The Melting Lake
The Melting Lake
Rehabilitation is a therapeutic process that restores damaged faculties to their former condition.
For example, helping someone who broke an arm regain full mobility after it stiffened from being in a splint. That was exactly the kind of treatment Rosaria—whose physical strength had been lost to a shattered vessel—needed to undergo.
After all, the Saint's authority still recognized Rosaria as its master. Even if it had been transferred with permission, the original owner of that power had now returned. If the owner was not in a condition to receive it, then it was their duty to restore her to a state where she could receive it and take it back.
Thus, rehabilitation began from the very journey toward the Holy Kingdom. But as one might expect when the patient is the Saint, the form it took was quite unlike ordinary treatment.
It started with walking on water. Rosaria began with the simplest task—walking on the lake's surface—to gradually grow accustomed to wielding divine power. Of course, she did not walk on the water alone. It was still winter, and falling in would mean suffering a cold-water shock worse than any punishment, so Canaria stayed at her side, holding her hand.
"...I'm sorry for the trouble."
"...How could that be? It's something I could do for a lifetime."
Of course, the preceding process was somewhat troublesome. The lake was frozen over since it was winter, so Canaria exercised her divine power to melt the entire thing. Upon the lake whose ice had melted in an instant, creating an early spring, Rosaria and Canaria began to walk across it hand in hand.
It was a reenactment of a Biblical scene as famous as the parting of the sea—the sight of two girls walking slowly upon the gently rippling water, each creating the other's ripples. And just as expected, Rosaria accomplished the act of wielding divine power itself without issue.
But that wasn't the whole of the problem.
Even though Rosaria's body had been healed, it was still largely broken.
She was so frail that to move without a wheelchair, she had to lean on a cane like an old woman, and even then, she lacked the stamina to go far. The bodies of the elderly weaken with age and their physical abilities decline, but Rosaria's body was unable to perform physical tasks because its very foundation had been severed and shattered.
In short, while the elderly possess a body capable of exerting a strength of 100 but can only produce about 50 due to aging, Rosaria's body, once capable of 100, was broken and could only produce 50.
And holy power restores things closer to their fundamental state. Therefore, if holy power were granted to an elderly person, their body, with its original potential of 100, could be raised from 50 back to 100. But in Rosaria's case, since her 50 stemmed from a broken foundation, even granting her holy power could only gather the fragments to produce about 60.
And if we assume that a strength of 100 is required to walk normally, then Rosaria, with only 60 restored by holy power, would fail.
So for Rosaria to walk on water normally, she had to wield two forms of divine power simultaneously.
The power to float on water, and the power to temporarily mend her body enough to walk. Unlike holy power, divine power was an ability that could bring in from outside the 50 that had been shattered. The problem, however, was that Rosaria was not yet accustomed to wielding two kinds of divine power at once. That was why even walking on water was incredibly strenuous and slow.
Rosaria was ashamed of this state of hers.
But Canaria thought differently.
'...As expected of Rosaria.'
After all, Canaria had also once wielded the Saint's authority. She knew very well how complex and difficult it was to wield two kinds of divine power simultaneously. It was like writing with your right hand while drawing with your left—but wielding two divine powers at once was even more difficult than that.
...What's more, much like with hands, a single exercise of divine power was usually enough. Because usually, that one time was enough to end everything. If someone was hurt, one act of 'healing' sufficed; if you needed to defeat someone, one 'attack' sufficed. Even if you had to heal an injured person while fighting, you could just attack first and heal, or heal first and attack—wielding divine power twice, and that was it.
But Canaria had realized the limits of that approach.
Suppose there is a person A you must save, person B, and a person C trying to kill B, and suppose C has the power to deliver absolute death. The condition is that you must stop C and rescue B at the same time. But if there cannot be even a 0.01-second gap between those two actions, can you possibly perform that action 'twice'?
The probability of such a scenario is slim, of course. But Canaria had already experienced a similar situation through Rosaria's death—Rosaria, driven to suicide by the Pope's binding, and the gap in that binding that would only open for a period shorter than 0.01 seconds the moment her death became certain.
Canaria had been unable to do anything at that time.
Stopping Rosaria was the wrong answer.
If she didn't act, the binding wouldn't be released.
Consequently, the Heart's Oath wouldn't disappear and her life would remain collateral.
But going to kill the Pope was also the wrong answer.
Because the Heart's Oath was still laid upon him.
If she killed him, Rosaria would die just the same.
...And even if she somehow managed to seize that 0.01-second gap and kill only the Pope, the Hero—who could move in that same instant—would have killed Rosaria. No, even without that, the possibility that Rosaria would fail to perceive that moment and drive the dagger into her own heart wouldn't have disappeared.
Thus, the answer Canaria arrived at for that day was wielding multiple divine powers.
She deemed that the correct answer was to input two commands simultaneously in that split-second shorter than 0.01 seconds when the binding lifted as Rosaria committed suicide. She thought the feat of stopping Rosaria before the dagger reached her heart, and simultaneously killing the Pope in that brief moment when the binding loosened, was the correct answer.
And so, to avoid facing such a situation again, she practiced until it killed her. Even the genius Canaria took considerable time to reach that truth. But Rosaria, though unskilled now, was performing that very feat—mending her body and floating on water, issuing two commands to walk upon the lake with a broken body.
And having witnessed it firsthand, Canaria could only marvel.
As expected of Rosaria.
"...I'm still not doing it well."
But Rosaria could not see it that way.
After all, Rosaria was someone whose very pathways for divine power had been shattered. Much was lacking, and since the present rehabilitation was aimed at filling those gaps, Rosaria was accepting the unfamiliar sensations as best she could, sweating profusely as she continued to walk on the water in an effort to return to her original state.
And as expected, symptoms similar to forcibly moving stiffened muscles appeared. Her trembling knees, quivering, ultimately failed to produce strength and gave way. Rosaria collapsed from exhaustion—to the point she would have fallen into the water had Canaria, assisting beside her, not granted her divine power.
Rosaria, breathing raggedly and drenched in cold sweat, felt nothing but mortification. Walking on water was the most basic thing for a Saint. She was deeply ashamed of her current state—no different from a mage gasping for breath after barely conjuring a 1st Circle-level fireball.
But Canaria thought differently.
She simply thought,
that she envied that talent.
Canaria had the talent to become a Sword Expert if she held a sword,
a first-rate artist if she held a brush,
a high-ranking mage if she learned magic.
But she thought it was a talent that could never make her a Sword Master,
a Grand Artist to be remembered in the world's history,
or the lord of a Magic Tower...
She resented her talent a little—a talent like the moon that can only shine by receiving the light of the sun, unable to become the brilliantly shining sun itself. And the Rosaria before her eyes possessed the talent to stand at the apex, befitting the sun that illuminated her. A bitter taste rose in her throat as she thought that if she only had such talent, the outcome of that day might have been slightly different.
"...You don't look well, Canaria."
And Rosaria, having read her face, leaned against her and spoke.
"...You're blaming yourself again, aren't you?"
"...You hit on the answer instantly."
"...It's not as if I've only seen it for a day or two."
It was a familiar sight.
The face she made when feeling powerless.
She had seen it often in the Holy Kingdom, before the switch.
'She hasn't changed.'
She had worn that face when showing the wounds from the whip. And before resenting the world, Canaria resented herself. A resentment that wished she had been a bit more outstanding, a bit stronger. ...Canaria always crumpled her face at the powerlessness born from her own inadequacy.
Rosaria couldn't understand it.
She thought it was okay to love yourself a little.
That it was okay to feel some pride and confidence,
that she didn't need to resent herself.
But Canaria was someone who couldn't accept that.
So she always resented herself that way.
"...From now on, that kind of face is forbidden."
So Rosaria opened her mouth.
"...Because Canaria is an amazing person."
Then she signaled for Canaria to sit beside her.
Understanding the signal, Canaria sat down next to her.
Rosaria and Canaria, sitting in the middle of the lake.
The reflection below seemed to show the past.
The sight of that day when Rosaria was the Saint,
and Canaria was the Demon King.
"...I'm not that kind of person, you know."
But Canaria sees differently.
The lake, dyed crimson like the snowfield of that day.
She saw Rosaria smiling as she died, and her own hands stained with blood.
That moment swallowed by powerlessness passed before her eyes.
"...Then what kind of person are you?"
"...An incompetent one, I suppose."
An incompetent person who couldn't keep love and promises.
But Rosaria denied that.
"That's not true."
Saying so, she turned Canaria's head toward her.
"Canaria, you are not incompetent."
And she began to list Canaria's achievements, one by one.
"You changed the Holy Kingdom, which was corrupt to its roots."
"You ended the long-running Holy War."
"You restored a suffering friend's happiness."
And.
"...Most of all, you saved the person you love most."
With those words, Rosaria kissed her.
At that moment, the afterimages reflected on the lake stirred.
Rosaria as she was the day before she died, sharing love,
Canaria as she was on the day she lost Rosaria.
The different afterimages moved and kissed each other.
And the moment they touched, ripples began to spread.
...Now, the same image is reflected.
The sight of them sitting on the calm lake, rings on each other's ring fingers.
It was as warm as that time,
and warm in a different way.
...Until they reached the Holy Kingdom, the ice of many lakes was destined to melt. Though with no deeper intent, of course; it was only for rehabilitation.