Chapter 6
Translator: True Detective
[Let's Educate the Saintess - 05]
'I'm glad she is following along more quietly than I thought.'
For a week, I spent a lot of time on the Saintess's education.
The Pope also knew I was working hard. Realizing that the Saintess was at least pretending to listen to the lessons—making me different from the educators she had seen so far—she exempted me from most of my duties so I could focus on the Saintess's education.
Not having to stand night watch was a truly great thing.
As someone who loves sleep, not having to wake up in the middle of the night was good enough in itself.
'I have no choice but to take my time educating her out of her familiarity with violence.'
Reading the reports from the previous educators was quite a spectacle.
Most lasted a day, and even those who held out longer threw their hands up and quit by the second day.
The biggest reason for this was precisely the 'violent reactions of the Saintess.'
As expected, her violence was low at the beginning, but as time passed, her violent tendencies noticeably increased, and she even inflicted direct injuries.
She doesn't derive pleasure from violence, but since she can handle annoying things through it, her tendency to rely on it is growing stronger.
If this wasn't corrected now, there was a high chance she would later attack someone simply because they 'were an eyesore.'
She might wield violence for reasons even she doesn't understand and just end it with the excuse, 'I didn't like it.'
If that happens, she will become a full-fledged villain.
'The problem is that the Saintess doesn't understand "why" at all.'
Basically, her empathy is lacking.
No, should I say she has no empathy at all?
She has no desire to understand others, no will to understand them, and feels absolutely no need to accommodate others.
It might be different if she lacked power, but since she even has power, it seemed she felt that need even less.
Naturally, since she was born with the greatest abilities as a Saintess, people around her would accommodate her somehow, so it might be possible for her to live with that personality.
However, she definitely won't be loved by anyone, she'll only be surrounded by sycophants trying not to get on her nerves, and she will live a lonely life.
Then, she'll cause an incident that can no longer be covered up even by the pretext of being a competent Saintess, and things will become irreversible.
'She doesn't know what even evil people know.'
Even evil people have their own thoughts regarding sin or evil deeds.
Feeling that they shouldn't do it.
Or thinking that even though they know it's wrong, it's the only way they can survive.
There are also those who detest their own actions.
On the contrary, there were those who completely enjoyed it.
But even most evil people often recognized that their actions went against universal morals and ethics, and that they were wrong.
In cases where they didn't recognize it, they truly hadn't learned anything, or they were people who firmly believed that their evil was right.
However, the Saintess doesn't have that.
She doesn't consider evil deeds to be right.
But that didn't mean she considered good deeds to be right either.
She has nothing.
There is no satisfaction gained from good deeds, nor is there any pleasure gained from evil deeds.
'Therefore, no matter how much I hope for the Saintess to empathize, and no matter how emotionally I speak to her about morals and ethics, it's meaningless.'
No matter how much I sing praises about how certain things shouldn't be done, how it's only natural, and how it's the human thing to do, hoping for empathy, it was all meaningless.
What was needed could be called logical morality and ethics.
The risks that can be avoided by not doing what shouldn't be done.
The merits that can be gained by doing good deeds.
The good points of the life she will live by not falling down the path of a villain.
Strongly emphasizing those points and making her "understand" through repetitive education was the best I could do.
If I forced empathy on her, claiming I would change her by force, it felt like something irreversible would happen.
Unfortunately, that was as far as I could go, and making her understand was the maximum I could do for her.
Even that wasn't an easy task, so my head was already aching.
"Adrian."
I turned my head at the familiar voice, and the Pope was there.
I quickly stood up and saluted.
But the Pope raised her hand and spoke.
"It's fine, be at ease."
"Yes."
"Is the education of the Saintess... Anastasia going well?"
"We aren't at a stage where I can say much yet. It just doesn't seem like something that can be done in a day or two. The Saintess already understands violence as a tool to silence the things that annoy her. Even if it's troublesome, I think it will take time to stop her from doing that."
"I see."
"And if you truly wish for me to make the Saintess a good person to the bone, I would like to tell you in advance that it will be difficult."
The Pope's eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
"What is the reason?"
"She innately feels nothing. Even an evil person feels something when they kill someone. But I can be certain. To the Saintess, there will be no difference between helping a person and killing a person."
"……."
Saving a person.
Killing a person.
It's merely a matter of doing it if she wants to, and not doing it if she doesn't.
Fortunately, the Saintess seemed to have taken an interest in me, who approached her in a completely different way along with handing her her first defeat.
However, there was no guarantee anywhere as to how long her interest would last. In order to complete my mission, I had to remain an interesting person to the Saintess at all times.
It was quite a hassle, but since it was a job I had to do, it couldn't be helped.
Besides, on a personal level, it felt wrong to just leave her alone.
"Therefore, what I can do for you is merely making the Saintess 'understand' that pretending to be a normal Saintess is to her benefit. Even this will take a long time, and I cannot be certain of it. But completely making her empathize and reforming her seems impossible, even for me."
I stayed silent for a moment and then continued.
"I apologize that I likely won't be able to meet your expectations."
"No, what are you saying."
The Pope smiled.
"Many educators have passed through until now, but they either got sick of it and gave up, got angry, or even described her as a monster and came to me with faces filled with terror. However, you are……. trying to understand that child."
"……."
"Say what you will, the Goddess Religion is rigid and narrow-minded. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Discipline is important, after all."
It might look somewhat frustrating, but discipline, rules, and laws are ultimately being upheld because obeying them is beneficial.
Because at the same time as being something one must obey, they were no different from a sturdy shield that protected me.
Although when they start taking on a double standard, they gradually lose trust and the meaning of the shield slowly fades away.
"But because of that, there are things we cannot save, cannot understand, cannot accept, and cannot know. You seem to know that especially well. I wonder if it's because you are a person who lived on the battlefield, or if you yourself are just special."
"……You overpraise me."
It's true that the Goddess Religion is sometimes frustrating.
Especially in special cases from birth like the Saintess, there was an incredibly high chance they would reject her, simply claiming she was born inherently evil.
"Do you have any thoughts of trying to be the Pope?"
"Your, your joke goes too far. A lowly Holy Knight like me cannot sit in the seat of the Pope."
"They say the first Pope was a former Holy Knight. It isn't strictly impossible. Well, you are much too young to sit in the seat of the Pope, though. But think about it once. You seem to have the caliber for it."
"That is really……. It hasn't even been a month since I started working here. I feel that is too hasty of an assessment."
The Pope smiled.
"You can know someone for 10 years and still not know their inner thoughts. If that is the case, it is the same as entrusting many things to someone you have known for a day. On a dying battlefield, it is a common occurrence to entrust one's last will to a comrade they met for the first time today."
"That is, yes. ……It is."
I remember.
The last words of my comrades.
The words a person I met for the first time on the spot asked me to pass on to his wife.
The reason is unknown.
Just.
If I were in my dying moments and there was a comrade I had never seen before next to me, wouldn't I have also asked them to pass on my last will?
Such empathy was possible, and it had become a duty that the person receiving the will rightfully had to fulfill.
I see.
In that sense, I felt like I could understand the Pope's words that it was possible to entrust many things to someone you've only known for a day.
Though it felt quite reckless.
"My, look at the time. I'm sorry if it feels like this old woman kept you."
"It's fine. It's about time for me to go to the Saintess as well."
"Then, I leave her in your care going forward. Please become someone who understands that child. From now on, if there is someone making an effort to understand a lonely child who will not be understood by anyone, that path shouldn't be too lonely."
"Well. I don't know if she will even feel loneliness."
"She will feel it. She merely won't be self-aware that she is feeling it."
"Excuse me."
I saluted the Pope and walked away.
She feels emotions, but the part that recognizes them is impaired.
In a sense, that might be the most appropriate expression.
I walked quickly down the hallway and arrived in front of the Saintess's door.
Knock knock.
Bang!
The door opened at the exact same time I knocked.
"A week has passed, now tell me how you beat me."
"……."
I looked at the Saintess for a moment.
Last time, I said I would tell her how I managed to beat her if she listened well to the lessons for a week, and today was exactly that one-week mark.
Those eyes, seemingly burning with an abundance of curiosity, even made her look like a normal young child.
However, it was a flame that would be extinguished quickly.
Therefore.
"You have to take today's lesson to make it a week, right? I'll tell you after it's over."
"……."
I have to use this to my advantage for even one more day.