Word that I had made 250 gold coins spread quickly.
Thanks to that, several people looked at me with envious eyes.
If it were nighttime, they would have turned into robbers.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was daytime, no one openly targeted my purse.
Feeling the villagers’ stares, I headed for the village chief’s house.
"I-Ian, what brings you here?"
The village chief startled at the sight of me. A few villagers stood around him.
Judging by their ages, they were all people with considerable influence in the village.
"I came because I have something urgent to discuss with you, Chief."
"Is it bad news, by any chance?"
"Ha ha. Something unpleasant has happened every time I have spoken with you, Chief, but not this time."
"Then that is a relief."
I showed the relieved village chief my bag of gold coins.
Greed entered his eyes.
"Th-this is?"
"The money I made by selling the criminal Daevon."
"I heard the rumors. That you had made an enormous sum."
"The church has a share as well, so it is not all mine, but I certainly did make a large amount."
"Naturally. But why are you showing this money to me? You do not seem to have come to boast."
"Yes. I intend to invest this money in the village."
My words made the village chief and the villagers around him gape in shock.
"Such a large sum?"
"Yes. This incident must have damaged people’s view of Entiel Village. A nun was violated, after all, so they will not look favorably on us for some time. I hope to invest this money and make a major contribution to the village."
"Heh heh, a young man worrying about the village’s future."
An old man standing nearby praised me.
I smiled outwardly at his words. Naturally, I felt something quite different inside.
Did you think I would not know you were conspiring together?
It was human nature to begrudge a cousin for buying land.
Everyone here, including the village chief, must have plotted to take my money somehow.
But by making the first move, I had foiled their plans.
It is money I will reclaim eventually anyway.
What mattered was that this money would shatter the relationships among the villagers.
When money was involved, even family became invisible. How much worse would it be among these people?
"Thank you. I will make certain it is used for the village."
The village chief lied without even blinking.
Of course, no one believed him.
One look at his eyes gleaming with greed made it obvious that he would never spend it on the village.
"However, given the amount involved, if I invest it without receiving anything in return, the neighboring villages will become suspicious. Rumors may spread that we deliberately violated a nun so the village could make money."
"That certainly could happen."
"To prevent such rumors, could you grant me a plot of village land?"
"Land?"
"Yes. A plot close to the church would be best. I would also like to build an inn there."
The village chief’s gaze changed at my words.
What a suspicious old man.
"As you know, Chief, because of the unfortunate events during this Ceremony of Light, the worshippers do not look kindly upon us."
"That is right. All because of one pig bastard."
The village chief said that while glaring at Tom.
As I had expected, their relationship seemed thoroughly ruined.
"The church is aware of this as well, and it does not view the matter favorably. If possible, it wants an inn operated by a trustworthy believer."
"And you are saying you will do it?"
"I will. However, if I run an inn, I will naturally be competing with Tom’s existing inn. I believe that would not be good for the village as a whole."
"Do not even start! Do you know how much I have lost because of you? An inn?! Are you trying to starve someone to death?"
As expected, Tom did not look favorably upon me.
He probably thought he had suffered tremendous losses because of me.
But that was only from Tom’s point of view.
"Tom, are you still saying that?"
"It was your fault for failing to keep your son in line."
"Exactly. If you had married him off sooner, this would never have happened."
To the villagers, Tom was an idiot who had brought shame upon the village because he could not manage his own son.
Unlike Tom, who had gouged worshippers and monopolized the money for himself, I was a devout young man who was ostensibly investing a great sum for the village.
"You think this is all because of me?!"
"You are only realizing that now?"
Naturally, despite all the years Tom had lived alongside them, the villagers took my side rather than his.
"In any case, I will never permit it! My family’s livelihood is at stake!"
"I understand your concerns, Tom. That is why I would like to propose a solution."
"You have another way?"
Ignoring Tom, the village chief asked me again.
"My inn will accept only female guests. If an honorary congregant such as myself runs it, female worshippers will feel at ease, and the church will no longer raise this issue."
True to a medieval world, this place was still steeped in the ideology of male superiority.
Naturally, men held economic power, and accepting only female guests meant accepting a certain degree of loss.
"If you do that, I have no objection either."
Tom no longer opposed my proposal.
There was no reason to object when I was willingly drinking poison myself.
"Ian, are you truly sure? It will not be easy."
"It is fine. I believe it is what I must do, both as an honorary congregant and as a member of this village."
"Heh heh, if only all young people were like you."
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me."
With a satisfied smile, the village chief praised me before everyone.
That was how I secured both the land and the right to operate an inn.
.
.
.
"Ian."
On my way home, Walter—the village’s only conscience—called out to stop me.
He wore a complicated expression.
"What is it, Walter?"
"First, I owe you an apology."
"An apology?"
"I thought you had been colluding with the bandits. But now I see that you have been thinking of the village more than anyone else. I am truly sorry for doubting you."
"Ha ha, it is all right. I fully understand your feelings as someone concerned for the village, Walter."
"Thank you for being so magnanimous. I suppose it is because you are a man like you that you have won such a beautiful woman."
"She is more woman than I deserve."
"Heh heh, I understand that feeling. My wife was more woman than I deserved too."
Walter and I chatted at length about our wives.
Then I naturally brought up his daughter.
"I have often seen your daughter in the forest. Did you know?"
"Ah, Marin? It seems she has been going into the forest often lately."
"Is it not dangerous for a woman to go into the forest alone?"
"Sigh... I warned her, but she would not listen."
"If I see her in the forest, I will send her home."
"Would you?"
"It is not much to boast about, but I am a hunter. I know the forest well."
"I would feel bad only receiving your help, so come by my house sometime. I will give you freshly drawn milk and cheese."
"I happened to need some. Thank you."
I smiled at Walter’s answer.
It was about time Isolde’s proper reeducation scenario truly began.
. . .
After securing the land and the right to run an inn from the village chief, I headed to Vanessa next.
"Understood. I trust you, Brother, and will lend you the church’s name."
I had intended to pay money to receive the church’s official authorization, but Vanessa readily granted it.
As expected, she was a hundred, a thousand times better than those greedy villagers.
Vanessa is something of a stickler for principles, so she can be a little rigid, but that does not mean she is inflexible.
Thanks to her, matters proceeded easily.
If the opportunity arose later, then she too...
"Brother~"
On my way back, Reina suddenly came to find me.
"Reina, is Kate doing well?"
"Sister Kate is praying as usual."
After having sex with me, Kate had awakened to divine power.
It appeared that the [Helia’s Blessing] within me had affected her as well, like a stroke of good fortune.
Thanks to her, I obtained some useful information.
The first thing I learned was that the semen of a man blessed by Helia contained potent divine power.
Through it, even a nun who had lost her virginity could regain her divine power.
Well, I had expected that to some extent.
In [A Lewd Nun’s Circumstances], non-virgin nuns of the Holy See were often shown restoring their divine power through holy water.
There was a reason Claudia, the Inquisitor, had used the [Holy Demon’s Horn] to check Reina’s virginity.
What matters comes next.
A [Mark of Love] had appeared on Kate’s lower abdomen as well.
However, unlike Isabelle’s and Reina’s, Kate’s [Mark of Love] was slightly different: it was shaped like a somewhat twisted heart.
And unlike the first two, it did not increase my stats.
Does a stat increase not occur without certain conditions being met?
From a balance perspective, it would have been absurd for my stats to rise infinitely simply by making love to women.
To begin with, I did not know exactly what true love was.
What do Isabelle and Reina have that Kate does not?
Could it be because they were virgins?
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