Chapter 20
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 20: The Reason the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword
It is not so unusual for letters from various countries to arrive at the Libhart Theocracy.
However, it was a bit rare for a letter to be sent pinpointing the Saintess instead of the Pope, who is the representative.
Even when an important figure of a nation fell ill and needed the Saintess’s help, the standard procedure was to make a formal request to the Theocracy, not to send a letter to the Saintess herself.
But what if it wasn't that, but just a slightly personal letter asking something out of curiosity to the Saintess personally?
Then it is indeed correct to go directly to the Saintess, not through the Theocracy.
It wasn't particularly forbidden either.
However, Irina Rowell, the Saintess who had never left the Theocracy of Libhart since becoming the Saintess of the Libra Order.
For her to receive a personal letter was a very unusual event.
Considering such events could be counted on one hand until she held her coming-of-age ceremony at 17….
Moreover, the sender of this letter was the 7th Imperial Princess of the Empire, Lydia?
“Strange. I have never even met the Princess, yet a letter to me.”
Although she had visited the Empire a few times for Order events or at the request of the Imperial Family, she had never exchanged greetings with Princess Lydia.
Because every time the Saintess visited the Empire, Princess Lydia was away on other business.
Yet a personal letter came from a Princess she had never greeted once.
Unable to erase the thought that it was strange, Saintess Irina accepted what the attendant priest held out.
“It’s not just a letter?”
What was placed along with the letter was a book.
“Yes, just in case, I checked the contents first, and it was a romance novel.”
“Pardon?”
She understood less and less as time went on.
It was surprising enough that a Princess of the Empire whom she had never met sent a personal letter, but she enclosed a romance novel?
The Saintess, who had little experience, had no way of knowing what kind of situation this was.
‘Is there perhaps some trend happening in the secular world right now that I don’t know about…?’
Saintess Irina, who had rarely left the Theocracy since birth.
Therefore, she was waiting for the Academy admission next spring with a pounding heart.
Because the time she would spend at the Academy in the future would be almost the only time in her life where she could exist as the girl Irina, not the Saintess.
A study abroad opportunity obtained by being half-stubborn with the logic of asking if a Saintess ignorant of the world could truly save people.
She was resolving every day that she would definitely spend a fun and happy Academy life in the Empire that would remain in her memory for a lifetime.
To that extent, she was already studying the ‘secular world’ to follow trends well and mingle with other schoolmates when she went to the Academy, so she misunderstood if this letter and book gift were also some kind of play she didn't know about.
‘「The Diary Inside My Heart」? It’s a title I’m hearing for the first time.’
She was reading romance novels that were popular in the Empire, but this was the first time seeing this.
‘Is this also something I didn't know because other priests banned it saying it was too stimulating for me, like 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」?’
Saintess Irina was keeping her antenna up for Imperial trends.
It was only natural for her to take interest in 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」, the talk of the town.
But other priests stopped her from reading it, saying it was too vulgar for a Saintess to read.
She wondered if this 「The Diary Inside My Heart」 was also a work priests hid so she wouldn't know at all, but it didn't seem so.
“It’s a bound galley proof?”
Not officially bound, but a sample printed experimentally before starting official printing.
That meant the Princess sent a romance novel that hadn't even been distributed in the Empire yet along with the letter….
“What is the content?”
Saintess Irina asked the priest who read it first for censorship.
“That is──.”
Closing his eyes as if recalling the story, the priest spoke.
“It was a story that makes the soul cry.”
‘This is again… a strange reaction.’
Making the soul cry?
She couldn't even guess what kind of content it was for him to say such things.
Come to think of it… the attendant priest, who usually nagged her to read one more line of scripture in the time she read novels, was strange today.
He kept glancing at the book held in the Saintess’s hand since earlier with eyes filled with various emotions.
Since he indulged in reading during the process of checking in advance if the content was problem-free for the Saintess to read, such a reaction wasn't strange.
Just because he was a pious clergyman didn't mean he had no emotions.
A novel powerful enough to make even a person lacking sensibility shudder.
If it weren't a gift given to the Saintess, he would be thinking he wanted to possess it.
“Fog Disease?”
First deciding to check the letter, Saintess Irina tilted her head as expected.
The Princess was asking if she could cure Fog Disease… but she couldn't understand because Fog Disease was strictly a disease name proposed in the novel.
‘Did someone among the Imperial Family catch a rare disease? No, if so, the Princess wouldn't have sent a letter in this way…. I think I will have to look at the book sent together to understand what this is about.’
Thinking the answer would be in the novel, Saintess Irina first held mass for Equirion, the God of Balance and Harmony served by the Libra Order, then returned to her private room and began to spend time alone reading 「The Diary Inside My Heart」.
And──.
“Sob, sniff….”
Saintess Irina Rowell, who started reading, couldn't withstand the tear gas sprayed on her tear ducts and began to wail.
Wiping her tears lest the book get damaged by them, she continued reading the love story of Enya and Lawrence, which was so heartbreaking and therefore even more affectionate.
The more she read, it was sad, touching, made her cheer for them, pitiable… she wanted to stop reading at the whirlwind of too intense emotions.
This level of emotional consumption was an experience she was having for the first time in her life, so reading was hard and painful.
But contrary to such a heart, Irina’s eyes and head didn't stop reading as if there was not a speck of intention to actually stop reading.
Far from stopping, she fell deeper into the content of the book without realizing the passage of time.
Thanks to that, she could clearly know what the Fog Disease the Princess asked about was.
It was a memory disorder called ‘Sleep of the Soul’ among the Order’s healers, but truly unfortunately, this wasn't something even a Saintess could cure.
Because it was very different from the general concept of disease, no matter how much divine power she poured and performed healing to the level called a miracle, cure was distant.
It was only to the extent of slowing down the progression very slightly, so it was also a disease where steady research was conducted thinking it must be conquered someday.
The problem was that although research of this kind is all like that, especially the research of ‘Fog Disease’ had no results.
Since there were no results, they couldn't receive support, and since they couldn't receive support, active research didn't happen either.
There are many who hide suffering from such a disease out of shame, and in severe cases, they consider it a punishment from heaven and even point fingers, so proper research cannot be conducted.
『It can’t be cured even with divine power? That is exactly the proof that it is divine punishment!』
Because people distort it at will like this, Fog Disease, which devastates not only the patient’s life but also the surroundings, was receiving too little attention compared to its pain.
Although the Order was trying to improve awareness saying that shouldn't be the case constantly──.
‘To deal with such a disease everyone is busy hushing up so boldly in a story.’
The Saintess was so surprised and impressed that there was a person who thought of writing such a romance novel with such Fog Disease as the main theme.
“Perhaps if this novel spreads, wouldn't it be a great help in improving awareness of the disease?”
Then the Saintess came to expect that it would become a new turning point for the research of the disease compared to now.
At the appearance of Lawrence and Enya continuing their love without succumbing to the disease, the Saintess felt her heart breaking in pain and smiled while crying in emotion.
Now Saintess Irina also understood why Princess Lydia sent such an incomprehensible letter.
Unfortunately, she would have to write a reply saying the Sleep of the Soul── no, Fog Disease is a disease even I, a Saintess, cannot do anything about.
But….
‘Is there a law saying I must reply by letter?’
She wants to meet the author who wrote the novel and talk about improving the awareness of Fog Disease, which is misunderstood as divine punishment.
So Saintess Irina came to harbor the thought of wanting to go to the Empire, although a bit early.
She wanted to go and meet the Princess, a fellow avid reader, and the author of 「The Diary Inside My Heart」, and chat about the work… no, discuss improving awareness of Fog Disease.
Naturally, at such a request from the Saintess,
“Absolutely not.”
The upper echelons of the Theocracy shook their heads firmly.
Sending her to study abroad at the Academy next year is also a situation where opinions are divided back and forth.
Yet sending the Saintess to the Empire at this time?
Even going for a short while and coming back is difficult, so they had no choice but to express reluctance at the Saintess’s request to stay for at least a few months.
Until now, the Saintess had never thought of the Theocracy as a stifling birdcage.
But this time, she felt frustration and sadness at such reactions of the high priests.
She came to lament, thinking it was a life with no freedom due to the title of Saintess.
Priests who felt pity for such a Saintess gave advice.
“If you explain with proper justification for what reason you wish to go on an outing, wouldn't other people also agree?”
At those words, Saintess Irina nodded.
She meant to propagate to others why she thought she would go to the Empire── no, she would appeal the importance of countermeasures for Fog Disease.
The result was,
“In my opinion, I wonder if it isn't right to proceed with overcoming Fog Disease as the Order’s long-cherished project, but what are other people’s thoughts?”
“You are right. Embracing such a sad and painful disease is truly what the Order should do.”
“I didn't like people making thoughtless remarks calling Fog Disease divine punishment or whatever since long ago. Let’s take this opportunity to root out such perception.”
“How about designating a Fog Disease Day altogether and contacting various countries to think about the pain of patients and families suffering from that disease?”
The Saintess’s intention worked better than she thought.
Enough to influence the Order’s operation policy.