Apostle of God (4)
Saintess Phoebe of the Church of the Main God had heard a great deal about a girl named Lucy Aln.
It couldn't have been helped, really — within the Church of the Main God, Lucy Aln was an exceedingly famous person.
Not in a good way, mind you.
She had appeared out of nowhere and denied the existence of God.
She had smashed church property.
She had thrown eggs at a holy statue.
She had hurled abuse — and worse — at a priest.
She had burst in mid-service and wrecked the whole ceremony.
Every story told to her by the clergy who had come from the church in the Aln territory was, without exception, enough to make one gasp.
Listening to all of it, Phoebe found herself wanting to meet this Lucy in person, just once.
What kind of wound must be festering inside her, she wondered, that made her scream out like that?
Phoebe believed that no one in this world was born wicked.
It was the accumulation of hardships suffered while growing up that twisted a person toward evil, she believed — and given the right help from those around them, anyone could return to their kind, true nature.
Having saved countless souls over the course of her life, Phoebe never once doubted her own conviction.
Someday, I hope to meet her, hear her story, and help her find her way toward the light. How wonderful that would be.
Phoebe carried that quiet wish in her heart, though she was never able to fulfill it.
For a Saintess of the Main God Church was never granted the freedom to simply do as she pleased.
The next time Phoebe heard the name Lucy was around the time word reached the Holy Land that Lucy had lifted the Curse of Agra.
'Guided by Armadi, Lucy Aln discovered a hidden place within the dungeon of Evans.'
'That place was where the mace of the Holy Knight Ruel lay concealed.'
'Having overcome the trial, Lucy Aln obtained Ruel's mace along with a potion of miracle.'
'Guided onward, she happened upon a person dying of the Curse of Agra in Evans, and healed them with the potion.'
The report that arrived from the Aln church was filled, page after page, with events that could only be described as miracles.
Had such a report come from anyone else, it might well have been dismissed as utter nonsense.
But the one who had written it was none other than Bishop Johan.
The man closest to becoming the next Pope — a man so ruthlessly exacting in his separation of public duty and private interest that he seemed made of nothing but the former.
He would never report an unverified claim. Whatever was written there simply had to be true.
Bishop Johan's report threw the Holy Land into tremendous turmoil.
How could the blasphemous Lady Aln have received the guidance of Armadi?
Could Ruel's mace really be entrusted to such a delinquent?
The mace of Ruel, which had vanished without a trace, had simply appeared? Surely Johan had made some mistake.
Voices rose from every corner, and most of them were anything but favorable.
Yet this commotion, which had set the normally placid Holy Land ablaze, came to an end before long.
Because the reigning Pope of the Main God Church settled the entire dispute with a single remark:
"If Armadi Himself wishes to embrace the prodigal daughter, who are we to doubt His will?"
Phoebe thought exactly as the Pope did.
The merciful Armadi would never act without meaning.
Therefore, as one who dwelled beneath Him, the right thing to do was to trust in Armadi's intent and simply let the matter be. Or so she told herself.
Two months later, when Phoebe entered Soul Academy to sit the entrance examination, the name Lucy reached her ears once again.
This time, it was neither good nor bad.
It was because of an unfortunate accident that had occurred at Soul Academy.
At the moment of the accident, Phoebe had been in the middle of the dungeon-clearing exam and knew nothing of what was happening outside.
Only after finishing the exam and stepping out did she learn that something terrible had occurred.
The moment Phoebe emerged from the dungeon, the priest who assisted her hurried over and told her about the accident during the Academy's examination.
"Agra intervened in the Academy's dungeon."
"Joy Partran, Lucy Aln, and Jacob Leeds were caught up in it, and..."
Joy?!
The moment she heard that her friend had been hurt, Phoebe sprinted straight to the church and rushed to check on Joy's condition.
Thankfully, Joy was merely sunk in a deep sleep, with barely any outward injuries to speak of.
As a cleric herself, Phoebe knew perfectly well that there was no need for worry — and yet she could not bring herself to leave Joy's side.
She was terrified that one of the precious few friends she had might, by some cruel chance, be lost to her.
How much time passed after that?
It was around evening when Joy finally opened her eyes, and Phoebe pulled her into a tight embrace.
Awakened from her sleep, Joy asked Phoebe question after question.
How had she been rescued? What had become of the people who had entered the dungeon with her? And so on.
Only after Phoebe had answered everything she knew did Joy finally let out a long breath of relief.
"I'm so glad everyone is safe."
"Yes... me too."
Phoebe did not ask Joy what had happened inside.
She knew that the question would only dredge up painful memories.
Instead, Phoebe filled the silence with talk of ordinary things — something fun that had happened lately, her family, her friends.
Joy noticed what Phoebe was doing, but played along all the same.
And in Joy's stories, the name Lucy appeared again and again.
"I mean, seriously! That girl comes into Tiara Mas on my account and then just calls me the Scatterbrained Young Lady to my face?!"
"How is she that good at being annoying? Every single word out of her mouth! Talking to her makes my blood boil on its own!"
"And yet somehow the talent is real, apparently — over the last few months she's become a completely different person."
I hate her. She's irritating. She grates on my nerves — that was what Joy said, but to Phoebe's ears, none of it was the truth of her heart.
"It sounds to me like you've rather taken a liking to Lady Aln?"
"There's absolutely no way that's true!"
"Joy."
At the sound of her name spoken so gently, Joy, who had been sputtering, fell silent for a moment. Then she passed a hand down over her face and spoke in a quieter voice.
"...Honestly, if it weren't for Lady Aln, I wouldn't be here right now. She saved my life. She's nothing less than the savior of it."
And with those words, Joy's lament began, while Phoebe simply listened.
How they had thought they'd cleared the dungeon, only for a new one to appear in its place.
How the floor had collapsed beneath them, forcing them down into that dungeon.
How they had come face to face with a monster they stood no chance against, and nearly died.
And then... and then, and then...
When Joy could no longer bring herself to continue, Phoebe quietly took her hand.
And she stayed at her friend's side, trembling as though the terror of that moment had returned to her, until Joy finally calmed.
The next day, while speaking with the bishop of the church at Soul Academy, Phoebe heard Lucy's name once more.
"Lady Aln wishes to receive her baptism."
Upon hearing this from the church priest, Phoebe announced that she would personally perform Lucy Aln's baptism.
The bishop, well aware of Lucy's unsavory reputation, desperately tried to dissuade her, fearing the girl might do the Saintess harm — but Phoebe was stubborn.
Partly it was her own curiosity about this Lucy. And partly, it was the wish to express her gratitude to the benefactor who had saved her friend.
In the end, Phoebe got her way.
And so the first time she came face to face with Lucy Aln, she found her to be an overwhelmingly cute little girl.
With her deep pink hair and eyes brimming with life like the fruits of spring, no matter how Phoebe looked at her, she simply did not resemble someone burdened with such a litany of terrible rumors.
"Nice to meet you, Lame Saintess."
The moment Phoebe heard how the girl chose to address her, she understood exactly why those rumors had spread.
Lame Saintess?
Phoebe, who had spent her life surrounded by people who treated her with careful reverence, took the word like a blow straight to the chest.
But she didn't let it show.
According to Joy, Lady Aln's mouth was rough, but her heart was kind.
Perhaps even that hadn't been meant out of any real malice...
"It wasn't. Lame Saintess."
"A lame Saintess and a lame priest — really, it's all the same to me."
"So, how do we proceed with the baptism? Lame Saintess?"
With every repetition of the words, Phoebe could feel her lips stiffening.
It was a strange sensation.
In all her years, through all she had endured, Phoebe had never once wanted to be angry at someone.
She was human, of course — there had been moments that wounded her, moments that tried her patience — but through all of it, she had never once let her emotions show.
And yet somehow, everything that came out of Lucy's mouth seemed to jab again and again at some tender place deep inside Phoebe's heart.
"Lame Saintess?"
"Ah. Yes. Lady Aln, you need only do as I instruct you."
"Mm-hmm. Got it."
Lucy's answer, taken by itself, was perfectly reasonable.
But that hand raised to cover her mouth.
Those eyes that seemed to say, as if a nobody like you could pull this off.
Those eyebrows so clearly looking down on her.
They kept pricking away at Phoebe's heart, jab after jab.
Forcing a smile, Phoebe resolved to finish the baptism as quickly as possible and go straight home.
Something about herself felt off today, she thought.
"We'll begin right away."
So saying, Phoebe pressed her palms together and recited a prayer in her heart.
O Armadi. Here stands a lamb who seeks the path to Your embrace.
At once, mana imbued with sacred power gathered around Lucy, wrapping her in a gentle radiance.
"You need only remain still, Lady Aln."
The baptism of the Main God Church begins with standing beneath sacred mana.
Then, beneath that mana, one confesses before God the sins one has committed,
and vows to live rightly thereafter in accordance with the divine will,
and finally, the rite concludes as one takes into oneself the mana that envelops them.
Having performed this baptism more times than she could count, Phoebe expected this one to proceed without incident as well.
But it was different.
The mana surrounding Lucy was nothing like the mana that emerged whenever Phoebe cast the rite of baptism herself.
So thick with divinity that it seemed to blur the air around her, that radiant power looked exactly as though —
as though Armadi Himself were bestowing a miracle upon Lucy.