alright. I'll get ready," Alba replied.
She quickly packed her few belongings, hesitating over the book under the pillow before deciding to take it with her. It was small enough to slip into her pocket. As she boarded the carriage, her thoughts kept spinning, and even the bumps along the road could not interrupt them.
The carriage eventually rolled to a stop in front of a luxurious estate, while Alba sat there wondering why, since arriving in this world, misfortune seemed determined to find her again and again.
After entering the estate, she grew even more tense, even though they were still some distance from the main mansion. The gardens, lawns, fountains, statues, and buildings along the way gave Alba the feeling that if she stepped on a single blade of grass by mistake, selling herself would not be enough to pay for it. She could not help thinking, if you are this rich, why are you still putting me through this.
"Why can Simulator still not be activated? What kind of opening condition is this supposed to be anyway." She kept tapping the screen in the top right corner like a madwoman, but it stayed dead with no response at all. The last bit of hope hanging in Alba's heart finally gave up.
No matter how resigned she felt, she still had to face reality, and after the carriage passed through a long row of pillars, it stopped as the driver announced, "We're here." Elvin held Alba's hand and guided her down from the carriage, then led her straight through the front doors of the mansion. The guards glanced at them and neatly stepped aside to clear the way.
This was another kind of situation she had never experienced before, and Alba became even more cautious after entering. Outside, damaging a blade of grass felt like it would cost her a lifetime, and inside, scratching the paint on a wall might send her into debt for the next life as well. The thought alone made her walk even more carefully.
"You don't need to be so restrained. You are a potential partner for us in the future, and at least for now, you are a guest," Elvin said. "You can relax a bit. The people of the Lord here are fairly generous."
At a loss for words, Elvin could only tug her forward by the hand and pull her along. If they kept walking like this, it would be torture for both of them. After turning corner after corner, they finally stopped in front of a large door.
Elvin was about to push it open directly, but after a moment of thought, she knocked instead. When there was no immediate reply and only the sound of someone fumbling with things inside, she turned to Alba. "The the Lord person here is dealing with some private matters. I will go in to help for a moment, so please stand about five meters away and wait."
"Oh, okay." Elvin then pushed the door open and quickly closed it behind her. Alba did not see what happened inside, only catching a vague glimpse of a blond figure.
"Raina! You really cannot wait even for this little while." The voice was full of anger, but Battle Aura kept it from leaking outside. Elvin cursed under her breath while helping someone gather the scattered Figurine, light novels, and manga from everywhere, stuffing them all into a cabinet without mercy.
"Hey, do not treat my plastic boxes like that." Raina watched in pain as her box turned into a lump of ruined cardboard in the other's hands. Elvin was speechless as usual, wondering how someone this rich could care so much about a few boxes for figurines.
"The richer you are, the more you realize money has limits. Some things just cannot be bought with money." "If you keep talking, I will twist your head and the top of your skull in opposite directions."
In short, they crammed all the messy items into the cabinet and told Raina to use Reorganization to fix her appearance. After her expression returned to normal, Elvin opened the door. "All right, Alba, you can come in now. Please."
"…Okay." "Please have a seat. This is the the Lord person here, Raina, and like you, she is also a candidate Saintess." "That's right, it's me. I have heard a lot about you, Ms. Alba. You can just call me by my name."
"Huh?" Facing the smiling blond girl, Alba first looked around cautiously. The decorations still screamed wealth that was obvious even to the naked eye, the kind she did not dare imagine for herself. It looked a bit messy for reasons she could not explain, but maybe that was just how rich people did things.
Only the painting of black dragons caught her attention for a moment, but after a second glance she looked away and focused on what had just been said. The first keyword was rich, and the second was candidate Saintess. She could not help wondering whether this position really had any appeal to people this wealthy.
Raina could tell what Alba was thinking just from her eyes. To outsiders, rich people competing for a candidate Saintess position looked like they had nothing better to do. Before that childhood incident, she herself would never have imagined she would grow up to pursue such a thing, and no one else would have imagined it either.
After all, Elvin and Raina were both devout believers in Holy Light. Their image of faith differed somewhat from what the general public knew, but it was still God of Light without question, and light was light. That much was undeniable.
"Um, may I call you Alba directly?" "That's fine." "Then, Alba, I heard that the injury Elvin had last time was healed by you, right. Using Holy Light."
Raina opened her eyes and stared at her half-lidded. This was the main purpose of the meeting and the key to their cooperation. There were so few people left who possessed Dawn's Holy Light, and to heal injuries caused by Abyss Church so efficiently was extremely valuable.
She could not help feeling a little envious that the other party could wield Holy Light at all. Was it because she had not given enough offerings to God of Light? Why did she still not have it herself? "Yes, I healed her," Alba replied.
There was no point denying it, and Elvin had already told her that this was exactly why they came. As for cooperation, she was at most a healer, so she was not sure what more there was to it. "Could you show me a little? Just a look," Raina asked. "I can guarantee with my character and reputation that nothing here will be leaked."
She raised one finger as she spoke with a serious expression. Alba hesitated, then nodded and raised a finger as well. She muttered a few meaningless lines from the scriptures, and a gentle glow bloomed at her fingertip, while her golden pupils lit up faintly.
Raina watched with full focus. For a moment, she felt dazed, wondering if this was the light she had once experienced. It felt similar, yet different, as if something was missing, or rather, as if this was only a part of that light.
She could be certain that Alba's Holy Light was very different from that of other users. If others' Holy Light was like a product passed through countless filters and edits, then Alba's was far purer. It was pure to the point of surpassing the original, like an artist's raw draft, unreasonable as that sounded.
To ordinary people, the differences among the three major branches of Holy Light might only appear as variations in technique. But Raina, who was standing this close and bathing in the light, sensed and analyzed it far more deeply. It felt like eating pre-made meals for years and finally tasting something fresh and unprocessed.
There was also a sense of nausea. As strange as it sounded, Raina had always felt that most Holy Light within Church of Holy Light carried something off, an indescribable discomfort. She used to think it was due to impure faith and wanted to become Saintess to clean it up.