The Saintess's Stigma
I let out a long, weary sigh as I splashed water on my dry face. A Saintess…! Me, of all people, a Saintess…!
I lifted my head and stared into the mirror. My cheeks were puffed out in a pout. The beautiful face reflected there wore an expression full of discontent.
“This is ridiculous…”
Standing in front of the mirror, I lifted the hem of my nun’s habit all the way up to my navel. There, on my lower abdomen, was a vivid crimson pattern. It looked like a butterfly spreading its wings.
“This thing… is a Stigma…?”
I might be struck down by divine punishment for saying this, but no matter how I looked at it, the mark resembled the obscene tattoos found on succubi. Sure, the fine details were different, but the fact that it was located in an embarrassingly private place was exactly the same.
The position where a Stigma manifested wasn’t fixed. Some people got it on their collarbone. Others on their back. As far as I knew, Saintess Alice had hers on the back of her hand. So why on earth did mine have to…?
Just being branded as the Saintess was already humiliating enough. Now even the location of the Stigma seemed to be mocking me.
“Haa…”
I kept sighing heavily as I flopped down onto the bed. It was noisy outside. The Grand Cathedral was in a festive mood. That made sense. A new Saintess had been born, after all.
The Pope had been overjoyed the moment he heard that my Stigma had manifested. When he made me reveal it in front of a crowd, I thought I would die of embarrassment. Ugh… what a life.
Just remembering that moment made curses bubble up in my throat. The instant my identity as the Saintess was confirmed, I was showered with the most luxurious treatment. They drew me a grand bath filled with floating flower petals. Having nuns on both sides scrubbing my body with foam was embarrassing, but since I’d bathed with the sisters at the convent since childhood, the shame only lasted a moment. Above all, the shoulder massage felt amazing.
After the bath came a lavish banquet. It had been so long since I’d filled my stomach with meat until it was about to burst. Even though I ate a lot by normal standards, I barely finished one plate of steak. Back when I was on the battlefield, I used to devour an entire wild boar by myself.
After the meal, I was escorted to my bedroom. Not a guest room, but the Saintess’s personal chambers, filled with traces of every Saintess who had come before me. I tossed and turned. The plush softness of the bed felt like it was trying to swallow me whole.
“…Now what?”
I’d been avoiding it, but it was time to face reality. I’d hoped against hope, but in the end, it really happened. I didn’t have to perform the duties of a Saintess right away. I had only received the title for now. The real work would come after I received proper education as the Saintess.
If things continued like this… would I be entering the Academy? Considering the timing, it seemed likely. One to two months from now. Once winter passed and spring arrived, the Academy would begin a new semester. Whether by coincidence or fate, my age was exactly right for enrolling as a first-year.
“If I enroll… will it be in the Theology Department?”
Studying the holy scriptures. Learning the word of God. A place that was essentially the same as spending hours every single day in prayer. They wanted me to go there? They had to be crazy. Absolutely insane. It would be nothing short of torture.
I had grown somewhat used to attending services, but the boredom and drowsiness that came with them remained unchanged. And just what was the Heavenly God thinking, choosing someone like me as the Saintess? No matter how much I thought about it, it made no sense. I almost felt like asking Him directly.
…Could I even do that? I was the Saintess now. I was called the daughter of the Heavenly God.
I sat up and assumed a proper meditative posture on the bed. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but since I was the Saintess, maybe it would. I brought my hands together over my chest.
“O Heavenly God…”
I offered a prayer to the Heavenly God. My chest simply filled with Holy Power. In the end, I could not hear the voice of God. It seemed that speaking to Him was one-sided at best. Tsk…
“I should go for a walk.”
I opened the window and hopped out with a light bounce. Right before hitting the ground, I used Mana to land softly. I had chosen to exit through the window because there were escort knights standing guard in front of the bedroom door.
I wandered freely around the Grand Cathedral. If I wanted to run away, I could do so whenever I wished. I didn’t think those guards could stop me even if they tried. I had half given up already.
There were several reasons. First, the fact that I had been confirmed as the Saintess. A Stigma only manifested when its previous owner disappeared. In other words, when the former Saintess died, the next one would receive the Stigma. So whether I liked it or not, because of this thing on my lower abdomen, I was now the Saintess.
“Hah… haha…”
The second reason was that the Holy Kingdom would never let me go quietly. If I ran, I would have to live as a fugitive until I raised the white flag. They would follow me no matter where I went and find me no matter how well I hid. The Saintess was important to the Holy Kingdom. She was the symbol of the Heavenly God’s faith, the power of the Papal Court, and the bridge connecting the Empire and the Holy Kingdom. There was no way they would leave such an existence alone…
Living as a Saintess was the last thing I wanted. It was a position that came with all kinds of responsibilities. I had grown sick of it during my time as the Sword Saint. If it were just me fighting alone, that would be one thing. But once you stepped onto the battlefield as a commander, you became responsible for the lives of hundreds, even thousands. Being a Saintess wouldn’t be any different. It would probably be even worse. While I might not be directly responsible for lives, when you considered the entire Heavenly God’s faith, the number was staggering. After all, I would stand near the very top of both the Holy Kingdom and the Empire, where the Heavenly God’s faith was the state religion.
…But would denying it change anything? Of course not. It might be easier on my heart to just accept it.
What I had wanted was to train my swordsmanship to my heart’s content and roam the battlefields freely. Still… being a Saintess didn’t mean I couldn’t walk the path of a swordsman. There would just be a few restrictions, that was all.
“Even so… a Saintess, of all things…”
I had never dreamed of it. Never even imagined it. It was all too sudden.
I had been walking around the Grand Cathedral for quite some time when a voice called out.
“What are you doing here?”
I turned around. Louis stood there with a sly grin. He was pretending it was a coincidence, but I had known he was secretly following me from a distance for a while now.
“Taking a walk.”
“Alone?”
“Is that not allowed?”
“There’s no rule against it.”
Of course there was. A Saintess sneaking out of her bedroom for a walk in the middle of the night? If the cardinals or the holy knights found out, the escort knights standing guard would be disciplined for negligence.
Louis came to stand beside me and began walking along.
“So you’re the Saintess now, huh?”
“I feel like running away immediately.”
“You hate it that much?”
“Yes.”
Louis let out a chuckle. “Honestly, it feels like such a waste for someone with your swordsmanship skills to be stuck as a Saintess.”
“And conversely, it’s a waste for someone with your Holy Power to be a knight.”
“Tsk…”
I shot him a sharp glare. I couldn’t argue because he was right. The guy who had never once talked back to me was now doing exactly that.
“It’s not like being a Saintess means you can’t be a swordsman, right?”
I let out a deep sigh. “I know. That’s why I was trying to sort out my feelings just now.”
“Ah. So I ended up interrupting you?”
“You’re very aware of it.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
Louis waved his hand apologetically and shut his mouth. Silence fell. In the quiet of winter, the soft crunch of our footsteps settled gently.
“Now that I think about it, the Hero’s master was you, right? The one you mentioned before—Adrean van Rycard?”
“That’s right. He was a very strict man.”
Me? I was strict? Hah, I always taught the sword with love.
“The moment physical training ended, he’d demand we start sword training without any rest. Sometimes he’d barge into my bedroom in the middle of the night and demand a spar. And one day I woke up and found myself inside a dungeon. He just handed me a single sword and told me to survive.”
I remembered it all. I had discovered the boy’s talent and, delighted, put him through all sorts of training.
“Sometimes I’d come back from the dungeon only to wake up in another one the very next day. Seriously… that was the first time I ever cursed at my master. Called him a damned old geezer.”
Huh? This brat… he badmouthed me behind my back?
I clearly remembered the conversation.
‘I’ll give you a chance. Say anything you want to me today. I’ll accept any curse or insult.’
‘How could I possibly curse at you, Master?’
‘Just do it.’
‘There’s nothing to curse about. I won’t.’
I remembered it perfectly. Still… I didn’t feel the slightest bit hurt. I simply smiled as I recalled the past.
“Even so… it was fun. And thanks to that, I was able to grow into who I am today.”
“…”
“If it weren’t for Master, I would have lived a life of dirty work.”
Our first meeting had been when I was cleaning up the underworld after the daughter of Count Dalpord was kidnapped. This guy had boldly charged at me with a sword. I recognized his talent then and took him in. I taught him the sword, he became the Hero, and here we were.
“He was a good man… yes, a truly good man.”
Louis gently stroked the sword at his waist.
“Speaking of which.”
Louis stopped walking.
“Please get along well with my disciple.”
“Your disciple?”
“He’s the next Hero who will follow in my footsteps. He’s still clumsy right now… but I’m certain he’ll become a Hero who surpasses even me. After he graduates from the Academy, he’ll form a Hero’s party and head for the Demon King.”
Louis smiled softly. Ah. Like master, like disciple, I suppose?
‘Please take good care of my disciple, Saintess.’
I had once said those words to Saintess Alice. It was when Louis had suffered a serious injury and was hospitalized in the temple. Since I couldn’t always be by his side to protect him, I had asked the Saintess to look after him in preparation for the day I would eventually leave this world.
Thank you, Saintess.
Perhaps my words were what led her to sacrifice herself. But even without my request, she probably would have made the same choice. She would have given her life to save the Hero.
Still, I’m sorry, and thank you.
I offered a silent prayer of gratitude to Saintess Alice in my heart.
“So I have one request. No—please allow me to make one request.”
Louis bowed his head respectfully.
“Please take good care of my disciple, Saintess.”
What had Saintess Alice answered back then?
“Yes!”
She had answered with a bright smile. That was enough. That single word had been enough.