The Saintess and the Soup Restaurant
There was a memory so precious it could not be traded for anything in this world.
“Are you okay?”
That was the only thing she remembered from her childhood—the single thread of hope that had kept her alive during the hardest times. She still remembered it clearly, every detail, even now.
“…Who are you?”
“Someone passing by. Could you stand up?”
Those were the days she wandered the ruins, scavenging for food to survive. One day she had accepted that she was about to be devoured by the monsters, but when she opened her eyes again, a girl she had never seen before stood right in front of her.
The surroundings were filled with the bodies of giant rats.
The monsters that had attacked her.
“W-what happened…?”
“I was walking nearby and heard the noise… and saw a weak little child being attacked by monsters.”
The girl was not much older than her, yet she treated her like a child and offered her hand.
“Your hair is such a pretty pink. We should get out of here first. More monsters will come if we stay.”
But she could not take that hand.
The blood on it made her recoil.
“Um… I guess this is fine? See? It’s clean.”
The girl looked at her, thought for a moment, then washed her hands in a puddle of rainwater and offered them again.
It still felt strange, but she kept refusing any help.
Most of all, her legs were injured and she could not even stand on her own.
“This area is the monsters’ territory. Be careful from now on. You’re an Awakener, after all—you could become monster food.”
She had no choice but to take the girl’s hand and stand up.
Her bitten leg hurt, but with a stick to lean on she could somehow move.
“Where are your parents? Or are you all alone?”
“…I don’t know where we are. I was wandering because I was hungry and the monsters came.”
“I see. You must have gotten lost. I haven’t seen a child like you around here… You came from quite far away.”
As they walked through the ruins she talked with the girl.
“Then while I find my parents’ place, you can stay at my camp? I have siblings too.”
The girl sounded completely familiar with this life.
She avoided both the monsters and the Federation army, eating monster corpses or collecting scraps from military camps. She chewed cigarette butts mixed with food, and when there was nothing, she searched for monster remains to tear apart and eat.
How was she even able to live like that?
Not even a month ago she had been eating warm home-cooked meals; she could never have imagined this.
“We’re here. That’s my camp.”
“…Eh?”
“Thank you for following me so obediently. Thanks to you, I won’t have to worry about food for the siblings for a while.”
When they reached the camp the girl had mentioned, several grim-looking soldiers were gathered.
She realized too late that she had been tricked.
The girl had brought her here from the very beginning to hand her over to them.
She had seen them wearing Federation army uniforms and had tried to run at once.
“Where do you think you’re going? I didn’t come here for nothing.”
But the girl tripped her.
Her already injured legs could not even run properly, so she ended up being captured without any real resistance.
“Uncle, this little one is so cute, isn’t she? And I heard monsters love Awakener blood.”
She could not understand what was happening when the soldiers with terrifying eyes reached out to her.
They used a syringe to draw her blood and put it into some strange machine, and everyone looked shocked.
They also gave the girl who had brought her here food and supplies. The girl was overjoyed.
“Thank you! I’ll come again next time!”
The girl disappeared into the ruins with that happy face.
“Behave and I’ll keep you alive.”
She was ultimately thrown into the ruined building with her arms and legs tied.
There were other children inside besides her.
Some of them were no longer breathing. Bugs flew around them.
The only food was a single hard bread roll that was almost impossible to chew. But three days without even water, she managed to melt it in her dry mouth.
She felt neither resentment nor gratitude toward the girl who had tricked her into coming here. She was grateful that she could eat something at all.
She only learned the bread was not free that night when the soldiers came looking for her together with a person in white clothes.
“This is surprising. A C-rank at this age… In five years maybe A… or even S-rank.”
She did not remember much of what followed, but she remembered clearly that those people had not looked at her with human eyes.
“A support unit will come to take these brats away in a few days. Until then, do whatever you want—just don’t kill them.”
She could no longer open her eyes.
After the person in white clothes left the building, the soldiers’ gazes became even more terrifying.
She did not know, and did not want to know, what would happen to her from now on.
She simply prayed to any god who might exist. If a miracle came, she would do anything.
That was the only thing she could do.
*Thud!*
“What, what is it?!”
“…?”
But had her prayer reached the gods?
The person in white clothes who had left the building earlier was thrown in.
The once-pristine white clothes were now stained red, and the soldiers drew their weapons, looking around in panic.
“Kyaaaah!”
Still, another soldier fell.
A dagger had stabbed him from above and lodged in his neck. When the other soldiers shot, they only hit empty air.
“We knew you were hunting Awakener around here.”
“Who are you—?”
Again there was a girl.
She was not the same child who had offered her hand. Her eyes were red and truly beautiful.
“But I wasn’t worried. I didn’t touch you, and I couldn’t have even if I wanted to.”
Despite having a similar build, the girl effortlessly defeated the soldiers.
“…But you touched my family?”
With bare hands she tore through bulletproof vests, moved freely through the walls and ceiling of the ruined building, and dealt with every single one of the Federation soldiers alone.
They had all been armed with guns and knives.
Even among them there were stronger people than the girl, yet she did not care.
“You’re crazy, wanting to die?”
She could not believe it, but if this was truly a miracle sent by the gods, it was only natural that it was unbelievable.
Miracles were supposed to be like that.
More than a dozen soldiers fell, and only the children remained.
“…What are you looking at? I’m not leaving you behind. Relax.”
That was their first meeting.
A somewhat prickly girl who had seemed angry at first.
Probably just a fragment of a past that had already faded, one she could no longer remember except for this girl.
A memory she would never forget—the precious one where, with bloodied hands, she freely untied the children.
†††
“Miss Bella, do you have any food you hate?”
After the morning schedule ended, the Saintess was riding in a car toward the next destination when she suddenly asked that out of nowhere.
“I don’t have anything in particular.”
She could not eat something she hated even if she wanted to.
In the old days she had survived on rainwater because she had no foods she disliked, so she had long stopped caring about food at all.
“Then how about lunch today at my parents’ restaurant?”
The Saintess’ parents ran a restaurant?
She had just learned this.
“I don’t mind. But which restaurant is it?”
Even though she said she did not mind in words, she felt a little uneasy.
Today the Saintess was going to the nearby hospital around Korchma Taras, the restaurant where she had come to Belir.
If possible she had wanted to slip away while pretending to eat lunch, but she could not refuse easily when the Saintess herself proposed it like this.
Of course it was far better than the day before when the Saintess had solved her hunger with a convenience-store bento and had not even said a word.
“Once you go you’ll see.”
The Saintess smiled brightly and looked out the window.
She could not understand why, but her mood seemed to have suddenly improved. Had something happened?
Or was the S-rank hero among them all just like that?
She had come for medical relief work saying she would heal people, yet she was still exhausted and lay down, and then she showed up again the next day without resting. Anyone could see she was not normal.
Perhaps the Saintess actually enjoyed that pain.
Other S-rank heroes looked normal on the surface, but the tastes hidden inside them were even more twisted and abnormal.
Especially the Golden Witch.
As she compared the various heroes and the Saintess, thoughts raced through her mind.
“Here is the restaurant run by my parents. It’s called Korchma Taras.”
“W-what a strange name.”
But what was this coincidence?
The place the Saintess had brought her to was Korchma Taras, the exact restaurant where Ethylene’s research materials had been hidden.
“International relations have kept me from seeing it for decades, but my grandfather ran a restaurant with the same name in the Federation side. My hometown is in the north.”
She had never imagined her parents ran a restaurant there…
“Ah, this is a secret! Everyone who knows will already know, but please don’t spread rumors around…”
If it was a secret, she should have been more careful with her words.
In the end it had been pointless anyway, thinking about what would happen later.
“But isn’t the restaurant closed today?”
Moreover, the lights were off. For a moment she wondered if she had been kidnapped.
She felt a little concerned about the Saintess.
“Ah, I deliberately kept it closed today. Just wait a second. I’m here!”
It turned out her worry had been unnecessary.
“Our daughter! You’re finally here!”
When the Saintess opened the door to the restaurant as if entering her own home, the owner was already waiting to welcome her.
Seeing that, she felt a silent relief.
But her true concern here was not a family reunion she could see without tears.
She needed to find Ethylene’s inheritance—the only hope for saving Lena—hidden somewhere in this place.
The problem was, no matter how she looked, this was just an ordinary Northern traditional soup restaurant, wasn’t it?
Surely it could not be…