I pondered seriously.
Why was I so unlucky?
Ah, of course, I can’t say I led a lucky life in my previous life either. I’ve never won anything while living; I’ve been scammed while trading second-hand goods, and I always hit the maximum in gacha games.
Heck, I even died in a car accident in the end. Sure, I did save a girl who almost got into an accident, but getting hit by a car and dying is itself pretty unlucky, right?
Since coming to this world, I’ve been caught up in strange events no matter where I go. A cardinal who’s a madman, not a single sane race among the mixed-species, encountering a witch, you name it.
Just when I wrapped up one task, some unknown entity pops up and ruins everything.
It wouldn’t be strange if someone was guiding my life this way.
The moment I heard that Arlil was on fire, I dashed out. It didn’t matter whether I put out the fire or not. What was important was that something had set Arlil ablaze.
After all, I had claimed that Arlil was a monster, not a sacred tree. If the elves misunderstood me because of this incident, the situation could spiral out of control. If the head of the church came to say they burned something precious, the elves wouldn’t just sit by.
To deny it convincingly, I needed to grasp the situation as quickly and accurately as possible.
So, I ran like mad, and the first thing I faced when I reached Arlil was a crow.
Yeah, a crow.
If it had been a human with a crow’s head, I might have been able to judge, but this crow was just calmly sitting on one of Arlil’s branches, looking at me with its black eyes.
Arlil was an absurdly huge tree. Given its size, it wouldn’t be easy for it to burn, but if it caught fire, it wouldn’t just burn itself; it was big enough to engulf the surrounding forest!
But, it was only Arlil that was engulfed in fierce flames.
Like one massive pillar of fire, the heat radiating from it was scorching.
Yet, strangely, a single crow sat on a branch that had not caught fire.
And it seemed that the heat from the surroundings didn’t bother the crow at all.
“I greet the Saintess.”
The crow that was sitting on the branch bowed and said that. It didn’t make the usual cawing sound; rather, it spoke in a low, soft voice. If it were an animation, you’d expect it to be a character wearing a crow mask, boasting an extraordinarily handsome chin.
“……Who are you?”
The surroundings were loud.
The sound of a massive tree burning was terrifying in itself. The tree burned, and I could hear something crashing and falling. Distant screams echoed, and elves were running around busily trying to douse the flames on Arlil, though it was utterly useless.
But amidst all this noise, that calm voice clearly reached me. And it seemed to do the same for the crow, as it answered without any fuss, despite my voice not being loud.
“An existence like you.”
The crow’s black eyes gleamed as they reflected the holy power and the red light emanating from Arlil.
“God’s creation.”
Well, if you’re going to talk, just say it straight! Why the breaks?
“……Demons?”
Confirming, the crow stared at me and replied.
“Indeed.”
And that was the last word I heard.
*
Thunk!
At the sudden booming sound, Jian tensed up. Even before anyone informed him about the situation, he sensed something odd and had just stepped outside. He thought he might have heard someone scream, but he wasn’t sure. Still, it was easy to figure out why he heard that scream.
A great tree was ablaze.
Just having a tree on fire in the middle of town would be scary enough, but for the elves, that tree was far more significant. As someone visiting the elven district for the first time, Jian didn’t know the exact details. But he understood that the elves cherished that tree dearly.
It wasn’t strange for Jian to immediately move to extinguish the fire on that tree.
Clara seemed to have her reservations about that tree, but if the flames spread from that tree, the entire village could catch fire. Many elves, who lived atop that tree, could suffer devastating damage.
While busily carrying water among the elves, he heard that sound.
Perhaps it was the sound of one of those gigantic branches falling?
At first, that was the first possibility that came to his mind, but he quickly shook his head. No, if it were just the sound of something falling, Arlil wouldn’t have shaken. There wouldn’t be a reason for burning leaves to fall from the tree above.
That meant something had hit Arlil hard.
If it had enough force to shake this colossal tree—
Jian immediately moved.
Arlil was massive.
Maybe it was about the size of a tall building in the urban core.
Fortunately, there were no trees nearby, just flat ground surrounding Arlil. Jian rushed down that path as fast as he could.
And soon, he discovered the source of that sound.
There stood someone with their hand deeply embedded in Arlil’s trunk.
Among the people Jian knew, there was only one who wore that white dress.
Clara.
But he couldn’t see her face right now. He couldn’t tell whether Clara was furious or in pain.
No, to be precise, even though he was looking at Clara, he couldn’t be sure she was indeed her.
Clara’s black hair, usually dark, was now glowing golden.
And from that Clara’s face, a ‘black light’ that shouldn’t normally exist was emanating.
“……”
She slowly pulled her hand from the tree. Crack, the sound of the wood splintering echoed. She had hit the tree so hard that her arm was scratched and battered to the point it was hard to look at.
The wounds on her destroyed arm slowly began to heal.
“……As expected.”
In Clara’s hand was something dark. Upon closer inspection, it was a bird. One wing seemed broken as if it had been hit hard, and its feathers were all ruffled up. The voice was coming from that crow.
“Have you arrived,” it said while flapping its beak.
“Mind your mouth,” it was Clara, or rather, the black light covering Clara’s face that said that. It was not Clara’s usual voice. It sounded like a man’s voice, not that of a teenage girl.
Jian felt he had heard that melodious voice before.
“I only created you.”
“Thus, to us, it’s as if you have given us the world.”
“……”
The black light said nothing and just tightened its grip on the crow’s neck.
Clara’s gloves, which she always wore, seemed to have vanished as they burned away.
Among the perfectly healed wounds on her arm, only that hand was dripping with blood.
Crack, another sound echoed.
Jian thought perhaps that sound might not have come from Arlil breaking.
*
Thunk!
“Ah.”
“Was that the sound of something falling?”
At Satsuki’s mumbling, Ramihi shook his head.
“No, it’s the sound of something colliding.”
Ramihi’s gaze was pointed towards above Arlil. The small branches were shaking. It looked a bit too vigorous to be merely the upward airflow caused by the massive flames. The movement soon ceased, but burning leaves fluttered down.
“Look out!”
Satsuki yelled, and the elves bustling beneath hurriedly scattered. Fortunately, as the leaves fell from Arlil, they extinguished. It was as if the fire was only targeting Arlil.
“……It really isn’t ordinary fire.”
“Right. The black object we saw earlier is also related.”
Ramihi agreed with Satsuki’s words.
What they had seen while sitting was an incredibly swift-moving black shape. Even with the elven’s sharp eyesight, they couldn’t clearly see what it was, so it was definitely not simple.
“Let’s head to where the sound came from.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
The two made that decision and moved. Luckily, the source of the sound wasn’t far away. Satsuki and Ramihi quickly dashed toward the source of the noise.
And they saw Clara, holding a crow in one hand, emitting a strange light.
*
Damn, I wish everything would just go away.
Every time I try to wrap up the situation nicely, something pops up to disturb me. Previously it was witches, and after I dealt with all those witches, now it’s demons.
Seriously, can’t they take a moment to pause and assess the situation after losing all their subordinates? They keep popping up left and right, it’s infuriating!
Ah, right, I know. In the end, I’ll have to settle things with them too. That was the ending I set when writing this story, and it’s probably why Ariel summoned me here to solve that little problem.
So here I am, trying to resolve it.
I’m making an effort to solve it, but both the demons and that god keep appearing to throw me off!
I don’t know if that Demon King can’t control his temper or if he thinks he’s some sort of black flame dragon. He keeps popping out whenever I meet a witch, trying to deal with the situation himself.
Ah, would you just tone it down?
I’m saying this now.
Are you going to interrupt a conversation like this?
And even the way you interrupt isn’t as a third party. You blatantly hijack my body to do whatever you please.
That really annoys me.
“Seriously, damn it,” I said, barely managing to move my left hand.
“Let me finish talking!”
*
“Do you not consider the things you’ve done until now?”
“It was not something we all agreed upon.”
“Oh really?”
Baal’s eyes widened at the crow’s voice. Well, that’s how it seemed anyway, since Clara’s face was covered in black light, and he couldn’t see her eyes.
“But in the end—”
Baal was about to respond but halted.
“……”
Clara was engulfed in silence. Everywhere else, the sounds of wood burning and screams continued, but in this spot, it was different. Clara, as if turned to stone, stood there for a moment, bleeding from her hand.
“I’m saying this.”
And Clara’s voice was enough to fluster everyone present.
“I’m talking, and you suddenly jump out and interrupt me!”
Suddenly, Clara’s left hand shot up, and she slapped her face, where the black light was emanating.
“Remember to ask for permission before borrowing someone’s body! Or at least give a warning before jumping in! It’s already irritating enough without you doing this!”
Whack! The sound of the slap echoed as blood sprayed from her hand.
“What in the world…?”
The crow Clara held seemed bewildered for the first time.
And only then did those surrounding Clara realize that the voice they had just heard was no longer the male voice they had been hearing until recently.
The one shouting like a whale, as if releasing pent-up frustration, was not Baal; it was Clara.
Clara’s left hand rose to her face, grabbing the black light that emanated from her.
“Who the hell do you think you are? Why the hell are you scattering dust on what I’ve carefully set up?”
From Clara’s right hand, white light radiated. The crow, undisturbed by the holy power constantly radiating from Arlil, screamed in agony.
“Caw! Wait! Just wait! I came here to, to have a conversation!”
“You come to have a talk, but you start by setting fire first?”
With half the black light peeled off her hand, Clara brought the crow right in front of her face.
“Who do you think you are? If you’re going to invade my body, at least come in with some courtesy, or I’ll blow your ass sky high!”
Clara paused for a moment.
“Answer.”
“Yes, Aye!”
The crow cawed in response.
However, even after hearing that response, Clara remained silent for a while. Then,
“Why aren’t you answering?”
She mumbled.
“……Are you talking to me?”
The voice that had heard the black light wrap around Clara’s face seemed taken aback.
“Yeah, damn it. If you want to enter my body, ask for permission first. What’s the difference between you and a murderer or a rapist?”
“……”
The voice fell silent, then after a moment replied,
“I was inconsiderate. I apologize.”
That was its response.
“……”
The nearby people were left speechless with their jaws dropped.
“Yeah, Ariel doesn’t just sit quietly when I don’t call her, you know? I appreciate that you’ve helped me, but it’s a bit much to just use someone else’s body. Let alone a woman’s body.”
The color drained from the faces of those around them.
“Ariel? Are you referring to the… goddess?”
Rina, who had just caught up with Clara, asked Selina, standing beside her, with a voice drained of emotion upon seeing that scene.
“……Shouldn’t you know better as a nun?”
“……”
At Selina’s words, Rina fell silent.
Aurore and Linea also seemed confused, their expressions showing they might forget how to speak. Aurore sat on the ground with her hands covering her mouth, while Linea appeared to be in a combat stance, but she looked like she had just lost strength in her hands.
“You.”
Clara’s voice made everyone there flinch.
“Explain why you set Arlil on fire when you claimed you wanted to talk.”
“W-well, it seemed like the Saintess dislikes Arlil, so as a form of compensation for peace—cough.”
Clara gripped the crow’s neck tighter. The crow opened its beak, struggling to breathe, but there was no way to escape the grip of the divine aura flowing from her hand.
Clara pressed her palm to her forehead, feeling dizzy.
“……And?”
As Clara loosened her grip, allowing the crow to breathe again, it rapidly spat out words.
“No, within our demon faction, we’ve been divided. We’ve been in a crisis of suddenly shifting power. We were seriously discussing how to break through this, and we divided into factions wanting peace and those wanting to fight to the bitter end! So, the peace faction separated to greet the Saintess, trying to bring an offering that would be most impressive and acceptable to her—”
Gasping, the crow fell silent again.
“Just the point.”
“We wish to establish peace with you, Saintess! We want to end the war! The burning of the false tree was our gift!”
“……False tree?”
“A-r-l-i-l! I’m talking about Arlil!”
Clara seemed dizzy as she touched her forehead again.
“……If I let go of this hand, what would you do? Would you run?”
“No, since I came to talk, I’ll have to stay until a conclusion is reached, yes.”
The initially tense demeanor was completely gone. The voice still retained its youthful tone.
“If you try to run, we have a capable fighter who can cut through any demon! Don’t think about escaping.”
“Yes, yes! Of course!”
The crow agreed eagerly.
At that, Clara finally released her grip entirely. Her hands fell limply to her sides, blood dripping from her palms. The crow hurriedly flapped its wings and settled down.
“……Is that good?”
The black light asked.
“Information is better in abundance.”
“……Then, if you say so.”
And with that last remark, the black light covering half of Clara’s face vanished.
Arlil continued to burn. Distant screams echoed without end.
However, everyone in this area was convinced of one thing: the fate of Arlil had been decided.
“……Then……”
Clara turned and faced the people who were watching her from behind.
Satsuki, Ramihi, Jian, and Grace, who had guided Clara, along with the Saint Knights who rushed out upon realizing the situation.
Selina, Rina, and Rene, who had just dashed out, and a number of elves who paused their activities to comprehend the situation.
“…….”
Clara’s face looked pale, perhaps from losing too much blood?
Or had she just now realized what kind of act she had committed?
Clara fainted and collapsed, leaving everyone to wait for hours before understanding what truly transpired.
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