I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

It must have been bustling here before.

Ella couldn't help but have such thoughts in her mind.

"I'm deeply sorry, Lady Ella. The village's magic lamp broke a long time ago, and now we can only use this shabby thing to illuminate..."

Even after lighting all the candles in the room, it was still very dim. One could only vaguely see an altar several meters above the ground at the end of the hall. Apart from that, there were only straight candlesticks like street lamps on both sides and the road they formed - it was already difficult for two people to walk side by side.

After hearing Galaga's words, Ella gave up her original idea of ​​using "light" to check the surrounding walls. Although there must be gorgeous reliefs left on the walls, using light magic at this time would inevitably have a sense of contempt. After coughing twice in the dim light, Ella looked towards the deepest part of the hall.

"It's okay. Instead of that, let's go check out the Holy Light Staff."

"Yes, benefactors, please follow me."

Galaga turned around, turned his back to Ella, and began walking towards the altar.

The dust kicked up by the footsteps made the already turbid air even more unpleasant. Trying to suppress the uncomfortable feeling, Ella turned her head to look at the others.

"Does Angelina want to try first?"

"I have no objection to what Ella-chan said."

"Then let's decide."

Of course, this arrangement does not mean that Angeline will be used as a test subject, but Angeline seemed very excited after hearing about the holy object, so Ella made this suggestion.

After a while, everyone came to the bottom of the altar. There were countless grooves on the circular altar, which made people think that if these grooves were connected by light paths, it would probably form a very spectacular scene.

There are three steps in front of the altar. Looking up along the steps, a semicircular mound that looks like a grave comes into view. On it is a half-exposed staff. Perhaps because of the lack of magic power mentioned by Galaga, the staff looks no different from an ordinary weapon, and it only reflects the metallic luster in the firelight.

"Is this the Staff of Holy Light?"

"Well, due to the seal, the remaining half is stuck in the mud and can't be pulled out. It would be best if Lady Ella could take it away."

There was a hint of hope in the hoarse voice. Galaga moved sideways a few steps, walked out of the narrow path between the candlesticks, and made way for everyone.

"Don't you need some kind of ritual? Pulling out the sacred object or something."

"Well, Lady Eve only said to take it away, but didn't mention any rituals for those attempting it. Lady Ella, please just place your hand on it and try to pull it up."

"Is that so? Then Angelique will go first."

After waving to Angelica, Ella followed Galaga's example and walked out of the narrow path formed by the candlesticks to make way for Angelica. Then, as if remembering something, she turned her gaze to Galaga - Galaga was looking at Angelica who jumped onto the altar with a nervous look on his face.

"Village Chief Galaga mentioned the mithril mine earlier, didn't he? I remember saying that mithril is needed to maintain the sealing magic circle to prevent the sacred artifact from losing its function. In fact, on the way here, my companions and I discovered a mithril mine. If you can promise not to reveal the location of this mithril mine to anyone else and only allow it to be used by the village, I can tell you the location of this mithril mine."

Part of the mithril vein buried deep underground is in the dwarf territory, so we only need to tell Galaga the end closest to the dwarf territory. Considering the population of the village, this amount can be regarded as an error and will not affect the demons, although according to Camisia, the demons are not short of mithril at all.

"You know about the Mithril Ore? I, I promise! Although smelting Mithril requires a special blast furnace, we in the dwarven village have built one—"

After a moment of excitement, Galaga suddenly stopped as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat.

"—Ah, but once you take the Staff of Holy Light away, you won't need mithril to maintain the magic circle surrounding the holy relic."

"Eh? But we might not be able to take the holy relic with us. And even if we did, Chief Galaga would need a large sum of money to resettle the village, right? If we can take the Staff of Holy Light, Chief Galaga could choose to stay under the protection of the knights for a while, and during this time, smelt the mithril ore he collected. That way, he could use the mithril as a bargaining chip with outsiders, right?"

"...Is this a good idea? Mithril ore is a scarce resource. Telling this to an unrelated outsider might cause dissatisfaction among the demons?"

Although Ella's words were so tempting that Galaga's beard, which was as long as the ground, began to tremble, Galaga still kindly reminded Ella of this.

However, this was completely unnecessary worry. Camisia, who was standing at the end of the line, walked over to Ella and explained on her behalf.

"Since Princess-sama has said so, then there must be no problem. We demons will not do anything that goes against Princess-sama's will."

"Ahahaha... Let's not talk about Camisia for now. As long as Chief Galaga doesn't tell anyone about this, no one will know, right?"

"Is that so... I get it. I'll definitely keep this secret to myself!"

Galaga's eyes were filled with determination. If there were outsiders here at this moment, they would probably misunderstand that Galaga was swearing on his life.

"Well... you don't have to take it so seriously. After all, the location I told you about is in the Dwarf Territory."

During the time she was talking, Angeline on the altar ended her attempt - even though she put in a lot of effort, there was no movement. You know, with just arm strength, Angeline could easily lift the shield tower with one hand, but a normal shield tower could only be barely erected even if an adult used both hands.

Letting go of the Holy Light Staff, Angeline shook her hands which were a little painful, and moved sideways a few steps on the altar to make room for Ella.

"No, no, this is not something you can pull out by force. You should do it, Ella."

"Yes~Yes, then, Camisia, I'll go first?"

"Well, Princess, you will definitely succeed."

"Y-Really? I'll try my best."

Ella couldn't help but feel a little pressured by Camisia's words. She turned around with a wry smile and walked step by step towards the altar with the Holy Light Staff inserted.

Due to the lack of magic power, the Staff of Holy Light did not emit golden light like the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment, and only half of the top of the staff was exposed. However, according to convention, divine staffs were not the type with decorations on both ends, so the delicate craftsmanship could be seen only at the top of the staff - countless metal rings extending from the bottom to the top, guarding the core part of the staff like stars. However, there was nothing in the core position, so it looked like it was lacking a soul.

Maybe you need to charge your magic power to see it.

Thinking of this, Ella looked around at everyone.

Everyone's eyes were on him. Although, except for Galaga, the rest of the people were his friends, he still couldn't help but feel nervous when being stared at like that.

"Did Ella-chan find anything?"

"No, nothing."

"Then let's finish this quickly. I want to see if I can install a magic circle on the airship."

It seemed that because there was no movement for a long time, Iris thought she had discovered something, so she immediately retracted her gaze and focused on the Holy Light Staff in front of her.

[Since it's a sacred object, it would be better to show some respect...]

Thinking of this, Ella took a small step back, bowed to the Staff of Holy Light, and then slowly grasped the connection between the Staff of Holy Light and the mound with both hands - there were many decorations on the tip of the Staff of Holy Light, and in order to avoid dropping the decorations, it would be more appropriate to hold the staff body below.

Ding--

There was a sound in my ears, like someone hitting a triangle next to my ear.

The sudden change made Ella reflexively move her hand away.

"Little Ella, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing, I just feel a little weird."

After responding to Angelica beside her with a nonchalant expression, Ella stared at the Staff of Holy Light and pursed her lips. If she remembered correctly, Galaga had said before that a certain generation of elven queens also heard this soft sound when they touched the Staff of Holy Light, and that was the only time the Staff of Holy Light reacted.

[…It must be an illusion, right?]

Not believing that she could surpass the Elf Queen in any way at her current state, Ella swallowed a mouthful of non-existent saliva and carefully placed her hand on the scepter again.

Unlike last time, there was no strange sound this time, only a slightly warm and very hard touch. The hardness naturally came from the metal. As for the warm feeling, in the winter environment, I really don’t think it could be a miracle of the wand that lacks magic. In addition, there is a wet and sticky feeling in the palm of my hand - the warm feeling must be something left by Angelini before, and because of excessive force, even sweat remained on the wand.

"Really? Even if it's lost its magic power, it's still a sacred object after all. This is truly disrespectful. I must teach it a lesson later."

While muttering to herself, Ella glanced at Angelica who was standing beside her, and then began to exert force on her palms. The force was not very strong. Ella was deeply aware that even Angelica could not pull it up by force, so it was even more impossible for her. Although it might be possible after adding multiple "power boosts", that would be the same as forcible destruction. According to Galaga, the holy object would lose its power and become an ordinary weapon.

But if I act too relaxed, Galaga will feel that he doesn't take this matter to heart, so I have to put a little effort here - in terms of expression.

He held his breath and instantly poured strength into his hands with an expression that he thought was very ferocious.

There was almost no resistance, and I felt a small piece of the holy object being pulled out in my hand.

"Um?"

He couldn't help but groan. No matter how you looked at it, this was a bit too unusual - he felt that if he continued to push harder, it would definitely be pulled out.

「No, that’s not the case……」

While quickly denying the facts in his mind, in order to confirm this abnormality, he continued to pour strength into the Holy Light Staff with both hands, and then -

Clang.

The sound of metal breaking.

"……ha?"

Because the scene felt so unreal, a light exclamation escaped from the corner of his mouth.

The Staff of Holy Light broke into two pieces beautifully.

As the name suggests, the staff of Holy Light broke off from the point where it was connected to the mound of earth, and the remaining tip of the staff was held in Ella's hand.

Everyone's gaze, originally focused on Ella, became scorching, especially Galaga, who seemed about to spit out flames in the next second.

“Ugh…”

I was so overwhelmed that I could only maintain my original posture and laugh dryly.

Even in winter, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead unconsciously, and the sweat oozing from his back began to soak his clothes. The pores all over his body opened, and blood rushed to his face through the dilated blood vessels. He was clearly complaining about Angelina leaving sweat beads on the staff a second ago, but now he was reappearing in an even more unbearable form.

If this were a comic, Ella's eyes would have turned into a tangled mass of black lines, but this was reality after all, and whenever Ella thought about the ferocious expression she had just deliberately shown, it was as if she was deliberately destroying the staff.

Words like "The Demon Queen deliberately destroyed the sacred objects of the Enstarnit Church" and "The Demon Queen provoked the Dwarf Territory" began to appear in his mind, followed by the image of himself being blamed, unable to sleep in every day, and unable to live the life of an ordinary person.

Ella began to try to put the broken tip of the staff back to its original position - in short, she tried to put the two together again, but this was not a dream, and the Staff of Holy Light was not a puzzle, so of course it was impossible to return to its original state. Therefore, the silent shrine was filled with the sound of the broken part of the staff constantly knocking against each other.

Ella, panicked to the point of losing control, turned her head and looked at Angeline.

"Ha...hahaha...Angelina, look..."

"Don't, don't try to force something like that on me! This is your fault, Ella-chan!"

"But I didn't use much force... It was Angelina who used a lot of force just now. I just touched her casually, ha, hahahaha..."

"But I pulled it upwards! Most people wouldn't think of breaking it by pulling it left and right!"

As if she had seen something terrifying, Angeline waved her hands at Ella while shaking her brown ponytails, and at the same time, she did not forget to step back step by step, as if she was avoiding Ella and making it clear that she had nothing to do with Ella.

"But I didn't use any force, right? I didn't use any magic either. Angelique saw that, didn't she?!"

Normally speaking, Angelini's strength is definitely much greater than Ella's, but only at this moment Angelini felt that Ella's strength was abnormally strong, the kind of strength that wanted to pry open her fingers and stuff the broken Holy Light Staff into her hand. She had to mobilize all her strength to barely resist.

"Anyway, the truth has already happened, so just accept it, Ella-chan. Hey, stop pulling me along!"

"Ahahaha... This must be practice for actually seeing the holy relic, right? It has to be, right?"

"Little Ella, you should go ask the village chief yourself!"

"Please, Angelina, just say 'yes'!"

"Get away from me! Wait, I told you to stop pulling me!"

Angeline had the illusion that it was Camisia, not Ella, who was holding onto the hem of her skirt. Even if she wanted to jump away nimbly at the cost of her skirt, it would not be practical. She would probably be grabbed by the ankle the moment she jumped. In this case, being pressed to the ground would mean death. In that case, the Holy Light Staff would inevitably be stuffed into her hands by little Ella - this was a situation that absolutely could not be allowed.

Therefore, Angelini had no choice but to use the last resort.

——That is to shout at other people.

"Lotte-chan, Fuka-chan, Iris-senpai, come and stop Ella-chan!"

But the answer I got was completely different from what I imagined.

"In this situation, even I..."

"Angeline-senpai, please make a reluctant sacrifice."

"Ah... Angeline-chan will take Ella-chan's place for now. We'll find a way later. Ella-chan is the Demon Queen after all. With Ella-chan and me here, the Church won't do anything to Angeline-chan...right?"

"...That last question was too perfunctory."

Just at this moment, Shen Gan delivered the final blow with a tone of looking at him as if he was an idiot.

"Yes, yes. Like Iris said, how about Angeline taking over? From now on, I'll pay for whatever Angeline buys, okay?"

"Even so, I won't agree!"

Just when Angeline was about to be unable to resist the pressure from Ella, a light cough interrupted the chaotic scene.

"Ahem... Village Chief Galaga, I will take full responsibility for how this matter is handled on behalf of the demon clan."

Camisia suggested to Galaga, who was also in a panic. Although Ella had thought that Galaga was angry, in fact, even Galaga himself didn't know how to deal with it. It would be the same no matter who came, after all, no one would have thought that the staff would break in the middle.

Galaga stroked his beard at a speed that seemed to be pulling it off, and made incoherent sounds in his throat.

"Uh... this... this... this is indeed unexpected. Please let me discuss this with the other elders in the village. My apologies!"

After saying this, Galaga ran out of the ancestral hall at a speed that was absolutely impossible for someone of his age, leaving Ella and her group standing there.

Chapter 15: Solutions and Hidden Portals

*创世纪6187年3月7日 晚19:42分 矮人村落地下

“…Ah…what should I do now?”