Chapter 50: The Dumb Saintess

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༺ The Dumb Saintess ༻

"…Yes, that's fine. I'm satisfied with those conditions."

"Yes, with this, the negotiations are done."

After a long discussion with the evil and wicked Frey, we made a truce with each other.

The so-called ceasefire.

By the way, since the ceasefire was what I wanted for peace in the previous timeline, I strongly insisted upon it in the name of a truce.

"…By the way, why did you do that before?"

"Huh?"

After the negotiations, I was about to leave the dark warehouse, then suddenly Frey asked me a question.

"When you came up to me in a haste, suddenly your eyes narrowed as you kept looking around. Why did you do that?"

He was inquiring about something that happened earlier, but I remained silent.

I wonder if it was fine to share information with Frey, who is a member of the evil Demon King's Army, but currently, we are in a truce, so we decided to share certain information.

"It was only for a brief moment, but I felt quite the sinister aura."

"Sinister aura?"

"Yes, it evoked quite the dark and suffocating feeling."

Definitely, when Frey called the female employee earlier, a terrifying aura surrounded me.

So I thought that Frey was using black magic, so I hurriedly dragged him away and tried to channel holy power in his direction.

But, for some reason, nothing happened to Frey. It's very suspicious, but it seems Frey wasn't the culprit behind the sinister aura.

If so, who was the source of that aura?

Could it be that the Demon King's servants have been hiding in this orphanage? Or was it a misunderstanding that occurred because of my heightened senses these days?

I'm not sure.

But, if I don't know, then I need to find out. So from now on, I'll have to stay in this orphanage and find the source of that aura.

"Sinister aura… if it's sinister aura…"

I glanced at Frey, who was muttering something next to me with a serious expression, and left the warehouse first.

"…Saintess Ferloche?"

"Oh yes! Hello!"

When I left the warehouse, someone standing out in the front spoke to me. She seems to be a different person than the one I met earlier. Who could it be?

"Nice to meet you. I'm Anna, the current manager and employee here."

"Oh! Hello!"

It was Anna who was in charge of this place! She seems like a pretty kind person!

"It is my honor to meet the revered Saintess."

"Oh no! Don't get down on your knees! Don't do that!"

When Anna was about to kneel down and greet me, I hurriedly pulled her up!

"Uh, s… I'm sorry?"

Then, Anna made a confused expression and apologized to me. It's not like I was trying to get an apology.

"I'm just a representative of God…! So you don't have to kneel down like that!"

So, when I hurriedly explained, Anna giggled bashfully and said.

"As expected, the Saintess is as kind as rumored."

"T-Thank you…"

"…You will surely get along well with Ruby."

Then, Anna pointed to the employee who was crying earlier, then took my hand and started to lead me.

"That kid over there is Ruby, and she's been volunteering here for free for three months."

"Really?"

She has been volunteering for free for 3 months. She's really amazing. With a lot of interest, I headed in the direction Anna's finger pointed to, and saw a girl staring at me!

"Ruby, did you say hello? She's the Saintess of the Sun God Church."

"Oh, ohh… Hello!"

When Ms. Anna introduced me, Ruby made a terrified expression, and then continued to greet me.

She's just like a frightened puppy. Something that makes you sympathize and pity it.

"The little Saintess of the orphanage must have been nervous when she met the Saintess of the Empire."

"Please don't call me by that nickname!"

As Anna spoke with a mischievous expression, Ruby's face gradually turned red as she bowed her head.

"Wow! How pretentious!"

"Eh, Ehh!?"

I smiled and offered these words to Ruby in jest, but then tilted my head upon noticing her flustered state.

Was Ruby the type to be overburdened by such kind words?

"Uh… Saintess? Were those words…"

"Oh, I apologize!"

As it turns out, Ruby must have been the type of person who, like me, was overburdened to receive such kind words.

"I'll refrain from using such language from now on! I'm sorry!"

Thanks to that, I apologized to Ruby with a slightly embarrassed expression on my face, and began heading towards Frey in the distance.

From now on, I definitely have to keep an eye on him!

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"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

"....."

I don't feel good right now.

Because, in front of me, Frey is cleaning with a very exhausted breath.

Of course, he deserves to suffer like that, since he's trash with no hope of redemption…

Still, a part of me feels uncomfortable.

After all, just sending a little bit of holy power—

"Frey, can I lend you a hand for a bit?"

"… What?"

Just as I was immersed in such thoughts, Ruby suddenly broke in next to Frey and grabbed a broomstick.

"You look so horrible…"

"Go away."

"Hey, don't do that… I'll help you…"

"FUCK OFF!"

When Frey yelled and snatched the broom away, Ruby lost her balance and collapsed with a 'thud.'

Thanks to that, Ruby's knee was scraped and blood was oozing out of the wound.

"I'm sorry, are you all right?"

"…Oh, yes! No problem!"

So I rushed to use holy power to fix her knee, but, Ruby got up quickly and bowed to Frey.

"Y-Young Master F-Frey. I apologize for disturbing you."

"…Whatever, fuck off."

After those words, Ruby disappeared without even receiving any treatment.

"You, what do you think you are doing!? If you use violence while doing volunteer work as a punishment…!"

I was quite enraged with this, so I tried to rebuke Frey, but…

"Heugh. Heugh…"

"…Frey?"

For some reason, Frey wasn't acting like he normally would, but he was staring at me while gasping for breath.

"Why are you doing that? If something is wrong…"

"…it's nothing."

Having said that, Frey suddenly rushed to somewhere!

Clank.

After entering the shed, Frey locked the door and did not come out for a while.

After watching the scene quietly, I made a firm decision, then stood up and then began walking stealthily.

"Ruby."

"Yes, yes!?"

I then approached Ruby, who was showing a skit to the children in the orphanage, and began whispering to her.

"Can you give me the key to the shed?"

"Eh, why?"

When Ruby asked while tilting her head, I uttered the coolest and most inspiring answer possible.

"It's an important part of defeating the Demon King."

"…..!"

Ruby then opened her eyes in shock and started looking at me in confusion. She resembled a startled puppy and looked adorable!

"…All right, here it is."

After staring at her for a long time, Ruby carefully took out a ring of keys from her inner pocket and handed it to me.

"Thank you, Ruby…"

I whispered in her ear once more and thanked her.

"…And you're really pretentious."

Ruby then bowed her head in embarrassment! I think we will be good friends!

"…Hmm."

So I received the key from Ruby and opened the door to the firmly locked shed!

This time I will catch Frey using black magic right on the scene of the crime…!

"…Cough! Cough!"

"F-Frey?"

However, the situation that unfolded in the shed differed greatly from what I expected.

Instead of Frey executing his plan to threaten the orphanage while making a wicked expression, Frey was leaning against the wall and vomiting blood.

"…Get out."

Frey, who noticed my presence, spoke to me with a cold expression on his face.

"Cough!!"

But right after that, he vomited blood again and started to tremble.

"...Ugh."

At first, I turned away from him and tried to leave the shed.

He's a repulsive evil man, he's sly enough to attack me when he gets the chance, and he's the villain who will destroy the Empire.

But… for some reason, seeing him lying down like that… it reminded me of the time when I first met him.

Back then, I was the one sitting down, and he was standing upright.

"Cough! Cough!"

"…Sigh."

While I was thinking like that, he coughed once more and tightly closed his eyes.

Eventually, not able to see him anymore like this, I approached him and sat down.

Of course, I will not infuse any holy power and will only diagnose his condition.

Not to heal, but to get information about the enemy.

I will never sympathize with him or worry about him. Just for the sake of information…

"…..!"

When I put my hand on his body while thinking like that, I was shocked.

"Y-You… what happened to you?"

"…What are you talking about?"

"This is… what in the world…"

The degree of damage to his body is beyond imagination.

The mana circuit is improperly oriented, causing an overload in the body whenever mana tries to flow. The internal organs are all twisted around, and there is barely any life force remaining in his body.

The only time I have seen this kind of physical condition was when I was treating critically ill patients in a hospital run by the Church.

So… Now Frey…

"You… Exactly how many years do you have left?"

"Cough!! Cough… What do you mean?"

Apparently, he doesn't seem to be aware of his physical condition.

After all, he is so full of pride and vanity and once he finds out that he has only a few years left to live, he will probably run rampant because there is no point in doing anything else.

He'll probably die in a few years if left alone like this.

Frey, who will destroy the Empire in the future and secretly stand on the side of the Demon King as he watches the world burn, will disappear.

Good. Really good. You are destined to die on your own without any effort on our part, so I think this is going according to plan.

Definitely, I'm sure it will be all right....

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To this day, I keep remembering the first time I met him.

"…What are you doing right now?"

"It's a very small amount of holy power."

In the end, I decided to infuse him with a miniscule amount of holy power.

It's not like he remembers his past. It's just that it's difficult for Frey to keep volunteering, so I just wanted to give him enough energy to help clean the place comfortably.

"… Uh?"

But something is strange. Obviously, I've infused holy power, but his life force is still at rock bottom. How could this happen?

Even though I definitely gave him enough holy power so he could spend the day comfortably.

– Whoosh…

"… What are you doing?"

"Just Wait."

Eventually, I started to inject a little bit more holy power. However, his vitality, or rather his life force, didn't increase.

Enough for 3 days, enough for a week, enough for a month…

Even when I continued to infuse holy power, his physical condition did not improve at all.

"Gasp… Gasp…"

As I finally pulled away from him while letting out a fatigued breath. I muttered inwardly while raising the corners of my lips laboriously.

'Isn't this good? If I can't treat him with my holy power… nothing can cure him at all.'

Seeing that holy power doesn't work, the Sun God seems to have abandoned him too. Otherwise, there is no way that he can't be cured.

Yes, it is very good. It's a good thing that the evil Frey was given a death sentence.

It's always been what I wanted. I remembered how I really wanted to kill him a few months ago.

Frey is a villain who deserves no sympathy. So, his death is truly something to celebrate.

Please, why is this happening? Until recently, she had even felt the intention of killing him, but when his death became certain, why…

'…Why is my heart breaking?'

Frey's silver eyes made contact with my white ones.

When the image of the innocent face of Frey, who had given me a potion with his silver eyes shining, came to mind, my heart began to ache.

"Ugh…!"

"What, what?"

The white hair that symbolizes me as the Pure White Saintess fluttered and blended with Frey's silver hair.

I always wondered why. It was probably because I got too close to Frey.

Looking at the pool of blood formed in front of Frey, who had a distorted expression on his face, I thought over and over again with hazy eyes.

Frey is the Empire's Greatest Villain. You must hate him. I must hate him. I must kill him. He tried to attack me. He will become the cause of the Empire's downfall in the future.

I'm stupid. I've always been an idiot since I was little. I'm horrible at writing too. My memorization skills are subpar. The only thing I've ever been good at is being kind.

So now the situation makes sense. There's nothing wrong with that. Everything is back to normal…

"No."

"What?"

There's definitely a problem with the fact that even if you put holy power into Frey's body, it doesn't increase his vitality. That's against the law of the world.

Holy power is not a miracle, it is a law and a phenomenon. Miracles are different. It's definitely strange to violate such an immutable law.

Even if I eliminate the fact that his life force is not being replenished, why are the wounds of his body not being healed? Therefore, something is very wrong right now.

"Ferloche?"

And Frey is acting strange as well. He claims he's going to violate me, yet he keeps buying time while making all sorts of excuses.

No, in the first place, everything he does is strange.

Not only that, I'm also… acting strange.

What happened? Why am I here? Since when have I been like this?

Frey is in danger. If it goes on like this, he won't even last a few years. So what should I do? Should I save you? Should I kill you?

Is what I said earlier a good thing? What does the word 'pretentious' mean? Was that really a compliment? Did I really not know the meaning of that word?

If what I believed in wasn't a miracle, what is the real 'miracle'? Didn't I know that before? So, what are the laws and phenomena? Who is the Sun God? What do I believe in?

It's fake. It's all fake. I have to find the truth. I don't know, but I feel an urge to scream.

"…Has she finally lost her mind?"

Pretense and hypocrisy, light and darkness. The sun, the moon, and the stars. And—

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"Demon…"

"Cough, cough! What the hell are you saying…"

"Demon….."

It's been a minute since Ferloche put her hand on Frey's body and started stroking it.

Frey, annoyed by this, tried to get up, thinking she was fooling around again…

"…Demon."

"…..?"

Ferloche responded by tilting her head as she kept muttering words out of nowhere.

"What are you spouting all of a sudden?"

"Demon…God…"

Frey, who looked at Ferloche with a bewildered expression, but began listening to her in earnest as she was about to say something, but—

– Screech…

"You two, what are you doing here?"

As Ruby opened the door to the dark warehouse and entered, Ferloche stopped her speech and began to shake her head.

"…Ah? Are you all right?"

Meanwhile, when the bright sunlight that permeated through the open door enveloped Frey and Ferloche while also illuminating the puddle of blood in front of Frey, Ruby, who had witnessed this, screamed in horror.

"…It's fine, fuck off."

"Yes, yes… Please let me know if you need any help."

Then Frey, with an icy voice, drove Ruby out of the warehouse, and began to look at Ferloche in front of her.

"Everything, you've become like this… you—"

"—got what I deserve?"

"Yes! You got what you deserved! Her Highness Clana said it's an expression of the eastern continent used in times like this…"

"Shut up, get off of my body."

Before long, when Ferloche began babbling with a stern look on her face as usual, Frey heaved a deep sigh, then pushed her aside and muttered.

"…Should we stop here for today?"

"Um… Considering your physical condition… Today is especially…"

"Then let's go to the Cathedral of the Sun God Church."

"Eh? But, recently, only those who have received permission can enter the church…"

"…I have to pray with you after volunteer work, remember?."

"…Ah."

After leaving the warehouse, the two of them greeted Anna, who looked at them covered in blood with an appalled expression, and then left the orphanage in a hurry.

"You! How did you injure your body this badly? Have you ever been tortured by the Demon King's army? If you tell me about it, especially the Church…"

"…Why are there so many Church members around the orphanage? Do you know anything?"

The two of them got on the carriage while asking different questions to each other and drifted away from the orphanage.

As the warm sunlight was shining upon them.

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Arriving at the cathedral, Frey admonished Ferloche for ten minutes, who strongly insisted that their prayers be offered first, and then headed where she guided him.

"…So, is this where you sensed a sinister aura?"

There stood a crude iron gate.

"Yes! You guys must be doing something here…Uhmm!"

"…Shh."

Frey, who shut her mouth, spoke in a hushed tone. He then opened the iron grate and stepped inside.

"Fuha, how did you get away from the guard? I was caught every time I tried…"

"…I don't know, but for some odd reason, there are too few people in the cathedral. There are no guards. Something is strange."

Despite deliberately arriving several hours earlier than expected, and wearing a plain nun robe instead of her striking maiden robe, it was all futile. Frey, feeling disappointed, let out a sigh and began looking around the room.

"…The time has come for something to happen."

– Ruuumble!!!

And at that moment, the space inside the room turned upside down and a complex maze appeared.

"I knew it."

Frey, who looked at the scene with an anticipated look, slowly entered the maze along with Ferloche, who was staring at the scene in a daze with her mouth agape.

"What are they going to do?"

And at that point.

"…Should I follow them?"

Irina, who had been watching them from afar, dressed in identical clothing to that of Ferloche, quietly looked around before heading towards the cellar.

You can read 505 episodes for $10. p.*atreon.com/Astrid02