episode_0167

After sending Lilyss and her guardian, Ethan, back to the dormitory from the private hospital room at the church.

As Serista tidied up the private hospital room where Lilyss had been staying until just now, she quietly pondered her own worries that she couldn’t share with anyone else.

“It definitely felt…”

The mysterious yet familiar power that she had sensed from Lilyss’s body.

Serista had been examining and treating Lilyss’s body up close for the past three days.

Already among the children of the church, she was the one who could handle the strongest sanctity.

It was only natural that Serista had diligently developed her talents as a priestess.

Her ability to handle sanctity was so exceptional that she could be considered worthy of the title of a saint, surpassing the abilities of ordinary intermediate priests.

Moreover, compared to other priests, she could react much more sensitively even to the smallest amount of sanctity, which was the ability she currently possessed.

Even the very faint power that could be felt from Lilyss’s body, Serista could confidently identify it as sanctity.

It was a sanctity so weak that one could never possess it without receiving priestly consecration from the church.

“Perhaps… you were previously consecrated as a priest by the church…”

She briefly considered that possibility, but it was a story that had no chance of being true.

To prevent sanctity from spreading indiscriminately, the Aurelia Church strictly managed priestly consecrations, only bestowing them on a predetermined number of individuals every five years.

To prevent an individual from being overwhelmed by too much power, it was also a principle not to consecrate nobles or those of noble descent.

However, in Lilyss’s body that she had examined closely for three days, there was an undeniable sanctity that could not be hidden, despite being faint.

It was only natural for Serista to have doubts after Lilyss’s response that she was a noble.

“Perhaps Lilyss…”

Of noble descent, and yet possessing sanctity ingrained in her body even without consecration as a priest.

As someone who could not fail to understand what that meant, Serista’s heart was gradually filled with unease.

She could easily realize that she was the ‘true saint’ that the Aurelia Church had once sought so desperately, unlike the ‘fake saint’ she had been created as.

*Sigh.*

“….”

Still sitting on the bed where Lilyss’s sanctity faintly lingered, Serista fell into deep thought.

Would revealing the fact that she had found the ‘true saint’ that the Aurelia Church had been searching for be a good choice at this moment?

For the sake of the hero, would it not be more helpful for the future if the true saint herself, rather than someone like her who was only at the level of a high-ranking priest, could assist in a crisis?

…And if she were to discover the existence of the true saint, what consequences would she face?

Serista did not know the reason why she had not been able to find the true saint during the saint search mission, but at least she was keenly aware of how precarious her position was.

Created as the ‘fake saint’ for the high-ranking priests to shift their responsibilities onto.

Suddenly approached by high-ranking priests as a prospective priest from an orphanage, they had forcibly turned her into a saint five years ago.

At first, she was simply satisfied with eating slightly tastier food than usual and being able to sleep on a soft bed instead of a hard mattress.

But as time passed and her responsibilities grew heavier, Serista became acutely aware of how burdensome the title of saint she possessed was.

Under the constant weight of that burden, there were times when she wanted to abandon the title of saint and run away.

Perhaps what the world needs more than a fake, fragile saint like herself is the real saint.

Serista was convinced that she possessed the courage to face even a giant monster like a Kraken calmly and would be much more helpful to the world and the heroes.

…Of course, the question of whether she could tell the truth she had discovered to the main church was a completely different issue from the thoughts running through her head.

“If I were to tell the main church about this….”

It wasn’t difficult for her to imagine what would become of her future now that she had become useless as a fake saint.

If she were to be stripped of her saintly position and return to being a normal priestess, it wouldn’t matter.

Or even if she were to be expelled from the church and excommunicated for impersonating a saint, she could accept it to a certain extent.

However, Serista instinctively felt that the title of fake saint she had assumed was not a problem that could be easily resolved.

The moment she revealed that she was actually a fake saint and had found the real saint, she would undoubtedly be removed to restore the church’s honor and silence any opposition.

With the dishonor of being labeled a “priestess impersonating a saint.”

“I don’t want that….”

Why had she ended up in a position where she had to ponder such weighty matters?

She had vaguely realized that the responsibility of acting in accordance with the title of saint was heavy from the moment she began to act as a saint in earnest.

But she had never expected that it would entail sacrificing her life to uphold justice in times of crisis.

Having not appeared for over five years, she had thought that the real saint had either disappeared or ceased to be a saint.

If the real saint truly did not appear, she had vowed to do her best as a mere priestess to become the hero’s saint.

Contrary to Serista’s expectations, the prophesied saint still remained, and even the potential of the saint remained.

In the end, she had to make a choice with her own hands.

Would she willingly sacrifice her life for the world, overturning the dishonor, and instead call the real saint, Lillis, to the Aurelia Church?

Or would she continue to pretend to be a saint and ignore the impending crisis in the future?

“Hero…. We’ve only just met….”

Their relationship had started with him rescuing her from monster attacks from their first meeting.

He had protected her without any doubt, even from those who had doubted her qualification as a saint, despite having met not long ago.

The hero who had continuously maintained her honor as a fake saint, even going so far as to say that it didn’t matter if she wasn’t a saint when they were alone.

To Serista, the hero was like the knight on a white horse from a fairy tale, and she had already fallen in love with him long ago.

Her desire to stay by his side for as long as possible and her willingness to sacrifice herself and crown the real saint for the hero.

For a twenty-year-old girl in love, it was an incredibly harsh choice.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Swordsmanship Department, Hero’s Dormitory.

Gyethmajo Shegikwot Volt, the top student of the 1st year in the Swordsmanship Department of Luminoir Academy and a prominent hero of prophecy, was also grappling with considerable worries due to the incident that had occurred two days ago.

After being reincarnated as a hero in the world of Luminoir Academy, he was the character who had undergone the most significant changes compared to the original. The pig, Confucius, Edan.

No, the title he faced in this world was not like a pig monk from the moment they first met.

In fact, he was closer to a lean, muscular physique rather than being overweight enough to be called a pig monk.

Edan of the Twin Swords.

It was a simple title, but it held meaning for him.

At least it wasn’t a negative title like pig monk, so it was clear that he wouldn’t just be a villain like in a game.

Moreover, it had been half a year since they first met, with an additional month passing by now.

The hero was already convinced that he was a different person from Edan Richard Blackwood in the game.

Therefore, initially, the hero considered the possibility of Edan being a possessor or a returnee.

“Perhaps, it might be a return instead of possession.”

Due to the incident two days ago, the hero’s speculation had changed slightly.

Seeing Release in a state of cardiac arrest on the lakeside promenade, his bewildered and unsure demeanor.

Above all, his anger towards himself for trying to perform CPR and his unwavering vigilance until the end made it not difficult to realize that he was not a possessor.

If he had been a possessor, he would have naturally had knowledge of CPR and would have attempted chest compressions to save Release before he arrived.

With one possibility gone, there were now two remaining possibilities.

One is that Edan is not a ‘possessor’ but a ‘returnee,’ living a second life after dying once in the future.

If that’s not the case, the other possibility is…

“Could it be someone other than Edan?”

The possibility that someone else around him changed him from ‘Pig Monk Edan’ to ‘Edan of the Twin Swords.’

Though the catalyst was coincidental, the hero was getting closer to the right answer.