Comes When Called... Easy??? 3
According to Elaim, she had planted plausible dreams in everyone who'd been at the temple.
What memories she'd actually slipped into their heads, we had no way of knowing. For reasons of her own, Elaim had left that part out when she departed. For all we knew, she considered this entire aftermath nothing more than a little gift.
"Spend long enough in the celestial realm and you start mistaking everything that happens down here for a game of chess. Angels and gods alike. Their sense of reality just... slips."
Near smiled lazily, as if he'd seen this coming a mile away. From the way he talked, even Elaim probably hadn't expected things to turn out quite like this.
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"...Nothing we can do about it. What's done is done."
The long line stretching out on either side of Elysia announced the birth of a new Saintess.
A Saintess. A conduit between gods and humans, designated by the gods themselves. The human closest to the divine in all the mortal world.
The birth of a Saintess was a rare event, typically accomplished through a divine revelation. But not everyone who received a revelation was chosen as a Saintess, and even those revelations were usually delivered secondhand. Even the Saintesses closest to the gods rarely saw a god's face in their entire lifetime — let alone catch so much as a glimpse of an angel's wings.
An angel appearing in the flesh like this was no different from a higher being personally naming their chosen one.
"This is impossible... This can't be happening... An angel, in person..."
Baron Zeke was gasping for air, completely beside himself. Madame Palinya, her face drained of all color, had fled the temple without even managing a scream. The others weren't faring much better.
The Ragnea parish head was reciting prayers of gratitude for the blessing of having faced an angel with his own eyes, and Chipi was doing the same. Baren and Cherny stood frozen, faces rigid, turning over and over in their minds what they had just witnessed.
A difference in faith wasn't the issue here. The reality was that most clergy spent their entire lives serving the gods without ever receiving a single sign in return. For them, an angel dispatched by a goddess speaking to them directly was as good as a reward for a lifetime of devotion.
"...Could I ask you to handle the cleanup first?"
I whispered it to Lucia, who was still staring into space.
"Wh-what do I do...?"
"Get the remaining people out of here, and pass the situation along to Bishop Boris."
"To him...? Are you sure that's okay? If the Church finds out..."
"They will. There's never been a case of two Saintesses being born in the same church, so they'll react one way or another. But it shouldn't be as bad as you're fearing."
"Even so..."
"Things will get messy for a while, sure. But right now, this is the best we've got."
Elaim had probably figured this was the most effective way to clear up the witch suspicions. It was a hundred times better than Astasia coming down in person — but this was like cutting out a lump only to grow a malignant tumor in its place.
"I don't want to make this any more complicated either. As for the Church... we'll have to deal with that later, somehow."
"Deal with it..."
"Anyway, I'll leave the rest to you."
With that, I walked straight over to Elysia and took her by the hand.
"Gray?! Why are you suddenly holding my—"
Elysia's startled eyes went round as a cat's. She stumbled a little, stammering the whole way, but she followed my hand out of the temple.
"Saintess! Look this way!"
"Saintess! Saintess!"
Word had already spread through the surrounding streets. People were swarming around the temple in a great cloud.
"G-G-G-Gray! You're... holding... my hand... my hand..."
I deployed my magic while Elysia was still too flustered to notice.
"G-Gray?! Gray, you're holding my h—"
"Elysia, calm down. Just a second."
Just like last time, when I'd sent that inspector flying back to the capital, I attempted a spatial transfer. A brief sensation of weightlessness — and when I came back to my senses, the two of us were standing alone in a modest little room. I'd moved us to the new house we'd finished cleaning last night.
"Hah... Elysia. You okay?"
I called her name with a weary sigh. I'd thought it was strange how quiet she'd been. Sure enough — poof — she'd short-circuited all on her own.
"He... held my hand..."
"Elysia...?"
As a stopgap, I quickly pulled my hand away — and she reached after it like a cat whose toy had just been snatched. The look in her eyes was a little off. It wasn't until I tapped her shoulder with my other hand that she snapped out of it.
"Elysia. You understand the situation we're in, right?"
She must have found it a little embarrassing herself, because she hurriedly composed her face. It took a fair while before she was fully back to her senses. After a long moment, she cleared her throat with a little cough and nodded.
"I-isn't this a good thing? Thanks to Lady Elaim, no more inspectors should be coming, right?"
"If that were the end of it, sure, it'd be a happy ending."
I apologized to Elysia with a sigh.
"I'm sorry. I was just going to ask her to send a simple revelation... I didn't think she'd come at us like this."
I deliberately left out the part about how it was originally going to be the goddess herself coming down, not an angel — just in case it would shock her.
"No. You don't have anything to be sorry for, Gray."
"........."
"You're the one who talked to the goddess, right? If it weren't for you, they would've found out I was a witch for sure this time."
"Even so..."
"I'm fine, so you don't have to worry about it."
Elysia said it with a smile.
"The only reason I'm even alive is because of you. You pulled me out of that nightmare. So even if things get a little inconvenient because of the angel, I'll be just fine!"
"...Well, that's a relief, at least."
"That's weird. I've never seen you this scared before."
"Of course I am. She's going to have to live at Church headquarters from now on, and I've got some responsibility in this too."
"You don't have to worry about all that. From now on I'll just live at Church headquarters and—"
"............ Elysia?"
"............. Li......... live......?"
"...............?"
"........................."
"............................?"
"......................... Huh......?"
"Hm?"
"................................. Ah?"
".........?"
"............. Who's... going to live at Church headquarters...?"
"Who else? You, Elysia. An archangel straight out of the scriptures came down in person just to clear up a misunderstanding about you. The moment the Church hears about this, they'll treat you like royalty. Whether you want that or not."
"............. M-me?"
"Of course you."
"Then............ then...... what about...... you?"
"............ I'll be at home...... I guess?"
I pointed at the rough wooden floorboards with my finger. I'd already decided to settle down in this house Near had given me as a gift. This was my home. I wasn't going to headquarters.
Elysia just stared, blank. This time the shock was of a completely different kind — the light had gone out of her eyes. When she finally managed to open her mouth, her voice was half-soulless.
"This time too...... you're...... leaving me behind again......?"
"You're the one leaving this time."
"Leaving... you're leaving...? F-for real? Leaving me behind...? Again? This time... too...?"
"No, I mean, I'm not the one leaving, you are—"
"D... don't..."
"............"
"...Don...... don't go...... Gray. Don't... don't gooo..."
I could roughly guess what was coming next. But I never got to hear the rest.
Her breathing started to pick up speed. Dizzy... I can't breathe... — her face went paler and paler, as if those were the words she was trying to say. The look in her eyes grew more and more unstable.
Uh-oh.
This is bad.
Thud!
"........."
Before I could do anything, she fainted. Again.
......This is a problem.
"...I was just kidding..."
"...What am I supposed to do about this..."
Lucia was clutching her head. Even after coming back from the post office, she couldn't settle her nerves.
She'd already relayed the situation to her husband, Boris. The post office's prized — and painfully expensive — magical communications lived up to their reputation, every bit as reliable as the heartbreaking length of the receipt. As the one who managed the temple's tight ledgers, she normally preferred sending a regular telegram — but this wasn't a situation where you pinched a few coins.
"Mom, did you really see the archangel? What did they look like? Were they pretty? Or was it a guy? How tall? Augh! I should've just gone with you~ I was playing outside 'cause I thought it'd be boring, and now only you got to see an angel! That's so unfair!"
Tina grumbled from where she was perched on top of the dining table. On any other day, Lucia would have already scolded her for climbing on the table. But right now, Lucia's mind was somewhere else entirely.
"Ria and Gray are late..."
No sooner had she said it than the door opened, and Gray appeared with Elysia on his back.
"Ria!"
"Elysia fainted."
"Oh my, Ria, Ria! What happened... She must have been so shocked earlier..."
Lucia hurriedly took Elysia from him and laid her on the bed.
"Shock... I guess you could call it that...... Yeah. This is where we ended up."
"Phew, thank goodness it's just a faint. Hah. What a long day."
"Thank you for handling everything. What about the others?"
"I managed to get them all out. The joint rite we were holding with the Ragnea Temple is cancelled. The temple... we'll have to keep it closed for a while, I suppose...? Hah... I already told my husband, so Church headquarters should know by now."
"Better that Bishop Boris tells them directly than letting rumors pile on rumors. In more ways than one."
"Hah... I know, but... more than anything, I'm worried about Ria. The Church won't leave her alone, and neither will anyone else..."
"They won't. I'm especially worried about that one."
"That one? Who?"
"You'll see. She'll probably show up before long. Given the circumstances."
"Hmm..."
Leaving the worried Lucia behind, Gray pulled a blanket over Elysia.
"You don't need to worry that much. I've got a share of the blame for how this turned out, so I'll handle the cleanup."
"Cleanup?"
"Yeah. I've cleaned up after Astasia more times than I can count."
"You're being surprisingly proactive."
Gray left the unconscious Elysia and picked up a doll that had fallen on her bedroom floor. He didn't want to admit it, but the little doll reminded him of someone.
This is supposed to be me...?
The stuffed doll was plump with cotton — and for some reason, damp. Tina had said this was a treasure... Hmm... wait. Which number was it again?
No, more importantly — why is the doll wet??
"Someone from the Church will be coming."
"Is that the 'that one' you mentioned just now? Who is it? Someone you're close with?"
"...... Close...? Well. You should probably prepare yourself either way."
"So who is it already..."
A complicated feeling rose up before he could answer.
"......The real Saintess. She'll probably come in person."