To the Ends of the Earth
He commanded Saula that Paola should remain in the Orias church with Barnabas. When a believer approached and asked, "Apostle, why do you insist on the crown of thorns and the maid's garb?" Paola replied, "This crown is my penance for the sins I committed in the days when I could not awaken. This garb is the mark that I am the Lord's servant."
The believer pressed further. "Did not the Lord forgive the apostle's sins?"
Paola answered, "Our merciful Lord has forgiven all sins. Yet the reason I cling to this crown and garb is..."
"Thank you, my Lord. With the power of the Holy Spirit, you have saved me from Chaos. I dared to try to harm you, yet you saved me. How gracious this is."
Holy Spirit? What's that? I don't know. Sounds scary.
Why did she awaken on her own like that?
"My Lord, I am merely your servant. Command me. I will follow all orders."
"Command?"
What command? She'll obey whatever I say?
"Yes, my Lord."
Even if she says that...
I hadn't shown her all her memories through the Memorial Orgel earlier.
In fact, there were far more memories I hadn't shown her—especially the scene etched not just in my mind, but in the heads of every Deus ex Machina gamer.
The moment Saula obliterated Azothal, the mad evil god who held one-third of the Three Evil Gods of Chaos.
In the finale of Deus ex Machina's first part, Saula had been forged by the gods of Chaos into the continent's strongest being.
Convinced she would never escape their control, the Three Evil Gods bestowed a portion of their authority upon her.
So that with this power, she could shatter the continent and fulfill their desires.
But during the "forging," Saula realized she was being manipulated by the evil gods of Chaos. She hid this realization from them and bided her time.
She had escaped their control, but she was already too corrupted to awaken as she had now.
That very corruption allowed her to deceive Chaos.
Once she received their authority and grew strong enough, deeming the moment ripe, Saula ambushed Azothal from behind as it descended to the earthly plane in the final battle. She shattered its divinity completely.
It was a shocking scene: Saula, whose entire life had been puppeteered by the evil gods, annihilating one in turn.
Back then, Deus ex Machina was so popular that Saula even trended on internet search rankings... Good times.
Anyway, Saula had tricked and killed one of the final bosses of the entire Deus ex Machina storyline. How could I trust her not to do the same to me later?
The scenes I'd shown her were only those proving she was unknowingly manipulated by Chaos's evil gods.
Not a single one portrayed me in a positive light.
Yet she vowed to follow and serve me.
...Why?
Was it because of the awakening just moments ago?
In truth, she'd awakened by breaking free of Chaos's control—but if she mistook it for my doing and felt gratitude toward me?
...If that's the case, it's definitely not good.
She says she'll serve me now, but if she realizes I wasn't the one who awakened her, there's no guarantee she won't pierce my heart like Azothal's and erase me.
And unlike a deity, I'm not that strong—I'd be done in one shot.
Dangerous.
I need to distance her from me somehow.
But how?
I need a pretext.
If I use a flimsy one and she catches on that I'm trying to push her away, she might dig deeper, uncover I didn't awaken her, and kill me.
What could work?
A surefire way to send her packing...
...Ugh.
Nothing good comes to mind.
If I stay silent too long, she'll think it's weird.
"Will you truly obey my words, Saula?"
"Yes, my Lord. If you command it, I will go to the ends of this continent and see it done."
The ends of the continent?
Perfect. That'll do it.
"Very well. Then go to Orias, Saula."
"Orias...? You mean the capital of the Nova Empire?"
The Nova Empire, far from the Kallandra Empire.
Its capital.
Even for Saula, it would take a long time to get there.
"Yes, Saula. In Orias, one prepared for you awaits."
By the time she arrives, years will have passed.
Plenty of time to raise Deus ex Machina's main characters to deal with her.
"Understood, my Lord. I obey your command."
Saula bowed her head, kneeling before me.
...Deceiving her like this feels off somehow.
Saula, denied a normal life by Chaos.
Abandoned by her parents, lost her adoptive ones, became the continent's public enemy, hunted and imprisoned for centuries.
Even after breaking free of Chaos, her desire to serve someone shows she's no ordinary soul.
And here I am, tricking her into going to some far-off land...
This feels too cruel.
...Still. At least this.
"Saula."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Take this."
"What is this...?"
I pulled an artifact from my spatial pocket and handed it to her.
"Trials await you."
Someone like her, with such an abnormal life, won't adapt easily to the world. She'll face hardships.
"I am prepared, my Lord."
"...Right. ...Now go."
In Deus ex Machina, even after part one ended, she never found happiness.
I hope she finds the peace she never had, even now.
Years ago, I awakened to my Gift.
When I first realized I had a Gift, I was over the moon.
Me, with no talent for martial arts or magic, awakening a Gift!
Now I could adventure alongside Deus ex Machina's main characters!
But soon I noticed something off about my Gift.
The phrase imprinted in my mind upon awakening: "Savior who works miracles based on gathered divinity."
Even by Deus ex Machina standards, where Gifts were wildly unique, this was a first.
Gathered divinity?
Conditional Gifts aren't rare—in fact, most have some trigger.
But divinity? The resource only divine beings can wield?
No way I had any of that.
The follow-up did appeal, though: "miracles."
In the Deus ex Machina world, miracles were acts only transcendent beings could perform—beyond any mortal's reach.
A Gift that could work miracles? Amazing, if I could use it.
But I had no divinity, not even a scrap of mana.
After months of research, I realized I could manifest my Gift.
"Young master... what just happened...?"
"Hanna... tell no one of this."
I'd worked a miracle.
One that completely healed a knight's permanent injury from trying to save me.
I could use it several more times after, whenever I wished.
Though the miracles didn't always align perfectly with my desires.
So I formed a hypothesis.
My body lacked divinity, but I could still manifest the Gift.
Could the divinity born from faith in the book I wrote—faith from the Christos—count for my Gift?
If so, this Gift might be more incredible than I thought.
But since the cost was "gathered divinity," usage was limited, and the miracle's power scaled with it.
I couldn't abuse it recklessly, especially since the miracles acted on their own whims, beyond my full control.
This Gift alone wasn't enough to dive into Deus ex Machina's main story.
So I kept collecting artifacts and fortuitous encounters scattered across the continent, as I'd done before awakening.
That's my real mainstay, honestly.
But before even reaching the academy, I'd already deviated from the original story by encountering Saula and burning through my Gift and some artifacts.
Now I'd have to expend recovery artifacts to save the knights and soldiers.
Time for major plan revisions.
I never expected everything to go perfectly, but...
This is veering way off course. Now even Saula's a factor.
...This'll be fine, right? No massive butterfly effects rewriting the future?
A maid with silver-white hair dashed through the forest.
"The Lord has commanded it. Preach his word to the ends of the earth. First, Orias. I shall atone for the sin of daring to harm the Lord—as his servant."