CH 6 Purification Rank

Irene opened her eyes, feeling the softness of the thick blanket covering her. For a moment, she couldn’t recall where she was, who she was, or what time it was. However, soon, her last memories began to resurface one by one, and she involuntarily groaned, closing her eyes again.

‘What happened?’

Before losing consciousness, she distinctly remembered what had occurred. On Contract Night, Michael appeared covered in blood, Princess Cecilia, the light of purification, and… a pair.

The Contract Night, which started so differently from her past life, ended just like before, with a contract formed with him.

“Why in the world…”

“Oh, you’re awake!”

Just as the maids entered the room and noticed Irene had regained consciousness, they quickly went out to bring some people. Most of them were from the Alliance of Kingdoms, including some priests. They approached Irene and requested her cooperation.

“It seems there might be a discrepancy with what was reported to us and your current purification power. We need to verify.”

Checking the level of purification ability was a simple process. It involved taking demon blood and applying the power of purification to see how close to pure water the demon blood became. Based on this, purification power was graded from the highest to the lowest, with rankings ranging from 1 to 10 for easy understanding.

The top rank was Grade 1, and the lowest was Grade 10. In Irene’s previous life, her rank was consistently 10. When she opened her eyes in this new life, the Count scoffed, asserting that someone with a rank of 10 couldn’t possibly do anything. This information was also stated in the registration documents she submitted before coming to the fortress.

However, with the sudden display of purification power rivaling that of a Grade 1 purifier, everyone was left dumbfounded.

“I know you just woke up, and you must be tired, but due to the commotion caused by the light of purification lately…”

The Alliance members kept a close eye on Irene as they handed her demon blood.

She thought about refusing, but Irene also found the light of purification she had witnessed suspicious. More troubling still was how naturally the purification occurred—as if they were already an established pair.

Despite her initial hesitation, Irene, after getting up, purified the demon blood brought by the Alliance members. The result was quickly apparent.

“Grade 9…?”

Both Irene and the Alliance members were taken aback by the results measured by the priests. While it had gone up by one level compared to the past, it still remained an ability classified as the lowest grade. People couldn’t believe it, and they requested Irene to try purification again several times, but the results remained the same. Eventually, shortly after waking up and exerting herself continuously, Irene fainted once more.

When she opened her eyes again, the room was empty.

‘They must have left, thinking there’s nothing more to see.’

With that thought, Irene slowly sat up and ran her hands over her face.

“This isn’t right…”

Throughout her journey from the Count’s estate to the fortress, she had been contemplating how she would live this new life.

She didn’t have to think too hard. Irene’s plan was straightforward: quickly form a pair with a suitable knight to amass 100,000 gold. After the current dungeon expedition period ended, she would become free and quietly live somewhere far away. Her goal was to live a quiet life, never to be associated with dungeons or purifiers again.

That was Irene’s goal.

That’s why she’d made the gullible knight an offer he couldn’t refuse. Even if she took all the rewards from every dungeon, it wouldn’t matter, as long as they granted her the specific reward she desired—the lowest-level dungeon reward. People might think Irene was at a disadvantage, but that was far from the truth.

‘Because in a few days, the lowest-level dungeon nearby will yield a valuable artifact.’

Irene vividly remembered this information. Four days after the Contract Night, a lowest-level dungeon with an entrance barely big enough for a single person emerged near the fortress. It was Dungeon Identification Number 181 assigned by the Alliance of Kingdoms.

That dungeon would later become a legend.

‘Who would have thought that an artifact, and not just any artifact but an Invisibility Ring, would come out of a place where you’d expect to find only scrap metal?’

At that time, the knight and a 6th-grade purifier, who had entered the place just for practice, instantly made an enormous amount of money. The Invisibility Ring was auctioned at the Alliance’s official auction house for the third-highest price in history.

“If I obtain that, not only can I repay the Count, but I’ll also have a lifetime’s worth of money to live on.”

Therefore, Irene intentionally proposed overwhelmingly unfavorable conditions to pair with a lesser knight. This way, she could quickly collect her reward and leave the place without ever having to spend a night healing him.

However, she ended up forming a pair with Michael instead of the intended knight. Though frustrated at the mistake she initially sought to correct, Irene had to accept the situation. Others had likely already formed pairs, and news of her purifying Michael had probably spread. There was no other way around it.

‘Come to think of it, I need to discuss the distribution of rewards with Michael first.’

If it were someone else, they would have negotiated the distribution right away. However, due to suddenly becoming a pair and then fainting, they couldn’t exactly discuss the terms of their contract.

‘I don’t want it to be the same as before.’

Irene recalled the conditions she had set with Michael in the past.

‘It was 9 to 1.’

After pleading with him to make her his pair and being alone with him, Michael sighed and said:

“I send everything I gain in the dungeon to the temple. That way, more people can get warm meals and a place to sleep. If you don’t mind, Miss Irene, could you also help them?”

Irene could only nod in response. Wasn’t she clinging onto him to form a pair? If she refused Michael’s request, he might give up on this year’s expedition, terminate their pair, and just go back. In that case, Irene would be the one in trouble.

Even so, she couldn’t accept the distribution as Michael proposed.

“Alright. H-however, I’d like to receive a bit of my share. Maybe around 5%… I would like to receive something…”

Even as she spoke, her voice shrunk. She had to beg for a share in an expedition where she wouldn’t help Michael at all. However, this life was different. It didn’t matter if the terms were 100 to 0, as he’d originally wanted.

‘I should demand the same conditions from Michael as that knight.’

While thinking about it, the haze in her mind slowly cleared. Unexpected things happened, but what she needed to do remained the same.

After obtaining artifacts and selling them, she would end the pair and leave this place.

‘Although with the knowledge I have, it seems a bit of a waste.’

Looking at her bag placed in the corner, she got up from her seat. It seemed that the maids from the fortress had brought it here. Inside the bag were the papers she had organized at the Count’s estate.

‘With just this, I could earn more money.’

Records of the dungeons and the items likely to come out from them. While she didn’t remember everything perfectly, having this information was enough to become one of the wealthiest people on the continent.

Besides, if Michael was her pair, there would be no problem conquering these dungeons.

‘And if it’s Michael, there won’t be any demand for me to sleep with him.’

While other knights might want to spend their days merging their bodies with a purifier, Michael never had such desires. If that was the case, maybe she could stay and raid some more dungeons that would be worth the money.

As Irene contemplated for a moment, she shook her head.

‘Don’t entertain silly thoughts and just leave as soon as possible.’

Having more money was always good, but if Michael were to get seriously injured again, it would be more of the same. Unwanted intimacy and contempt. She didn’t want to see Michael’s face staring at her with disdain, just as before.

It was as much for his sake as it was for hers. A prolonged pairing would just become a burden on him, just like in the past.

‘I should really just get one and leave right away.’

As Irene gathered her thoughts, she heard a knock on the door.

‘Have the maids returned?’

Perhaps it was due to Michael forming a pair and causing a commotion because of her purification grade, but unlike in the past, Irene was currently assigned a rather luxurious room. It was probably because they expected her to be a high-ranked purifier.

‘Since I ended up being Grade 9, I guess I’ll be staying somewhere similar to where I stayed in my previous life.’

The Alliance Fortress provided rooms for purifiers. The purifier’s room was a crucial place, as knights needed to spend comfortable time with purifiers after returning from the dungeon before heading out for conquest again. Naturally, higher-ranked purifiers received better rooms. These rooms included spacious and comfortable bedrooms, and even private bathrooms with hot water available at any time.

If a knight or purifier wanted a better place than the one assigned, they had to pay extra. Thus, knights worked harder to pair up with higher-ranked purifiers. That’s why in the past, Irene couldn’t even dream of staying in such accommodations.

‘It used to be the smallest and simplest room.’

The Alliance representative, who mumbled that he hadn’t dealt with a 10th-grade purifier in such a long time that he didn’t know where to assign, had given Irene the most tucked-away room in the fortress.

It was a room with a simple wooden bed and a very small bathroom. Even so, it felt like heaven to Irene, knowing that she didn’t have to worry about being sold immediately and that she could have it all to herself.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, the sound of knocking on the door echoed again. Realizing that she hadn’t invited anyone in, Irene quickly folded the paper and put it away.

She got up from the bed, faced the door, and said, “Come in.”

Irene turned around, expecting a maid to enter. But to her surprise, Michael, dressed in the uniform of the Temple Knights, was standing there instead.

“Uh….”

Irene, who hadn’t expected him to come, was left speechless and stood there staring at him without greeting.

He entered the room quite naturally, took a quick look around, and then asked Irene, “How do you like your room?”

“…Excuse me?”

Irene, momentarily not understanding his question, blinked her eyes several times and asked in a surprised voice, “This is my room?”

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