2. The Lord is with you (53)
Humans can’t be trusted.
The saintess had believed that way for a very long time. Growing up in an orphanage, being chosen as a saint, and working in the political world of the Holy Land, she witnessed all kinds of ugliness in people.
Whenever that happened, that twisted belief never once betrayed the saintess. Because no one trusted her, the saintess was able to rise to this position.
The director of the orphanage, who emphasized fraternity, was trying to find ways to get his boat, and the bishops, who used to insist on faith and obedience, covet power and do not hesitate to raise suspicions.
Even the saintess herself was like that.
Only people who are good at hiding their inner thoughts and who know how to deceive others can survive the fierce struggle in the political world. The saintess was no exception.
There were only two opponents with whom she showed herself unadorned.
The escort knight, Yu-ren, who grew up together since childhood and is like a brother and sister.
And Ian Percus, who started arguing like a dog and a cat a while ago.
In fact, the former belonged to the kind that could not be deceived even if they wanted to, and it was safe to say that Ian was the first person the saintess truly revealed herself to.
At first I was annoyed and hated it.
Everyone is afraid and displeased with the unknown. In particular, politicians and merchants were severely affected. This was because there could be a major setback in the calculations of the plan.
Naturally, the saintess was also reluctant to the unknown. And Ian, reflected in her eyes, was a person that could not be understood with common sense.
After using the secret jujutsu of Seongguk, he skillfully handled the secret technique of the sword circle.
He was even endowed with dragon blood magic, which is only given to aides of the imperial family.
Its identity was unknown, its limits unknown. Judging by the ability to subdue her and Yuren at once, I just guessed that he was at least a strong man who had reached the advanced level of expert.
Frankly, I felt bad.
Even though it was a calculated favor, he was resentful that it was returned through threats and violence, and he was devastated when he had to admit complete defeat, whether by force or information warfare.
As a result, it was inevitable that he would growl whenever he saw Ian. Ian, who seemed flustered at first, immediately counterattacked, and soon the two of them were bickering.
But deep down I knew.
In the saintess’ heart, the image of Ian she saw that day was still deeply ingrained. A man who had no hesitation in giving up money just to save a commoner girl.
At the orphanage, Ian acted exactly as he had seen him that day.
Even children without parents did not shy away from being dirty. I worked hard for them and sometimes even gave up the profits that fell in front of me.
I was confused. Even so, the reason I couldn’t stop bickering with Ian was probably because there were very few people I could deal with without any pretense.
When dealing with Ian, the saintess felt a strange sense of liberation.
Somehow, I was kept in check by two fierce juniors, and it seemed like they were fighting over Ian because of my natural desire to compete, but it wasn’t bad.
It was just a pretense, as always. The saintess doesn’t trust anyone.
Because I don’t believe, I can’t love.
To the saintess, human relationships were nothing more than arranging pieces on a chessboard. In other words, it was a process of reducing the number of pawns on the board as much as possible and increasing the number of bishops and knights.
Then, if the rook was caught, it was a jackpot, and if it was a queen, I had to catch it.
A woman who no one trusted had such a crooked way of looking at the world. Occasionally, severe loneliness came, but it was okay.
After all, other people would think of her as a piece on the chessboard.
There are no exceptions. It was a belief that had already been adhered to throughout his life.
There was nothing to shake, I thought so.
The saintess’ light pink eyes turned to the man lying in silence.
There was a faint sound of breathing.
He was so weak that he could not be thought of as a strong man who had defeated demons and demons and even wiped out mythical monsters.
That’s right. For the price of that heroic bloody battle, the man was driven to the brink of death.
The face of the man he met again was horrendous.
Even the saintess, who had dealt with countless patients over the past few years, could hold her breath with her mouth covered. That said, the man’s physical condition was serious.
As the poison spread, the veins were colored with a dingy light, and blood and pus flowed from the sore wounds. The intestines were torn to pieces and vomited with blood from the mouth.
If it hadn’t been for the potion in the man’s arms, he wouldn’t have survived.
Even medicines that reduce the heartbeat, increase natural healing power, and increase resistance to toxicity.
It was to the point where I wondered where he, who was only a low-ranking noble, had been preparing so thoroughly. It would have been impossible without a close friend at the Faculty of Alchemy.
I didn’t know the specific reason, but it was fortunate that Ian was able to save his life thanks to the potions.
Only then did the saintess let out a sigh of relief. Then, with both hands trembling from the reverberation of the shock, she took out the half blood clot she had handed to the man beforehand.
It was the only way Ian could be saved.
In this way, the man was cured only after he consumed all the sacrifices of the price. Even then, I didn’t wake up after losing my mind for several days.
It’s been a week since he was still treated as a critically ill patient, and even visits were restricted.
The saintess stopped by Ian’s hospital room whenever she had time. Even with the ridiculous excuse of being the priest in charge.
You have to distinguish between public and private life, but the saintess put her forehead on her forehead and let out a light breath.
I couldn’t even understand myself. The saintess just looked down at Ian with a pitiful look.
He breathes so evenly, why doesn’t he wake up?
There were many things I wanted to ask.
Why did he risk his life to protect the children, at least they were orphans?
There were countless orphans dying all over the continent. Even today, hundreds of people would have lost their lives.
The life of a ephemera that no one cared about, that was the world’s treatment of orphans.
And I wanted to ask how he was able to fight without breaking.
It was a level of injury that made it impossible to continue the battle. Even so, the man somehow managed to destroy the nest of flesh. It was an impossible feat with a fair amount of willpower.
Why on earth was I looking down at Ian with such a complicated mind?
A small moan began to escape from the man’s mouth. The saintess’ eyes widened.
Did he finally regain consciousness?
Suddenly, the inside of my mouth was dry. The fingertips stiffened, and the tense pupils contracted and relaxed repeatedly. I couldn’t even figure out why it was doing this.
I had a lot of things I wanted to say, but the thought of meeting the man alone made my head go blank and I couldn’t think of anything to say.
It was that moment when she was swallowing dry saliva.
The man’s eyelids slowly opened.
Golden eyes embracing a profound light were revealed to the world. He frowned for a moment as his eyes were dazzled, but soon turned his gaze to the saintess.
The saintess’ heartbeat reached its peak.
While stuttering, he parted and closed his lips several times.
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Just before he could say anything, the man’s mouth finally let out a dry voice.
“… … A bag of divine power?”
The saintess’ hand dug into the patient’s side.
Of course, the mournful screams followed.
**
“After all, the children from the orphanage have moved.”
After listening to the saintess’ lengthy explanation of what had happened, my feelings were like that.
The saintess’s complexion darkened at my plain reaction.
I don’t know what kind of reaction I was expecting, but I thought I knew it would be more dramatic than this.
But for me, it was unavoidable. That was all I could think of right now, and since I had only been conscious for a few minutes, I couldn’t even talk like a clown.
The saintess sighed as if she had given up and added an explanation.
“Do not worry too much. Because I picked and picked and sent them to the right place.”
“I thought that would be the case with the saintess.”
“Hmph,” the saintess responded to my words with a sullen attitude.
“You said you thought I had just run away without moving?”
“I didn’t know that they would issue a mobilization order to the temple. Isn’t that a privately established rule?”
Even after my words, the saintess showed a sulky expression as if she hadn’t calmed down yet.
It was. As soon as the saintess arrived at the temple, she suddenly brought out a private culture rule and recruited priests and guards.
And that’s how he ran into the woods. I heard that they played a big part in subduing the flesh seeds that were running rampant after losing their flesh nest.
Had I known that, I would have waited a little longer before entering. Despite my complaint, the saintess only snorted as if she was dumbfounded.
“It was only possible because you held the flesh seeds there. Wasn’t that what you wanted in the first place?”
At any rate, it was a liquidation runway.
I shook my head and looked out the window without saying anything.
It was such a huge gap.
Until I passed out, I was in that hellish cave, but when I woke up, the scene of the academy that I missed before I knew it was unfolding in front of my eyes.
So I got even more confused. It’s like I’m dreaming.
I don’t know if it was because of the whispers I heard right before I exploded the flesh nest. Then, an unknown voice gave me advice.
Looking back, I don’t even know if I heard hallucinations. At the time, I had inhaled too much of the fumes from the flesh nest.
As I thought about this and that, the saintess cautiously opened her mouth.
“… … Do you have any other questions?”
As if saying something, my eyes turned to the saintess.
It couldn’t have been better to say that the party was safe and that the children from the orphanage had gone to a good place. There were no questions left.
Then, the saintess pounded on my chest as if she was frustrated. The breasts full of presence showed off their elasticity.
“The amount of money for disposing of the demon corpse, the reward from the kingdom or empire, or the number of additional points the academy gave for practice… Aren’t you curious?”
“Isn’t that information we’ll find out soon anyway?”
“… … That, though!”
The saintess, who was about to say something to me in tears, immediately let out a sigh and tempered her spirits.
That’s right, the eyes turned to me. I just shrugged.
“Then can I leave the hospital now?”
“… … Well, it is.”
I just couldn’t come to my senses, I heard that my body had already been cured for a long time.
Now that I have regained consciousness, there is no reason to be confined to the hospital room any longer. My muscles and joints were sore because I had been resting too long.
Somehow, in order to return to the optimal state, I thought I would have to raise my fever in training for a while.
After receiving confirmation from the saintess, I gathered my clothes, put on my uniform coat, and hung my sword and hatchet from my waist.
Come to think of it, what happened to Delphine-senpai’s sword?
It looked very expensive, and I almost broke out in a cold sweat for a moment, but I soon calmed down.
Anyway, since Delphine is rich, it should be fine. If it didn’t work out, there was no choice but to compensate with the reward money for defeating the demons and demons.
As I took a step, the saintess’s question grabbed me as if I had suddenly remembered it.
“What was Gilford thinking?”
My eyes glanced at the saintess. She didn’t even look at me, and she continued to mumble.
“He is a Mine, right? He is a villain who sold orphans. But why did he bother to ask me to solve the situation even when I put in a request? And there were countless opportunities to kill us. Even train you… … .”
“I must have wanted to die.”
The saintess’ eyes turned to me at my monotonous answer. But suspicion still lingered in her eyes.
“But, in that case, it’s enough to just die or surrender, right?”
“Maybe I didn’t want to die.”
The saintess’ eyebrows narrowed at the wordplay-like story. She opened her mouth in a slightly annoyed voice.
“That’s what nonsense… … .”
“Isn’t the human mind such a complicated thing?”
I smiled bitterly at the same time. The saintess’ pupils became dumb.
“And, isn’t the saintess the same?”
“… … Me?”
“They said they were ‘so much orphans’.”
The saintess shut her mouth as if caught off guard. A slight veil of emotion began to fade in her pale pink eyes. Only then could I be sure.
The phrase ‘so much orphans’ was not meant for others. Rather, it is a knife that stabs itself.
“You’re an orphan, so you’re using that to demean yourself, right? While trying really hard to send the children of Guilford Orphanage to a good place.”
The saintess’ silence continued. She seemed lost in thought for a moment, avoiding my gaze. Either way, it was time for me to leave.
Finally, I comforted her.
“Orphan or not, it doesn’t matter. Because to me, a saintess is a saintess. It’s a cheap holy power bag.”
At my words, the saintess tried to shoot me, perhaps in a fit of rage, but when her eyes met mine, her eyes turned blank. The reason was unknown.
Perhaps only she would know, but I didn’t care anymore and took another step.
One step, two steps. Just before leaving the hospital room.
“… … Why?”
It was a desperate voice.
A torrent of emotion poured down through the language. When I glanced behind me, the saintess stood up and glared at me.
“There is no gain! Whether orphans die or not, there are people out there who don’t care. Above all, you were on the verge of death! If I hadn’t been a little lucky, I would have been holding a funeral by now.”
It was cold cynicism and anger towards the world.
So I silently listened to the saintess. to accept her sincerity.
“Did you really want to pretend to be nice?! There are many ways! If you had just escaped and told the story of defeating the demon, the voices praising you would have been as high as they are now. One life-and-death battle is enough! It’s more reasonable to entrust it to someone else… … .”
“Holy Lady.”
It was a low voice.
An extremely flat and subdued word was enough to make the saintess shut her mouth.
The saintess’ confused eyes turned to me.
There were many possible answers. Otherwise, the nest of flesh might have spread, because I wanted to protect the orphans, even the general story that not all humans can make rational choices.
However, I remembered an answer that was a little more accurate than all those words.
I played a whisper I heard one day.
“… … Immanuel.”
That was the end.
The saintess’ eyes became dumb again, and I moved on.
I came to my senses belatedly and heard a voice calling me, but I didn’t care anymore.
The sun is warm and the weather is clear.
The clear sky seemed to bless the day.
As soon as I left the temple, I looked up at the sky involuntarily as I was greeted by the pouring sunlight.
I wonder if he was watching it from there, or maybe he might have already fallen into hell.
So I decided to bury the memories of an old man deep in my heart.
Yes, it was the day the Lord was with us.
**
It was that night that I went to visit Delphine.
Man, that last “Immanuel” – Saintess captured.
1 more pokemon captured