The Demon Sword Crossed the Line, Saintess Aileen Pronite
In all eight previous regressions, there had never been a time when Aileen Pronite wasn’t the Saintess. Since she had appeared as the Saintess from the very beginning in the original game that served as the foundation for this world, it might have been her predetermined fate. Even if I tried to change things for the sake of clearing the game, there was nothing I could do about events that occurred before I possessed this body.
Anyway, the Saintess was the sole being who could directly hear the Goddess’s words as a devout follower of the Goddess Church. That was Aileen. Because of this, her status within the Goddess Church was on par with the Pope’s, and since most of the continent followed the Goddess Church, the power she wielded could not be ignored.
The problem was…
“Would you like to grab my hair?!”
“……My head hurts.”
I had no idea why she was acting like this. Why would someone who shouldn’t even know I existed suddenly appear before me and shove her head forward?
“You want to grab it until it hurts? I-I can endure the pain if you want.”
“……Could you please shut your mouth for a moment?”
If I stayed there any longer, I might have had my neck sliced by a devout follower of the Goddess Church, so I took Aileen and moved to another location. Still, I had no clue how to handle this situation. What a mess. I couldn’t exactly grab the hair of someone who had come to me of her own accord and swing her around.
“Please, at least explain why you’re doing this.”
After letting out a deep sigh, Aileen closed her mouth as instructed, then smiled brightly and spoke.
“It’s an oracle from the Goddess! You’re Ian, right?”
“……That is correct.”
An oracle from the Goddess. ……Now, of all times? I had long since abandoned any expectations of following the original story, but my trust in the regressions I had experienced remained. After all, they were both my future and my past. And in all those futures and pasts, something like this had never happened. The Goddess had only ever observed or remained passive. That had been more beneficial for her as well.
The Goddess Church had judged the crises threatening the continent as opportunities for themselves. It wasn’t entirely wrong. In times of peace, people don’t seek out gods. It’s only when crisis and suffering are right in front of them that they turn to the divine. If the threat came from demons and the Demon King, they would seek the Goddess even more desperately.
That was why the Holy Kingdom had tried to keep the crisis at a manageable level. If things had gone according to their plans, the Goddess Church and the Holy Kingdom would have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. But there was one thing they had overlooked.
The danger looming over the continent was beyond their ability to control.
‘……Well, in the end, they were utterly destroyed.’
From the perspective of the demons and the Demon King, the Holy Kingdom wielding divine power had been their most troublesome enemy. Divine power was the most lethal weakness to those who used demonic energy. Therefore, the Holy Kingdom had been their top priority for elimination, and in every regression, it was almost always the first to fall.
Of course, the destruction of the Holy Kingdom didn’t sever the Goddess Church’s influence entirely, and sometimes its fall had even been beneficial. But even through all of that, the Goddess had never once intervened. At times she had given Aileen goals to strive toward, but she had never stepped in like this before.
‘……Perhaps.’
Was it because of me? This was a world where true gods existed. Whether that divine being had been caught up in my regressions or not was unknown. If the Goddess was free from the regressions, then she would also be aware that the world had been destroyed because of me in the previous loop. That might be why she thought it necessary to keep me—who wasn’t completely evil—from going astray.
“No matter what, I have no intention of grabbing your hair.”
“I see! That’s a relief!”
Was her faith so strong that she was willing to do something she didn’t want to? I looked down at Aileen’s light-green hair, let out a small breath, and nodded.
“I’d rather live a long life, after all.”
“E-Even if you grab my hair, I won’t try to harm you or anything!”
“Of course you wouldn’t, Saintess. But the followers of the Goddess Church certainly would.”
Still, there was one positive thing—I had realized the Goddess was extremely favorable toward me. Whether that favor was genuine goodwill or fear of a potential bomb, I didn’t know. At least from the bomb’s perspective, I had no intention of exploding. For now, I could consider this as having received permission to proceed with my plans.
“My introduction is late. I am Ian Phil Highgrants, the second son of Count Highgrants.”
“Nice to meet you! I’m Aileen Pronite, a devout follower of the Goddess Church!”
I stared at Aileen, who introduced herself with a bright smile, then gave a faint smile of my own and began to think. Now then, what should I do? No matter how much influence Aileen held in the Holy Kingdom—nearly equal to the Pope’s—she couldn’t single-handedly restore the Holy Kingdom to normal. The Pope’s faction held considerable power, and Saintess Aileen’s voice within the Holy Kingdom wasn’t as strong as one might think. In the end, the biggest problem was that Aileen remained under the Pope’s control.
‘……Well.’
There was no need to rush. I already had the perfect stage in mind. So until then, I just needed to wait patiently.
[……!!!]
A space dyed in pure white. The being who had been gazing down upon this continent and this world from within that space widened her eyes in shock.
[……? …….]
The Goddess. Now stripped of her name, leaving only this existence behind, she blankly replayed what she had witnessed. It hadn’t been a simple destruction. She had grown weary of witnessing destruction. The fall caused by the Demon King’s army. Mutual annihilation through wars breaking out across the continent. The extinction of humanity brought about by natural disasters. This was something on an entirely different level.
Extinction. A single human had reduced everything—demons, humans, other races, animals, plants—every living being, without leaving a single one behind, returning this world completely to nothingness. Even the evil god, who struggled desperately to dye this world in demonic energy, would never have committed such an act. She recalled the image of that human who had done it.
[…… …… ……….]
After muttering to herself for a moment, the Goddess soon composed herself. It would be wrong to place the blame on that child. In truth, aside from Sylvia and Aileen, he was one of the humans she had observed the most. Therefore, she knew very well how hard he had worked to save this continent. That was why she couldn’t condemn his actions. At least, not from her perspective, knowing so much.
[…… … …… ……?]
Then what should she do? It wasn’t as if the Goddess had no desire to intervene on the continent. Even if only a little, she wanted to tell them that the crisis about to befall the continent wasn’t something they could overlook. But that would be breaking the rules. If the Goddess broke the rules first, then the other side would begin to intervene in earnest as well. If both sides broke the rules and this continent became a battlefield for the gods, then the entire world would vanish. Therefore, what she could do now was simple. Merely showing the way. The only option was to watch over him within the permitted boundaries. Thoroughly, so that the other side couldn’t target that child.
‘……What a headache.’
So, I had been thinking seriously about this. Wouldn’t it be better to start the next regression now, even if it meant losing stats and achievements? I was genuinely starting to think that. To be precise, the moment I saw the sword emitting a black light in the middle of my room, those thoughts began to surface.
I had done well on the entrance exam. Fortunately, I had also realized that the Goddess was protecting me. As a bonus, I had even made contact with the Saintess, Aileen. As for Sylvia, things had gone according to plan and I’d managed to get acquainted with her too. It was quite a good start. No, I could confidently say that across all previous regressions, there had never been a start this smooth. Though most of it was thanks to the Goddess and Aileen.
But still.
“Is that why?”
The sword floated dangerously in the center of my room, emitting a low hum. Of course, it was still sheathed, so it wasn’t actually dangerous. But the sword itself was dangerous—that much was certain. After all, I had used it in the previous regression.
“What, are you rebelling and telling me not to side with the Goddess now?”
The Demon Sword. One of the nine swords used by the Demon King. I let out a small sigh as I looked at it. Assuming the Goddess already knew about the regressions, the evil god would also be aware of them. I didn’t know whether the Goddess had chosen not to help me or simply couldn’t help me through the regressions, but the evil god’s reason for not interfering with me until now was relatively clear. He simply hadn’t considered me a threat. Neither I nor the other protagonists had ever come close to reaching the Demon King. That had been due to the continent’s corruption, with the Demon King’s army’s schemes hidden within it. It made sense that the evil god hadn’t seen me as a threat.
And now, the reason the evil god was personally stepping in? Because in the previous regression, I had cleanly severed the heads of the Demon King’s army and the Demon King himself. Of course, as I said before, that had been pointless. After all, destroying the Demon King’s army when the continent had already completely collapsed wasn’t a way to reach the ending. Conversely, if the continent hadn’t been completely destroyed, it would have been impossible to annihilate the Demon King’s army in the first place.
Anyway, it meant the evil god was now wary of my actions from the previous regression. But even so…
“The Demon Sword, though.”
The Demon Sword had crossed the line.