The Helper Deploys!
The Saintess and the Saint of the Solari Church possessed a secret gift bestowed by the goddess herself—an ability no one else knew of. They called it the Eyes of Color.
It allowed them to see the karma people had accumulated, rendered as hue. The goddess had never told them to keep silent, but neither the Saint nor the Saintess had ever spoken of these eyes to a living soul. They had known it instinctively: people would find it burdensome, even repulsive, to have their pasts laid bare.
Besides, judging someone by the color they happened to wear at any given moment was a fool's errand. The hue shifted constantly with their actions, and if you didn't focus, you wouldn't see it at all. Under ordinary circumstances, it simply didn't matter.
But the silver-haired man who had come to her stood so far beyond ordinary that the word lost all meaning.
Good heavens. What on earth is this person?
Even when she tried not to look, a staggering mass of karma forced itself into view.
How does someone even accumulate karma like this...?
The colors of karma were simple and absolute. White for accumulated good. Black for accumulated evil. And yet people who possessed a single, unmixed color were vanishingly rare.
Usually it's gray—white and black swirled together.
That was the most common color you saw in people. The man who had come to her had it too. That much was fine. What stunned Ellie was the size.
Karma sat in the dantian. For an ordinary person, it was about the size of a finger. Someone who had carved their name into world history, or taken home a Nobel Prize, might have one the size of a fist. Even that was extraordinary.
A jar?
It stretched from below his chest all the way down past his knees—a colossal mass of karma the likes of which she had never seen in anyone, living or dead.
Is he even... human?
The thought flickered through Ellie's mind, but she shook her head and brushed it away. What did it matter if he wasn't human? The goddess herself had sent him. Even if no one else in the world believed, she had to.
"It's... big?"
The words slipped out of Ellie before she could stop them, and a chill gaze from the man settled on her. The cold of it made her shoulders hunch, and she spoke as if offering an excuse.
"Lady Solari told me."
"I've thought this for a while, but your goddess is a real character."
Speaking of a goddess that everyone else treated with reverence as if she were a neighborhood pal could easily have come off as arrogant. And yet Ellie felt, somehow, that the tone suited him. Seen through her eyes, the man standing before her carried a strange atmosphere in which even that irreverence seemed to belong.
An awkward silence stretched. As Ellie groped for something to say, the goddess's words surfaced in her mind.
"She said you should touch that."
"Alright."
The man didn't so much as question it. Radiating that same chill, he walked past her, laid a hand on the altar—and froze like a statue.
Why was he like this with her? No matter how far she searched her memory, Ellie had no recollection of ever meeting this man.
"Um... what on earth is going on?"
Hangil asked Ellie carefully from beside her. He had been certain that a Saint and a Saintess could not exist in the same era—but looking at the altar pouring out holy power, that conviction evaporated on the spot. And why had Oh Jaemin suddenly frozen solid over there?
I'm going to lose my mind.
Things far too big for a rookie Holy Warrior like Hangil to handle were unfolding one after another. He wanted nothing more than to erase this entire day. A murky storm cloud hung over him, and he felt a little like crying. No one could possibly blame him for how he felt right now.
"He's speaking with the goddess. He'll be back soon."
And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean? Sob.
How was this child so calm in a situation like this? No... not a child. The Saintess? Should he be on his knees right now?
Hangil's tangled thoughts hadn't even finished forming before Karen's closed eyes snapped open.
"How long was I out?"
"Huh? You just touched it and pulled your hand right back."
"Did I?"
"Um... are you alright?"
Ellie spoke as carefully as she could, trying not to sour his mood any further. Even after they had exchanged names and she knew he was called Karen, she could still feel that unreadable emotion aimed straight at her. The feelings were complicated, but they weren't hostility. If they had been, she would have recognized it instantly—she'd had more than enough practice.
"Then... should I call you Karen oppa?"
Watching the people in front of the temple, she had seen someone's face light up at those words. But an even more violent whirlwind of emotion erupted from Karen, and a cold bead of sweat rolled down Ellie's cheek. She had the distinct feeling she had just touched a dragon's reverse scale.
But the man named Karen closed his eyes, and the instant he opened them again, every emotion filling the room subsided at once.
Incredible...
What kind of person could master their own heart like that? Then he met her eyes and spoke in a voice that was, unmistakably, warmer than before.
"I'm sorry. This isn't your fault. It's a problem that comes from my own past. You haven't done anything wrong—not even a little."
She was used to being hated. It had been a constant in her life. But this was the first time anyone had ever spoken to her like this. And more than anything, the corners of Karen's mouth were lifted in a slightly awkward smile, as if he were trying to put her at ease.
"Ah..."
A small sound of wonder escaped Ellie's lips at this thing she had never experienced before. Something warm and ticklish stirred in her chest.
"Mister would be a better way to address me."
"Yes! Mister Karen!"
Ellie answered with bright energy, and Karen let out a short huff of a laugh as he pointed at Hangil.
"You're the nanny."
"Excuse me?"
What on earth was that supposed to mean? Hangil's mind went blank at Karen's sudden bombshell.
"Your Goddess Solari decided it. If you've got a problem, take it up with her in prayer."
In truth, Karen had just decided it himself. If he abandoned this guy here, the minimum he'd get was a dishonorable discharge. He was a bit of an airhead, but he was a good kid, and Karen had been the one to drag him this far. Might as well throw him a lifeline.
"Please, just explain. What do you mean by that? Goddess Solari said so?"
Hangil spoke in something close to a plea. His brain was screaming under the weight of everything that had happened today.
"Look at this."
Karen held out his right palm, and a mark bloomed into sharp relief: a red sun, crossed by two swords.
It couldn't be...
It was one of the emblems from the Book of Holy Law that Hangil had memorized from childhood straight through training camp. The office whose very name he had thought was the coolest from the first time he saw it. A title that had not appeared even once in the thirty years since the Church was founded.
The Church did have a position called Inquisitor. But no one dared use the words judgment and heresy. They stirred a deep, instinctive revulsion rooted in people's minds since the Middle Ages—and because the Book of Holy Law itself reserved those words for the Heresy Inquisitor.
The Heresy Inquisitor was not appointed by human hands. Like the Saint and the Saintess, the goddess herself chose them. It was an entirely independent office, with the authority to interrogate and punish anyone from the lowest priest and Holy Warrior all the way up to the Pope. Wasn't that too much power? The goddess decided it. Who in the Church would dare question that?
"H-how? But..."
A trick? Ridiculous. Had he painted that on with magic in that split second? Besides, after Karen opened his eyes and stepped away from the altar, the holy power that had filled the room was gone without a trace. There had to be a connection.
That's the real thing.
Every piece of the situation clicked into place. Which meant this girl was the genuine Saintess, and the man who had been Oh Jaemin was now Karen—and the Heresy Inquisitor.
"So? Are you going to do it or not?"
Hangil's head felt ready to explode from the complexity of it all, and then Karen sidled up and whispered to him. Hangil nodded, half on the verge of tears.
"With a joyful heart... of course I will."
How had it come to this? All because of this devilish—no. He was the Heresy Inquisitor now, so Hangil couldn't even curse him internally. That would be blasphemy.
"It's a good deal, though, right? I didn't even want this job, you know. Nanny to the Saintess—how great is that? Stay on her good side and you'll climb all the way to the top."
Being told that the goddess you believed in liked you should have been the highest praise imaginable... and yet, coming from this man named Karen, Hangil found it somehow unsettling.
Haa... You who love Your servants without end...
Hangil began reciting prayers and passages from the Book of Holy Law under his breath, trying to scrub away the negative feelings toward Karen. If he didn't, he was certain his mind would fill itself with blasphemous thoughts about none other than the Heresy Inquisitor.
"Anyway, we need to get out of here..."
While Hangil sank back into his own thoughts, Karen's brow furrowed as he looked at Ellie.
Ellie flinched again at that minute change in Karen's expression. She was a child painfully sensitive to other people's moods. It wasn't something she had been born with. An ability, maybe. No—it was closer to instinct.
In Ellie, Karen caught a faint glimpse of his former self. When he had first fallen into Belial, he had developed that same watchfulness just to survive. Take it further, and you ended up like Karen—able to sense hostility and killing intent with terrifying precision. Even as a figure of speech, it was a skill far too early for a child this young.
It stood in such stark contrast to Adela, who had grown up loved by everyone in Belial, without a single blemish on her.
"You've had it hard. You're far too thin."
The reason Karen's expression had crumpled was practical: they needed to escape, and in that condition she couldn't possibly run. There was no potion that could put weight and muscle on someone in a matter of minutes. There were stimulants, but the side effects were far too severe.
"Ah..."
Karen's offhand words sent a small ripple through Ellie's heart. It was a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time—not since the elderly Holy Warrior who used to stand before the temple.
"This is exactly why you need a nanny. Pick her up."
Karen said it with a glance at Hangil. He'd saved the guy, so Hangil could at least earn his keep.
"Saintess, may I carry you?"
Hangil asked Ellie for permission, looking awkward and hesitant.
"Of course."
Ellie smiled at him, hoping to put him even a little more at ease.
"Then I'll carry you."
Hangil scooped Ellie up, one arm under her legs and the other around her back. And then, suddenly, tears welled in his eyes.
"W-what's wrong? Am I too heavy?"
Ellie asked in flustered confusion at Hangil's sudden tears, and he shook his head hard in denial.
"You're far too light."
He sniffled. For a guy built like a bear, he sure cried a lot. The sight of it had left Karen faintly irritated for reasons he couldn't pin down, so he leaned in and whispered something in Hangil's ear guaranteed to dry those tears instantly.
"Time to desert."
"D-d-d-desert? Desert?!"
He'd noticed it earlier, but this guy had an outstanding reaction when you messed with him. Watching Hangil jump, Karen's eyes curved into wicked crescents.
"That's right. De. Sert."
A magic word that made you feel like you'd be thrown into a dark cell just for hearing it. At the second mention, Hangil's face went ashen.
"But... the two of you are the Saintess and the Heresy Inquisitor. Couldn't we just reveal who you are?"
"...Ellie. You're going to have to take good care of your nanny."
"It's alright. That could happen. He's still a new recruit, isn't he?"
"Even a little kid here gets it. And this guy's supposed to be a Holy Warrior..."
Strangely, Karen's look of pity and his words hurt less than Ellie's warm, gentle consolation. That cut deeper.
Kh-hhk...
Hangil wept inwardly. Being a Holy Warrior of the Solari Church was a profession that earned you respect wherever you went—and yet in front of the Saintess and the Heresy Inquisitor, he felt vanishingly small.
"You think they'd believe that? The girl they've had locked up as a witch until now is the Saintess you're holding."
"I believe it!"
Hangil declared it with force, but Karen looked at him with an even more pitying gaze.
"You believe it because you saw it yourself. The others won't even give us a chance to explain before they come at us. And their argument is more convincing anyway. The Saint is still alive, and now a Saintess has shown up."
"You're right... Why am I so stupid?"
"That can happen! I heard that everyone grows by learning. Please don't be too disappointed, Hangil! You may be like this now, but you'll become a wonderful Holy Warrior someday. I still have so much to learn too, so let's learn together!"
"Th...ank... you."
They were words the Saintess herself was offering with clenched fists and genuine sincerity—and yet Hangil's chest only ached more sharply.
"You... did you do that on purpose... never mind."
"Pardon?"
Ellie had verbally demolished Hangil so thoroughly that Karen's own remarks looked like a light tap. Karen checked to see if she was doing it on purpose, but the innocent face looking up at him settled the question.
Kids really are the scariest of all.
She was beating him with words that had not a shred of malice in them. A fist would have hurt less. And the vocabulary Ellie used was strangely adult, which made every blow land that much cleaner.
"But how do we get out? The personnel escorting the priests won't move anyway, but the Holy Warriors' security is airtight."
Hangil said it in a thoroughly deflated voice. His feelings aside, he was an insider—he ought to be at least a little useful. He laid out what he knew.
"Can't exactly kill them all..."
Ellie flinched at Karen's mutter. Seeing that, Karen decided once more that they would simply slip out unnoticed.
The Holy Warriors will be needed when an invasion comes—they'll have to fight and grow their numbers. Plenty of uses for them. And more than anything, I can't do that in front of a child.
Having settled on a plan, Karen operated his watch and sent a text to someone.
"I came with someone... no. With a certain spiritual beast."
Less than a minute after he sent the message to that spiritual beast, a reply arrived.
The letters on the screen somehow carried Samsaek's shriek so vividly it felt like it was ringing in his ears.