Chapter 458: For the Savior
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 458: For the Savior
“This alliance is diseased. What was this fight for in the first place? That madwoman pleads with our emotions, telling us to endure just a little longer. She claims that once the cancer spreading across this continent is gone, a life of prosperity will await us, just like before! But that world-class fucking bitch Maria doesn't know. She doesn't know that she is the cancerous tumor eating away at this continent!”
“That’s right!”
“He’s right!”
“What was this war for? The citizens and adventurers, the large guilds and the small-to-mid-sized clans—everyone, without exception, is starving. The dwarves lost their leader and their homes. The land of freedom and peace she promised to create is nowhere to be found. Her room is filled with all manner of extravagant goods, and her table is still laden with meat. She holds her soldiers and officers responsible for her defeats, while the one who started the war hides in the back, merely watching the situation unfold.”
“Kill her! Kill the fucking bitch!”
“We have to catch her and beat her to death!”
“The Golden Saintess, Jane, was abandoned. The one who worked so hard for the common people was abandoned.”
“……”
“After being forced on an expedition to the Black Rock Mountain Range, a place with a low survival rate, she was irresponsibly abandoned. On the sole grounds that the continental front was more important, they refused to dispatch a rescue team, leaving the others there to die. She was lucky to survive, but that doesn't mean there were no victims.”
“That murderous bitch!”
“Piece of trash!”
“I have no doubt that you all know her political opponents were treated unfairly in this war. Many who opposed the war were deployed to the front lines, pushed into deadly assaults, or met with mysterious deaths. They tried to smooth things over by calling them simple suicides, but I trust that none of you citizens actually believe her rivals killed themselves.”
“That’s right!”
“I know this is a difficult time for everyone. This alliance has already lost the will to fight. Our soldiers are dead or wounded, and young lives have vanished on meaningless battlefields. In a situation like this, that madwoman is preparing to start another war. She’s trying to boost morale with pathetic words like ‘patriotism’ and is getting ready to drive the youth of this land onto the battlefield once more. This is not a war for the alliance. This is a war solely to protect what she has!”
“………………………”
“Are you saying we have an obligation to participate in this war? Do we have an obligation to join a war that is not for the alliance, but for her? The people beyond the continental front are continuously urging us to surrender. They are offering favorable terms, yet the leadership on this side refuses to answer them! And it’s because one of the conditions is to hold that fucking bitch Maria accountable for her crimes!”
“That rotten, filthy bitch!”
“We have to kill her! We must rise up!”
“We must rise up!”
It was quite a beautiful situation. I could understand why Maria Trump was so furious. Watching everything unfold just as you’d planned is, naturally, a satisfying experience. Watching everything you’ve planned fall to pieces would surely not be as enjoyable as this.
Anti-Maria movements were erupting in every city. A massive organization had formed around Jane and the hundred who had survived by killing their comrades on the right-hand wall.
The Revolutionary Army.
It was a revolutionary army organized to save a rotten nation and to ensure their own survival. Of course, I wasn't the one who incited them. The people are not stupid.
A single, trivial spark was all it took for them to rise up, their voices echoing from place to place.
They just needed a focal point.
What they needed to make their move was a figure to unite them. Choi Seulgi murmured as she watched the scene.
“Did you plan all of this, too?”
“I’m not that smart. I think they were all feeling it, too. The wealthy, those with their own power, the smart, the strong—they all realized it. Once the bubble started to burst, they began to see things that were invisible before.”
“Could something like this have happened in our past life?”
She was asking if something like this would have been possible in the city ruled by the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri.
I didn’t answer.
Of course, it would have been impossible. On this continent, whether here or there, power is what puts you on top. In the past, anyone who criticized Ha Yuri or badmouthed the Saint Knights Order was killed. Not only were public critics silenced, but you even had to watch what you said at a tavern. It wasn't an atmosphere where one could discuss the city's policies or direction, and ignorant people like me and Choi Seulgi believed the city was doing its best for the common folk.
It was only possible because it was a society where information was completely controlled.
But the situation in the Western Continent is a little different.
That place was founded on the values of freedom and peace. There was some level of control and pressure, but Maria Trump genuinely wanted a society where people could freely express their desires.
“It makes it easier to gather emotions that way.”
“Greed?”
“That’s right.”
“The Western Continent is a little different from the old West. It’s not that there are no opportunities. If you can squeeze through that narrow gate, you can certainly climb higher. In a way, it seems idealistic, but their freedom infringes upon the freedom of others. It’s probably easy to extract emotions there.”
It was a society that encouraged individual greed. At least, that’s how it felt to me. Opportunity is open to everyone. Maria might say that opportunity is equal, but it’s absolutely not. The system, where greater rights are given to those at the top, evolves into a selfishness that pushes down those trying to climb, and from this individual selfishness, she extracts the emotion of greed.
There’s a reason the people around her are influenced by her.
‘Privilege.’
They don’t want to lose the privileges they possess. That’s why they try to protect her, follow her words, and cherish her.
In a society where such an atmosphere is rampant, the path of Jane, known as the Golden Saintess, is a bit special.
She is content with little, doesn’t indulge in greed, and lives to help those in need. The reason Maria dislikes her is painfully obvious. She has no greed. At least, until now, she hadn’t possessed any greed at all.
‘Of course, now…’
It’s a little different.
“Ah! There she is.”
Choi Seulgi let out a short cry. She knew who was now appearing. At the Saintess’s appearance, the speakers who had been delivering fiery words from the stage held their breath and watched her. They were waiting only for the voice that would come from her lips. As if to meet their expectations, the moment she parted her lips, a tremendous roar erupted.
“Woooooooooaaaaaaah!!!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“I offer my sincerest thanks for giving one as lacking as myself such a warm welcome.”
“Woooooooooaaaaaaah!!”
“It brings me great joy that so many of you have placed your trust in someone as unworthy as me. However, I do not believe I am qualified. I was not prepared to bear the responsibility that comes with freedom. That is why I have lived a life somewhat different from those who make up this alliance.”
“………………”
“I do not think helping those in need was some great deed. I knew what Maria was thinking and what kind of society she wished to create, yet I deliberately turned my back on that truth.”
“……………………”
“It was because I was afraid of the criticism and ridicule directed at me. It was because I thought that raising my voice on behalf of others and denouncing the current state of affairs did not suit me. It was simply because… I did not believe in the power an individual’s voice could have. I am not the saint you think I am.”
The venue grew quiet.
“But I have changed. In a place that was like hell, yet where I could find peace, I came to realize many things. It is because of your faith. And it is because of my faith in the Savior. I am finally ready to take a single step forward. It is the trembling first step I take for the one I love. Some of you may be acting for a greater cause, some for the nation, or perhaps some for your own personal greed. But this is not something we can let be. Perhaps I, too, am acting out of personal greed.”
“……………………”
“I move for my faith. I move for the Savior who is watching over me even at this very moment. For what I believe in! For my faith! For the Savior! That is why I move! To those who do not wish to move, to those who wonder why they must, I say this. To those who are still hesitating at this very moment, I say this. If you cannot find a reason, then I will become your reason. I will go out first and be struck by guns and spears to lead you forward. I fight for my belief. I fight for my faith.”
It felt like she was going along fine and then veered off onto a slightly different path, but the reaction was quite passionate. This was a continent where illogical things happened all the time, after all. In a place where one could connect with gods through the medium of holy power, no one would find it strange for a priestess to say such things.
In fact, it was more moving. Her sincere words—that she was acting not out of some polished concern for the nation, but for the personal desire of faith—resonated more deeply in the hearts of the people.
The sight of the Golden Saintess, slowly opening her mouth as holy power radiated from her entire body, was truly idealistic. It was enough to make me understand why so many humans in the old West had believed in Ha Yuri as a god and thrown their lives away for her.
“For faith!”
“For faith!!”
“I have now taken that first, uncertain step. For faith!!!”
A thunderous roar and shouts echoed out.
“For the Savior!”
“For the Savior!!”
The massive group slowly began to march. As the crowd poured out of the metropolis, even Choi Seulgi swallowed nervously. The army, which had begun to take shape around the Golden Saintess, continued its advance.
The flag that had once symbolized the Golden Saintess was gone. Instead, a flag bearing the symbol that represents me, one Baek Ahyeon has used since long ago, was raised. People who had no idea what the Savior was raised that flag high.
Trusting in the holy power that seemed to overflow, they raised their voices as one with her.
“For the Savior!!”
And Choi Seulgi, who had been watching the scene, finally looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief and muttered to herself.
“Fuck… I got goosebumps.”
“……”
“I want to do that, too…”
It was an unexpected remark.