Drink your justice(1)
I was barely able to make it to a nearby inn with Lavi and Damian supporting me. The Holy Kingdom of Elysium had lost its light. Though everyone was thrown into chaos by the sudden darkness that had fallen over the world, Lavi spoke first.
“…We’ve taken care of most of it already.”
Surprisingly, it was Lavi and the Pope who had resolved the chaos. Two figures who should have been balancing each other in their respective positions had joined forces to declare that the darkness that had come to Elysium was not the end. Rather, it was salvation. They announced the flimsy truth that the First Saint had chosen the next Saint, and thus all lingering attachments had vanished.
“It seems His Holiness the Pope had been preparing as well. The moment Shade dealt with the Cardinal, he exposed all the evidence of his corruption and crimes that he had gathered.”
Benedictus XVII. …I remembered that even in the original game, the Pope himself wasn’t a bad person. It was simply that his tenure was short and he was young, so his political standing was weak. But what if he joined forces with the Saint chosen by God? In the Holy Kingdom of Elysium, there would be no one who wouldn’t believe their words. …After all, the more anxious humans become, the more they lean on God. I had been the same once.
“One interesting thing is that the moment I appeared, those who had been preaching about the end times completely changed their tune.”
“Is that wrong?”
I spoke while lying on the soft bed. My body was still hard to move, but I had recovered enough to speak.
“I was only half a Saint at best. I was merely a vessel imitating the traces of the First.”
A shadow fell across Lavi’s face before she smiled.
“It was just… amusing to see them treat an ordinary human like me as a Saint and believe in me.”
“In the Holy Kingdom, believing in God is a way of life. It’s not strange that they would rely on you.”
“…No. How could a vessel understand the potter’s intent? Faith must exist wholly within oneself.”
She soon laughed again while brushing my bangs aside. As if she had slightly set down the yoke of being a Saint, her expression had grown lighter since the events in R’lyeh. …Was it because her affection had risen? She seemed prettier than usual.
“Where’s Damian?”
“I asked him to step out for a moment. I have something personal to say to you, Shade.”
I mentioned that Damian, who had been with us until now, had suddenly disappeared. What could they need to discuss privately? …Judging by her dissatisfied expression, it didn’t seem like good news. What was it?
“Shade, your ability… is it really just ‘Copy’?”
What? Was she asking if my ability was truly Copy?
“What do you mean…?”
“Exactly what I said. If it were simply copying and borrowing other powers or abilities, there’s no reason your body should be this immobile, is there?”
Lavi looked at me with worried eyes. She was probably concerned about how I had collapsed after killing the Cardinal. …There was no way it could be anything else. I had set this ability when I was in middle school.
“Do you have a reason for saying that?”
I decided to hear her reasoning first.
“…First, it seems to have too many restrictions.”
Lavi raised one finger. She was right. I couldn’t copy anything that could be turned into money, like gold coins or jewels, and if I exceeded my physical limits, this kind of backlash followed. Then she raised a second finger.
“Second, the scope of that ability is too broad. Being able to wield the Holy Sword is strange, isn’t it?”
“…Is it?”
“Third, how did you manage to perfectly replicate a human when everyone else has failed for hundreds of years?”
Lavi’s face grew serious as she held up three fingers.
“Even Cardinal August said that perfectly replicating a human is impossible.”
“He did.”
“…The reason some of the crow’s traits are mixed into me is because of that.”
She had every right to be suspicious. Lavi was the one sacrificed in the attempt to replicate the First Saint.
“I don’t think an ability like this could simply be called ‘Copy.’”
A perfect copy that replicated even oneself. Truthfully, I hadn’t known it was possible either. …I had only managed it because I desperately wanted to save someone who was about to die right in front of me.
“I just tried to save someone whose arm was about to be cut off. I thought I had to do whatever it took.”
—[Shade…]
At my words, Phantom’s head popped out from the shadows and whined. It had happened back when I was still in the Slums, so it was natural for Phantom, who had been at the center of the incident, to react this way. I wondered how he was doing now.
“Lastly, the fourth point… If the backlash from Copy only ends with your body being unable to move, that’s even stranger.”
Lavi looked like she wanted to perfectly refute my words. Holding up four fingers and listing reasons one by one, she was trying to dig something out.
“Why is that strange? Isn’t that an appropriate demerit?”
It was strange. When I set it up, I had thought it was pretty good. It was hard to abuse, so I could save it as a trump card to turn the tables.
“…It’s more amazing that an ordinary human can touch the domain of God and not die. You foolish man.”
Press, press. Lavi sighed deeply while pressing on my forehead. She wasn’t using formal speech. …She never spoke casually like this. Maybe she couldn’t scold a sick person, so this was her own cute form of rebellion.
“…Doesn’t it feel stuffy?”
Perhaps dissatisfied that her poking was blocked by the white mask, she removed it and asked.
“It’s made by dwarves, you know.”
Honestly, it wasn’t that uncomfortable. The air flowed well, sweat didn’t build up, and even after wearing it for a long time, it was so light it felt like it wasn’t there.
“That’s not what I meant…”
Lavi frowned slightly as she looked at my bare face. She was probably bothered by the burn scars.
“Just give it back.”
Humans tended to care about appearances before inner qualities, so this appearance had caused me plenty of misunderstandings.
“I refuse. How can you say it’s fine when you have such severe burns?”
“Because I did it to myself when I was young?”
“…Ah.”
At my words, Lavi’s lips closed. Her eyes widened and she couldn’t meet my gaze properly. She probably didn’t know this backstory. …I still didn’t understand why Damian knew everything about my past. I had underestimated him too much because he was a hero.
“I did it on purpose to escape the Slums. If I hadn’t, I would have been dead.”
“You mean the Slums before you reorganized them?”
“Yeah. Every adult was once a child.”
But not many adults remembered that. I quoted a line from The Little Prince that I had read long ago and smiled. Even with the Copy ability, adapting to this game world had been difficult. So I had struggled. As hard as I could.
“I was the same. In the end, sacrifice was necessary to protect what was precious.”
“For a righteous man one will scarcely die; though perhaps for a good man someone would dare even to die.”
“…You really are a Saint.”
Romans 5:7. It was strange how often this game quoted Bible verses. Was it because it was the complete opposite of Cthulhu? I wondered.
“Your way of acting… Honestly, even I, a Saint, don’t fully understand it.”
“Why?”
“…It’s too noble. In fact, it wouldn’t be strange if you were called a Saint yourself.”
Lavi said this while picking up my mask and covering my face again. Her fingers fidgeted, and she looked like she had said something embarrassing. She was probably thinking that I had saved more people than she had, even though she was the Saint.
“I was just trying to save the people around me as much as possible.”
“That’s not the level I’m talking about. If you look at the people in the Thieves’ Guild…”
“Then those people are the good ones. There is nothing better for a person to do in life than to be happy and do good.”
I said this to Lavi while closing one eye. Ecclesiastes 3:12. Another Bible quote. Because of her childhood trauma, I thought this kind of conversation would be better for her—a Saint who didn’t believe in God.
“…Didn’t you say you don’t believe in God?”
Lavi was certain of God’s existence but didn’t rely on it. She had been forced to memorize the words left by the heavenly god, recite them, and pray. For a girl who had longed for God more than anyone and begged to be saved, salvation—
“I believe it exists. If it didn’t, my life wouldn’t have gotten this twisted.”
In the end, only another human could have done it.
“Puhaha! That’s blasphemy!”
She burst into laughter at my words. The tears welling up in her eyes looked like she had finally voiced the worries she had been holding inside.
“…So can I have it back now? It’s starting to get embarrassing.”
I curled and uncurled my fingers, asking Lavi to return the mask. …This was the best I could do.
“I refuse. I need to etch this ugly face into my eyes for a long time.”
Lavi kept moving her lips as she said this, unable to meet my eyes. Maybe it wasn’t entirely wrong. When I had shown my burn scars before, a child had cried in fear, and I had almost been disadvantaged during negotiations with the Empire. My pride was slightly wounded.
That was when it happened.
“Yes, it seems like only I should see it. A face like this…”
Lavi covered my eyes with her palm as she spoke. No, why was she doing this? Was I really that ugly?
* * *
Lavi knew a little about love too. As the Saint of Elysium, many people had confided in her about their romantic troubles. How to make a confession successful. How to make things work with that person… Countless people had spoken to her, wishing for the fulfillment of love.
But right now, Lavi was covering Shade’s eyes and screaming silently inside.
‘Aaaahhh…’
That was definitely not an ugly face. If you asked any woman on the street, they would immediately say he was handsome. It was the first time she had felt it was a waste to see through Hugin’s vision instead.
‘…Why is he so handsome?’
Her heart kept racing, and she couldn’t meet his eyes properly. …It was embarrassing, as if she had been stripped naked. She had seen this face before. This was the second time. But she couldn’t get used to it. Shade’s voice, his gaze, every single smile made her feel so at ease… She kept wishing this moment would last forever.
“Lavi, am I really that ugly?”
“…Ah, no? I’m a Saint, so I think it’s at least tolerable.”
Lavi quickly blurted out a lie.
“So I strongly recommend you never take off your mask in front of others.”
“…Still, that’s a relief.”
At Shade’s single remark, Lavi felt her heart stop and then start beating again. It was a sensation similar to how women in love described their state…
…There’s no way! There’s no way I like him so much that he looks handsome. That’s impossible. Lavi shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts.
“Yes, it’s a relief…”
No. There’s absolutely no way. I could never become the kind of woman who falls head over heels for one man and gives everything—liver and gallbladder included—just to receive his affection…
“Shade, do you happen to know where my stigmata is engraved?”
After putting the mask back on Shade, Lavi swallowed and spoke.
“…Isn’t it on your chest?”
So this was just confirmation. Just checking whether he had any romantic interest in her or not. It was a simple confirmation.
“Actually, my stigmata—”
Just as Lavi was about to lift her undergarment to show her stigmata, the door burst open.
“Ah, Lavi. Shall we switch? It’s about time Shade took his medicine.”
…As if on cue, Damian barged in and interrupted. For the first time, Lavi began to hate the hero.