The Medal (3)
“In truth, this wasn’t something I achieved through my own power alone. All of it was only possible because of the Goddess’s help.”
She said it with a hint of embarrassment, a touch of sheepishness.
“If I had received the Grace of Protection or the Grace of Healing instead of the Grace of Bombardment… If, even after receiving the Grace of Bombardment, She hadn’t granted me various means to ensure my safety… I would have struggled to make a difference on the battlefield.”
“Ah… I see.”
All of it, achievements made possible thanks to the Goddess.
She had half-expected that kind of answer. Perhaps that was why the disappointment wasn’t as great as she might have thought.
In that moment, the Saintess took both of the Princess’s hands and said,
“So why don’t you try praying to the Goddess as well, Your Highness?”
“…And if I’ve prayed many times and She still hasn’t answered, what then?”
For a moment she worried it might sound like resentment toward the Goddess, but fortunately the Saintess’s face remained serene.
No—she even smiled faintly.
“Shall I take a guess? When you prayed, did you perhaps only tell the Goddess what you wished for?”
“…Yes.”
“That would be why. Because you only asked. The world requires give and take, after all.”
She almost blurted out that such an attitude was far too mercenary for a Goddess to take.
But the Saintess, as if she knew everything, stroked the Princess’s hair.
It felt a bit like being treated as a child, but it didn’t particularly bother her.
“Did you know? The Goddess has never once given us anything for free. Divine power is the prime example.”
Was it her imagination? There seemed to be a touch of pride mixed into the Saintess’s voice as she spoke.
Only then did the Princess begin to understand why this person had been chosen as Saintess.
If someone like her couldn’t become a Saintess, then who possibly could?
“Those who hold a pure and deep faith. Those prepared to devote themselves to humanity. Those who have demonstrated that resolve through countless prayers. Only to such people does She share Her divine power.”
“Doesn’t that mean the Goddess ultimately receives nothing in return?”
At the Princess’s words, the Saintess shook her head.
“It’s the same as receiving something. For the Goddess, humanity’s happiness is Her own happiness.”
Voices could be heard—people announcing that the award ceremony had ended.
It was time to part.
After a light nod, the Saintess was about to leave the Princess when she turned back and approached her again.
And she gave her a light embrace.
“So if Your Highness prays the right way without giving up, the Goddess will surely answer you.”
With that, the Saintess left.
The Princess stared blankly after her for a while, and only after the Saintess had completely gone did she manage a reply.
“…Yes.”
When I get back to my room, I should start with prayer.
That was the thought that suddenly crossed the Princess’s mind.
Inside the carriage returning to the Holy See.
I clasped my hands together and prayed fervently.
“…I believe in You, Goddess. Please save my face a little here.”
The Fairy of Bombardment points out that you’re contradicting the very words you just spoke.
What’s she going on about now.
“Think about it! This is good for the Goddess too! A member of the imperial family becoming a devout follower of the Goddess? Her image gets a huge boost—how great is that!”
Give and take, clear as day!
Of course, I was keeping every possibility in mind.
Including what to say in the unlikely event that the Goddess didn’t answer the Princess’s prayers.
I just needed to ask whether she’d really prayed properly.
That alone would get me halfway there. When a Saintess asks something like that, people start finding problems with themselves. Even if there aren’t any, they invent them.
Why? Because who would confidently claim they’d offered a perfect prayer in front of the Saintess?
When the Saintess asks if you prayed properly, you naturally end up thinking you must have done it wrong.
How am I so sure about this?
It came from my own experience in the military—when a senior asked if I’d really done nothing wrong, I could never bring myself to say I hadn’t.
…I’m not the only one like that, right? Right?
Anyway.
“Status window.”
As I muttered that, I quickly scanned the translucent window that appeared before me.
As expected, the medal’s effects don’t show up on the status window. Or maybe since this is reality, the medal’s effects have disappeared.
Well, given the state of my body right now, I’m not sure the medal’s effects would even matter.
“The medal’s effect lasts ten days. For my body to fully recover, it’ll take at least another ten days no matter what.”
At the very least, a month, probably.
Even now, strength barely flows into my body. There was no need to push myself just for the medal’s effects.
“Still, I wanted to grab a bunch of items while the medal effect was active.”
Originally, I’d planned to leave the items alone at least until the demonkin ambush incident was over.
Most of the quests for obtaining items also doubled as side stories, so they took a long time.
In other words, the time-to-efficiency ratio wasn’t great.
I could confidently say it was better to spend that time going to the battlefield once more and gaining real combat experience.
This wasn’t just my own judgment.
It was the conclusion reached by veterans who’d played Grand Fantasy far more than I had.
If you had the confidence, participating in the battlefield was more dangerous but far more efficient than grinding quests for items before entering the Demon Realm.
But obtaining the Imperial Merit Medal changes everything.
In game time, just ten days. For those ten days, quest completion times are drastically reduced.
The Imperial Merit Medal is so hard to obtain that almost no one has ever seen this effect—it’s an easter egg.
But anyone who saw that easter egg had definitely seen the ending of Grand Fantasy.
While others barely cleared two quests, three at most, before entering the Demon Realm, those who found the easter egg casually cleared five or six.
They were starting from a different line.
That was why I’d gone to the battlefield. To gradually build up military merit and receive the Imperial Merit Medal while my body was still intact.
Then I planned to quickly obtain the items I needed.
But the plan went sideways.
Given how things turned out, abandoning the items was the right call.
Obtaining the items would certainly make me stronger.
But I didn’t just want to become stronger.
“I need to get strong fast.”
The changes in the DLC version exceeded my imagination.
Especially the Four Heavenly Kings—they were shocking beyond belief.
There are four monsters of that caliber. Then how much stronger has the Demon King who commands them become?
At this point, nothing would be surprising no matter what happened.
In a situation like this, the only thing I could trust was my own strength.
So I had to discard the inefficient options.
The Fairy of Bombardment grumbles that she has no idea what you’re talking about.
“To get strong fast, there are things I need to find, but looking for them takes way too long—that’s the problem.”
I summarized my current situation down to the bare essentials for the Fairy of Bombardment. Explaining everything one by one would take forever.
The Fairy of Bombardment says she doesn’t understand why you’re fretting over something like that.
And then, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, the Fairy of Bombardment spoke.
The Fairy of Bombardment———
Offered a solution.
“…Ah.”
Apparently, I’d been a complete idiot.
The prayer room of the Holy See is always open.
So that one may pray to the Goddess at any time.
But it was still early dawn. A time when everyone was deep in sleep.
Naturally, the door to the Holy See’s prayer room was closed.
Then who would be the first to open that closed prayer room door?
Every cleric of the Holy See knew the answer.
It was the Pope.
Rising earlier than anyone else in the Holy See, the Pope headed to the prayer room before anyone else.
It was a sight that served as an example to all the faithful, but to the Pope it was ordinary and only natural.
And so today, too, the Pope went to perform that ordinary and natural duty, reaching to open the closed prayer room door.
“…Hmm?”
But he noticed something odd.
Someone had arrived at the prayer room first. The slightly ajar door was proof of that.
Had a devotee finally appeared who prayed at this hour besides himself?
With that thought, the Pope carefully opened the prayer room door.
And he saw the one who was already offering prayers to the Goddess.
“…Saintess?”
The sight was so sacred that the Pope called out to her without thinking.
But the Saintess gave no response. She was completely absorbed in prayer.
As if she were possessed by something.
“…Surely not.”
It couldn’t be. No Saintess had ever claimed to hear the Goddess’s voice except when receiving a Grace.
And yet, that appearance was as if…
“…Ugh!!”
The Saintess, who had been absorbed in prayer in the same posture, suddenly trembled all over and collapsed.
Seeing this, the Pope panicked and forced his aged body to rush to her side as fast as he could.
“Saintess, are you all right?!”
“I-I’m fine…”
Even as she drew and released ragged breaths, the Saintess managed a faint smile, as if to ease the Pope’s worry even a little.
“What on earth brought you here at this early hour… And why did you suddenly collapse?”
“I woke up before dawn without realizing it, and suddenly felt I needed to pray to the Goddess. So I came to the prayer room without thinking and offered my prayers, and then…”
In that moment, the Pope was certain.
Of what the Saintess would say next.
But it couldn’t be.
Even the great First Saintess had never accomplished such a thing.
As if to rebuke the Pope’s foolishness, the Saintess calmly declared:
That a miracle had occurred.