Ch.169Faith

“The goddess is dead?! How?!”

Rosaria, wearing an ordinary nun’s habit instead of her usual saintly robe woven from threads connecting starlight, asked in shock. It was because the divine power had disappeared, causing the sacred relics to lose their power as well.

Fortunately, only three people—all fellow possessors—had seen her naked, which was somewhat of a relief.

The three who unexpectedly saw Rosaria’s naked body had similar reactions. Everyone was unable to hide their shock and confusion at the news of the goddess’s death.

I couldn’t include Leona in this conversation, so I asked for her understanding and sent her away first.

“It’s exactly as I said.”

As my explanation continued, the shock on the faces of the other four deepened.

Of course, every detail was hard to believe. The goddess being bound in chains, the fact that she had separated her personality, and that she died because of an unidentified creature that pierced through her chest—all of it.

But every single detail was true.

“…I killed that thing and buried the goddess’s body, but then the celestial realm itself began to collapse. Looking back now, I think it was because the goddess died and divine power disappeared.”

When my explanation ended with how I returned to earth as the celestial realm collapsed, everyone’s gaze naturally shifted to Laura. Receiving their stares, Laura shook her head.

“I never included such a setting. Why would I put something like that in a novel that isn’t even dark fantasy? Maybe in one of my previous works… but I wouldn’t create some clone creature that kills a goddess by piercing her chest in a romance fantasy.”

“Think about the deaths we’ve experienced, Laura. Don’t you think that’s quite gothic for a romance fantasy?”

“There are plenty of romance fantasies with worse than that, aren’t there?”

Laura glared at Ellisier with an irritated expression. Ellisier waved his hand dismissively, as if letting the words go in one ear and out the other.

“Mira. What does it mean that the world was absorbed?”

While Rosaria tried to stop the two who had started bickering, Priscilla carefully asked me a question.

“I don’t know either. I don’t even know who this woman is who supposedly absorbed my world. But she must be no ordinary person if she brought me here. Maybe she’s also the one who brought all of you here.”

That would make more sense. If the woman who brought me here and the person who brought these four here were different, that would raise even more questions.

After hearing my answer, Priscilla seemed to hesitate for a while before carefully looking up at me.

“Um… I’ve been thinking about this. Given how the goddess specifically emphasized it, could it mean that one of the people you trust is that woman? She wouldn’t warn you not to trust someone you have no connection with.”

Abruptly, Laura and Ellisier stopped their quarreling, and Rosaria, who had been caught between them, turned her head sharply.

“I’ve considered that possibility too.”

I sighed as I responded. At my answer, which was essentially admitting I had my suspicions, Priscilla’s body flinched. Her body began to tremble slightly, betraying her anxious emotions.

I embraced her lightly trembling body and patted her gently.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to suspect you all just because of something like that. After all we’ve been through together. You’re on my side. You always have been, and I believe you always will be.”

We were all fellow possessors, and though we’d walked fine lines together, we’d never crossed them. At the very least, I didn’t want to suspect such people.

“I won’t blindly suspect people of this world either.”

Distrusting everyone would only exhaust me. It would be madness to destroy all the relationships I’ve built on the mere possibility of betrayal.

If I could simply treat the people of this world as fictional characters like these four do, it might be different, but because of my past memories, I couldn’t do that.

“But if it’s true…”

I couldn’t finish saying that we would need to prepare. Because I wasn’t sure how to prepare in the first place.

A woman the goddess would use her final moments to warn me against trusting. Who could such a woman be?

“Ah, anyway! That’s not what’s important right now! The divine power is gone! We need to do something about that first!”

As if trying to change the atmosphere, Rosaria clapped her hands and began speaking hesitantly. The loose chest area of her nun’s habit swayed precariously.

“But what can we do? The goddess is dead…”

Her voice grew increasingly small, as if shrinking. It seemed she had just spoken without any real solution in mind. Her red eyes, filled with distress, turned to me as if begging for help.

“…Mira. Do you have any way…?”

“Probably.”

“Really?!”

Her red eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected a positive answer. I summoned a light spear in my left hand. As golden light burst forth, illuminating the area, her widened eyes calmed down again.

“Here it is. A solution.”

“…”

An awkward silence fell. Everyone probably knew what this object meant to me.

“It’s still divine power, after all. At least it should be enough to maintain the pretense that you, Rosaria, still have divine power. As long as you alone can use it, it doesn’t matter if other priests can’t use their powers.”

Although the emotional resonance is different, this light spear was also awakened by gathered faith. There was no reason it couldn’t become an object of belief.

“…Though I’m not sure if it can affect the holy sword.”

That was the problem. The priests would eventually calm down with healing magic and some deception. But the holy sword not returning was a critical issue.

The holy sword was the symbol of the goddess, and the symbol of the goddess was the holy sword—what would it mean if its light went out? It would negate the significance of Rosaria regaining her power. Suspicion would never fade.

“Even setting aside the holy sword… are you sure about this? What about you, Mira?”

Rosaria carefully gauged my reaction.

“I don’t mind. It’s better than leaving the entire continent in chaos. Even the emperor is in a panic.”

Even when the Starlight Order had fallen into corruption, divine power never disappeared, and this continued until now, with Rosaria established as a saint after the order’s downfall.

Divine power was like an absolute truth, even to those not affiliated with the order.

But now, that symbol of truth had vanished overnight. People who didn’t know the truth naturally fell into panic, and even the emperor was no exception.

Perhaps the only exception was the Sword Saint, still suffering from madness. Of course, that his madness was so severe he couldn’t even comprehend the current situation was far from a good thing.

“With things as they are, maintaining the front lines will be difficult too. How can people who were born and lived in the goddess’s era fight without divine power?”

In the past, this would have been a hellishly desperate situation. After all, the only means of healing had disappeared. But now, divine healing was not absolutely irreplaceable.

The problem was that morale broken by the thought that the goddess had abandoned humanity couldn’t be fixed with healing magic.

“The more rumors spread, the deeper the confusion will grow. Not just those in the order, but ordinary people will panic too. It’ll be incomparably worse than before.”

“…That’s true.”

Rosaria nodded glumly at this easily foreseeable fact. The light from the spear cast shadows on one side of her face.

“Don’t worry about me. It’s not like this is the first time. And this time, I have all of you. You haven’t forgotten how you helped me before, have you?”

Everyone seemed to recall old memories, flinching slightly before avoiding my gaze. Yet their lips were twitching slightly. My words seemed to have had an effect.

“Besides, Rosaria, won’t this be harder for you than for me?”

“Huh? For me?”

Rosaria blinked.

“Why?”

Within less than half a day after divine power disappeared, all people in the empire witnessed the saint ascending the stairway of light toward the battlefield.

The light swirling around her burned demons and healed humans it touched, causing all other humans nearby to bow their heads and kneel.

Although the saint’s face was covered in light, making her expression unreadable, it was clear she must have been filled with joy at performing such a miracle.

Despite Rosaria looking like death warmed over as she became a conduit for miracles using the power of the light spear, people were quickly regaining stability. This was thanks to the rapid spread of rumors about the saint.

It was also because divine power had returned to the priests.

‘…Is it because the worlds merged?’

I didn’t know why divine power had returned. When Rosaria, who had performed fake miracles using the light spear, regained her ability to use the threads connecting starlight, I too had watched with mixed feelings.

It was as if the universe was saying that regardless of how faith was gathered, the result was the same.

‘Still, the chaos has subsided, so I suppose it’s for the best.’

I had told Rosaria to simply keep quiet about why divine power had disappeared. If we remained silent, people would form their own theories.

All we needed to do was pick the most plausible theory, refine it, and announce it. Why should we rack our brains over it? Too troublesome.

However, a rather unique problem had emerged.

“The emperor is seriously considering officially declaring Rosaria’s religion as the state religion.”

“…”

The emperor, who had fallen into panic and then regained his senses after witnessing the miracle, had begun to seriously consider the claim that this was divine punishment for non-believers.

The nation was in danger of transforming from an empire into a theocracy.

“…I went to see the saint first.”

I finished my thoughts and met Leona’s gaze as she sat across from me. There were more pressing matters at hand. Leona awkwardly smiled, holding the holy sword that had regained its light.

“She said she couldn’t answer.”

‘Of course.’

How could she explain when she hadn’t even thought about the reason herself?

“So, Mira.”

Leona placed the holy sword on the table and looked at me calmly.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”