Chapter 17 : I See What You're Doing Here...

After the whole episode with the newly recruited Merchant, I came back without a hitch. Everything went smooth as silk, and we were safe.

I told Renata everything that had happened so she could navigate the next steps better since she was my proxy. 

Times passed by and Margareth has claimed her spot high on the Merchant Guild's ladder. Coupled with the assistance from the Assassins Renata brought in, Margareth's growth had exploded drastically.

Every merchant that did her dirty and planned on doing it would soon meet their demises in lots of ways. It fell on Renata's hands to deal with them so I didn't really know the exact details, but what else a bunch of assassins would do?

The message painted by the absence of the rotten merchants was clear. Never cross the skinny widow, or they would soon find the reaper visiting their abode in the night.

Anyway, the more wealth and influence Margareth had, the more beneficial it was for us. Renata has sent her people to work double time as Margareth's employees and her spies. They were still operating from district to district in the royal capital, but at the rate we were going, it would only take a couple of years before we covered the whole kingdom.

And talking about the future sure got me excited, but that didn't mean there was nothing interesting happening in my mundane daily life. Well, calling it mundane while also implicating that it was interesting might be contradicting, but everyone knew I like to talk shit...So, bear with me...

So, yeah, what I was trying to say was Adam had turned one. And dude, the little munchkin was able to walk already! Was he a genius or something? Well, you tell me. I didn't know if it was because this was a different world babies here were built differently, but Adam was walking on his own like he owned the damn house.

God damn! Ah...let us not demean gods...

But man, the little dude might as well be moonwalking by next year!

How did I know all this crap? Well, he finally came to my room with Maya, that's how. I guessed they thought it was safe now and it was time for him to meet his brother. But I decided to not limit testing while Adam was in the room.

I mean, I still grind while idling away, so the mana flow was a mess all the same. But it wouldn't be as bad and crazy as when I was limit testing.

Besides, Adam seemed to like me. Don't know; he kept crying whenever someone took him away from my bed. Hence, similar to how it was with Alyson, my room has become Adam's playroom nowadays. Then again, he still couldn't play for much and spent most of his time either eating or napping...

So, regardless of other recurring details, that's about it regarding my family.

Now let's move on to the slightly spicy stuff.

From what Renata told me, apparently, the Church of Light has been raving about wanting to meet me for quite some time. 

If it was because of my blessings, the sealed fragment, and the Mark, then it made sense that they would want to meet me.

But nobody should know that. So I couldn't help but wonder.

'Am I missing something? Or was this truly a coincidence?'

So yeah, after pestering George for months to no end, they finally succeeded in their endeavor.

And now, I was looking at the priest donning a white robe plated with golden insignia of the sun while holding a similar shiny staff. With hair full of gray and a neatly trimmed beard, sure enough, the man looked the part.

His deep peach-colored iris sparkled with light and went strangely well with the vibrant face that was so full of expressions, albeit looking a bit weathered from the passage of time.

It turned out, the man was an archbishop of the Church, and he was the one who helped Maya deliver me and also the one who had to deliver the devastating truth about my body's condition to my parents.

Only then was I able to guess why he was so desperate in wanting to see me.

Long story short, he was basically wondering whether he was blind when he diagnosed me or whether god had truly spared me and brought about a miracle down upon the Dawson.

Either way, it appeared that he got his answers.

"I-I can't believe this. Glory to the light!!"

Yeah, he settled with the miracle.

"Not only can he see now, but hear as well!?"

His eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped dramatically.

"And this mana...He must be blessed by the god of Light! He might be the one!"

The man's eyes shone crazy, I tell you. I know crazy when I see one. His gaze had that same glow and depth as Renata's whenever she went into fanatic mode.

'Just look at her proudly bobbing her head like it was a given. That punk...'

"There's no other reason than that. He should've died long ago, but instead, he lived and recovered. All while having this much mana? Maya, your son is loved by the merciful Light without a doubt!"

He then turned and spoke to Maya, who was surprisingly weak when someone complimented her son. She bashfully nodded like a shy maiden in reply.

'Damn it! This dude is loud...'

"I can even feel a wisp of divinity coming from him."

'Woah there, mister!' I was scared, to be honest. I did have the blessings from god, but he shouldn't be able to feel them unless I sent my intent to his soul. At least, that was how Renata came to correlate me being a god of some sort.

Hell, not even other gods should be able to feel them without direct contact, but the man looked like he totally knew what he was talking about, and that spooked me to no end.

"Look at his hair as white as the cloud from the highest heaven. Look at the wisdom buried beneath those ancient and enigmatic eyes! They are but divine!"

'My hair and eyes are divine...?'

'...Yep...we got ourselves a scammer, everybody. I got scared for nothing, damn him.'

'Hey, he's a scam, so stop admiring and sharing your sentiment with him!' I chided the maid, who was peeking at me with a reluctant look.

'Look all you want. He's still someone who spits bullshit about my looks coming from heaven and whatnot.'

"We must bring him to receive the Pope's favor and also the teachings of the Light."

And there it was...

'Oh, I see what you're doing here, you scamming old man...'