CHAPTER 31

***

*This chapter is very confusing. I'm sorry in advance.*

***

Tuban's message made Seria doubt her eyesight. Reading the writing with her eyes wide open, she touched the insignia.

"Miss ...."

Just then, the door suddenly opened and Abigail walked in. Seria froze and turned around. A powerful divine force blew Abigail's hair and cloak back.

"Miss?"

"Bibi. Hide behind me."

Abigail moved in an instant and hid herself behind Seria's back. Seria placed her hand on the Stern insignia once more. Then the divine power filled the prayer room like a storm and disappeared.

Abigail's questioning voice echoed in her ears.

"Is the Lady actually a Saint?"

***

11. Stern and Stern

***

This is the first chapter of the conditions that God's representatives must have.

It has a sacred power that is more powerful than all the power of the Priests combined.

"Grand Duchess."

Alliot, who had returned on horseback from a distance, reported as he jumped down with a flutter.

"The purification has been completed to the part you spoke of."

Alliot pulled out a glass bottle half the size of his palm from his pocket. It was a glass jar that contained a handful of clean soil.

The contaminated soil was distinguishable to the naked eye. The cleansed land allowed people and animals to come and go, and plants to grow.

Seria looked at the soil and looked down with her hands outstretched. From now on, sacred power would come from her hands. Not only that, but it was easier to make fine adjustments to the sacred power than when using the circlet. Originally, considering the power of purification that Seria possessed, it was at the level of the Creation.

It was for this that Tuban took the blue diamond…?

'I should have worn it at least once…'

She cried tears of blood when she thought about the blue diamond, but it was what allowed her to use so much divine power without going through the circlet. Seria comforted herself.

However, the next time she went to see Tuban, she was going to at least grab him by the chest.

"Grand Duchess!"

Linon smiled brightly as he took off his constellation gold helmet.

"I guess we can add another zero to Berg's budget soon!"

"This is my ability."

But Linon, being thorough, didn't panic and pulled out a contract from his pocket.

"I figured you would, so I brought the contract with me beforehand."

"...."

"You don't even joke."

Seria turned away. She couldn't help but be careful when the circlet exerted its divine power. Because it was the subject of purification.

The fact that there was a precious treasure that could cleanse the contaminated land had to be kept as secret as possible, or else revealed only after layers of shock-absorbent buffers had been piled up.

But now, the situation had changed.

"Grand Duchess, here is a sample of the magic crystal."

Linon handed over the magic crystal. It was just the size of half of a finger. Seria felt it when she saw it. The fact that the magic power was packed inside was really a top quality crystal. She couldn't believe there was a large scale mine full of these things….

Although the magic crystal had a much higher purity of magic power than the constellation gold, the amount produced was extremely small. Thanks to this, no one could think of using magic crystals as a volatile energy source.

Lina was the one who broke this stereotype.

Of course, the amount that was buried in this mine was astronomical.

Lina was the one who sustained this mine, opening up the era of using the magic crystal as an energy source in earnest. Thanks to this, Lina was also able to acquire a large amount of money.

But Seria had a slightly different idea.

Lina's methods caused a huge crash in the wizard's market. In this world, magic crystal was a mineral that was treated as a gemstone. Because of this, Lina caused a great deal of trouble with the families that mainly deal with gems and also with the families that train wizards.

Of course, everything was resolved well…

'That method was very unsuitable, even if it didn't fit with her.'

It was a solution that was possible thanks to Lina's good and honest image. The feeble aristocrats were absolutely impossible for Seria, whom they could not even make eye contact with.

In addition, while living as Seria, Seria had presented magic crystal ornaments to others several times. She thought the value of precious jewelry will plummet and become rolling stones.

'I don't feel good.'

If she hadn't had a year of Seria's memory, she would have chosen the same approach as Lina.

"And the wizards?"

Seria asked as she rode back in the carriage with Linon. He said as he showed her the papers.

"They're still watching Duke Howard's mood."

"…I see."

The great nobility has the characteristic that each family stands out from the rest. The Howard were a family that produced wizards. So much so that they invested a lot. Thanks to that, most of the wizards in the Glick Empire could be considered to be from the Howard.

"How is the relationship with the Howard and Berg these days?"

"It's like the relationship between demons and the silver branches."

"Okay."

So it was as bad as she expected it to be. She wasn't going to look good to the Howard on a matter like this either. She was a Stern, and as a Grand Duchess, she had pride. In the first place, she didn't have a good relationship with Queen Ezekiel.

"I should think more about this."

Seria said, folding up the papers.

"You'll be busy for a few days when you get back. I've booked you a seat at the auction house."

(*I'm not sure what it is that they were talking about)

***

"Temporary demon subjugation….."

Duke Howard muttered with an unpleasant expression.

"I can't believe it's Polvas…"

The Duke of Polvas was a quiet man with little presence. The lady of the house was fairly well positioned in social circles, but that was just about as far as it went. Duke Howard didn't know things would go like this. Polvas was so good at arranging things that he let people pester him.

(*it's some kind of saying, I'm not really sure. I think Duke Howard meant that Duke Polvas was normally quiet but Duke Polvas was actually savvy)

Today, Duke Howard went to the auction house for the first time in a long time as a distraction.

"That's…"

He saw the bright green hair!

"…Grand Duchess Berg?"

There wasn't a person in imperial society who didn't know the person with green hair.

That crazy, crazy Seria Stern's hair color was so unique that few people had the same hair as her.

He couldn't touch her even when she was Stern, but now she was the Grand Duchess of Berg…she originally had wings, and now she had eight wings. (*it's just a fancy way of saying Seria is unreachable)

She seemed to have very few social engagements these days. There was a lot of noise in the social circles that she didn't come out to please Grand Duke Berg.

He was skeptical of the whispering because of the report that the messenger sent by Berg almost made him cry.

"As soon as the Grand Duchess said she didn't like any of the compensation items, His Highness threw me out."

"…I really don't understand. Who in the world is looking out for whom?"

Berg was almost unreachable, and there were not enough rumors to collect, as the Grand Duke did not come to the capital very often. He could tell just from the fact that Queen Ezekiel had tea with Grand Duchess Berg once…. However, it was difficult to find a way to contact her, as she was not of a status that could be forcibly ordered.

The narrowed eyes of Duke Howard passed over Seria and went to Alliot, the knight guarding her from behind.

The young leader of the Knights of Berg.

He was a talent that Duke Howard would truly miss. Alliot was not just a knight. He was a knight that was always at the top of the list in terms of personal reputation, and it was a knight that every high-ranking nobleman tried to covet at one time.

Duke Howard had offered him a surprising amount of gold, but Alliot didn't falter. He didn't seem to blink, even if a family was crushed.

Duke Howard was relatively slacking in force among the Dukes. He spent large sums of money every month to bring in the best knights, but none of them was as talented as Alliot. Duke Howard hadn't slept for some time since Alliot had rejected him.

It was when he was comforting his disappointment.

"Ah!"

"...!"

One man suddenly went on a rampage and started running towards Grand Duchess Berg. The knight who was standing behind her quickly protected Duke Howard.

"Duke!"

"It's dangerous!"

It was only for a moment. The young knight, who had been following Seri around, suddenly disappeared. That was how it looked in Duke Howard's eyes. That young knight kicked the big man with his foot and knocked him down with a lightning speed.

"Aah!"

It was by far the best knight that Duke Howard had ever seen.

Howard's mouth dropped open. The place was immediately thrown into chaos.

"Guards! Guards!"

"The slaves are on the loose!"

"What? Slave?"

"He's got a slave seal stamped on his back!"

The auction house became a mess in an instant. However, that green haired Grand Duchess opened both of her eyes and walked over to the owner of the slave who caused the commotion. Her sapphire eyes glowed dimly.

"Are you the owner?"

"Grand Duchess Berg…..?"

"You dare to manipulate a slave to attack me?"

"No! Grand Duchess! Absolutely not! It's unfair!"

The numerous ladies debuting in the Capital learned as they looked into Seria's eyes. If it was strong, it was madness. The young nobleman knelt with a pale face. If he got locked up in prison, he would experience great hardship. Because…

"Prison slaves."

"Convict slaves are illegal, so in what spirit did you bring them here…?"

"I did it on purpose. After that prisoner used his sycophancy to get himself brought in, he probably went wild to attract attention like that. Are there many noblemen who don't enjoy thrill-seeking?"

"They are lucky to have attacked Grand Duchess Berg of all people."

At the whispering voice, Howard's knight looked back at the Duke.

"Duke, are you okay….?"

"What are you looking at?"

Duke Howard was covering his mouth with his hands.

The Duke's trembling gaze was fixed to Abigail Orrien, who subdued the prison slave with a curt expression.

***

"I think red is the most beautiful."

"Oh, you like the color red?"

"Yes."

"In that case…this yarn is better."

Seria was just looking at the thread and needles she would bring to tomorrow's knitting meeting with Susan. The bedroom door opened and in walked Lesche, who had said he would be a little late today.

"Lesche? You're here early."

Susan gathered up the thread and needles on the table, then bowed lightly.

"I'll get going now."

Lesche, who strode to Seria, pulled her hand and raised her up. Then he locked her in his arms and swept her back… Seria was ticklish and pushed Lesche away.

"Why are you suddenly touching me like that?"

"Linon came all the way to the imperial palace. Did you get hurt?"

"What do you think?"

Realizing that Lesche was not wearing anything under the silk gown, Seria continued.

"I bought them all."