When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

"Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!"

The dense rain was heavy with a grass-like odor, and the urgent knocking on the door seemed eager to shatter it together with the house.

"Who is it?" Horn groggily lifted his head from the straw bed.

"Open the door quickly, it's me, your dearest and most handsome cousin, Palakufli."

Cousin Palak? What is he doing looking for me this early in the morning? Propping himself up with a musty wool blanket, Horn got out of bed.

Ever since he bought the Holy War Bonds last time, Cousin Palak hadn't talked to him for nearly a week.

"Open the door quickly!"

"Stop knocking, I'll open it." Rubbing his eyes, Horn yawned, dragging himself heavily toward the door.

There was a heavy rainstorm last night, and he feared the fish pond would overflow, letting the fish fry escape into the stream. He had been digging mud all night and had only slept at dawn, so naturally, he was exhausted.

As he lifted the latch of the wooden door, Horn didn't have time to open it before Palak, with a bruise on his forehead, rushed in.

He cupped Horn's face and kissed each cheek forcefully.

"You're simply an angel descended from heaven, Horn!"

Right after kissing Horn, Palak pushed him aside and began flipping the room upside down in search.

"Palak, what exactly are you looking for? I just tidied up. I still need those tools to scrape fur and make leather later."

"Scrape fur? What fur needs scraping!" After searching around fruitlessly, Palak stood up, "Where are those bonds from earlier?"

"Aren't those useless papers? What do you want them for?" Horn grumbled as he rummaged through the straw bed to pull out a small box.

Opening the box, a thick stack of bonds lay quietly inside.

After all, they were bought at a high price. Even though they were useless paper, it hurt to throw them away, so Horn kept them nicely preserved.

These brand-new bonds even carried a hint of ink smell due to the heavy humidity from the rain.

"Here, take them, didn't you not want them before?"

Upon seeing the bonds, Palak pounced on them as though he saw his resurrected father, even though his father wasn't dead.

Cautiously taking the bonds, Palak kissed them feverishly, "After thirty years in the east and thirty years in the west, it's finally my turn to become a shop owner, Palak.

Cursed you, Oil Pot Shop, tonight I'll dump twenty pounds of shit into your oil can!"

After ten years of working as an assistant at a sugar oil shop, Palak was so overjoyed that tears of joy flowed down his cheeks.

Horn's expression was strange at his cousin's unusual behavior. What on earth was going on? Early in the morning, he suddenly rushed in and was frantically searching for these bonds... Wait, could he have been possessed by a demon? Cold sweat trickled down Horn's forehead.

He stuck close to the wall, slowly approached the corner, quietly picked up a wooden stick there, stealthily walking towards Palak from behind.

It was said that if someone was possessed by a demon, hitting the back of their head with a wooden stick could temporarily dispel the demon.

After years of working in the oil sugar shop, Palak had developed a keen sense of sight and hearing.

He saw Horn's actions at a glance and said sulkily, "What are you doing with the stick? Once you know what's happening, you'll be crazier than me!"

"What on earth happened?"

Palak shook the bonds gleefully. "Saint Jeanne brought us victory; our bonds are useful now!"

Bonds, useful?

Breathing rapidly, Horn's eyes slowly widened, "You mean these useless papers are worth money now?"

"Do you know how much they're worth? Can you guess?"

"500 Dinars?"

"Wrong!"

"800 Dinars?"

"Wrong!" Palak couldn't contain himself any longer. "When I left Joan of Arc Castle, the estimated price for our stack was 1500 Dinars, and it's still rising!"

"Gulp—" Horn's legs went weak, and he nearly fell backward.

Palak, quick as lightning, grabbed Horn's wrist, resolutely saying, "Don't be overwhelmed by the power of money, hee hee hee—"

Horn glanced at the bruise on Palak's forehead without speaking. However, he truly couldn't stand steadily, retreating five or six steps, plopping heavily onto the bed.

1500 Dinars, equivalent to twelve and a half gold pounds. Their work for a year, even without taxes, didn't yield even one or two gold pounds of income.

This was wealth they couldn't earn in ten years.

Wealth they couldn't earn in ten years.

No wonder Palak went crazy; even Horn couldn't help but jump for joy.

"So when do we go sell them?" Horn asked eagerly.

Palak nudged his chest with an elbow, avoiding his hand reaching for the bonds, "Sell for Dinars? Are you crazy? We must wait for the first auction!"

"Auction?"

Seeing the clarity and stupidity in Horn's eyes, Palak clicked his tongue before explaining in detail.

After capturing Black Pottery Town and the nearby Knight Manor, because the knights fled with wealth, the Salvation Army didn't get anything except the old grains in the warehouse.

To maintain the credibility of the bonds and continue issuing more to raise military funds, Horn ordered a batch of knights' and Church's property and poorly managed real estate by the Salvation Army to be cleared.

This one-time clearance of real estate includes city houses, country villas, shops, orchards, farming tools, livestock, etc.

These assets were all sold at a discount, and only Holy War Bonds were allowed to purchase these properties.

What could be purchased for 10 Dinars with a face value of 50 Dinars before, someone even offered 35 Dinars to buy.

"If we sell, we can at most get 1800 or 1900 Dinars, but if we use it to buy properties, we get a solid 2500 Dinars!"

"Hey, I found out that big fish pond we used to poach from, a good 12 acres, is among them, and the starting price is only 1000 Dinars!"

Horn was thunderstruck, tremblingly asking, "That estate owner's fish pond where I worked for three years?"

"Yeah!" Palak raised two fingers, "With our money now, we can buy two!"

"Saint Master, oh Saint Master." Horn couldn't even speak, merely repeating the words "Saint Master" over and over.

"So are you saying we should buy that big fish pond?"

"Of course!" Palak clutched the bonds to his chest as if seeing a beautiful future, "We'll first buy the fish pond, then use the remaining bonds to buy fish fry. Finally, except for emergency funds, we'll convert the rest of the bonds into money and buy new bonds."

"We run the fish pond ourselves?" Horn's heart pounded so fiercely it hadn't yet transitioned from the last topic.

"Doesn't anyone else know? Don't I know your fish farming skills are better than those stinking monks?" Palak placed the bonds back in the box, reluctantly saying, "I'll leave the fish pond to you, and next year we can earn several more 500 Dinars.

I've thought it all through, you handle the farming, I'll take care of sales. We'll hire two helpers, and we'll experience that priest's way of living!"