Volume 9, Chapter 32 – The Residents of the Duchy of Chloe

“Master, why is everyone throwing money into the pool?”

Eyes wide with curiosity, Mary tugged at Yisi’s sleeve while looking at a rather small open-air shop. Like a goldfish scooping stall at a summer festival, it featured a pool of water. Although the pool was only two meters long and just over a meter wide, an unusually large crowd of onlookers surrounded it.

Of course, people weren’t gathered around to look at fish, but were eager to participate. The stall owner had hung a golden ring, only palm-sized with a hole in the middle, at the far end of the pool. People stood at the edge of the pool, tossing coins towards the golden ring. According to the owner, if a coin passed through the ring, he would repay the tosser tenfold. For example, if someone threw an iron coin through the ring, the owner would return ten iron coins. It was a game similar to gambling.

It was worth noting that although most people could, at best, only manage to hit the ring itself, completely failing to get the coin inside, many were still enthusiastically trying. Numerous glittering iron and copper coins lay settled at the bottom of the pool.

“Well now, little miss, want to give it a try?”

Noticing Mary’s curious expression, the male shop owner, clad in a gray robe with a gaunt face, immediately approached. Rubbing his hands together, he struck up a conversation with Mary, his sharp eyes reminiscent of a con artist specializing in tricking children. However, judging by his appearance—forehead shaved clean, with only a small black braid tied at the top of his head—he also fit the image of a ronin from the Edo period quite well.

Well, since this other world has Japanese food, having ronin-like attire is also normal. Judging by this man’s build and movements, he doesn’t seem like someone skilled in martial arts.

Yisi silently appraised him internally.

Startled by the man’s sudden approach and question, Mary subconsciously leaned closer to Yisi, looking hesitant.

“No… I think I’ll pass.”

She must be worried about the money. Although Yisi had given Mary pocket money, she rarely saw her use it. In contrast, Tiffany was exceptionally extravagant with her spending, always running out just days after receiving it.

The skinny man moved closer again, his face plastered with an obsequious smile.

“Just toss a coin into that ring, and you’ll get ten times the reward! Plus, this pool is a holy relic I specially went to the Ymir territory for not long ago! I asked the hero of Ymir, the one granted the Seal of Saint Mistilteinn, Her Eminence the current Pope Evelyn’s right-hand woman, the newly appointed Cardinal Yisis Enya, to bless it! So even if you don’t get the tenfold reward, just throwing money in allows you to receive the Cardinal’s protection! If you make a wish to the holy water, maybe the Cardinal will even hear your wish and fulfill it in the future!”

To prove the credibility of his words, the man proudly pointed to the barrier around the pool, upon which was carved a crooked, almost unrecognizable symbol.

“This is the Cardinal’s proof! When the Cardinal heard I was going to take the wishing well all over the world, she praised me especially!”

No, no, when did I ever do such a thing? Besides, you even got my name wrong.

If Camilla were here, she would surely grab the man by the collar. Yisi couldn’t help but feel thankful for the shop owner’s luck. Camilla, Edith, and Refina were currently at a stall nearby, having taken an interest in some translucent white gauze fabric, while Laxy had accompanied Tiffany to a food stall.

The man’s words were quite effective. When the surrounding onlookers heard “Cardinal’s mark” and the part about wishing, they immediately jostled forward, throwing iron and copper coins towards the ring. For a time, the sound of objects splashing into the water rose and fell continuously, and countless people bowed their heads to make wishes.

So this is another way to make money…

Yisi, watching from the side, gaped slightly, looking stunned.

“Aren’t Cardinals just ordinary people who got promoted…?”

What Yisi didn’t know was that in the eyes of ordinary people who had no contact with Cardinals, they were the Goddess’s representatives, and thus every word they spoke carried divine will.

If I had known Cardinals held such prestige, I should have exercised more of my privileges along the way. For example, using the Cardinal’s name to make people contribute blood. That way, at least it would have helped me, the Cardinal. I could even act all dignified, tap their heads with my scepter, and say empty words like ‘I grant you my blessing.’

Handing over supervision to his assistant, the ronin-styled merchant approached again, beaming.

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“Little miss, how about it? It’s a tenfold reward and Cardinal Yisis’s blessing!”

“I’ll still pass. My master is right beside me…”

“Master?” Not understanding Mary’s meaning—Mary was saying Yisi Enya was standing right in front of him—the merchant’s eyes widened in surprise. “But you don’t look like a slave at all! Anyone would think you’re the daughter of a wealthy family! Little miss, lying isn’t right. Want to give it a try? If you’re not confident, you can watch how others do it first.”

“Whoa! I got it in! Ten copper coins reward, give it to me!”

A man shouted excitedly. Just as he said, the copper coin he threw went through the ring. The merchant’s assistant, witnessed by everyone, handed the man a silver coin. For a short period after this, people’s enthusiasm for tossing coins surged again.

In contrast, Yisi noticed something noteworthy—there were traces of magic on the ring. Besides the tosser’s own accuracy, whenever a coin flew in that could potentially pass through, the ring would use very faint wind magic to alter its trajectory, creating the impression of ‘just barely missed.’ The reason that man could get his coin in just now was simply that the merchant had secretly used magic to temporarily disable the interference, creating the illusion of success.

How dirty…

If the man were just using her name to let people make wishes, she would have pretended not to see it. But using magic was no different from malicious fraud.

After thinking for a moment, Yisi took out a few gold coins from her pocket and gave them to Mary.

“You should try too, Mary.”

Although Mary had refused the merchant, it was likely because she didn’t want to spend money carelessly. From Yisi’s perspective, not letting Mary try would be too pitiful. Besides, with Mary’s level 20 strength, the stall owner would soon regret it.

“Eh? But these are gold coins… I have iron coins saved with Tiffany. When Tiffany comes back, I can just use those.”

“No, no, no, little miss! This is a token of your sister’s affection! It means your sister dotes on you! So, don’t disappoint your sister’s expectations! Be bold and brave, give it a try!”

Seeing the gold coins, the merchant’s eyes widened as if they would pop out of their sockets. He urged Mary relentlessly to hurry up and throw the coins.

“My Master’s expectations…”

Clutching the few gold coins in her hand, Mary’s hesitant expression gradually firmed. Something that could be called fighting spirit ignited in her beautiful purple eyes. Seeing that Mary was about to throw gold coins, the surrounding onlookers quickly made way, giving her the spot.

“First one.”

Holding a gold coin in her palm, Mary stared intently at the golden ring hanging at the end of the pool. The hole for the coin to pass through was only about one and a half gold coins wide. Even without magical interference, it was very difficult for an ordinary person to toss a coin through.

Raising her right hand above her shoulder and taking a deep breath, Mary threw the gold coin towards the ring without using too much force.

Drawing a straight line through the air, the coin flew diagonally downwards towards the center of the ring. Although Mary usually only used a shield as a weapon, with the stat bonus from level 20 and a half-elf’s perception of her surroundings, tossing a coin into the ring from just two meters away was quite easy. Everyone’s eyes focused on the gold coin Mary threw. According to the owner’s rules, if her gold coin passed through, he would have to pay ten gold coins as a reward. Ten gold coins were enough for a family of three to live for a whole year without working—a sum difficult for ordinary people to produce.

However.

Clank.

With the sound of metal striking metal, Mary’s coin, just as it was about to pass through the ring, changed trajectory at an imperceptible angle, grazed the ring, and finally fell into the pool below.

A smile appeared on the ronin-styled owner’s face. He shook his head with feigned regret.

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“Too bad, almost went in.”

Sounds of disappointment rose from the crowd.

“That was a gold coin! Wasted just like that.”

“What a pity, it almost made it.”

“Strange, it really looked like it should have gone in just now.”

“It’s not that easy! I tried more than twenty times before I succeeded.”

Mary frowned slightly, looking down at her right palm.

Although the people around hadn’t noticed, she had felt it just as the coin was about to pass through the ring—something seemed to be interfering with it. Her elven ears told her it was wind. But if it was wind, being confined just above the water surface, and appearing precisely when the coin was about to hit the ring… that was too strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… I just feel something isn’t right.”

Mary shook her head in response to Yisi’s question.

If the wind interferes, then as long as I throw it fast enough, the wind’s effect on the coin will be much smaller, right? Meaning, get the coin through before the wind can blow it off course.

Yisi didn’t know that the knowledge she had taught her companions was coming into play now.

Taking a deep breath, Mary picked up the second gold coin.

Since it’s Master’s expectation, I absolutely cannot fail.

“Hey, hey, is that girl going again?”

“She’s wasting gold coins!”

“Whose child is that, spending gold like that? Damn it, that’s more than my wages for two months!”

Ignoring the voices around her, Mary first clasped the king-shaped pendant on her neck. When a faint golden magical power gathered in her right hand, she took the throwing stance again.

Eh?

Yisi, standing behind Mary, tilted her head.

If she wasn’t mistaken, Mary was using a spell called [Single-Minded Focus]. This spell itself wasn’t particularly powerful; its effect was to concentrate attention, making ranged magic more accurate. But the problem was, such a spell didn’t exist in this world. It was a skill from “Ragnarøk.” Furthermore, “not particularly powerful” was relative to her own level 427. In “Ragnarøk,” [Single-Minded Focus] was a spell learned at level 50.

More importantly, Mary shouldn’t be able to use any magic other than attack spells. If [Single-Minded Focus] was an effect of the king-shaped pendant—the Divine Key Tina mentioned—then perhaps she needed to re-evaluate the threat of the Divine Key. After all, “Ragnarøk” had spells that ignored defense values and dealt direct damage.

The enhancement magic didn’t end there. On the contrary, the golden light on Mary flickered a total of three times: [Single-Minded Focus], [Strength Enhancement], and [One-Hit Kill].

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“That child is a magic caster!”

“She’s actually a magic caster… She looks barely twelve.”

“No wonder she’s so rich.”

“But using magic to participate is cheating, right? She’ll be punished by the Cardinal—Eh?”

Two sounds followed in quick succession.

First, the sound of something cutting through the air, then the sharp thud of gold embedding itself in wood. At a speed invisible to the naked eye, the coin passed through the ring and embedded itself in the wooden board behind it—this board was meant to prevent customers’ coins from scattering outside.

The scene fell into dead silence for a moment.

“It really went in…”

“No way, that was a gold coin, meaning he has to pay ten gold coins…”

“W-Wait, she’s starting again!”

With no intention of stopping, Mary threw another gold coin. Seeing that Mary was completely unaffected by the wind magic, the ronin-styled owner immediately rushed towards her, intending to push her away. Yisi took the opportunity to subtly trip him.

In just a single breath, all five gold coins were embedded in the wooden board behind the ring.

Gasps and sounds of anticipation arose simultaneously.

“Hey, that’s fifty gold coins! Even a noble lord would feel the pinch.”

“He probably can’t even produce that much! I always thought he was a fraud.”

The owner, having fallen to the ground, glared furiously at Yisi as he got up.

“You…! That’s cheating! You used magic!”

“Oh dear, didn’t you use magic too? Applying wind magic to the ring, blowing the coin away just as it’s about to fall in.”

“So that’s what it was! As expected of Master! I felt the wind too just now.”

Echoing Yisi, Mary looked enlightened.

“Damn it, no wonder I couldn’t get it in! This fraud used magic!”

“Give me back my money!”

“Give it back!”

“…You bunch of Duchy of Chloe lowlifes.”

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At the stall owner’s words, a group of muscular-looking men appeared around the stall. If Yisi remembered correctly, these were the men who had been in the crowd earlier, shouting about wanting to throw copper coins into the pool.

So they’re a gang.

Watching the crowd retreat, intimidated by the group of muscular men, Yisi sighed softly. Although she had expected the owner to say something like “Using magic doesn’t count,” she hadn’t expected it to end like this. If someone else had thrown the gold coins today instead of her, the owner probably would have used these tactics to intimidate them into silence. What was more hateful was that he was even doing it under her banner.

Haaah, I can only blame the Ymir Church for not establishing a temple in the Duchy of Chloe.

Hoping to avoid conflict as much as possible, Yisi presented her Cardinal’s scepter to the burly men who were gradually surrounding them.

“Before you make a move, let me give you a piece of advice. It’s best to honestly hand over the fifty gold coins. Otherwise, I’ll send you to the Duchy of Chloe’s prison—I am the newly appointed Cardinal of the Ymir Church, Yisi Enya. You mispronounced my name earlier.”

Unfortunately, the owner didn’t take Yisi’s words seriously and ordered his men to attack. They all rushed towards her.

They’re just ordinary people with little magic power. Best use less powerful magic. Just as Yisi tapped her scepter on the ground, a black figure appeared before her.

Immediately after.

“[Dancing Blade Slash].”

With Yisi at the center, as if crashing into a charging horse, all the men who had rushed towards her were sent flying backwards. Then, another white figure appeared beside the fleeing owner, ruthlessly grabbing his neck and slamming him to the ground.

It was Lin and Laxy.

“My apologies, My Lord. I was a step too late.”

“No, they were just small fry. I’m fine. Laxy need not blame herself.” Yisi turned to Lin, who was holding her scythe and looked hesitant. “Lin? Are you okay? Doing something thoughtless earlier made you unconscious for a week.”

“Uh, yes… I am. Um… I have something to say to you, Yisi.”

Very bashfully, Lin kept her head down, her face slightly flushed. She wrung the hem of her clothes, shifting her shoulders back and forth.

This is bad.

She looks exactly like a girl about to confess.

“Eh… Saying it here… isn’t quite right, is it?”

Rejecting her in front of everyone would be too cruel.

“No!” Yisi’s words made Lin suddenly look up, her purplish-blue eyes filled with determination. “I must say it now! Yisi, thank you!”

…Huh?

Completely bewildered, Yisi, who had expected a confession, had question marks appearing above her head.