Ch 256
“What did you do?”
Lisir revealed that he had inadvertently eavesdropped on the congregation members’ prayers.
The Saint looked at him, her eyes widening.
Lisir scratched the back of his head, saying he was embarrassed.
He couldn’t hide the fact that the congregation members’ prayers directed at the Saint were also audible to him.
So, he honestly reported it—
‘Isn’t this a much more sensitive issue for the congregation members than I thought?’
Even overhearing ordinary conversations is a clear act of disrespect, but how much more so are prayers so fervent as to reach the Saint?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to eavesdrop. It just came to me while I was standing still.”
When Lisir sincerely apologized, the Saint was instead flustered and raised both hands.
“I mean, I’m not trying to say anything—”
“Yes?”
However, unlike Lisir’s worry, the Saint didn’t seem to intend to blame him.
In the first place, she didn’t have the time to think that far.
His speechless gesture of fumbling with his hands seemed to perfectly express his confused mind.
“It just came to you while you were standing still?”
It was a statement the Saint uttered after much deliberation.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Yes?”
“Why did it just come to you while you were standing still?”
Are you, Saint, asking me that?
That was the question I was going to ask you.
Lisir felt awkward about the Saint’s reaction, yet he also felt a sense of responsibility.
The fundamental cause of the current situation was, without fail, his unique constitution.
After much deliberation, he said.
“This space… isn’t it possible that the Saint’s power filling this space had an influence? My unique constitution reacted to it.”
The Saint’s cathedral was filled with her energy.
If it existed in reality, it would have been designated as a sanctuary and managed by the Order without question.
In short, Lisir’s claim was this:
—In a place where a miracle could happen without being strange, a miracle simply happened.
And.
From the Saint’s viewpoint, Lisir’s claim sounded like this:
—I don’t know much about swordsmanship, but the atmosphere was good, so Sword Qi naturally came out.
Prayers imbued with divine power and will.
Contact between the Saint and the congregation member through him.
It could be considered a kind of divine magic achieved through the Saint’s extreme divine power.
However, its exact principle has not yet been clarified—
Therefore, the congregation members attributed it to a ‘miracle’ or ‘revelation’.
It is not a phenomenon that an outsider can experience simply because they are in a place filled with the Saint’s energy.
The Saint, the incarnation of divinity, knew this better than anyone.
However—
“…”
The Saint furrowed her brow in anguish.
Right.
This man could easily do that—
She found herself accepting that thought without realizing it.
‘What can easily be done?’
The series of events held great significance for the Saint as well.
After all, she was also a congregation member.
The Saint believed that the connection between herself and the congregation members of the present world was due to God’s arrangement.
She believed that their faith in God and her faith coincided to create a miracle.
But—
An outsider who unhesitatingly learns black magic from a demon appears and significantly interferes with such a sacred act, leaving her bewildered.
She even justifies it to herself, saying, ‘It’s possible,’ in her own way.
“Oh, God—”
With a troubled heart, the Saint offered a fervent prayer.
Please.
May her faith not be shaken by this strange being（?） who denies providence and law.
—Please… your… to me… please…
“…!”
Suddenly, the Saint shuddered and came to her senses.
Due to the lost soul（?） who shook the faith of the congregation members, she momentarily forgot their prayers.
The Saint decided to focus on their voices, putting her questions aside for a moment.
The Saint knelt before the statue of God.
“Oh…”
Lisir gasped at the sight that unfolded.
Light scattering inside the cathedral through the ceiling glass.
It gathered at one point, forming a clear beam of light, and was directed at the Saint.
As if she and the heavenly light were connected.
“…”
Lisir did not take his eyes off the Saint until her prayer ended.
✦✦✦
The devout Saint upheld the doctrine.
Faith shall be rewarded with faith.
She protected all the faith directed at her.
Because she believed that if she protected their faith, her faith would also be protected.
Thus, the Saint embraced them with all her being.
“Why…”
Thus, the Saint lost everything.
Her faith. Her own existence.
The Saint could no longer hear anything.
Not the voices of those seeking faith.
Not the groans of those seeking salvation.
The cathedral.
It, which embraced all those seeking faith, collapses.
The village.
It, which embraced all those seeking peace, turns to dust and scatters.
“God…”
In her world, created by the Saint’s wish, nothing remained.
Nevertheless, she knelt and clasped her hands where she always prayed.
“Please… those who are lost…”
The Saint’s faith, her prayer, without anyone to receive it.
It scattered like dust, fleeting.
The small, peaceful village that was created by the Saint’s wish.
Nothing remained there anymore.
▶Fate 76: Stolen Light
✦✦✦
『Title: Is the Saint< really a Saint?』
Content: Her actions are
More like
That Saint, but
-: What Saint is that?
-『Author』 : You see,
A Saint reinterpreted to fit the current trend
-: Ah, a pink-haired Saint with a side-slit priest’s robe, using Haze against a hero
-: Oh, so holy, so holy
-: What’s unfair play, s
-: Seriously, what’s unfair play?
There’s no one more like a Saint than Tara Dorin
-: While alive, she purifies relentlessly before disappearing.
After death, she gives relentlessly before disappearing.
If this isn’t a Saint, what is it?
-: A sucker?
-: F , if I were a hero, I would have begged Tara for a guarantee before she died.
-: These f ing Satanic bastards
You shouldn’t think about being embraced by God.
-: If you believe in something, can you be embraced by that person after death?
-: Then I’ll believe in Ronaldo from today on, yeah.
-: Value investing is always praised, hahahahahahaha
-『Author』 : No, not the First Saint
The current Saint
-: Ah
-: She’s a ‘Saint’, okay hahaha
-『Author』 : But
Isn’t this divine power proportional to Karma?
No matter how you look at it, this Saint is a ‘Saint’
How does she get treated as a Saint?
-: Karma is a bit ambiguous because
It’s based on ‘Merit Points’, not ‘Personality’
-: Even if Jeong Pyeong-taek always thinks about hitting people from behind and ruining them,
The Karma value is maintained until he takes direct action.
-: S , Jeong Pyeong-taek, that sneaky bastard, I knew it.
-: I haven’t had such thoughts.
-『Author』 : So, is this it?
The Saint< acts like a b , but she hasn't directly killed anyone, and she's saved more people, so
Her Karma is high?
-: Yeah
And the current Saint
Receives a lot of energy from the First Saint
-『Author』 : Seriously, there’s a problem with the system
Then you can intentionally create a Saint, right?
Just act kind and
Betray everyone at the last moment.
-: That’s exactly the current Saint, yeah.
A doll created by fanatics to seize control of the Order.
-『Author』 : ?
-: ? Seriously?
Don’t pretend to be surprised.
You also want spoilers now.
It’s thrilling to know the ending in advance.
-『Author』 : Ah
-『Author』 : Hahahahahahahahaha
-: How thrilling is it to get electrocuted…
✦✦✦
“Saint!”
It was the moment the Saint finished her prayer and was about to get up.
Lisir hurriedly approached her.
Her frail body lost its balance and stumbled greatly.
“Are, are you alright!?”
That’s not all.
Lisir could feel the Saint’s energy greatly weakening.
“Ah. This is a bit, comfortable. Can you just stay like that for a moment?”
Hoo. Hoo. The Saint breathed heavily.
Her skin, as pure as white clothes, was pouring cold sweat like rain.
“Saint—are you alright!?”
“Don’t make a fuss. It’s nothing.”
Even while saying that, the Saint’s expression clearly showed her struggle.
“Tsk tsk tsk.”
“Oh, Shuyen? When did you—”
The fairy, who was now beside them, clicked her tongue, looking at her comrade.
“This is something. Why are you sweating so much and gasping for breath when it’s nothing?”
“Don’t say useless things.”
“As you said, it would only be useless talk if nothing really happened.”
Ah.
The fairy sighed in frustration.
“Tara. What’s the reason you created this space? Didn’t you create it because you wanted to live for yourself in this place? Because you were tired of a life where you only helped others?”
“…Don’t you see that I’m doing that now?”
“No, I don’t. All I see is a foolish human who will gladly give up their liver and gall at others’ requests?”
“…”
The Saint frowned and avoided eye contact.
Hoo.
The fairy sighed at that sight and shook her head in disgust.
“Okay. That’s good. I’m not trying to completely deny your position. That faith. Conviction. How sublime? If possible, I want to cooperate.”
But!
The fairy raised her index finger as if violently waving it.
“At least, take care of your own body! It seems like it hasn’t been long since you last shared your energy. Yet, before that burden is gone, you’re giving away more of your flesh!?”
“Ah.”
Lisir, who was listening to their conversation from the side, nodded.
Lisir recalled the strange frailty and precariousness he had felt from the Saint before.
He thought he felt that way because of her life dedicated to devotion and sacrifice—
‘It wasn’t just my imagination.’
As the fairy said, the Saint seemed to have shared her energy with someone relatively recently.
Just like now.
“…”
Then.
The Saint gritted her teeth as if making a decision and spoke.
That ferocious expression.
Lisir worried that their argument might escalate into a fierce emotional fight.
“If not me, who will help them…”
However.
Contrary to his worries, the words spoken with that ferocious expression were incredibly sublime.
‘Oh, Saint…!’
Lisir sighed inwardly.
The Saint.
She was a truly kind person, almost saintly.
Lisir scolded himself for thinking, ‘Aren’t you being a bit harsh?’ about the fairy earlier.
What if his comrade acted like the Saint now?
Harming herself to help others?
He would have immediately been overwhelmed by frustration.
“Even so, you must take care of yourself.”
After empathizing, Lisir added a strong remark.
“…!!!”
The fairy was momentarily surprised.
The reaction shown by him, a descendant of a hero, was quite different from that of a hero.
The hero had always respected Tara’s beliefs and choices.
Just like when dealing with others.
That’s why Shuyen and her comrades couldn’t speak strongly to the Saint—
‘Right! Well done!!!’
It felt like a long-held resentment was gone.
The fairy encouraged Lisir with her expression.
“…”
The Saint was equally surprised.
Because she thought that he, a descendant of a hero, would understand her.
The Saint felt a little disappointment at his unexpected behavior.
“It’s not something to say to Shuyen. If my comrade acted like the Saint now—…oh, just imagining it.”
The duties and weight that naturally follow the position of ‘Saint’.
It was a statement that completely failed to understand that sublime value.
It was only natural to feel displeasure upon hearing it.
However.
It was strange.
“…”
The Saint felt a strange sense of liberation.
Instead of the reaction, ‘It’s natural because she’s a Saint’.
It was the reaction, ‘Even a Saint shouldn’t do that’.
Instead of forcing her to carry the burden, it felt like it was being lifted.
“What do you know…”
Of course.
It was a feeling that was difficult for the Saint to accept.
She spoke gruffly, resisting that unsettling feeling.
“Of course, I don’t know anything. But, isn’t there something I can say because of that?”
“…”
Oh!
Oh!!!
What!?
He’s doing much better than expected!?
Lisir, who is gradually disarming the Saint.
The fairy now openly started cheering for him.
“…I’m okay now.”
“Oops—”
Then.
The Saint pushed away Lisir’s support.
“I’m sorry. I think I’ll have to postpone the Divine Guidance to tomorrow. I have other business today.”
It was obvious what that ‘other business’ was.
The Saint began to prepare to sit down again.
—Saint…
And, the voices still faintly audible.
Prayers seeking help.
Requests demanding devotion and sacrifice.
Lisir was momentarily confused about what to be angry about.
The Saint who shares her energy and still tries to share more?
The congregation members who receive her energy yet are still unsatisfied and demand more?
He suddenly felt a question.
The congregation members who crave power from the Saint.
Do they know the Saint’s condition?
The fact that she helps them even at the cost of herself?
Lisir couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked the Saint.
“Tara can check, but she doesn’t try to. This woman thinks it’s natural that she trusts them, just as they trust her.”
It was the fairy who answered instead.
“And, descending to the present world requires a lot of power. This woman would rather share even more energy with that power.”
“Oh dear…”
Tsk.
The Saint clicked her tongue.
The expression she made to show displeasure contained an embarrassment she couldn’t quite hide.
She herself knew.
How foolish it was to help others at the cost of herself.
That foolishness was doubled by the fact that she worried her comrade.
But what can she do?
She is a Saint.
She is the spiritual pillar of the congregation members.
“Now that we’re done talking, will you leave?”
The Saint, unable to overcome the growing temptation, issued an expulsion order to them.
“…”
The man and the fairy were troubled by the Saint’s appearance.
The persuasion seemed to be going well—
But in the current situation, the Saint insisted on repaying the congregation members’ faith.
What kind of influence will the aftermath have on the Saint?
“Then, how about this!?”
Finally, Lisir, unable to bear it any longer, spoke.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“…?”
Take care of? What?
The Saint and the fairy momentarily couldn’t understand the meaning of those words and doubted their ears.
✦✦✦
Deputy Council Member Pien thought.
Her secretary, Rona, also thought.
The Order.
These faith-blind fanatics are always troublesome to deal with.
The incident began when a woman, a servant of Pien, was attacked by someone.
Surprisingly, the attacker was a Paladin of the Order.
The woman, who had been given a new life by Jinjo before death, was still clumsy at controlling her own power—
The keen senses of the high-ranking Paladin did not miss it.
This was how an untimely heresy trial took place in Bondales Square.
—How dare anyone in this city!!!
Even when the Order reported the matter, the city’s powerholders expressed strong dissatisfaction.
Even the Order couldn’t judge the city’s citizens arbitrarily.
—Well, it’s not the first time the Order has acted arbitrarily. Let’s not make a fuss and just do what they want.
—You mean they want to put our city’s citizens on trial for heresy!?
—Why are you suddenly acting like this? When did you start caring about such things?
—Do you know that the citizen of that city is a person of Deputy Council Member Pien!?
—…!!!
Especially if that person is involved with ‘The Man’.
So they thought.
At this point, wouldn’t ‘The Man”s comrades step in to mediate?
There were ‘Frozen Breath’ and ‘The Talent Collector’ just to name a few.
Even if they were officials of the Order, the voices of those two could not be ignored.
However—
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, Pien.”
Bondales Square, where the heresy trial was taking place.
There, Frozen Breath and the Talent Collector were beside Pien, expressing their regrets.
Despite their presence, the Order’s heresy trial began.
The Saint.
It was because that respectable being happened to be among the Order’s members.
Moreover, the heresy trial was conducted through the Saint’s will.
A heresy trial by the Saint with justification!
Even Frozen Breath and the Talent Collector couldn’t forcibly stop it.
“…”
Pien gritted her teeth.
She heard the voice of the servant woman.
—No matter what happens, I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to Pien…
It wasn’t a shadow that had been robbed of its existence and turned into a mere slave, as the Paladins said.
Fear clearly evident in her voice.
And altruism that surpasses it.
Thus, the domination of the ‘former’ Jinjo Pien took on a different form.
The woman under her domination was not an ordinary vampire.
However, the Order would never believe that story.
A story that contradicts reason—a monster with pure energy.
“Annoying…”
Pien was struggling with that terrible powerlessness.
“If it were him…”
Then, a young noble with an androgynous beauty murmured.
Deputy Councilor Pien’s secretary.
Saint Rona.
“What did you say, Rona?”
“In this situation, what would he have done?
“…”
“It’s a situation he’s all too familiar with.”
As Pien began to recall ‘him’ at Rona’s words.
The Saint’s trial, which had been briefly suspended, resumed.
She straightened herself and began to pray again.
The Saint thoroughly blocked any chance of others interfering.
The divine barrier that would be used in the trial to reveal the woman’s identity.
She decided to borrow the power of the ‘First Saint’ to deploy that barrier.
A trial involving the will of that great hero.
Who dares to defy it?
“””Oh…!!!”””
The crowd filling the square murmured.
As soon as the Saint’s prayer resumed, a beam of light descended from the sky and illuminated her.
“It’s a miracle!!!”
“The Saint has performed another miracle…!!!”
The members of the Order knelt on the ground, overcome with emotion.
At that moment, when the entire crowd was praising the Saint’s holiness.
Pien and Rona’s expressions hardened simultaneously.
“…”
The Saint.
The incarnation of kindness and tolerance, was smiling sadistically at them.
Pien and Rona recalled a moment that had passed by.
—…how dare they defy the Saint’s will—
The faint voice they heard from the departing Saint.
They thought it was a misconception at the time—
But it didn’t seem to be.
Thus, all their anxieties became reality.
Whoosh!!!
“””Oh…!!!”””
An even stronger beam of light.
Along with admiration, that great will settled in the Saint’s body.
“Ah.”
A small groan that no one could hear escaped the Saint’s lips.
Feeling that omnipotence with her whole body, she checked the reactions of the two women.
Thus, a small question arose in the Saint’s expression, which had been filled with firmness.
Because the two women’s reactions were quite different from what she expected.
The Pure White Maiden. A smile spread across her neat lips.
“As expected…”
She murmured, sensing the trace of The Man.
“Wait, Pien—”
Rona gestured cautiously, looking at Pien.
She did expect that ‘Maybe The Man is involved again?’
But this is too much.
The Saint.
The first Saint.
And God.
What place could The Man occupy within those limited positions?
Then Pien said.
“He could have become a Saint, couldn’t he? Something similar.”
Without a moment’s hesitation.
“Ah.”
Rona sighed.
You didn’t find any problem with that sentence?
This woman.
She’s gone too far.
✦✦✦
『A new title has been acquired!』
『Title: Saint』
✦✦✦
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