The Goddess descended upon the Dritania Empire.
The Deus Theocracy appeared to remain silent in response,
but beneath the surface, enormous unrest was spreading among the faithful.
The Demon King had been resurrected, the Goddess had fallen from grace, a demon had become a Hero… Every imaginable rumor began circulating among the believers.
The Holy See had only one response to all of them.
— Do not lend your ears to such absurd rumors. These are deceptions spread by demons, and His Holiness has already seen through the truth.
Naturally, it was a lie.
It was nothing more than propaganda meant to calm the growing unrest among the faithful. If they did nothing, there was no telling how many believers would abandon the Theocracy and flee toward the newly established holy ground.
The high-ranking clerics responsible for governing the Theocracy were deeply troubled by the current situation.
“What are we supposed to do about this?”
“Has the Goddess truly turned her back on this land?”
“We must quell the believers’ fears.”
From the Theocracy’s perspective, the Goddess descending upon the Empire and choosing not one but two Heroes was nothing short of a catastrophe.
It meant that the blessing of Goddess Deuslute was now directed toward the Empire rather than the Theocracy.
“I hear Emperor Drakan has awakened as well…”
As if things weren’t already bad enough, the Emperor of Dritania had returned to his throne, causing the Theocracy to lose every shred of influence it had once possessed within the Empire.
And that wasn’t all.
Beatrice, who had maintained an intimate relationship with the Theocracy, had been exposed as a demon.
Once the demon was purified and Beatrice’s original soul returned, she immediately declared that she was cutting all ties with the Theocracy.
As a result, the Theocracy was branded with the disgraceful reputation of having colluded with demons, with no room left to offer excuses.
The Empire had completely slipped from the Theocracy’s grasp.
At the very least, they desperately needed a Saintess to emerge here.
“Are we truly left with no option other than waging war to seize control of the holy ground? I question whether the faithful would even follow us under such a justification.”
“And Emperor Drakan, an 8-Star martial artist, is still alive. Who could possibly contend with him? We are talking about the Empire.”
“Things might be different if both Heroes sided with the Theocracy, but I’m told there are already two 7-Star martial artists on their side.”
Everyone was racking their brains for a solution when a voice finally spoke.
“Summon the third Saintess Candidate, ‘Spea.’”
Pope Rab called for his daughter, the third Saintess Candidate.
“There is a task that only that child can carry out.”
When the clerics heard the Pope’s plan, sinister smiles slowly spread across their faces.
They were smiles wholly unbefitting men of the cloth.
With this, they could easily bring the Empire under their control.
They could monopolize the Goddess’s holy ground and every miracle that came with it.
They could enjoy everlasting peace and prosperity, both in this life and the next.
Seeing the filthy greed in their expressions, the Pope quietly mocked them beneath his smile.
* * *
The Holy See was ordinarily a sacred place where smiles naturally appeared on people’s faces and even standing beneath the warm sunlight filled one with serenity.
But the preparation room reserved for the third Saintess Candidate was nothing like that.
Following the Pope’s orders, the maids in the Saintess Candidate’s preparation room moved about with frantic efficiency.
Around ten maids inspected every detail of the Saintess Candidate’s clothes, makeup, and appearance with the emotionless precision of machines.
At the center of them all stood Spea, the Saintess Candidate herself, her hands folded neatly before her as she watched everything with the vacant expression of a doll.
Long ash-gray hair fell all the way to her waist.
Her skin was so pale it almost seemed imbued with divinity itself.
And her eyes looked strangely detached, stripped of nearly all emotion.
The black pupils within them remained perfectly still.
No.
In truth, they were trembling ever so slightly.
As though she were desperately hoping nothing would happen.
“Eek…!”
One of the maids adjusting Spea’s clothes accidentally stepped on the very edge of her hem.
At the frightened cry born from that tiny mistake, every maid in the room turned her head.
The maid who had screamed quickly covered her mouth, but it was already too late to hide what she had done.
Spea’s gaze also fell upon her.
The instant the maid met those black eyes, terror overtook her.
“I-I have sinned!! Lady Spea, please forgive me…! Please, at least spare my life…!!”
There was only one thing she could do.
Throw herself flat on the floor and beg for her life.
Assuming that would even be enough to save her.
Spea continued staring at the maid for a long time.
Then, slowly, her gaze shifted toward the other maids around the room.
Every single one of them lowered her head, desperate to avoid meeting Spea’s eyes.
Their every movement was steeped in fear.
“…”
For the briefest instant, another scene flashed through Spea’s mind.
A vision of every maid in this room losing her head.
Then came the hallucinated whisper of someone speaking beside her ear.
‘You must be perfect, Spea.’
Spea slowly closed her trembling eyes.
Then she opened them again, cold and composed.
She had to do what needed to be done.
“You. What is your name?”
At Spea’s question, the maid began trembling violently.
If she gave her name, the judgment would begin.
But if she refused to speak, her execution would be certain.
Then she had no choice but to submit herself to judgment and pray for the Goddess’s mercy.
“M-Marne Porines…”
“Marne Porines.”
Spea’s neatly folded hands came apart.
Her right hand slowly extended toward the maid who had committed the offense.
Pointing at her with one finger, Spea spoke.
“I will remember you.”
Flick-
Spea lightly flicked her index finger toward the ceiling.
Almost as if she were casually severing the maid Marne’s neck.
Thud, thud, thud…
And Marne’s head went flying into the air.
The judgment had been death.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The severed head struck the floor and rolled across it, while the headless body collapsed moments later, pouring blood across the pristine white room and staining it crimson.
A life had been extinguished with terrifying ease, yet not a single person dared to speak.
The moment anyone opened her mouth, she might meet the same fate.
“Start over.”
Spea, now splattered from head to toe with the maid’s blood, folded her hands once more and spoke slowly, as though stating something perfectly ordinary.
“This time, make it perfect.”
As if nothing at all had happened.
Little by little, the black in her eyes began fading into gray.
* * *
Spea entered the audience chamber alone to meet Rab, both her father and the Pope.
Rab welcomed her with nothing more than a benevolent smile.
“My daughter. You don’t look well. Did something happen?”
There was no possibility that the Pope didn’t know a maid had died.
He was asking despite already knowing.
Faced with that disgusting shamelessness, Spea merely answered.
“It was nothing, Your Holiness.”
“I see. If that is what you say, then I suppose it is of no concern.”
Spea smiled in response to Rab’s own smile.
Her answer and expression were both perfectly natural.
And yet there was something strange about them.
They were too perfect.
Too flawlessly natural.
As though she had learned that this was simply how she was supposed to behave.
‘She’s nearing completion.’
Rab was pleased by that flawless naturalness.
“Yes. The reason I called you here concerns the current situation. I imagine you are already aware of what has happened. I summoned you because you will play a role in our response.”
“Your Holiness must be carrying a heavy burden, tending to the worries of both the people and the faithful. I only hope my inadequate knowledge can be of some help.”
“Of course it will. You are my daughter, after all.”
Spea answered him with a faint smile.
The words she truly wanted to say remained buried deep inside her.
“Good. First, there is something I need you to do. It is a task that no one but you can accomplish.”
“Whatever Your Holiness commands, I will carry it out with all my heart.”
“Yes, then…”
Rab stopped speaking midway.
He closed his mouth for a moment and turned his gaze toward the window of the audience chamber, deliberately drawing out the silence.
Spea simply waited without complaint.
Eventually, Rab spoke again.
“You are seventeen now. It is about time a young woman like you developed a thirst for learning. If you remain trapped forever in this narrow, stifling place, you may lose opportunities to experience the wider world. Surely the Goddess would not want that. I truly wish for you to become the Saintess, after all.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“The first and second Saintess Candidates, both Heroes, and even the land upon which the Goddess descended are all gathered in one place. Go there.”
Rab gave her another benevolent smile.
“Enroll in Elyon Academy. For the sake of the Theocracy.”
For some reason, that smile felt chilling.
* * *
After leaving the audience chamber, Spea returned to her room.
She spoke curtly to the soldiers guarding the door.
“I wish to be alone.”
The soldiers looked flustered and hesitated for a moment.
After some deliberation, they eventually withdrew far from her room.
Thud— Swish— Rustle-
Spea entered her room and shut the door.
She immediately drew the curtains over every window and extinguished the lights.
Her room sank into silent darkness.
Spea pulled a bloodstained wooden cross from where she had hidden it inside a desk drawer, clutched it in her hand, and collapsed onto her bed.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Then, with her hands clasped as though in prayer and her shoulders trembling, she began reciting names like a prayer.
Black guilt was slowly eating away at her from within.
“Marne Porines, Cather Atilen, Mali Bexley, Ellen Woody, Elaine Erifin…”
They were all people Spea had personally judged.
There were already dozens of names.
“If I’m not perfect… If I don’t pass judgment… everyone dies… Father kills them all…”
A vision of every maid being left without a head.
It wasn’t merely a vision.
It was a scar carved into her mind.
Long ago, on the day Spea had forgiven a maid who had made a mistake,
every maid who had been present that day eventually disappeared.
One of those who vanished had even been her friend.
Then, one day, Rab gave Spea a necklace.
‘You must be perfect, Spea.’
Spea had stared at the necklace in horror when he handed it to her with those words.
The necklace was the wooden cross she had once given to her friend.
The blood covering the wooden cross had already dried completely black.
‘If you aren’t perfect, then you’re useless.’
From that day onward, Spea’s once-black hair had slowly begun turning ash-gray.
There was no point in someone who was merely a Saintess Candidate trying to expose the Pope’s sins.
“…I have to become the Saintess.”
That was why she had no choice but to become the true Saintess.
Even if it meant eliminating the other Saintess Candidates.
So that she could drive out Rab, the true demon ruling this Theocracy.
So that she could save this nation.
* * *
‘So that’s how this part is going to start.’
Ex slowly retraced the original story in his mind.
The third Saintess Candidate, Spea, was a tragic antagonist whose personality had been warped after growing up in an environment that demanded absolute perfection from her.
Because of that, once summer vacation ended and Spea enrolled in Class A, she continually clashed with Frey.
‘She attacked the other Saintess Candidates because she wanted to become the Saintess herself… Which means she’s obviously going to target Beatrice too…’
In the original story, Beatrice had lost her divine power, so there had never been any particular conflict between her and Spea.
But this time, after Ex became a Hero, Beatrice had openly declared that she intended to become a Saintess as well.
With Ex now recognized as a Hero, it would have been strange for him not to have a Saintess Candidate supporting him in the first place.
‘I’m seriously screwed. It’s way too late to take that back now…’
And that wasn’t even his only concern.
‘Spea aggressively pursued Leon because he was a Hero. If she could stand beside a Hero, her chances of becoming the Saintess would increase.’
Of course, Leon already knew that Frey was the reincarnated Saintess, so he coldly rejected every blatant advance Spea made toward him.
That was when the whole ‘If I can’t have you, I’ll destroy you!’ phase began.
‘She won’t do that to me… right? We’re not even in the same class… And I’m a member of the Imperial Family… There’s no way I’d ever side with the Theocracy anyway.’
For once, Ex fully intended to remain far away from the situation and merely observe.
There were simply too many unstable variables involved.
‘Elysia still hasn’t even made a move. The Demon King has been resurrected, the Goddess has fallen, and Leon is growing faster than he did in the original story. Most importantly, Rosaria never died.’
At this point, expecting events to follow canon was shamelessly unrealistic.
Even a single small change could twist countless future events.
And now, far too many things had changed.
From here on out, he would have to rely on improvisation and deal with whatever came his way.
Still, it wasn’t as though he had no options.
‘From now on, I need to start seriously increasing my strength and abilities. I also need to prepare for the Demonkin attack that’s going to hit the Empire. This summer vacation… July is going to be the most important period.’
Especially because 5-Star was now right in front of him.
During his battle with Elia, Ex had managed to create an Aura Blade, crude though it had been.
Unfortunately, he had only succeeded that one time.
When he told Roxwell about it, Roxwell immediately realized that Ex was on the verge of reaching 5-Star and began preparing an intensive training regimen.
But then…
“Sir Roxwell. As Imperial Princess Beatrice’s Sword, Imperial Prince Ex is required to complete the Imperial Bodyguard’s official training course. I would appreciate it if you put aside this little master-and-disciple game of yours for the time being.”
“What nonsense are you spouting, Lady Milia? Ex is my disciple. Obviously I should be the one supervising his training. A bond between master and disciple isn’t something you just put aside whenever it’s convenient.”
“I didn’t want to say this, Sir Roxwell, but I am the overall commander of both the Imperial Knight Order and the Imperial Bodyguard, as well as their Supreme Commander. This is an order issued under the authority of my position. Do you intend to defy it?”
“If you don’t like it, then come at me. We can settle once and for all who deserves to be called the Sword of the Empire.”
“You only just reached 7-Star, yet your arrogance has already reached 8-Star. Are you truly that confident?”
“You talk too much, Milia.”
“Draw your sword. Now…!”
Two 7-Star martial artists of the Empire began trying to intimidate each other.
All because both of them wanted to train Ex through his breakthrough to 5-Star.
Ex had only learned this afterward, but both 5-Star and 7-Star were apparently stages martial artists referred to as ‘walls.’
Helping someone break through one of those ‘walls’ was considered a tremendous source of honor and pride for the person who had taught them.
After all, reaching 5-Star meant personally shaping someone into a martial artist who met the minimum standard required to truly be called a knight.
In other words, both of them were currently fighting over who got to claim the achievement.
‘I have to learn from Master anyway…’
They used the same swordsmanship to begin with, so there wasn’t really a choice.
Trying to learn the Imperial Bodyguard’s swordsmanship from scratch at this point would only be a waste of time.
Milia would probably make his life miserable for a while, but there was nothing he could do about that.
‘I’ll tell them once they’re done trying to stare each other to death.’
But Ex didn’t know it yet.
That ridiculous battle of nerves between the two of them was about to become a much bigger headache than he ever expected.
–TL Notes–
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