Blessings be Upon You*4
And so, the next day.
“Nice to meet you! I am Saintess Sati! Please take care of me!”
… The Saintess herself had arrived at our test site.
“She’s tiny…! Asuma-sama, she’s so cute, she’s so cute…!”
“I see. She truly is quite adorable…”
Now I fully understood why Laperesiana-sama said “she is a charming young lady.” Saintess Sati was a very cute child, with soft golden hair and round blue eyes!
“Let me introduce her properly. This is Saintess Sati. She is seven years old.”
With Laperesiana-sama’s introduction, Saintess Sati dipped her head politely. We also bowed in return.
“At the age of seven, she has already mastered the mana arts used by the priests of the Church. Naturally, she can also use ‘Blessing.’”
Ohh… a child this small, already a mana-user. Yep, it’s fantasy all right.
… As we were all impressed, Laperesiana-sama leaned in and whispered to us quietly:
“… At seven years old, due to possessing talent as a Saintess, she was taken from her parents and raised by the Church.”
“O-ohhh…”
S-somehow… somehow, I really can’t forgive the Church! If the upper ranks were corrupt, that means the people dragged into it were all stuck in some kind of tragedy! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!
“Once things have cooled down a little more, we intend to return her to her parents… but she feels lonely. Please remember that she is both a Saintess and still just a child.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Hearing that, we all exchanged looks and nodded together.
… We would be asking this tiny Saintess to help with our research, but at the very least… we want her time here not to be lonely. That’s how we all felt…!
Wanting to do something for Saintess Sati is absolutely going to happen, but first is the research. Laperesiana-sama gave us such a precious opportunity. We can’t waste it.
“Well then, Saintess Sati. Please grant a Blessing to this field!”
“Yes! Understood! … ‘Fortune upon this land!’”
We immediately asked for a Blessing… but hmm. I couldn’t see any difference.
When I think about it, I can’t do decomposition/absorption/reconstruction outside my dungeon area, so I can’t analyze anything on the spot.
… We’ll bring back some soil from the Blessed field for analysis later. For now, let’s do what we *can* analyze.
“Alright, we’ll conduct a comparison experiment.”
“Comparison experiment…?”
“We prepare two fields under the same conditions, then change just one condition in one of them so we can see what change is caused by that difference.”
“That’s too hard, Asuma-sama! I don’t get it, Asuma-sama!”
… Saintess Sati tilted her head, and Mishisia-san complained too, but oh well. I’ll run the experiment anyway…
“Okay, Mishisia-san, Lisas-san—please sow radish seeds in all the fields!”
“Got it! Let’s do this!”
First, Fields B, C, and D were seeded the same way as Blessed Field A… I chose radishes because they grow faster than tomatoes, and if we want a lot of trials in a short time, radishes are best.
“Alright, Saintess Sati-sama, please Bless this field over here.”
“Yes! ‘Fortune upon this land!’”
Once sowing was done in Field B, we asked for a Blessing there.
Fields C and D would not be Blessed directly. However…
“Next, Saintess Sati, please Bless the water in this jug.”
“The water…? Umm, ‘upon this land’… umm, uh… ‘Fortune upon this water’…?”
… Thus, we obtained water that was *probably* Blessed, and watered Field C with it.
Now we had four fields:
• Blessed before sowing
• Blessed after sowing
• Water-Blessed
• No Blessing
We’d operate them for about half a month and observe radish growth.
“And next, I want to compare soil differences… so please Bless these fields E, F, and G as well.”
“Yes! ‘Fortune upon this land!’”
Next were the soils.
… Field E had forest leaf mold from Panis Village mixed in.
Field F had fertilizer used in the royal capital.
Field G had crushed gemstones from the Panis Village dungeon to recreate a high-mana environment.
And Field A used nothing special.
We’d compare all four.
“And also, please Bless this Slime.”
“Eh!?”
Next, for Field H, we’d have her Bless a Slime.
“… Slime.”
“Slime, yes.”
Saintess Sati stared blankly at the Slime. The Slime wobbled gently. Ever carefree.
“Slime…”
“Yes. Slime.”
Saintess Sati continued staring. The Slime remained unbothered.
… Well, anyone would be nervous if told to Bless a Slime, but… somehow, I felt like that wasn’t the only thing on her mind. The way she looked at the Slime—sparkling eyes… yeah.
“… You can touch the Slime if you want.”
“Is it okay…?”
“You can poke it, squeeze it, toss it even, then they don’t really mind.”
When I encouraged her, Saintess Sati timidly reached out… and poked it. Pnyo.
“… Ehehe, it’s so soft…”
Please, poke all you want! With that smile, even the Slime is surely happy! Yes! Go ahead! Touch them as much as you want!
“Asuma-sama… I don’t think burying the Saintess in Slimes is, umm, appropriate…”
“I am very sorry.”
Ten minutes later. There was Saintess Sati, buried to her shoulders in mochi-mochi Slimes! And there was Lisas-san scolding me—“What are you doing to the Saintess”—and me being scolded! And Mishisia-san, who was also happily buried in Slimes alongside the Saintess. Energetic as always…
“Well, but the Saintess seems very happy…”
“Yeah… well, she does, but…”
… Meanwhile, Saintess Sati burst into giggles while submerged in Slimes, clearly having a great time. Mishisia-san was squealing too, having way too much fun.
“… Well, when you hear ‘Saintess,’ you don’t expect a seven-year-old… I’m struggling to adjust…”
“I get you…”
Lisas-san looked troubled. I was troubled too. Yeah. I really didn’t expect her to be seven.
“… If she’s a Saintess… but still seven… then it’s okay to bury her in Slimes… right?”
“Yeah… let’s go with that? She’s having such a good time… and I could never ruin that smile…”
A seven-year-old, taken from her parents and made into a ‘Saintess’… yeah, that’s just too cruel. So if she can enjoy herself like this now, I want to let her. And… if we can figure out the Blessing, and make it available to everyone—then kids like Saintess Sati won’t be forced into this role anymore.
If the mystery of Blessing is solved and the technique becomes commonplace… then a seven-year-old Saintess won’t have to be a special existence anymore. She won’t have to go through this.
“Alright… once they’re done resting, we’ll make another set of Fields A–D! Then after ten days, we’ll have her Bless them again, and compare the results!”
“We’re still doing this!?”
“Of course! I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”
“Asuma-sama… you’re starting to resemble that adventurer who settled in Panis Village…”
I’m full of spirit, full of energy! I’ll keep going and going and going! I’ll blow the Blessing apart—I’ll solve everything!
… After preparing the experimental fields, the next day.
“I was thinking we’d have her come back in ten days to Bless Fields A2 to D2 again and observe the results, but… well…”
“I kinda had a feeling this would happen!”
“I see… I didn’t quite expect this…”
… Before us was a Giant Slime.
The Giant Slime crawled around leisurely, mochi-mochi, with bushy radish leaves waving from the top of its head!
What do you think about this chapter?
