The Saintess's Sister
The words that had just left Renya la Rose's mouth froze the air around us in an instant. What the hell had I just heard?
Adelaide and I stood there frozen for a long moment, replaying the sentence over and over in our heads.
Renya la Rose. The younger sister of the Empire's Saintess, Elise la Rose. Did that mean Renya had also inherited some measure of the Saintess's divine qualities?
"W-what did I just hear...?"
While I was busy turning that thought over in my mind, a trembling voice slipped weakly from Adelaide, who had been standing silently beside Renya.
"You're telling me you're Elise la Rose's actual sister...?"
"Yep! My sister begged me not to tell anyone because it'd be embarrassing, but I guess there's no helping it now."
Renya scratched the back of her head with that bright, cheerful voice of hers.
"I wasn't trying to hide it. I honestly thought you both already knew. That's why I never said anything..."
"No wonder she looked strangely similar to Elise la Rose..."
Adelaide muttered the meaningful words under her breath, coldly ignoring Renya who was now fidgeting in embarrassment.
Given how deeply entangled she was with the Saintess Elise la Rose, it was no surprise that this revelation hit Adelaide especially hard.
I understood exactly how she felt. Quietly, I placed a hand on her trembling shoulder and spoke carefully.
"Calm down, Adelaide. This is actually good news."
"Good news?! What are you even saying?!"
"She's the Saintess's sister. That means there's a pretty high chance she inherited some of the Saintess's divine qualities."
Even though I knew exactly what kind of situation Adelaide was in, I still didn't fully understand why Renya had chosen to reveal her identity now. But one thing was certain: our ordinary healer had just received a massive upgrade.
As the party leader responsible for guiding my companions through dungeons, I couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip away.
"It's true that Renya hid her identity, but I'm certain it wasn't out of any malicious intent to harm us."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"If she had malicious intentions, she would've acted long ago. There's no reason for her to stay quiet for an entire month."
I understood Adelaide's position completely. But that was nothing more than personal emotion.
"We can't just assume Renya is the same kind of person as Elise la Rose simply because she's her sister, can we?"
"T-that's..."
"Either way, we've been rolling around together for the past month, matching our equipment and fighting side by side. We can't just ignore the weight of that time."
I finished speaking in a calm tone and took a small breath.
That was when...
"...Didn't you say you'd always take my side no matter what?"
A voice full of disappointment flowed weakly from Adelaide's lips.
"I lost everything because of the Saintess. I even nearly died."
"......"
"Isn't it too cruel to ask someone like me to just accept the Saintess's blood relative without question?"
Her voice grew thinner and more trembling with every word.
"You said you didn't want to leave any unsettling sparks behind that might follow the party members."
"Yes. That's correct."
"That unsettling spark is the person standing right next to me. So why on earth..."
"It seems you're under a rather large misunderstanding."
Even so, I didn't show any particular reaction. The more heated the atmosphere became, the more firmly I stared into her eyes.
"It's true that reading the emotions of party members is one of the party leader's responsibilities."
"Then right now, Renya should..."
"But that cannot take priority over the party's practical interests."
After calmly uttering those words, I slowly drew the crude greatsword from my back and thrust it into the ground without hesitation.
"Didn't I say this clearly before we entered this dungeon?"
"...Yes?"
"A party absolutely needs a healer, so if possible, I'd like to recruit the Saintess."
My sudden action left both Renya and Adelaide frozen in shock, unable to hide their bewilderment.
"That person has simply turned out to be Renya. There's no deeper meaning or hidden emotion behind it."
To Adelaide, the words might have sounded cold and heartless. But they were words that needed to be said.
Betting the fate of the party on personal feelings was simply unacceptable. Recruiting skilled individuals to strengthen the party's combat power was essential. Because this wasn't a game, but reality, I had to be even more ruthless about these matters.
"Now that you mention it... you did say something like that..."
The moment I finished speaking so firmly, another self-mocking murmur slipped from Adelaide's lips.
"But no matter how you look at it, this is just too..."
"And this isn't a decision made solely for my own sake."
But that only lasted a moment.
"Adelaide, this is a decision to increase your survival rate."
At my following calm statement, Adelaide's expression immediately turned to one of utter confusion.
"What? What are you suddenly..."
"To be honest, I don't need a healer right now."
I slowly wrapped my hand around the hilt of the greatsword embedded in the ground and spoke indifferently.
"Most attacks don't even leave a scratch on me. But that's not the case for you, is it, Adelaide?"
Once the atmosphere had calmed down somewhat, I began laying out the thoughts I'd kept to myself until now.
"If we're thinking about the party's stability, a competent healer isn't a choice—it's a necessity."
"So that's why you've been emphasizing the need for a healer all this time... because of me...?"
"If you look at the conclusion alone, yes. But I wasn't obsessed with recruiting a healer just for your sake alone."
It seemed the situation was finally starting to make sense. Adelaide stared at my greatsword still planted in the ground for a long time. Gradually, a complex expression of confusion and relief spread across her face.
"Y-you should've just explained it like that from the beginning..."
"You didn't say anything when I mentioned recruiting the Saintess, so I assumed it was fine."
"I had no idea... I'm really sorry for letting my emotions get the better of me. I was being too shortsighted."
"It's alright. It was a situation that was easy to misunderstand."
Adelaide bowed her head, readily admitting her mistake. Since my explanation had clearly been insufficient, I bowed my head as well in a moment of sincere apology.
"Now that things seem to have settled, let's finish off the boss and head back to the Empire."
"...Wait a moment."
After roughly wrapping up the situation, I lightly pulled the greatsword from the ground and naturally turned my steps toward the boss room.
"Didn't I clearly refuse?"
Renya's bewildered voice came from behind me, sounding completely dazed.
"I thought I refused because starting a rebellion against the Empire would be too burdensome..."
"You went completely silent after that, so I assumed you had agreed."
"Agreed?! I clearly told you at the beginning!"
I had just managed to catch my breath, thinking the matter was resolved, but now Renya was the one flying into a frenzy.
"No matter how bad my relationship with my sister is, family is still family!"
"Why is your relationship bad?"
"I don't know either! Ever since she was chosen as the Saintess, she's suddenly started keeping her distance from me."
Renya immediately pouted her lips and answered in a sullen tone at my indifferent question.
"We used to get along so well before..."
Her face was full of resentment and hurt as she huffed and puffed for a while. Eventually, she let her head droop weakly and let out a deep sigh.
"She says I'm in the way. So she told me never to mention that I'm her real sister..."
As Renya's candid confession continued, a strange silence fell over the underground tomb corridor.
Then, breaking through that eerie quiet...
"───!!"
"─────!!"
The sound of someone noisily chattering echoed faintly through the hallway.
"──────!!"
"──!!"
The moment we heard it, Adelaide, Renya, and I all stopped talking at once and slowly turned our heads toward the source of the noise.
"......"
"......"
"......"
It wasn't coming from the fourth floor. It was clearly coming from the third floor right above us.
"W-what is that? All that commotion..."
"It looks like another party has entered besides us. Judging by the number of footsteps, there seem to be quite a lot of them."
Just how large was this party that their footsteps echoed so loudly? It seemed they had come fully prepared. Were they seriously planning to clear this dungeon through sheer numbers?
"It couldn't be that the Imperial Knights have come all the way here chasing after us, right?"
"That can't be. It's already been a full month since then."
I answered Adelaide's question without the slightest hesitation. A whole month had passed since then—sending the Imperial Knights now would be ridiculous. Though turning a country's Crown Prince into that state meant it wasn't entirely impossible, it was still far too reckless.
"There's no way a nation's knight order would be that stupid."
"Hmm, I suppose you're right?"
"Sending an entire knight order down to the third floor of a dungeon just to catch one person would be incredibly inefficient and would damage the Empire's dignity."
I spoke with certainty and tilted my ear once more toward the footsteps coming from the third floor.
"...Anyway, it doesn't seem like noise we need to concern ourselves with."
"What kind of party has so many members?"
"I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it has nothing to do with us."
- Clank
"For now, let's focus on clearing the boss."