Tutorial: Interlude
I had endured about ten minutes of Mirna’s self-absorbed boasting—right around the point where my sanity felt ready to shatter—when I finally sensed three presences approaching the room.
Melina had mentioned earlier that she was going to fetch some fruit to peel and report that I had regained consciousness...
One of them is Melina... and this staggering divine power must belong to Asselina.
So the Pope really was coming in person. It made sense. She couldn’t possibly have imagined that the stubborn little girl who had insisted on undergoing an ascetic penance would return as a full-fledged Saintess.
Or... maybe it wasn't beyond her imagination after all.
Bringing me to the cathedral in the first place meant she already viewed me as a Saintess candidate. For a creature who had lived for thousands of years, my ascension had likely been well within her calculations from the start.
Then who’s the third person with them?
The door rattled open with a soft clatter.
"Um... I brought them."
While I was still pondering the identity of the third arrival, the three stepped inside. Melina looked thoroughly cowed, visibly shrinking under the sheer pressure of walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pope, the absolute highest authority in the Holy Kingdom.
Since I had only ever perceived her vague humanoid outline through divine awareness, I had never realized she took the guise of a kindly, deeply wrinkled old grandfather. In the game, she had never appeared in her mortal disguise as the Pope—only in her draconic glory as Asselina—so I had never known what her human face looked like until now. Then again, if one wished to project the quintessential image of a venerable pontiff, that appearance was spot-on.
"What should I do with the frui—never mind... I'll just peel them..."
Melina started to ask what to do with the fruit she brought, but reading the heavy atmosphere, she realized a serious conversation was about to unfold, and her telepathic presence shrank into meek silence. It was hard to believe this was the same haughty archer who had sneered at an apprentice nun tagging along on a dangerous quest. Slinking into the corner, she quietly began paring the fruit with a small knife.
Sensing the solemn gravity of the moment, the others in the room instinctively prepared to step outside, but Asselina raised a hand to stop them. She assured them that while the matter was important, there was no need for anyone to leave.
"Sister... how does your body fare?"
As I kept my senses trained on Melina paring the fruit, Asselina gently inquired after my well-being.
My body was in peak condition.
I gave a light, frail nod.
"[In fact, it feels light enough to fly... But what happened to me...? I was certain I had died...]"
"As I feared... It is true that you exhausted every drop of your life force for their sake," Asselina murmured, her weathered face etched with profound sorrow.
Deep down, all I had really wanted was to savor the exquisite agony of self-sacrifice and nourish myself on the agonized misunderstandings of those around me. Remembering that I had nearly gotten innocent adventurers killed just to unlock the Saintess class, my conscience gave a sharp twinge of guilt.
Still, having committed to this roleplay concept, there was no turning back now.
"Sister..."
Her sorrowful gaze pierced my conscience all the more, knowing it was born of genuine grief over a girl who had set out on a penance only to throw away her life for others. Of course, I was alive now, but had I failed to be chosen as the Saintess, I would have either been unceremoniously booted back to Earth or perished on the spot.
Even in hindsight, it had been an insane gamble.
I'm starting to feel... genuinely guilty...
I really shouldn't be entertaining such thoughts before Asselina of all people.
Sure enough, as if catching the faint ripples of remorse flitting across the surface of my mind, Asselina’s expression clouded with even deeper melancholy.
"Do not blame yourself, Sister Aria. What transpired was not your fault."
See? Another wild misunderstanding.
Ah...
She truly was the Light Guardian Dragon who had protected humanity for millennia. If it were up to my base instincts, I’d confess every depraved desire I harbored and perform a full kowtow of apology, but that would ruin everything.
Having locked into this concept, pushing forward with it was my only choice.
I shook my head gently.
"[No... If only I had been more capable, none of this would have happened.]"
"Sister Aria."
Asselina’s tone stiffened noticeably.
Oops, mistake.
She was a dragon who loathed seeing mortals throw their lives away, yet here the victim was, lamenting her own inadequacy right to her face. From her perspective, it was the most infuriating thing she could possibly hear.
"[...]"
"You must not torment yourself any further. You are an admirable nun who saved the precious lives of everyone gathered here."
Far from rebuking me, she sought only to bolster my confidence and lift the heavy burden of guilt from my shoulders.
"[Yes...]"
This is so uncomfortable...
When I gave a soft, obedient murmur just to bring the awkward exchange to a close, her stern expression melted back into its former grandfatherly benevolence.
Thank goodness.
"[So what happened to me...? To save Brother Danas, I was certain I had...]"
"Yes, you are correct. You offered your own life for Brother Danas and departed for the Goddess’s side."
"[Then why am I...?]"
"Because the Goddess bestowed upon you a sacred blessing—and another chance at life."
Asselina stepped closer and laid a weathered hand atop my head. A soothing warmth radiated from her divine power, settling over me like gentle sunlight. It was an immensely comforting, tranquil sensation.
"Sister Aria... what I am about to tell you may sound cruel."
"..."
I had a good feeling I knew where this was going. Now that I had been chosen as the Saintess, she was bound to speak of the trials and tribulations awaiting me—penance on an incomparably harsher scale than anything I had faced before.
"To speak candidly, I am one who serves Lady Rumania."
"..."
"And yet... I found myself unable to accept Lady Rumania’s will."
The words hung in the air, heavy and bewildering. The onlookers gasped in disbelief at the Pope’s contradictory declaration. To serve a god, yet claim she could not obey that very god's will? Coming from the lips of the Pope himself, it was only natural that their confusion bordered on sheer horror.
"Why must such an agonizing destiny be thrust upon this poor child... a girl born blind and deaf from birth? Blasphemous though it is, I could not help but question it."
I was no longer an ordinary nun. To sustain the world, I was now burdened with the duty to subjugate the demons threatening its ruin—and ultimately, to vanquish the Demon King.
Asselina resented that decree. She questioned the supreme creator who had demanded salvation from a fragile girl whose entire life had been nothing short of a living hell, laying the fate of the mortal realm upon her frail shoulders.
Even among the most devout, doubts regarding the gods they worshiped would occasionally surface. When left untended, such misgivings could fester into heresy or outright apostasy. And here was the Pope, laying bare those very forbidden doubts before everyone present. Small wonder they were petrified.
Yet Asselina, the Pope, knew her place all too well. Placed upon the scales, the peace of the world would always outweigh the life of a single girl. Cruel as it was, it was a balance that had to be accepted.
"A path strewn with thorns awaits you, Sister. It will be excruciating. There will be countless moments when you wish for nothing more than to surrender."
Yet her Goddess did not coerce.
That was what Asselina was truly trying to say.
She was the Light Guardian Dragon, the Light Dragon Lord who had watched over humanity across thousands of years—one of the three sacred pillars Goddess Rumania had planted in this world.
"Even so... do you truly wish to walk the path of the Saintess?"
That was why Asselina pleaded. Loving humanity as fiercely as she did, she wished with all her heart that this pitiable girl would turn away from such an agonizing journey. She wanted to reassure me that I had every right to live in ordinary, peaceful happiness.
Truly...
She's magnificent.
As if I’d ever surrender the Saintess class now!
Her offer meant she was prepared to defy her very Creator for my sake. The sheer nobility of her devotion commanded a reverence that made me feel utterly small.
However...
If I quit now, everything I've suffered through becomes completely meaningless.
I smirked inwardly.
Surrender? Not a chance in hell.
This was a character build with the absolute highest theoretical ceiling, unlocked only by staking my literal life on a hidden class. I wasn't about to stop for anyone.
"[...]"
The surface of my thoughts was likely radiating an ironclad resolve. Since telepathic perception was never absolute, Asselina had surely already guessed that I had no intention of turning back. Yet she still held onto a desperate, maternal hope.
She hoped I would refuse.
She hoped I would choose a warm, tranquil life.
However...
"[My answer is...]"
Trailing off, I turned toward Mirna.
Mirna flinched in surprise as my sightless focus suddenly locked onto her.
Instinctively, I drew upon the divine power slumbering within me. Having ascended to Saintess, manipulating the sacred energy felt infinitely smoother, sharper, and more effortless.
And best of all...
I can use it...!
The Authority of Healing was finally mine to wield.
And it felt as natural as breathing.
Offering Mirna a serene, angelic smile, I unleashed the Authority of Healing.
In the very next instant—
"Guh-koff...! Cough, hack!"
Clamping both hands over my mouth as fresh blood erupted up my throat, a violent tremor racked my slender frame. A spike of agony intense enough to momentarily vaporize my consciousness tore through every fiber of my being before abruptly receding.
How on earth did she endure this kind of backlash...?
She must have concocted some absurdly potent analgesic potion and chugged it down like water. The girl was utterly unhinged.
More importantly...
Did it succeed?
I had drawn the violent internal backlash from her excessive mana potion consumption entirely into my own flesh, completely mending Mirna's ravaged pathways. Because a Saintess's body was bound to maintain its original peak condition, the internal trauma caused me to vomit blood only for a fleeting second before my body reconstituted itself at staggering speed.
"S-Saintess...?"
Realizing what I had just taken onto myself, Mirna stared at me with wide, trembling eyes.
Thank you, Mirna.
That was truly exquisite pain.
It felt absolutely incredible.
"[...Will this suffice as my answer?]"
I projected my thoughts gently toward Asselina.
With that single act, I had delivered a declaration clearer than any vow could ever be.
I would gladly, willingly embrace the path of the Saintess.
"...I understand. I shall honor your will, Saintess Aria."
Everyone in the room sucked in a sharp breath at Asselina's—no, the Pope’s—solemn decree.
She had spoken softly, as if in passing, but the Pope had just officially conferred my ascension.
It's done.
Here and now...
The Saint of Light had been born into the world.
It was the end of the tutorial.