The Birth of the New Saintess (4)
The Saintess still suspected me.
“Saintess. Please maintain some dignity… It’s embarrassing when you stare so openly.”
“Hmmmmmmmm? You’re really not a god, are you?”
“No. Don’t you serve the Goddess, Saintess? How could I possibly be a god?”
“You earned the loyalty of those lunatics. That’s all the proof I need!”
“……Haah.”
“You just sighed, didn’t you??”
“No, I didn’t…”
Could I truly live in a place like this? Still under the Saintess’s watchful suspicion, I stepped into the room prepared for me.
“Hmm… Let me introduce you first. This room was made specifically for you. It was modeled after my own quarters, so it should feel almost identical.”
That damn room was plastered wall-to-wall in Pure White. Even the mirror wasn’t transparent—it was a solid slab of 100% Pure White. Every piece of furniture was white. Even the running water was white. It looked like something I shouldn’t drink.
Oh, Goddess, have mercy. Was this truly reality? This was a white hell. A place of absolute horror.
The reason Sein was so horrified wasn’t just the room. It was the sky visible through the window. Some trick had been performed so that even the sky appeared white. And not just any white—that same deranged Pure White shade. It was madness. The Holy Kingdom was a nation built on insanity. I had to escape—!
Sein’s hands trembled as she slowly approached the door. She inched toward it, one tiny step at a time, desperate to break free.
Then a voice slithered out from behind her.
There was a demon behind me.
That voice—I’d heard it before. I had to keep my mind straight. Sein. You will escape this place no matter what.
“Ahahaha… I just needed to use the bathroom…”
“Hehe… Sein…”
“Are you lying to the Saintess right now?”
My heart dropped with an audible thud. Why did she only act like a proper Saintess at the worst possible moments?
“Saintess, what are you talking about? I really was just going to the—”
“Lies. You clearly have difficulty accepting this pure, pristine, clean white.”
“Don’t you?”
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck save me save me save me save me save me save me—
Goosebumps exploded across my back. This was the Saintess’s true power…!
But I was an apostle who had survived countless regressions! I would not back down here!
“Saintess… What do you mean? I actually really like this white color.”
“Hmmmm…? Do you now?”
“Then please put this on.”
“Wear this clothing that approaches absolute perfection in its whiteness.”
“Now… Hurry…! Hurry!!”
“Ugh…”
Demon Raphael… Was this one of your schemes? It felt exactly like brainwashing. There was no way I would ever wear that…!
“Heh… As expected. You cannot fool my eyes.”
“You are still far too young to receive the blessing of this sexy white.”
“I suppose I’ll have to give you special lectures for an entire month on church etiquette and the Pure White doctrine.”
“No…”
May the Goddess’s grace dwell in this place and protect me from any darkness that comes. Why did they even praise that cursed white? This was a genuine den of mental patients. I felt like I would lose my mind before I even became a Saintess.
“No… No… No… No…!!”
“Yes.”
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"
And so, in some corner of the Grand Cathedral, a very sad wail echoed out. The church people simply ignored it and continued their daily lives.
After that rather happy period passed, on the day when nearly a full month had gone by since Sein first arrived at the Grand Cathedral, the cardinals summoned her. Saintess Audrey had no choice but to pause her Pure White doctrine and send Sein to them.
Sein’s appearance was that of a complete wreck. Her pupils were dilated, drool dribbled endlessly from her mouth. Her waist was bent at a sixty-five-degree angle and her neck tilted at forty-five degrees as she walked.
Yet even though her body had been destroyed over the month, Sein had protected her mind. She had barely endured the mental assault from Audrey, the creator of the Pure White doctrine. Had the cardinals not called for her, she would have become just another believer chanting its praises.
The cardinals were shocked the moment they saw her.
“…What in the world…”
“That insane woman has ruined the child!”
“Ah… How pitiful…”
Sein couldn’t hear any of their words. She simply wept at the sight of colors other than Pure White or ordinary white—yellow, blue, purple.
“Hic… Hnggg… Yellow… Blue… Purple… It’s not whiiiite…”
“…Hmm. I apologize that it is not white. It cannot be helped.”
In truth, the cardinals were also devotees of the Pure White doctrine. They mistook her tears for grief that the colors weren’t white. Sein was crying because she was seeing other colors for the first time in a long while. This misunderstanding was probably for the best.
Once Sein had somewhat recovered her senses, the cardinals spoke.
“We will now begin your formal Saintess education.”
“Please endure the hardship, no matter how difficult, for the sake of the world.”
“From what we’ve heard, it seems you have already learned the proper mindset of a Saintess from the previous one.”
“Starting today, you will study combat techniques and holy magic under Cardinal Kazad.”
“Hm. It is finally my turn. I will teach you with complete dedication.”
“Learn diligently. We shall take our leave now.”
Cardinal Olga and Cardinal Zollas disappeared at the same time, leaving only Cardinal Kazad.
Cardinal Kazad kept touching my body, marveling nonstop.
“Wow… This is pure art. Your muscles are compressed to an extreme degree. Do they teach this at the Academy?”
“No… It’s simply my natural constitution…”
“I see… With a body like this, teaching you will be a true pleasure!”
Cardinal Kazad looked at my body with overwhelming joy, like a fan who had just met his favorite idol.
“Ahem… We’ll put combat training aside for now. Your body is worthy of thorough research. Until that research is complete, we will focus primarily on holy magic.”
“Ehh…”
Cardinal Kazad smiled as he looked at me.
“Today I will teach you about purification magic.”
“Purification magic has applications in countless places—from daily life to the very borders of the Demon Realm.”
“It is one of the first spells the Goddess ever taught.”
“Ah, and how familiar are you with the casting incantations for holy magic?”
“…? Aren’t all the incantations for holy magic basically the same?”
Weren’t they all identical…? Was there something special I didn’t know?
“Hmm… It seems you know nothing about holy magic at all, Saintess.”
“The power of holy magic varies tremendously depending on the caster’s mental image.”
“That is why each caster’s incantation is different.”
“Saintess, do you know why there is so much white throughout this church?”
“The believers are fanatically fond of white and consider it sacred.”
You knew that yourself? Then why not change the color scheme a little…? Why the obsession with white? No wonder the Holy Kingdom’s population was so small…
“Ah… Yes… I see…”
“In truth, white is an extremely effective color when using purification magic. That is why everyone loves it.”
“As I said before, holy magic is heavily influenced by one’s mental imagery.”
“White is a color steeped in the belief that simply looking at it repels evil. When you cast holy magic while holding that belief in mind, our kingdom’s spells become far more effective than those used in other countries.”
“The reason we teach you the Pure White doctrine is the same. Pure White is a color that evil attributes despise and abhor.”
“By thinking of the most sacred white while using holy magic, you naturally wield the strongest possible holy spells.”
…Hahahahaha.
Fuck. This is seriously messed up. So that damn white really was a color demons hated? It seemed like a color people hated too… Though apparently not here.
“Now… Shall we try it in practice?”
With a clatter, Cardinal Kazad set a container of contaminated water in front of me.
“This water is tainted with demonic energy. More precisely, it was brought from the Demon Realm itself.”
“Try purifying it. It may be difficult at first, but with effort you will succeed.”
“But do I have to recite the incantation?”
“Of course. Only a very few individuals can use holy magic without voicing the incantation.”
“Therefore, through the incantation—”
“Purify—”
Shaaaaa—
The water contaminated with demonic energy transformed into pure white water. Seeing it change into the exact same water produced throughout the Holy Kingdom, Cardinal Kazad froze solid.
…Did this even make sense? She wasn’t Lady Raphael, yet she had skipped the incantation entirely. And she hadn’t just purified it—she had infused it with divinity. It was said that only the first Saintess could imbue divinity…
No… To be exact, Lady Raphael had also been capable of it. Then did that mean the Saintess standing before him was truly the reincarnation of Lady Raphael?
“Cardinal Kazad?”
“….”
“Cardinal Kazad???”
“Ah.”
“My apologies. I lost my composure for a moment.”
“By the way, how did you manage to purify it without an incantation?”
“…It just worked??”
To be precise, when I thought of that cursed Pure White, the water had turned white as well.
…It should be fine, right?
“…What you just performed, Saintess, goes beyond purification and has imbued the water with divinity.”
“Do you understand how monumental this is…? You are truly an extraordinary being, Saintess!”
“It is said that only the hero can purify the corrupted lands of the Demon Realm, but with an ability like yours…”
“It seems you would be capable of purifying the Demon Realm itself!!”
“Saintess. Let’s discard the combat training. It seems you can simply master holy magic to its utmost limit and beat everything to death.”
With someone like her, it might be possible to smash through everything with holy magic just like Lady Raphael. I will teach her every holy spell I know. Hehehe, this is going to be exciting.