Confession (1)
Confession (1)
"Hoooh..."
The final Saintess candidate, Eileen, finished her prayer with a heavy heart.
It was because just yesterday, Rebekah had voluntarily given up her candidacy.
Actually, the signs had been there for a few months. According to Rebekah's attendants, she hadn't been able to sleep at night and would break out in a cold sweat whenever she had a moment.
But Eileen and the others had not known about it until yesterday.
Rebekah had maintained her usual devout attitude without showing any outward sign, so no one had noticed.
"Lady Eileen. Where are you going?"
A holy knight guarding the chapel asked. The holy knights clad in pure white armor revealed no part of their bodies except their eyes.
To be judged only by one's deeds, not by one's appearance. That was the holy knights' doctrine.
"I intend to go to the Repentance Cave."
"...Is it because of Lady Rebekah?"
Eileen flinched.
He hit the nail on the head.
"I will not deny it."
"Lady Eileen. Rules are rules. Are you not already aware that contact with others is forbidden within the Repentance Cave?"
"...As a servant of God, I cannot simply abandon a suffering sister either."
That was also a sound point, so the holy knight fell silent.
"...Only this once. However, you must return before sunset."
"Th-thank you!"
The holy knight stepped aside from the door. Eileen thanked him profusely and headed for the Repentance Cave.
'It's high.'
The Repentance Cave was located at the summit of the mountain behind the Church of Light. It was called a mountain, but it was practically a cliff.
Repentance was an offering to God. It essentially meant that anyone with half-hearted resolve should just turn back.
"Hoooh."
The moment Eileen took a deep breath, a pure white Divine Power enveloped her body. As she put strength into her legs, she instantly leaped up as high as her own height.
Climbing the cliff at a rapid pace, Eileen wiped her sweat with her sleeve.
The closer she got to the Repentance Cave, the harder it became to use Divine Power. It was a natural phenomenon because a Prohibition was placed on the cave, but that didn't make it any less arduous.
After climbing for a long while, she finally reached flat ground. Eileen placed her hands on her knees and caught her breath.
'...Haa. I just need to go there, right?'
A moss-covered chapel stood before her eyes. It was impossible to tell if it had been neglected for a long time or left this way deliberately.
Creeeeak.
Eileen carefully opened the door. As befitted a Repentance Cave, there was no one guarding it. If a holy knight had been here, he would have come to repent for his own sins, not to guard the cave.
The inside was filled with mossy stone structures. The chairs were worn out, and cobwebs clung to every corner. The glass that must have once shone in brilliant colors had turned cloudy.
Calling it a crumbling ruin would not have been an exaggeration.
But.
"..."
Eileen's gaze was utterly fixed on the girl kneeling in the center of the Repentance Cave.
The feeling of a space she thought was a ruin transforming into a solemn and sacred place due to the presence of a single person... it was truly ambiguous.
The atmosphere was such that she simply couldn't speak, so Eileen quietly walked over and sat in a chair.
- Crash.
Just then, something broke. The chair shattered, and Eileen toppled to the floor.
'Hrrk, urgh!'
It was too old!
Eileen, who had been biting her lip and forcibly swallowing her pain, flinched.
She sensed a presence before her.
It was Rebekah.
"I-I'm sorry."
Rebekah spoke in a tone that seemed to dismiss the matter.
"Lady Eileen. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Y-Yes."
"That's a relief. The chairs here are very old. I'm glad no splinters got into you."
Rebekah fetched a broom and swept the wooden fragments outside.
'To think she'd come all the way up to the Repentance Cave.'
She guessed the reason Eileen had come, but she didn't ask anything.
Eileen was a kindhearted person. When Rebekah was chosen as the Saintess, it was Eileen who had congratulated her with all her heart.
As Rebekah was about to resume her repentance, Eileen spoke in a hurried voice.
"L-Lady Rebekah!"
"Speak."
"...Why did you give up?"
There were many meanings contained in the question.
Rebekah spoke with a bitter expression.
"As I told you, it is because I felt I lacked the qualifications."
"But..."
"I apologize if you felt it was deceitful. But my thoughts remain unchanged. I am not qualified to be the Saintess."
Eileen closed her mouth at the sincerity in her voice.
It was because of that sincerity, even knowing it was rude, that she had no choice but to ask.
"Could you tell me the reason?"
Eileen grabbed Rebekah's hand.
"I will help you."
"..."
Rebekah could not easily open her mouth. It wasn't because she was flustered. It was because she had experienced this situation before.
- Rebekah. I'll help you.
Was it an illusion?
Olivia's face seemed to overlap with Eileen's.
The person who was once more noble than anyone.
The person acknowledged by all the holy knights, trusted and relied upon even by herself when she was the Saintess.
And that person...
Rebekah felt hatred surge within her heart anew. And she was angered once more by the fact that she harbored such wicked emotions.
Never before had it been this difficult to control her feelings.
"Then, may I ask you for one favor?"
"Anything!"
"You may not have heard, but I am currently using the Repentance Cave with the authorization of His Holiness the Pope. For one week starting today."
Eileen paused.
"Could you yield it to me for just that time? I wish to settle my mind."
It was only then that Eileen realized Rebekah's intention.
"...Is that enough?"
"Yes."
Eileen closed her mouth. For now, stepping aside was the best course of action.
"You'll be... fasting, won't you?"
"Yes."
Eileen also knew well how arduous a week of fasting was.
The pain of a shriveling stomach and sluggish body movements.
"...I will come to pick you up on the last day."
That was the last consideration Eileen could offer.
Thud.
Rebekah remained seated in the proper posture for a long time, until Eileen's presence faded into the distance.
Facing the statue of the Goddess of Light, Rebekah solemnly knelt down.
"...Will I be able to forgive her?"
*****
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
Calliope had a tense expression on her face.
"Just... it's been a while?"
Opposite her stood Olivia with a sly smile.
The place they met was in the north. However, it was quite a distance from Glacia's Lair.
Far enough that Melina's Ki Sense couldn't reach.
"Aren't you busy these days? There's no way the 2nd Prince would just sit back and let you expand your faction."
"...Did Seth even tell you something like that?"
"I have my ways of knowing everything."
Both princes were capable. Possessing knowledge, character, and even ferocity, they were more than worthy of being called Imperial Calibers.
This was the reason the nobles had split into two factions.
If one side had been lacking, there would have been no conflict, but since both were outstanding, they left no choice but to create choice.
'If only Aria had revealed her abilities, that wouldn't have happened.'
They would have despaired at the overwhelming difference in ability and fallen away on their own.
'...'
Calliope's eyes grew complicated. She couldn't understand how a witch in the far north, who seemed to see through the imperial family's internal affairs, could demand information as a means of dealing with them.
From experience, this type was the most dangerous type.
The type whose ulterior motives were unknowable.
But...
'We've come too far to refuse.'
Olivia, who had been secretly watching Calliope, let out a smile.
Since she had only fed them the sweetest bits of information from the start, once they'd tasted it, it was impossible to shake off.
"Anyway, this is the information you requested."
Olivia checked the magically processed document.
To summarize the contents of the document, it went something like this:
One: The representatives of the Empire and the Eastern Coalition will conduct negotiations at the border.
Two: A third nation will be selected as the notary to guarantee the terms of the negotiation.
This was the reason Calliope had come all the way north herself. It was information that only someone at the level of Commander would know.
Whoosh!
As time passed, the document burst into flames on its own. No matter that Calliope was the Commander of the Night Crows, what she was doing right now was clearly a leak of confidential information.
Of course, Calliope likely considered this an unavoidable sacrifice for a greater cause.
It was clear from the fact that they had chosen coexistence with Olivia the Witch rather than subjugating her.
Though, she wasn't really a Witch.
'Anyway, the notary, huh...'
There was only one nation with both the influence over the Empire and the Eastern Coalition and the justification to perform the role of mediator.
The Holy Kingdom.
And the Holy Kingdom didn't yet have a Saintess.
'Then the Pope would go.'
The Empire and the Holy Kingdom, the Kingdom of Canis and the Kingdom of Roel. And two Free Cities on top of that.
It meant the key figures of six nations would gather in one place.
Of course, that wasn't Olivia's concern.
The Pope was going as the notary. That was all she needed to know.
'The Holy Kingdom's defenses will be lax for a while.'
Someone as important as the Pope wouldn't be crazy enough to go without an escort. He'd take enough troops to protect his person.
'He'll probably take the Four Holy Knights too.'
The super-elite of the Holy Kingdom, the Four Holy Knights.
Since the Martial King would attend as the representative of the Free City of Mikavel, he'd need to bring at least the Four Holy Knights to balance the power scales.
Without them, infiltrating the Holy Kingdom would be a piece of cake.
'Anyway, what will the reward be this time?'
When she acquired one Clue, she could intervene in past memories.
When she acquired two Clues, time only flowed when she was with a regressor.
Then, if she acquired three Clues...
Olivia turned her head towards the direction of the Holy Kingdom.
The regressors were changing the world in ways she didn't know.
The Empire had first proposed negotiations to the Eastern Coalition, and Ashe Baltar had descended from the Atila Mountains.
Before the world completely warped, she had to gather at least one more Clue.
[The owner of Clue #3 is 'Saintess Rebekah'.]