Chapter 54 — The Goddess Comes to Me and Brings Words of Wisdom (5)
Chapter 54 — The Goddess Comes to Me and Brings Words of Wisdom (5)
Helen was so dumbfounded by that terrifying talk of rebellion that she burst out laughing.
"If there had been a rebel force, you would have been the most necessary piece."
"Right. A real shame for the rebels."
The two ladies giggled together for a moment.
At the sound, Rauka, who had been sleeping on the sofa, shifted in her sleep. Grünent made a small "oh" face and lowered her voice again.
"Honestly, the best possible outcome for the entire Moira Continent might be for Evirgio to quickly stabilize its regime and use its strengthened army to conquer the capital of Spros."
"Our conversation is getting more and more outrageous."
"And then I would become Queen."
At the provocative word, Helen's eyes flew wide open.
What the rescue party had originally aimed for.
What Grünent had dreamed of.
But in the end, what she had been forced to give up.
Grünent smiled playfully.
"And if it's His Majesty we're talking about, I can't help thinking he might just pull off something that absurd."
"That's..."
Helen couldn't finish her sentence.
That was precisely the problem.
It might not be the Church or a human king,
but the Demon King who would make the world peaceful.
But could that peace truly be called peace for humanity?
Helen could not be sure.
Grünent, who had been chattering for a long while, fell asleep before she knew it. Even that was so like the old days that Helen smiled and covered her with a blanket.
The only difference was that this was the guest room where she was confined.
Helen watched the softly breathing Grünent for a moment, then knelt at the edge of the bed.
It was an action she had not skipped once in her earliest memory.
"Merciful Goddess."
Lowering her voice so as not to wake Grünent and Rauka, Helen clasped her hands together.
Am I being tested?
What is the right path for the Goddess?
What path must I, Your instrument, walk?
Though it may be selfish,
what path will truly bring Grünent happiness?
Goddess.
Please show me the path I must take.
And then suddenly, Helen realized that her surroundings had changed.
"...?"
Had she fallen asleep while praying?
A vast space was enveloped in pure white.
The floor was soft, covered in an unknown, tender material.
Is this what it feels like to stand on a cloud?
A warm and gentle breeze blew softly, making her feel pleasant.
"Helen."
Someone called her name,
so Helen turned around.
It was a sweet and nostalgic voice.
And the moment she saw the owner of the voice, Helen prostrated herself flat on the ground from an unknown terror.
"...Ah."
Her emotions could not form coherent words.
Fear and overwhelming emotion burst forth as tears.
The owner of the gentle voice spoke.
"You have found me."
"...Goddess."
She could not look directly at the woman's face veiled in light, but she could feel her smiling.
Helen held her breath in reverence.
Only then did Helen understand what this situation was.
The Goddess Laurecia had answered her prayer and manifested in her dream.
Helen swallowed her tears and spoke.
It was the question that tormented her the most.
"Goddess, what should I do?"
Should she betray the Order, the knight order, and the Commander, and side with the Demon King to support Grünent?
Or should she abandon her friend and decide for the sake of the Order? Whether to take her own life or aid the Commander who wished to kill her friend.
However, the Goddess answered, as if soothing Helen's anguish.
"Helen. Humans and demonkind are originally one."
"...?"
At the incomprehensible words, Helen raised her head unconsciously. But the Goddess beyond the light only smiled gently.
"Both humans and demonkind are all my children. Whomever you help is according to my will."
"Ah..."
"My heart aches to see my children fight among themselves, but that is how they must grow. Therefore, it is alright. They are all precious children to me."
Helen sobbed at her own foolishness.
Had it not been written on the very first page of the Scriptures?
That the Goddess was the creator of all things.
She and the Order had not even properly grasped the meaning of that.
Helen wept for a long while before the Goddess.
The Goddess stayed there silently for not a short time, until the sound of her crying quieted down.
Having barely composed herself, Helen asked.
"Goddess. Why am I Your instrument?"
Helen poured out her pain.
It was a question she had held since childhood, for a very long time.
"I am a filthy existence. Why did someone with a hideous inside like me receive this much power as Your proxy? Goddess. I am so foolish that I cannot understand Your will."
But the Goddess answered with a voice that felt as if she were patting Helen's back.
"Even when your lives are painful, you accept it, try to understand it, and live on."
Helen could not take her eyes off the Goddess Laurecia. The light was warm and intense but did not dazzle, so Helen simply gazed at it.
"That you feel pleasure from pain is proof that you too have tried earnestly to accept your life. I do not judge the pleasure you feel. For that too is a part of you accepting your life."
The tears that had stopped began to flow down Helen's cheeks again.
"Your power is something born of your own desperation.
People have said it was power I bestowed upon you, but it is a power that you yourself brought into bloom.
A seed is hidden within everyone."
Helen understood the Goddess's words.
Her meaning was conveyed directly to Helen's mind along with the words.
It meant that Holy Power alone was not the power of the Goddess.
Be it mana, physical strength, or a clever mind.
Whatever form of ability it took.
A seed was hidden within every person's body.
Holding its breath as it waited for the moment to sprout,
that precious seed
existed in humans and demonkind alike.
The moment and conditions for the flower to bloom were all different,
but that potential was present in everyone.
And each person accepted and overcame their painful moments, causing the flower to bloom.
Just like the holy power of the Goddess that Helen herself had earned.
"How could there be anyone filthy? You too, like everyone else, are my precious child."
Helen wept aloud.
They were words she had heard for the first time in her life.
She was comforted by that warmth.
She had always berated and hated herself.
Her own self, which felt pleasure along with pain.
A body that anyone could see was abnormal and shameful.
The Commander had always said that such holy power was unsuited to a sow like her.
But the Goddess was saying it was alright.
"If that is how you feel, let it be."
The Goddess spoke after waiting for Helen's tears to cease again. Then, her next words held a hint of laughter.
"However, there is one thing I find regrettable."
Helen could feel the Goddess's regret so completely that she felt deeply apologetic and did not know what to do with herself.
But the Goddess did not seem to be trying to rebuke her.
"The children who serve me do not reproduce."
"Pardon...?"
At the unexpected words, Helen opened her mouth blankly.
It was a statement that would cause a fainting spell if the Order found out.
"The joy of bearing and raising children is precious, yet it is regrettable that the children who act on my behalf and carry out my will do not form families or create descendants."
"You are saying... it is acceptable to marry or have children?"
If she relayed these words to the Order, Helen might be excommunicated or stand trial for blasphemy.
"Even if you have a child and become a parent, my power will never leave my children. Those who become parents only grow stronger."
The Goddess spoke benevolently.
"Whatever it is, it is your choice. It is alright."
The Goddess's voice gradually grew faint.
The light also grew faint.
At the indescribable sense of loss, Helen reached out her hand. As if to hold onto the Goddess in that way.
"Do not worry, and walk the path you believe is right. I am always by your side..."
The voice vanished, its sound growing ever fainter.
When Helen opened her eyes, tears were streaming down.
"Ah."
"Helen?"
"Are you awake now?"
Rauka and Grünent were looking at her. Only then did Helen realize she had awoken seated on the floor, her hands clasped on the edge of the bed.
It was the posture she had been praying in.
"Your power suddenly overflowed as if exploding, and it startled me."
Rauka and Grünent, who used mana, could also sense the holy power flowing through one's body.
The tremendous energy, like being suddenly burned by fire, had startled Rauka awake.
"But I felt I shouldn't touch you..."
Grünent trailed off.
When she had opened her eyes at the strange sensation, Helen was praying while radiating a tremendous power.
It was an energy so noble that even she and Rauka, who could not use holy power, felt they could not approach it.
It felt so sacred one could not dare defile it, so Rauka and Grünent had waited for Helen to open her eyes without even calling her name.
Finally, the power subsided, and Helen opened her eyes.
"Thank you, Grünent. Thank you, Rauka."
Helen looked out the window.
Day had already broken; dawn must have come quite some time ago.
But both her body and mind felt refreshed.
It was a mood that could not possibly be better.
"Grünent. I want to see His Majesty."
"Huh?"
"I have something to tell him."
If Roan had witnessed that moment, he would have seen her affection value soar to unprecedented heights.
"Have you ever seen such a crazy bitch!!!"
And upon hearing Helen's report, Commander Matthias naturally flew into a rage.
"Betraying the Order, betraying the knight order! You wench, you've finally been seduced by that Demon King bastard!"
She told him the facts: that the Demon King actually wished to stop the war for the sake of his demon people, that she had seen the Goddess in a dream, that the Goddess did not hate demonkind. But his reaction was just as she expected.
Whether the Demon King was standing next to him or not, the Commander raged and kicked Helen recklessly.
Bruises soon bloomed on her shins and knees where his military boots had struck, but Helen maintained her stance at attention as if nothing was wrong.
That attitude instead made the Commander flinch.
'Could it be... that she truly received an oracle from the Goddess?'
That thought fanned the Commander's fury even further.
Why, why did that wench receive it and not me, the Commander?!
The reason he, who was not inferior to any past knight commander, had still not been granted the position of pontiff was that woman, his point of comparison.
Because he had believed that, Helen had always been a thorn in Matthias's eye.
Moreover, Helen's skills had improved by leaps and bounds.
If the years of service in the knight order were not valued so highly, he might not have even become Commander.
Roan was feeling all of Matthias's anxiety, sorrow, fear, rage, and jealousy entirely.
He did not know the detailed situation, but he could vaguely guess. In the end, Helen was a main character.
If the sorrow of an extra was not properly managed, it could explode like that, he supposed.
'Regrettable, but ugly.'
As Roan watched the raging commander of the Church knight order, his feelings grew complicated.
If he had possessed a powerless extra instead of the Demon King, and met the Hero or other romanceable characters in that state...
Would he have been able to simply acknowledge their abilities?
The Church knight commander was a detestable man, but he felt a measure of pity for him.
And Roan felt even more relieved.
'If it was You who called me to this place... In many ways, Goddess, thank You.'
He did not clasp his hands, but the feeling in his heart was sincere.
Helen, who had been silently listening to Matthias's curses while standing at attention, glanced sideways at Roan, feeling the power once more. Again, Matthias seemed unable to feel this power.
That faint but warm power, like a star, was unmistakably,
a trace of the Goddess.
Having returned from meeting the Goddess all night, Helen could assert it more clearly than anyone else.
That the Demon King possessed the power left behind by the Goddess.