The First Saintess's Longing
The most noble hero. The moment I heard that name, one figure immediately came to mind.
“…Don’t tell me you mean the First Hero?”
The First Hero, whose name had been erased from history. The being standing before me now seemed to be referring to him. After all, I’d seen something in that nightmare. Besides, the First Saintess had been the hero’s childhood friend and lover. If she was mistaking me for him, that would explain it.
“That’s right! So you really don’t remember?”
…Her voice carried a strange warmth. The First Saintess smiled brightly at me, speaking as though we were old acquaintances. This was our first meeting. Of course, the original story had mentioned her. The First Hero’s childhood friend. His lover, who met a tragic end.
…And now she was seeing someone else in me.
“I’m sorry we had to meet like this. I would have waited for you no matter how many years it took. □■□■.”
I decided to play along for now.
“This gentleman’s name is Shade. First Saintess, why do you keep confusing people?”
But Lenardia’s attitude made that difficult. She clung tightly to my side, bristling like a hedgehog that shouldn’t be touched, her guard raised high.
“…Even if this is merely a lingering thought, I will not tolerate any further disrespect.”
Wait, weren’t both of them saintesses? Ignoring the soft sensation spreading along my arm, she raised her voice.
“Huh? Ahaha, so that’s how it is? Hahaha… Yeah, this life really is popular, isn’t it. □■□■.”
The First Saintess let out a small laugh as she looked at Lenardia. Her expression held both relief and a trace of sorrow. Watching that, a strange ache spread through my chest. She was someone I’d never met before, yet it felt as though… I was looking at a lover I had parted with long ago. Even though this person wasn’t An Yuho.
“Shade. Mm, it has a nice ring to it. No matter how deep the shadows grew, you were always the one who shone brightly.”
I froze. The First Saintess had been about to close the distance between us, but after glancing at Lenardia, she stopped. …Why? The way she chuckled as if she’d seen something delightful made no sense. Did women share some kind of unspoken understanding?
“Then let me introduce myself properly. My name is Alphanis. Just as you said, I am the First Saintess.”
After revealing her name, the First Saintess tucked her hair behind her ear with one hand.
“…Why did you appear before me?”
“I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to wait for you even if it took years. Of course… I didn’t expect there to be so many women around you like this.”
“…So many?”
“Yes. Even now there are two. Things are getting rather complicated already.”
The conversation wasn’t matching up. Only Lenardia’s favorability had turned positive, and even if this was connected to the status window and Yuho… I had no idea where she was. The only time I’d met her was inside that nightmare.
“Can’t you explain it a little more simply? Why does everyone have to speak in riddles?”
“Hehe, I’d like to as well, but… it feels a bit unfair to go this far just to win you over.”
“What’s that supposed to mean.”
Was there some curse on this world that made everyone speak cryptically to me? It felt strangely unfair.
“If I told you, you’d try to kill me, wouldn’t you? Though I’m already dead. Judging by how she’s still influencing things even here, she really must be an incredible woman.”
Alphanis, the First Saintess, covered her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed—then suddenly moved.
“So, I’m going to join forces with this generation’s saintess.”
She abruptly stepped right up to Lenardia, stopping just in front of her face.
“Don’t you think so too, little sister?”
“What exactly do you mean by that…?”
“Oh my? Don’t be so scared. I’m just a lingering spirit who’s been dead for a long time… I only want to help you.”
Alphanis traced a pattern in the air with her finger.
“You and I are somewhat alike. Probably because you consumed part of the mummy I left behind… I’ll just think of you as my half-sister.”
“I-It tickles. This…”
Lenardia twisted slightly, as if the touch was ticklish.
“Just bear with it a little. I’m only trying to give you the saintess’s mark that I never wanted to pass on to anyone else.”
“Hnn… Shade…”
“……”
She clutched my arm, trembling slightly, and looked at me with pitiful eyes. …This felt a little too suggestive. No. I couldn’t look at a comrade that way. Back when this was a game, I could show affection because she was a fictional character, but this was the real world.
“…There. With this, you are the true saintess acknowledged by the Heavenly God Aurea.”
A faint light glowed from Lenardia’s chest, and Alphanis smiled with satisfaction. Wait, the true saintess? Wasn’t that supposed to be decided by the Holy See?
“…Excuse me?”
“Originally, I was supposed to give the stigmata to the next saintess.”
Despite Lenardia’s stunned expression, the First Saintess spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Hold on, then the saintess is…”
“That’s right. It’s not someone who hears the Heavenly God’s voice or possesses great divine power… The previous generation simply passes it on to the next.”
“Then why didn’t you pass it on? Something’s strange here.”
The First Saintess’s corpse had remained unrotted for hundreds of years, becoming a mummy. And just like some kind of gu poison, they had fed it little by little to orphans to continue the line of saintesses. If the First Saintess hadn’t wanted to create the next saintess, then why had the Holy Kingdom… continued this even while knowing the truth?
“Because I wanted to break this endlessly repeating eternity. It was also the decision of the Heavenly God Aurea.”
Eternity. Repeating. Infinite… A story I’d heard somewhere kept echoing in my ears. Could this world actually be in a loop?
“If no more saintesses appeared after me, this entire scenario would become invalid.”
No. If that were the case, there wouldn’t have been any need for successive saintesses to keep appearing.
“Of course, I also had my own selfish desire… to meet you after you were reborn someday. My hero.”
Alphanis reached out with a slightly trembling hand and caressed my cheek. She gently stroked it, brushed the hair at my temple upward, and revealed the burn scars. Didn’t they disgust her? Tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she smiled at me.
“…Even though I’m dead, I still wanted to grant your wish someday.”
“What was the wish?”
The words left my mouth naturally. If I didn’t ask now, it felt like she would disappear without ever answering. Even though she was someone I’d never met before, the emotion I felt from her was a longing compressed across hundreds of years.
“Happiness. Just living an ordinary, quiet life in a peaceful world… and having children who resemble you and me?”
“……Huh?”
“Well, it’s a wish that can’t come true now. But…”
That was when it happened.
“The child by your side could fulfill it in my place, couldn’t she? After all, she carries some part of me.”
Alphanis’s lips nearly met mine. …If Lenardia hadn’t blocked her with the mask in between.
“…What exactly do you think you’re doing right now? How irreverent.”
“Oh my? Are you saying I can’t even fulfill my last remaining regret?”
“If you’re merely the lingering thoughts of someone already dead, then it would be proper to disappear without affecting the living.”
Lenardia, having thrown off her mask, displayed a firm attitude. She even used a bit of profanity. She looked sharp, as if she might fight the First Saintess at any moment.
“Ehh, how stingy! You’re the one who cheated first, □■□■! You said you’d only love me even if you were reborn.”
The First Saintess stuck out her tongue slightly and laughed, the opposite of Lenardia’s reaction. Then—
“…Goodbye. I loved you. My hero.”
With those words filled with regret, she left me behind. What was this, really? Her expression didn’t look like someone who had misunderstood anything at all.
“Are you going to disappear now?”
I asked the First Saintess.
“Yes. Just like your little sister said, the dead should step aside. I’m satisfied just from seeing that you’re alive.”
She probably knew I had been reincarnated. Or perhaps… I really had inherited the First Hero’s soul.
“Of course… It’s unfortunate that the saintesses have been cloned all this time. I’m sorry.”
“…There’s no need for you to apologize, First Saintess.”
Lenardia shook her head as she looked at Alphanis.
“I also made that choice to support my parents.”
Even though she had been sold to a remote island as a child and forced to consume the First Saintess’s mummy, she didn’t resent her. When you thought about it, neither of them had done anything wrong. The real problem was the adults… the terrible people who couldn’t let go of the saintess.
“Hehe, this is why you really feel like a little sister. If I hadn’t been an albino… we might have been similar.”
“…If you truly thought of me as a real sister, you wouldn’t have tried to steal my ‘comrade’s’ lips.”
Alphanis smiled triumphantly at Lenardia, but the latter’s expression was full of displeasure. She had deliberately emphasized the word “comrade.” Originally, her character setting had her liking Damian… I thought it wouldn’t matter no matter what happened to me. Was it because her favorability had turned positive? The distance between us was too close. She still hadn’t let go of my arm, clinging tightly to me in a way that felt far too awkward.
“Haha, sorry about that! But since I gave you the stigmata, it should help.”
She had definitely given it on the chest. That was where the light had shone earlier.
“Use it to restore Shade’s body quickly. Wounds inflicted by an Outer God won’t respond to ordinary treatment.”
“Ah, yes. Understood…”
Lenardia immediately began touching the parts of my body that had transformed into flowers, and with a flash of light, a glow flowed from my chest, returning the altered areas to their original state. Oh, this was pretty amazing. It was a power I hadn’t seen even in the original game.
* * *
“Come over here for a moment, little sister. I have something to tell you without Shade hearing.”
Alphanis, whose form was gradually turning into particles of light and fading away, gestured toward Lenardia.
“My name is Lenardia…”
Lenardia disliked the spirit before her. How shameless could this woman be? How could someone calling herself a saintess try to kiss a man so brazenly?
“What exactly did you call me aside for?”
Still, she herself had many shortcomings. The one who had given her the power to restore Shade to normal was the First Saintess. And the one who had tried to steal his lips wasn’t her… it was the First Saintess, Alphanis.
“Soon, Shade will experience the side effects of his ability. That power… it’s not actually copying. Take good care of him from the side.”
“Excuse me? Then what exactly is it?”
Alphanis spoke in a voice only Lenardia could hear, at a distance where Shade wouldn’t catch it. It wasn’t copying? Then what was the true nature of the ability that summoned duplicates… No, if that wasn’t copying, then what exactly was his power?
“It’s the ability to become the partner of this generation’s hero. It seems the other side has made thorough preparations as well. Honestly, I was surprised.”
“……Ah.”
“A barrier that can even block an Outer God’s mental attack… I wonder how many plans they’ve made.”
Damian. The First Saintess was speaking with Damian in mind. The hero who, even while knowing his memories had been tampered with, hadn’t mentioned it separately.
“Shade’s ability is a secret, but instead, I can tell you about the hero’s ability.”
“What exactly is it?”
Lenardia also knew that Damian could see the future to some extent. Throughout their journey together, there had rarely been any losses. And he had even recruited Shade as a comrade… Wait, could it be? …Had they deliberately set up this situation to keep her from approaching him?
“Simply put, it’s future foresight. Probably… the ability to see possible worldlines. And right now, two women are working together using that.”
If it was a plan thought up by two people instead of one, then it was certain.
“Understood. Now I’m starting to understand a little.”
“Right. We should join forces too, shouldn’t we? Since the other side has two people as well. Especially the one who set up the mental barrier is quite shady.”
“Your words are reasonable. There’s no need to reveal that we know the opponent’s hand.”
Lenardia had noticed that Damian was a woman, but deliberately didn’t say it. If the hero was pretending to be a man on purpose, then she still had a chance.
“I engraved your stigmata on an overlapping part of your chest and flesh where it won’t be visible. Later, make up some excuse and ask Shade to look at it.”
Lenardia nodded, listening carefully to the First Saintess’s secretive words.
“…Excuse me?”
“That kid is surprisingly weak to women. He probably hasn’t even held a woman’s hand in this life.”
The weakness Alphanis mentioned about Shade was simple and clear. Approach first and seduce him. She had never done such a thing as a saintess, nor had she ever imagined it, but…
“At that location, you’d have to lift it yourself to show him, right? Just make it natural. Use his kind personality against him.”
Somehow, she felt like she could do it now.
“You don’t have to help so blatantly.”
Lenardia spoke to the other party.
“…I’ll handle it myself.”
She didn’t know why, but her voice kept growing sharper. No. She probably knew the reason. …It was this person’s lips that annoyed her. Because they had nearly touched Shade just moments ago.