I awkwardly straightened myself up, scooching a little away from Kale.

 

“...We were just hugging because I was sad.”

 

Honestly, even to me my excuse sounded fake and childish. I looked over to Kale to get him to back me up, but his eyes were too trained on the guy paladin to notice me. He almost looked angry at him, if not a step or two away from outright glaring…

 

To be fair, from the few interactions between them that I’d witnessed, it didn’t seem like Kale liked it any of the times that the guy paladin suddenly approached me, so I suppose I shouldn’t find this very new. His obvious dislike had never been so strong that Kale completely missed me looking his way before, though… If I didn’t know better, I’d think Kale was even unhappier with the guy paladin than usual for some reason.

 

With how he was being glared at, I was lucky that the guy paladin only gave a few suspicious glances between us before seemingly dropping the subject; I don’t even know what I’d have done if he’d decided to keep looking at us suspiciously, or teased me about it all… or if Kale finally acted on how angry with him he seemed.

 

“Well then, if that’s the case, Your Holiness… Alright.”

 

He smoothly shrugged and cordially sat in the wagon with us on my other side, perhaps in an attempt to cut off Kale’s burning gaze on him… which I could now feel attempting to burn through me in an attempt to re-reach its target.

 

“I’d previously come to ask if there was something amiss again between yourself and Rayanne, as she’s been acting even more strangely than usual as of late... but could that possibly be related to what had saddened you?”

 

The fact that he actually seemed sincere about the question, like he really wanted to know and help, made a bit of the awkward tension inside of me ease away.

 

“...It’d be a lie to say that that isn’t also a problem, but no. I have something else on my mind right now.”

 

Sure, the lady paladin is definitely a problem in and of itself, but until we make it to the main church and a verdict is reached on what the heck they think I am, then there’s not really much that I can do about that.

 

“What I’m actually worried about is what to do about the lord…”

 

“Ah, I see… Yes, that is indeed a problem. The law of the church says that such actions as his against them shall cause the offender to be removed of their status and possessions, if not outright executed for their crimes… but do you have some other way in mind that you’d prefer things to go, Your Holiness?”

 

“...A way that I’d prefer…?”

 

“Yes. Some way that you want to make things go. Responsibly doing the right thing in a situation like this is of course certainly the ‘correct’ path, however-”

 

The guy paladin smirked in a way that almost seemed a little sleazy. It didn’t fit with his paladin image at all...

 

“-There’s something that only the truly unique and powerful can do, and that is to make decisions that will make themselves feel happy, regardless of what is deemed proper or incorrect.”

 

Oh… Um… I hate to think this, but like… Isn’t what he’s describing…

 

“...Wouldn’t that be a misuse of power?”

 

It’d be the start of a slippery slope into power tripping, I think. It’s a path that I’ve been trying really hard not to stray down, knowing how big and important a ‘Saintess’ is supposed to be. Having heard of people who come into power and quickly get corrupted by it all my previous life, I didn’t want to do anything that would take me near their asshole-ish paths. It would go against what I’ve pledged to myself my entire life.

 

“I don’t want to do something like that.”

 

“Hmm, that’s very noble of you, Your Holiness, as befitting of a saintess such as yourself. But hear me out, would you? These things are only deemed a ‘misuse’ if it’s solely for the benefit of one’s self. No one would possibly consider a decision you make a misuse of your power if it turns out for the betterment of everyone else as well.”

 

“...The betterment of everyone else…?”

 

“Of course! You see, there are many rules and regulations set into this world, as well as into each individual place, all put there for good reasons, I’m sure. However, I’m sure you must have encountered times in the past where just a simple lifting of a particular rule or two would help so many people in need, correct? Sometimes, not every rule is good for every situation. Certain circumstances are not always considered when the rule is made, after all.”

 

I couldn’t help but nod along, knowing exactly what kind of thing he was talking about. Seeing me going eagerly nodding like he wanted, the guy paladin quickly put on a particularly dramatic face and continued on with his sermon, preaching like a priest to the choir.

 

“Take for instance this particular conundrum! This devoted lord, a lord beloved by his people, who has cared for them deeply, sees what has befallen his neighboring territories, and makes a choice out of fear and worry for what might just happen to his own! Perhaps it was a poorly thought out, fear-fueled, shortsighted choice... perhaps it was even the wrong choice... but it was a choice made from a good heart! The road to hell is paved with good intentions, they say. But should this road really end in the strict way that the church says that it should?”

 

I see… So the situation also seemed that way to the guy paladin, huh… Or maybe, considering the theatrical way that he’s talking, and how he’s trying to make a point to me, he’s just playing it up to appeal to me more. It could be that he doesn’t even really care about what happens with this lord, so long as it means I go along with what he’s saying; After all, from how he suddenly changed sides when I started asserting myself against the lady paladin, I’m guessing he’s the power seeking type, or at least very opportunistic. If he can sway me on this now, then he’s set up a foothold for himself later, hasn’t he…

 

Still, for all that he’s trying to play up the lord’s actions in a favorable light, it’s true that the lord has sacrificed a lot of lives during his attempt at stealing the relic, whether you consider it to be directly or indirectly. …Buuut it’s also true that part of the responsibility for him being filled with enough fear and worry to even attempt such a stupid thing like this in the first place lies with me, for not doing a good enough job as the latest saintess. It wouldn't sit right with me to just ignore that fact and let him face a super harsh punishment.

 

“He deserves to be punished… But I don’t think he deserves to die or anything for it.”

 

The townspeople love him, and until he was blinded by this stupid relic-stealing mission of his, it seemed like this town and the surrounding areas were doing quite well. Sure, I have no proof that he was the reason that everything was going so great, or if the positioning of the relic had been playing a big part in that or anything… but the thought of getting rid of him and having things possibly get even worse in Tarsus, is… It's just...

 

“...If the lord went away, then would his daughter be able to take care of this place?”

 

Sure, things had gone to shit here, but Lady Gillene wasn’t at all the reason why. She’d done everything she could for the people; It’s not her fault that her father didn’t give her access to the granary when he left.

 

“Were the lord to lose his position, then his daughter would quickly be married off, and her new husband would be in charge of things.”

 

“What? Why?!”

 

“Because women don’t govern the lands; They only own them. Even if she were allowed to, Lady Gillene has likely never been taught how to rule over Tarsus. The only reason things ran so smoothly for so long with the lord absent is simply because he had good retainers running things for him while he was away. Lady Gillene was only placed into a direct position of power because her father was absent; If her father were to be completely taken out of the picture through either death or excommunication, then a new lord would need to be introduced to take the town’s reins, as it were.”

 

Huh… I didn’t realize this place ran on such a philosophy… I’d hoped that with the Goddess being a woman and all, and the saintess being the highest position around, that this place would have been a bit more progressive towards women being in charge... but I guess not.

 

Now that I think about it though, even the ruler of this country is a King, so I guess I should have expected something like this.

 

Well okay, from what the guy paladin says, it at least seems that women are in control of the actual land ownership in this place, so that’s something. In a way, that’s actually quite a lot of power for a medieval seeming place like this… although it opens up a whole different barrel of problems, now that I think about it. A kind of ‘if we control the women, we control everything!’ type of thing is totally possible, at least on the noble or wealthy level. It might lead to an even harsher plan for controlling women than back in my old world…

 

Ah whatever, I’m getting off topic here. I can worry about the state of this country later; What’s more important is figuring out what to do now!

 

“So you’re saying there’s no way to put Gillene in charge…”

 

I’d been hoping that if her father got punished that she could be the one to take things over. Though I only met her for a short time, she seemed pretty smart and level headed enough for it. How much she cared for her people, enough to make tough decisions for them, was almost palpable. Really, there was no way to guarantee that her future husband would do a good enough job with the place, especially with me knowing so little about her options with the nobility.

 

If she was forced to marry some kind of scumbag…

 

“Well, I wouldn’t say that that’s completely true.”

 

The guy paladin winked at me, intriguing me and somehow simultaneously making me feel awkward and uncomfortable, all at the same time. Once again, the look on his face wasn’t befitting for anything called a ‘paladin’.

 

“What? What is it? What are you talking about?”

 

I frowned for a moment, worried from the expression he was making that he would bring up some sort of power-based solution again. Perhaps I was in a position to do such a thing, and perhaps I was going to be forced to play that kind of hand sooner or later; Sooner looking like the much more likely option. However, I wasn’t brave enough, or maybe ambitious enough, to try and pull something like that off just yet.

 

I mean, I haven’t even seen any of the higher ups at the main church yet!

I’ve already done plenty enough things to make me worry that they’re gonna be mad at me, I don’t wanna add a whole other completely avoidable one to the list before then!

 

My face must have given away my thoughts, at least a little bit if not completely, because the guy paladin just laughed, looking at me like I was some kind of naive person panicking over nothing… which was honestly probably 100% true at this point.

 

“You see, perhaps there are ways to outright break the rules, but there are also always ways to bend them. Why, there is even a noble lady in the capital who is the ruler of her own lands… You just have to know the way how.”

 

“What?! ...There is?!”

 

Then why did he just lead me on like that?!

_____

AN: A little late once again but who's counting, lol? Sorry but no chapter next week! Or, I guess at this point, it would be considered this week lol