The Saintess's Recollection
The memory played like a vivid dream.
“Saintess!”
At the voice calling her name, the woman turned around. A familiar face came into view. Sparkling golden hair and round, bright eyes. A small frame. Her cuteness was the kind that could bring a smile to anyone’s face, regardless of age or gender. Yet—
“I told you not to call me that.”
The woman merely frowned faintly as she looked at the girl.
“There you go again.”
Despite the woman’s sharp gaze, which would have made most people shrink back, the girl acted as if she didn’t care at all. No, she went further. Placing both hands on her hips in clear displeasure, she stared straight at the woman.
“You’re the Saintess personally acknowledged by the Goddess herself, so of course I should call you Saintess!”
The girl spoke with a triumphant tone, as if she had just stated an obvious truth. The woman’s frown deepened, but she soon shook her head. She knew all too well that no matter how many times she said it, it would be useless. Rather than wasting mental energy on something pointless, it was better to have a productive conversation.
“What about them?”
The woman asked the girl, having come to that conclusion.
“We caught every last one of them.”
The girl’s immediate answer smoothed out the woman’s furrowed brow. It was a satisfying response.
“With this, we’ve pretty much wiped out all the Dark Church branches we’ve identified,” the girl added. Then, looking up at the woman with those bright, sparkling eyes, she asked, “How does it feel to finally stand at the threshold of fulfilling your long-cherished wish, Saintess?”
At that question, the woman—Alice—fell into deep thought.
Long-cherished wish. That was exactly what it was. Destroying that organization, the Dark Church, had been her lifelong goal. Ever since that day eight years ago. Strictly speaking, the bad blood between her and the Dark Church had begun ten years earlier, but back then she had never once considered destroying them. Of course, she had already harbored no good feelings toward them even at that time, but her resentment hadn’t reached the level of wanting to hunt them down and eradicate them completely.
What changed her feelings was that day eight years ago.
The day ‘that incident’ happened.
Alice quietly closed her eyes. And her thoughts began to flow backward through time, returning to that day eight years ago.
A dark, silent forest shrouded in night.
Flash!
Sudden light burst forth from within it. The phenomenon itself was mysterious, but what it left behind was even more so. Because in the place where the light had vanished, three girls now stood.
The identities of the three girls were none other than Alice, Lana, and Julia. A Teleport Stone had brought them here. Long-distance spatial teleportation. It was a miraculous phenomenon, utterly mysterious in itself, yet no one marveled at it. Not a single reaction. No one looked around. They simply stared at the ground or into empty space, like people who had lost their souls.
“Mister…! Mister…!!”
The girl, Lana, wailed. Her two hands, clenched with crushing strength, clawed desperately at the dirt. The force was so intense that the soil and stones tore at her soft skin, drawing blood, but Lana didn’t even seem to notice. Like someone who had gone mad, she simply kept shedding endless tears and sobbing.
“……”
The silver-haired girl, Julia, said nothing. She simply stared somewhere with unfocused eyes. She had always had somewhat vacant eyes, but this was completely different. The golden irises that had once shone brilliantly even in darkness had now lost all their light.
And the last of them, Alice, also gazed into the void with a similarly dazed expression.
…Why?
Her usually sharp mind creaked and stalled. With that grinding train of thought, Alice struggled to continue.
Why. Why had Gunter done something like that? Why had he stayed behind?
She already knew the answer.
To leave no loose ends.
The Teleport Stone was an artifact that made possible the miracle of long-distance spatial movement, something current magic could never achieve. But the moment it activated, it recorded the destination coordinates inside itself. Gunter had stayed behind because of that. To destroy the Teleport Stone that had recorded the coordinates. To leave the Dark Church with no way to track them.
Yes. He had sacrificed himself.
Why?
She couldn’t understand it. Why, why would he sacrifice himself? Because he believed he wouldn’t die? That couldn’t be. Gunter was certainly strong, but the enemies were on a level even he couldn’t handle. Gunter himself had known that perfectly well. The image of his face, resigned to death, remained vividly burned into Alice’s mind. He had known he was going to die.
That was why she couldn’t understand. Why he had sacrificed himself to protect them. Why he had gone that far.
When she thought about it, he had been a strange man from the very beginning. He had saved them, taken them in. Given them a place to sleep, food to eat. Taught them common sense, how to live in the world, and even how to protect themselves. If he had had some kind of ulterior motive, she could have understood. If even a trace of desire had shown in his eyes, she could have accepted it.
But from Gunter, none of that had ever been visible. He never revealed desire, greed, or ambition. He had simply given to them. And in the end… he had even sacrificed himself.
Why?
She couldn’t understand. To Alice, who had used her mind to comprehend everything she had experienced in life, the man named Gunter was truly an incomprehensible being.
But one thing was certain.
…It hurts.
Her chest ached. It hurt as if someone had stabbed her heart with a blade a hundred times, a thousand times. It felt like a massive hole had been torn open. As if someone were continuously burning her heart with fire.
Drop.
At some point, Alice realized something hot was sliding down her cheek.
It was then.
Suddenly, Julia rose to her feet. And without hesitation, she began to walk.
Seeing that, Alice asked reflexively.
“…What are you doing?”
At the question, Julia answered in a small voice.
“…I’m going to save him.”
The sentence was missing many words, but Alice immediately understood what it meant. That was why she said,
“…You can’t.”
Her voice was firm. Even so, Julia didn’t stop. But she was soon forced to halt her steps.
Whoosh!
Because a single ice spike had suddenly shot past right beside her.
“……”
Julia turned to look at Alice. Her eyes had sunk into deep darkness. She said nothing, but words weren’t necessary. Don’t get in my way. That was what her eyes were saying. It was a chilling gaze Alice had never seen before. Julia had never once looked at them with eyes like that.
And it wasn’t just her eyes. Her aura surged, and her mana roiled violently. Julia was truly prepared to draw her sword.
Knowing that, Alice still spoke.
“I won’t let you go.”
“…I’m going.”
“No. You can’t.”
“…Don’t interfere.”
“Snap out of it!!”
Alice shouted. Her voice was loud enough to shake the quiet forest.
“…Do you really think going back now would help? No, we’d only be a burden.”
They didn’t even know where this place was. Judging by the types of trees, the climate was clearly different, and they were nowhere near that forest. They couldn’t return in a short time, and even if they did, it would be meaningless. They would either die or be captured by the cult.
“…Then,” Julia said after a long silence. Her usually calm voice was trembling. “Then what do you want us to do?”
Julia was crying. With that same expressionless face she always wore, tears were streaming down.
Alice understood Julia. Because she felt exactly the same. She wanted to run back right this instant. She wanted to help Gunter. But they couldn’t. If they did, Gunter’s sacrifice would be in vain.
Alice already knew the answer to Julia’s question.
“We have to grow stronger. We need to build our power.”
Just as Gunter had instructed, they had to hide their identities and grow stronger. Change the color of their hair, the color of their eyes, even alter their appearances and conceal themselves while building strength. Enough strength to protect their own bodies.
No.
More than that—enough strength to crush their enemies.
“And—”
Once they had gathered enough power—
“We will take revenge.”
They would have their revenge. Revenge for Gunter. They would shatter the Dark Church into pieces. They would leave not a single member alive. They would erase its very existence from the face of the world.
“…Revenge.”
At the word Alice spoke, light returned to Julia’s eyes.
“…Mister’s… revenge.”
Lana, who had been sobbing endlessly, finally lifted her head.
“Yes. Revenge.”
Seeing them, Alice nodded.
And so, in that forest wrapped in darkness, the girls made a vow. Their eyes burned so fiercely that they could be seen even in the pitch-black night where not a single ray of light existed.
And eight years passed.
During that time, Alice, Lana, and Julia had done exactly as Gunter had asked. They hid their identities and built their strength. It hadn’t been without danger. Even while concealing themselves, strange people kept approaching them. But in the end, they succeeded. They focused solely on increasing their own power and obtained the strength to protect themselves.
By that point, no one could touch them lightly anymore. And so they began to move toward the goal they had carried in their hearts for so long.
Revenge. Toward the complete annihilation of the Dark Church.
It was while moving toward that goal that they encountered the Goddess Church. They had known of its existence, but at the time Alice hadn’t placed much importance on it. Their connection with the Goddess Church had been nothing more than coincidence, and she hadn’t thought they would form any meaningful cooperative relationship. She had simply seen it as a passing connection.
But it wasn’t.
For some reason, she had suddenly been appointed as a Saintess. It was something she couldn’t understand at all, but it wasn’t a bad thing. No, it was actually a good thing. It meant she could now use the power of the Church in her revenge. That was enough.
And so she came to use the power of the three Goddess Churches—the dominant religion across the continent—for her revenge. The Goddess Church did not refuse. The Dark Church itself was an existence they could not tolerate, and a Saintess was essentially the Goddess’s representative. The Goddess Church poured all its strength into cooperating with the extermination of the Dark Church.
Time flowed on. Several years had passed since they gained the Church’s cooperation. During that time, Alice relentlessly attacked the Dark Church. She located their facilities, their branches, their members, and thoroughly eliminated them all.
And as a result, the Dark Church had suffered damage close to total destruction. They had just finished clearing out another base. There were probably a few more remaining strongholds, but they wouldn’t be anything significant. So it was no exaggeration to say, as the girl Rita had put it, that she had fulfilled her long-cherished wish.
However.
Even so.
Alice’s expression was not bright. Even though she stood at the very doorstep of achieving her revenge.
The reason was clear.
The empty space in her heart had never been filled.
After joining the Church. While carrying out her revenge against the Dark Church. On the side, Alice had searched for any trace of Gunter. She knew. She knew the chances of him being alive were not high. But knowing something with your head and fully accepting it were two different things.
That was why Alice couldn’t let go of her lingering attachment and continued searching for any sign of Gunter. Just in case. Just on the off chance that he might still be alive.
But there had been no results. Even after scouring the entire continent, Gunter was nowhere to be found. She had already visited the cave where the incident occurred long ago. Yet she found no trace of him anywhere.
Every situation, every piece of evidence, said the same thing.
He was already dead.
…Gunter.
She had received a debt of kindness she could never repay. And she had been unable to repay even a fraction of it. She had wanted to repay that kindness. She hadn’t even been able to say thank you. She hadn’t been able to apologize. She wanted to tell him, “Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry for always being so prickly.”
…No, beyond all that.
She simply missed him. She wanted to see his face. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to talk with him.
Someday. Once she had completely erased the Dark Church from this world, would she be able to accept his death? Someday, after she herself died, would she be able to meet him again?
She had been staring into the distant forest with such thoughts when—
“Saintess, now that I think about it, the Empire has been urging us again.”
At Rita’s casual remark, Alice was pulled out of her reverie.
“……”
The most troublesome thing about the Dark Church was not the power they possessed. Their forces were indeed vast and strong, but not to the point that the Goddess Church couldn’t handle them. Especially now that Saints—who had not been appointed for hundreds of years—had appeared. With their own power, the Goddess Church could have overcome the Dark Church.
The real problem was the Dark Church’s secrecy. Where their bases were located, who among them belonged to the cult—discovering all of that was nearly impossible even for the Goddess Church.
So the Goddess Church decided to borrow external power. They released only the information that an evil heretical organization existed and was plotting to overthrow the continent, then sought the help of the Empire, the strongest nation on the continent.
The Empire’s capabilities were indeed tremendous. Thanks to their cooperation, the Goddess Church was able to locate the Dark Church’s forces, and the extermination proceeded smoothly.
However, receiving help meant creating a debt. Although the debt wasn’t particularly large since they had only received assistance in the search, a debt was still a debt.
Recently, the Empire had begun making a single proposal to the Church. What if the Saintesses attended the Academy?
It was a strange suggestion. After going through the trouble of making the dominant religious power of the continent owe them a favor, this was all they asked for? When they first heard the proposal, Alice and the other Saintesses had flatly refused. They had no interest, and they hadn’t yet completely finished dealing with the Dark Church.
But the extermination of the Dark Church was now in its final stages. And although the Empire had phrased it as a “proposal,” refusing it indefinitely had become awkward. It was true that the Church owed the Empire a debt, and that debt had arisen because of them.
…Strictly speaking, refusing wasn’t entirely impossible. The debt the Church owed the Empire wasn’t that great, and eradicating the Dark Church was essentially an act for the sake of humanity and the continent. Refusing wouldn’t have caused any major problems. The Empire knew this, which was why they had deliberately framed it as a proposal rather than a demand.
However, for some reason, the upper echelons of the Church had been lukewarm in their response. It almost seemed as if they weren’t entirely opposed to the Empire’s suggestion. Alice roughly understood why they were reacting that way. They probably thought the time had come.
It had been several years since the three Saints were appointed by the three Goddesses. Originally, their existence should have been publicly announced across the continent long ago. But the fact that Saints had been appointed had never leaked outside the Church. The reason was that the Saints themselves had not fully accepted the position.
They had merely used the title because it helped in their fight against the Dark Church. They had never truly felt like Saints. Even now, after several years, that remained the case. That was why they had been forcibly delaying the announcement. But it seemed the Church leadership was growing quite impatient.
“…Sigh.”
Alice let out a long breath. She wasn’t particularly pleased with the proposal. Honestly, she had zero interest. She even regretted asking the Empire for cooperation in the first place, since it had led to the imperial family learning of their existence.
Still, she couldn’t keep refusing the proposal forever just because she didn’t like it. The cleanup of the Dark Church was nearly over, and no matter what, they couldn’t completely ignore the wishes of the Church leadership after receiving so much help.
“…The Academy, huh.”
She wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but it seemed she would have to talk it over with the other two.