The Saintess Without a Stigma
Belita Bright was the current Saintess. Timid by nature and weak in her convictions, she was the sort of person who followed the will of others rather than voicing her own. She possessed a perfectly ordinary sense of morality and conscience — but if the people around her decided something could be overlooked, she was fully capable of overlooking it.
In short, she was ordinary. Surround her with good people, and she would live as a good person. Surround her with bad ones, and she could just as easily live as a bad one.
Had she been an ordinary person, that wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. But as a Saintess, I couldn't quite shake the impression that she lacked a backbone. I never said as much out loud, of course.
Besides, Belita wasn't meant to take on a leadership role. As long as she did her own job properly, there shouldn't have been any real problem. The Hero's party wasn't an adventuring party, after all. Even if there were a few issues along the way, so long as they didn't significantly hinder combat in pursuit of their goal, I had figured it would be fine.
"You knew Olivia's name, didn't You?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't You know Belita's name? She's not just anyone — she's the Saintess. The Hero merely receives a stigma, whereas the Saintess receives a blessing that awakens the healing magic she already possessed."
In terms of receiving the Goddess's blessing and love, it would be no exaggeration to say the Saintess stood closer to the Goddess than the Hero, who was given nothing more than a mark. And yet the Goddess knew Olivia, and did not know Belita.
That bothered me, just a little.
"The reason I knew Olivia's name is because I was able to confirm it through the World Tree in Elvenheim. It seems you visited during your travels as well, but by that time the World Tree was already in such poor condition that even I could no longer see through it."
"I see."
So when they had gone to Elvenheim immediately after banishing me, the World Tree had already been in a wretched state. Conversely, it was only because she had come with me — and because I had healed it — that the Goddess had finally been able to properly recognize Olivia's existence.
"…Liv."
"Hm?"
"Have you ever received Belita's blessing?"
"Huh? Well, of course I… wait. Now that you mention it, I never have. She's treated my wounds now and then, but that's it."
"In other words, she never used the power of blessing that a Saintess is supposed to possess."
"Yeah."
I had never seen it either. Not in the early days of the journey, and not after I had left.
The fact that she had only ever used healing magic was a little strange.
"Why wouldn't she have used it?"
"Well… I mean, I was always charging in on my own, right? Maybe she just never got the chance. Besides, I win even without it."
"That's true. But even so, using a blessing would have let you win faster. You may have been somewhat self-righteous in the past, but you weren't the type to refuse a helping hand from your own companions."
"Was I?"
She might have ignored anyone who told her to rest. But she wouldn't have refused a blessing in the middle of a fight, or treatment for a genuinely dangerous wound, or help in putting down a monster.
Well — she might have refused the wound treatment, actually.
Even so, it was true that she had always been gentler with the people she acknowledged than she ever was with anyone else.
"Come to think of it, in the early days of the journey — when I was still in the Hero's party — you often fell into near-death states, and I still never once saw her use a blessing."
"She did heal me with healing magic, though."
"Yes, and her healing magic was certainly excellent. …Goddess, may I ask You one question?"
"Please do."
Depending on how one looked at it, this too was a kind of blasphemy. But from the conversation so far, the Goddess did not seem the type to take offense. As the Shrine Spirit had said, she had spent so long blaming herself that she almost came across as someone with rather low self-esteem.
"Until now, we have been taught that what healing magic consumes is not mana, but a separate concept called divine power, and that this power arises from faith."
"Yes."
"But if You are not an omnipotent god — if You are simply a being of a higher order than ourselves — then healing magic becomes nothing more than something that borrows power from You."
"…"
"Does healing magic truly come from faith directed toward You?"
"…How perceptive of you."
The Goddess let out a small sigh.
"I don't know why it became so distorted, but the truth is, healing has never been my specialty. If anything, I'm far more gifted at destruction — just like the Evil God."
She had created an entire species of living beings even though it wasn't her specialty. That, in its own way, was extraordinary.
"It's simply a matter of personal talent."
"I see."
"That said, good people do tend to have a gift for it more often than not. That's only a general tendency, of course — it isn't as though a wicked person is incapable of learning it. It's a kind of belief. If someone holds the conviction that I can heal, it often works rather well."
"I see."
In other words, faith did not play a particularly large role in the use of healing magic.
"Then wouldn't it have been better to simply bestow a blessing upon the Hero and make her stronger? Especially if destruction is more Your specialty."
"If I poured that many blessings into a single person, they wouldn't be able to withstand it. The Hero's Stigma itself is not a blessing, but simply carrying the Holy Sword is already an enormous burden."
"A burden? I didn't know that."
"…"
"…"
The Goddess and I looked at Liv at the same time.
"I dunno. I've never felt anything like that."
"Ah… you mustn't use Olivia as the standard. Even I had no idea it would turn out like this when I first bestowed the stigma. That's why I split it between two people. I thought that if someone who held power and someone who could wield healing and blessings worked together, they would become a considerable force."
So it had been less a matter of putting everything into one person, and more a matter of diversifying the investment.
It wasn't a bad approach, as far as it went. The only reason it felt off — the only reason it looked inefficient — was that Liv, the Hero of this era, was a being who could have withstood both.
"Ahem."
I cleared my throat and steered the conversation back.
"Which means the distinctive quality of a Saintess isn't the healing magic — it's the blessing."
"Yes. The healing magic does grow considerably stronger as well, but the important part is the blessing."
"…"
"Lois? What's wrong?"
"Saintesses have often come from House Bright, but they haven't come exclusively from House Bright."
"Uh…"
I looked at Liv and spoke plainly.
"What? B-but… wait. Now that you mention it, I've never actually seen her stigma either. I know it's on her back, but…"
"The position of a stigma can be changed, can't it?"
"That's right. Look."
The stigma on the back of Liv's hand slid across her skin, coming to rest on her cheek. Then it returned to the back of her hand.
Keeping it on the back of the hand was simply the convention — famous, in large part, because that was where the Hero's Stigma was known to be. It didn't actually have to be there.
If the Hero could do that, the Saintess surely could as well.
"Ordinarily, you'd want it somewhere visible — the back of the hand, or anywhere exposed. It would be more convenient in any number of ways."
"That's what I'm here for."
"Even so… I don't have any proof. It's just that I've never seen her use a blessing in all our travels. And I've never seen the stigma, either. That's all that's been bothering me."
"…"
Liv frowned for a moment, then spoke.
"It is a fair question, I'll give you that."
"Right?"
"If Belita isn't the Saintess, that's actually pretty amazing."
"Why is that?"
"Because she was never even blessed as a Saintess, and her healing magic was still that strong."
"…That's certainly true."
I had seen it a few times myself. The speed of her healing had been remarkable. I had assumed that was simply the power of a Saintess.
At Belita's level, even restoring Liv's severed arm might not have been impossible. She couldn't have made it grow back in a single burst, of course — but the mere fact that regeneration was even on the table put her in an entirely different realm from any other practitioner of healing magic.
"And that's just her own talent? That's ridiculous. What a completely unfair gift."
"…"
"…"
"Why are you both looking at me like that…?"
Said the walking incarnation of unfair talent.
"This era may well be a golden age. So many talented humans are being born."
"In any case, if Belita does not have the Saintess Stigma, then someone else must. Or they simply haven't awakened to it yet."
"They haven't even awakened to the Saintess Stigma? I suppose that's possible. What do You think, Goddess?"
"It's plausible enough. By my sense of it, the Saintess of this era was overflowing with talent. Though now that I think about it, something does seem a little odd."
"Odd? In what way?"
"The Evil God I knew preferred to crush his enemies with raw force rather than scheme against them. That's how he lost to me, so he may have changed his methods this time, but…"
It was certainly true that he was not in the habit of using his head. He was the same sort of being as Liv — the type who made you wonder why anyone with that much power would bother thinking at all.
"Perhaps, with his resurrection drawing near, and humanity so much stronger than the monsters in this era, he was forced to start laying plans."
So now that he no longer had the strength to spare, he had started using his head. That was possible too.
"At any rate, we'll know once we reach Erchia, the City of Water."
"Will we? We don't even know if Belita is going to be there."
"You said it Yourself a moment ago, Goddess — that the Saintess is heading for Erchia, the City of Water."
"Ah… that's right. Which means…"
"I don't know the reason, or who it is. It may simply be that Belita is the Saintess after all. …But whether she is or isn't, the Saintess is on her way to Erchia as we speak."
"So if we go, we'll meet her?"
Well. If she hadn't even awakened yet, we could look right at her and still have no idea she was the Saintess.
"Goddess."
"Yes."
"Most of our questions have been answered. What remains is largely for us to discover on our own."
"That's right."
"In that case — is there something You would ask of us?"
"…"
The Goddess looked faintly surprised, and then she smiled.
"I am truly, truly glad that you are Olivia's guide. That you are someone intelligent, and kind, and good-hearted — I am sincerely glad of it. I very nearly failed to stop the Hero from falling."
"…You flatter me."
Even if Liv fell from grace, she would still be Liv. That was what I believed. Even if she had gone mad with revenge or rage, she probably wouldn't have joined hands with monsters, or succumbed to the Evil God's temptation.
No.
Or would she? Maybe I only think that because I don't want to see her become that kind of person.
"Do You have something to ask of us, Goddess?"
"There is a danger in present-day Erchia. Rather than a request, I suppose I should call it passing on information."
"What's in Erchia?"
The Goddess hesitated for a moment, then answered.
"Why?"
Why would the Red Dragon King be in a city of humans?
It made no sense. If anything, shouldn't it have been a water dragon?