I couldn’t just brush aside the Pope’s question, even if my mind was spinning and I was rolling on the ground. It wasn’t some personal question I could dodge; rather, I had directly acknowledged a sinister theory that was only discussed in certain circles of the Church.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to confuse the Saintess. It was just a theory, and I didn’t think it would be central to your question,” the Pope said in a gentle voice, probably seeing my embarrassment and silence.
Oh…
No, I just blurted out nonsense.
If I talked more, I’d only reveal more gaps in my reasoning, and the conversation would sink deeper into a quagmire. But I couldn’t just sit there munching on cookies like I did with Kwon In-Soo.
After all, it’s the Pope we’re talking about!
“Ah, no, that’s not it. The core of my question is not that…”
How delicately ironic.
The Pope’s offhand remark was spot on regarding the essence of my question. If it were another clergyman, they’d have brushed it off with a “Oh, come on~!”
Wait, did he bring this up because of my question?
Thinking back on it.
No matter how much I pondered the inner workings of the Pope’s mind, I couldn’t find an answer in this situation. Maybe he was feeling like he met a cute granddaughter who asked innocent questions, or perhaps he was probing me for something.
At least, based on the contents of the letter and the attitude the Pope showed me, he seemed to want to maintain that calm outward demeanor. The poor secretary sitting over there looked like he was shivering, but if you think about it, it wasn’t a new topic for the Church. Would adding a few more words from me make any significant difference?
I stared at the Pope’s face; he merely wore a kindly smile.
So… um, thinking about it, maybe it’s not something I need to be tremendously anxious about!
“Well… now that I think about it, that statement seems correct.”
I took a light breath and decided to continue the conversation.
If I failed to finish it in 5 minutes, I could just wrap it up in 10 minutes, right?
“If a clergyman can become a witch, isn’t it impossible to follow the teachings of God based solely on certainty of God’s existence?”
*
“What do you think, Saintess? Could you share your thoughts?”
The wise man, who had served God for many long years, asked that question.
“In my opinion, simply believing in God isn’t enough to follow God’s teachings. Holy Power is merely a measure of whether a person is an extreme heretic or not; that power itself is neutral. If a demon appears who is immune to Holy Power, or if such a demon benefits from it, then Holy Power would become nothing but a torture device with thorns aimed inward, rather than a strong shield against mankind. It can’t block the enemy’s power, but at the same time, it will disturb peaceful rest and lead to painful deaths.”
Thus, the young saint, chosen by the gods, answered.
‘…What am I listening to right now?’
The secretary, who had been listening to their conversation, felt an overwhelming urge to dash out of the reception room.
He had heard the Pope’s words before; although not formally taught during the process of becoming a priest, there was a theory studied within the Church under the principle that ‘if there are 100 people, one must deny the proposition.’
Of course, it was fundamentally contrary to the thoughts of most believers, and the research was based on the premise of ‘What should we do if the impossible occurs?’
The worst-case scenario that humanity could face. No one would affirm it, and everyone would wish to deny it, yet someone had to confront the minimal possibility.
And here was someone, chosen by the gods, casually affirming that dreadful possibility as if it were a matter of course.
The Saintess looked somewhat flustered after her thoughts were revealed for the first time. She even stuttered, dripping cold sweat; she might have thought it was still knowledge too early for humanity.
But soon after, she seemed to regain her composure and started responding with her voice no longer trembling.
A drop of sweat flowed down her face, hanging at her chin before falling.
Seeing the drop land on the white paper made the secretary snap back to reality and quickly fill the paper.
His handwriting was much shakier than before. It made sense; his hand trembled from fear imagining humanity’s defeat. To be honest, he felt like thanking the Goddess for at least being able to read what he wrote.
“You know the Church is aware of this, right? You have two witch corpses stored away, don’t you?”
But the Saintess’s subsequent question made the secretary’s heart sink to the floor once again.
Witch corpses? Two of them, no less?
Could it be that the Church had succeeded in hunting down witches?
Suddenly, a spark of hope flared up in the secretary’s chest.
“Yes, it’s thanks to you, Saintess. Without your help, there would have been great sacrifices.”
“You overpraise me.”
However, the ensuing conversation extinguished that flicker of hope in the secretary’s heart.
The witch had been plotting something, and it was only through the Saintess’s intervention that it was stopped. Otherwise, there would have been great sacrifices.
He couldn’t grasp all the details. Yet, it was clear that a witch had been running rampant, breaching the robust walls of human society. Even if it seemed like excessive imagination, at the very least, it was possible that the witch had appeared on the battlefield where the Saintess had intervened—
‘…Ah.’
The Saintess had brought miracles to the battlefield, which became the decisive evidence for her canonization.
This implied that the miracle the Saintess truly showcased was perhaps not the healing of soldiers.
The Saintess’s hands caught the secretary’s eyes. She was wearing gloves embroidered with complex magical symbols.
But in the next moment, she met the Pope’s gaze and swiftly looked away. She almost missed the flow of the conversation. Wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve, the secretary hurriedly took notes on the exchange between the two.
“Even 500 years ago, there were cameras. There were computers capable of systematically storing data, and considering the meticulous nature of the Church, they must have kept records on valuable talents who could use Holy Power meaningfully.”
“Indeed.”
The Pope nodded quietly in agreement.
“The corpses themselves did not differ from human corpses; however, upon investigation, we could hypothesize that they might belong to the clergyman who disappeared hundreds of years ago.”
“Not the same individual but…?”
“The history of the last 500 years has been a struggle for survival. Data has been lost countless times, and record-keeping facilities have been attacked. There are complete records from a hundred years ago, when the wall was fully constructed, and the troops were regularly dispatched, but the records prior to that are imperfect.”
“Oh, I see…”
The Saintess frowned but looked somewhat persuaded.
“Then, does your confidence stem from having seen a witch directly? Was witnessing the suspected witch and performing miracles what influenced your conviction?”
The secretary sneaked a glance at the nun waiting behind. While she was there to assist the Pope and the Saintess during their conversation, her expression was pale as if she had heard something she wished she hadn’t. It was commendable she hadn’t collapsed.
“That is…”
The Saintess bowed her head, pondering for a moment.
“That was not the case. I have known ‘from the beginning’.”
“From the beginning means… when exactly?”
For the first time, the Pope’s expression changed slightly. It was subtle, hard to put into words, but the secretary, who had been seeing the Pope’s face daily, felt like he could discern what that expression meant.
“I…”
The Saintess slowly opened her small mouth. Her eyes wandered, and her fingers fidgeted.
Deciding whether to say this or not with her whole being, the Saintess, after glancing back at the patiently waiting Pope, tightly shut her eyes.
And then she said.
“From the moment I first entered this world.”
In other words, from the moment she was born.
So—
This meant that the Saint named Clara Anderson was not truly a Saintess chosen by the goddess.
The goddess did not ‘choose’ her.
She ‘sent’ her to save us.
“…Oh gods…”
The secretary mumbled without realizing it.
*
“…from the moment I first entered this world.”
I messed up!
I blurted that out!
No matter how many excuses I thought of, I had no response, so I just said it. I planned on blaming Ariel anyway, so I couldn’t think of any better moves.
Let’s think about this.
If I said, “I heard from the Goddess!” they would definitely ask, “Since when? In what situation?” Then no matter how I answer, I’d have to lie. Because I never heard anything! This was just something I wrote from the very beginning!
How about saying, “I knew from my previous life,” or “This world was created according to what I wrote in my notebook?” How could I say such things?
Besides, I’m not very skilled at lying. It’d be one thing to just throw out a ‘divine revelation’ bullshit, but to concoct a consistent lie while sitting down and holding a serious conversation, there’s a limit. At least, my head doesn’t turn that fast.
Especially since I was nervous talking to someone of high standing.
So I racked my brain to find the best option.
According to the post-mortem stories told in the Catholic Church, there are tales of individuals who communicated so casually with God from a young age that they didn’t even realize how extraordinary it was. One day, while dining with family, they’d say, “Oh, by the way, Jesus told me…” and that was the start of their clerical life.
So, I planned to create a similar misunderstanding.
After all, I was a Saintess chosen by the gods, capable of performing miracles and receiving divine revelations, so it shouldn’t be unusual to have dialogues, right?
In that context, how useful is the fantasy backdrop? In reality, it wouldn’t be conceivable, but here it could happen. Logically, it doesn’t contradict much. It’s great that such excuses could somehow work.
Moreover, what I said wasn’t a lie.
It was true that I didn’t live here since childhood, but I did possess knowledge by the time I crossed into this world, and there were some things I asked the Goddess about.
Hence, there shouldn’t be any more contradictions from my end. Of course, if I were smarter, I’d think of a way more brilliant scenario, but for now, this was the best I could do. Plus, it was already spilled milk; I couldn’t collect it.
With my resolve, I braced for questions coming my way and squeezed my eyes shut, yet eerily, there was no sound.
No, it felt as if the people around me were holding their breath, completely silent. Had the conversation gone on too long for the secretary to even write? There was no sound of writing at all.
…This is unsettling.
Did they see this statement as a lie or—
“Oh gods…”
Did they, or didn’t they?
I thought I heard a voice from the direction where the sound of the pen sliding on paper had been coming.
“……”
But without further sound, I cautiously opened my eyes. The first thing that caught my sight was—
The Pope’s face, which was streaming tears like a child.
Huh?
I gaped with my mouth agape as the Pope suddenly leaped up from his seat.
He then sidestepped and prostrated himself on the ground.
Huh?
“P-Pope!?”
Oops, I was so flustered that I forgot to address him as “His Holiness.”
No, that wasn’t the main issue!
I hurried over and grabbed the Pope’s arm. Wait, is that okay? Should I really be lifting up the supreme religious leader like this? Before that, can I even lift an adult man…? Yeah, given what I usually wield, I think I could. Oh wait, I don’t have time to think about this!
In the end, I awkwardly found myself holding the Pope’s arm while kneeling in front of him.
“A-Ah no, Your Holiness. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but this isn’t the proper posture…”
“No. I was foolish. To not recognize the messenger sent by the Goddess. Please don’t call me ‘Pope.’ As a believer, how could I receive such a lofty title from the Goddess’s messenger?”
What kind of nonsense is that!
“No, that’s not it! I’m not alright! Please get up! Even so, you shouldn’t be acting like this because of a single word! Ah, right! There’s no evidence! You can’t just believe me right away because I said so, can you!? I mean, I don’t have proof!”
As I frantically shook his arm, the Pope looked up. With teary eyes glistening, he gazed at me and asked.
“Then, was what you just said a lie? Did you not truly know everything from the moment you were born into this world?”
“Um…”
Come on, an old man asking me that with such a face! I can’t just lie to him now! The robust Pope from just a moment ago had suddenly shriveled into an elderly man filled with regret. I couldn’t hold my stance against him. Damn, my Confucian instincts are kicking in!
“Th-That…”
I rolled my eyes, trying to buy time. But as long as I don’t meet his gaze while talking, I could manage a lie…
[You shouldn’t lie here.]
“Oh, if the Goddess says that here then that’s a problem!”
Oh no, what a disaster.
I got too caught up in thinking about it that it slipped out of my mouth without my realizing how accurate the timing was.
The atmosphere froze. Of course, it didn’t physically freeze; it was more of a feeling… Ah, why am I bothering to explain this?
The Pope stared at me with eyes that seemed like they could pop out.
“Wh-What was that? Who were you talking with? The Goddess… perhaps…?”
“Uh, that’s…”
“Have you received another revelation?”
A revelation? More like a bad joke.
“Ah, no, it’s not… it’s not quite a revelation… it’s more like a conversation.”
“……A conversation? With the Goddess? If you wish, you can always speak with her…?”
“……”
Oh, is that how it works?
No, of course, it is.
Revelations aren’t things you just receive on a whim. If the god thinks it’s necessary, they appear in the dream of the person who needs them or offer guidance in the form of inspiration. Even if there is dialogue, the god is supposed to initiate the conversation, not the believer addressing the god.
Not to mention, my earlier reaction wasn’t one where I was prostrating but rather whining stubbornly… Did it come off as being that close?
Depending on the person, some might think it blasphemous, but—
Thud
Something fell over in the back.
I turned around to see the nun who had brought tea and cookies pass out on the floor.
“……”
When I quickly turned back to the Pope, he had calmly prostrated again.
He then said,
“May I request a confession from the messenger of God?”
“……Speak.”
At this point, I had given up and responded calmly.
“I failed to recognize the messenger of God and treated them poorly. I wish to be forgiven.”
Come on, given the Pope’s status, he should be feeling uncomfortable enough to be respected, not to mention excessively.
But there’s no point in saying that now.
“Haha.”
I awkwardly laughed and asked.
“Goddess, what should I do?”
[Is that wrong?]
“No.”
[Then act as you believe.]
At this point, being serious about this is pointless. It’s going to be detested!
[Oh my.]
There was a hint of laughter in the Goddess’s voice.
“……I will forgive you.”
“Oh, uh…”
The Pope seemed moved to tears. Well, considering I had clearly asked the Goddess and received an answer, that would make sense. While he may not have heard the Goddess’s voice, it would still make sense.
Eventually, I also fell to the ground like the Pope. However, instead of folding my hands in prayer, I was pulling my hair in desperation.
*
It had not even been 30 minutes when the Saintess emerged from the reception room.
Paul Grace, the commander of the Saint Knights, had anticipated their meeting to take much longer, so he was quite perplexed.
Moreover, it wasn’t the nun who served the Pope and the Saintess that stepped out, but the Saintess herself.
She locked eyes with the Pope’s secretary, who was waiting outside. They were the Church’s two symbols, and perhaps they were aligned in heart, resulting in an early end to their conversation.
They exchanged nods, walking towards the large door of the reception room that the Saintess was struggling to open.
“Huh?”
However, the closer they got, the more peculiar it seemed.
The Saintess’s hair was disheveled, unlike before meeting the Pope, as if she had been pulling at it with both hands. Her outfit was also in disarray. The hem of her skirt was slightly tucked, but it seemed she was unaware of it.
In that moment, an extremely unpleasant thought crossed Paul’s mind. He felt his blood drain from his head as he sprinted forward.
“Saintess!”
As Paul shouted like that, the Saintess jumped in surprise. Ah, that was a mistake. Trying to calm his excitement down, Paul lowered his voice.
“W-What happened in there?”
Hearing Paul’s hushed tone, the Saintess looked up at him with a dazed expression.
“Did something happen to you…?”
“What… happened…?”
It was only then that the expression returned to the Saintess’s face.
However, it didn’t seem like a good sign. The expression on the Saintess’s face was almost half filled with fear.
“I… well…”
Paul maintained a cautious distance from the Saintess. Although he had no prior experience with women who had suffered such trauma, he had heard of them. It was said that during fierce combat on the frontlines, female members of other knight orders had been assaulted by monsters.
But what should he do in this case?
Imagining that scenario made him shudder. If that truly had occurred to this revered Saint, what could he, a mere commander, possibly do?
No, it couldn’t be possible—such a terrible thing happening right in the heart of the Church—
Paul clenched his teeth.
He should have been right there—
The Saintess sighed quietly and opened the door fully, stepping aside to show the inside of the reception room.
“…..Huh?”
This sound didn’t come from Paul but rather from the secretary.
“……Your Holiness?”
There was a sense of confusion and disbelief in his voice.
The Pope was prostrated on the floor, sobbing.
The nun who should have been standing nearby had fainted, and the secretary, visible from afar, had a stiffened face, eyes bulging, staring intently at the paper on the desk. He was gripping a pen so tightly that his fingertips had turned white.
“Uh, Commander?”
The Saintess spoke.
“Could you gather the knights and help those in there?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. I will do that.”
Paul quickly turned around and beckoned the knights waiting nearby.
“Help those inside!”
“Yes!”
Having shouted, the knights ran to the fallen nun and began hefting her up, grunting as they helped the secretary support the prostrated Pope.
Only then did the Saintess let out a deep sigh before walking back into the reception room.
Paul hurriedly followed behind, letting out a sigh of relief. After all, there was no way something like that could happen!
…What was I thinking?
Suppressing the urge to smack his own head for harboring such sacrilegious thoughts, he followed her inside, where the secretary was stiff as a board, raising his head. He looked as if creaking noises would be heard if he moved.
“Can I read this…?”
The Saintess spoke in a voice filled with exhaustion, and the secretary could only nod vaguely without a response.
Holding the stack of papers in front of the secretary, the Saintess read through them quietly.
Actually, it wasn’t quiet at all.
She gasped this way and sighed dramatically that way. With every line she read, the Saintess’s expression worsened.
“This… this can’t be disposed of, can it?”
“It can!”
Suddenly, the secretary yelled, startling both the Saintess and Paul. Though Paul didn’t show it overtly.
“Wait, secretary. You’re saying we’re going to dispose of the records of a conversation with His Holiness? That we can’t have that. Even if the content isn’t pleasing to you…”
“That’s blasphemous!”
This time the secretary yelled at Paul.
“….What?”
It was so absurd that he couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
Wait, did the Saintess attempt a coup d’état all by herself?
He thought about such mad possibilities.
The Saintess then alternated her gaze between Paul and the secretary before letting out another exasperated sigh.
“Well, there’s no helping it.”
And she carefully set the documents back in front of the secretary.
“Even though my position is what it is, I cannot recklessly break the established principle. Secretary, principles are such that once broken, no one will keep them. No matter how I say it, if there’s a predetermined principle, I’d like you to uphold it.”
“I’m sorry!”
‘This is so confusing.’
Paul scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to make of things.
“However, since revealing it right now could be problematic, let’s discuss it later. After conferring with His Holiness, we can announce it slowly. If there are those who originally had the right to read, then… well, we can’t help that.”
The Saintess said that, gazing up at Paul with utterly exhausted eyes.
“I want to go take a break now….”
At this moment, she looked far more like a middle-aged person who had just finished overtime at work than a 15-year-old girl. Of course, Paul had no experience with that ordinary office life. That was just the way it was.
“Ah, yes. I will guide you.”
The Saintess nodded silently and followed after Paul, whose sigh of relief echoed. No matter what, it was impossible for something like that to have occurred.
…What the heck just happened?
He couldn’t determine whether this was something he should be immensely worried about or that it was something he didn’t need to worry about at all. Well, it was probably in the category of needing to worry…
‘Not a clue at all.’
Paul had no permission to read the secretary’s records, so he couldn’t read the documents in that spot.
‘Guess I just wait for the Saintess to enlighten me.’
But one thing became abundantly clear.
At least this 15-year-old girl following behind him was no delicate or weak being.
She was the only one maintaining her sanity in that reception room.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
