Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Archangel Descent with One Bite of Mayonnaise
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"Bring more digestive potions here! Distilled spirits too!"
"Are you alright? Look this way. Open your eyes wide."
"May the Almighty Father God protect you..."
The relief center in the capital's slums had instantly turned into a hellish pandemonium.
Moans erupting from all directions, children's cries, and desperate screams mingled with the fear of death, filling the cramped space to the brim.
Lumiel moved tirelessly between the patients with a pale face, constantly reaching out her hands.
'Father in heaven, please care for this poor soul...'
Each time the faint golden divine power flowing from her fingertips touched a patient's forehead, their pain seemed to ease, if only for a moment.
But her divine power was like a single cup of water before a raging inferno.
Relieving one person's suffering only brought the screams of two or three more from another direction.
"Saintess! Over here! The child isn't breathing!"
"Please... please save my wife...!"
She moved desperately, but all she faced was the cold reality of her own powerlessness.
Her divine power depleted rapidly, and the suffering before her eyes showed no end.
'Please, just one more person...'
In the end, her body reached its limit first.
An elderly priest nearby barely managed to support her as her knees buckled with dizziness.
"Saintess, no more! You'll collapse first at this rate!"
"But these people... how can I abandon them..."
"If you collapse first, you won't be able to help them anymore. Please don't destroy yourself in vain."
Despite the old priest's pleas, she squeezed out her nearly depleted divine power and reached out once more.
But the light from her fingertips flickered like a candle before fading away.
'Why... why am I so powerless...'
Lumiel was engulfed in despair.
Her well-intentioned actions had instead brought trouble upon her benefactor.
Even bearing the name of Saintess, she couldn't save these people right before her eyes.
'What even is a Saintess? A complete fool who can't even fully alleviate one person's suffering...!'
The self-reproach stabbed at her heart like a dagger.
The Pope had told her to be brave, but the brutality before her crushed all her will.
Her body, drained of divine power, felt as heavy as lead, and her mind sank into an endless swamp of despair.
Staggering, she dragged her depleted body to a corner of the relief center, a simple prayer room set up for brief rests.
Kneeling on the cold stone floor, she clasped her hands and closed her eyes.
But no words of prayer came. Only dark monologues lamenting her powerlessness swirled in her mind.
And just as her consciousness began to fade...
'...?'
Even with her eyes closed, her vision filled with dazzling light.
The noises of reality faded into a distant otherworld.
She realized she stood alone in an endless space of light, or perhaps the center of a grand cathedral.
And there, another woman stood.
A legendary figure she had only seen in monastery frescoes and illustrated storybooks.
Perfectly sculpted features framed by black hair. A resolute and beautiful woman clad in armor, wielding a flaming sword.
The First Saintess, Valeria, looked down upon her.
"The First Saintess... ma'am?"
"Why do you kneel, Sister Lumiel?"
The voice resonated not in her ears, but directly in her soul.
Strong yet not heartless, the soul-stirring echo brought tears welling up in the girl's golden eyes.
"I... I couldn't do anything."
Her voice was choked with despair.
"My foolishness brought trouble to my benefactor, and my power was too weak to fully save the suffering people before me. I... I have no qualification to be a Saintess..."
"..."
"Why was someone like me made a Saintess... Better if a worthless fool like me, without any right to the title... sob."
Her voice was already half-broken, unable to come out properly.
She tried to speak formally, but her grief-stricken voice kept leaking out.
"Sob, I tried so hard. When I was first chosen as a Saintess in the monastery, I was so happy. I thought I'd perform miracles like the Saintesses in myths and save countless people."
"But now, I can't do anything. I cower and watch the church's affairs, I've only been a burden to my benefactor."
"And now, I can't even help those who need it. Sniff. Someone like me—"
Her sorrowful sobs filled the endless space of light.
Just as her self-deprecating cries threatened to fill the light...
The First Saintess Valeria's voice cut through her monologue firmly, yet not coldly.
"Do not blame yourself, sister."
Lumiel startled and looked up.
Valeria's refined face held not rebuke, but steel-like compassion.
"Sister, why do you think you are unfit to be a Saintess?"
"Pardon? Th-that's because I failed to carry out the mission of enacting the Lord's miracles to save everyone, and couldn't save the suffering—"
"Wrong."
Lumiel's golden eyes shook at Valeria's firm words.
"I too had moments of despair and dejection."
"In the final Holy War against the demons, countless comrades fell before my eyes."
"I shed tears for the many lives that slipped through my fingers and wept in secret."
Hearing tales of failure from a legendary hero made Lumiel swallow hard.
"Man plans, but God alone accomplishes. We merely act upon the teachings we have received."
"A Saintess is not one who performs perfect miracles, but one who never loses the will to share love and joy with all from the humblest place, despite everything."
"So, do not despair or falter over this failure. Youngest sister."
The warm words of the First Saintess, Valeria, stilled the tears in the youngest Saintess's golden eyes.
Soon, Valeria met her gaze with steadfast brown eyes.
"Sister, though you have fallen in despair, that does not mean you have failed."
"Only you can knock yourself down, and only you can raise yourself up."
"So, take the teachings as your lamp and lift yourself. Advance without yielding to frustration and adversity."
She gazed deeply into Lumiel's golden eyes and smiled.
"For you are my unashamed sister and a true Saintess."
That warm, gentle gaze.
In that gaze, the tears Lumiel had held back flowed freely.
The days of not being acknowledged. The hardships endured through her youth and inexperience, filled with mistakes.
All of it melted away like falling snow, dissolving the lump of sorrow.
Soon, the tearful girl knelt before the woman and asked.
"...But what should I do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Even if I don't yield, there are still countless people suffering out there. But in this state..."
To the girl's earnest, sorrowful question, the woman before her answered calmly.
"Raise yourself up, sister."
"All that the Lord has given—be it sorrow or joy—is a world stretching infinitely."
"Affirm it, and further affirm even the trials before you, and press on; only then will the miracle occur."
Soon, she bent down to the young girl and helped her stand.
"So, do not whip yourself with negative thoughts and fill yourself with misguided ideas."
"Fill yourself with memories of happiness, and further with the happiness and love to come."
"Miracles do not dwell in some chosen one; they reside within everyone the Lord created."
"Thus, affirm yourself, and with the conviction that you can convey hope to all, the miracle will come."
"Miracle..."
Now, no more tears welled in the girl's eyes.
Seeing this, the woman smiled softly and stood before her.
"I believe without doubt that you will succeed. My youngest sister."
The final warm message from senior to junior.
With those words, she dissolved into golden particles of light and vanished into the air.
When she opened her eyes, it was not a sunlit grand cathedral but the cold simple prayer room that met Lumiel's gaze.
But her eyes held no more bewilderment or despair.
'The miracle within everyone...'
Soon, she began repeating the words of her eldest predecessor.
The miracle is within everyone, and awakening it is her mission.
So, she must steady herself.
Believe in herself and advance, so that miracles come not only to herself but to everyone.
'Happy memories...'
Soon, she closed her eyes in prayer and began recalling memories of happiness for her.
'-Saintess? Your complexion doesn't look good...'
A voice filled with concern. The sensation of strong arms firmly supporting her.
In a rundown shack, under his warm gaze, the shame and relief she felt.
'Then you barely ate lunch. Did you have any other food?'
Even though her embarrassing secret was exposed, he didn't mock her.
Instead, feeling sorry and responsible, he willingly rolled up his sleeves for her starving self.
'Not rolling up one's sleeves for the hungry would be truly shameful.'
The sight of him, a noble, casting aside decorum to lower himself for her hunger.
His rough yet skilled hands handling crude ingredients. And from those hands, the white miracle born.
The pure comfort that melted away the pain scraping her tongue, the sorrow of hunger, even the powerlessness weighing on her heart.
And then, the dreamlike gallop that followed.
'Hold on tight, Saintess. It'll be faster than you think.'
The firm, broad back she felt against hers. His strong arms embracing her.
The sound of wind brushing her ears, and for the first time, the complete sense of liberation.
The beautifully dyed evening sunset, the pleasant breeze caressing her ears.
Yes, this world is beautiful in itself, and every moment given to everyone, every bond, is a miracle.
So if I embrace everyone, and further wrap them all in silk-like tenderness.
Just like the taste of salvation he bestowed upon her, if she too could embrace everyone and lift them up.
"...!"
The happy memories gathered one by one, rekindling a warm fire in her fading heart.
When she opened her eyes, Lumiel's golden eyes shone with a clear, resolute determination like dawn light.
And the divine power that had been depleted now brimmed fuller than ever, making the world seem gilded.
"What is...?"
"Light from the sky...?"
Light began descending from the darkening sky.
The dim simple chapel filled with light in an instant.
She quietly rose from her seat.
She opened the door of the simple prayer room and walked back into the pandemonium of the relief center.
'What I can do. What I must do.'
"Saintess...?"
"Oh, ooh..."
Yes. What mattered was neither power nor wisdom.
Not strife for authority, nor cowering for it.
Simply the will to spread the righteous good, joy, and faith far and wide.
To act as that man—that incredibly grateful man—had shown her.
'Lumi?'
'It's Lumiel.'
'Hee hee, Mother Superior. What does that name mean?'
In the small garden of the monastery where sunlight cascaded down.
A young girl, raised in the monastery after being orphaned, asking about her name for the first time.
'Lumiel is the name of the archangel who bestowed light upon humanity.'
'It may be hard for you to understand now since you're young, but I believe without doubt that our Sister Lumiel will one day spread light throughout the world.'
And the somewhat rough but gentle stroking hand that followed.
Yes, I am light. A child born to spread light in the world.
"M-Miracle...!"
"Th-that's not an illusion I'm seeing, right...? Yeah?"
Right then, the miracle occurred.
Like the first rays of dawn chasing away darkness, a dazzling and warm golden radiance enveloped her entire body.
The child's ragged breathing steadied where the light touched, and the small face twisted in pain regained peace.
The sick found rest, and those poisoned recovered, preserving their lives.
"An angel, an angel has descended!"
"Oh, oh! Th-this is!!"
And at the center of this miracle stood a girl in pure white, gazing upon all with compassionate golden eyes.
With six pairs of white wings sprouting from her back, trailing golden beams of light.