I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 19

EP.19 The Saintess Knocks on the General Store’s Door (2)

– Knock, knock, knock! –

Do you want to build a snowman?

‘No, thanks.’

– Creak. –

How long has it been since I oiled the door, and it’s already creaking again.

“Hehe.”

I couldn’t help but think that if she didn’t knock on the door almost every day, it wouldn’t be creaking so soon.

Since the first time Fran knocked on the general store’s door, her visits had been continuous.

On the first day, she got caught up in my pace and bought something, but after that, she became a ‘troublesome customer’ who came in as a guest and just looked around without buying anything.

“You’re here.”

I wanted to add ‘again’ before the sentence, but I refrained because it would make her sulk.

Fran seemed to take my words as a welcome and stepped inside the store.

“Have you been well?”

“Yeah, I’ve been well for about half a day. Judging by your early visit, it seems like you had no luck today either.”

“Seems so. Hehe.”

Fran sat down on the chair in front of the counter as if it were her designated seat.

I had placed a chair there because I felt sorry for her standing and chatting every day, and she seemed to have the sense to sit on it.

Although Fran’s frequent visits could be annoying, they were effective in passing the time in an otherwise empty general store.

Moreover, I could hear about the church’s situation through Fran.

It seemed my previous mention of the church had stuck with her, as she consistently brought up the topic since then.

“You know I’m an academy student, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Actually, before the vacation, my classmates asked if I wanted to go on a practicum with them. But applying for the practicum requires a lot of money. However, my friends said that since I’m in the healing department, I wouldn’t need to pay.”

“Then you should have gone with them. Most students go on practicums during the vacation.”

These kids have to jump into the field right after graduating from the academy.

Practicums, which can only be applied for during vacations, are valuable experiences for both their future and their growth.

“But I have duties I must attend to.”

“Don’t tell me it’s about preaching?”

“Yes.”

“…..”

I’m at a loss for what to say to someone who takes pride in preaching.

It’s clear to anyone that participating in a practicum should be the priority.

“Does your church encourage this?”

Why else would students suppress their desire to play and choose to participate in practicums during their holidays?

It’s because gaining experience through early practicums makes them less vulnerable.

If you die running around the field without experience, the country won’t compensate you.

Their mindset is to invest that money in the battlefield instead.

“They didn’t say anything about it.”

“So, you’re going to spend your holidays preaching like this, and then jump into the field after graduation?”

“Uh… I guess that’s how it will be?”

Why is there not a single person to guide this young child onto the right path?

Not everyone in the church can be worthless.

Or maybe their own lives are too busy to care about how others live theirs.

“Do you not know why students do practicums during holidays?”

“For improvement. To gain experience.”

“And you?”

“Uh… But I have important activities like preaching.”

“What are you going to become?”

“Huh?”

The cultist is startled by my question.

“Or do you want to die?”

“Wha?! No, why would I want to die?”

“So, does it look like crap to you that other students are busting their asses off in the field gaining experience?”

“!!!”

The Fran’s eyes widen in shock.

“Go to the practicum. Unless you want to die early.”

“But, but I need to preach…”

“Will the church collapse if you don’t preach?”

“……”

“Answer.”

“No, no it won’t.”

“Does your church threaten to kill you if you don’t preach? Or do they starve you if you don’t bring in converts?”

“They’re not like that!! I know there are people who call us a cult and speak ill of us. But they’re misunderstanding. They’re not bad people.”

“If they’re not bad people, then why would they let you skip practicum? Is that what responsible adults do?”

“You don’t understand the academy. You don’t know if practicum is important. Choosing to preach was my decision.”

It was pitiful to see her desperately defending them.

If she had come to her senses over something so trivial, users wouldn’t have a reason to call her a cultist.

If I get angry now, it won’t reach her ears; it would only leave a bad impression of me.

“Shit, then you should be the one getting cursed at.”

“Huh?”

“How stupid can you be to choose preaching over a practicum during the holidays? Do you have multiple lives? Or are you a suicide candidate?”

I had been criticizing the church, but now I’ve drifted to criticizing her, and she’s confused again.

“Because of my preaching, I met you, who knows the location of the holy relic!”

“Holy Relic, my ass. You don’t care about holy relics.”

“No, I do!?”

She can’t lie, her eyes are trembling.

“If you were interested, you would have offered your body or something of equivalent value by now.”

“That’s because… you asked for my body. That’s not something that can just be traded so easily.”

There’s no way her church has the money to buy relics.

And would I believe her and give her money if she asked for support to buy a relic?

‘How do you even buy and sell a relic? It’s priceless. And she’s the only one who can use it.’

Anyone else seeing the relic wouldn’t even be sure it’s a relic.

I don’t even know if what I’m seeing is a relic or not.

I don’t feel any power from it.

Would anyone pick it up if it was thrown on the ground?

The performance of unique equipment changes drastically depending on whose hands it’s in.

“If you don’t like it, I will sell it to someone else.”

But she doesn’t know that, does she?

Living here, I’ve realized a few truths, if you can use something, you should, no matter what it is.

“…You said you would sell it to someone else if I didn’t buy it, right?”

“Of course. What am I going to do with it?”

“Why do you want me, specifically?”

“The value of a relic can’t really be compared to anything else. You know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t gotten married yet.”

“….”

“So, I was thinking of using the relic to find a wife. That’s when you caught my eye.”

By now, she must think I’m the worst kind of pervert.

But I was confident.

In this extraordinary world, it’s not uncommon to acquire a wife in such a manner.

‘There are even guys who kidnap a woman at night to make her his wife.’

I think my method is quite gentlemanly compared to that.

Besides, am I not ‘sacrificing’ myself to save her from the church?

Of course, she wouldn’t see it that way.

“If you let me continue to attend the church, I promise to marry you.”

“Why should I allow that? A wife should stay at home quietly, have kids, and raise them. Why are you going out? Who knows who you’ll meet at the church. What if you meet a man there and have an affair?”

“I would never do that!”

“Do you know there are women who use their bodies as a means of preaching? What if your church tells you to do that? You would do it, of course, because the church told you to. I’m not going to sit by and watch after buying you with an expensive relic, only to have you go to someone else.”

“….”

I expected her to immediately say, ‘Our church doesn’t do such things!’

But strangely, the Fran kept her mouth shut.

“What’s the matter? I thought you were going to say, ‘Our church doesn’t do such things~’.”

“…We don’t do such things. I don’t.”

I wondered why she came to me and talked about this and that, but it seems that the scenario had progressed without my knowledge.

The beginning of the Fran’s scenario was to become aware of the corrupt practices of the church.

Once you learn of one corrupt practice, many others follow.

As time goes by, it wears down the Fran’s mental state, and the problem is that she might turn dark.

It’s not just leaving the church that causes her to turn dark, it’s the problem of falling into corruption with the church.

“I’m going to leave.”

I didn’t realize the scenario had already started and I had gone in too hard.

Seeing the Fran leave the general store looking downcast, I felt I had to do something to console her.

“Are you upset?”

“…..”

“You seem upset. I spoke too harshly.”

“You realize that but you’re not apologizing?”

“I was harsh, but what I said wasn’t wrong.”

“…..”

“Is your coming here early and not preaching lately related to what just happened?”

Fran’s eyes welled up with tears at my words.

It seemed I had hit a nerve.

She fidgeted in her seat before sitting down properly again.

“It’s just… there’s been some strange rumors about me lately. I think it started after I almost got taken away by that noble.”

Listening to Fran’s story, the situation was more serious than I thought.

After narrowly escaping from the noble by revealing she was an academy student, she noticed a change in the way people who had previously shown no interest in her were now treating her.

The problem was that their changed attitude was one of mockery.

During this time, Fran discovered what other sisters were doing to successfully preach.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it. When I said I couldn’t believe it, that person said they would show me directly and took me with them.”

“You just followed them willingly?”

“What could I do! They said they would show me evidence! Until then, I still believed. I believed that the sisters couldn’t possibly do that. That kind of thing… that’s wrong.”

“….”

But after seeing a familiar woman intimately involved with a man in an alley, Fran could no longer maintain her faith.

“Look at that. Your sister is working hard at preaching. Shouldn’t you follow your senior’s example and work hard too?” they said to her.

Bastards.

“I was the only one who didn’t know until now. The other sisters had been preaching using those methods for a long time.”

I knew her scenario was tragic, but facing the reality was much more painful than I had imagined.