The Flat Saintess
The hero was said to have departed the Empire for the Holy Kingdom.
Yet even without using a portal, the hero—who should have arrived within a month—still had not shown up after two months had passed.
…
I'm a little annoyed.
If I hadn't heard any news at all, I would have already suspected that the Demon King had noticed the hero's appearance and sent assassins to attack him.
But apparently, he entered the Holy Kingdom without incident.
His first destination simply wasn't the Church—it was the Red Magic Tower located within the Holy Kingdom.
The Magic Towers.
Red, Blue, Green, White, Brown.
Groups of mages each specialized in one of the five mana attributes.
In this world, everyone is born with mana of one of those five attributes. Even if it isn't their specialized attribute, they can still use magic of other types, but mages naturally gravitate toward the school matching their innate affinity.
Mages of the same school gather together, compete with one another, and accumulate knowledge until they form the Magic Towers we know today.
Among them, the Red Magic Tower specializes in flame magic, drawing upon the mana of fire.
Its tower stands in plain view right here in Ramiel, the capital of the Holy Kingdom.
According to the rumors, the hero went there to recruit a mage as a companion.
But after reviewing the reports, it was obvious he had gone to flirt with a woman.
The so-called hero arrived roughly two weeks ahead of schedule and headed straight for the Red Magic Tower.
Then he spent the entire time chasing after a female mage.
Is he still trying to woo her even now?
Haah… According to the investigation, that mage has a rather passive personality and spent quite some time avoiding the hero who kept following her around.
Over those two weeks, various incidents occurred, and now the two of them are apparently getting along quite well.
In short, aside from the two weeks supposedly spent recruiting a companion, the hero has spent an entire month simply flirting.
Unable to tolerate it any longer, I went to see Grandfather.
"I've come to see His Holiness the Pope."
"Yes, Your Holiness. The Saintess has arrived!"
—Let her in.
"Yes! Saintess, please enter."
"May the Goddess's blessing be with you."
"I am grateful for your kindness."
After offering a simple blessing of good fortune to the knight who opened the door, I stepped into the familiar office. Grandfather was frowning as he dealt with documents, as though something was troubling him. I approached him.
"Your Holiness."
"Do as you please."
"…You already know what I'm going to say?"
"I told you the Pope's position wasn't won through chess."
"Haah… Grandfather, really."
Seeing him tell me to do as I wished without even hearing me out, I felt guilty for calling him "Your Holiness" out of spite when I normally never did. I reached out and began massaging his shoulders.
"Heh heh… It's impressive you've held out this long given your personality. No need to feel sorry. Just go."
"Thank you, Grandfather."
"Yes. You'll be back soon anyway, so we can finish the rest then."
"Understood. I'll be going, then."
Leaving Grandfather's office, I headed straight outside the Papal Palace—neither to my room nor the chapel.
My pride was wounded, but to reduce even a little of the suffering on the front lines where people were still fighting with everything they had, I decided to drag the missing hero back myself.
Before setting out to find him, I stopped by my room to check my attire, then placed the veil over my head and stepped out onto the road.
I could hear people whispering as they watched me pass.
'Come to think of it, the Saintess hasn't visited since the Hero arrived in the Holy Kingdom.'
'How pitiful. He must be the one the Goddess herself chose for her… The Saintess must be heartbroken.'
'First an orc priest, and now the Hero has stood her up. How does she have such terrible luck with men…'
—Crack.
I have to endure this.
I wanted nothing more than to correct their frivolous notion that saving the world was no different from some matchmaking scheme, but I knew full well that the archbishops and Grandfather had conspired to spread these rumors.
Even though I've said time and again that I have no interest in romance.
Perhaps because I lived so long as a man in my previous life, I don't even know whether I'm supposed to like men or women.
I once mustered the courage to ask the Goddess, but she only told me to do whatever I wanted, whether I liked men or women…
Since becoming this body, I've devoted myself entirely to study and training, so I've never really felt any sexual desire, nor do I have much interest in the matter. Yet the gazes around me are starting to feel burdensome.
By the way, an orc priest? I don't recall ever meeting such a strange existence… What could that be about?
Anyway, given the current situation, it seems they deliberately told me to stay put even though they knew I would spend my free time praying in the chapel—probably so they could paint me as desperately waiting for the hero.
Honestly, it's infuriating.
Still, as the Saintess, I can't go around throwing tantrums, so I calmed myself and headed toward the place where the hero was likely to be.
According to the reports, he should be near the fountain in the plaza around now.
* *
To achieve the first clear of Saint and Demon War Chronicles, I had run countless loops. Though this world required me to travel on foot rather than through a game interface, I used the shortcuts already etched into my memory and arrived at the Holy Kingdom in no time.
Normally, upon reaching the Holy Kingdom, the standard play was to visit the Church and recruit the Saintess—the most broken character in the game. But since I planned to focus on the pure love route with my favorite character, I changed my destination.
I was going to meet Millia, the flame mage who was my eternal favorite.
Of course, Saint and Demon War Chronicles was a roguelike, so recruiting companions depended heavily on luck. However, certain characters remained in fixed locations until specific story events progressed.
For example, the Imperial Princess, the Holy Kingdom's Saintess, and some of the mages affiliated with the Magic Towers.
They were guaranteed to appear at least once in predetermined spots during the early story. Only if you didn't recruit them on first meeting would they begin moving along random routes afterward.
I had already rejected the princess, and the Saintess would keep waiting until the moment I headed to the Church anyway, so I made my way to the Red Magic Tower without worry.
After arriving at the Red Magic Tower and asking to see the mage Millia, the gatekeeper glanced at my face before telling me to wait. Not long after, the tower entrance opened, and the woman I had been waiting for appeared.
It was a sight I could never forget.
She stood about 170 cm tall, with wavy reddish-brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her bright crimson eyes and gentle-looking face were adorable.
Her figure was the perfect balance—nothing excessive, nothing lacking—complete with the voluptuous D-cup chest listed in her profile. She wore a black noble-style suit accented with purple and a matching purple robe, with no exposure whatsoever.
It was my favorite character, exactly as I remembered her.
"Um… I heard you were looking for me…"
"Greetings, Mage."
"Yes… So… what brings you here…?"
Seeing her regard me with wary eyes due to her passive personality made my heart pound at the realization that my favorite character was standing before me, alive and moving.
Setting aside the worry that she might hear my heartbeat if I opened my mouth, I knew that if I stayed silent any longer, this guarded mage would surely flee. So I opened my mouth and flashed the ultimate hero smile I had practiced on the way to the Holy Kingdom.
"My name is Ian. I came because there is something I absolutely must tell you."
"…Could you… perhaps stay right there and speak?"
That was just like her. Any other mage would have invited a guest inside rather than come out themselves. But because she was so passive and wary, she couldn't bear having a stranger enter her personal space, so she had come out herself.
"Mage, would you not accompany me on a journey to save the world?"
"Hiek… You're crazy! Gatekeeper, throw him out!"
"…Mage?"
"I-I may look easy because of my personality… but I'm not stupid enough to fall for such a scam…!"
Ah, my nosebleed is about to burst.
Despite her passive nature, she overflowed with a sense of justice. She feared others yet always spoke her mind to the end. That gap—her shy demeanor toward strangers and the bright, proactive smile she showed only to those she trusted—was what made her so lovable.
The way she called me a scammer and begged the gatekeeper to chase me away was so cute I could hardly stand it.
Still, if things continued like this I might end up in prison, so I decided to borrow a little authority.
I took out the token I had received before leaving the Empire and carefully showed it to the gatekeeper.
"I am the Hero."
"Hup…!"
"Huh…?"
The gatekeeper, who had been glaring at me with sharp eyes, and Millia, whose wariness had been rising, both froze at the same time.
"The Hero summoned from the Empire this time. That is me."
"Hero…!"
"E-Eek…?"
"Shh. It would be troublesome if my identity became known, so please keep it a secret."
"Yes sir!"
"Hweeek…"
"Well then, Mage. Does this prove my proposal isn't a scam?"
"Yeees."
She looked so shocked by the unexpected truth that steam might start pouring from her head. I urged her for an answer while she stood there flustered.
"I-I need time to think, so please come back tomorrow!"
"Huh? Huh huh huh?"
Watching her rattle off those words like a machine gun before fleeing back into the tower, I could only let out a dumbfounded sound myself.
* *
After that, I recalled my memories of focusing solely on Millia and successfully clearing the pure love route. I managed to open her heart and recruit her as a companion without issue.
She had run away for a while after learning I was the Hero, which took some effort to resolve, but after a few incidents we grew close quickly, and I steadily raised her affection.
As I spent time with her and watched her adorable expressions, I began to wonder if there was any need to go on a journey to defeat an unbeatable Demon King. So I had simply stayed with her until now.
"Um, Ian."
"Yeah?"
I smiled at Millia as she called my name, still moved by the fact that I had opened her heart, succeeded in confessing a few days ago, and even become lovers.
"Shouldn't we set out on our journey now?"
"Journey?"
"Mm. I know you're staying because you're being considerate of me… but the longer we wait, the more people will suffer…"
She was right. It was probably time to leave.
"Yeah. We should depart soon. Still, since we're going on a journey, let's take some time to prepare carefully."
"Mm."
Just as I thought I had bought myself a few more days—
"How fortunate."
A cold voice came from right behind us.
Even though we were talking near the noisy fountain in the plaza, I hadn't sensed anyone approaching until they were right on top of us?
"At least you seem to have some awareness that you are the Hero."
When I turned toward the voice, a nun I had never seen before stood there.
She was about 160 cm tall—slightly short—with unusual light-green hair. Her eyes were closed in a smile, so I couldn't see her pupils, but she was a beauty who didn't lose to Emilia, the Imperial Princess, in the slightest.
Was there a character like this?
"Huk…!"
Her outfit was far more revealing than a typical nun's habit. From the veil on her head to her shoes, everything was white—an entirely different style. I was wondering if she was some kind of concept nun when Millia's reaction beside me caught my attention.
Come to think of it, even though she was walking around in such an outfit, the gazes around us held only familiarity and affection—no dark emotions like lust at all.
"S-Saintess!"
Saintess? Where was the Saintess?
I tried to recall the Saintess from the game.
She had been a little taller than the nun before me, with light-purple hair and green eyes, and a chest so large that the community had nicknamed her "Saintess Mama's Mercy Pouch."
Even her loose black habit couldn't hide that overwhelming volume. There was no way the Saintess wouldn't stand out.
Something was wrong.
"What are you looking for?"
When I started glancing around in search of the Saintess, the nun from earlier asked again.
Her eyes were closed—how did she know I was looking around?
"Oh, it's just… you mentioned the Saintess, so I was wondering where she was…"
"Hee…"
At my answer, she responded with a curious voice and opened her eyes while looking at me.
Her fully opened golden eyes bore a familiar pattern.
It was the cross-shaped Stigma symbolizing the Saintess—identical to the one Dorothy, the Saintess from my memories, had on the back of her left hand.
"Uh… uh uh uh?"
"A pleasure to meet you, Hero from another world. My name is Leila. Though unworthy, I hold the position of Saintess."
The Saintess—the character with the highest performance and the largest chest in the game—had been replaced by a completely new character with a flat chest.
"It seems you were having trouble finding the way to the Church, so I came to escort you personally."
It had been a game of brutal difficulty.
Still, since I had experience defeating the Demon King, I thought it would somehow be possible.
But now, that hope had shattered.
* *
The man calling himself the Hero, whom I had come to meet in person, seemed to be a rather hopeless sort.
His body appeared well-trained, yet every movement—from his gait to his gestures and the way he carried himself—was far removed from that of a trained human.
He must have been reconstructed upon summoning.
The type who would rely solely on the abilities given to him and never put in any effort.
And those eyes of his… Haah. I won't even comment.
Watching quietly, the mage he had recruited as a companion seemed far more promising.
From the look in her eyes, she had already fallen completely for this so-called hero. What a waste for someone like him.
But love is a personal freedom, so I decided not to interfere.
The mage was trying to persuade the hero, asking if people weren't suffering even while they rested.
Out of respect for her efforts, I decided to wait a little while for the hero to give his answer.
I had thought he would refuse outright, but he at least seemed to understand his duty and agreed to go. With a sigh, I stepped in.
"How fortunate."
I had expected him to stubbornly refuse.
"At least you seem to have some awareness that you are the Hero."
"Huk…! S-Saintess!"
The mage beside him and the people around us appeared to have recognized me.
It would have been stranger if they hadn't.
However.
The hero's reaction was strange.
He had reacted to the word "Saintess" the mage shouted, yet he began glancing around as though searching for someone else—as if the Saintess he knew was a different person.
The fact that he had arrived in half the expected time was already suspicious, and now he knew about the existence of the Magic Tower despite having just arrived in this world. My suspicions were growing.
"What are you looking for?"
"Oh, it's just… you mentioned the Saintess, so I was wondering where she was…"
"Hee…"
He looked absolutely certain that I could not possibly be the Saintess.
Finally, to turn my suspicion into certainty, I deliberately opened the eyes I had kept closed and looked at him.
"Uh… uh uh uh?"
"A pleasure to meet you, Hero from another world. My name is Leila. Though unworthy, I hold the position of Saintess."
The way his eyes widened in visible panic upon seeing mine confirmed it.
He knew things about this world.
And in considerable detail.
"It seems you were having trouble finding the way to the Church, so I came to escort you personally."
For now, since there were many people here, I would take him to the Church first and then conduct a proper investigation with more personnel.
To determine whether he was truly our ally.
This journey might turn out to be quite enjoyable after all.