<Chapter 8>
Still, the ghosts here looked much less scary than Korean ghosts.
I took comfort in that fact.
I stared at the ghost’s lower body, then at the money.
‘How much more could I earn if I did it again…?’
I pinched my cheek at the sudden surge of greed.
This is how people get addicted to gambling.
“Oh dear, I need to get a grip.”
I shook my head.
I did tell them to come find me if they wanted to play again, but I had no intention of continuing to gamble with everyone who showed up.
‘Playing Saintess’ was just bait to draw people in.
Opportunists aiming for a million gold, those curious about the Saintess, those simply seeking entertainment.
Everyone was welcome.
As long as they could make me famous.
[I need to leave this dormitory. People will be flocking here now. Since I told them to come find Saintess Dorothy, I need a landmark.]
[But then everyone won’t be able to find you.]
[All the vagrants in this dormitory are my clients. I can just leave them my new address. It’ll spread to others naturally.]
[That’s a good idea.]
The elders always said that you should spend unexpected money quickly.
They said that if you hold onto something that’s not meant for you for too long, it will just disappear.
‘Looking at all this money, I feel like I might get greedy…’
‘Seon-nyeo, if a shaman gets too greedy, the gods will punish them.’
My mother’s words came to mind.
If a shaman forgets their duty and seeks money and fame, the gods will leave, and misfortune will follow.
Gods… don’t just give. They also take away a lot.
‘So, let’s get a grip.’
Having too much money was useless anyway.
I’m someone who best suits a peaceful, ordinary life.
Right. Above all, isn’t it most important to not see a ghost’s lower body first thing in the morning?
Once everything is over, a new life awaits me, free from the dreadful ghosts and the name Park Seon-nyeo.
I strengthened my resolve and left the room.
“This house seems to be the most suitable property.”
“An excellent choice. Since you said you’d use one room as a study, this size is perfect!”
It’s not a study, it’s a shrine.
I smiled and signed the contract. I even stamped my fingerprint, just in case.
“Um, how will you pay the deposit-?”
The real estate agent spoke hesitantly.
It wasn’t a luxurious house, but it wasn’t a house that a vagrant like me could afford, so I understood his worried look.
“Ah, I can pay it right away.”
Even though I had no belongings to bring since I entered the vagrant dormitory empty-handed, my backpack was heavy.
It was filled with the money I had earned.
There were no mobile banks or smartphones in this world.
I realized anew what a safe and convenient advancement it was to be able to transfer money instantly.
Carrying it around like this made me anxious.
There was a concept of banks in this world, but that was only used in the capital, and there was no way it would exist in a place like this…
When I succeed and go to the capital, the first thing I’ll do is open a bank account.
“How much did you say it was?”
“Three million.”
The price of three carriages.
My heart pounded as I opened my backpack to take out three pouches of gold coins.
Should I say I’ll give him the money when we get to the office? Or should I say I need to use the restroom?
[Dorothy. What’s wrong? You seem anxious…]
[Ah, I’m worried he might steal my backpack. I was thinking of taking the money out somewhere where he can’t see.]
[Oh my. Don’t worry. I’ll make it so he doesn’t even see where you’re taking the money from.]
Agatha said confidently.
Can gods even do that…? Well, she’s a god, so she can do anything.
Trusting Agatha’s words, I suppressed my anxiety and opened my backpack.
“Here you go. It’s all in gold coins.”
“Gasp-.”
The agent’s eyes widened as I handed him the three pouches.
But his gaze didn’t go towards the backpack.
As if he couldn’t see it at all.
The agent introduced me to a decent interior decorator, explained the house in more detail, and then left.
[Shall we prepare to receive guests now?]
[Dorothy. I want hotcakes.]
[Oh, come on! Dorothy is busy.]
Interior… I’ll take care of that with money.
We’re in a win-win relationship. The money I won yesterday made me incredibly generous.
[Then shall we go grocery shopping?]
[Yay! Great!]
[I’m sorry, Dorothy. Everyone’s acting like starving hyenas…]
[It’s okay. It’s my pleasure. Hoho.]
Now I’m properly at the starting line.
I thought about the guests who would flock to me, and the sweet freedom that would come after the slightly scary and difficult process.
‘Come at me, Theodore…!’
I have the backing of eight gods!
I’m not afraid of some Emperor.
I bought a lot of food to feed my backers and returned to ‘my house’ in a good mood.
Time flies.
I realized something every time I saw my mother.
A shaman needs to be a good actor.
If you create a dramatic atmosphere, people tend to get drawn in and easily swept away.
It’s no exaggeration to say that creating the right atmosphere determines the success or failure of a shaman’s business. For that atmosphere, a shaman had to be a good actor.
Then what about a Saintess?
Lacking basic knowledge about Saintesses, I was lost in thought. Does a Saintess need to do that too? I’ve started my business, after all…
[Agatha, you said a Saintess appeared before, right? What kind of person was she?]
[Ah, she was the first priestess to receive oracles. The title changed from Saintess to priestess, but she laid the foundation for what is now the religion. She’s very different from you, Dorothy.]
Very different indeed.
[Then how did she announce the oracles?]
I pressed for details, wondering if there was anything dramatic about it.
[She wrote them down on paper and sent them to the Imperial Palace.]
A rather disappointing answer came back.
Oracles announced by the Imperial Palace? How can I do that?
Knowing nothing about Western occultism, I decided to use a bell and five-colored flags.
The bell was for occasionally shaking to set the mood, and the five-colored flags were for fortune-telling, just like my mother did. The flag divination, which predicted good or bad luck based on colors, made people nervous with the colorful fluttering of the primary-colored cloths.
“What am I doing… really…”
I collected bells one by one and tied them together, and since there was no way to buy five-colored flags, I had to buy fabric and make them myself.
[Dorothy, what are the bell and flags for?]
[Agatha… do you know what performance is?]
[What?]
[To make people believe, you need… a kind of performance. Especially for people like us, who start from the bottom.]
[Performance… Ah. Is it like when a knight deliberately wears decorative gold armor into battle to intimidate the enemy?]
Agatha, being specialized in warfare, used war-related analogies for all her explanations.
[That’s important! That single act has many meanings, and it leads to fierce debates with various interpretations. Depending on what symbols the other side displays-]
[Uh, um… yes, something like that.]
It was roughly correct.
While preparing the bell and flags, I also worked on the shrine.
I built a platform, installed statues of the eight guardian deities, and offered each of them their favorite food.
It was more for their convenience than serving them meals every day…
Somehow, it became an ancestral rite table decorated with white marble and beautiful silverware.
[This feels really strange.]
[This shrine is so much fun, Dorothy! Wow, these blueberries are really delicious.]
Right. If the gods are happy, I’ll benefit too…
Thus, a shrine with a vaguely mixed East-West ambiance was created.
Perhaps it was because my input was all from my mother.
Finally, the shrine of ‘Saintess’ Bosal Dorothy opened.
“The appearance of the Saintess of gambling disguised as ‘Playing Saintess’ – is she truly the legendary ‘that being’? Or a fraud?”
A handsome man with strikingly dark hair and captivating blue eyes like the autumn sky murmured in a pleasant baritone voice.
“A very interesting article. Don’t you think?”
Tall, broad-shouldered, with a slim waist and long legs. He was a man anyone would turn to look at twice.
He was the first love of many ladies and the object of envy for young lords… but now, he was a figure feared for his intense personality.
Emperor Theodore Elliot.
It hadn’t even been a year since he ascended the throne at the age of twenty-six after the death of the previous Emperor, yet he exuded an overwhelming aura of authority.
His innate majesty made his anger seem even more chilling.
His anxious subordinates stood in a line before him, watching his expression carefully.
The atmosphere was very tense.
“Look. The Imperial Daily says… ‘Saintess Dorothy, starting to sweep the empire beyond Themont.’ I, the master of the empire, was the only one who didn’t know about the Saintess who swept the empire.”
“…I apologize.”
Theodore placed down ‘The Empire’s Morning’ and ‘The Imperial Daily’ with a sardonic smile.
They were the two most widely read newspapers in the empire.
“It seems the reporter is from a city near Themont, so they learned about it. The nobles in the capital haven’t met the Saintess yet-”
“The newspaper will spread throughout the entire empire. What does the reporter’s origin matter?”
“…I was just trying to say that the news of the Saintess hasn’t reached the capital yet…”
“So you’re saying you don’t know because it’s not in the capital? My informants are useless, even less so than a mere newspaper reporter.”
“…”
Was it the temple’s doing?
The Saintess of gambling.
Since she was doing such things, it was natural that news of her wouldn’t reach Emperor Theodore until she became famous.
The nobles would have considered ‘Playing Saintess’ as their own entertainment. Since she hadn’t entered the capital, there was no way the news could reach Theodore’s ears.
But such insignificant beings often grow rapidly at some point.
It was his oversight.
He had been preoccupied with the road maintenance plan, and the temple had been quiet lately, so he hadn’t paid attention. But now this happened.
“If it is the temple’s doing… they must be quite desperate.”
“…”
“Calling someone the Saintess, a figure who only appears in ancient legends. It’s not child’s play. It seems I’ve been too lenient.”
Although he called it child’s play, it was Theodore who would be in trouble if the Saintess actually became famous. If rumors of the legendary Saintess’s return spread, public sentiment would shift towards the temple.
Perhaps the temple was the clever one.
In any case, he had to take care of this before it got out of hand.
“…I apologize.”
Theodore clicked his tongue.
“What about the High Priest’s movements?”
“There’s no movement yet.”
“They’re trying to confuse me.”
Theodore frowned. Not only was he caught off guard, but nothing was certain.
An unforeseen incident, followed by continued ignorance… This was the situation Theodore hated the most.
“Anyway, keep an eye on it.”
“Yes.”
“And… sigh.”
The Emperor’s sigh made his subordinates flinch.
He was a benevolent master, yet merciless in his actions. Since he was this angry, they couldn’t imagine what kind of punishment awaited them.
“Bring the Saintess to me. Go quickly, before anyone else, quietly and discreetly.”
“What?”
The newspaper was already spreading throughout the empire.
Theodore’s priority now was to secure the Saintess.
He needed to find out what connection she had with the temple and tell her how disrespectful her ‘Playing Saintess’ act was.
“Bring the Saintess before me, by any means necessary.”
“…Yes.”
If the Saintess became famous, the temple would gain momentum.
Theodore couldn’t stand for that.