Would You Kill Me?
The moment Evan spoke, silence fell over the area. The Saintess Iris neither affirmed nor denied his words. Instead, she sank to the ground with a somewhat hollow expression and looked up at him. Then, with a sigh, she opened her mouth.
"Can I take that as a yes?"
She nodded her head with complete honesty.
"How did you figure it out? This isn't sarcasm—I'm genuinely curious."
"The first time I started to suspect was right after Iris... no, after that child instantly restored the divinity stored inside the Holy Spear."
"...Just call her Iris. To you, that child is the real one."
"Fine."
Evan accepted the Saintess's consideration and continued his story.
"I was curious just how much divinity she was carrying in her body to make something like that possible. That night, while I was drawing her blood, I tried to measure the total amount of divinity inside her."
The result had been utterly shocking.
"There was no bottom in sight. It was completely beyond my ability to gauge."
"I am pretty impressive, aren't I? Even the Saintesses exaggerated in the history books don't reach my level."
"Yeah. If I hadn't felt it myself, I wouldn't have believed it either. The word 'infinite' felt appropriate."
"Well, it's not actually infinite. It's about twenty times the amount in the Holy Spear. Though the spear itself holds relatively little divinity for a holy relic."
The Saintess shrugged as if granting him a favor by sharing the information. Even though Evan knew the topic was drifting, he couldn't hold back his objection.
"You call that little?"
Simply releasing it had been enough to pierce a breath attack and vaporize a dragon's skull. To call that amount of divinity 'little' was absurd. Yet the Saintess spoke as if it were obvious.
"It's the newest among the relics. At most, a hundred years old? The Holy Sword, which has the next shortest history, holds three times as much."
"That's... another piece of ridiculous information."
"So? What was the problem with the amount of my divinity?"
"Even after drawing her blood myself and checking it up close, I still couldn't properly measure it. So how could the one who cast the curse have known?"
The quantity of mana or divinity didn't prevent a curse from being cast, but failing to accurately gauge that quantity would immediately trigger a rebound.
"That's why I thought someone high-ranking from the Holy Kingdom must have been involved. Whether it was active betrayal or someone carelessly leaking information."
Even so, he hadn't seriously considered that the Saintess had cursed herself. It was merely one possibility he'd kept in mind. Logically, the odds of a traitor were far higher. There was also a non-zero chance that someone among the Demon King's forces had a far superior ability to measure power than Evan did.
"My suspicion turned into certainty after speaking with you."
-All those shamans are the same, aren't they?
-That couldn't possibly work, could it? And even if it could, shouldn't it be something you mustn't do?
Her words sounded like she'd met shamans other than Evan. And her analysis of 'returning the price paid as a sacrifice' was something that could only come from a deep understanding of curses.
"Saintess, to put it simply, you gave away far too many hints that you knew."
"Ah, so that's why..."
The Saintess nodded as if she finally understood.
"The decisive moment must have been when I pretended it was a curse and tried to return it to my own body, right?"
"Exactly. No sane person would do something like that."
Unless they had wanted it themselves.
"Yeah. Well, if I've been caught, there's nothing to be done."
"Are you giving up?"
"No."
The Saintess answered with a chilling coldness, as if she would never accept that particular choice.
"Evan, I want you to just leave me alone."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to go back. I want to escape that place and live simply as Iris."
It was the wish of one person, not the Saintess.
"But as the Saintess, I cannot do that. I must shoulder everyone's deaths. I must repay the Heavenly Mother's love."
The Saintess laughed emptily.
"Who asked to be loved? I was just an orphan who followed priests around because I didn't want to starve. I never wanted to become a Saintess, nor did I have any desire for it."
As if making a confession, she poured out her words without stopping.
"Then suddenly some high and mighty person came from above and declared that I was the Saintess. I didn't know what a Saintess even was. I didn't understand why these people were kneeling before me. I simply followed them because it meant I wouldn't have to go hungry anymore."
"......"
"I should have bitten my tongue back then."
Then I could have died— the Saintess murmured with desperate longing, as if she truly wished for it.
"Evan, do you know? I can't even die. Because of that damned curse. Even if I close my eyes and pretend not to see on the battlefield, even if I secretly drink nearly ten times the lethal dose of poison, I still won't die."
A prayer that reacted to external threats and protected her. The Saintess referred to it as a 'curse.'
"The curse I placed on myself was the first prayer I ever offered to the heavens. Please let me stop running. I don't want to do this anymore. ...Don't you feel sorry for me?"
"Are you hoping for my pity?"
"Yes. Even if I have to buy your pity, I want to run away. Evan, won't you look at me? Make this pitiful Saintess disappear from the world. You're that child's friend, aren't you?"
Evan looked at the Saintess. He understood her situation. He could even... sympathize with it. After all, he too had run away from the world and settled in this sunless Abaddon.
But.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."
"...Why not?"
"Because I have a goal I must achieve."
Crack—!
The moment the negotiation broke down, the prison of sorcery that had confined the Saintess shook violently and shattered.
She said the total amount of divinity was twenty times that of the Holy Spear.
It was Evan's honest desire to avoid fighting if possible.
"If all the curses are lifted, that child will disappear."
"I know."
"Is your goal more important than that child?"
Evan let out a sigh and glared at the Saintess.
"If I told you there was a way for me to separate Iris and save her, wouldn't you cooperate with me?"
The Saintess froze.
"Don't cloud the issue by pretending to care about Iris, Saintess. You've already pushed her into that hell because you wanted to make things easier for yourself."
Evan picked up the Saintess doll that carried the transferred curse and threw it at her feet.
"Tear it apart. Then the curse will return to your body."
"Didn't you just refuse a moment ago?"
"I did refuse. But if I fight you here, the losses would be too great."
Besides, since the curse would escape the moment the doll was torn, he couldn't fight while protecting it.
The Saintess hesitated as she picked up the doll that seemed to have been deformed to resemble her. A sewing doll with pink yarn for hair and blue buttons for eyes. However, instead of tearing it immediately, she asked with trembling eyes.
"Is there really a way to pull that child out of me?"
"What if there is?"
"...Could I be pulled out too? From this tiresome Saintess body?"
"Why should I?"
The Saintess smiled bitterly.
"Through that child's eyes, you looked incredibly kind. But the you I meet in person is cold beyond measure."
"Why don't you think about what you've done?"
"I suppose that's fair."
She stroked the doll hesitantly.
"Who made this?"
"I did."
He could have left it to Kaede or Natalia, but to make the doll resemble the previous Saintess's atmosphere as closely as possible from the production stage, he had no choice but to do it himself.
"You don't have much talent for this. This is supposed to be me?"
"Since you're going to tear it apart anyway, isn't it better that it doesn't look like you?"
The Saintess stared at the doll for a moment before burying her face in it.
"It smells like blood."
"I used cotton soaked in your blood."
"It's dirty."
"It was clean until a moment ago. It's because you rolled around on dirty ground."
"It's ugly."
"...What exactly are you trying to say, Saintess?"
The Saintess lifted her face from the doll and spoke.
"It's the worst gift you could give a woman."
"Aren't you going to tear it?"
"If I tear it, you'll just come back better prepared next time, won't you?"
...She was right.
"While the curse is exerting its full power, I cannot come out. Even if I watch what you prepare, I won't be able to stop it."
"So you're saying you'll endure in that state and try to interfere with me?"
"I did consider it... but I decided against it. I don't think I can win against you."
The Saintess smiled as she looked at Evan. It wasn't the bright, innocent smile like Iris's. It was a bitter, worn-out smile that carried the traces of hardship and suffering.
"I'm not pure enough to become friends with you like that child, and I don't see any chance of winning if I become your enemy... so let's make a deal, Evan."
"What kind of deal?"
"You said you needed the holy relics. I'll actively help you obtain them. I can do things that child cannot. Though it didn't work on you..."
The Saintess's smile changed. It became a benevolent, warm smile.
"Acting, I'm quite confident in. I've stood before people as a Saintess my entire life."
"And what do you want in return?"
"Once all the curses are lifted, and if I end up heading back to the battlefield..."
Without erasing her benevolent smile, the Saintess looked at Evan with eyes full of trust.
-You could do it, couldn't you?
That was what the Saintess was asking with her eyes.