Peace for the Cat (2)
"And so, the Hero and the Saint lived happily ever after—"
"Ooooh…."
With the pale moonlight filtering in through the window serving as our only lamp, I read a fairy tale aloud in a soft, unhurried voice to Ellie, who lay quietly tucked into her bed. The story itself was the most clichéd of clichés—a love story between a Hero and a Saint. But for Ellie, who was destined to become a Saint herself one day, perhaps this hackneyed tale would come to mean more than just a bedtime story.
"Sister, does a Saint have to marry the Hero?"
"Not necessarily. Unless you're nobility, no one can force you into a marriage."
By this point in any ordinary fairy tale, Ellie would long since have drifted into deep sleep. But apparently this particular book wasn't the sort of story meant to lull a child to dreamland, because Ellie's eyes were sparkling even brighter than they had before she'd lain down.
"Then can a Saint never become a Hero?"
"Hmm, well. I suppose that depends on how you think about it."
"If I think of myself as a Hero, do I actually become one?"
"Of course. Being a Hero doesn't mean you have to swing a shiny sword around."
"Hee-ahh…."
The moment she heard my answer, Ellie turned her head straight up and began staring blankly at the bare ceiling. She looked so small and adorable, like a little doll, that before I knew it a smile had crept across my face.
"Do you want to be a Hero, Ellie?"
"Yes. It seems so cool."
"And a Saint?"
"Saints don't really stand out much, so I guess they're kind of boring."
"A Saint…?"
"It's not that I hate them or anything, they just seem sort of… plain."
Ellie wasn't entirely wrong. Thinking about it in the most ordinary way, it was a perfectly reasonable conclusion. But the Saint as I understood it played the exact opposite role—every bit as vital and conspicuous as any Hero. A Saint didn't merely grant people hope and healing; she carried a power that held the whole world in balance, all on her own.
"That's not true at all, Ellie. A Saint is every bit as important and glamorous as a Hero."
After all, a Saint's vestments and regalia were exquisitely beautiful, and the way they emphasized her holiness inspired boundless reverence in everyone who beheld her. If I ever found myself in a position to choose between being a Hero or a Saint, I suspected I'd pick the Saint—with her future guaranteed.
"Besides, the biggest perk is that you still have a secure job even after the Demon King is defeated."
"…Do all the other jobs become useless once the Demon King is gone?"
"Oh, no, no… it's not that. Things just get a little, well, ambiguous. Defeating the Demon King means peace has come to the world, after all."
"Hmm… I guess you really like Saints, Sister."
With that single remark, Ellie went back to staring holes into the ceiling. She seemed to be churning through an enormous amount of thought in that little head of hers, but I decided not to press her on it.
"Now then, it's about time for bed."
"Okay—"
I quietly blew out the candle that had been burning softly atop the little drawer. At once Ellie's room plunged into pitch darkness, a black so deep I couldn't see a hand in front of my face—and yet Ellie wasn't frightened in the slightest.
"Good night, Ellie."
"Good night to you too, Sister—"
With that, I slipped quietly out of Ellie's now-silent room and eased the door shut with the utmost care, not daring to make a sound.
- Creak.
"Whew…."
The hallway at night was utterly still and cold. Even my footsteps dissolved quietly into the air, leaving the spots I passed as undisturbed as if nothing had happened at all. Once I confirmed everyone was sound asleep, I turned and made my own slow way back to my room. The closer I came to my room at the very end of the corridor, the more a strange sense of relief and comfort washed over me.
- Creak.
My room, once I finally arrived, was far darker than the children's. There was a window, but not a sliver of moonlight found its way in.
"Uuugh… I'm tired…."
As a vampire, I was supposed to grow more energetic at night, yet for some reason I felt unusually drained today. It was probably the aftermath of those demon incursions that had happened one after another recently—the exhaustion still lingering in my body.
"I'll just go to sleep for tonight…."
Murmuring quietly to myself, I let my heavy eyelids fall all the way shut. My already hazy mind grew blurrier the instant my eyes closed, and I could vividly feel my consciousness drifting further and further away. Before long, that consciousness flowed naturally into dream—and then scattered, slowly, into the stillness of the night.
The next morning. A vampire who, instead of being active at night, woke up bright and early and busily set about her daily routine—me. Day by day, life as a nun was feeling more and more natural. Who knew that living an honest, wholesome life one day at a time could feel this rewarding and heartwarming? Somehow, I was actually proud of myself.
"Eisen, it's morning."
"Nnnghhh…."
First, I woke Eisen, our most hopeless case of morning grogginess.
"Iris, time to get up, don't you think?"
Next, I woke Iris, the second heaviest sleeper.
"Ell…."
And finally, it was time to wake Ellie—the most diligent of the three. Except, for some reason, Ellie was nowhere to be seen.
"……"
But I didn't panic. Ellie had a habit of rising even earlier than I did to faithfully perform her dawn prayers, after all.
- Pad, pad.
I headed straight for the church with confident strides. Frankly, if it wasn't the convent building, there wasn't anywhere else she could be.
- Creak.
I opened the church door without a moment's hesitation and stepped calmly inside. And then—
"…Ellie?"
"Ah, Sister!"
The first thing that caught my eye was Ellie, sitting comfortably on one of the long wooden benches, hard at work on something. Contrary to my expectations, it wasn't prayer—she was busy with something else entirely. And since she was beaming ear to ear when she saw me, I gathered she wasn't up to any secret mischief.
"What are you doing…?"
"Hehe, I'm making a present for you, Sister."
"For me? Out of nowhere?"
"Yes!"
At her words, my expression twisted into deeper bewilderment and refused to settle back down. What on earth kind of gift required getting up at the crack of dawn to prepare?
"May I take a look?"
"Yes! I just finished!"
Half anticipation, half dread. It was a present, so I couldn't help feeling a flutter of excitement—but for some reason an unsettling anxiety was rising right alongside it, until I found myself in an increasingly strange mood.
"…What is this?"
When I finally stood before Ellie, I tilted my head at the mysterious object laid out in front of her. As far as my naked eye could tell, it was a long stretch of black cloth. That was all.
"I was cleaning the convent a while ago and found an old nun's habit that had been thrown away."
"Hm? I see?"
"Yes! It was so filthy I almost tossed it out, but just in case, I washed it and kept it stored away."
"But why bring that up all of a sudden…?"
"Because of what you said yesterday, remember? How you want to become a Saint."
"Ah, from last night's talk. It's true that I did say…."
Mid-sentence, my calmly speaking mouth froze solid. No—more precisely, my mind was suddenly scrambling, its focus bleeding away by the second.
"…Pardon?"
Wondering if I'd misheard, I asked Ellie to repeat herself. But her answer came through so clearly, so crisply enunciated, that it flung me straight back into bewilderment.
"I'm going to grant your wish, Sister. So I've been making Saint's clothes right now."
"A S-S-Saint…? Me…?"
"Yes!"
"When did I ever…."
If something was wrong, then it was wrong on a catastrophic scale. I had never once told Ellie I wanted to be a Saint. All I'd said, surely, was that a Saint was just as important as a Hero. How on earth had that been twisted into me wanting to become one?
"Look, look! Isn't it pretty?"
Despite the fact that confusion and panic were smeared across my entire face, Ellie paid me no mind whatsoever and proudly, innocently showed off the Saint's outfit she had made.
"I'm sorry, Sister, but I cut up some of the clothes you bought me to use for it."
"…Ah."
So that's why certain decorations and fabrics kept looking familiar. Of course. This was how she had so seamlessly repurposed the clothes I'd bought her.
"Are… are you going to scold me…?"
"Oh, no, no… of course not…. It's far better than letting them sit unused…. There, well done…."
"Hehe, thank you!"
My feelings were a touch complicated. I'd noticed early on that the children weren't fond of those clothes, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine they'd be recycled like this. And into a Saint's outfit that I was apparently about to wear, no less. Is this what they call putting yourself in another's shoes…?
"Would you wear this for the whole day today?"
There it was—the shocking request finally slithering out of Ellie's mouth. And not just for a moment, but for an entire day? That was practically a double death sentence.
"Um… the whole day, you say…?"
"Yes. I worked so hard on it since dawn."
"W-well, I suppose so…. It certainly looks like you put a tremendous amount of care into it…."
"I'd be so happy if you wore it all day today, Sister!"
I knew perfectly well there was no ill intent behind it. Ellie had simply gotten up before dawn because she wanted to make me happy, that was all. It was a somewhat clumsy, haphazardly designed outfit, true—but it had originally been a nun's habit, so wearing it for a day shouldn't cause any real harm. Out of consideration for Ellie's feelings, surely I could endure a little embarrassment.
"Heehee, I can't wait."
The moment I carefully picked up the Saint's outfit Ellie had made for me, I transformed on the spot from a smiling woman into a pale, petrified monument of regret.
"Wh-whuh…? There's something odd about this dress—there's a rather large slit up the side…?"
"I don't think a Saint who's nothing but demure is very charming at all."
"Since when have you thought that, Ellie…?"
"Wearing it like this is way prettier, don't you think?"
The skirt, which had once flowed all the way down to my ankles, had been slit deep up both sides, transforming it into a shameless design that left my legs entirely on display. Even I didn't have the confidence to put this on without a moment's hesitation. This was, without question, a humiliating torture disguised as a gift.
"Do you… not like it…?"
"O-of course not…. It's a very special outfit you designed and made for me yourself, Ellie…."
"So you do like it?!"
"Yes…. Very much…."
And yet, even so, I couldn't bring myself to say a single word of complaint to her. My teeth were chattering with how much I disliked it, but I forced a smile and played along.
"I'm just so happy…."
I was terrified that a single word from me might wound her terribly. It felt as though I'd be inexplicably trampling Ellie's pure heart, so my tightly sealed mouth refused to open.
"Please treasure it and wear it lots!"
She meant every word.