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Noah charged at me with the ferocity of an enraged bull. Just then, the mysterious square window reappeared in front of my eyes.

[A Message from Heaven]

(Notification) Quest Success!

Congratulations. You have been awarded 50,000 Heaven Coins. Would you like to collect your reward now?

[Yes/No]

As soon as I mentally selected “Yes”…

Whoosh!

A torrent of gold coins began pouring down from the sky, just like a heavy rainstorm—right over Noah’s head.

“Ack!”

Noah, who had been rushing towards me, screamed as an enormous amount of gold coins started pelting down on him. He wildly flailed his arms, trying to fend off the barrage, but his desperate efforts were no match for the relentless downpour of coins.

“Ugh! What is this?! Argh!”

Floundering and swatting at the coins, Noah eventually lost his balance and tumbled to the floor. Even after he fell, the rain of coins continued, piling up higher and higher on top of him.

“Ugh! Help! Ugh!”

My mouth fell open at the ridiculous scene. Not only was it absurd that coins were suddenly pouring from the sky, but they were actually burying someone alive!

‘Is this what they mean by being punished with money…?’

No, that wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined.

As I blinked in disbelief, I saw Noah’s hand sticking out from the pile of coins, weakly waving.

“S-save… me…”

Then, as if he had truly been crushed to death, his hand fell limp.

I cautiously approached the pile of coins and squatted down in front of it.

Poke.

Poke, poke.

I gingerly poked Noah’s unmoving hand, but there was no response.

‘What should I do?’

The maids who had gone to prepare my meal would be back any minute now. If they saw the young master of the house buried under a mysterious pile of gold coins, unconscious, they might faint from shock.

‘I should at least get rid of these suspicious coins first!’

With that decision, I started scooping up the coins and stuffing them into the folds of my skirt. My plan was to fill my skirt with as many coins as possible and hide them under the bed.

I worked quickly, and soon my skirt was bulging with the heavy weight of the gold coins.

‘Done!’

Even though the coins were suspicious, I couldn’t help but feel a small sense of satisfaction seeing them piled in my arms. I grabbed the hem of my skirt with both hands and stood up.

I intended to dash to the bed and stash the coins under the covers, but the skirt was much heavier than I had anticipated.

If I were an adult, the weight would have been manageable, but for a child, it was overwhelming—especially a frail one like me.

‘Ugh!’

As soon as I realized my mistake, my body couldn’t handle the weight, and I toppled forward.

Crash!

With a loud thud, I fell, and the coins I had painstakingly gathered in my skirt scattered all over the floor. In my attempt to clean up the situation, I had only made an even bigger mess.

If Axel had seen this, he would have looked at me with that expression that said, “How can I possibly save this pathetic and incompetent fool?”

“What on earth are you doing?”

The familiar voice, tinged with a hint of exasperation, made me whip my head around. There stood Axel, leaning against the doorframe, watching me with exactly the expression I had imagined.

“Falling down has become quite the habit for you, hasn’t it?”

As soon as our eyes met, Axel clicked his tongue in disapproval, as if something about me thoroughly displeased him. 

That’s right—those eyes that look down on others with arms crossed, full of disdain! He had that same attitude whenever we ventured together.

‘He’s disturbingly consistent,’ I thought, half in admiration and half in irritation.

As I dusted myself off and stood up, Axel, who had already crossed the room with his long strides, bent down and picked up one of the scattered coins.

‘Shouldn’t he be worried about the person who fell first?’ 

But the thought didn’t linger. If Axel had been the one sprawled on the ground, I probably would have been laughing my head off.

“This is…,” he began.

“It’s called a Heaven Coin.”

“Heaven Coin?”

Axel inspected the coin closely, turning it over in his hands, then frowned as he seemed to realize something. He held it out to me, indicating that I should take a closer look as well.

I was curious about the true nature of this strange coin, so I quickly took it from him. Upon examining it more closely, I noticed it was quite different from the official coins minted by the Empire. Imperial gold coins usually bore the emperor’s likeness, but this “Heaven Coin” featured a branch with six leaves.

It was a familiar symbol.

I looked up and met Axel’s eyes.

“A holy mark?”

“A holy mark.”

We both spoke the words simultaneously.

The holy mark.

Axel and I were well-acquainted with this symbol because it was emblazoned on the chest of that charlatan priest, Bael. According to Bael, when one is officially inducted into the temple and receives the name of a god, a divine mark, or “holy mark,” manifests on their body.

It’s a simple enough symbol that one might think anyone could fake it, but no human can create this mark. It’s not just that the central church forbids it—it’s that it literally *cannot* be made by human hands.

Anyone can perceive the holy mark with their eyes, but when they attempt to replicate it, their hands refuse to move. This is because a divine restriction is placed upon it, a limitation imposed by the power of the gods. Therefore, only the gods themselves could inscribe such a mark.

‘Which means…’

“So this is a currency created by the gods,” I said.

Axel stared at me, his eyes asking why on earth this divine currency was here. I shrugged and pointed up to the sky with my finger.

“It poured down from up there.”

“…”

“Really.”

“…”

“I completed a ‘Heaven Quest’ and got rewarded.”

“And what was the quest?”

“Punish Noah Elpinard.”

“…”

Even after I repeated it, Axel narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing me from head to toe as if he found the story impossible to believe. His doubtful gaze made me feel a bit indignant, so I pounded my chest with my fist.

“I’m telling the truth! Why would I lie about this?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Axel scoffed.

The truth was, back when I was the black mage Greslin, I often tricked Axel with all sorts of silly lies. Teaming up with the spirit sorcerer Servian, we used to have fun teasing the naive young master during our otherwise bleak expeditions.

“Ahem!”

Though his words hit the mark, I puffed out my chest, trying to appear as confident as possible. After all, shamelessness is a virtue for black mages, and besides, I *was* telling the truth this time, so there was no reason not to be proud. I planted my hands on my hips and raised my chin confidently.

“I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t lie about things like this.”

“You’re still a kid, no matter how you look at it,” Axel grumbled as he flicked my forehead with his finger.

Still, it seemed like he was finally believing me. As I rubbed my forehead where he had flicked it, pouting slightly, I could feel his eyes slowly taking in my appearance.

“Well… You do look much better now.”

“Right?” I replied, brightening up as I spread my arms and twirled in place. The maids might have sighed about the outfit’s imperfections, but I was quite pleased with how I looked. It was the first time I had ever worn such a beautiful outfit, and even Axel’s gruff tone couldn’t dampen my mood.

“Better, yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. The shoulders don’t fit, and the skirt is too long. It’s still an issue that it’s not tailored.”

Axel pointed out the same flaws the maids had. I started to fidget with my skirt, wondering if it was really that bad, and Axel let out a small sigh.

“Enough. The tailor will be here soon to make new clothes. For now, let’s deal with these suspicious coins.”