Chapter 4. Flight and Service (4)
Chapter 4. Flight and Service (4)
*
In truth, Chae-eun didn't think of herself as someone with a particularly discontented personality.
When her father was away, she let it go, telling herself it couldn't be helped. When her mother passed away, even though her heart couldn't accept it, she still thought—it couldn't be helped.
Because dwelling on grievances never changed anything.
The times she'd truly held a grudge were few—really, only something like the incident when she'd fought with her father and ended up being sent to the Church.
But somehow, after coming to the Church, she often felt something bubbling up from deep inside her.
A discontent that simmered and seethed but never exploded, yet kept steadily venting steam until it made her chest feel tight.
Naturally, the source of that discontent was Anna, who lived with her.
Not that it came from Anna's outrageous behavior. Anna could be stubborn about strange things, sometimes said nonsense, and occasionally got on Chae-eun's nerves, but it was all tolerable enough.
"I'm pretty, you know."
Anna had said that with an utterly serious expression, as if it came from the very depths of her heart—but Chae-eun did think she had a point.
Though it was less that Anna's prettiness excused everything, and more that Anna kept to her own boundaries well enough that there was no real reason to get angry.
But there was just one thing that bothered her.
That girl Anna always talked about herself as if she were greedy and selfish, yet she chose to take losses so naturally, every single time.
If someone was bleeding in front of her, she'd rush over without a moment's hesitation. Without even knowing what danger might be there.
On top of that, when she decided she had to give something up, she gave it up so cleanly it was almost unsettling.
After becoming a Saintess Candidate, the first man she'd ever felt any fondness for—Anna had seemed to give him up and push him away far too easily.
Someone she'd tried so hard to find ways to talk to.
"......."
It was the same now.
Seeing someone who'd come from beyond the Gate, someone whose identity hadn't even been properly confirmed, and trying to rush forward just because they were injured—what an idiot.
Chae-eun knew that the Saintess who had appeared over a decade ago had lived sacrificing herself for everyone. She knew that the Saintess had sacrificed herself to fight an enemy wreathed in Mana that no modern weapon could harm.
There was no guarantee that the same thing would happen just because a Saintess had appeared this time, but somehow, she had the feeling that if it were Anna, she would willingly do exactly that.
That was what bothered her.
Her father had never told her how her mother died, but Chae-eun had vaguely figured it out. She could already feel it in the way her father's old comrades treated her.
"Don't you dare step forward first."
Chae-eun looked hard at Anna as she spoke. It wouldn't have been strange to say she was glaring a little. Anna nodded, looking genuinely a bit frightened.
She felt a little sorry, but—it couldn't be helped.
Chae-eun had already seen many times how Anna thought and what drove her when she acted.
And, annoyingly enough.
Chae-eun also sympathized with the fact that Anna's thinking wasn't entirely wrong.
*
The person riddled with arrows had come from beyond the Gate, but the situation didn't stay unresolved for long.
The people on the other side didn't seem willing to push their bodies through the Gate. Maybe they'd never seen a Gate before. From what she'd heard, information about Gates was close to classified in that other world.
And the group on the other side of the Gate had apparently decided to use that as their opportunity.
"The Gate—!"
"Nobody cross it! You could get cut in half!"
The Hunters quickly pulled back.
The Gate was shrinking at a rapid pace.
No one on this side had tried to close it, so the ones closing it were clearly the people on the other side of the Gate.
And the ones who knew about the Gate's existence were the ones who had sent these two through.
It could only be the princess's close aides.
Whether out of loyalty, or because of some other ability the princess possessed, they chose to close the Gate to save the princess.
The moment I saw the Gate closing, I tried to run toward the people collapsed on the ground—
"Ria?"
Ria grabbed my arm.
And pulled me toward her.
Since I'd been just about to sprint forward, my body lurched and spun toward Ria.
Unable to catch my balance, I collapsed into Ria's arms. Something soft touched my face, and I was thrown into a panic.
I hastily pulled my body away, but my face was still incredibly close to Ria's.
"I told you never to rush in first."
"But—"
"......."
My words—that the Gate was gone now, so wasn't it fine—died in my throat at the look on Ria's face.
"......I'm sorry."
Right, it was my fault. Even if the Gate had vanished, there was no telling what danger might remain.
To put it bluntly, if those two had been sent through with bombs strapped to them, I could have gotten close and vanished without a trace. ......Though I only thought of that just now.
And if I acted like that, it might not be only me who ended up in danger. Once I realized that much, I felt the blood drain from my face.
"......As long as you understand."
When I hung my head low, Ria let go of my arm.
"For now, stay behind me until we've assessed the situation."
I obediently went and hid behind Ria's back.
After a while of murmuring voices—
"Sister Anna!"
I heard someone calling me.
When I looked at Ria, she nodded. The two of us ran over together. Since I was slower than Ria even at a full sprint anyway, the distance between us stayed reasonably steady.
Ria arrived first, and I arrived after her.
I quickly knelt in front of the two fallen people.
When I'd seen them earlier, I'd thought the one with the rotting skin was shorter, but now that I looked properly, their builds were similar. The one with arrows densely embedded in their back looked a few years older. Since they were Elves, I couldn't pinpoint their age exactly, but they were probably about five or six years older than me in this world.
The one with the rotting skin—I couldn't even roughly guess their age.
"Should we not pull out the arrows?"
As I heard those words, I reached out and checked both their pulses. The one hit by arrows was far worse off. A few minutes—no, if I wasted even a single minute, I might miss the critical treatment window.
Without the luxury of answering, I stretched out both hands.
As if understanding my urgency, the Being Above immediately poured Holy Power into me.
The wounds on the back healed over as new flesh pushed the arrowheads out. The blood already lost couldn't be helped, but at least the life-threatening wounds could be mended somehow.
And the person collapsed in front of them, as if cradling them, was the same.
The skin that had rotted black and festered slowly reversed, as if time itself were turning back, becoming fair and soft. Their age—hmm, maybe around mine.
It was a little surprising that their hair had barely fallen out. In that condition, keeping their hair must have just been luck. The skin at their extremities—fingers, toes—had been stained much darker, so perhaps the other side had made the decision before the rot reached those parts.
Around me, as always, I heard voices of admiration, which made me a bit uncomfortable.
And so, the two people's wounds slowly disappeared—and in particular, the appearance of the woman whose face had nearly rotted away returned.
She's pretty.
Maybe because I felt a little relieved, I ended up thinking that.
And then—
"Huh."
After seeing that face, I felt something strange.
Her appearance was excellent, as expected of an Elf, but—the beauty mark under her eye felt like something I'd seen before.
Come to think of it, I'd never been told what the princess looked like. Actually, whether I'd heard or not probably wouldn't have mattered much. Since we didn't know her original appearance, all we could do was treat her illness.
"......."
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
As I stared at that face, Ria asked.
I shook my head and thought.
Right, it couldn't be. Hmm. It wasn't.
Because that Elf heroine wasn't a 'princess.'
She did have an annoying amount of pride in her bloodline, as Elves tended to, but anyway.
"Ah."
My head went a little hazy. Not because of the Elf, but because I'd poured out too much power. The poison had been too potent, and the wounds of the person behind her had been too deep.
"Anna, that's enough."
Ria lightly gripped my shoulder from behind to support me as she spoke.
"It's okay now. You can stop."
"But......."
I hadn't even confirmed whether they were fully healed—
The moment I thought that,
"Mm."
The Elf lying in front of me made a sound.
And she slowly opened her eyes. Beyond her half-lidded gaze, I could see shining irises.
One was a pale sky-blue, like a clear lake.
The other was a shining green, like light passing through an emerald gemstone.
"......Ah."
It is her.
No matter how I thought about it, it was her. The heroine.
Right, I'd had a feeling it might be. I'd thought so from the start—
"Anna? Wait, Anna!"
My eyes slid shut.
So that's how it was.
Meaning there was a reason the Saintess had been competing with the other heroines at the start of the main story.
......Should I just leave the harem-building alone?
It doesn't seem to have anything to do with my will anyway.