Chapter 27: The Mysterious Man with the Mark of the Stars.
As the door closed, Suna saw Director Brass didn’t follow, confirming her words had worked.
“Well, that’s settled. I’ll talk to my companions about what’s next.”
Muttering this, Suna recalled the critical intel gained through her blessing [Veil of Truth]—a fleeting glimpse.
In a dim room, a robust silver-haired man faced away, wearing a black vest, his right hand slightly raised.
As if sensing Suna’s blessing-aided, long-distance “gaze,” he turned, revealing a chiseled, handsome profile and a black-red eye fixed on her.
Beyond his striking appearance, the most bizarre feature was the twisted star mark on his bulging left trapezius.
Even in that frozen moment, the circular black-red star writhed with tentacles and eyeballs, pulsing as if alive.
[The organization behind Landon worships the Deep Blood Star. Honestly, this is tricky. Which faction are they? From the memory fragments in that thug and Landon’s minds, they’re still conducting those disgusting experiments… Damn it!]
Sighing in frustration, Suna knew her lone efforts were limited.
To disrupt this organization, she needed to consult Pepas for more intel or even manpower.
“Tomorrow night, right?”
Muttering cryptically, Suna knew she had over a day before meeting Pepas to negotiate.
The wait stemmed from a brief message via a folded paper bird egg a few days before arriving in Blackmont.
In it, Pepas relayed the Grave Queen’s decision: she couldn’t help with Suna’s blessing, but she’d try to weaken the restrictive blessing slightly.
Until then, Suna was to join the Demon Lord’s eastern empire intelligence outpost, gaining protection while aiding Pepas’s work.
Accessing the outpost required meeting strict conditions: using a key-specific magic at a precise time and location.
The outpost existed outside the base world, unreachable by normal means.
As Suna planned her trip to the outpost, a girl in a loose, clean dress rushed down the stairs and hugged her.
“Saintess, you’re here! Did you come to see us?”
Looking down at the young orange-haired girl, Suna recognized her and gave a gentle smile.
“Of course. I planned to sneak a peek and leave, but you found me first.”
From her angle, the girl caught Suna’s warm, sun-like smile beneath the veil, but her joy caught the hint in Suna’s words.
“Saintess, are you leaving?”
“Yeah, sorry, little one. I have a lot of work to handle, so I can’t stay.”
Ruffling the girl’s soft hair, Suna saw her clear disappointment.
“But before I go, I’ll give you and everyone here a small gift.”
Suna pulled a flat-bottomed flask from her satchel to use as a container.
She trimmed the Corona Flower crown’s branches and arranged them.
Placing the Corona Flower bouquet in the flask, she etched a mana-gathering array and a sustaining array to preserve the flowers.
“Wow, such pretty flowers! Thank you, Saintess! I’ll show everyone.”
The orange-haired girl carefully held Suna’s makeshift bouquet.
Smiling softly, Suna followed the girl’s cheerful steps, watching from a distance as she excitedly shared the gift.
With [Veil of Truth] active, the orphanage children didn’t notice Suna.
If she appeared, they’d likely swarm her to play, and she wasn’t great with that—or with delaying her departure.
Confirming the three children she’d saved that morning were well-cared for and relaxed, Suna left satisfied.
“We’ll meet again if fate allows… little ones. I never asked their names. They filled out their own forms during registration; I just handled the rest.”
Pausing briefly, Suna continued with a relieved tone.
“Well, that’s fine. Not knowing their names means fewer ties. I wish you all a happy, bright future.”
With that, Suna exited Flintstone Orphanage.
Unbeknownst to her, the Corona Flower bouquet she left would later be revered as a miracle of the Faceless Saintess, drawing crowds.
She’d also learn later that the Corona Flowers and Golden Branches—byproducts of her overused blessing—could emit faint healing and disease-curing magic semi-permanently with mana input, making them pricier than equivalent gold.
For now, walking the streets, Suna focused on her next move.
[Next, I’ll head to the nearby town of Kormel. It’s in the right area, with enough transient people to blend in.]
Decided, Suna bought a portable lunch and headed to Blackmont’s transport station, choosing the next bus to Kormel.
She boarded a slightly crowded bus, surrounded by lively passengers, heading toward Kormel.
But the bard sitting beside her, persistently chatting, felt annoyingly noisy.