Volume 3, Chapter 4-2 – If Their Life or Death Is Unknown, They’re Dead

About…

How to amplify her Holy Light so that she would fundamentally resemble a saintess more, instead of the vicious, monstrous succubus she looked like now.

After being baptized in Mia’s essence, she really didn’t look much like a proper saintess anymore.

She might not have been particularly devout before, but at least her overall image had still been normal.

As for her now…

Stella lifted her foot.

Her shadow immediately reacted.

It stretched and warped.

Scarlet eyes opened within the black sludge, and sharp teeth gradually emerged. Stella had no doubt they could bite off some poor bastard’s head in a single chomp.

What kind of saintess had a shadow covered in eyes and fangs?

Stella subconsciously touched her lower abdomen.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the damned changes to her body.

There was nothing unusual right now, but she still remembered the sensation of the warm egg lingering against her fingertips when she woke up.

A saintess had actually laid an egg like a succubus.

Was that reasonable?

‘No.’

‘I have to find a way to fix this.’

Stella narrowed her eyes.

The Holy Light and magical power within her body had originally maintained a balance, but Mia’s overbearing essence had completely shattered it.

Now, the scales were tipping wildly toward the Abyss.

If she didn’t want to fall completely, if she wanted to preserve her fundamental nature as a saintess, there was only one way…

Add more weight.

On the other side of the scales, onto the tray representing holiness, she had to pile on more weight.

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A lot more.

As long as the purity of her Holy Light was high enough, theoretically, it should be able to suppress the Abyss’s erosion, perhaps even sealing away the disgusting shadow beneath her feet and her egg-laying constitution once again.

But…

Where was she supposed to find highly pure Holy Light in the Abyss?

She had no church, no holy water, and even reciting a perfectly proper prayer here might get her struck by lightning.

She had no idea where the Inquisitor’s messenger had gone either. Otherwise, she could at least ask her what to do.

Stella frowned slightly and sank into thought.

Suddenly, inspiration flashed through her mind.

‘Wait.’

She might not know what to do, and she might not be able to contact the Inquisitor, but there was definitely one thing that would know.

Stella reached into her clothes and pulled out a thick book.

‘Why not ask the magical Primordial Doctrine?’

Stella’s opinion of the Primordial Doctrine had always been mixed.

The downside was that this stupid book had nothing but rebellion on its mind.

It was like the fanatical head of some pyramid scheme, constantly egging Stella on to unify the Abyss, march against the Holy City, storm Holy Trinity Cathedral, and kick the Pope off her throne.

It had even thoughtfully planned out an entire strategic blueprint for her.

The problem was that Stella had absolutely no intention of marching against the Holy City.

Her dream was very simple.

Survive her spy mission, return home with honors, become a Cardinal, buy a little villa with a garden in the busiest district of the Holy City, sleep until she woke naturally every day, then go out for afternoon tea.

As for being crowned a ruler or something?

Forget it.

She had no desire to become roast meat on a burning stake.

On the other hand…

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This stupid book really did know its stuff.

Ever since she enrolled, it had taught her quite a few Holy Arts that could save her life at critical moments.

More importantly, over a month ago, it was this very book that had provided the crucial information about the Girl in the Mirror, allowing her to happily acquire Dorothy as her bargain-bin daughter.

When it came purely to authoritative knowledge about Holy Light, it was unquestionably an encyclopedia.

Stella sighed and casually flipped the book open.

She didn’t even need to pick up a pen and ask.

Line after line of ancient gilded text automatically surfaced across the parchment.

「Congratulations, Holder. Your territory has undergone a historic expansion!」

「New stronghold successfully unlocked: Blood Demon Manor.」

「Magical workshop successfully acquired: Firefly Dark Alley.」

A crude map appeared on the page, along with a detailed status panel for Blood Demon Manor.

♥════════♥

♡ Stronghold Name: Blood Demon Manor

♡ Geographical Location: No. 3 Intersection, Nightmare Street (Prosperity: S)

♡ Current Status: Idle

♡ Land Area: 3,000 square meters (including rear garden and underground wine cellar)

♡ Current Income: 0 demon crystals/month

♡ Current Personnel: -1

♡ Current Loyalty: Unable to calculate

♡ As a property located in the core commercial district of the middle layer of the Abyss, Blood Demon Manor has limitless potential! This is your first step toward marching against the Holy City, and the perfect economic springboard. It is recommended that you immediately designate it as a key stronghold, station members of the Lionheart Society there, use it as a base to project influence across the entirety of Nightmare Street, and attempt to establish diplomatic relations with the Belphegor family that controls the region…

♥════════♥

As expected.

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It couldn’t go three sentences without bringing up rebellion.

Stella had long since gotten used to this book’s personality.

It was an outright heretic.

She had no idea how the Primordial Doctrine, which the Inquisitor had specifically ordered her to steal, knew so much about her current situation, but it really did seem to know everything.

She could understand why Blood Demon Manor’s income was zero. After all, it was newly acquired property that hadn’t been managed yet. Of course it wouldn’t be generating any profit.

But…

What did negative one personnel mean?

Had someone died there?

Could it be that the mansion her bargain-bin mom Vivian had bought for her was actually a haunted house that came with its own century-old ghost?

‘Vivian’s style of raising a daughter really was…’

‘Unique.’

Then again, now that she thought about it, a house where someone had died might actually be considered prime real estate for demons?

“Forget it. I’ll deal with Blood Demon Manor later.”

For the moment, Stella tossed the mansion that was obviously destined to become a gigantic headache out of her mind.

The urgent priority was dealing with her biggest mess.

She took a quill from her pocket and wrote a line in the blank space on the page.

“Under currently feasible conditions, how can I increase the purity of my Holy Light?”

The ink she had written faded away.

A moment later, new writing slowly appeared.

「You need only take the purity of holy souls for yourself. As far as I know, the purest holy souls belong to the chastisement spirits within the White Tower. Their bodies contain vast quantities of Holy Light energy. Nothing could be more suitable as nourishment for increasing the purity of your Holy Light.」

The corner of Stella’s eye twitched.

‘The White Tower?’

‘Chastisement spirits?’

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‘Nourishment?’

‘Is this thing serious?’

‘I am in the Abyss.’

‘The Abyss!’

‘How am I supposed to reach the White Tower on the surface!?’

‘Does it expect me to slaughter my way through the Wall of Sighs, which the Holy See has invested enormous troops and funds into constructing and is absolutely impossible to breach head-on, then fight her way all the way into the White Tower and eat the chastisement spirits inside?’

Snap.

Stella expressionlessly shut the book.

‘Hopeless.’

‘This stupid book has completely lost its mind.’

Expecting it to offer constructive advice was less realistic than expecting Lainia to attain enlightenment one day and make up her mind to become Stella’s carefree maid.

She would have to rely on herself after all.

Stella sighed and stuffed the Primordial Doctrine back into her clothes.

Of all the Holy Light-related items she could currently access nearby, the only one was the Mithril Mirror.

Since Remedios had said there had been a new breakthrough in the research on the Girl in the Mirror…

Then she might as well head to the Lionheart Society and try her luck first.

‘…Hopefully my club hadn’t cooked up some earth-shattering disaster.’

Translator Note

Well, well. She just jinxed again.