The True Saintess (3)
After giving Agnes a light bit of comfort—she'd grown glum upon realizing that she, of all people, had been the last to learn that I was a saintess—I launched into a full explanation of how I had come to understand my identity as the true Saintess.
"So you mean to say, Miss Serista and the Hero both knew all along that Lilith was... no, that Lady Lilith the Saintess was a saintess from the very beginning?"
"That's right. In my case, I learned of it through a divine revelation granted after I became the Hero."
"I-I did tooo.... I've known ever since I happened to treat Lady Lilith's injuries a while ago...."
Each spoke from their own position—two people who had known I was a saintess even before I became one.
For the record, whenever Gehmajoshigi-gwat in this world needed an excuse for acting on foreknowledge of the future, that same divine revelation was his go-to answer. After all, the people of this world knew him only as a Hero from another world—they had no idea this world was a game, or that he knew its storyline inside and out.
"But then why didn't you tell me in advance... no, never mind. Come to think of it, keeping it from me was the right call."
"It was. As I said before, I don't care in the slightest whether Serista is a true saintess or not. All that matters is that she stays by my side and carries out her will as she sees fit."
"H-Hero...."
"That's why I couldn't tell you either, Seraphin. If Serista were cast aside from my side for the mere 'crime' of being a fake saintess, it would only make the journey ahead that much harder."
"I grant that point as well. Miss Serista may not be capable of anything as a saintess, but her abilities as a priestess—her divine power above all—are excellent. For the time being, at least, she would far outstrip Miss Lilith, who only just became a saintess."
Not that she intended it that way, but Seraphin's words ended up honoring Serista's long service as a capable priestess—and thanks to that, it became that much easier for me to bring up the matter of Serista.
"Yes. And the one who secretly performed the Consecration and made me a saintess was Serista herself. Someone who risked her own safety to raise me to sainthood is, if anything, far more suited to being a saintess than I am."
"Wh-what?! N-no, Lady Lilith! P-please, retract those words at once...!"
True to form for someone raised on the floors of a church, Serista recoiled in horror at the blasphemous remark I'd let slip. That didn't stop me from saying what needed saying, though.
"But I truly believe you, Miss Serista, are the more fitting material for a saintess. You've stood at the Hero's side far longer than I have, leading the charge against the demonkin."
"A-aaah, no.... S-someone as greedy as I could never become a saintess...."
"If anything, that humanity of yours makes you all the more saintly. And besides...."
"...Anyway, one of the people present when Prince McHart's dark magic was exposed turned out to be a demonkin. The creature looked like it was about to bolt, so I dealt with it first, and that's why I was late."
"Slaying demonkin.... You've worked hard as well, Hero."
Since my story was going to run long, Gehmajoshigi-gwat cut in abruptly and began listing off his own accomplishments. And there was Agnes, pointing at herself and insistently lobbying me that she'd been part of it too.
The demonkin who'd remained in the detached palace was probably Evelyn. Ideally, I would have liked to deal with her at the same time. The only reason I hadn't built the plan that way was the risk of spreading our resources too thin and ending up unable to finish off McHart after all.
Evelyn was, after all, merely a mid-to-high-tier demonkin—but McHart was an imperial prince. The difficulty of killing him, the buildup required to set up the kill, the cleanup afterward—every stage of it was orders of magnitude harder, so for this operation we'd had no choice but to focus everything on McHart alone.
"I see. Thank you for your service, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat."
"What's more, judging by how quickly it tried to flee, it probably noticed that you're a saintess, Lilith. Left alone, I'd wager word that you were the true Saintess would have spread all through the demonkin ranks."
"...I'm sorry?"
"Ah, don't get me wrong—I'm not fishing for credit. Just saying."
'I saved your worthless life, so you'd better be grateful, Lilgirlchang.'
"...Yes. Thank you most sincerely, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat."
'Right. Deeply, tearfully grateful, you bastard.'
With the briefing—including the imaginary conversation conducted entirely inside my head—wrapped up, silence settled over the meeting room once more.
Truth be told, I'd been bracing myself for the tedious business of having to reveal that I was a saintess, but once the meeting was actually over, it turned out to have been a pointless worry. Seraphin had been certain of it long before I ever came clean, and Agnes had simply read the room, accepted that I was a saintess, and moved on.
Only the six of us gathered here, myself included, knew that I was the true Saintess.
...And now, they were also the people who would prove that Serista—not I—was the real saintess.
"In any case, better late than never. It's a shame that the possibility we once entertained—that Miss Serista might be the saintess—has now been completely struck from the record, but knowing that Miss Lilith is the true Saintess is a net gain, wouldn't you say?"
"...F-for deceiving you all this time, I... I'm s-sorry...."
"There's no need to dwell on it, Miss Serista. We already knew, after all. And for the sake of public opinion, you'll want to keep playing the true saintess for the time being—"
"...No. There is no need for that, Princess Seraphin."
We were on the verge of wrapping up the meeting and dispersing when I suddenly cut across her words, and Seraphin looked at me with a flicker of surprise.
Then she fixed her gaze on me and tilted her head, ever so slightly—and I moved, just as planned, quietly drawing closer to Serista.
"Lady Serista."
"L-Lady Lilith...? P-please, there's no need for such honorifics...."
"Tell me—during all your travels with the Hero as a false saintess, has there never been even a single moment when you wished you could be the true one?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
Serista's voice wavered with bewilderment, unable to fathom where I was going with this.
When I'd praised her earlier she'd been too flustered to know where to put herself, and now the moment my words landed, her eyes darted frantically left and right.
"Wh-what do you mean by that, Lady Lilith...?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I mean that you, Miss Serista, seem far more suited to the seat of saintess than I am."
"Wh-wh-whatever do you... th-that is a most irreverent thing to say...!"
"I don't consider it irreverent at all. I believe you are the person who comes closest to the goddess's will. You possess selfless mercy, unwavering love, and the courage to stand against any crisis."
"A-aaah, a-ah, aah...!"
I had summoned every flowery phrase I could muster to provoke her into accepting the power of the saintess—but the more I spoke, the more hopelessly flustered Serista seemed to become.
"Miss Lilith... no—Lady Lilith the Saintess...? You mustn't say such things so carelessly, because... "
"...Lilith, mind your words. You'll be inviting divine punishment, talking like that."
...Huh. Looking around now, apparently Serista wasn't the only one flustered.
All I'd said was that Serista, not I, held the qualifications of a saintess—and yet at some point Seraphin and Agnes had both turned to me with distinctly grave expressions.
And Ethan, though he said nothing, was staring at me wide-eyed with an expression of pure shock. ...Was this really something to tremble about?
The only one who looked remotely composed, being a fellow otherworlder like me, was Gehmajoshigi-gwat—so I switched targets entirely and tried to open the conversation up in his direction instead.
"What is your assessment, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat?"
"...Me?"
"Yes. You, who have watched Miss Serista at closest quarters for the longest—if anyone would know that she is the one most befitting a saintess, it's you."
'We already discussed this, remember? Go on, talk some sense into these guys.'
"Even if Serista became the saintess in Lilith's place, nothing much would go wrong. If anything, most people already think of Serista as the saintess, so it might actually work out better."
'I want Serista to be the saintess too. It's the surest way to shield her from the public eye.'
I slipped his hidden intentions into my words as casually as I could, and from the Hero's side came an answer laced with his own share of self-interest.
Right. Once I secured the Hero's agreement, Serista's consent would naturally follow. And with that, I could offload—no, generously transfer—this saintess power and all its qualifications onto Serista, and finally live out my carefree bachelor's life in another world, at my leisure....
"I see the Hero shares my view, then."
"It's not that I share your view—I merely wish it were so."
"Then, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat—if it were possible for me to transfer my 'qualification as saintess' to Lady Serista, what would you say to that?"
"L-Lady Lilith the Saintess?!"
"Lilith? Are you out of your mind?"
"Aaah, a-aaahh?!"
"......."
Everyone except Ethan shot to their feet in astonishment—but Gehmajoshigi-gwat stayed calmly seated, listening to me out. I'd assumed he, being fully briefed on the plan, would back me up without hesitation. Instead, what came back from him was a lukewarm, evasive answer.
"Hmm. I honestly don't know what to say."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Frankly, I've worked alongside Serista for a long time, but I have almost no memory of working alongside you, Lilith. We weren't even in the same party at last year's year-end Hunting Festival, and while we did move together during this whole McHart affair, in the end we fought our battles separately."
"...I'm afraid I don't follow, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat."
"Look, I know it's absurd for me to be weighing who deserves the title of saintess in the first place. My point is simply that I have no objective basis for judging who is more suited to it."
"......."
"Of course I know Serista is an excellent priestess. But with you, Lilith, I don't even know yet whether you're an excellent priestess, an excellent mage, or an excellent swordswoman. As I said, all else being equal I'd want Serista—my long-time companion—to be the saintess. But with no basis of comparison to speak of, I simply can't render a judgment."
No. What even is this.
He's not wrong, exactly—but did it have to be now, of all times, that he chose to say it?
Wasn't the whole plan already settled—that I'd pass my saintess power on to Serista? Why was he suddenly pulling this?
Just as a tangle of emotions was churning through my head and starting to ache, someone cut off Gehmajoshigi-gwat's endless stream of excuses and spoke instead.
"That's what I've been trying to say—so, Lilith... "
"...So, then."
"......."
"You're telling me that you—of all people—are finally going to try and take my Lilith from me as well?"
It was Ethan's cold voice—and with it, a tide of azure energy rippled up around his body.
From within those eyes of his, a blade-straight killing intent stretched out across the table, aimed directly at Gehmajoshigi-gwat sitting opposite him.