The Saint of Purification (2)
The military chaplain who had introduced herself as Tiria Caston drew a staff from thin air right in front of me. An object adorned with golden ornaments materialized out of empty space.
"Baculus. One of the holy relics. It is an item that the Goddess bestows only upon the highest-ranking clergy."
What is this? Is she about to attack me right now?
As I tensed completely, the Saint added,
"This proves it. That I am a Saint."
"Is that what that thing is?"
"Yes."
Well, if she called herself a Saint, I ought to address her as one. In fact, her being a Saint might even work to my advantage. If I could win over someone who, after the Valkyrie, belonged to the Church's highest echelons of power, then even if I later became a prisoner, everything would work out fine.
"The Baculus only purifies or judges the dead. Wielding it against you, who still possess a living body, would be pointless. You can expect nothing more from it than physical force."
When the Saint waved her hand, the staff vanished again. Only motes of light remained floating like afterimages where the holy relic had been.
"I am one of only six Saints in the Holy Kingdom, and at the same time a military chaplain officer. I possess both the right and the ability to summarily execute mages."
That sounds an awful lot like she's saying she'll kill me the moment I rub her the wrong way.
I swallowed hard. Just because she was pretty did not mean I should assume she had a kind heart. Of course, as a Saint she would have some measure of character, but it was different when facing a mage. After all, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit Church still regarded mages as minions of evil. The history on that subject was endless if one started talking about it.
The Saint spoke falteringly.
"I came. Living people. Search. Tatangcour. Strange cause? Currently exist. On this island."
Interpretation: I was dispatched to the Tatangcour Sea to rescue the missing. It seems there is some strange cause present on this island.
A strange cause, huh.
"Do you mean the fog, by any chance?"
"Fog!"
The Saint nodded.
"You know? Suspicious!"
"What exactly is suspicious?"
"You are a first-class mage, after all. From first-class upward, the Magic Kingdom treats them as top-priority personnel. Just being here is enough to raise suspicions. Did your country order this?"
"Colonel."
At that moment the Valkyrie cut in and whispered to the Saint.
"The mage has been stuck with me for a whole month. In that time I never got the sense he was deceiving me."
The Saint nodded and continued.
"I think. Confining. Confining?"
"Prison? Cage? Barrier?"
"Yes! Barrier! And taboo!"
"By taboo, do you mean a seal?"
"Correct. I also came to investigate whether the Magic Kingdom is committing taboos for large-scale magic. You wouldn't be preparing some excessive scheme to win the war, would you? Mage."
"Absolutely not. In my country that would get you a minimum of imprisonment and a maximum of the death penalty."
It was even written into the Jeriem Pact. Since the founding of the Magic Kingdom, the vast majority of magi had upheld that pact. At least I had.
The Saint shook her head.
"There are people above the law. It changes as needed, and contradictions exist—that is exactly what you mages are."
"No. It's different."
"How so?"
"We are magi. Not mages."
"I don't care for word games."
"Then I'll speak more bluntly. Even if the Magic Kingdom were creating some horrific magic here, I would desert."
"Desert?"
"I would escape from my unit."
"Why?"
"Would a nation that abandoned humanity to win a war then govern humanely?"
The Saint's eyes, which had been ash-gray the whole time, changed for the first time. To orange. But they soon returned to gray.
"Are you... somehow different?"
"Any magus besides me would say the same."
"You made them. The murder magic stones."
The moment I heard those words, I had nothing to say. Military magic stones were not at the level of taboo. But just because they were not taboo did not grant absolution for having killed people.
"It's not solely because of you, but you share responsibility too. You made things hard for our people, and for me as well."
The Saint muttered. I barely caught the rest of her words. All I could see was that red light and blue light were swirling together in her irises.
Lumina.
Classified as a subspecies of half-elves, they were famous for their irises changing color according to their emotions. I could easily tell that the Saint currently hated me intensely, and was also grieving as she recalled the past. My conscience pricked, but I had to stop before the atmosphere heated up any further.
"For now, let's dry ourselves by the fire first."
Saint Tiria had spent her childhood confined within the Church. She could only communicate with the outside world through the Church. Whenever she went out, five or six escorts always accompanied her, and if there was a letter to send, it had to go through her assigned lady-in-waiting or another cleric.
It was stifling.
But as she became an adult, an opportunity opened for Tiria as well. She learned that by serving as a military chaplain, she could freely go out into the wider world. It was the only chance to leave the temple that held the Flame of Purification and briefly see the world.
As it happened, tensions with the Magic Kingdom were running high at the time, so Tiria was able to leave the cathedral where she had been confined for fifteen years without much difficulty and become a military chaplain officer. Since military chaplains followed the ranks from their clerical days, she was commissioned as a colonel.
And so the battlefield she first encountered was utterly horrific. People killing people. Soldiers of the Holy Kingdom and soldiers of the Magic Kingdom tangled together as corpses. The bodies turned to mush and sank into the sea, leaving only unredeemed souls to linger in place.
Tiria's role was to save those souls. Rest for those who had believed in the Holy Spirit Church in life. For those who had not, a chance to atone—and if they refused, cold judgment. To the evil spirits who had learned even a little magic and sold their souls to demons after death, she delivered merciless annihilation.
How exhausting and arduous that process was. The evil spirits were almost all soldiers of the Magic Kingdom. Every time they faced Tiria, they poured out every curse they could muster as they were exorcised.
"Narrow-minded filthy bitch. This is a Saint? If you're going to console spirits like that, why not retrain as a whore who comforts men's bodies instead?"
"Get captured by our soldiers and die while being fucked like a dog!"
"Your country will fall, and you too will thrash in agony before being buried in the ground. Hahaha!"
The curses of the vengeful spirits contained powerful mana. Mana was both the antithesis and the weakness of the clergy. Though she blocked most of the curses with holy power, as a result Tiria's eye sockets were always dark and sunken. She had developed insomnia. Chronic insomnia, at that.
But the vengeful spirits alone were not the cause of her sleeplessness.
"The mages took not only my younger sibling but my life as well. It is so tragic and unjust that I cannot return to the Goddess's embrace."
"Saint, please avenge me. Sob sob."
There were also souls who, despite being believers of the Holy Spirit Church, refused to find peace because of their overwhelming grief. Listening to each of their stories and resolving their grudges meant Tiria absorbed all that stress herself.
She had never met a living mage, but she had seen thousands of their corrupted souls. She had heard tragic accounts as numerous as grains of sand on a beach. Thus she had thought that actual mages would be little different from what she had learned secondhand.
And yet.
Then I'll speak more bluntly. Even if the Magic Kingdom were creating some horrific magic here, I would desert.
Would a nation that abandoned humanity to win a war then govern humanely?
She had not properly learned the language of the Magic Kingdom, so she did not know many words. But the first mage she had ever met in her life was completely different from Tiria's prejudices.
Erihi Ronshstein.
It was a name she had seen on documents. The very person who had developed a great many military magic stones and driven innocent young men of the Holy Kingdom to their deaths. The man was famous even within the Holy Spirit Church. Of course, in a bad way. The paper he had written on the circulation of mana and Sephiron had long been designated a banned book in the Holy Kingdom.
The first emotion she felt upon seeing such a man in the flesh was... complicated, somehow. She had deliberately made a remark implying he had used magic stones to kill Holy Kingdom youths in order to anger him. Yet the man offered no excuses. Instead his face was clouded with worry.
To Tiria that came as a shock. The Holy Spirit Church taught that all mages were shameless, looked only after their own interests, were cunning, and—having sold their souls to demons—could only be wicked. She herself had fully absorbed those teachings.
"I lived on that other island for about a month."
Tiria kept her mouth tightly shut and warmed herself by the campfire. The only one talking was the man.
"I don't know why the monsters that had disappeared reappeared. I nearly died fighting that Valkyrie over there. I lost consciousness in the storm and when I woke up I was here."
The man was speaking slowly and clearly out of consideration for Tiria. The vocabulary he used was simple and precise. Thanks to that, understanding was not difficult.
Tiria examined the man's appearance. His beard had grown exactly a month's worth. His officer's uniform was not merely shabby but tattered, and grease was dripping from his hair and face. He looked filthy.
Headquarters had told her to consider the summary execution of mages—especially clean-looking ones. She finally understood why the higher-ups had set the standard of "clean-looking." With this appearance, the likelihood that this man was directly connected to the barrier on this island was not high.
After long deliberation, Tiria decided not to draw her gun. She still did not know well where this place even was. She could not know what dangers might be lurking. Even if there were no threats at all, she had to consider the possibility that a Magic Kingdom rescue ship would arrive first. If she built up goodwill with this man, she might receive humane treatment even if rescued by them later.
Rachel spoke casually.
"He has at least a minimum of humanity. At least he has so far. If he suddenly turns, I'll subdue him immediately."
There was no need to hastily decide the man's treatment. Tiria organized her thoughts by offering a prayer to the Goddess of Healing.
Perhaps because the Valkyrie was with her, the Saint was quieter than expected. However, she was still looking at me with sharp eyes.
A murky red. Emotions mixed with hatred and suspicion were transmitted clearly through her irises.
Honestly I did not want to do this, but for the time being it seemed I would have to humor the Saint.
"So... you said you were assigned to search for soldiers who disappeared in battle, then ran into a storm and the ship capsized. Is there any chance other rescue ships will come?"
"There are. A great many. The Holy Kingdom places great importance on the lives of high-ranking clergy. As soon as word reaches them that the ship I was on sank, headquarters will immediately form a new rescue team. Just wait a little."
The Saint sighed and continued.
"But I don't know. Whether they can come. The weather was supposed to be good... because of the storm..."
A storm when it was me and the Valkyrie. A storm when it was the Saint as well. It was still too ambiguous to call it inevitable.
"Colonel, survival comes first right now."
"That makes sense. Let's scout the surroundings first."
"With one more mouth to feed, we'll have to move diligently."
"Hmph, if only that man weren't here."
The Valkyrie said something, and the Saint nodded. The two rose from their seats at the same time. Their conversation continued after that.
Before long the Saint said,
"Mage, you stay here."