Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: 8. The Understander
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We decided to test what the contract felt like.
I reached out toward a nearby Blue Moon member.
"Wh-what?!"
Bella belatedly noticed my hand and hurriedly pressed her sickle against my neck.
My hand froze in mid-air. The pain in my heart had stopped it.
'I meant to kill. It's more intense than I imagined.'
It wasn't just the sensation of my heart being squeezed. It felt like my very existence was being denied.
A feeling as if every living thing was screaming that "this action causes harm."
After several more attempts, I began to get a sense of it.
'The range... it's based on the contractor's perception.'
Me or Ludwig. If either one judges it harmful, the penalty triggers.
Conversely, even if an action I believe is harmless actually causes harm, there's no penalty.
The condition of a “justifiable reason and cause” works the same way.
I gain the right to counterattack against any assault I can't accept.
'This can't be neutralized with self-hypnosis.'
Attempting self-hypnosis itself counts as "intending to deceive the contract."
'Devil contracts don't allow loopholes like that anyway.'
Ludwig, who had been watching me, nodded at the sight.
"The contract appears to have taken effect properly. Now speak. How do you plan to help us?"
The warehouse fell silent. Everyone waited for my response.
"The Empire has someone called the Saintess. Officially, she's known as a healer and blesser."
I drew a circle on the table with my finger.
"But that's a lie. The Saintess's power is future sight. She's been constantly observing your movements. That's why you're always one step behind the Empire."
Ludwig nodded.
"Indeed. The Empire has been responding to our actions with uncanny speed. We'd assumed it was a spy until now, but..."
"If it's future sight, that would explain it."
Bella cut in.
"But how could we not know about such a powerful ability? Is that even possible?"
It was possible.
'Because I made it that way.'
Only a tiny handful in the Empire even knew the Saintess existed.
"And if that's true, the Empire should have already captured all of us."
Future sight.
It sounded like a cheat ability, but it had one critical flaw.
"You're right. But there are two reasons for that."
I raised one finger.
"First, the Saintess's foresight isn't perfect. It's symbolic. It requires interpretation."
But that wasn't a major drawback.
It needed interpretation, but it wasn't so cryptic that it couldn't be deciphered.
"Second, the ability burdens the Saintess herself greatly. Each use shortens her lifespan. Even the Empire can't use it recklessly."
The orb on the table hadn't changed color either.
As Bella fell silent with a skeptical look, Ludwig spoke up.
"How do you know this? Is it one of your abilities too?"
"A byproduct of a long life."
A twinge of contract pain brushed by, but sharing this info wasn't harmful to Blue Moon.
'The condition to speak only truth. As long as it's truth, it seems fine.'
I could just shut up entirely if needed.
Ludwig clenched his fist.
"Then..."
"You've been outmaneuvered by the Saintess's foresight. Small operations are hard to predict, but large movements or major assaults have mostly been seen through."
The air froze.
No matter the penalties attached, future sight was future sight.
Ludwig continued calmly.
"The reason you're saying this is because we need to kill the Saintess, correct?"
"Exactly."
Leonidas was just a sword.
The wielder and judgment behind the swing came from elsewhere.
No matter how sharp the blade, if the hand wielding it fell short, the sword became useless.
'In that sense, the Saintess must be eliminated first.'
In the past, when I'd tried to bring about humanity's end, it was the Saintess who thwarted the plan.
'Without removing the Saintess, the Empire can't be removed either.'
One of the members asked.
"Is there no way to evade the foresight?"
"Practically speaking, no."
I'd confirmed that myself.
"I'm hung up on the ability's penalty. You said her lifespan shortens with each use."
"Right. If the Saintess had spammed it against us, she should be dead by now."
In that brief moment, I saw Ludwig's eyes gleam.
Having dropped the hint, he'd inferred the implication himself.
"The Saintess has a way to replenish her lifespan."
It was true. The Saintess had a way to restore her lifespan.
'It was my suggestion.'
To use her ability, the Saintess needed candidates.
But not just anyone could be a candidate.
The conditions were identical physical traits: height, build, weight, and more.
Only those matching a complex array of criteria could be selected.
"Yes. If the Saintess has been expending lifespan on foresight, she'll need to replenish it soon."
Ludwig's eyes came alive.
He'd found a path forward.
"Then do you have proof of your words?"
I shook my head.
The reason I'd said this wasn't to make Blue Moon kill the Saintess.
"I'll kill the Saintess. You target elsewhere."
The prayer room was silent.
Faint moonlight filtered through the stained-glass window atop the spire, dozens of meters high.
Saintess Ercella knelt before the altar, hands clasped in prayer.
It was the prayer she repeated every day.
'Heavenly light, guide us. From the path of darkness to the light...'
That was the moment.
A flashing image crossed Ercella's closed eyes.
Shattered mirror shards.
A face in the mirror that wasn't hers.
An old scar etched on the back of a hand.
A broken cross.
Ercella's eyelids trembled.
Her chest tightened oppressively.
Ercella knew what this sensation meant.
'My lifespan has shortened.'
Her foresight could be triggered at will, but sometimes it activated unbidden.
Usually, it involved threats to her own safety.
Drip! Drip!
Blood trickled from Ercella's nose.
It didn't take long to form a puddle.
Ercella caught the blood as she sank into thought.
Shattered mirror. Another's face. Bloodied hand. Broken cross.
Ercella rose and walked to the window. Moonlight turned her silver hair ghostly white.
She looked twenty-eight, but her eyes held far more years.
'A mirror, and another face reflected within.'
A mirror reflects the self.
Reflection confirms identity.
'Shattered shards, each showing someone else's face.'
But accounting for the other faces...
'A change in identity. Not one, but many.'
She examined the back of her hand. It was pale and smooth.
But the hand in the vision was rough, scarred prominently.
'The hand of someone who'd gripped a sword their entire life.'
Ercella's eyes darkened.
A cross usually symbolized salvation. But a broken one...
'Salvation broken?'
No, it couldn't mean salvation itself was broken.
Visions were complementary symbols.
Given the identity shift and scarred hand, it wasn't literal breakage of salvation.
'The mirror shows age, but the reflection is another entity.'
And that entity had roamed battlefields, sword in hand for years.
'All images point to people or identity. The broken cross must be interpreted in the same vein.'
What could a broken cross mean?
'Change in identity. Multiple identities. Warrior's hand. Broken—'
In that instant, something flashed through Ercella's mind.
Ercella rang a small bell. The door opened, and a handmaiden entered.
"Lady Saintess, you called?"
"A new vision has come. This one wasn't voluntary."
The handmaiden's face stiffened.
With Blue Moon rampaging and Leonidas gravely wounded, another vision threatening the Saintess in the Empire's chaos was shocking enough.
Ercella wasted no time explaining what she'd seen.
Once the handmaiden withdrew, Ercella returned to the window.
The moon was slipping behind clouds.
"Are you coming?"
No answer came, as expected.
Soon, the moon vanished into the clouds.
'The broken savior.'
Ercella knew the vision's protagonist.
Noble even in ruin. Sublime, yet ultimately fallen.
Even now, closing her eyes brought his voice echoing in her ears.
[Please, Ercella. You're the only one who can do this.]
She'd clung to that ugly prolongation of life at the behest of their long bond.
No lingering attachments remained.
"Welcome. It's been a long time."