Father and Daughter
Father and Daughter
The priests of the Holy Kingdom.
Along with the Holy King, they handled administrative duties and were the pillars of the Holy Kingdom; they were also in charge of the Saint's education.
And right now, they were making an uncharacteristically nervous display.
Head Priest Ricardo wanted to control himself, who didn't know what to do, sitting with his head bowed low and his legs trembling.
'Your Sainthood.'
The tension just wouldn't ease.
Well, it's because today might be the day he sends off Ria, who had been his priestly colleague for 20 years.
The last time he saw the relationship between the Saint and the Hero, it was incredibly good.
To be honest, it was so good it was blinding...!
In a position similar to a father's, it warmed his heart to the point of being heartwarming.
The Goddess periodically bestowed a Saint upon the Holy Kingdom.
However, there were conditions for this.
The first condition was that a Saint must not currently exist.
The second condition was that the Saint would marry the Hero and willingly relinquish her position.
The method of relinquishing the position was simple.
If she forms a marital bond with the Hero, the position naturally disappears.
It wasn't that the overflowing Divine Power would vanish, but the connection with the Goddess would weaken compared to before, making communication impossible.
The Saint periodically gained the opportunity to have a private audience with the Goddess in her dreams.
This would become impossible.
Nothing drastically different would happen.
Even so, it was no easy thing to readily send off the lovely daughter he had raised since she was five.
"...What did the Princess say?"
The Holy Kingdom, which had proposed to the Princess, who liked the Hero, asking if she wouldn't take his hand, had...
"She refused......"
"......"
The priest who had met with the Princess said that while clutching his head in despair.
"Haa......"
A sigh escaped automatically.
Well, the Goddess would select a new Saint.
Another child suffering the most in this world.
Ria too had been selected as the Saint after being abused in an orphanage, on the verge of death.
'For that child's sake as well, I shouldn't be this despondent.'
In the end, everything simply flows as the Goddess has decreed.
Leon wasn't a bad man either.
Wasn't he currently the number one most desired groom by all women?
The mere fact that such a man had fallen for Ria and didn't know what to do was value enough for the Holy Kingdom.
No matter if they married, the connection between the former Saint and the Holy Kingdom wouldn't be severed.
They might find it somewhat bothersome, though.
"Don't just despair so much."
"Yes......"
The two priests answered powerlessly and slumped down.
The priests, who usually only showed an authoritative demeanor, were such doting parents, a laugh nearly escaped at the sight.
The VIP room where only the laments of middle-aged men poured out.
It didn't take much time for Ria to arrive there.
The door opened, and Saint Ria, who had returned after completing the Demon King subjugation mission that lasted about four years, smiled sweetly and bowed to her teachers.
"It's been a long time. Priests."
"...Your Sainthood."
Ricardo, with a kind yet bittersweet smile, stood up and bowed his head, and the other priests also stood and bowed to Ria.
Ria, wearing a happy smile, sat down opposite Ricardo.
A strange tension flowed between the two.
It was because of Ricardo, who was sending hopeful glances, hoping against hope.
'Hmm... what should I do?'
Ria was too soft-hearted to shatter such hopeful expectations.
She also knew what Ricardo was hoping for.
He undoubtedly wanted her to choose to return to the Holy Kingdom.
Ria had lost her father at a young age, been taken to an orphanage, and become the target of the orphanage director's venting.
And it was Ricardo and the other priests from over 20 years ago who had found and raised such a Ria.
Ria also regarded them as her new father and mother, so she could empathize with their hearts, which thought of her as their daughter.
'But.'
Now, Ria felt like she could fly just thinking about the Hero's face.
She still couldn't forget that brazen hand that pulled her by the waist while rejecting the Princess's confession.
As a Saint, she shouldn't have such vulgar and erotic thoughts.
But wasn't it inevitable? Soon, her position as Saint would disappear too.
Of course, the Goddess had giggled, saying she would visit whenever she got bored.
She didn't feel good about it.
But still, she had to say it.
"Ricardo."
"Yes, Your Sainthood."
Ricardo, looking at her with a bittersweet smile.
Ria showed him the happiest smile in the world.
To avoid showing a sad expression and worrying Ricardo.
"I... received a confession from the Hero-nim."
"...!!"
Ricardo's eyes widened.
Then, as if about to bow his head, he let out a deep sigh.
'I, I didn't know the reaction would be this intense.'
As Ria watched Ricardo exclaiming 'Aack!' and washing his face with a dry washcloth, her eyes widened like a rabbit's.
"Your Sainthood, please continue speaking. The Head Priest-nim is very worried."
"Ah... yes."
The female priest beside them.
Laila smiled sweetly and urged Ria to keep talking.
At this, Ria fidgeted with her hands.
It was because she was embarrassed to talk to people who were like parents about the things that happened with the person she loved.
For no reason, Ria traced her finger around the rim of the teacup in front of her and opened her mouth.
"...He said he... wanted to live with me, until death."
"I see."
"Yes... So, umm, I said y-yes to living with the Hero-nim."
"Ghk-keuk!!!"
Ricardo clutched his chest as if he had suffered a fatal blow.
At this, Ria, smiling awkwardly, fidgeted with her fingers and then opened her mouth.
"Thank you for taking care of me. F, fa...ther."
"...!!"
When she called him father, Ricardo straightened his posture.
Ria was momentarily surprised.
But she calmly continued her explanation.
"I... am no longer the Saint. I am not a member of the Holy Kingdom either. I am just an ordinary woman."
Relinquishing her special position, everything, to return as an ordinary girl.
Letting go of all the privileges Ria had enjoyed, all the love everyone had given her.
Now, she was trying to become an ordinary wife, receiving love from just one person.
If so.
"I wanted to call you that at least once."
Wouldn't it be okay to call him father now?
Ria remembered the first time she met Ricardo.
One eye couldn't even open properly.
Arms and legs broken, her whole body covered in bruises and wounds.
She was no different from a corpse. She remembered Ricardo, who looked at her worriedly and said she would be okay now.
Ria couldn't forget Ricardo, who healed her injured body with warm Divine Power before embracing her.
The lifespan Ricardo consumed that time must have been at least 8 years.
"That time when you said I would be okay now... Do you remember me calling you daddy?"
"Ye... yes, I remember."
"That was the last day you used informal speech with me."
"......."
Ricardo smiled awkwardly.
"From now on, think of me not as the Saint, but as your daughter... f, father."
It was a word she was uttering for the first time in a long while.
The last time she said that word to her real father was when she was 4 years old.
That was already 21 years ago.
"It feels a bit awkward."
As Ria scratched her cheek and said that, Ricardo cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
"...Telling me to call you daughter. The Holy Kingdom will forever remember you as the Saint-nim."
"......."
Ria merely slightly lifted the corner of her mouth.
Well, she knew Ricardo's personality.
"Your Sainthood's status as a great figure of the Holy Kingdom and the eternal and greatest 11th Saint will not change."
The Greatest Saint.
That was how the world referred to Ria.
Well, it was because the achievements she had accomplished numbered over a thousand.
Even the achievements made before the Demon King subjugation alone surpassed those of all previous Saints.
Of course, others were also aware that she had the most unfortunate background before becoming a Saint.
Ricardo smiled sweetly as he looked at Ria.
"...Of course, that's only from the Holy Kingdom's standpoint."
"Is that so?"
"In a private setting, I am not speaking from the position of the Holy Kingdom's Head Priest either."
He slowly opened his mouth.
"Ria."
"...Yes, father."
"I have never once thought of you as not my daughter."
That he had never once thought she wasn't his daughter.
Hearing those words, Ria also nodded.
"Me too, father."
"...Be happy. Even more than when you were in the Holy Kingdom."
So saying, the Head Priest... no, father Ricardo blessed Ria.
Nodding, Ria said with a hehe laugh.
"I will be happy."
To be happy.
That was Ria's first goal after catching the Demon King.
Of course, a few more words were added before that.
'...To be happy with the Hero-nim.'
That's what she had set as her first goal.
Meanwhile, at the same time.
"This...!"
"Ooh...!"
"Is it all over!?"
The Hero Party members, except Ria, had shining eyes.
Bina, who had selected the ring that looked the most luxurious in the jewelry store.
Leon, who clapped his hands clap clap clap looking at it, and Hart, who finally sighed in relief asking if it was over now.
The Hero party, who truly got along well, purchased a pair of rings and then entered an alleyway to slightly modify the rings.
"Put on some protection magic and communication magic."
"Yes."
Bina nodded at Leon's request and began inscribing magic formulas onto the ring.