Ch.21Saintess Eirene (1)

# Saintess Eirene (1)

Eirene had always been one of the most promising Saintess candidates.

With her outstanding appearance and innate divine power, everyone could predict that she would become the Saintess of her generation.

While that did come true, the process was unexpectedly dishonorable.

“I resign from my position as a Saintess candidate!”

“……”

She didn’t become the Saintess by surpassing all other candidates; she became one by being the only one left after everyone else disappeared.

She had always held an unrivaled position among the Saintess candidates, but the situation itself was a blemish.

-How stupid.

-Doesn’t she see what’s happening when all the other candidates are resigning?

-They said she was the closest to being a Saintess, but her head is completely white too.

Moreover, the Divine God Order was in a bad state. The previous Pope’s disgraceful actions had gone too far.

No, what he did was beyond what could be described as disgraceful.

He deserved to be called a heretic and ultimately met a fitting end.

However, as is often the case, chaos follows when a group executes its own king. When such an act involves the loss of the most important symbolism, the country essentially falls.

Yes, the Order had fallen.

One could say the situation was worse than for an ordinary country.

Their symbol had to be unique, and once lost, the place that should have been a sanctuary became essentially a prison without bars.

-I heard the Pope tried to become a god himself? They say the Divine God disappeared in anger, yet these people still call themselves the Divine God Order? Do they have no conscience?

The Divine God Order had lost its god.

Because of one person’s greed. Because of a foolish heretic who, not content with worshipping the god, wanted to become the god itself.

As a result, the Divine God no longer spoke to the believers.

No oracles descended, and no miracles occurred.

All that remained was the divine power bestowed upon them during baptism.

It’s ironic that even that is now viewed as a stigma.

“What strange people.”

Eirene remained in such a place.

As a Saintess—a title that should have been most honorable but had now become a symbol of foolishness.

“We were meant to believe in and love the Divine God, not to be beings who expect the Divine God’s love in return. When did the Order start demanding reciprocal love from the Divine God?”

She simply wanted to have faith.

Because that’s how she was taught. Because she loved such a place. Was that wrong?

Is it so shameful to say you want to worship a god?

No, it isn’t.

It couldn’t be.

That’s what she thought, but…

“What?”

One day, a pile of bodies was discovered in one of the monasteries belonging to the Divine God Order.

From children to adults. All were found dead together as if they had fallen asleep.

The cause of death was starvation.

Unable to receive support proportionate to the Order’s size, they had all starved to death after struggling with hunger.

The children weren’t abused, and the nun who ran the monastery was a devout and good person, making the shock indescribable.

Yes, they had struggled but ultimately couldn’t overcome their financial hardship.

“Ah…”

Eirene wept bitterly before the horrific scene. She saw nuns who had died before the children.

There were marks on the floor where children had dragged themselves, unable to carry the nuns, begging to save them.

Despite this, she could vividly imagine the exhausted children drawing their last breaths, others watching them, one by one giving up on life, waiting for their moment of death in the arms of those they loved.

She felt sorrow. She knew the Divine God Order wasn’t what it used to be.

Yes, at first she thought it didn’t matter.

What was more important—the power of the Order or the devotion of its believers?

But religion had long since become a deeply rooted community in society.

Eirene belatedly realized this. She understood the real reason why the Divine God Order was considered truly fallen.

“Ah, I see. Being good and devout alone isn’t enough.”

At first, she confronted the situation.

She met with the current Pope to report the series of incidents and demanded answers.

But she couldn’t finish her words. She saw the Pope’s expression—one of infinite exhaustion.

Yes, this was the situation after the previous Pope had committed such acts. The Divine God Order had shrunk, and even Saintess candidates had resigned one after another.

In such circumstances, what kind of person would take on the role of the next Pope?

“Saintess, I did my best.”

“The world wasn’t such a hopeful place. That’s why everyone hopes and prays for miracles.”

The Pope of that era was a sacrificial lamb.

After being passed around and passed on, he had chosen to bear this fate himself—how could he not know about this situation?

The Pope spoke with a breaking heart. He said they would see many more such sights in the future.

It wasn’t that the Order didn’t support them. Even if they had used everything the Order possessed, it wouldn’t have been enough.

The Divine God Order had once been the largest religious power, receiving many donations and using them to increase the number of monasteries and churches.

And then the previous Pope committed an incredibly stupid act, making it impossible to maintain that entire scale.

They couldn’t reduce the number of monasteries and orphanages just because the Order had shrunk.

That would mean selecting people to leave to die.

Yes, so, therefore.

Everyone was hungry.

Everyone suffered together.

And among those who suffered, the weakest died.

This was the reality of what she had thought must have involved someone’s malice.

The truth was that they had to die amid the harshness of the world, not because of malice.

“Haha…”

It would have been better if someone had embezzled the money.

If there had been clear malice, she could have at least harbored resentment.

She could have at least blamed someone!

But that wasn’t the case.

The Order had already fallen, and those who remained were people who had endured solely on responsibility and faith.

Yes, they all knew.

That an even harsher winter was coming. That no matter how deep their faith, they couldn’t escape the cold wave that would arrive.

“This isn’t right.”

So Eirene made a decision.

If the Order had weakened and caused this, she would make it strong again.

“Sin shouldn’t be inherited. One person committed the sin, so why must everyone bear it?”

“Saintess.”

“Your Holiness, this can’t continue. Everyone shouldn’t have to bear the sin. Your Holiness, you’re in that position to bear that responsibility, aren’t you?”

“…That’s right.”

Eirene stabbed the Pope’s heart with her righteous gaze.

She had been forced to become a sacrificial lamb.

That’s why she didn’t know how to do anything. She was still living as a good and devout believer.

No, they were all dying together.

This couldn’t continue. She was responsible for not just one or two people.

She had to embrace evil. She had to immerse herself in filth. She had to stabilize the Order by any means necessary.

“If you won’t do it, Your Holiness, then I will.”

“It will be an unforgivable act.”

“I don’t need forgiveness.”

Eirene ultimately decided to take on the filth in place of the Pope who couldn’t bear the responsibility. Before everyone froze to death in the cold wave, she had to light a fire, even if it meant cutting down living trees.

And that’s what she did.

She actively took control of factions within the Order. She used them to infiltrate political forces within the empire.

She began to lie habitually.

She seized weaknesses and used evidence of acts that could be branded as heresy.

She began to suppress them with force.

Fortunately, while the Order’s authority had weakened, its power remained intact.

Because fanatics more devout than anyone had bloodied their hands in the name of inquisitors to purify the world.

And now Eirene had to stand at their forefront.

She grew the Order by committing acts that others pointed fingers at and cursed.

It was common for her white robe to be stained with blood, and she became accustomed to hearing human screams.

She shed the most blood and made others shed blood to increase the Order’s influence.

And she concealed and deceived everything, presenting a symbol of pure white.

Everything was a lie from the beginning.

A hypocrite hiding twisted intentions behind a mask of falsehood.

A ruler who sacrifices the few for the many.

A murderer who can never be forgiven.

“Ah, Divine God. Divine God who abandoned us. Please do not pity me. Condemn me as a witch, burn me, and bring divine punishment upon me.”

Even if it meant that.

Yes, even if it meant that!

“Even so, please save those who are truly devout and good.”

Look back at us.

Eirene contained all the evil within the Order in the vessel that was herself.

Inside the pure white porcelain was already filled with poison and ugliness.

The hope that remained within was the driving force that kept her going.

She was truly a vessel of solitude.

Living such a life—dying while alive—she suffers while forcibly wearing ill-fitting clothes.

Yes, that’s how she lives.

And then one day.

“Yes, a hero has appeared? I’ll prepare right away.”

Information that reached her ears.

The Divine God Order had already entered a period of stability. Though not as great as in the past, it had been raised to a position close to it.

But at the same time, this was also the limit.

It was impossible to advance further, and completely restoring past glory was currently impossible.

‘It would be good to achieve the feat of defeating the Demon King with the hero, or alternatively, to create a holy relic that imitates divine glory using the hero’s corpse.’

But their god still didn’t exist, so the hero’s existence was the way to drive the wedge of the Divine God Order’s name into history.

“Disguise this information as an oracle and spread the word that the Divine God has given us a chance to redeem ourselves.”

Eirene realized she was no longer uncomfortable with the lies she spoke.

On a day when she had grown accustomed to ill-fitting clothes and when scars had piled upon wounds until she could no longer feel the pain.

It was the moment when something inside her heart completely collapsed.