Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 57
Inside the grand hall where Mira had collapsed dead.
A silence swept through the space, somehow leaving everyone feeling utterly hollow.
Melburn had dispelled his spiritization, so this bizarre wind couldn't have been his doing either.
Judith's expression shifted from emptiness to growing seriousness.
It had to.
The Curse of Gal ending after just a single sneeze was blatantly beyond common sense.
Simply because Versia's divine power far surpassed the norm?
Or, as she claimed, because it wasn't the Curse of Gal but a curse of the common cold?
No way that could be true.
The latter wasn't even worth debating, and as for the former...
'The curse that destroyed the Holy Kingdom.'
In the past, back when saintesses ruled this land as queens and high priestesses, only one was born per generation.
And unlike today's saintesses, those wielded the full authority of divine power.
Even the last queen, hailed as their pinnacle, had fallen to it. That was the Curse of Gal.
A curse that shook the human soul, crumbling emotions themselves.
A curse that tested humanity itself, unbound by any correlation to divine power.
Her lips twitched.
Judith felt a twinge of small fearand a vast curiositytoward this inexplicable phenomenon.
Her scholarly instincts were stirring to life.
With her lips curving dangerously upward, she opened her mouth to speak.
That was the moment.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be..."
"Let's get out of here first."
"...What?"
It was Asher.
He looked utterly drained as he pointed at the ceiling.
Rumble...!
The grand hall was starting to collapse.
Judith clicked her tongue.
"...Fine. Let's head out and talk later."
With that, Judith turned away.
She looked thoroughly displeased.
* * *
The war in the western archipelago had ended in a disappointingly anticlimactic fashion.
About four hours after breaching the shores, and the actual combat time hadn't even been that longwhich was what sparked such sentiments.
But it hadn't been an easy war by any means.
"Urgh... ugh..."
"Mercy...!"
All wars were brutal.
There had been no small number of deaths, and the wounded were double that.
Above all, the merfolk. They were the problem.
After handling the war's aftermath, they had hoped to restore them to human form, but it was ruled impossible.
"Restoration isn't possible."
Haka had been reverted through surgery and exorcism before the curse fully invaded her body.
But these merfolk were different.
Judith, who had overseen Haka's surgery, had confirmed it, leaving the eastern and southern pirates with only one option.
"We prayed for them to find a good place in the afterlife. Who knows how far this 'God' fellow will go."
Ryker said it with a bitter edge.
Ferrick stood beside him, and before them lay the grave of Gon, slain by their own hands.
It was the edge of a cliff overlooking a fine stretch of the archipelago's sea.
"He committed the worst sin out of sheer greed, but he was our comrade. This much should be fine, right?"
Asher watched their backs.
There was pity there, and a touch of sympathy.
It welled up from the tragedy of how it had all ended.
Asher bowed his head briefly in response.
"...Yes. The Parent God will surely forgive him. He's merciful, after all."
"You saying that because you're a priest?"
At that, Asher gave a wry smile.
They had learned of his affiliation during the recent battle.
It was a truth bound to come out eventually.
The only regret was that he hadn't been the one to tell them himself.
Asher spoke with sincerity.
"I'm sorry for deceiving you. Yes, I am indeed affiliated with the Church."
"And your connection to Kyle? That a lie too?"
"Not that. I was raised by his hand, and I did witness his final moments."
A brief silence fell then.
Ryker looked up at the sky.
He let out a thoughtful hum, lost in contemplation.
In the end, he laughed hollowly.
"What a ridiculously clear day. Perfect for setting sail."
It was a dismissal.
But there was no resentment or sense of betrayal.
This was purely his consideration.
After all, Asher had risen to an unassailable position in the archipelago through this war.
If he stayed, the other pirates might try to seize him or lash out in vengeful fury.
To avoid that, slipping away now was best.
Still, what came next weighed on Asher's mind.
"What will you do now?"
There was no new king for the archipelago as they had hoped.
Only the wounds of this humiliating war remained.
Even if they healed, history would repeat itself.
The islands would keep fighting.
On that note, Asher had something to say.
"Can I say just one thing before I go?"
"If it's advice, save it. You're a holy man now. Don't get more involved with rough types like us."
"What if it's a dying wish?"
At that, they whipped around.
Their shocked faces suggested they thought he meant suicide.
Asher cleared up the misunderstanding.
And instead, he shared what they truly longed to hear.
"Kyle had a message for you."
"Kyle..."
"That bastard...?"
Asher's lips moved.
It was one of the dying words Kyle had left him long ago.
"Don't get tied down. To survive, keep moving forward. Sure, the world's waves will shake you endlessly. But listenespecially then, don't forget. Remember this: the moment you decide to press on, those shaking waves become allies pushing you from behind."
Kyle loved his metaphors, so it had taken Asher ages to grasp the meaning.
But looking back now, wasn't it obvious?
It was his way of offering comfort: forget the departed and strive for happiness.
To Asher's eyes, Ryker and Ferrick seemed to understand it better than he did.
They'd spent long years with Kyle, and the sea was their familiar domain.
What Asher wished for themand for Haka, still bedriddenwas simple.
To live unbound by Kyle, facing tomorrow just as he had wanted for those left behind.
No more words were needed.
Asher bowed his head and turned away. He buried Kyle, whom he'd kept in his heart, here once more.
Because he believed that was truly what Kyle had wished for him.
* * *
They departed the archipelago.
With all matters settled, the Church had no reason to linger.
Truth be told, even charitably speaking, they were pirates who had harmed the nation, so punishment was possiblebut strictly, that wasn't the Church's affair.
The Church dealt with resistance against the world's disrupting chaos.
Local squabbles like this were part of the natural order, so they did no more.
Out to sea, then back toward land.
Asher gazed back at the islands for a good long while, until Versia approached.
"You okay?"
Her voice and expression brimmed with worry.
Asher chuckled and replied.
"Ah, yeah. The archipelago's remaining issues are theirs to handle, so there's nothing I can"
"No, not that. The curse."
"Eh?"
"It's the Curse of Gal, right? What if there are aftereffects?"
Versia, drawing near, took hold of Asher's hand.
A faint tremble passed through.
Asher knew it now.
No matter how tough she acted, Versia was soft-hearted at her core.
She fretted endlessly and grew anxious easily.
She feared the uncertain, avoiding or ignoring it.
When she couldn't, she crumbled.
Truly pitiable, fragile soul.
So there was no disappointment.
Even as she was, Versia remained the one Asher wanted to protect.
He squeezed her hand tight.
Reassuring words followed.
"I'm fine. Nothing's happened these past few days since we left, right?"
"Well..."
"The curse must have failed. Curses are dark arts that lose potency without a clear target. The witch aimed hers at you, the saintess. But I was the one who took the hit. That's where things likely went wrong."
He wasn't just saying itAsher truly believed so.
Perhaps the Parent God's design.
"More importantly, can you keep Judith off me? Lately, she keeps trying to feed me suspicious potions whenever she sees me..."
He smiled awkwardly, and only then did Versia seem to relax a bit.
"...Must've looked that intriguing. Yeah, even I'd be curious if someone shrugged off the Curse of Gal unscathed."
"I'm running out of excuses to refuse."
"I'll handle it somehow."
As she answered, Versia slyly toyed with his fingers.
The more she rubbed, the quicker her trembling faded.
Did this chase away her anxiety?
Her growing focus on it somehow looked adorable.
Asher felt a needless pang of guilt at the thought, then brushed it aside.
'It's just in my head.'
That was fine.
The moment he wrapped up the thought, Versia asked.
"So, you're really okay? Nothing different from usual?"
The question gave him a start.
Versia's movements halted too.
Her suspicions flaring again, no doubt.
But this was truly trivial.
Asher's face flushed.
To dispel the misunderstanding, steeling himself through the embarrassment, he leaned in and whispered.
"My... period came a bit early."
Four days ahead of schedule.
If that counted as Gal's influence, maybe.
Asher's gaze dropped. His ears burned red.
He couldn't meet her eyes straight on.
Her response was just that.
"...Phew."
A sighrelief or exasperation, he had no desire to probe.
