Chapter 22. Prayer and Salvation (7)

Gloria looked quite flustered by my words, but eventually nodded.

She returned with a slightly dazed expression, but well, it should be fine.

“My goodness, is that something a saint should say?”

After sending Gloria off, Ria asked me that, but I stared intently at Ria.

“Then, are the actions Ria took towards me the actions a knight should take?”

We both laughed, looking at each other.

As I grabbed the terrace railing and stood, Ria came and stood next to me.

I could see people walking around the town below the royal palace. Elves, who weren’t visible at all when I first came here, are now quite numerous.

Although I couldn’t see every single expression in detail, I could immediately tell that they were not positive emotions.

The faces of people who experienced hell for the past year.

“…….”

These people have started to believe in me, little by little.

What kind of prayers do elves make? What kind of salvation do they seek? Even when believing in the same being, the form of faith changes depending on the region and the traditions passed down.

What would the elves, who were living perfectly fine just a year ago, think when they see us here on this land?

How do they believe and think of me?

Suddenly, an elf who was carrying a wooden box from below looked up at me.

As if suddenly grabbed while walking, the elf stared intently at me.

Then, an elf passing by felt a strange atmosphere and also looked up this way.

One by one, the number kept increasing. Eventually, all the elves around me were looking at me.

What they are thinking, I still can’t know.

“……Ria.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you really, truly pull them down?”

When I asked, Ria chuckled.

“Oh, of course. I’ll ‘definitely’ pull them down.”

I laughed at Ria’s words.

*

About two weeks later.

“Magic power…”

I went up to a lookout tower installed near the concrete wall and looked into the distance, muttering.

I had rushed here as soon as I received the report, and indeed, I could see magic power points beyond that. The surrounding area was already darkly contaminated with magic power.

There were one, two, three… no, not a number that could be counted separately.

They probably didn’t delay after discovering it. In this world too, as long as it doesn’t rain magic power from above, it’s possible to operate strategic assets.

For two weeks, people worked day and night.

At first, it seemed they thought of enclosing the entire gate area and the royal capital with those concrete walls, but due to the constant coming and going through the gates, they lacked manpower and equipment.

So, somehow, a long oval concrete wall was built near the gate, and a long concrete wall was also built from the royal capital towards the gate.

In between, other small fortresses were established. A road was paved from the gate to the royal capital, and fortresses were densely installed in between to serve as a connected barrier. In fact, even if a barrier is erected, it’s meaningless if the inside is empty.

And that’s not the only problem. The reason for dividing the area into individual fortresses was that the beings gathered here were too heterogeneous.

Elves from other territories, or soldiers from other countries on Earth. And a few soldiers from different worlds than ours.

Although it was not a choice that the government of this country was particularly happy with, the Papal See expressed particular concern about my safety.

Well, I’m not just famous in my own country.

Holy War.

Such talk was circulating.

Those who respected me were mostly concentrated in Rome and Seoul- but the talk about the ‘Holy War’ was different.

“……Gate.”

Yes. Demons consider the power of the gates as a gift from God to them. Although not precise, it’s at least a detail that briefly appeared in novels describing this world.

If you ask whether all the gates in the universe are because of demons, that’s not the case, but demons could possibly control the frequency of those gates appearing.

“Although it seems they can’t properly create gates on Earth.”

Ria said from the side.

“……Right.”

I still don’t know the reason why.

More than ten years ago, the world was on the verge of collapse. Numerous gates appeared everywhere.

And the disappearance of those gates-

……It’s similar to when the first saint appeared and disappeared. A being whose appearance was known, but whose body couldn’t even be found despite fighting with countless people.

“Well, stories about saints vary depending on who tells them. We don’t even know who first named them ‘Saint’. Some people consider them a product of the subconscious magic created by humanity’s collective consciousness.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Who knows.”

Ria said.

“Black hair, white skin, white clothes, wasn’t that it? It’s a universal ideal of beauty, but if you ask if it’s the appearance that all of humanity would have drawn as an ideal, it’s a bit ambiguous, isn’t it?”

Ria looked at me.

“And now… you exist like this. Perhaps, they might have sent you before a second catastrophe occurred on Earth. Perhaps the second catastrophe was prevented because of your existence.”

I lowered the telescope and looked at Ria.

……The period I was on Earth was about 15 years.

Yes. In terms of duration, it could be said to be just after the gate catastrophe concluded.

Ria seemed to have reached that conclusion through her own reasoning.

If the reason demons, or their followers, targeted the saint in the original work was that.

I recalled once again that the saint had disappeared.

But before I could fall deep in thought, Ria spoke first.

“There’s one difference, though.”

Ria looked me straight in the eye and said.

“At least you won’t be unable to find your body.”

“Does that mean we can find the body?”

“……It means I will protect you.”

I looked up at Ria.

I could feel the gazes of the people around me, but it didn’t matter.

What’s wrong with looking at the face of the person you love before a battle?

I approached Ria and stood on my tiptoes slightly.

Ria hugged me and lightly kissed my lips.

Someone cheered. It was ‘just one person’. I don’t know who it was. Actually, it was a bit strange for someone to cheer at the scene of a saint and her exclusive knight… no, someone who would become another saint, kissing.

Seeing Ria frown as if annoyed, I could somewhat guess who it was.

Someone clapped at the cheer, and the sound of applause spread around. A few knights looked flustered, but I decided to leave them be.

“Alright, let’s get busy now.”

“……The mood was good just a moment ago.”

Since Ria wouldn’t let go of me, I slapped Ria’s armor with my hand.

Thump.

Ah, it hurts a bit again.

*

[Leave the gate to us.]

Anna’s voice came through the receiver.

[We will do our best to protect it.]

Marie’s voice too.

I nodded and said I would leave it to them.

[The gnomes are busy working. Surely, even if there are some problems with the machinery, they can fix them right away.]

In the magic power, the devices that best withstand magic power are, of course, devices powered by magic power. Gnomes have excellent talent in handling such devices. And-

[Of course, our dwarves too.]

‘The larger the equipment,’ and ‘the more magic power required.’ The skills of dwarves become more useful.

Soon, rain will pour from the sky. The existence of dwarves, who store magic power in their bodies and use it for magic, was reassuring.

“……The preparations are complete.”

I looked up at the sky.

Dark clouds that looked like they would rain any moment.

However, the atmosphere was different from ordinary gray dark clouds. Even just looking at them, they were dark clouds with an ominous atmosphere, as if black rain would pour down.

Looking down, the first person I saw was Ria.

And then, people from the Hunter Association. Gloria and Si-yun were there too, and Faina and Ferti were also there.

“Thank you, everyone.”

Verena, standing at the forefront of the knight order, hit her chest with her fist.

I wanted to ask where that faith came from… but if I asked that at this moment, wouldn’t the atmosphere become too mythical?

I decided to hold back.

I’ll ask later.

“…….”

I chuckled involuntarily. It was funny for some reason. That I was thinking such thoughts even in this situation.

The soldiers suddenly started moving busily. Did they see something moving in the distance?

Someone was shouting that something huge was moving.

……Whatever it is, we’ll eventually see it.

“Let’s go!”

At my words, the knights began to move.

Ria and I turned our bodies back- and headed towards the exit created between the concrete walls.

A white horse was waiting for us.

Even though I’d seen it so many times, the horse whinnied as if happy and looked at us.

When I stroked its nose, the horse closed its eyes.

Ria got on the horse’s back first. I sat behind Ria’s back.

Finally, I could see beyond the gate.

Indeed, beyond that- a colossal being stood. A being larger than the demons I had seen directly.

A storm raged around us.

Was it because of me, a single person, that such a thing didn’t happen on Earth?

Was this world… before that?

…….

No, perhaps.

Perhaps it was because, besides me, there were countless believers created by that first saint.

As the Pope said, there were many praying people. A world overflowing with holy power rather than magic power.

Perhaps that’s why I was able to descend.

“Saint-nim.”

Verena called me.

“If you need it.”

And handed me a flag.

It was similar to the flag I had heard about last time- but on it, a certain emblem was embroidered with dark red thread.

Unlike the cross I had roughly drawn- a praying maiden was embroidered.

And in the middle of her hair, there were unusually red strands.

…….

That sacred embroidery was probably embroidered with thread stained with my blood.

I almost looked at Verena with a look of annoyance.

No, even a stalker wouldn’t do this much.

……Well, even so, Verena probably didn’t do it alone.