“You must do this,” Pope Lathan, glorious head of the Church of the Light, ordered.

  Hannah’s face scrunched up. “Of course you can say that with ease, it’s not like you’re going—”

  “I’m more than willing to go in your place, if they accept,” he declared.

  Hannah froze, speechless.

  The Cardinals did not seem surprised, only nodding along.

  “If not for the fact that they specifically want the Saintess, probably because of how much stronger and purer your Holy Power is, me and the Cardinals and even the priest,” he gestured towards Hadden, “would gladly take this opportunity up.”

  “B—But, what if I were to die?! This is an S Class Dungeon! What if this is some assassination plot—”

  “Your life,” he told her calmly, “is not worth a hundred thousand gold coins, Hannah.”

  “What if they,” Hannah blushed uncomfortably, “have some other ulterior motives—”

  “Hannah.” The Pope interrupted as kindly as he could. “No woman in the world is worth a hundred thousand gold coins. Especially since you’re…” he put on a sympathetic expression, to deal the blow softly, “not high up on the chain of conventional beauty standards.”

  To this, Hannah turned silent, not even bothering to protest. It was true, after all. Even Hannah knew she wasn’t particularly stunning.

  “So you think I should do this?” Hannah finally asked. “I want a major percentage then. At least sixty percent of the hundred thousand gold coins for the risk I am taking.”

  Pope Lathan ran the calculations internally. If Hannah took sixty percent, then there’d be five people remaining for forty percent. Since he wasn’t good enough at maths to divide forty percent by five and the priest wasn’t high enough in the chain to protest any decisions they made—if it was really required, they could always say he went out on a ‘spiritual excursion’; no one would doubt anything even if he was never seen again—he would just divide the forty percent by four.

  He and the three Cardinals would get ten percent. Well. He wasn’t completely heartless, so he’d give four percent to the priest, one percent from each of their ten. So that meant they would each get nine thousand gold coins, and the priest would get four thousand.

  “You know that’s an unreasonable deal, Hannah,” he said after he finished the calculations. “We’d only get nine thousand gold coins, while you’d get sixty.”

  “Do you have any other choice but to accept my unreasonable deal?” The Saintess asked, slightly smug.

  The Pope didn’t bother getting mad at her, since he could see why she thought she had the upper hand. Unfortunately for her, she was but a young girl, while Lathan was a fox who’d been politicking all his life.

  “What’s the name of your concubine?” he questioned, pretending to think as he stroked his chin. “Ah, Alec. Mighty nice boy, he was. Even took my blessings before you and he broke every religious rule the Saintess must follow. Should I reveal that to the public, then, Hannah?”

  Hannah didn’t respond for a few seconds, her expression completely blank. It was only a few seconds later did she process what he was even talking about, and the color drained from her face rapidly.

  “T—That, you talk as if I don’t know your secrets! The number of priests you’ve forcefully slept with saying they were receiving the goddess’s grace, should I reveal that to the public—” Hannah began, her voice gradually gaining confidence, only to be interrupted by the Pope once more.

  He stood, flinging an arm out in dramatic proclamation. “Go on. Tell them all.”

  “W—What?”

  “You heard me. Come, let us destroy ourselves. You reveal my secrets, I’ll reveal your secrets, both of us will reveal the Cardinals’ secrets.”

  The Cardinals looked both confused and afraid, their thoughts on the matter showing surprisingly clearly on their face—why the hell are you involving us, you bastard? We don’t have any problems with getting 9,000 gold coins! Do you even understand how much that amount is?!

  This kind of shortsighted thinking was why he was in charge, and not them.

  Before they could express their anger, the Pope continued, “And of course, our dear priest friend will expose this whole scandal, making sure that the Church of Light collapses fully, for once and for all. So, then. Should we begin?”

  Pope Lathan remained standing, ready to walk out of the room.

  The Saintess hurriedly interrupted, “W—Wait, you geezer! Listen to me, listen! But doing that, all of us will lose this deal! I’ll be putting in extra effort compared to you, right? Sure, our buyers might ask something of you lot in the future, but right now, it’ll be unfair if we split the money equally, right? Come on, don’t be hasty, we can negotiate!”

  The Pope turned around, facing her down, a benevolent smile gracing his face. “I see what you mean. That is true, yes. Twenty thousand gold coins.”

  The Saintess blinked, looking at the Pope silently for a few seconds. Then, like she did not understand what he was talking about, she asked, “Twenty thousand for you, sixty for me, and the rest will be split amidst the Cardinals and the priest?”

  “No, my dear Saintess. You’ll get twenty thousand gold coins. Fair, yes? Even though there are a total of six members here, I’m giving you one fifth of the share.” Pope Lathan’s tone was melancholic, like he was making a great sacrifice.

  “You’re fucking kidding me.”

  “Not at all,” the Pope replied. “And no, I won’t negotiate further. Take it or leave it, twenty thousand.”

  “Come on, I deserve forty thousand at the very least. I’ll be the one going into the S Class Dungeon, I’m the one they came looking for—”

  “You seem to be mistaking something, Hannah.” The Pope interrupted. “They came here looking for the ‘Saintess’. They’ll be fine as long as they get a Saintess. Any Saintess. We could dispose of you, right here, right now, and find a new Saintess. True, it’ll take some time to train the new girl, but she won’t know any of our secrets. She’ll be malleable, pliable, and maybe even stronger than you—your lack of piety has made it so you’re only an average Saintess, hasn’t it? You’re not some godly figure that can’t be replaced.”

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Hannah looked like the demon from her nightmares danced right in front of her—her expression was a mix of confusion, awe, and fear. “B—But, they need a Saintess for right now, yes?” She asked, more desperate and pleading than authoritative now. “All of this, it’ll take—”

  “A few months? Maybe a year, maximum. True, our dear clients will be dissatisfied. But, you see…”

  Hannah’s breath hitched.

  “I am utterly shameless and a very good bootlicker.”

  “...you’re what, now?” The Saintess looked to the Cardinals, searching in vain for any echo of her surprise and incredulity.

  The Cardinals were good respectable members of the church leadership, and nodded along, acknowledging Lathan’s suitable and masterful understanding of what the situation required.

  “Sure, our clients will be dissatisfied to delay their mission. But if I fall at their feet, cry, beg them, surely they’ll wait.” Pope Lathan cracked his knuckles onto his face. “True, they might not. They might have some emergency, and hence deny us this deal. But if I bootlick enough, surely they’ll give our new Saintess a chance in the future.”

  “I—I’ll just circumvent you and take the deal from them myself—”

  “My dear, I do not understand your confidence in staying alive the moment you become useless.” The Pope whispered, silkily, softly, kindly. “And you are slowly becoming useless right now, Hannah. Slowly yet steadily.”

  “...you know what, twenty thousand gold coins sounds like a fabulous deal.” Hannah compromised, a bright, persuasive smile on her face.

  “I knew you’d come around!” the Pope announced, like a grandpa who was proud of his granddaughters’ achievements. “Now, then. Cardinals, we split the other eighty thousand gold coins in four ways—twenty thousand for each of us. Of course, we can’t forget our trusty priest who made all this possible in the first place, so we’ll voluntarily give two thousand five hundred of each of our shares. Does that work with you all?”

  “Sure.”

  “Yep.”

  “Amazing.”

  Last, he turned towards the priest. “Does this arrangement work with you, dear priest?” He asked, his eyes curving into crescent moons due to his wide but soft, loving smile.

  “Your mercy is immensely appreciated, Your Holiness,” the priest replied, bowing low. “I will always be in your debt.”

  “That you will.”

  Hadden blinked.

  I still feel like a hundred thousand is too much…

  ?(??︿?)?

  We can literally print gold coins endlessly. Dominic replied, shaking his head. Gabrielle was too used to poverty, hence having such a restricted mindset. He’d fix that slowly.

  But what about the economy—

  Dominic scoffed. Not my problem.

  (???)

  B—But, it’s bad karma—

  I’m not intentionally disrupting the economy. I’m just spreading the love. Dominic felt proud of himself at that—he was doing charity, really. He patted himself on the back in his mind.

  =????(???????)

  Before Dominic could say anything more, however, Hadden approached them, a subdued yet bright smile on his face.

  “We’ve concluded our negotiations, my lord. Please, take the Saintess away whenever you need her. Should we arrange some carriages? Which Dungeon shall you and your esteemed party be conquering?”

  I would suggest the Dungeon of Relfow. It is filled with creatures called ‘Relfow’, wicked fairy wolves that are intensely tricky to deal with. Due to this, not many parties try and dive into the Dungeon, making it private enough to be to your and Mister Disciple’s taste, Mister Dominic!

  Gabrielle, out!

  ???? ˉ???ˉ?? )?

  Dominic smiled, appreciating Gabrielle’s input. He stroked his chin, pondering about whether he wanted to ride a carriage right now. He did, but not to the extent where he’d slow down his disciple’s revenge mission. He could always tick off ‘ride a carriage again’ out of his bucket list after they dealt with the Darkness Bane Cult.

  “The Dungeon of Relfow.” Dominic said, “As for carriages, no, they are not currently necessary.”

  Hadden nodded, seemingly not all that surprised that they didn’t need the Church to arrange carriages for them. The gesture of the Church offering carriages was only a sign of respect and consideration, nothing more, nothing less.

  “I see.” Hadden didn’t inquire any further and led them back to the room, opening the door for them this time politely—money, especially obscene amounts of money, does wonders.

  The Pope, the Saintess and the Cardinals were seated in their previous positions, all of them looking at Dominic with soft, small, respectful smiles.

  Before any of them could say anything, however, Dominic asked, “Shall we leave now, Saintess?”

  The Saintess nodded and stood up, approaching them swiftly—not even bothering to maintain a regal or holy gait, honestly looking like a rabbit that was barely suppressing the urge to run away.

  “T—Then, let us leave, dear believers. How shall we travel to the dungeon? Do you perhaps have some travel artifact? O—Or perhaps a carriage? I don’t mind a carriage. Carriages are good. When I was younger, I’d always dreamt of buying a carriage.”

  All S Ranked Rift Sealer teams have their own special artifacts, made through the archaic technology they obtain from the dungeons. A travel artifact is very, very rare, though.

  (╯︵╰,)

  After throwing that kind of money around, it’s not surprising they’d assume you have one. Though I won’t say you could easily buy any artifact you wanted, sometimes they’re not for sale at any price.

  v( ‘.’ )v

  “I don’t need a travel artifact,” Dominic stated, smirking, “But I do have ways to get around without carriages.”

  Saying so, he clicked his finger, and all three of them disappeared.

  The Cardinals and the Pope stared blankly at where three people were standing a mere moment ago.

  Hadden was the first one to break the silence, his tone full of subdued disbelief. “...did they just teleport?”

  “I think they did,” the Pope replied, awe distinctly audible in his tone. “Has anyone ever heard of an artifact that can teleport you?”

  The silence was a sufficient reply in and of itself.

  “Just who is this man?”

  One blink, Hannah was in the Cathedral’s room. Another blink and she was in a wide, sprawling cave.

  Darkness enshrouded them, the ceiling barely visible. Directly in front of her stood two large iron doors, with intricate engravings of winged wolf-like monsters.

  Hannah stared blankly, unable to process what had just happened.

  The black-haired client slowly walked toward the doors. “So this is the Relfow dungeon, hm?”

  Relfow… Dungeon… But that was—

  Hannah stared around again, but there was no denying it. Yes, she had teleported.

  From the Capital to a Dungeon tens if not hundreds of miles away, she had teleported in just a second.

  What kind of artifact could even do this…? She was still realizing how truly monstrous the man who hired her must be. He did one unimaginable thing after another without the slightest pause, as though it was perfectly normal, not worthy of consideration or calculation at all.

  “Oh, yeah.” The man turned to Hannah, a smile on his face. “I should probably reveal my identity to you to attain maximum cooperation from you. Your Holy Power is surprisingly weak, but I guess expecting more from this universe would be quite dumb of me. It is a godless universe, after all.”

  She could only stare at him, trapped like a prey creature before a predator. Albeit a friendly-presenting one. But after how much he’d paid to bring her along, she was probably not in danger. For the moment, at least. They were about to go into an S Rank Dungeon, after all. And… what did he just say about the Goddess?

  “So,” he continued cheerfully. “Saintess, I’m a demigod, and my name is Dominic. Could I know your name?”

  Hannah blinked. “You’re a what, now?”