Ch.12342. The Saint’s Manifestation in Arin (1)

After a brief silence, Yuri spoke up.

“No. It’s absolutely not because of Soso!”

But her voice was clearly mixed with emotions. I was certain.

‘So Yuri is still a woman after all. Seems like she’s jealous of Soso.’

At first glance, she appeared to be extremely proud and cool-headed like an adult. But I knew well that she had such vulnerable sides deep inside.

I was one of the few people Yuri had opened her heart to at Eins, no, throughout her entire life. Even during our Eins days, whenever I was meeting with Siwoo or Soso.

It was always Yuri who would urge me to come to her through text messages.

If that jealousy was the cause of her changed behavior, the solution would be rather simple.

I just needed to gently reassure her that my interest was in her, not Soso. I lowered my lips that were near her ear even further down.

With my lips, I lightly bit her earlobe.

“Suddenly this… hik?!”

A month ago. When I spent the night with Yuri at a hotel in Busan, I noticed that her earlobe was sensitive. I pulled the startled Yuri tightly into my arms.

“You know that both Soso and Arin are necessary people for my work. Besides, I have no choice but to be friendly with those two guild members professionally. If you’re sulking like this, wouldn’t that make me uncomfortable?”

“Th-That… I’m sorry…”

“You know, Yuri. How much I liked you back in Eins. Right?”

I said that while looking into her eyes. Her pupils trembled.

“L-Liked? So that means now you don’t…”

“And I still like you now. You should listen until I finish.”

At those words, Yuri blushed so much that her pale cheeks turned bright red, and she tried to avoid my gaze. But soon she raised her head again.

“Then… you don’t really like Soso, right? That can’t happen. This is a hunter guild… now an SS-rank guild, so impure things like office romance absolutely cannot happen!”

“You know well that I’m obsessed with Flame’s work right now. Working through the night. A playboy who likes multiple people at once would need to be really diligent. I don’t have that luxury.”

Of course, if I needed that luxury, I would create it somehow.

I, obsessed with revenge, am more diligent than anyone else on Earth. To the point of working not just by sacrificing sleep but also shortening my lifespan.

But Yuri didn’t seem to doubt me at all because of my gentle tone.

“Still, you shouldn’t overdo it… you need to stay healthy… Red Lake will definitely be destroyed by me and Flame. You need to be healthy then too… so we can again, like in Eins…”

Saying that, Yuri burrowed deeper into my arms. She stayed still in my embrace for a while.

During that interval, I thought about what she said. Contrary to her wishes, I was already unhealthy.

If Yuri were in a calm state, she would have noticed my mana load boiling. But right now, her freezing mana had cooled down my body’s heat to some extent.

So to her, my body would feel like a comfortable temperature, neither hot nor cold. I stroked her long white hair and said:

“Yes. When everything is over. Let’s go see the fire bears again, like last time.”

“Fire bears…? Really? I’m so happy!”

Yuri’s voice seemed filled with happiness.

Not even conscious of the fact that this was Flame’s headquarters. Yuri nestled in my arms and acted spoiled in a way that was unlike her.

Then when my body temperature had warmed up her cold body. Yuri, who had buried her face in my chest, raised her head.

With a face full of embarrassment, Yuri tightly closed her eyes.

“Um… I…”

Yuri soon bit her lips. I couldn’t help but notice what she wanted from me.

“Mmph…”

Soon our lips overlapped, and Yuri’s tongue hurriedly crossed over my lips.

Yuri, who had somehow climbed on top of me, actively sought me out.

“Haa… haa…”

As our lips parted briefly, with her rapid breathing, the mixed saliva between our lips stretched like a thread.

Yuri, embracing my neck again, whispered in my ear.

“You don’t have to hold back if you want. I can give you everything, Minsu…”

It was a sticky and sweet voice unimaginable from Yuri. But I didn’t answer and just hugged her once more.

“Haa… Minsu… just the two of us… together like this…”

But Yuri’s seduction was brief. Soon, her eyes grew languid. And she fell asleep right there in my arms.

I wasn’t surprised. Yuri, with her tension released, had been unconsciously emitting freezing mana that had now loosened.

Just before, even her seductive words were very slow and languid. I glanced at the bottle of sedatives that Yuri had failed to hide completely, visible just beyond.

‘So Yuri too is now…’

It seemed that she was in a very unstable mental state right now. If that was the case, I needed to bind her to me more tightly so she wouldn’t waver.

At that moment. I suddenly recalled what I had said before Yuri fell asleep.

‘Let’s go see the fire bears again…’

Somehow, I had a feeling that wouldn’t happen. But I ignored that thought and laid the sleeping Yuri down on the sofa.

Then I covered her sleeping body with a blanket from the office.

The sensation of Yuri nestling against me just before seemed to linger on my body. But I ignored that feeling and quietly left the office.

***

Several days passed.

After doing only information analysis work for a while, I was assigned field work again after a month.

But this mission was quite different from previous ones.

As Flame had become an SS-rank guild, we received a higher-grade mission from the Association than when we were an S-rank guild.

‘And this mission is directly related to Flame.’

It was a mission regarding Arin’s manifestation as a saint.

Arin had been officially designated as a saint candidate by the Vatican, the papal office of the White Cross Society.

“Ayel directly gave an oracle to the Vatican. Sister Arin’s name was specifically mentioned in that oracle.”

And there was someone briefing me once more about this fact.

Marco, an inquisitor dispatched from the Far East diocese of the White Cross Society. The very person who had directly confirmed my qualification to obtain Parma’s holy fire.

I am now on a plane heading to Taiwan. And there were several people disguised as civilians on board.

Flame’s personnel included me and Yuri. Along with Marco beside me and knights from the Templar Order directly dispatched from the Vatican.

All these people were there to safely escort Arin to the holy land.

Across the plane seats, I noticed pink long hair. Arin, the most important person for this mission, was also disguised in civilian clothes rather than her usual nun’s habit.

And her hair, which had always been short since the Eins days, had already grown long.

After the oracle designating her as a saint candidate came down. I heard from Arin via text that her rapidly increased holy power had even regenerated her hair.

‘Because of that oracle, I haven’t been able to meet Arin directly for a while.’

A saint candidate couldn’t meet privately with men because of the vow of chastity. And Arin had been busy with frequent short-term dispatch missions at the request of the White Cross Society.

I mentally organized the information about the saint’s manifestation that Marco had summarized for me.

That fact didn’t differ much from the prior information I knew through the original work.

Ayel, the god of the White Cross Society. Ayel designated ten saint candidates through an oracle for his saint.

‘That was a precaution to protect the saint.’

The saint is one who directly manifests the power of the god Ayel on earth.

In other words, she can produce holy power that surpasses the power of Parma’s holy fire several times over. No, depending on the saint’s faith, she can create miracles that exceed it dozens of times.

‘Only the saint can fully receive Ayel’s power.’

God exists in a dimension far beyond humans. Unlike mana, which is the energy of nature, holy power is the power of god itself.

If a human receives holy power beyond a critical threshold, the human body cannot withstand that power and collapses.

Only saints or holy men acknowledged by Ayel can use that power without damaging their bodies.

So they are very dangerous beings to arch-demons and villains who follow evil gods. Therefore, for villains, especially Red Lake, they are targets that must be eliminated.

That’s why Ayel designated so many saint candidates. The more candidates there are, the lower the probability that the saint will lose her life.

‘And only one of them can become the true saint.’

That is, Arin is one of those saint candidates.

However, at present, even the Pope of the Vatican couldn’t know which saint candidate would become the saint.

‘Because the saint candidate herself must visit the holy land to know that fact.’

Just as the Slavic Kingdom was fused with the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. There are numerous areas on Earth that have been fused from Ailethan.

Among them are areas called holy lands. The destination of our party was a small island accessible by boat from Taiwan.

That island was the closest holy land in the Far East.

And the mission of our party was to safely bring Arin there.

‘This mission was a secret even to Flame’s guild members.’

Currently, Arin is on short-term dispatch for White Cross Society business. And Yuri and I hid the fact that we were participating in the mission by using personal leave.

That’s how cautiously I had boarded the plane with Arin.

Before arriving at Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan. I mentally reviewed the content of the original work once more.

‘A provisional saint candidate…’

Marco seems to be curious about whether Arin will be the saint or not.

But I was already certain that Arin would become the saint.

‘In the original work, Chae Min-ah became the saint.’

But in the current reality, Chae Min-ah has fallen as one of the 12 apostles of Red Lake and a contractor of an arch-demon. Then the person closest to being the saint instead of the original work’s Chae Min-ah was. Naturally Arin.

And Arin followed Chae Min-ah like an older sister. Since Arin spent her childhood at the same orphanage with Siwoo and Chae Min-ah. The three of them were war orphans.

‘Siwoo…’

According to the original work. It should have been Siwoo and Chae Min-ah heading to Taiwan now as saint candidates. I’m the one who messed up that entire story.

But now Siwoo is dead and Chae Min-ah has fallen. Then I, who owed my life to Siwoo, had to see this reality’s ending in Siwoo’s place.

For a moment, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Why did Siwoo save me?’

I’ve been constantly pondering that fact since regaining consciousness. Siwoo and I were in the same S class in our third year. And we had already been acquainted since our second year.

Me, who was just a minor character in the original work.

There was a time when I was so guilty about Siwoo that even recalling memories with him was painful. But now that reality is flowing similarly to the final chapter of the original work.

I rather, think more about Siwoo. And strengthen my resolve. Perhaps, now I might be able to talk about Siwoo more lightly with Arin too.

While lost in thought, the plane arrived at the airport. And our party hurriedly headed to the ferry terminal through transportation arranged in advance by the Vatican.

Our party boarded a ship at that terminal. With no other passengers, only our current party boarded that ship.

The destination was Ishigaki Island, which once belonged to Japan’s administrative district. Of course, due to dimensional fusion, that island disappeared and a holy land took its place.

The ship set sail toward the holy land. My head was complicated with thoughts about the original work that had continued from the plane.

‘Maybe I should get some sea breeze.’

The passenger ship our party boarded had a structure that allowed going out on deck to view the exterior.

While I was looking at the vast sea, someone suddenly approached and stood next to me.

“Senior. Is it really this hard to have a conversation with you?”

It was my junior with pink hair grown down to her waist. Arin.