Chapter 93: The End of Holiness – 5

Chapter 93: The End of Holiness – 5

A light so intense I thought my eyes would go blind.

Yet, a warm light, not so strong as to actually blind the beholder.

Such a strange light enveloped everything around us.

Me, and that Inquisitor Commander.

“……Are you truly choosing the wrong path in the end? The consequences will be…”

“You’re the one who needs to think about the consequences, you bastard.”

However, the reactions of those enveloped in the light were starkly contrasting.

The divine power emanating from the Inquisitor Commander over there visibly weakened, while my body felt as light as when the battle began.

More precisely, no matter what divine magic the Inquisitor Commander tried to use, his divine power wouldn’t gather properly and scattered into the air.

…As if divine power was rejecting him.

And…… I wasn’t merciful enough to just leave him be.

‘She really is a Saintess, I guess. The effectiveness of this is almost embarrassing to compare to our all-nighter potion, isn’t it?’

*Of course. It’s healing powerful enough to normalize a body pushed to its absolute limits, after all.*

Even as I briefly shared my thoughts on the Saintess with Ria, my greatsword didn’t stop.

No potion bottles exploded spectacularly, nor did I throw potions that had converted the Inquisitor Commander’s ‘Divine Restraint’ into a potion, like before.

…Honestly, I wanted to, but I’m only human, so my mana was running low.

‘Alchemist’s Treasury’ is essentially magic that summons degraded potions at the cost of mana, so it was only natural when you thought about it.

“…Ugh.”

“Running out of strength, are we? Well, all the magic that enhanced your body must have vanished.”

“……It seems neither of us has mana to maintain our magic, you’re getting overconfident.”

“Well, because this is my real physical ability, you know?”

Of course, that didn’t mean it led to a loss in my combat power.

The greatsword technique I had learned from Christie, albeit a crude version of the attribute, was proving very useful even at this moment.

The greatsword, which had previously seemed to hold a subtle glow, had now absorbed the surrounding light, burning brightly.

Despite this, the Inquisitor Commander continued to resist until the end… but the outcome was already as good as decided.

No matter how strong someone is, they can’t help but be weak when their specialty, divine magic, is virtually perfectly sealed.

And while I’m not overwhelmingly strong, I’m certainly not someone who’d be called weak anywhere.

In the first place, my combat style involves constantly spamming potions and filling the gaps with physical abilities and greatsword techniques, so there wasn’t any particularly difficult matchup for me.

Thus, the desperate and long battle drew to a close.

***

“…Alright, I admit it. My defeat.”

“……You’re a damn stubborn old man, you know.”

Correction. The fight between me and this crazy old man lasted longer than I thought.

The Saintess’s assistance, which had been continuously maintaining the barrier, was spectacular at first, but its effectiveness quickly waned, and my depleted mana didn’t return either.

Most of all, I had to overcome several crises due to the absolute difference in combat experience.

……I had to sacrifice one of my thighs in his final desperate struggle.

‘It seems like every time something like this happens, one of my limbs always gets messed up, doesn’t it?’

Of course, no matter what, I won.

I could hear the sound of the defense force led by Christie approaching from behind, and next to me, there was the Saintess, who looked quite exhausted.

*Branch point complete!

-> Successfully completed the branch point! However, settlement of rewards will be postponed until the current situation is completely resolved!

*

…A short system message also indicated that everything was over.

I didn’t know why they were postponing the reward payment, or what they were planning to give.

As I was pondering various thoughts, looking at the Inquisitor Commander who had given up resistance and cleanly fainted, a small voice came from beside me.

“……Um…”

“Ah, Saintess-nim. Is there something you want to say?”

“…That voice I heard earlier, was that you?”

……A thought instantly crossed my mind: the damn system bastards didn’t postpone the rewards for nothing.

Actually, I had deliberately mumbled something vaguely into the Saintess’s head, trying to create the effect of God speaking, just to make it a bit dramatic.

No, it seemed like she wasn’t being persuaded at all, so I just pretended to be God speaking; I didn’t have any malicious intent.

…However, I didn’t expect her to figure it out immediately.

*In the first place, that’s a kind of telepathy where your voice is heard in her head, so how could it work properly?*

‘…Did I screw up? Is that it?’

*How would I know? The Saintess in front of you isn’t some game character that acts according to a script.*

As I was racking my brain, wondering what to say and how to explain… I heard a chuckle from beside me.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Ugh… I wasn’t trying to deceive you. It’s just that you weren’t listening at all…”

“Pfft. It’s okay. Thanks to that, I was able to see myself clearly. By the way, you have many talents, truly.”

“Well… I suppose so.”

Saying that, I turned to look, and the Saintess was staring intently at me.

…At first, it felt like she was interrogating me, but as I kept looking, how should I put it… it felt like she was scrutinizing my face?

Anyway, it was a very strange feeling.

“Lucia… was your name?”

“Ah, that’s right. But why?”

“No, just… I was thinking of asking a small favor.”

My shoulders tensed for a moment.

…Since falling into this world, no request from a main character had ever been easy for me.

Therefore, I couldn’t help but feel my energy drain away at the Saintess’s next words.

“Will you… speak comfortably with me?”

“Ehh?”

Without realizing it, a very funny and cute sound popped out of my mouth.

……This is all because of that useless ‘Bewitching Charm’ trait.

Even now, that, that Saintess-nim’s gaze is starting to change!

“It’s nothing much, but you’re the first deep connection I’ve made outside the Grand Cathedral.

And… you’re also someone I can talk to about things I can’t with anyone in the Grand Cathedral.”

“…Aren’t you being too naive? Trusting people so easily like this…”

“It’s a gut feeling. A feeling that if I get close to you, I’ll be able to resolve the questions swirling in my head right now.”

Before I could say anything, the Saintess continued.

“Actually, I’m very confused right now. Many things I used to believe have crumbled… and I don’t even know who or what to trust.

My own reason for existence, and my reason for living, are all full of questions.”

“……”

That’s right.

In my position, it was a branch point, and I knew I was changing the Saintess’s fate, but she herself probably knew nothing.

In the first place, she probably didn’t know much about me.

All she probably knew was my appearance from the shop earlier, and that I had enlightened her to the truth of the church and told her the truth.

Whether she regarded me as a benefactor for telling her the truth and giving her a chance to make a different choice, or thought otherwise, that was up to the Saintess’s heart.

Of course, judging by her current reaction, she seemed to see me as a benefactor, or even more, as someone trustworthy to confide in.

…No matter how I think about it, isn’t she too trusting?

“But… I’ve decided to tackle things one by one. Now I’m finally starting to see what kind of place the church truly is.

Thanks to you, I was able to confront and see the reality I was a part of.”

“…So, you’re saying you trust me?”

“Even if I don’t know other things, my ‘gut feeling’ is usually accurate.

Of course, I also trust you because thanks to you, I was able to escape the misguided path of being manipulated by the church and serving the church instead of ‘Him’.”

…It was a gaze mixed with goodwill, gratitude, and affection.

Is that how one looks at someone who has saved and redeemed their life?

Well, if you think about it, it’s true that I changed the Saintess’s fate, so it’s half-true.

From the Saintess’s perspective, it was a truly improbable twist that the heretic she had come to capture was actually her savior,

But for me, it was a pre-announced branch point.

“So, for the first time, I’m going to try to become ‘friends’ with someone outside the Grand Cathedral.”

“…What does that have to do with speaking comfortably?”

“Oh? The books said that’s the first step to becoming friends, wasn’t it?”

……The even bigger twist was that this Saintess was now asking me to be her friend.

And she was asking if this wasn’t the sequence to follow, saying she’d read it in a book.

…I didn’t realize it in the novel, but perhaps because she grew up only in the Grand Cathedral, she seems to have a subtle, innocent charm.

“…There’s a lot I want to add, but… alright. Instead, let’s start by getting to know each other little by little.”

“Okay. Then, um… but, in a situation like this, what do people usually say…?”

Unfortunately, the Saintess-nim’s friend request led to immense awkwardness.

When someone who only studied what friends were from books met me, with my damn ‘Bewitching Charm’ trait constantly active…

It was pitiful to see the Saintess wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.

No, honestly, it’s not that I didn’t want to say anything, but honestly, the Saintess’s appearance after the branch point I imagined wasn’t this kind of relationship…

In the first place, I had been cooped up in a hospital room for half my life, and even in this world, my connections were limited to Ria, Christie, Lily, and Melini.

Since we had never properly met, it might be natural.

“Well, let’s get to know each other gradually. ……Of course, first, we’ll have to explain the state of this park to the defense force coming over there.”

“……Hmm, I agree. We need to explain about the park… no, about this place that *was* a park, a little, no, a lot.”

It was a natural reaction, as the park had, at some point, gone beyond being a park and become the ruins of a park.

Honestly, I thought it was understandable given that people like me and the Inquisitor Commander had clashed, but that was that, and this was this.

…Naturally, Christie gave me quite a scolding after seeing the state of the park.

She asked what I had been doing without informing her until it got to this point, and why I didn’t just run away if it was going to be like this.

No, to be precise, it was more because of my thigh, which was still profusely bleeding from being pierced, rather than the park.

……Honestly, I hadn’t said much because the topic of conversation the Saintess had brought up earlier was so absurd that I had forgotten about it.

And she also asked why the Saintess, who was beside me, was neglecting such an injury. Seeing her apologize in a meek voice that it was because her divine power was low was an added bonus.