The God Who Does Not Answer (3)
"E-Ellin? What's wrong with you?"
The woman standing before her wore a face identical to her maidservant's.
The gentle girl who bathed her every day and always fussed over her health. She'd endured Erzena's occasional tantrums, and even so, she never once left her side — a woman Erzena was endlessly grateful for.
The woman Erzena was looking at now was unquestionably Ellin.
"Ellin... a lovely name. And quite a serviceable body, too."
With a single exception.
Save for the violet eyes instead of brown ones.
"Who... who are you? What are you?"
She stumbled backward without even realizing it.
"What have you done to my maid? What have you done to Ellin!?"
"Oh? Thinking of the owner of this shell before yourself, even now. What admirable character. I suppose there's a reason you were made Saintess. Well — weren't, I should say."
With a light sneer, the intruder flicked open the cap of the vial with one fingertip.
"Not that you'll be anyone at all soon enough."
The instant she saw it, Erzena understood exactly what kind of situation she was in.
The Saintess cried out.
"Gu-guards! Holy Knights! There's an intruder!"
But no answer came back.
The footsteps of the Holy Knights and the others who should have been nearby had gone utterly silent.
Instead, an answer drifted in from up ahead.
"You called?"
A man's voice, this time.
In place of the being that had been Ellin, a large-framed Holy Knight now stood before her. A familiar face. A different eye color.
Violet eyes glinted yet again.
"Your Holiness. There is no intruder anywhere in the vicinity."
Mockery and contempt were laced through the man's words.
"You have nothing at all to worry about. It will all be over... soon."
Then the face changed, again and again — a gawky young man, a wiry swordsman, a warm-faced matron, and back once more to Ellin's shape.
Every one of them was a face Erzena had often seen within the pilgrimage.
At the sight, Erzena gasped and breathed out in horror.
"A sh-shapeshifter...!"
"That's how the world knows me, yes. Though it isn't technically a profession."
With a sickening sound of bones twisting, the intruder reverted to her original form. What this grotesque tableau told Erzena was painfully clear.
There was no one to call for help. Not from anyone.
'Of all times — of all the times for this to happen!'
Fear and bewilderment washed over Erzena's face. She had only just discovered why her divine power had vanished. She felt, at last, that she was beginning to grasp what the Lord's will meant.
So why — why now of all moments?
"The time has come, Erzena Selaphe."
The intruder took a step forward.
"I-if you come any closer, the Lord God will never forgive you!"
"The Lord God?"
"Yes! I am the Saintess of the Holy Church, Erzena Selaphe! I am one who follows His will!"
She shouted as if to convince herself. It was different now.
'I finally understand what the Lord God asks of me.'
Until now she had acted with arrogant presumption, believing she already understood — but that was over. She knelt where she stood and lifted a prayer.
"My Father who art in heaven, grant me, I beseech Thee, the strength to cast down this blasphemous intruder..."
Once more, grant me Thy divine power.
"Grant me the strength to overcome this trial, Thou who hast watched me defeat my enemy and at last truly perceive Thy will."
She prayed with a desperation she had never known, pouring every last shred of hope into it — gazing up at that glorious, beautiful golden haze.
"Let Thy glory descend upon this land once more; let me set my wrongs right; grant me just one more chance, I implore Thee...!"
This time would be different. She was, at last, truly made new.
She finished her prayer with a heart full of reverence.
Silence.
The god did not answer.
"...Huh?"
Bewilderment bled into her voice.
"Your master doesn't seem very interested in you."
"No! Don't lie to me! This is... this is the Lord testing me! And I have passed His test!"
Even as she said it, Erzena's mind grew tangled in confusion.
'I woke up. I know I did. I understood, I swear I understood.'
The Lord God had taken her divine power from her — to bring her to enlightenment. And now she knew what was wrong. She knew what had been mistaken all along.
Then why would He not return her divine power?
"A god who won't answer even when you scrawl scripture across your flesh until it bleeds and pray until your knees give out. How utterly heartless."
Erzena slowly lifted her head. The intruder's violet eyes were looking down at her, as if she were something amusing.
"You know, I'll tell you something, as a thank-you for the fine entertainment."
The woman spoke as though addressing an old friend.
"You were supposed to meet me back when you passed through the Crossline Kingdom and set foot in the North."
"...What did you say?"
"That was the condition my employer requested."
Employer.
At that word, Erzena realized there was someone standing behind this woman.
"Who — who ordered you to abduct me? What kind of monster is it!?"
What sort of audacious fiend in this world would give the order to kidnap a Saintess?
"Ahahaha. That, I can't tell you."
The intruder laughed. In that instant, Erzena whipped her gaze aside, searching for anything that could serve as a weapon. Without her divine power, she had no choice but to protect herself now.
But the only thing within reach was the pen she had hurled away earlier. The moment she stretched out her hand to snatch it—
—CRACK!
"Aaagh!"
The intruder's boot came down on Erzena's right hand. A dull, heavy pain shot up her arm. The pen rolled slowly along the floor, mere inches away.
"Good try. But no."
"You— argh, let go!"
The intruder's grip was far stronger than her frame suggested, and Erzena panted for breath. Paying her no mind, the woman kept her heel planted on Erzena's hand and went on.
"Give it up. Whatever you were trying to do, it's too late."
The violet eyes gleamed with something chilling.
"Whatever plan you had, you should have finished it before I arrived."
"Sh-shut up! What would the likes of you know...!"
Erzena ground her teeth and denied it, but she knew the woman was right. Her mind replayed the prayer she had offered only moments ago.
— Grant me just one more chance to set my wrongs right...!
'A chance.'
She had had her chance. Four full days of it.
The span of time since her entry had been refused and her divine power stripped away.
'And what was I doing all that time?'
Days spent in nothing but prayer and wailing. It was too late. She had understood far, far too late.
If only she had realized it the instant her divine power was taken from her. If only, once — even once — in all that time she wasted praying and screaming, she had stopped to look inward. If only she had grasped the situation she was in five minutes sooner.
Then she would never have met the intruder standing before her. The people of her pilgrimage, Ellin included, would not have died for nothing. She could have halted the pilgrimage's march and spoken with the Central Officer to learn what the truth really was.
But it was too late. Far too late.
"A Saintess forsaken by her god... you're rather a sight to behold."
The shapeshifter mocked her in a voice of honeyed kindness.
"This is the strangest commission I've ever taken."
There was no one to help her. She could not save herself. And even He had fallen silent.
The despair she had barely climbed out of tore at her heart all over again. And yet, even so, Erzena clenched her jaw and spoke.
"No, that's not it... it can't be...!"
He would never abandon her. He might take her power back. Even if His daughter must suffer hardship — He would never, ever abandon her.
"Still, I have to tell the Central Officer the truth — I have to...!"
There was still hope. Even if she herself was already too late, there were those who were not. She had to tell that man everything about the current situation. At the very least, even if all of this was denied, there were things that had to be set right.
"If it isn't me... it can't be...!!"
She fought with everything she had to push back the despair the shapeshifter pressed upon her, thrashing against the helplessness and regret. If there was just one more chance. Just one.
Then, from somewhere, a voice drifted in.
"Your Holiness? Are you in there?"
Mohaim's voice. The voice of help she had yearned for so desperately.
"Mohai— mmph!!"
—Thud, SLAM!
The instant Erzena tried to scream with all her might at this chance of salvation, the intruder's hand clamped over her mouth and shoved her hard against the wall.
"Shh."
For the first time, the shapeshifter's face flickered with alarm.
"I was certain I'd dealt with everyone nearby."
"Mmph! Mmmph! Mmmph!!"
Mohaim's tent stood a little distance away — just far enough that someone who had only cleared the immediate surroundings would never have thought to bother with it.
"Your Holiness? I thought I heard something just now..."
"Mmph!!!!"
Erzena screamed for her life, but the crushing grip smothered her voice; Mohaim could not hear it. When no answer came back even after a wait, he asked carefully.
"Might I come in for a moment?"
With those words, Mohaim's hand began slowly to push its way through the tent's entrance.
"Damn it. No helping it, then."
The shapeshifter set down the vial at once and drew a dagger.
—Shff.
The finely honed blade grazed perilously close to the Saintess's throat, shearing off a few strands of the hair behind it. Then, in one swift motion, she swept the hair into her own mouth.
—Crunch, crack.
Erzena stared at the scene unfolding before her, her face frozen in horror. About five seconds later—
The moment Mohaim lifted the tent flap to step inside,
"Don't come in!!!"
the Saintess's voice rang out, sharp and clear.
"I'm changing my clothes right now. My maid is resting, so I'm changing alone."
"Ah — f-forgive me! You didn't answer, so I..."
Mohaim's hand vanished at once.
Erzena stared at the woman before her, her mouth still sealed shut.
"Your Holiness, how does your body fare? You have not shown yourself even once of late, and the people are worried."
Erzena could not speak. Instead, the false Saintess with the violet eyes answered.
"...Mohaim. I am quite well."
The very same voice.
"There is nothing wrong at all. Everything is perfectly fine."
"I-is that so? And here I thought you must be grieving over His Holiness the Pope's words..."
"Speak nothing of the sort."
Even the laughter was flawless.
"You see, I believe I have finally come to understand something."
"Pardon? Understand what, Your Holiness?"
"What God truly wants of us... I finally see it now."
Beyond the tent wall, she heard the sharp intake of breath.
"R-really, Your Holiness!? Then it means this holy crusade must truly be carried out after all!"
"...A holy crusade, is it."
The false one whispered into the true one's ear.
"So that was the pilgrimage's true purpose all along?"
Then she turned her head and spoke to Mohaim.
"Yes. Proceed with the crusade. Our grand design shall surely be fulfilled."
No. That's not it. No, it isn't.
She screamed inside her own heart. Please, stop. Mohaim, please stop. Don't listen to this impostor. This is not the will of the Lord God.
But her voice never reached him. Instead, the Knight Commander's delighted voice came back.
"Your Holiness, I believed in you all along! I shall inform His Holiness the Pope and the Order of this at once!"
"May God guide us to victory."
"I believe He will!"
With those final words, the sound of brisk footsteps faded slowly into the distance.
A moment later, silence was all that remained beside her. Tears streamed endlessly from her golden eyes — tears stained with helplessness, with fear, and with regret.
"You can't stop a current this vast, former Saintess."
The shapeshifter picked the vial up once more. Then she pried the Saintess's mouth open by force.
"All you can do is be swept along."
She poured the contents straight into her mouth.
Feeling her consciousness begin to blur, Erzena closed her eyes.
'Lord... God... Central Officer...'
It was too late.
"Central Officer, sir — we're not too late, are we?"
At the Sense of Taste's worried question, I shook my head.
"No, we're not late. If anything..."
Looking at the finally completed, fully packed [Evidence Locker], I said with confidence,
"the timing is just about perfect."