The Guidebook for Villainesses

Even though the saintess had granted her permission, the nobles hesitated and could not easily raise their heads.

Directly hearing the voice of God had an enormous effect. They did not dare make eye contact with Lara nor did they ramble about her carelessly. Those who doubted or despised her trembled their lips in fear.

Lara knew better than anyone that this was not an effect that would last forever. Over time, someone who suspected her legitimacy would appear again among them. Once the rumors about the saintess’ appearance spread around, there would also be people who snorted and questioned whether the attendees had all hallucinated or not.

Still, she had to say what she had to. Lara exchanged looks with the Emperor once again. It was time to utter the words that she had prepared.

“The war against demons will begin soon on this continent.”

No one opened their mouths. It was a matter of course. The audience was already confused with the appearance of the saintess, then, they heard God’s voice, now, they were informed that the demons would come. They did not know which part they should be surprised by.

“Black sorcerers’ hideouts have been found all over the world and the number of their victims is increasing. And as the number of the poor and sick increase, so will the number of reckless demon worshippers.”

So we have to stop them.

Every noble understood Lara’s words. They were just busy calming their startled feelings and belatedly put their brains to work.

Lara said one last time.

“The God of Fate has chosen the Tarragon Empire as the last shield.”

Protect this land and God would be with you. The promise of the saintess was nothing less than a promise of God. It was also the Emperor’s promise.

As Lara looked at the Emperor, he nodded vigorously. Then, with his loud voice ringing all throughout the banquet hall just like when he introduced her, the Emperor loudly announced.

“It’s always been like that. There has never been an easy fight. We were challenged every time and defended this land with victory. Tarragon’s name will be engraved on the history of victory!”

His voice was so loud that one would not believe that it came out of the old Emperor.

“God did not abandon us! Look, the saintess is in front of us now! Who will be the first one to lift the flag of God? Who will fight with me?”

Originally, the sorcerers were supposed to shine a halo from behind Lara and the Emperor. However, as if he had been waiting for this moment again, the God of Fate intervened.

“Gasp!”

“Holy…”

The light exploded. The lights that stretched out from under Lara’s feet had colored the ceiling and reached the chandelier, before exploding all at once. And soon, the whole world became dark.

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“It was too much.”

Lara said firmly. Demian could not stop laughing.

The fancy group of lights followed Lara until the end of the banquet. And because of that, Demian kept bursting into laughter, forsaking his tendency to not be able to smile well. It was too much that even Isadora told the night sky off, saying it was chaotic.

After giving her greetings to the Emperor, Lara returned home even before the banquet was over. After that, she changed into ordinary clothes and secretly visited the sanctuary to nag the God of Fate. There, she heard amazing news.

“I can’t believe Lilith is dead…”

The demon Lilith died by Acerus’ hands.

“Did you know about it?”

Lara asked Demian. He did not seem surprised at all when he heard her. He looked as if he already knew about it.

“Of course I knew. Otherwise, how else would the God of Fate accumulate that much karma?”

“…An avalanche. I never even imagined that.”

That was what Lara was most surprised about. The God of Fate said that it was a disaster at the same level as a powerful earthquake.

Fortunately, the disaster happened in a mountainous area, deserted from human life. And as the number of soldiers killed by Lilith’s army of demonic beasts was much higher than those buried under the avalanche, the avalanche did not harbor many casualties. But the God of Fate said that more karma was accumulated because of the avalanche, rather than because of demons directly killing people.

“It is only humans who made themselves the sole metric for karma.”

Lara muttered what the God of Fate had said. Demian agreed with her and nodded.

“It’s a different story if it’s a disaster. Forget the animals and plants, the whole region will change. And it's because of this change that the Gods will think of it as a much bigger shift in karma.”

“So this is what he meant by saying that I can make use of the demon's power even if it is not necessarily by hurting people.”

News of Lara, daughter of Thousand Gold Isadora, being the once-in-one-hundred-years saintess had already spread throughout Dandelion. And because of her fame as the saintess, Demian and Lara had to leave the ‘Lara's Garden Hotel' and stay at a luxury inn.

Numerous extra news flew around and notices were posted. Newspapers and magazines were released earlier than their set schedule. Some came out into the streets as if they had waited for it to either defend or criticize the Temple of Glory. The books that recorded the words of God, the history of the temple, and of prayers were sold like crazy.

The Temple of Glory reacted most intensely. From the highest-ranking priests to the higher-up who dominated the temple, all of the temple staff rushed to ‘Lara’s Garden’ hotel.

If Lara had not brought Konny and Demian along and avoided them in advance, a difficult situation would have happened.

The priests failed to take the saintess to the temple. They ended up going straight to the Emperor. They strongly criticized the Emperor, saying ‘how could such an important thing be done without the temple’s knowledge’ and ‘this was a measure that ignored the Temple of Glory that had been protecting the House of God until now.’

The Emperor did not answer. Lara knew that the Temple of Glory had corruption in its roots and that the current temple body was no different than a cowardly peddler, but she did not know that it had such a bad relationship with the Imperial family. She let out a sigh saying that her position had become difficult.

“What are you worried about? You have God who protects you day and night.”

“It’s not like I can call him anytime I want and beg him to help me.”

“I like that better though, as much as it offends me.”

“Are you jealous of God now?”

“If he was a human, I would have already thrown a punch at him.”

Lara almost spat out the water she had been drinking from. She hurriedly put down her cup and squinted at Demian. Then, he said shamelessly.

“He’s tied up by mere karma. Maybe even I can win against him.”

“Don’t do that. You don’t even know if God is a man or a woman.”

“I’m sure it’s a he.”

“How do you know?”

“He reeks of a man’s odor.”

Lara just shut her mouth because of Demian who randomly insisted that the God of Destiny was a man. Konny, who took out dried fruit and put it on the plate, talked to them in a lively voice.

“I don’t think so. God must be a woman!”

“Why?”

Demian asked. Konny asked him why he would ask something so obvious. Then, she answered with confidence.

“Because God is wearing a skirt.”

It was not a skirt, but just a robe that came down to the toes. Lara and Demian smiled softly. No one told her the truth.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The snow that had continuously been fluttering finally stopped, and the cold wave had reached its peak. All the streets of Dandelion were frozen. People walked with their shoulders curled up. Schools were closed and children entered their houses and gathered by the fire.

Despite the cold weather, the Lara’s Garden hotel was suffering from an untimely reservation war. Due to the fact that it was the hotel where the saintess stayed, the wealthy people of Dandelion flocked there and stood in line. They asked to be allowed to stay for just one day, even if they had to be in a small room.

But unfortunately for them, there were a number of Barbarians already staying at Isadora’s hotel. Not all 2,000 Barbarians stayed, but many of them hovered around Isadora at her hotel. The fact that Lampion, Oscar, and Domino were there had also contributed to the hotel’s population of Barbarians.

People tried to ridicule Isadora’s decision for choosing the Barbarians instead of the nobles and wealthy people. But when they realized her daughter was the saintess, they quickly shut up. Then, they began to come up with different interpretations.

God must feel sorry for the Barbarians. It seems that the saintess is going to use the Barbarians as war slaves in the great demon war. The Emperor must have asked her to solve the problem with Barbarians. Maybe the Barbarians are using the saintess.

Grandiose semantics continued.

Be it a sneeze or a yawn, Lara’s foresight of people making a fuss by adding God’s name to whatever she did was exactly right.

“Do you know which place in Dandelion is the most crowded these days?”

Ximena asked. Even though she wore gloves, her hands were still cold. She melted them with the hot teacup. Then, Eunice answered her flatly.

“Must be the temple.”

Even though the Temple of Glory was seething with corruption, people still visited the House of God because of the saintess’ appearance. Even after being raging mad at the Emperor for leaving the temple out and monopolizing the divine, the priests became quieter as the visitors to the temple continued to visit.

Eunice had several extra newspapers in her hands that the hotel workers picked up from outside for her every morning.

“Look at this. There’s a story about the Barbarians. It says here that the leather that the Barbarians wear is pretty much the price of a house.”

“But they just handed the leather to Madam Isadora as if it was just a rabbit’s front paws.”

“These humans… Maybe they don’t know the price of the item.”

This time, Ximena took the paper from Eunice and said.

“Crown Prince Acerus seriously injured on the Northern subjugation.”

“What?”

Eunice asked back loudly in spite of herself.

“Look at this. He won the battle against the demon, but was found unconscious… He has urgently returned to the capital for treatment.”