2. Saintess
“Hey! You ran away, you little trash! Open the door!”
“How dare you run away in front of Sir Fedric! You trash, you don’t even know your place!”
It was absurd. What were they going to do by catching a trash like me and chasing us like this to kill us?
Before I could explain, our house door broke first.
“We finally got you. You little rat.”
The massive silver knight barreled in, clearing the knights and mages in front of us.
It seemed the silver knight was the one who had been saying “Fedric” earlier.
His gaze, looking down at our house with disgust, didn’t sit well with me.
“... Why are you suddenly trying to capture us? What are you going to do with lowly slum trash like me...”
“Tsk. Slum trash don’t know anything. What would you do if you knew what Duke Chatrin commanded? Duke Chatrin said to clean the slums thoroughly. As his knight, I only follow orders. A lowly trash like you has no business.”
“... A few were caught earlier... what happens to them?”
The silver knight answered with a mocking smile.
“The slum trash are occupying the duke’s territory without permission in the first place. What happens to them is none of our concern. Trash don’t have conscience...”
He lightly raised his sword and split the only table in half.
“... If you don’t want to end up like this, come quietly. The duke commanded to bring all of you so the slum trash can’t run rampant in the back alleys anymore. And the little kid hiding under the bed earlier too.”
My body trembled. If I resist more here... I might just get killed like me.
But rather than being separated from my brother, or Ena being taken... maybe it’s better to die defiantly here.
“... If you don’t take both me and my brother, I... I can’t move even one step from here.”
The gang started laughing like they saw a court jester.
“Ahahaha!!... How absurd. Yeah, you can’t even move one step?”
Before the words finished, the cold knight’s sword tip touched under my chin.
Goosebumps all over my body. I couldn’t move, frozen in place.
“You worthless life, you don’t know your place. You have no value in front of Sir Chatrin.”
“Wait! Wait a sec!”
Ena hurriedly came out from under the bed.
And fearlessly inserted herself between the knight and me.
“I... I’m sorry... Knight... I’ll do whatever you say...”
Ena blocking in front of me, sobbing.
“Uahahaha! What a tearful sight... Yeah, whatever. Just treat it as cute mischief...”
Suddenly the big knight stopped talking, and the gang’s gazes went to the book sticking out from under the bed.
My treasure No.2. [Basics of Mana].
Suddenly, the atmosphere became unbearably dark.
“Hey, you little trash kids. Did you try to use mana with your lowly status? You wanted to become a ‘witch’... right? You know you shouldn’t look, but you learned anyway. Trash like you can’t be left alive.”
“Wait, wait a minute! We didn’t do anything with mana, we just read a book a bit...”
My protest dissolved in the dark atmosphere.
“Little trash, don’t you know the empire’s laws? Lowly status can’t know anything about magic or mana. Who knows how many witches have appeared in the slum pits and caused chaos in the empire?”
“... This is enough for immediate execution. Death sentence. Fedric.”
Death sentence? No... just reading a book?
No more time for pride.
I immediately knelt, begging with hands and feet.
“P-please... I’m really sorry. I didn’t know this was a problem. Sorry. Sorry...”
The silver knight continued in calm tone.
“Know that ignorance is a sin. Little trash. Becoming a witch and driving many people of the empire into hell, enduring all sorts of humiliation and being burned to death - it’s better to finish your life here with my sword. Consider it a mercy.”
I have to... run away... I’m scared, I can’t move my legs. And... it’s not someone I can easily dodge. What did I do wrong. Just picking up trash, but seeking knowledge is a crime.
“I... I’m really sorry... I’m sorry... Even though I’m trash, I sought mana and knowledge... I’m sorry... But... the sin is only mine, so please... save my brother at least...”
The knight laughed mockingly and pitifully.
“Little trash, do you know how to pick the rotten oranges? ... The easy way to pick the rottenest orange is to just throw away the whole basket it’s in. Even if they look good on the surface, there are many rotten inside. You are the same. Since you violated the empire’s strict laws, it doesn’t matter how much you violated them.”
“Goodbye. It won’t hurt.”
At that moment, the big knight swung his heavy sword down,
“Stop------------!”
Suddenly Ena shouted and blocked the sword - then brilliant starlight swirled around Ena, and the knight and the gang were instantly slammed against the wall.
“Ah... ouch... You lowly X... how dare you...”
“Fedric! Fedric! Are you okay!”
The knights and mages nearby took defensive stances and rushed around the silver knight to check on him.
The silver knight had a serious expression, starting to look at us - especially Ena. Of course, I was the same.
... Could Ena use magic? Ena?
“I thought you were just some lowly trash, I was too complacent. Yeah, now I understand Sir Chatrin’s intention. There was a kid with ‘witch’ qualities hiding in the slums.”
“From now on - I’ll seriously fight you. My name is Erel de Petric, a faithful servant serving Duke Chatrin and - Vice Commander leading the Imperial Holy Cross Knights. Witch, state your name.”
Ena looked at me with a complex expression for a moment, then with a determined expression glared at the knight and started answering.
“... Ena. And I’m not a witch. The words I said about killing oppa - cancel them.”
“If you want to die.”
Before the words finished - the planks and roof surrounding our house became ashes and disappeared, and a huge cross made of light fell mercilessly towards the knight from the sky.
The silver knight stretched both hands to the sky, creating a huge shield to counter. The knight’s shield, squeezing strength until his face turned red, had cracks forming little by little. The mages next to him were trying hard to buff and support but it was insufficient.
“...This dirty... witch... how... using such obscene sorcery to wield the church’s holy magic...! I will definitely, definitely... by the name of the Imperial Holy Cross Knights... exterminate this witch!”
“...Not a witch.”
Eventually, the knight’s shield cracked and broke - the huge light cross covered the knight and the gang. Without time to scream, the gang fell down, only the big silver knight barely maintained his posture. The knight panted heavily and continued.
“Hah... hah... Witch... still the same... lie... I, Fedric... I will never give up here...”
A soft lullaby flowed from Ena’s mouth.
Something strangely sweet like a power-infused lullaby - the lullaby song I always sang.
“Mommy in the shade of the trees...”
“W-what... what kind of strange sor...cery...”
The big knight fell asleep as is.
And Ena staring at me intensely for a long time.
The silence was broken by me first.
“... Ena, you...”
“I know you have a lot to say. Oppa. ...First, while running away... I’ll tell you. It doesn’t look like it can stay here.”
“Yeah. First, first, let’s run away.”
Ena was the first to pick up the book that fell on the floor and hand it to me.
[Basics of Mana],
... The book that almost killed us, my treasure No.2.
“It’s a precious book, oppa. Since you look at it so diligently that it makes me jealous, you have to keep it. This is it.”
“If I had known this would be such a big problem... I wouldn’t have picked it up back then. I just picked it up for nothing...”
“No, oppa. The empire that blocks the lower class from learning anything is bad, oppa. It’s not bad that you saw that book... People may not think that way - but at least, I think that way.”
Ena was putting on all sorts of poses and saying cool lines, so in the serious moment, I laughed.
“Ah! Why are you laughing! When someone is talking seriously... ugh, I don’t know.”
So, I picked up only a few things that could be carried roughly,
And said goodbye to the house that had almost no more left,
And left the back alleys with Ena.
---
At that time, the empire’s temple was unusually noisy.
Because the oracle that the goddess had finally bestowed a new saintess and sent her to the world had come.
It was a big commotion, because it was the saintess found again after more than 200 years.
The last human joker who could suppress the internal strife within and outside the empire and the tightening “■■” every moment - that was the saintess.
The priests immediately started digging through the physicians to sort out the list of recently registered newborn boys,
And in the middle of the commotion, the cardinal was drinking tea while looking at the priests outside the window with a complicated expression.
... The appearance of drinking tea that didn’t taste good at all, the aide added a word.
“Cardinal, it seems you don’t quite like the goddess’s oracle.”
“Of course, when the light gets stronger, the darkness gets thicker too. Cheryl. Isn’t that right? The empire’s history has always been like that. Also... the position of saintess isn’t that good either. You have to give up everything... and end up sacrificing a lot and dying.”
“... Cardinal, be careful with your words. Ears are listening.”
The cardinal stared out the window for a while and then spoke.
“This saintess... I hope she was found a bit late. I don’t know who, but.”
“... I’ll pretend I didn’t hear. Cardinal.”
The aide finished speaking, looked back at the cardinal a couple of times, and went out the door.
... As per the cardinal’s words, please - hope the saintess is found late.