Saintess.
The great disciples blessed by the power and mercy of ‘Goddess’ Revelatio, compassionate angels who care for humanity.
They all exude beauty and spark miracles with a pure white light that captures everyone’s attention.
Miracles granted limbs to those without arms, and even resurrected those on the brink of death with new bodies.
Truly, their existence was the very definition of ‘miracle.’
“…Is this how it’s done?”
“Correct.”
“But why can’t I do this?”
This story takes place five years after I’m possessed.
“This is downright crazy.”
It’s the tale of when I first became a Saintess.
■
Tweet tweet.
The sunlight breaks through.
The alarm clock for everyone starting their early morning and the signal that wakes me up, who doesn’t even have to sleep.
Suddenly!
With bleary eyes, I sprang up and first tidied the bedding.
The bedding neatly arranged in my hands.
I’m the only ‘Saintess’ in the village and treated like the beloved princess of all, but honestly, it’s burdensome.
If left alone, Lily’s mother and others would come to do it for me, so I need to hurry.
Lily~ are you awake?
The distant voice of ‘Mother’.
I said I’d organize quietly, but it seems I’m being overheard.
“Yes. I’m awake.”
I took off my pajamas and put on a splendid outfit, rare in this small village.
Today is a special day.
Knock, knock, knock.
Mother always knocks before entering my room.
After I dressed and tidied myself up, I opened the door.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Of course. Did you sleep well, Lily?”
“Of course.”
Lily doesn’t actually sleep.
It’s just me forcing myself to sleep.
…Now that I think about it, my mother must have had a tough time taking care of a non-sleeping infant.
An infant who doesn’t sleep… I don’t even want to imagine it.
“Village Chief isn’t coming today, I see?”
“Do you think he wouldn’t come? He’s already waiting at Charles’ house.”
“Why Charles?”
“Because our Lily is going to the Holy Kingdom. It’d be troublesome to go empty-handed. We need to gather contributions.”
“Mother, no.”
What contributions are we gathering?
The Pope from the Holy Kingdom said everything is prepared, just come with your body.
I tried to stop this nonsense, but my mother was stubborn.
“The Holy Kingdom has ten thousand, hundreds of thousands of times the money we do.”
“Heart is more important than money.”
“Here’s a specialty product. They can get it there too, right?”
“That’s a real specialty product. It’s not something filled with heart.”
“……I really can’t convince you.”
She’s always been like this.
Five years ago. When I first got possessed as Lily.
A person who trusted me and eagerly waited for me to open my heart while I was locked away in the room not knowing what to do.
The person who believed in me, confined in my room not knowing what to do, and earnestly waited for me to open my heart.
Even when I was trembling in fear, unable to catch even a single goblin that invaded the village, that person still embraced me and said it was okay.
That person is her.
“Our daughter. Come here, let’s have a hug.”
Now she’s getting ready to let me go.
“Yes…”
Mother holds me tight.
The Lily that Mother remembers isn’t here.
Only a ghost from that strange dimension stands in her place.
But why does it feel like Mother knows this strange me?
“…I’ll come often.”
Is this just an illusion?
Or am I in the process of transforming into Lily?
■
It was truly a coincidence that I was appointed as the Saintess.
I was a rare existence in the small village.
With blue hair and blue eyes.
Even at the mere age of ten, I had a beautiful appearance and voice that could captivate everyone.
From the moment Lily was born, she became the center of attention, and by the time I possessed her at age ten, I was already being treated like a princess.
That was quite bewildering.
I mean, come on, isn’t it absurd to possess the role of a princess in a throwaway game where you die in a day?
At least one good thing is that, due to this position, I was not exposed to the awful malice, but my situation remained bleak.
[To return to your original world, you must end the war.]
This “System” set an absurd condition for me.
“How can I possibly stop the war between angels and demons when I can barely just manage to defeat an orc?”
[You can do it.]
“So how on earth is that possible?”
[If you do well, it’s possible.]
“Are you out of your mind?”
This guy doesn’t make any sense.
Still, he sometimes gives me skills or abilities, which is better than nothing, so I often engage in dialogue…
[You can do it.]
This lunatic actually seems to think I can do it.
Anyway, leaving this crazy guy behind, I continued living as ‘Lily’.
Usually, I helped with village work and occasionally defended against monsters invading the village.
At first, I was terrified of attacking anyone, but now I can at least subdue an orc.
The level dictated by the system has barely gone up, but what can I do?
They said they won’t let me leave, so I have to do this.
‘It could be because I can’t kill them.’
“Are you talking about the neighboring village?”
“Yeah. A giant merchant group came to the neighboring village. The mayor needs to see them too.”
Five years have passed since I came here, and the year I turned fifteen.
Mother took me to the neighboring village.
Of course, she didn’t go alone; the village chief, along with a few villagers, came along too.
And so, a few villagers went along with me.
Anyway, upon arriving at the neighboring village, we could face the Giant Merchant Group.
Indeed, it was a huge scale, coming from the kingdom.
The tent lines set by the merchant group were longer than our village.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
I wrapped myself in a robe that covered most of my body.
With my hair and appearance, I couldn’t help but stand out, so I had to wear the robe.
Unlike the villagers who treated me well, I couldn’t trust outsiders.
The Village Chief handed me a few coins.
“Lady Lily, please use this to buy something delicious.”
“I told you to speak casually.”
“No, I can’t. How could I speak casually to someone destined to be a saintess chosen by the goddess?”
“…Being a saintess isn’t something just anyone can do.”
From what I’ve heard, saintesses are supposed to be incredibly noble and possess strong powers, while I can barely handle an orc.
I’m such a coward that I have to rely on the village elders’ strength to not kill them.
How could someone like me become a saintess?
The Village Chief shook his head.
“You will surely become a saintess, Lady Lily.”
“Okay, I understand, so let’s finish shopping quickly. People must be waiting.”
“Understood.”
The Village Chief and the villagers approached the merchants, paid the prices, and bought items.
In the meantime, I bought food with my mother using the money given by the Village Chief.
“Doesn’t this look delicious?”
“Oh? Indeed. Aren’t you just precious, my daughter?”
“…Yeah.”
My mother pats my head.
I felt an indescribable emotion and nodded.
It’s been five years, but I still look like this.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going!”
“No, I definitely paid for it!”
“What?”
From a distance, I heard the sound of arguing.
Thanks to my excellent hearing, I noticed it, but the market was already so noisy that I tried to ignore it.
“Village Chief?”
If it weren’t for the voice behind me being so familiar…
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“It seems like there’s a problem regarding the Village Chief.”
I quickly headed with my mother toward the source of the noise.
At the source, people were gathered, and in the middle were a rough-looking man and the Village Chief, while the villagers were unsure of what to do.
“I said I would trade one apple for twenty tales, when did I say a whole box?”
“What?! Then I won’t buy it.”
“You’ve already touched it. Give me twenty apples worth right now!”
“What the…! Where’s the justification in this?!”
It clearly looked like they were messing around with the prices.
One apple for twenty tales?
Usually, it’s about one to two tales for one apple.
It seems they underestimated us as simple villagers.
Done.
They probably don’t even know the price properly.
‘…But the Giant Merchant Group is pulling off a scam like this?’
A giant merchant group should have some scale, so it doesn’t seem like they would act so recklessly.
I looked closely at the tent he was selling with suspicion.
Now that I see it, it strangely looks different from the emblem of the giant merchant group I saw earlier.
The giant merchant’s emblem was a golden pen and gold coins drawn on red paper, but this one had slightly different colors for the pen and coins.
‘It’s fake.’
They’re trying to take advantage of the massive size of their group to pose as merchants and sell it at an inflated price.
“What do I do? If it’s the giant merchant group, it’s a big deal…”
“Mother.”
“Yeah?”
“That person is a fake.”
I cautiously conveyed the information I found out to my mother.
Upon hearing this, my mother was extremely furious.
“What a bunch of wicked people.”
“Yes. For now, I’ll try to inform the merchant group. If they find out it’s being run by a fraud, they’ll definitely hold that person responsible.”
Since it’s a giant merchant group, they must care about their image, so once they learn of this person’s actions, they’ll take immediate action.
“Then I’ll let them know, so you keep an eye on the villagers here.”
“W-What? But I should go with you…”
“If you go, you’ll definitely attract attention. Who knows how those people will react.”
It’s true that having ‘myself’ out there is a bit dangerous…
Still, sending my mother alone feels a bit wrong.
“Then I’ll go and come back.”
“Mother!”
In an instant, my mother disappeared into the crowd.
I thought about forcibly following her to stop her, but I quickly turned my gaze back.
“Hey! Did you just hit him? You just hit the merchant of this red dust, right?”
“No, I didn’t hit him! I just told him to move!”
“You hit him, you idiot!”
The village chief was already about to collide with the fake merchant.
Thud!
The village chief got hit.
Blood trickled down from his head.
Before I could think, I ran over and grabbed his wrist.
He felt heavier than I expected.
Much heavier than the goblins and orcs I usually subdued.
But for some reason, I feel like I could put in more strength.
“What’s this little kid doing?”
“Don’t do it.”
“Not gonna step aside? You better move before you get hit.”
“I said don’t do it.”
“This kid’s out of control…”
Creak…!
“Grrr!!”
“Don’t do it.”
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