“My life is over…”
“No, usually when you see someone casually talking to a god, you don’t think their life is over.”
As I muttered this, Selena chimed in with her witty remark.
“…”
Of course, I didn’t reply. I didn’t have a comeback. Honestly, it was a valid point. The fact that I could have a casual conversation with a god and even do it in a familiar manner! Isn’t that essentially making me equal to them?
No one would understand if I said my life was over.
I wanted to have a girlfriend, to try all sorts of things, ugh! But now, in this situation, it looked like I would end up living as a virgin in the church for the rest of my life! Or what’s worse, at this rate, I might as well just be a virgin.
…Either way, it’s seriously depressing.
“I think it’s not a life crisis but a divine life instead…”
In the midst of this, Rina, who was nearby, dropped a bomb of extremely awkward politeness.
“…If you’re going to speak so awkwardly, just drop the formality.”
“Oh, is that so? Huh, what a relief.”
Rina answered, sighing with relief.
“…”
Once again, I didn’t feel the need to respond, merely turning my gaze to the window.
Outside, there lay Arlil, charred black.
No, should I say it was white ash? The tree that was supposed to shine with a brilliant golden hue just yesterday was now gone, leaving nothing but a massive chunk of charcoal standing there.
At least in my eyes, with the absence of holy power, it looked like it had burned right through to the core.
At the end of that burned tree branch, there clung a single leaf, miraculously not having fallen.
Of course, it had completely burned, but at least it was still holding a shape, which was commendable.
“Is that leaf trying to ascend when it falls?”
While Rina was looking out the window with me, she made that comment.
“Can I hit it?”
I asked seriously, but Rina’s expression didn’t change at all. She looked like she didn’t find me scary in the slightest.
I mean, it was nice that the people around me weren’t changing their attitude towards me, but still, it was infuriating.
That’s right. Rina was someone I was competing with, in a sense.
The fact that this competition was more about messing with each other rather than actually gaining anything was slightly funny, though.
The problem was that everyone knew I was on familiar terms with the gods. Even if the story hadn’t reached the central church yet, since it had already spread to the Knights, it wouldn’t be long before the church caught wind of it.
And once the church gets that information, they’ll start thinking. Probably concluding that I’m a being almost equal to the gods.
The Pope had already kneeled before me and confessed just because he heard I could talk directly to the gods. I wonder how he would react to this news.
…Wouldn’t he be willing to give me his position right now?
“…”
Sitting up in bed, I slightly bent forward and held my head.
“You really don’t need to be so upset, do you? Clara is still Clara to us, after all!”
Aurora quickly reassured me.
But why is there a question mark at the end of that statement? Maybe even she wasn’t so sure.
“Th-that’s right. I think so too…”
Why did Lynaea’s tone suddenly regress? She could at least pick one speaking style. I’d prefer if she picked the casual one.
“Ugh…”
As I groaned, realizing the mess I was in and unable to accept reality, Rina stepped up to comfort me.
“Hey, there’s no need to worry too much. Just become a high-ranking member of the church and live comfortably, right?”
“…”
Of course, her words were more like direct taunts than comfort. As I lowered my hands from my head and glared at Rina, she merely shrugged her shoulders, a smug grin on her face.
“You’ve practically secured the position of Pope, right?”
“…”
After a moment of staring intently at Rina, I finally spoke.
“You, Saintess.”
“…Huh?”
“Saintess.”
“What?”
“Anyway, you’re a Saintess. If I become Pope, I’ll make sure you sit on the Saintess seat first. I’ll rent it out anyway.”
“Uh? No way, hey, where’s that even happening?”
Nowhere, where would it go?
It’s right here.
While Rina grabbed my shoulder and shook me back and forth, I just let my body go limp and sagged.
*
Well, whether I became the Pope or remained a Saintess or even became a Wise God, it was all the same to me.
What mattered more was the unexpected arrival of the demons. Whether I became Pope or not, if the human society gets wrecked, that’s a bigger problem.
What has allowed the Elven District to defend itself without deploying a massive force until now? The elves’ strategy? No way, those beings living for 500 years have been cooped up in their village, bashing humans, so they can’t possibly have great strategies. Perhaps it was military strength? The Elven Empire was chased out by the demon army and fled to another world. Species that are inherently weak to demons cannot easily defend against the demon army.
The reason they’ve been safe until now—at least the crucial reason they thought they were safe—was precisely because of Arlil.
Demons or beasts are weak against holy power. Arlil emitted a powerful holy power. Thus, it was hard for them to approach. So, they had to target elsewhere.
Above all, the Elven Village wasn’t that significant a place to bleed themselves dry over. Overall, the Gnomes’ area is much more important in human society. Though it couldn’t be attacked in another sense.
Even if they managed to breach the Elven District’s wall, because it’s in a corner, to strike the most crucial area, the 1st District, they would have to traverse nearly diagonally across human territory. The demon army chose to continuously target the area near the 1st District instead.
…But then, with the appearance of that one crow, all these explanations were turned upside down.
Plus, what? Something false?
No, don’t pull out settings I don’t even know about. It’s jarring. At this rate, Ariel, who brought me here claiming to know the future, is going to feel embarrassed.
Anyway, it meant there were a ton of stories I needed to hear.
The good thing was that the crow didn’t seem to show any signs of trying to escape. Even though Jian could chop it down since it was just a demon, once it gets wild, there would be huge damages.
Moreover, it was also strange that it ended up in my hands. Jian could probably handle it, but aside from the miraculous power, my strength would only be slightly above that of an ordinary person. If it had wanted to escape my grasp, it could have done so easily.
“No, I couldn’t possibly do that.”
So, when I asked, it brought up another setting I was unaware of.
“…Explain.”
I directed my chin at the crow perched on the makeshift branch I had set up on the desk. The crow lifted one wing and pointed it at its chest before bowing its head.
“First, where should I start? Ah, let’s start from the moment the witches disappeared.”
“…”
The crow seemed to take my silence as agreement and continued to scratch its beak.
“The appearance of the Saintess was a substantial threat from our standards. Initially, we thought we could stop her as we did with other Saintesses and holy beings, but after seeing her move, we realized, oh, this is directly acting on the gods’ will.”
Gods’ will or whatever, I merely went about dealing with my own affairs. Just incredibly unlucky, I kept running into witches along the way.
No, actually, that’s annoying to think about.
Sure, there were witches I went after voluntarily. Almost half of them fit that bill. But the fact the others popped up every time I went out was a bit funny. Did I really think I’d know they’d step out just because I came?
It’s slightly irritating that they acted on their own and then overestimated me, but I kept quiet to avoid interrupting the story.
“A variety of opinions emerged. But most of them were unrealistic ideas. Trying to corrupt the Saintess and turn her into a witch, or just killing her… all of those were failed attempts by witches.”
“With you being able to casually come over like this, and even crossing the sky?”
One single crow-sized demon plunged an Elven Village into chaos. Couldn’t the demons just band together and wipe out human society?
Of course, they probably created witches to avoid that very complication.
“…Does the Saintess not hear anything?”
“Hear what?”
“Can’t you talk to the gods?”
“Even if I can talk to the gods, I don’t inquire and decide every single matter about my life.”
The crow nodded its head at that.
“Is that why? I see, we—”
“If you say I’m similar, I’ll kill you.”
Actually, I was thinking of asking Jian to take care of it. But at least that seemed to resonate with the crow.
“…That tree called Arlil, we created it.”
“…”
After hearing those words, I sat silently for a while before slowly raising my hands to cover my face.
Ah, I want to cry.
I should have just written down the origins of Arlil in the settings as a mere parasitic tree or something. If I’d labeled it as something that was nothing special, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
“So, demons had a way to come into human society from the start?”
“If any demon were willing to risk death to do so, it would have been entirely possible. However, no demon wants to do that. They’re all extremely terrified of death.”
“…Afraid of meeting their fate at the hands of the gods?”
“Yes. The demons’ desire is to live forever. To live eternally in this world without dying and to become godlike beings. But underneath all that desire lies the fear that if they die, they will face punishment from the gods.”
“But if they managed to enter from within, they could just win, right?”
“The firepower of humans is not something to be dismissed lightly. Do you think humans would refrain from launching nuclear missiles at demons simply because they worry that elves would be killed?”
Uh…
I couldn’t possibly answer that. It seemed likely they would.
“If no one provides assistance, discussing possibilities becomes impossible. The reason demons have established their forces and trained their subordinates was primarily to ensure they don’t die and can end this war.”
What a convenient reason. So, they used witches as remote-controlled drones.
I glanced over to Rina, leaning against the corner. The demons’ powers must be considered close to the gods, being able to create ‘sentient beings’ like Rina. Moreover, Rina wasn’t even directly created by demons but was born from a witch who inherited their mana.
To put it another way, the demons were attempting to create beings to die for them.
“…So, you came all this way after braving death to warn me and seek a truce? Why? If you die, you can’t exactly negotiate a truce.”
“…I simply took the method that had a ‘potential chance’ of success.”
“Is there another reason behind it?”
“As I mentioned earlier, the demons are actively seeking an operation that will guarantee success.”
And the crow paused for a moment, staring at me silently. Its black eyes gazed up at me, almost as if pleading for something. I didn’t know how to interpret the crow’s expression, so it was all just my assumption.
“And among those methods, the most extreme one is to kill another demon and absorb its power to become stronger.”
“…”
“At first, it was a suggestion to ‘sacrifice’ and create an unlosable entity, but even the one who proposed that idea didn’t want to sacrifice themselves. However, from the perspective of the demons who haven’t been sacrificed, it’s the most certain method. Everyone has known about it until now, but since there was no reason to bring it up, no one mentioned it.”
“So, the demons are engaged in a bloodbath right now?”
“Yes, precisely. The one who acts first holds a significant advantage.”
If one person starts acting with the intent of killing another to absorb their power, after that, things would get out of hand. If the remaining ones banded together to eliminate that powerful entity, the narrative could change, but since that hasn’t happened, the crow was probably here before me like this.
“And so, did you come all this way to avoid that bloodbath?”
“Rather than avoiding, it would be more accurate to say I ‘barely survived’. Currently, the demons have not unified into one, but at least I was able to escape a sudden ambush and preserve what little power I could.”
“…”
Ah, that’s why it couldn’t resist me. Since it barely survived, it must have been in a near-death state.
“What a mess.”
“…”
The crow had no reply to my words and merely averted its gaze.
“Let me ask you one more thing. You said you created Arlil, right? Why is that?”
“To centralize and restrain holy power. After the establishment of the Elven Empire, countless clergy were drawn into the Elven Empire. In general, they couldn’t use miraculous powers, so they spent their lives in labor dedicating their holy power before they died.”
So that’s why there was no consciousness of any species other than elves within Arlil.
“…And the elves would offer sacrifices to you, and after having as much fun as you could, you returned the survivors.”
“…”
“Then, when a traitor among the elves emerged, you finally made your move to transform the world into yours? Seriously, even gods know when to stop playing.”
The crow had no reply to my words.
Nevertheless, there was one thing I was now clear about.
In any case, that tree called Arlil needed to be rooted out. After all, it’s bizarre for a tree to emit holy power without any faith to back it.
Besides, it also seems that holy power doesn’t do much damage to demons either.
“What would happen if the Witch of Resentment hears about this?”
When I said that, the crow’s head shot up.
“Excuse me?”
“Now that it’s come to this, I’m thinking of having a three-way meeting with your remaining subordinates.”
“That’s not allowed! No, that can’t happen!”
“What do you mean it can’t happen? You’re a demon, right? They’ve lost their power and are virtually just ordinary folks now. Meeting them won’t harm anything, will it?”
“That’s….”
Seeing the crow hesitate to speak, I squinted my eyes.
“Wait, is that all the power you have left in your current form? Did you really use your last ounce of strength just to show me that one tree burning?”
“…”
“Then we need to have that meeting before you regain your power. The Witch of Resentment is starting to not listen to me anyway. If she hears I’ve been deceived for 500 years, maybe she’ll cooperate a bit!”
“No! You can’t do that! You musn’t!”
Ah, I can’t help but not let this go.
What can’t be done?
*
“Hey, by the way,”
Walking out of the room, feeling refreshed after finishing the interrogation, Rina quickly caught up with me.
“You’re not actually thinking of making me a Saintess, are you? I mean, even a demon becoming a Saintess just feels… wrong, right?”
“Witches used to be deeply devout priests. It wouldn’t be that strange to have even one wicked demon with faith.”
“No way, no way…”
Hearing my reply, Rina tightly shut her eyes and then opened them.
“I think it’d be better to just remain as a priest like this.”
That ought to have been an attempt at maximum compromise, but given how Rina had been looking down on me, it didn’t feel like a concession at all.
“If I really fall in love with someone and decide to marry, then I might consider it. But it’s unacceptable if I can’t live together with someone just because of me.”
“…”
“By the way, do you have someone in mind?”
“…”
Rina couldn’t respond.
Well, that made sense.
Had this been another world, she would have likely fallen head over heels for Jian while being all tangled up with him; but here, aside from blushing a few times when seeing Jian at the beginning of the semester, there had been no indication of infatuation.
And I hardly think Rina would bring someone she doesn’t love to use as an excuse.
“Hey, come on, still.”
In the end, not generating much lead, Rina once again clung to me, asking. I watched Rina closely and then responded.
“Hey, Rina. Do you know something?”
“…What?”
Did Rina sense something odd from my expression? She asked with a somewhat scared look.
“Maybe it’s due to spending too much time under holy power, but you’ve gotten a bit dark.”
Her skin was indeed slightly tanned.
“You’ve managed a nice tan!”
As I pointed this out to Rina while she felt her own face, it immediately turned scarlet.
“You—!!”
What? It’s true that she’s tanned.
…Though I suppose it is my fault.
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