It was a dilemma.
If I just let Arlil wither away to trick the elves, who wouldn’t hesitate to carry out human sacrifices for their own prosperity, it would be a huge favor for the demon side. Even if Arlil wasn’t as powerful as in the original world, just being there acted as a constant dam of tremendous holy power.
It would be no different than falling for the witch’s tempting words from earlier.
I can’t let this happen, right! Absolutely, no way!
On the flip side, granting Arlil holy power just because she wouldn’t side with the demons would be a good thing for the elves. These are the same elves who might have offered some kind of tribute to nurture Arlil up to this point. Plus, it really annoys me that they left me nearly unattended after asking for my help.
No, wait… they haven’t even apologized.
Rene acted apologetic, but she isn’t the one at fault, is she? It’s not like Rene was the one who summoned me here.
That’s right. Without Arlil, the ordinary elves who were kind to me and the innocent children would also wither away. And I definitely don’t want that.
And then, there are the corpses piling up in front of me.
…Or perhaps, I should say they’re elves in a coma; they might still be conscious.
What do I do about them?
The consciousness of elves who think they’re just shells. Poor souls tied to the tree, unable to escape despite their bodies being dead.
…Ah, wait a second.
Am I not in a situation that’s pretty similar to these corpses right now?
What if my body outside is dead…?
Ugh, shivers.
I shook my head rapidly to shrug off that thought. Well, the witch hasn’t charged in here herself, and surely even the elves wouldn’t dare to disturb the priestess during a ritual. If anything happens, the church would certainly take action.
Phew, I exhaled.
Alright, there’s plenty of time.
Instead of getting lost in useless thoughts, I decided to focus on what’s in front of me.
Let’s summarize things again.
This is a space of consciousness created by Arlil. If I had to compare it, it shares some similarities with a magic point. Just like in a magic point, something would become tangible and holdable when consciousness connected with it. The difference, however, is that the magic point wasn’t vast enough for my consciousness to fully enter.
So, this means that Arlil’s consciousness is massive and powerful.
It’s strong enough that the souls of the elves completely fallen apart from the miracle’s power still linger here.
I gazed at the place where the witch had vanished. I could see the floor, which I smashed apart while rushing over. Even though I am strong in reality, breaking down a century-old tree with my kick would likely be impossible. It only happened because I had the confidence with “this is inside my consciousness.”
That means…
All I have to do is make those elves who think they’re dead believe they’re alive again, right?
Quite convincing, indeed.
Now, what actions should I take to revive the elves’ souls?
Well, I can’t imagine there’s just one way.
The elves’ bodies have a remarkable sensitivity to holy power. Thanks to this sensitivity, humans can use holy power for healing or alleviating illnesses, but the elves’ reactions are overwhelmingly superior. Of course, this also makes them vulnerable to magic.
So, all I need to do is pump some holy power into the bodies of these elves.
Enough for them to feel alive.
Or enough for them to feel like they’ve come back from the dead.
How ridiculously simplistic! It’s a thought worthy of my brain!
Feeling a bit embarrassed by my own thought, I scratched my head and muttered, “Well… I guess it’s either that or nothing.”
*
“Huh?”
Did Remihar really go on for this long fifty years ago?
Krah Kihmuhir, watching Arlil sucking in holy power, suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.
The memories of the past several decades weren’t much help. The church hadn’t produced a saint in half a century, and thus no saint existed to take over the priestess role. Until last year, they had simply poured holy water purchased through the government. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be any particular method.
Fifty years ago, when the last saint had come to take up the priestess role— that moment hardly lasted even ten minutes.
The saint quickly finished the ceremony and glared sharply at the elders of that time. There hadn’t been any significant exchange of words. Perhaps there were discussions behind the scenes, but the elders only celebrated a successfully completed ceremony.
Krah only learned about that day’s events decades later.
Inheriting the elder’s position, he learned the truth about Arlil alongside the other secrets.
The countless traces of elven sacrifices still lingering within Arlil.
Some part of the witch’s consciousness remains resilient against the immense holy power.
The saint, who had to confront it without any warnings.
Yes. This ceremony is going very similarly to that time.
However, strangely, unlike then, the saint did not abruptly storm out.
How odd.
A sense of foreboding arose.
If he thought about it, this ceremony wasn’t identical to the previous ones.
Unlike the past saint, this one had a fiery temperament. She wasn’t submissive at all and didn’t hide her thoughts on how the elven society was flawed.
But it didn’t seem like she was worried about the church’s opinions either. The previous saint seemed to obey the church’s commands faithfully, behaving humbly even though the elves didn’t follow human etiquette and acting as if she was being careful around them.
But this saint acted as if she didn’t care, moving just as she pleased.
A sinister feeling crept in.
It felt like this saint wouldn’t cooperate easily.
Would she even understand the last words I said and intentionally try to sabotage things?
—While deep in thought about this,
“Elder!”
Someone called out to Krah.
It was Rechmir.
Seeing Rechmir’s eyes shining brightly as he called Krah made him feel uneasy in return.
“I was short-sighted.”
Rechmir directly stated that with his head bowed, and Elder Krah looked at him with a frown.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I was misunderstanding things,” Rechmir said, smiling. “I thought we had to sacrifice the saint to brighten our future. But that turns out not to be the case. Perhaps that human magic is even more useful than we thought.”
“What do you mean?”
Krah had no idea why Rechmir would suddenly say such things. He asked again.
“Did you not see it?”
Rechmir asked back, eyes wide.
“What exactly?”
“That!” Rechmir pointed toward Arlil’s branches in the distance, extending his finger. While Krah’s aging eyesight struggled to see, he focused on the direction Rechmir indicated.
“……”
But Krah wasn’t willing to admit his aging just yet, so he squinted and fixed his gaze on the far-off branch.
A small shoot, born from a thick branch, slowly sprouted at its tip, vibrant and blue in color.
“What the…!”
“Do you see it? Arlil is growing! Thanks to the saint’s holy power, Arlil, which hasn’t grown in nearly two centuries, has started to grow again! If we continue the rituals every year, we can also—”
“Wait, are you serious?”
Krah couldn’t finish his thought.
Crack.
A sound of breaking something echoed.
Krah and Rechmir turned their eyes to the source of the noise.
No. Everyone around, who were gazing at Arlil sucking in holy power, looked that way too.
The stem of Arlil, right at the center, was splitting open.
Creak, creak. The tree was making sounds that shouldn’t come from it, as the bark split apart, and as if new flesh was sprouting from a wound.
Arlil was growing.
And it was happening visibly and rapidly.
“No!”
“Huh…?”
Hearing Krah’s shout, Rechmir looked taken aback.
“What do you mean by that…?”
“Get moving. We need to save the saint.”
But Krah didn’t have time to respond to Rechmir’s reaction.
No, it would be more accurate to say the elves had no time.
“Please, answer me! What do you mean by that!? Are you suggesting we consider the church—”
“You don’t understand! You’ve never been out there!”
Krah’s blatant dismissal boiled Rechmir’s blood.
“I’ve heard plenty!”
“Heard isn’t enough!”
In his youth, Krah lived alongside humans for several years, participating in almost everything humans did. After graduating from the academy, he even tried heroics alongside humans and captured heretics at the church’s request.
And he had seen how those heretics, demon-worshippers, and apostates were treated firsthand.
As if warning him, the church granted him entry.
The elves outwardly acknowledge the existence of the goddess.
However, deep inside, most elves harbor doubts about her existence. What they follow is Arlil, the only being they consider near divine.
The church knows this.
They know but choose not to interfere out of necessity, fully aware of the bloodshed that would cause.
Conversely, Krah knows that if a holy war broke out, none of the elves would survive.
That Arlil would burn.
Thus, both sides refrain from infringing upon one another, but—
What if the need arises for one or the other to think, ’These people must never live’?
If the absolute worst case occurs—something that could never be compromised or acknowledged?
Krah thought that the death of a saint born after fifty years might be a sufficient reason.
Especially during a ritual.
The church wasn’t sending the saint to kill her.
Everything was about gaining political leverage in relation to the elves. They wanted the elves to act as a sounding board for their claims in case any friction arose with the government.
Moreover, they had heard the past saints’ testimonies and were well aware of the likelihood.
If the saint died during a ritual, the church would naturally assume the elves had sacrificed her.
It wouldn’t make a difference if they denied it.
After all, Arlil was already thriving.
“Guard captain!”
Krah shouted like a roar. A strong-bodied elf, standing a few meters away from the elders, rushed to Krah’s side.
“As an elder, I command you. Go into the priest’s area and bring the saint out. Oh, wait.”
Krah quickly turned around.
“I’ll go along as well. I need to see the saint’s condition.”
“Elder…!”
“That one should be detained until they cool down.”
“Yes!”
“Other elders must evacuate the citizens to a safe location. If we’re not careful, a disaster may occur. In the worst case, parts of homes could collapse. They should clear out to the edge of town, or better yet, somewhere along the roads.”
Krah spoke rapidly, taking off.
He mustn’t delay. They had to save the saint while her body was still alright.
Even if they couldn’t save her, they still needed to show good faith that they tried.
Fortunately, the place where the elders gathered wasn’t very far from the priest’s area.
“Open up!”
Krah yelled while running. The granddaughter of the priestess, Ramihi, promptly opened the door.
Inside the priestess’ chamber, at the deepest point, closest to Arlil, the saint still knelt.
Arlil, now rapidly growing, was about to engulf her entirely.
With her head bowed as if unconscious, the saint’s arms hung limp beside her.
The magical gloves she wore, adorned with sacred symbols, continuously scattered golden holy power.
*
Good.
This is a relief.
Even the consciousness that thinks it is dead means at least it’s aware of itself. The shards that broke down earlier slowly began to reassemble as I poured in holy power.
The first one I attempted to revive was the elf who looked to be in the best condition among the heaps of corpses.
She had died with only the parts below her elbows broken and, upon infusing her with holy power, she quickly was restored.
Watching the shards, like pieces of broken glass in the air returning back to where they belonged, I started to understand how the elves regarded holy power.
I spent quite a while carefully healing her body. While pouring holy power, I infused gentle miracles at the same time. For the elves, who used miracles themselves and died because their bodies broke, surely they would understand what miracles truly meant.
The most crucial step was to believe I could actually do it. After all, this is inside my consciousness. Just believing they’re dead and broken is what makes them indeed dead and broken. If I wanted to save something, I needed to believe I could do so.
Of course, if I was trying to restore their actual bodies, it would be impossible, but since I am restoring their spirits, I was able to confidently revive the elf with my powers.
Seeing the fully renewed elf who appeared quite young made my emotions rather complicated.
This girl looked to be about the same age as the body I was using but had already been sacrificed to the demons at this age.
Did she want that? Even if she did, the adults shouldn’t have acted that way.
To sacrifice such a young child to someone—
Well, yeah, this world definitely teaches battle methods to teenagers and sends them out to the battlefield if they wish.
And all the tragedies of this world stemmed from the tip of my pen.
“……”
I quietly stared into the girl’s face, placed my hand on her shoulder, and gave a gentle shake.
“……”
Have I failed?
I felt a bit anxious. If I did what I was supposed to, and yet the other side thinks, “This doesn’t make sense,” accepting it won’t happen, thus making it all fruitless.
But—
“Ugh, ugh……”
A groan escaped the lips of the girl waking from sleep. Her eyes, which had been tightly shut, fluttered open. Her pupils started to move.
“……Ah.”
As if confused by what just happened, she blinked. Then she looked down at her hands. All ten fingers appeared to be just fine.
“……!”
From the girl’s perspective, she must have seen her body shattering moments ago. Yet, she wakes up only to find an unfamiliar woman before her, and her body intact. It’s understandable she would be startled.
After looking around in panic, she jumps up.
She is saying something loudly, but I can’t understand it. Well, it’s normal; they don’t know human language.
I left her alone for about a minute, and gradually, she began to regain her composure.
Yeah, she must surely remember this place. It’s the place she was bound to after sacrificing herself.
Once she calmed down a bit, she tried to talk to me, but—
“I’m sorry; I don’t understand anything.”
I still couldn’t understand a word.
“……”
A brief silence followed.
I sighed softly and moved on to the next task.
There was still much to do. I had no idea how much time differs between inside and outside of consciousness, but at this rate, there’s no way I can restore everyone. Eventually, I would havel to leave.
As I silently began to restore the next girl, the first revived elf gasped and murmured something in surprise.
She kneeled beside me, quietly observing what I was doing.
“I find this somewhat burdensome.”
Although an answer was given, no dialogue really took place.
I sighed heavily and continued restoring the girl. As I slowly infused her, starting with her shoulder—
I sensed another holy power joining in from the side.
Turning my head, I saw the first awakened girl pouring in holy power as well.
…I had assumed that all the elves here had used up their holy powers and miracles.
Ah, that’s not right.
This is Arlil’s inside.
And the elves were in their best condition when receiving Arlil’s holy power.
No, no, no.
This is a space of consciousness.
If they believe they can use holy power, they indeed can. This girl probably could when she was alive.
—Moreover, if the one receiving it believes they can take it, then they can take as much as they want.
The soul is inherently immortal.
There’s no such thing as a broken soul. It’s just that they think they are broken.
And I am simply the one reminding these consciousnesses of their existence.
Thanks to the first girl’s help, I could revive the second elf even more quickly, despite the third being more broken.
I silently chose a third elf and began to restore her.
While I worked, I could hear the two girls chatting behind me. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it didn’t seem like they harbored any ill feelings toward me.
As I worked on the third elf, they joined in to help.
The number of elves gradually increased.
They woke up, startled, confirming their bodies, engaged in conversation with the previously awakened elves. They began to help me too.
With their minds returning, I hardly had to do anything as they clustered together to restore another elf one by one.
The vast space, once filled with a white darkness, brightened with glows of holy power appearing here and there.
It was much brighter than the glowing orb I had created alone.
When I first entered this room enveloped in white darkness, filled to the brim with corpses, I thought there couldn’t possibly be such a horrific space.
The piled corpses began to disappear one by one.
In their place, lively and vibrant girls began to appear.
The earlier silence that felt like nothing dissipated, and, instead, words like the merry chirping of young elves filled the air.
This place was no longer a realm of death.
Perhaps, it is now— the consciousness of all these elves, the spirits of all sacrificed elves being alive— that this space has finally been sanctified.
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