This Heroine's Friend Has the Power of Botany

Chapter 46

Nara’s Return

As Sherrel had said, ultimately, during this 3-day break, Ellie could not complete her mission due to other occurrences. However, no one blamed her. Instead, people spoke of the Setter family’s success in eventually conquering the 2nd city on the 6th floor.

Some at the institution believed that calling Ellie for the mission to search for the Masqueraded Steed wasn’t really the plan. Instead, the Setter family planned to use Ellie to locate the new city to conquer it. Despite the Setter family’s public defenses, many no longer believed them.

Following this, various families submitted missions to the institution to employ Ellie, all of which were promptly rejected in accordance with institution rules. While they did not give up, with some sending their family members to contact Ellie privately.

Returning to the institution, the petite girl encountered nothing but chaos. Fortunately, outsiders did not know that, for discovering the city-controlling stone, Ellie would receive a share of 10 parts from 100 parts of the resources the Setter family harvested. They made a tremendous profit from the remains of the level 3 Quaternary Giant Ape. It’s said that even nails that had fallen when the giant tortoise ate it in a rage could be sold for tens of millions of gold coins 1 each.

These parts became premium materials in creating weapons that had a highly offense power. Not only that, but they also salvaged many carcasses of unfortunate beasts, making huge profits effortlessly.

As for the level 3 Fernandina, after defeating its enemies, it returned to its pond immediately. It showed no interest in the smaller creatures hiding in the city’s barrier. It seemed even grateful to them for leading it to the giant apes.

All this was managed by the Setter family. However, Ellie benefitted fully, no less than the Setter family itself, without having to lift a finger. It was indeed a very comfortable job.

Today was like any other day Ellie had to go to her own Botanical Building. Professor Medik had been called away on a mission to the palace several days ago, so she was the only one in the Botanical Building.

However, what Ellie didn’t expect to find was a petite woman who now radiated an aura of increased beauty. The young woman had been waiting for her and welcomed Ellie with a warm smile upon seeing her arrival.

"Ellie," the soft, cheerful voice of Nara made Ellie’s hair stand on end.

Wasn’t it said that this woman had been in the city of Erel and hadn’t returned for a long time? If so, who was this person before her!?

"Nara?"

"Yes, I’ve just returned from training. As soon as I arrived at the institution...I thought of you first." Hearing this, Ellie smiled slightly. It seemed the heroine had indeed changed.

Originally, Nara was a woman who acted selfishly without knowing how to hide it, merely a display of a village girl. It was unexpected that in just over a month, Nara had greatly developed her acting skills, even her cold smile seemed to transform her into a noble.

Seeing Ellie’s interest, a spark glinted in Nara’s eyes. She, who had a flawless face, slowly lifted her fair arm as if unintentionally, but clearly displayed the "Sacred Church" symbol for her former best friend to see fully!

"Now that I have become a person of the Church, my status will not allow me to meet you as frequently as before. Moreover, when in the presence of many people, Ellie, you should use high-class terms with me."

"It might feel unnatural at first, but you’ll need to practice, and don’t forget the manners. I’m worried that if others see how Ellie behaves with someone from the Church, they might punish you."

As Nara spoke to this point, Ellie understood what the other’s intentions were. Moreover, she had been prepared for changes in the storyline since she decided to become enemies with the heroine.

In the original novel, Nara did not join the Church. The hero, Professor Lucien, knew what filthy things the Church did with people’s faith. However, now Nara had joined them, making the plot irretrievable. Anyone who vowed to become one of the Church, if they betrayed or wished to leave, had only death awaiting them.

Ellie did not feel as bad as Nara wanted. Since the other wanted her to respect her status, as soon as Nara became a priestess who took orders only from God, she would instantly be seen as high class. Even high-class people themselves had to show her respect if they weren’t high enough in status! This was indeed the advantage of someone with the power of light.

The struggle for power between the Church and the palace would continue unabated. However, those in the priesthood couldn’t act as freely as before; they must strictly follow the teachings given by the head priests, which included both good and bad. Life there wasn’t as beautiful as outsiders perceived. Though they acted noble, power struggle within the Church was a common sight.

What Ellie didn’t consider was how short-sighted Nara was. To beat her, the other party even was willing to go as far as to harm herself? Of course, she respected Nara’s decision, and if the heroine only wanted respect from her, she would just give that.

"I understand, Reverend," Ellie bowed her head naturally, without a trace of dissatisfaction, contrary to what Nara had expected.

The beautiful woman lifted her chin, looking at Ellie, who she thought was feigning indifference, and smirked slightly.

"Good, I hope you can maintain this demeanor," Nara said, then turned and left immediately. The rigorous training of the Church had changed Nara’s personality from a bright, selfish girl into an arrogant and cunning woman.

Ellie sighed. She didn’t think Nara would be satisfied with such minor harassment, but she was prepared to deal with more. It remained to be seen who would slip up first.

After every student learned that Nara had joined the Church, gossip could no longer take place. Additionally, her seat was placed at the very front. Vida appeared displeased but couldn’t voice her complaints. As Nara’s status continued to improve—so much so that even her accommodation at the institution was upgraded—Ellie ended up staying alone in a scholarship student’s room.

"Hey, scholarship student, I have something to ask." After the awkwardness of the first lesson, even Professor Regan couldn’t criticize the girl who had been missing for over a month, lest it seemed like criticizing the Church for selecting a student of the light elemental as their own. He held his dissatisfaction and continued teaching. However, her curious deskmate, "Xeno Tates," couldn’t pretend to forget past events and whispered seriously to Ellie.

"Sure."

"The scholarship student from your village, what kind of person is she?"

"Why do you ask that?" Ellie didn’t respond immediately. For someone bold enough to ask her directly, there must be a reason behind it.

"I’m just surprised. Actually, merchant families like ours don’t really believe in God. We believe in money more. However, I’ve seen many people who believe in God and have such faith in priests that they attain high positions, even higher than nobles, without doing anything."

"At first, I didn’t think much and understood that priests must be those who truly receive messages from God. But now, I just feel that...if God accepts a woman with a history of committing wrongdoings as a disciple, then what does God use as a measure? Or is it just that anyone with the power of light can receive messages from God? That’s what makes me wonder."

Xeno didn’t hide his understanding at all. Perhaps because of the conflict within him, being from a merchant family, he wasn’t foolish enough to have blind faith. That’s why he was somewhat skeptical.

The first thing he didn’t understand was why a girl like Nara had to be respected by everyone just because she had become one of God’s servants. If so, why would God choose a flawed woman as his messenger?

The second was why those who received messages from God must be so respected, while merchants like them were placed in a middle class that wasn’t valued by anyone, even though they had a lot of money. They donated to the palace, to the poor, and even the Church accepted donations from these merchants. But in the end, their status remained the same. That’s why Xeno felt it was somewhat unjust.

"I’m sorry, I don’t know about the selection process for God’s messengers."

"Really? ... Then, about the personality of your friend, what do you think?"

"I don’t know either. People’s personalities can always change. Maybe her personality isn’t like the Nara I know." Ellie didn’t definitively answer, but for her, Nara wasn’t like the person she knew from the novel at all. Thus, her words weren’t wrong.

If she didn’t say this and claimed that Nara was a very good person, it would be strange. She herself had gone so far as to report Nara to the acting director, making it big news. If suddenly Ellie said she didn’t think Nara was malicious, wouldn’t her own actions become suspicious instead?

Of course, saying that Nara has a bad personality, Ellie still felt that speaking to Xeno was not a safe action for herself either!

"Is that so? Maybe her personality has changed then," Xeno laughed when he heard this response.

Previously, he had heard that the two had serious dispute to the point of nearly being expelled, if it wasn’t for the Setter family intervening to help Ellie and the Church supporting Nara. It was clear that these two scholarship students were no ordinary students.

Now, Nara had aligned with the Church, and Ellie had aligned with the Setter family, even though it was claimed to be a mission to hunt monsters. However, the result turned out that the Setter family had conquered a second city on the 6th floor. Officially, it was said that the mission was a failure at first attempt, but everyone knew that this failure was merely nonsense.

Returning to the 6th floor city could hardly be called a failure. If this was what failure looked like, many families would wish for such failures.

Ellie’s identity had become more mysterious and interesting from this incident. What exactly the Setter family had used her for, resulting in them issuing a fake mission while they actually took her to conquer a city on the 6th floor. Even the Tates family, his own, had directly ordered him to get closer to her.

The only regret was that Ellie didn’t inadvertently reveal any information that could have been useful to his family.

Xeno’s keen gaze was definitely noticed by Ellie. In fact, she was surprised by the merchant’s son who dared to speak so directly about Nara, even when even Vida and Aria still dared not speak. Ellie could tell that this man’s questions had its purposes. He was a merchant, and thus everything he did was likely premeditated.

Xeno just took back his recording crystal. If Ellie had said even a little about Nara, he could have used it to blackmail her for some benefit.

Or if Ellie had boldly lied, saying Nara was a good person, he could use that to create a rumor that student Ellie had initially deceived everyone’s understanding, while student Nara was the victim but was saved by the Church, which learned about the issue, and even taken in as a disciple of God. With this action, he could also use it to curry favor with Nara.In any case...just waiting for Ellie to speak, he could proceed to the next steps. Truly a pity...

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