Ch.25Saintess Eirene (5)

# Saintess Eirene (5)

Esmeralda was confident in her acting. She had been part of the hero’s party for three years. She had endured all that time pretending to be stupid.

Her patience and composure were extraordinary.

“Die! Die! You perverted bastard!”

Yes, if she hadn’t been tormented by Lug, she could have endured even longer.

Unfortunately, she was still an inexperienced hero, that was Esmeralda.

Esmeralda, in her heated state, began to strangle Lug.

She was too excited to even consider that Lug might be reading her thoughts, and her face was flushed red as if about to burst.

“I-it was a… joke.”

“What?”

“It was a joke, Hero.”

“You call that a joke?”

The misunderstanding was cleared up, but her anger wasn’t. She had been exposed to Lug’s merciless sexual desires recently.

She couldn’t help but overreact.

“No, what were you thinking? I’m very disappointed, Hero.”

Lug grumbled while adjusting his clothes as if he’d been wronged.

But Esmeralda was simply dumbfounded by his attitude.

[Note: He’s vividly recalling the sensation of your thighs when you climbed on top of him to strangle him. He feels very regretful.]

“You’re saying that…?”

Indignation. Yet the frustration of knowing but being unable to speak. Esmeralda was almost in tears at her situation of being unilaterally painted as the bad person.

“…So you’re saying you didn’t do anything to me specifically?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I did absolutely nothing—AAACK?!”

Lug desperately resisted as he grabbed Esmeralda’s wrists that were once again reaching for his neck.

Unlike her previous action, this time there was enough force not just to strangle but to snap his neck.

“I was trying to wake you up! Just wake you up!”

“…Really?”

“Yes!”

[Note: He’s thinking that if he knew he’d be strangled like this, he should have at least touched your breasts.]

Esmeralda was speechless.

It was fortunate that he hadn’t crossed the line, but with such inner thoughts…

She wondered if killing him right now might be the path to peace and tranquility for the world.

But she was the hero. She endured with superhuman mental strength.

“Ugh…”

Though she didn’t kill Lug, she felt a burning sensation in the shoulder he had grabbed and shaken to wake her up.

Esmeralda seriously considered whether she too had accumulated sexual desires during their journey without realizing it.

‘H-how shameless…’

Since she couldn’t even think about anything related to him until now, Esmeralda couldn’t help but feel self-loathing.

Once Esmeralda had escaped her self-loathing and Lug had recovered from his breathing difficulties, the two were finally able to have a serious discussion about their current situation.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Well, I…”

Lug traced his memories and explained them in as much detail as possible.

After hearing his story, Esmeralda could summarize all his actions in one word.

“So you went on a date? I understand. While I was unconscious with a needle in my neck, you were happily dating Eirene. I feel devastated.”

“Hero, you seem to be in a bad mood lately. Could it be that magical day—”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

“Yes, I apologize.”

[Note: He’s wondering if it might be that magical week that comes to women once a month.]

“…”

Esmeralda let out a deep sigh. Even if she could shut his mouth, she couldn’t stop his thoughts.

And she was partly responsible for failing at her act of playing dumb and revealing her true self.

A persona built entirely on lies.

If she had maintained that in such a dire situation, she’d be ready for a date with the afterlife.

Just the thought of dating Lug was horrifying.

‘From what I can see, it seems Eirene is the one who did this…’

The fact that the two of them were imprisoned was evidence enough.

This couldn’t be excused.

What excuse could there be for imprisoning the hero and Lug?

Of course, she would make excuses to others.

But convincing herself was something she had given up on from the start.

That meant Eirene never intended to convince Esmeralda in the first place.

After all, once she realized her plan, Esmeralda would become a sacred relic of the Celestial Church.

‘But why?’

She could easily guess what Eirene was trying to do.

But she couldn’t figure out why she had to do it at this timing, abandoning even the mission to defeat the Demon Lord as a member of the hero’s party.

Was she suddenly afraid of the Demon Lord? Did she have some certainty that this journey would fail?

Or…

“Oh, I just remembered we had this conversation at the end.”

“What conversation?”

“Well… she asked if I believed in miracles in this world.”

“What did you answer?”

“I said there must be.”

Lug explained what had happened at that time.

Esmeralda found Lug’s thoughts surprisingly reasonable.

If miracles don’t exist and everything is just coincidence, then the process leading to that coincidence could be considered a miracle.

The result doesn’t change, it’s just a difference in perspective, but that alone can change how people think.

Since this was a chronic issue within the Celestial Church, Lug’s philosophical question was surprisingly apt.

“So I said, isn’t it a miracle that an ordinary person like me joined the hero’s party?”

“Ah…”

But with Lug’s final answer, Esmeralda understood.

Lug’s joining wasn’t a miracle. It wasn’t even a coincidence.

It was meticulously planned.

But when she heard that as an example, the credibility of all those reasonable words he had said earlier plummeted, which wasn’t surprising.

“Lug… you’ve done it.”

“…Did I do something wrong? Is that why we’re in this situation?”

“Unfortunately, it seems you’ve touched Eirene’s sore spot.”

“What will happen to me then?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure, but I think I’ll be turned into a puddle of blood.”

Given the situation, Esmeralda finally shared her speculation about Eirene’s thoughts with Lug.

She couldn’t do it alone.

This place was essentially the heart of the Celestial Church. In a one-on-one fight, defeating Eirene wouldn’t be a problem, but turning the entire Celestial Church’s forces against her would be a guaranteed defeat.

‘I’m not sure why she imprisoned Lug like me, but it’s clear that Eirene is concerned about him.’

So she wouldn’t try to kill Lug right away. After all, only she knew about the special power Lug possessed.

‘Lug can’t be Eirene’s experimental subject, right? Maybe she just imprisoned him to prevent any possible resistance?’

Unfortunately, Esmeralda had no idea what being a half-demon meant to Eirene.

She didn’t even know that being a half-demon was an issue in the first place.

She only knew about the mysterious trait called “Blue Blood,” and even that she had only confirmed recently. So Esmeralda decided to use Lug with a light heart.

It was the moment Lug fell back into hell.

“Alright. You understand? Eirene won’t kill you anyway, so you just need to run in a different direction and draw attention.”

“But Hero, can I ask one thing?”

“We don’t have time, so ask quickly.”

“I don’t understand why you think the Saintess wants to kill you.”

“…It seems she wants to use my corpse to create a sacred relic for the Celestial Church. Because I’m the hero.”

There are many gods in this world.

And most of them are local or minor deities.

That’s why the authority of the Celestial God, who bestowed miracles upon this world, was so powerful.

But now the Celestial God is gone. It’s unpleasant to imagine how much dirty politics went on for the Celestial Church to rise to this position after once falling.

In such a situation, the hero appeared.

The hero is a “seed of miracle” created by the combined efforts of the local deities, minor gods, and even the Celestial God.

Yes, her existence is half like an apostle of the gods.

Eirene’s plan was to grind her up and create a ritual device to recreate the Celestial God’s miracles.

Esmeralda explained the current situation to Lug based on her speculation and the information she had uncovered so far.

“Do you understand?”

“Hero, you’re smarter than I thought. You know quite a lot.”

“…”

Esmeralda wanted to punch Lug’s mouth as he laughed even though this wasn’t a laughing matter.

“But Hero, you’re truly the hero. I can’t believe you sincerely believe that. How could that kind and pure Saintess do such a thing?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake…”

The difference in the images they had created.

Esmeralda gritted her teeth but didn’t throw a punch, knowing that the cause was her own doing.

“Fine… let’s say that’s true. But we’re currently imprisoned. If Eirene is kind and pure as you say, how would you explain our current situation?”

“Well…”

“No, let’s go with that assumption. If Eirene didn’t do this, then someone else did, but the conclusion is the same, isn’t it? That someone in the Celestial Church did this?”

Esmeralda pointed to the scenery outside the bars.

This was still inside the Celestial Church.

That meant even if it wasn’t Eirene, it was someone from the Celestial Church who did it.

And what reason would the Celestial Church have to detain the hero?

“Whoever did it, the conclusion is the same.”

“No, Hero. There’s a fatal flaw in that reasoning.”

“Fine. Speak up. I’ll try my best not to punch you.”

Lug seemed momentarily intimidated by Esmeralda’s prickly attitude but carefully opened his mouth.

[Note: He thinks that no matter how smart you try to be, you’re still an idiot.]

Seeing Lug’s inner thoughts for a moment, Esmeralda clenched her fist ready to strike, but Lug expressed his opinion faster.

“Your corpse can’t be used to create a sacred relic in the first place.”

How do you know that?

Esmeralda couldn’t continue speaking, faced with his confident assertion.