episode_0203

“Ah… Aria?! Aria!!!!”

I belatedly came to my senses, greatly astonished that Aria had suddenly disappeared with someone who appeared out of nowhere. I desperately called out her name, but there was no reply, only my own echo. Damn it…!! It had only been two hours since we left Proserpina, what in the world is going on?! But wait… that person just now… the hair I glimpsed under the hood… wasn’t it yellow…? I remembered vaguely seeing the yellow hair of the person who rushed Aria, then reached a conclusion, falling into a great shock as I turned my head to the remaining person and asked.

“What…? Don’t tell me you’re from the Order?! That person who attacked Aria just now… could it be a Saintess?!”

“…You have good intuition, Zeke Looprian. I wonder if Gid Looprian knows that no matter how much he tries to hide his name to protect his family, it’s nothing but a trick before the Order.”

“…? Gid Looprian…? Why does the Order know my uncle…?! No, more importantly… where did you take Aria?!”

“…Heehee… Hahahaha…”

When I pulled out Trahan and asked with hostility where they had taken Aria, the person from the Order in front of me suddenly began to giggle, as if I were amusing. Then, they removed their robe, revealing brown bobbed hair, yellow eyes, and a white Saintess uniform, and spoke to me.

“It’s truly amusing to think that you’ve been racking your brains trying to figure out why we haven’t attacked you until now. How could a being beneath our feet possibly comprehend the will of a celestial being? Hahahaha!!!”

“Shut your mouth!!! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused us until now?! Stop playing games and tell me immediately!!! Where did you take Aria!!!”

“Call her Saintess Aria, you uncivilized wretch. How dare you refer to a noble Saintess, who is close to Her, by her name instead of her revered title? She has been taken by Saintess Tesia, who belongs to the Children of Light, according to the will of Goddess Camilla. I must face you here, according to that will.”

‘Children of Light…?’

The Saintess in front of me disparaged me, saying that Aria had been taken by a Saintess named Tesia and that she herself had to deal with me. As she summoned a wooden hammer, I thought about the Children of Light that the Saintess had just mentioned. Come to think of it, Alten and Veronica had said before that the power of some Saintesses and priests had rapidly grown, hadn’t they…? Could those beings be the Children of Light that Saintess mentioned…?

“Then are you also a Saintess belonging to these ‘Children of Light’ or whatever they are?”

“The Children of Light are beings more noble than us, you foolish wretch. You’ve been struggling so hard to figure out our Order, without even truly knowing about us? It’s so absurd, all I can do is laugh! Hahahahaha!!!”

‘That personality, so quick to belittle others… It’s so bad, I doubt if that’s truly a Saintess’s personality… Are all the other Saintesses like her?’

As the Saintess continued to disregard and mock me, I began to wonder if all the other Saintesses were as arrogant as her. It seems my common understanding of Saintesses, as I remembered it, keeps getting distorted day by day… though seeing them already ravaging the world, it’s completely warped by now… As I stared at her with a serious expression, lost in thought, the Saintess giggled and said,

“Ah~! What’s with all that thinking? No, wait, uncivilized wretches like you can’t have noble thoughts, so it doesn’t concern me, does it? You’ll only think impure or unnecessary thoughts anyway… Alright then… I, Saintess Rikarin, according to the will of Saintess Camilla… shall eliminate the obstruction hovering beside the Black Saintess!! Goddess Camilla, lead me to victory!!!”

“So, is it a trend for Saintesses these days to disrespect others like this?! Fine, then I won’t need to respect you either!!! And I’ll quickly defeat you and get Aria back!!!”

As the Saintess named Rikarin charged at me, holding a yellow glowing wooden hammer, I believed that only by defeating this Saintess could I retrieve Aria. I, too, gripped Trahan and rushed towards her. While I was fighting the Saintess Rikarin, Aria, who was standing on a black and white checkered platform, observed that she was in some dark space, surrounded by black and white checkered cubes floating around her, just like the platform she stood on. She twirled her staff in her hand and spoke.

“Where is this place? I suddenly moved here in the blink of an eye.”

“This is inside my mind, Black Saintess Aria Ritt. I have something to discuss with you, so I briefly invited you into my mind.”

“…This power I feel around me… seeing that it’s divine power, it seems the Order has finally revealed itself before us. I firmly believed that the next time we met after the Rebarud facility, it would be when I crushed you all… But will you speak to me without showing yourself like this? You lack manners.”

As a girl’s voice from her surroundings explained that this was the world within her mind, Aria realized the power she felt around her was divine power and discerned that she was a member of the Order. Then, when Aria told her to show herself and speak properly, the floor in front of Aria began to rise, then transformed into a human shape. It slowly began to change into the form of a girl with yellow pigtails, wearing a Saintess uniform that was white in the center and black elsewhere. The girl, now fully revealed, looked at Aria with yellow eyes and smiled brightly, saying,

“Please excuse my rudeness, Saintess Aria Ritt. My name is Tesia—?!”

The moment Tesia apologized for trying to speak while hidden and was about to introduce herself, Aria lunged at Tesia with a chilling expression and swung her staff fiercely. Tesia quickly disappeared back into the floor. Aria, seeing her staff cut through empty air, felt Tesia reappear from the floor behind her, turned around, and said,

“I don’t care who you are. How dare you separate me from Zeke-nim. Do you have a death wish?”

“Whew… Whew… It’s just as I heard. I was told that Saintess Aria cherishes that man very much. But please forgive me. I wanted to invite him into my mind as well, but for some reason, he has no divine power in his body, so I couldn’t. Only beings with divine power can be invited into my mind.”

“…That’s even more unpleasant. If I had an ability like yours, I would have invited Zeke-nim into my mind too. And I would never have tolerated others daring to invite Zeke-nim into their own minds. That thought remains true even now, without such an ability. Let me out immediately. Otherwise, I will smash this space to pieces if I have to, just to escape and return to Zeke-nim’s side.”

As Aria, seemingly completely uninterested in Tesia’s story, swung her staff and utterly pulverized one of the floating cubes, threatening her, Tesia flinched slightly, perhaps a little frightened. However, she still maintained her confidence, a smile lingering on her shadowed face. Tesia showed that smile and spoke to Aria again.

“First, please listen to my story. My name is Tesia. I am a Saintess belonging to the Children of Light of the Camilla Order.”

“Children of Light? I’ve never heard of such a group when I was in the Order.”

“Ah, it seems you are interested. The Children of Light are essentially the secret weapon of the Camilla Order. They are a group composed of chosen beings who can manifest the power of Goddess Camilla almost perfectly. In fact, Saintess Aria Ritt was originally supposed to belong to our Children of Light. As proof, wasn’t Saintess Aria’s original hair color yellow?”

“…? My hair was originally yellow. But now it’s black, so mind your words. I prefer the black hair Zeke-nim gave me as a gift; I don’t like that blonde hair anymore.”

Aria stated that her hair had indeed been yellow originally, but now she preferred black hair, and warned Tesia with a chilling gaze not to mention the blonde hair she despised. Tesia let out a hollow laugh, as if slightly dumbfounded. Then, she took a deep breath and spoke to Aria.

“Originally, those who belong to the Camilla Order begin to take on Her characteristics the closer they get to Goddess Camilla’s power. You, too, were gradually becoming more like Her, which is why Goddess Camilla intended to welcome you into the Children of Light. However… there’s been a slight change in plans.”

“Surely you didn’t pull such a cheap trick just to tell me to join you now, did you?”

“Ah… Half true, but half false. You are destined to become that anyway. But before that, we are offering you this opportunity.”

“No matter how many times I say I don’t need it—”

“Don’t you want to protect that man forever? We will grant you that wish.”

The moment Aria was about to tell her to forget it, that she had no intention of joining the Order, Tesia smirked as if she had already expected that answer and replied that they would grant Aria the wish to protect Zeke forever. At that, Aria visibly flinched, slightly swayed by her words. Seeing Aria’s reaction, Tesia smiled even wider and made her proposal to Aria.

“Right now, our Camilla Order has almost the entire world in its grasp. We know, Saintess Aria. That you prioritize the man named Zeke over this world. That is why we propose this, Saintess Aria. We will wholeheartedly assist you in staying with him forever. So, why don’t you join us?”

“Forever with Zeke-nim…?”

“We know. You’ve been greatly concerned and dissatisfied about other women getting close to the man named Zeke until now. We will help ensure that no other woman ever gets close to him. All you have to do is say you will join us.”

As Tesia made the sweet proposal that the Order would completely sever Zeke from other women if Aria joined them, Aria’s expression became even more bewildered, perhaps swayed further. The moment Tesia nodded, approaching Aria and extending her hand, Aria’s face suddenly contorted with rage. She grabbed the approaching Tesia by the neck and slammed her to the floor. Tesia, who had been thrown to the floor, looked utterly bewildered, her previously confident expression instantly replaced by shock, as if she hadn’t expected this situation. Aria glared at Tesia as if shooting lasers from her eyes and said,

“How dare you make such an offer to me now? You don’t know how much of a hellish life I’ve lived because I lost a precious benefactor due to those whispers, do you…?”

“Cough… hack… What are you talking about…?”

“And what…? You’ll be able to protect Zeke-nim forever, so I should help you seize control of this world…? Are you telling me to crush Zeke-nim’s dream with my own hands…? You… don’t expect to die peacefully…!!!”

“…..!!”

For Aria, who had carried the scar of having killed Rascal—who was trying to help her and Zeke—due to her own misguided thoughts and sweet whispers, Tesia’s proposal only revived those painful memories. As those memories kept resurfacing, Aria became enraged, genuinely revealing her intent to kill Tesia. As the greatly enraged Aria tried to punch her, Tesia frantically disappeared back into the floor. Aria’s missed punch struck the floor so hard it cracked. Then, Tesia reappeared behind Aria, let out a sigh of relief, and said,

“Whew… As expected of a Saintess qualified for the Children of Light. To be this strong… I don’t think I would have been safe if that punch had landed. Still, you’re being too much. I was trying my best to have a conversation with you, even smiling, yet you keep resorting to violence.”

“You just ripped open my wounds, didn’t you…? And you dare say something now, after digging into someone else’s pain…? And Rascal-nim’s death remains a great shock to Zeke-nim, yet you dare to bring that incident to mind…?! It already irritates me when that incident resurfaces every time I think of Cecilia…!!”

“Ah… So I touched a raw nerve. I made a mistake in my words because I didn’t grasp what you and the man named Zeke had experienced. But… you weren’t going to listen to my proposal any further anyway, were you? If so, then this proposal was destined to be rejected from the start, wasn’t it?!”

“What a given… O Omnipotent One in the heavens… grant me the power to punish the ignorant…!!”

When Tesia, with a crazed smile, asked if Aria had intended to reject her proposal from the start, Aria retorted that it was obvious and began to chant a prayer. Then, Aria’s staff began to glow yellow, and Tesia, sensing that Aria was about to fight seriously, lowered her palms and said,

“Indeed…!! By the way, that staff… it was definitely made of a precious mineral called Behemoth’s Tear, not gold, right…? But I wonder if that object is truly hard enough to shatter everything? Hehehe… Are these checkered rocks around me also destined to be destroyed by your staff?! Aren’t you curious?!”

“…I have already met a being strong enough to bend this staff before. So I know this much… these rocks cannot bend my staff!!!”

“Excellent!!! Such confident words!!! Very good!! So, I too… must fight seriously, mustn’t I? O Omnipotent One in the heavens!! Infuse your power into this chaotic heart of mine!!”

As Aria asserted that her staff could not be bent by her own strength and charged at Tesia, Tesia grinned, then chanted a prayer, beginning to infuse divine power into the floating checkered cube rocks around her. Thus, Aria and Tesia began to fight within Tesia’s mind. Meanwhile, the previous night, in the rebel base cave, Gid was scratching his head vigorously as he headed somewhere.

“This won’t do… If we keep speculating like this, it’s clear we’ll lose… I guess interrogating her is the most correct method in this situation, isn’t it…? No… this is the most correct method.”

Gid, who still hadn’t grasped the Camilla Order’s true objective, continued deeper with a solemn expression, as if resorting to a last resort. He then opened a gate made of iron bars, entered, and stood before a purple-haired woman whose entire body was restrained by handcuffs and shackles, and said,

“Oh my… Could it be that you’ve come to me with bad news?”

“Outside, we’ve discovered that the Order is plotting something. However, we can’t figure out what that plot is for, and we can’t predict what they’ll do next at all. So I came because I need your help. Viola Blossom…”

The woman Gid Looprian sought help from. That woman was none other than Saintess Viola Blossom, who had previously been defeated by Merzel and was restrained deep within the cave.