Aily
by Afuhfuihgs
I held Ellie in my arms and stepped over the closet. The club room was just as I remembered. But instead of a club member who should be in the club room, another person was sitting on the sofa, looking at me. A person who felt out of place in this club room.
It was the Saintess.
“How… here.”
As if she had no intention of answering my question, the Saintess approached and reached out to Ellie in my arms. As I watched the divine power emanating from her hand, I could see Ellie’s wounds healing in an instant. It was closer to regeneration than healing.
Realizing that Ellie was breathing comfortably, I realized that I no longer needed to go to the ward and laid her near the bed close to the fireplace. Only after covering her with a blanket over her shoulders and putting the Lily Mask into the space warehouse could I talk to the Saintess.
“…It doesn’t seem like it was a coincidence that the Saintess was waiting beyond the closet.”
The raccoon that suddenly appeared and told me about Ellie’s danger, Ellie who was in danger of her life after falling into the Order’s trap like in the novel. And even Headmaster Nelson who appeared to save us….
When I thought about it calmly, there were more than one or two strange things. Even the fact that the Saintess, who doesn’t come near the capital to avoid Roel, is at Transcendence Academy was the biggest sense of incongruity.
“It’s not a coincidence.”
The Saintess, who shrugged her shoulders and gave a short reply, said.
“Nelson explained everything to me.”
“Explained…?”
“Nelson had known how he would die for a long time.”
“…What, what do you mean.”
I didn’t understand what the Saintess was saying. No, I understood the words themselves. But I couldn’t understand Nelson, who acted that way while knowing his death. If he avoided the Order’s trap, Nelson could have lived.
No, maybe I was thinking too negatively. If he had known for a long time like the Saintess said, Nelson could have prepared for his death a long time ago, just like I avoided death by finding and destroying the artifact I had denied in advance.
Unlike the novel, Roel wasn’t there. There might have been enough variables for Nelson not to die.
But as if she predicted such thoughts, the Saintess said in a calm voice.
“Nelson is still alive, but he can’t avoid death. No, he won’t avoid death.”
“…Why?”
He won’t avoid death. For some reason, those words sounded very ominous to me. It was a word that seemed like it would stay in my mind for a long time.
“Because that’s Nelson’s role in the novel.”
“…What?”
After a moment of silence, the Saintess opened her mouth with a faint smile.
“In the novel, Nelson’s departure was to serve as the protagonist’s awakening. Roel realizes his powerlessness against the Order and has a mental awakening.”
“But Roel wasn’t there.”
“You were there instead.”
I was speechless at the short answer. What does that mean? So, Nelson chose death to awaken me?
“I’m….”
“You couldn’t do anything against Confession like Roel in the novel, could you?”
I stared blankly at the Saintess, who spoke in a strict and cold voice as if she was making an evaluation.
“Because I’m weak… Nelson chose death?”
“It’s not the whole reason, but it’s part of it.”
I glared at the Saintess. When I urged her to explain in a way that I could understand, the Saintess glanced at me and said in a strong tone.
“Nelson’s departure is essential for us. It’s a fixed event that always happens in other worlds as well. Even if we exclude the reason of the protagonist’s awakening, it’s an important scene that announces the first appearance of the Pontiff, and it’s an event that triggers the Pontiff, who has obtained a reasonable causality, to be unable to move immediately because of the great magician Nelson who fought at the risk of his life.”
I realized that the Saintess’s explanation matched what I had thought when I was a writer. The departure of the most reliable person in the world gives the protagonist an opportunity to awaken, and in order to show the readers Nelson’s power, I even added the setting of the Pontiff and Confession’s temporary departure for recovery.
It was to include a story of Roel awakening and growing, but now that the Order has become the final enemy, it has become a necessary thing as the Saintess said. If Nelson avoids the Order’s trap to avoid death, it gives the Pontiff, who has obtained causality, the probability to act freely.
Knowing that, Nelson didn’t avoid his death. For everyone, for the sake of the story’s flow, Nelson did his part. I know that I have to accept it that way. But, but… Nelson was the first person I thought I could trust in this world.
He’s the only person who supported and believed in me before I met Luna. Knowing how Nelson would be kicked out, I didn’t care because I thought it was a distant event that wouldn’t happen right away. But it wasn’t a distant event.
Knowing that my dad was in danger, I thought that parting was far away. And I regretted it to death. I desperately vowed never to have such regrets again. And yet, I neglected Nelson’s death again.
If I, the writer, had stepped in, wouldn’t Nelson’s story have been different? Such an arrogant thought painfully pierced the valves of my heart.
“Nelson knew everything from the beginning. That you were possessed, that this world is a world in a novel… even things that I, the Saintess, didn’t realize.”
He knew from the beginning that I wasn’t Ross…? But Nelson always gave me a lot. He gave me the opportunity to make precious friends, and he gave me the opportunity to be with Luna, who has become my whole life. Was it all Nelson’s plan?
“Nelson received memories from someone in another world and found and read my Akashic Records. That was… an unexpected variable. Nelson hid that fact from me until the end and secretly moved for his plan.”
“…What plan.”
“That’s something you’ll be able to realize on your own.”
The Saintess lowered her head slightly and looked into my eyes. Somehow, I could feel the comfort in those eyes.
“Maybe you won’t be able to forgive Nelson at that moment.”
I burst out laughing at the bitter voice. Even if all of that is a plan, I will never resent Nelson. After all, the reason I’ve been able to endure until now is all thanks to Nelson.
The Saintess gave a bitter smile at my words. After a moment of silence, the Saintess straightened her back and said.
“Nelson expects you to fulfill your ‘role’.”
“…Role?”
“We all have our own roles, don’t we?”
At that moment, I felt an ominous feeling in the Saintess’s voice. But the Saintess’s hand was already touching my head. I tried to say something to the sadness in the eyes of the Saintess who was looking at me. But the voice only lingered in my throat.
“I said that last time was the last time, but I didn’t know we would meet again like this. I thought we parted on pretty good terms… I guess I had some regrets.”
I could feel my body tilting to one side. She slowly laid my limp body on the sofa as if handling a precious object.
“I guess the last thing you said to me made me that happy. Anytime, in any world… you were always like that to me.”
There was tenderness in the hand that was arranging my disheveled hair. My eyelids are heavy. I couldn’t do anything but wait for my whole body to droop and fall into a deep sleep.
“I’m the one who made your life hell, but you always try to save me for other reasons. By chance, while walking down the street, because I needed your strength, just because you had the余裕/yeoyu… The reasons were so diverse that I even started to look forward to the moment I first met you every time.”
The inside of my heavily closed eyelids is dark, but I could see something else. The moment countless me meet the Saintess, and make promises that I can’t keep.
“…Jin Sian is such a fool. This is the conclusion I came to after repeating this mistake several times.”
Now I could understand. Why the Saintess looked at me with those eyes at our first meeting, why she left with a smile that I could never forget… how Jin Sian and Aily’s story ended unilaterally.
“Now I’m going to fulfill my role. I’ve been persuaded by Nelson’s plan. So, this is not your fault or mistake. This is my choice.”
With difficulty, I barely lifted my heavy eyelids at the receding tender touch. I couldn’t do anything as I looked at the tears in Aily’s eyes looking down at me. Even though I know what it means to fulfill the Saintess’s role.
“You’ve already saved me several times.”
Aily gave a bright smile that I will never forget.
“So, it’s okay.”
In my fading consciousness, I could hear the name calling me.
“…Good night, Sian-ah.”
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