episode_0003

The Last Saintess of Eslad

“…”

“…”

Damn it. It’s awkward. I got the woman out of the cage and to the bonfire I’d just lit, but… she’s sitting quietly inside the tent, just staring at the bonfire without saying anything, which is frustrating. It’s true that I lacked friends because I was so focused on training and studying for exploration, but not having friends of the opposite sex was also a big problem. I don’t know what to say.

‘Do I just keep tending the bonfire like this…?’

Because of the cold weather, I draped my outer coat over her, and I stayed outside, managing the bonfire. So, what… my head feels dizzy to the point where I feel this atmosphere is colder than the chilly weather itself. No, is this dizziness not because of the atmosphere but a side effect of that potion from earlier? I do feel a little lightheaded. Still, I shook my head, managed to regain my focus, and based on what had just happened, I started to continue writing the records of the Kingdom of Eslad.

“Hm?”

Just as I was concentrating on writing, the woman suddenly approached me and grabbed my arm… Wait. When did she get here? I didn’t hear any footsteps. And why is she staring so intently at my records?

“Why… why are you doing this?”

What is it? Did my records upset her? Or did they make her more depressed? Or is she going to kill me?! This person must have been the Saintess of the Kingdom of Eslad. So she was in a miserable state, and my records made her even more depressed? These thoughts began to fill my head as her mouth slowly started to open! And…!

“Did… you write this?”

‘….?’

Stunned by a question I hadn’t expected, I was speechless for a moment. More than that, it was a relief that the language wasn’t different. If the language had been different, the atmosphere would have certainly gotten even worse. Ah, right. I should answer.

“Yes… I wrote it.”

“….How did you know all of this?”

“Uh… I found out from the condition of the building debris and from books I unearthed from the royal palace ruins. By any chance… are these details accurate?”

She nodded. Wow… Really? The Fourth was a mad king, and the kingdom’s tragic end was that they tried to sacrifice the people, fought among themselves, and self-destructed? Moreover… really… are there human corpses in the ruins of the royal palace next to me?!

“Then you are… Ah… no. Never mind…”

“I was the Saintess of this kingdom. The last Saintess.”

Damn it. I was right. This woman… she was indeed the Saintess. But if the Saintess is alive, isn’t Eslad the Fourth also alive?…. No. Looking at her body, covered in injuries, and the state of her clothes, it’s highly likely the king is also dead. Then how did she survive? Are there other survivors besides her…?

“…You think a lot, don’t you?”

“Ah.”

Ah, I couldn’t continue my thoughts because I was thinking about so many things. Honestly, I’m scared to ask the Saintess, who looks so wretched, what happened to her. Even if I lack friends, it doesn’t mean I can’t feel another person’s emotions. She has her own circumstances, and trying to satisfy only my curiosity is something even fools wouldn’t do.

“…You can just ask.”

“Pardon?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, so ask me anything you’re curious about.”

“…Hmm… Why did the Fourth King think such a thing? The previous kings were all good kings who worked with their people. But why did the Fourth think differently from the previous kings?”

“He was an opportunist. He always hid his dark true intentions, waiting for his turn to become king.”

An opportunist king… It certainly sounds like a story that could exist in the history of other countries. But for such a king to appear so quickly in the Kingdom of Eslad, which has a short history of only 200 years, is absurd… No, that’s not it. This is just me hoping it’s not true because it’s too ridiculous, too vain. Let’s face reality.

“Why was that king so obsessed with the legend?”

“The king, captivated by the legend, asked me to interpret it after he became king. And I wrote my interpretation in a book. The book you found in the kingdom’s ruins is what I wrote.”

“…Your own interpretation? Then it might be wrong…”

“No. These contents are all combined stories passed down from previous Saintesses. It was completed in my era.”

So the oracle legend of Camilla written in the book is real. But there are still so many things I don’t understand. I’m curious about them, but even though the Saintess beside me says it’s okay, I’m a little afraid to ask. I can’t gauge what kind of pain my questions might cause her. But I must be brave.

“Then… why didn’t the Fourth King consider his people?”

“At that time, the Fourth was due to abdicate his throne. He had to pass the throne to his successor. But just because families are the same doesn’t mean people with similar personalities will be born. Before he became king, he showed only good qualities, but as he became king, he gradually began to reveal his true intentions.”

“And that reached its peak when he was about to step down from the throne. Right?”

She nodded again. I see… The Fourth had a different personality from the previous rulers. And the Fourth was an opportunist who wanted to reign higher than anyone else. So, to protect his position, he committed such insane acts… He was a man completely driven mad by the throne.

“But why were the sacrifices specifically the common people? It didn’t even say the sacrifices had to be human…”

“Eslad the Fourth, mistakenly believing humans were the pinnacle species in this world, initially thought of sacrificing foreign vassals. But he abandoned that idea out of fear that killing them would provoke wars with other nations.”

He was completely insane. He tried to involve outsiders too? All for a legend that lacked credibility? If he failed, he’d lose his position and be left with nothing!

“What on earth was he thinking…? It goes far beyond what a normal person would think… Then why didn’t the king’s close associates stop him…?”

“Of course, they tried to stop him. But… those who followed the legend sided with the king, and one citizen disappeared every day. The king was killing them all in the underground to prepare the sacrifices, and for that purpose…”

“A magic circle on the floor…”

“That’s right.”

“Then… in that underground area… how many are buried…?”

“Easily over a hundred.”

“What…?!”

I was speechless. A hundred people? One person every day means he committed such acts without hesitation for about 100 days. A king killing his own people? It defies common sense. Is such a high position that important? What did he plan to do after that?

“So, are all the citizens here? When I arrived, I didn’t even see an ant, let alone bodies of citizens. Could it be, as I intuitively felt, foreign slave traders?”

“You were wrong about that one thing. This was the first time foreign slave traders came. As you wrote in your records, the citizens learned of this and were enraged, rebelling against the king. So the king began killing them all and dragged their bodies into the royal palace. Then he sealed all entrances so the citizens couldn’t escape. In other words, they had nowhere to retreat and had to fight the king. All the citizens were killed by the king and dragged into the palace. But.”

“But?”

“…But… gasp…”

Oh! As if a bad memory had surfaced, she fled into the tent and sat huddled, trembling. Seeing her with her head buried deep in her arms, silent, the tragedy of the Kingdom of Eslad began to resonate in my heart. Right. Let’s stop here. If I continue, her fear will only grow. So, just as I was approaching her…

“Citizens skilled in technology had developed bombs and installed them all over the country… But the king, unaware of the bombs, quickly moved the bodies into the royal palace… Th-but… there were bombs even among those bodies…. Just as the king made his final gamble, willing to lose everything to fulfill the legend… the citizens had hidden their final weapon…. And the citizens who instinctively knew their revolution would fail…”

“Did they detonate the bombs… and die together? If so…”

It wasn’t that there were no bodies. They had gloriously disintegrated with the bombs. That would explain why I didn’t hear any explosion sounds. If only I knew the date…

“When did this happen?”

“Three days ago… And I am the only survivor of this kingdom.”

“…”

My prediction was right. Three days ago, there was a heavy snowfall. The sound of the explosion was muffled by the snow and wasn’t heard elsewhere. And I understand why Eslad cut off communication with other places. Eslad the Fourth, thinking his position would be threatened if this fact became known to the outside world, even severed ties with Todrua Village, where I lived… Even knowing the truth, the destruction of Eslad was incredibly futile.

“I survived among the ruins and came out. And on a snowy night, I wandered through the quiet kingdom…”

“….You don’t have to say anything more. That’s enough.”

I opened my exploration book and began writing new records. Only one survivor. And due to the tyranny of Eslad the Fourth, all the people suffered and died together in their revolution. The citizens launched a final attack on the king who imprisoned them, and it succeeded. When most of the citizens had died, they detonated the bombs. At that time, it was snowing heavily, so the sound of the explosion was barely heard outside, and Eslad quietly perished, unknown to the outside world, due to a mad king and the heavy snow.

“This can’t be right…”

I knew there would be things I didn’t want to learn while exploring. But I never imagined I’d encounter this so soon. It was then, as I felt the reality of it throughout my body, that a question flashed through my mind.

“But why did you tell me, carrying such a nightmare?”

“….I thought you would remember this place. Because you wrote about it honestly. And because you helped me…”

“…Is that so…”

“What do you think? Do you also… think this place was destroyed because of me?”

“Pardon?”

What was that? A question I couldn’t understand came from her, and my head felt dizzy again, as if I’d received another shock. Why is she suddenly asking that?

“Because of my interpretation, the king had such thoughts, and as the Saintess, I couldn’t stop the king… It’s as good as saying I caused this…”

“Why are you suddenly speaking in such a melancholic voice…”

Ah, I think I understood why she was speaking in a melancholic voice. Just now, she had bravely gathered her courage to answer my questions. So that I could let the whole world know about what happened here. But the memory of the past must have hurt her heart again.

“Isn’t it truly disgusting…? I, who couldn’t stop the king and was pointed at by everyone, am shamelessly alive like this…”

“That’s…!!”

She lifted her head and clutched it with both hands. She had tried to smile, but the tears wouldn’t stop, and she finally began to despair. Perhaps the responsibility as a Saintess was too heavy; she was smiling, but she couldn’t smile.

“The people blamed me when they learned the truth… Others also blamed me because of my interpretation. That’s right…. I deserve to be blamed… It’s my duty to live in agony every day, wandering like this because I can’t even find death for myself… Everyone died because of me…. The kingdom perished because of me alone… I shouldn’t have been born… Ha… Haha… Ahahaha….”

….What was that? Trembling and weeping profusely, she began to laugh like a madwoman… Records are important. But how those records are interpreted is important. What she did wasn’t necessarily the absolute truth.

“I must live in pain… I must atone… Ah… Goddess Camilla… Accept this trial….”

“Wait a moment.”

“…?”

“Honestly, I haven’t made many friends, nor have I had time to talk to others. I had to train my body and gain knowledge for exploration.”

“Yes…? Suddenly… Ah… Haha… You despise me too…. Yes… I deserve to be despised…”

“But you’re just wallowing in self-hatred, aren’t you?”

“….Pardon?”

Her words. They were all words of self-loathing. I cannot understand her mind, thinking that everything happened because she survived. How could I understand? To understand that feeling, my village would have to be destroyed too. But as an explorer and a record-keeper, there’s one thing I know.

“Your records? The king who believed them to be completely true despite insufficient evidence, and then interpreted them as he wished – isn’t he the one who caused all this chaos? Just because you survived alone, don’t take all that emotional burden…”

“What do you know!!! Even if your hometown was destroyed, you wouldn’t know…”

“I DON’T KNOW!!!”

“….?”

She looked dumbfounded by my shout. It must seem strange. It must be absurd that I, who hasn’t experienced the same thing, am yelling at her, the victim. But there was something important about this.

“Did the citizens know all of that? Didn’t the citizens only know that the king acted that way after reading your records? Did the citizens even see your records?!”

“Th-they didn’t see them, but…!!!”

“Anyway, even if it wasn’t you, others would have carried out the king’s orders!!! And you wrote those records under the king’s command, didn’t you?! You didn’t even know how the legend would be interpreted in the first place!!”

“Yes… But even so…”

“Besides, even if it weren’t for that, the king would have used other methods to kill precious lives! You didn’t make him act; he brought this upon himself!!”

“….”

As I gradually calmed my anger, I saw her silently staring downwards. Only then could I calm the remaining anger. The pain of surviving alone and the guilt that the citizens died because of her had led her to self-hatred. There was one thing I could do for her.

“History tells us you did nothing wrong. You also tried hard to stop the king, didn’t you? Everyone didn’t know that fact. But I will remember.”

“…Pardon?”

“I will remember that you are struggling in pain. I will record it. Don’t fall into self-hatred just because there wasn’t anyone around you who understood you or knew what happened. If one person who understands you is enough, I will be that one person.”

“…Who… are you…?”

“My name is Zeke. Zeke Luprian. I’m an explorer who just embarked on a journey….”

Huh? Why is my head suddenly like this? Strange. I can’t keep my balance. Ugh… Oh, right… that damned Potion of Haste… The side effects are really something…. And with that, I lost consciousness and collapsed.