A few days after Alice started living with us, I taught her the basics of cooking, starting from the most basic parts. She didn’t know how to soak in water to prevent oxidation, how to boil in salt to make it a vibrant green, or how to skim off the scum, but that was just the beginning. She didn’t understand that you need oil when using a frying pan, or that if you’re not sure how to season it, you should add less seasoning, taste it, and add more if it’s not enough. But just knowing that has helped her stay far away from poisonous things.
Today, Alice is making cookies, something she has always wanted to do. I feel happy to see Alice excited about feeding Alfie delicious cookies, but my father doesn’t look too pleased. He never complains, but sometimes he looks at me as if to say that I shouldn’t teach her how to cook.
It seems that Father has his own thoughts about the Saints, and he may not be happy about Alfie having a connection with Alice, now that he has finally been freed from the temple.
“Yeah. It’s not bad.”
“Is that so?”
It’s a bit funny that Alice has a mixture of butter and sugar on her nose as she smiles proudly, but when I teach her how to make cookies, she follows the steps exactly as instructed, so so far there doesn’t seem to be any sign of anything hazardous being created.
Of course, if she cracks an egg, the shell will get in, and if she mixes it, it will splatter everywhere. Even so, making mistakes is within the realm of common sense, and just makes you think that she is not used to cooking. And since I taught her how to properly remove the shell if it gets in, she should not eat food with the shell in it in the future. …I think the priest is guilty of forcing her to create a toxic substance in the name of cooking. It is definitely not just her problem. Even if there was some motive behind not wanting her to cook, I hope that the person who caused this situation will at least eat the extremely disgusting food.
“If you mix the flour like this, you should let the dough rest in a cool place for a while, so you do the dishes while you wait.”
“I wash it while I wait.”
Alice is very serious, probably writing it down in her own mental notebook as she repeats it.
Then I carry the washing utensils to the sink.
At first, she had no concept that she had to wash the dishes, so she didn’t know where or how to wash them.
In my house, we can store water in bottles using magic, so we don’t use well water. When I asked what they do in the temple, I was told that priests with water attributes make drinking water, and for non-potable water, they use well water. There are basic ways to create water without water attributes, but the magic efficiency is very poor, so they probably won’t use such magic unless they are lost in maga.
“It would be convenient if we could make more household magical tools…”
Even so, unfortunately, most alchemists who make magical tools are wealthy people who don’t cook for themselves. They probably don’t give much thought to the trouble that it takes for a human without attributes to make drinking water.
“Hey. I need to do the washing up. Maybe it would be quicker if I used light-element magic?”
“Eh?”
Alice, who was washing the dishes with soap, smiled as if she had come up with a good idea. Normally, you wouldn’t have had the light attribute so easily, so you wouldn’t have thought of something like that, but she was a saint.
When I first mentioned that washing the dishes might make her hands rough, I was told not to worry about it because it could be easily cured with light magic, and I realized the difference in common sense. …Huh? Weren’t Theo and the others collecting honey for the beauty-related work of the saint from another world?
The thought suddenly crossed my mind, but if it was used by someone other than a Saint, it would have value. And if one wanted to remain beautiful beyond their years, a Saint might use it after all.
Yeah. I’ll stop thinking too much about it. I’ve already sold it and it’s out of my hands.
“Aurora, spirit of light. Grant me the power to nullify everything. Here is the light that will banish evil. Purification”
Before I could stop her, Alice used the miracle power of purification. Eh? Isn’t that the power used to purify evil?
There was a bright flash in Alice’s hand, and I turned my face away. People with light attributes don’t seem to mind it, but if you don’t have one, it causes a lot of damage to your eyes, and they continue to flicker afterwards.
“…I feel like it’s nice and clean, but if I don’t have a clear image of the area, I might end up losing the plate.”
“No plate, what is the power of the saint?”
It’s scary that even the plates disappear.
I do not possess the attribute of light, and even if I did, it is said that light-element magic often does not work properly if there are other attributes present.
Therefore, only the Saints can research it, and it is all kept secret, so I don’t know how far it is actually possible or what the principles are.
“Hmm. To put it simply, it’s the power to erase and return things to normal? I wonder. I use it by instinct too, so it’s hard to put into words.”
“Lady Alice, please don’t talk too much about the power of the Saint–”
“I’ve been taught how to cook here, I’ve been given a safe place to stay, and I’ve been given food, but I haven’t been able to repay Amelia for anything.”
Sylphia stops Alice from talking about the power of the Saint, but Alice reprimands her instead.
“But everyone knows how to cook. It shouldn’t be equated with the wisdom of a saint.”
“Yes. That’s right. I don’t know something that everyone else knows.”
“That’s not necessary for you, Alice.”
Staring intently at her with those big eyes, Sylphia averts her gaze.
Although she didn’t say anything when Alice was causing trouble for others, Sylphia prevented Alice from talking about the power of the Saint, so she may be a servant to stop Alice from carelessly leaking knowledge of the Saint. Amelia is still only 12 years old, so it seems likely that she could be tricked and have information leaked.
“Is it true that the Saint of the temple doesn’t need it?”
“……that’s right”
“I believe it is necessary for me, so I am asking for your teachings… I won’t tell you any more about spells, so please forgive me for a little chatter.”
After learning that she had been making poisonous dishes and forcing Alfie to eat them, Alice felt it was essential that she learn how to cook. She must have realized that she wouldn’t be able to learn if she returned to the temple, so she must be desperately trying to remember now.
“If you tell me what you can’t tell me, I won’t ask any more questions, so you don’t have to tell me everything. In the first place, even if you know the spells, you can’t use them if you don’t have the aptitude.”
The Purification spell is a spell that can only be used by Saints who have only the light attribute. Nothing happens if someone else casts it.
“…I understand. Please excuse my presence.”
Although she was probably dissatisfied, Sylphia seemed to understand that she couldn’t be kicked out of this house and apologized.
“So, the power to erase is how you cleaned the plate, right? I think the power to return to normal is the power to heal injuries, but which one is the power to purify evil?”
Alice tilted her head at his words.
“Hmm. It’s hard to understand because it’s just a feeling, but I think these two are connected, and both are used for purification… For example, the power used to repair someone who has turned into a monster is designed to erase the impurities. If that happens, then if the person hasn’t yet turned into a monster, the power to return them to normal will come into play and they will return to normal. But if they have already turned into a monster, the moment the impurities are erased, their body will disintegrate… Hmm.”
I see.
The power to erase it seems to be used to erase the blockages in the body. And the power to return it to its original state returns the enlargement of the magical construction organs to normal, healing them much faster than taking medicine.
In other words, the oral medication is a similar method to what the Saint uses. I think it’s amazing that the doctors were able to establish a cure for monsterization without receiving any information from the Saint.
“Also, I was wondering, I’ve heard that even among Saints there are differences in their powers, but what do you think those differences are?”
“What do you mean? They say that the more evil you can purify at once, the stronger your power is.”
“Hmm. For a magician, the things that are related to using magic are attributes, magical power, and knowledge. Just because a saint doesn’t know spells doesn’t mean she has weak powers or anything like that, right?”
“No. Even the same spell can have different effects.”
“So, is it a problem of magical power?”
When using water magic, if you have the water attribute and know the spell, you can use the magic. However, for example, when making water appear, the amount that appears depends on the amount of magical power.
My father and I have a lot of magical power and attributes, so we can live without using well water, but if you have a low magical power, it’s a hassle to prepare enough water to eat and drink, so I hear it’s easier to boil well water and use it.
“I wonder how much magical power it has?”
“I don’t know because I’ve never measured the amount of magical power. However, there is a magical tool that can measure the level of purification with light attributes, and the Saints use it to test themselves every year.”
“I see. It must be something similar to what magicians use to measure magical power.”
But who on earth created this magical item?
It’s a secretive world, and there may be priests who have knowledge of alchemy. Priests are basically people who were not able to become heirs to noble families, except for orphans, so they tend to be wealthy, and many alchemists are also the children of nobles. Therefore, it’s not unusual for some nobles to become priests after studying alchemy.
I see, I see, I made a mental note of that valuable information.
It sounds like the power of the saint is both destruction and restoration.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
