Onward to Septimoa
The next morning, we began preparing to leave Sodom at the crack of dawn.
Far too much time had already been wasted. On top of that, because of the state my body was in, we planned to travel to Septimoa by carriage — which meant following the highway that ran from city to city. That route would wind all the way around instead of cutting straight across the mountains, so it was bound to eat up a little more time.
Of course, taking the highway meant traveling the main roads. That came with the advantage of never having to forage for supplies and live off the land, or camp out under the stars because we couldn't find a place to bed down. In exchange for extra time on the road, it was the safe and comfortable way to go.
Still, I couldn't be certain. When trouble wants to happen, it'll happen anywhere, won't it? In the original story, even the Eris Church — one of the Seven Great Holy Orders — ended up completely ruined. I couldn't afford to let my guard down just because we were on a highway.
Agh… but come on, I already had to fight an apostate. Surely nothing else is going to happen now. That would just be cruel. Right?
I tried to console myself like that, but the uneasiness wouldn't fade at all. What made it even worse was that even if something did happen right now, there was nothing I could do about it.
"Aaaghh… this is killing me."
With the Old Man supporting me by the arm, I barely managed to climb into the carriage, flopped down onto the cushioned seat, and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. Look at me — I couldn't even board a carriage on my own without help. If trouble broke out, I wouldn't be any help whatsoever; I'd just be dead weight. This pitiful-heroine role is really not to my taste at all.
But what could I do? About the only thing left to me was praying to Goddess Eris that nothing strange would happen.
"Hoo…"
I let out a shallow sigh.
Honestly, I'd brushed it off as no big deal — just a few lashes from a whip. But the wounds had turned out far more serious than I'd imagined. Yesterday, when they unwrapped the bandages to disinfect them, my first reaction upon seeing the damage was…
[…Whoa. Holy crap. That's insane?]
A gasp of astonishment, mixed with disbelief.
The wound ran in a long, jagged line from my shoulder all the way down my side, mangled as if it had been seared with a white-hot branding iron. Worse, the flesh around it had died black, and purple veins were creeping outward from the edges — in the shape of a rose, no less.
[What do you mean, 'insane'?!]
The Old Man gritted his teeth and snapped at me. He clearly wanted to bark at me right then and there, but I suppose he held back because I was a patient.
[Doesn't it look kind of like a tattoo, though? I've always wanted to try one at least once. It's got a pretty cool vibe, actually—]
[Lady Saintess!]
What can I say — with veins like a rose tattoo and bandages wrapped around me, I felt like one of those tough delinquent girls from fiction. I thought it looked quietly badass, so I said so, and got cut off by the Old Man's shout.
[You are in a critical situation, barely keeping the demonic energy from spreading through your body with healing holy law!]
And then the lecture came, full force: In such a dangerous state, how can you joke about it! And where on earth did you get such notions — tattoos are something I cannot permit, not before you die, nor after! And on and on it went.
I mean, honestly, I wasn't planning on getting a tattoo anyway. Sure, I've thought tattooed women looked cool, but if that body were mine, that'd be a different story, wouldn't it?
…I'd shot my mouth off with a joke for nothing, and had to sit through a long, long scolding for it.
"Is there anything uncomfortable about the carriage, my lady?"
I'd been sitting there replaying yesterday's events when the Old Man's question pulled me out of my thoughts.
"I'm fine. Besides, how could I complain about riding in a carriage when I'm the only one in it?"
Everyone else was walking. I couldn't exactly gripe while riding alone in a carriage, could I? Plus, the Old Man had even cast an anti-motion-sickness blessing on me for good measure.
And this carriage — rustic on the outside, but actually quite well made.
"They say it's the finest carriage in the village."
"…Ehh. Is it really okay for us to take this?"
It seemed the village had provided not just the carriage but horses as well. In a remote mountain village like this, those had to be precious resources. Were we really in a position to accept all this? Couldn't we have just gotten some rickety old cart and been done with it? The young knights could pull it themselves in place of the horses…
"There was no helping it. You must remain as stable as possible until we reach the capital, my lady. The payment can be settled later."
"Well… if you say so."
He had a point. Our church would be visiting this village again before long — to clean up the aftermath and investigate the apostate's traces. The church would handle the compensation then, I supposed.
"Also, my lady."
"Hmm?"
"The villagers wish to offer you their thanks in person. Your well-being comes first, so I have continued to refuse them… but since we depart now, perhaps a final farewell would be fitting."
"Is there any reason to say no?"
Come to think of it, I'd never actually spoken with the villagers properly since entering Sodom. When I first arrived, I was brainwashed by Selenia's curse and not in my right mind, and after I came to my senses, I was bedridden — there had been no opportunity to meet anyone at all.
And now they wanted to come thank me… Having to say goodbye to people I'd never actually said hello to felt a little awkward, but there was no real reason to refuse, so I nodded.
The Old Man stepped aside, and as if they'd been waiting for the cue, an elderly man who looked to be the village chief appeared leading a long line of people to the front of the carriage. He was the kind of kindly, white-haired old man you'd expect to find at least one of in any village.
"…We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Saintess of Eris. Because you defeated the apostate and shattered the curse, our village was freed from its terror and regained its peace."
Tears welled in the village chief's eyes. Behind him, the villagers lined up in rows, sank to their knees, and with tears brimming, lifted prayers toward me.
"…Everyone, please stand. I only did what had to be done."
My face clouded over as I said it.
They would remember, no doubt. Even under the curse's sway, they'd recall that terrible time — being stripped of their clothes and treated like mere tools. Those wounds would not fade easily. Especially for the women.
…Damn demon bastards.
I bit down and swallowed the curse rising in my throat.
"Truly… no repayment we could offer would ever be enough."
"The carriage and horses are more than enough. And I hear you've packed us food and water besides?"
"That alone is not nearly—"
…Honestly, it was a little embarrassing. I hadn't fought Selenia for a reward.
To be perfectly candid — I didn't know any better at first, but by the end, it was nothing more than me fighting to survive. And now they wanted to repay me? I wanted to refuse as firmly as I could, but the resolve in the eyes of the chief and the villagers showed no sign of yielding.
And looking closer, every one of them had come carrying something bundled on their backs. They seemed dead set on pressing their gifts into our hands no matter what it took.
Well… fine. With them dug in like that, maybe it was time to bring up the idea I'd had since the very first time I heard this village's name.
"I don't need any repayment. Instead… how about changing the village's name? A, er, fresh start, you could say. The current name feels rather ominous, if you ask me."
Renaming a village wouldn't be an easy choice to make. A remote mountain community like this would have deep communal bonds and attachment to its name — deciding to change it couldn't be simple. If I pressed them to rename their village as repayment, the shock might just make the whole subject of rewards dry up and blow away.
But what came out of the chief's mouth was a little different from what I'd expected.
"Ah, you mean the name 'Sodom.' That was nothing more than a repulsive name that witch invented to suit her own tastes. Now that the curse is broken, it is time we reclaimed our true name."
"Oh. Figured as much."
Really — no one sane would ever name their village Sodom. Right?
"So what was the village's original name?"
"Our village is called 'Luminas.' It means the village of light. What you restored to us today, Saintess, was not only our peace — it was our very identity."
Luminas, huh. That's a lovely name.
…Huh? But then that would mean…?
"So please, accept our sincerity. If you wish it, you may even name the village yourself, whatever you desire."
…What do I do here.
First the repayment, and now a request to name the village — I felt like someone who'd tripped over their own two feet and fallen flat on their face.
Accepting their gifts was burdensome enough, but as the village wasn't actually named Sodom, me barging in and renaming it outright was even more so.
Ugh, whatever. Time to take the high road.
"I'm afraid I cannot. As one who serves a goddess, I cannot accept such favors lightly."
"Then please consider it an offering made to Goddess Eris."
"…Then give it to the people from our church who will be arriving later."
"But—"
"I'll accept your goodwill alone. My body is in poor condition, and adding more cargo for the journey wouldn't do me any good. You understand, don't you?"
At my final words — that my health was suffering — the villagers finally nodded. After all, they weren't so senseless as to stubbornly press the issue at the cost of their benefactor's condition.
"Hooah… exhausting. Just exhausting."
After turning down the villagers' gifts and exchanging our last farewells, I closed the carriage door. Slowly, the carriage began to move.
The villagers lined both sides of the road — applauding, weeping and praying, bowing their heads — seeing us off. I opened the carriage window and waved back in answer to their farewells.
I couldn't be certain whether Selenia was truly dead, and that left a sour taste in my mouth, but the fact that I'd torn out the seeds of darkness she'd sown and restored the village to peace was, in its own small way, a comfort.
"Onward to Septimoa."
I murmured it alone inside the carriage, so no answer came back. But delivering this line was just how it's done, isn't it?
With that thought, I closed my eyes. I'd slept the entire day yesterday too, but my wounded body kept dragging me toward sleep all the same, and I sank into it in an instant.
"Haa… haa…"
In the mountains some distance from Sodom — no, from Luminas — a woman in a scorched, tattered nun's habit, burned and blistered all over, finally collapsed to the ground after staggering along on blistered feet.
The nun wriggled and dragged her body until, at long last, she managed to sit with her back against a tree. Burns covered her everywhere and half of her face was a mass of gruesome scar tissue.
Her identity was none other than the apostate, Selenia.
"Hoo… my, what a fiery junior I have…?"
To think she could burn away my demonic energy wholesale with holy power. How long had it been since I'd been beaten this thoroughly broken?
Trusting too much in the Curse of Carnal Affection and letting my guard down had been my own great folly, but one wrong move and I would have been snuffed out on the spot. Even now, nearly all of my demonic energy had burned away.
"And to think… she's undergone the Bathing Ritual…"
The Bathing Ritual purifies not only the soul's rank but the spirit's maturity as well. No matter how lofty one's rank, an immature mind leaves more than a screw or two loose in the head.
Now, how old was our adorable little junior again?
"Twenty-one, was it…?"
Hmm. She ought to be at least thirty, by rights. What is she?
Overcoming the Curse of Cognition, and enduring the Bathing Ritual at such a young age… She's a girl absolutely riddled with secrets I ache to dig into.
"Heheh… truly… delightful."
Selenia spat out blood-flecked phlegm and murmured low. A grotesque laughter seeped out from between her horribly twisted lips. Her charred, rot-eaten fingers traced the mark of the holy spear carved into her chest.
From the wound came a searing, white-hot pain, as if it were still burning through her.
And yet that pain, paradoxically, made her remember the light she had lived so long forgetting.
"Ahh… my lovely junior."
Once, I too stood beneath that light.
Those days of praying in a beautiful nun's habit, as if I might bear every sorrow in the world. Once, I too was called the most beloved daughter of the goddess Eris, and I yearned to be someone's salvation.
But how did it end? My soul was torn to ribbons by the Curse of Carnal Affection, and the once-noble saintess degenerated into a monster who lured countless souls to ruin, savoring euphoria each time their purity was defiled.
I envy you.
You, radiant and shining. I too once blazed with light, but now I am a wretched thing denied even a flicker of that radiance.
I admire you.
That nobility of yours — a saintess who throws herself, ahead of everyone, into the most dangerous places to fight. Unlike me, who bowed to the curse and fastened my own leash, that brazen, almost arrogant defiance of a woman who never once let go of her spear.
You are lovely.
That clumsy way of yours — spewing filthy curses from your mouth while hiding such a tender heart beneath.
I despise you.
That you still do not know this hell I have endured — the very fact of it drives me mad.
"Beatrice."
Selenia whispered the name, turning it over and over in her mind.
Could you become the blade that pierces through the seven sins?
Countless demons would no doubt come swarming at you like moths to flame, all desperate to shatter that dazzling blade you are. Could you truly withstand the weight of the despair they would heap upon you?
In the end, if you could not endure and fell — then in all this world, the only one who could ever fully understand you would be me.
But what if, through those countless trials, the blade that is you were tempered and honed — grown strong enough to pierce even Lady Lilith, the master who has bound my soul in chains?
Then could you become my savior — the one who pulls me out of this hell?
"Ahh… I can hardly wait."
Either writhe with me at the bottom of this pit of sin, or save me from it.
Either way, she would welcome it gladly.
Selenia let her grotesquely twisted lips soften and fall, and lowered her eyes.
Just for this one moment…
…the holy power of Eris that had always felt so repulsive to her did not feel repulsive at all.