Clank clank The state window spoke in a stiff, business-like tone.
No emoticons or playful banter today.
‘…There’s a 2-person limit.’
I instinctively brought a hand to my face. Those unchanging letters made me blink repeatedly.
Every time this thing said something, everything got tangled up.
Just like when Emperor Rock came to the sports festival,
or when Magic Hat said to stop the battle during the raid.
Could it really be the creator of [Black Heart]?
[The Pantos Shrine has a limit of 2 entrants. Please wait your turn.]
Now, I found myself questioning it. The transparent window that followed my gaze gave me chills, and I sighed into the air.
In the end, only Pina and I could step into the shrine.
No matter how hard Kainel and Ariel tried, they couldn’t join us.
“…It’s chilly.”
“Watch your step. Pina.”
Right now, the two of us were heading down underground, away from the Hero couple.
The cold and damp stairs contrasted sharply with the dry and hot outside.
It felt like an odd sensation, almost as if we were inside a refrigerator.
Finally, upon reaching the deep section, we found a heavy iron door that resembled a safe.
“….?”
Was this always here? As far as I remember, we could just walk in.
Five years ago from the perspective of [Night Heart].
Just like when I asked Pina about Tardun’s shrine, has everything changed?
[Checking entrance conditions…]
Once again, the state window appeared before my eyes.
The hourglass flipped over multiple times, checking something.
[First, uphold the game’s main coupling. ─ Success.]
What on earth are these entrance conditions?
I pulled my lips into a line.
It was mysterious that a state window that hadn’t appeared until now showed up only at the Pantos Shrine.
‘….Wait, “success?”’
Seeing the state window say “success,” I felt a strange déjà vu. Where have I seen this before?
The state window must have told me to connect the coupling so that “contradictions” wouldn’t arise.
‘It was. Not “kept.”…’
Ariel and Kainel were the same, and Dennis and White Lily were too.
I merely helped them a bit so they could achieve love; I didn’t force people who disliked each other to meet.
[Second, do not engage in NTR or Harem route. ─ Success.]
Click, the sound of a locking mechanism turning came from inside.
[Third, accompany the ‘Nameless Saintess’ from start to now. ─ Success.]
[Welcome, Player Lee Soo-hyun.]
“….”
I just remembered.
These are the conditions for the Saintess route.
*
Stepping into the tightly closed iron door, we found ourselves in a place.
“…A mirror?”
It was a room with mirror-like walls, similar to the booth we created during the summer festival.
The glass distorted, enlarged, and flickered the human form.
Even though we were inside the shrine, Pina explored eagerly like an excited puppy.
Surely there must be some exam here, and there should be a manager too.
“Welcome! Travelers!”
As expected, we seemed to have slipped past the Hero Church’s pursuit.
A red dwarf with a beard made of flames greeted us warmly.
“Nice to meet you, descendant of Berg.”
“Oh, you know our ancestors! I am Grundle!”
The unmoving mountain. The administrator descended from the Ten Heroes who died in battle. Grundle offered us a sheepish smile while exhaling small flames.
This guy was the NPC who guided people through the maze.
We were currently trapped in a glass room, unable to move. I had thought we were supposed to step into the mirror.
“Mr. Grundle, we came to challenge the exam.”
After all, the Pantos exam was structured so that emotions would entangle like a maze, and we had to escape.
Saying this, the administrator would allow us to enter through the large mirror in the center.
On a large mirror adorned with gold, Pina and my reflections were displayed oppositely.
“Yeah, we came to become heroes together with Licht.”
Pina nodded multiple times, clenching her hands tightly as she looked between me and the dwarf.
Her mind was made up. Unlike before, she didn’t seem scared or lost.
“Then, you must choose who among you will enter.”
A hand blocked us from leaping into the mirror. The dwarf shook his head with an annoyed expression.
Is something wrong?
“Are you saying one of us must enter..?”
“Every shrine’s exam is like that. Hero of Conviction.”
That was something I had never heard before.
Hearing this strange information about every shrine’s exam made me tilt my head in confusion.
“The trials of the shrine are all related to ‘others,’ not oneself.”
Grundle began to circle around us as he spoke.
Pina observed the sword slung over her back carefully and squinted at my helmet.
“It seems you once relied on the God of Will.”
“Ah, yes. If it’s Tardun’s shrine… I drank a potion there.”
He asked if either of us had previously passed the God of Will’s test.
When I confirmed, his mouth turned downwards.
“Pantos’s test is the same.”
Just then, Grundle’s footsteps stopped abruptly. He reached out to the full-length mirror in front of him and pulled something out.
So, we could enter the mirror after all.
“If you gain something, you must lose something as well.”
“Isn’t that from the [Potion Series]..?”
What he was holding was a potion.
It was similar to what I had drunk in a valley cave, but a different kind.
“That’s right. But this one has a bit of a peculiar effect. A potion of forgetfulness, which makes the drinker lose their memory.”
“……!!”
The gray liquid splashing in the vial.
Grundle held the unpleasant potion, which felt more like a sticky substance, towards Pina and me.
“Stop spouting nonsense. Something like a Holy Sword would be….”
I gritted my teeth and yelled at him.
Normally, an NPC who would just let us in was acting like this, so I thought it must be a trap.
I hadn’t even become the Nameless Saintess yet, and he was telling me to drink a potion that would make me forget my memories?
It sounded like a huge problem, and I almost drew my sword.
“Hey, calm down, Hero of Conviction. The Hero of Affection already possesses the Holy Sword, doesn’t she?”
“….What did you say?”
But he exhaled out the flickering flames and sighed deeply. Then, Grundle reached for the sword on Pina’s back.
“…See? That’s why there’s very little we can do in our shrine.”
Immediately, shards of glass embedded themselves in the dwarf’s palm. It meant that those without ownership couldn’t touch it.
Since when did this happen? No, thinking back,
‘Intinium was defeated by Pina, not Ariel.’
I recalled the half-sliced deck of cards. If Ariel had dealt with it, it would have turned to ashes.
From the beginning, she had been wielding the Holy Sword as a hero.
Even when Magic Hat attacked, she didn’t fall for the lies, and neither did the Head.
“When did you start using that sword, Pina?”
“…Since I was little.”
I asked multiple times, but Pina hadn’t told me how she obtained the Holy Sword.
The shining glass sword. The handle looked oddly familiar.
Pina said she just didn’t remember her childhood. It had been there from some point onward.
“To create the exam location inside that mirror, you must drink this potion.”
“Is there…. no other way?”
“There isn’t. The emotions of the one who drinks it become the maze, and they must escape it as part of the exam.”
In the original game, it wasn’t like this.
Damn, no matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t come up with a solution. Since it had come to this, I’d have to get stronger and defeat the Demon King…
“Licht. Shouldn’t I be the one to drink this..?”
“Absolutely not!”
I shouted in desperation. Pina lowered her tail, looking scared.
The gray potion in her hands confused me.
“Why can’t I? Licht will come to save me like always, right?”
“….”
I couldn’t easily answer.
If I lost my memory here, I felt like I would revert back to being the Nameless Saintess I once knew.
I might disappear like Pina, who was as pure as a blank sheet of music.
My fist clenched tightly, forming a fist.
‘I can’t let her be unhappy.’
I hurriedly snatched the potion from Pina’s grasp.
While I had harbored a crush on the Saintess Pina, I couldn’t let my personal desires plunge her into misery.
“I’ll drink it. That’s the right thing to do.”
I should have noticed the moment I entered the Pantos shrine.
Looking at the state window that checked if I was on the ‘Saintess Route,’ I should have prepared for something like this.
I wouldn’t be played by the developer’s schemes any longer.
“If you do that, Licht will lose his memory. No way. Don’t do it.”
“…I don’t care.”
I was lying to her.
A bad person lying and deceiving a girl wearing a red cloak.
“How can I just give up my memories for you?”
“Why are you going so far? Licht..?”
Look at her now. I’m such a foolish coward, scared of my truth coming to light before that innocent Pina.
‘What the hell is this pure-hearted love knight bullshit…’
The metallic taste of blood in my mouth kept blocking my words.
Would she understand if I told her the truth here?
Would she think of me as a weirdo?
What if I told her I came to this world because I was infatuated with my miserable future self?
Would she hate me?
“….”
But there is a limit to stacking up lies.
Ultimately, feelings shouldn’t be hidden from each other.
“Before that, there’s something I want to tell you, Pina. No…”
If only I had been honest from the start.
“….Saintess.”
