Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Proof of God's Love
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With Eirene's support, Erin cautiously stepped out of the building. Her pale profile sparkled under the warm sunlight.
What spread out before her eyes was the unchanged village of the New Continent—or so it seemed, yet everything had transformed at the same time.
"Ah, Saintess! You're awake."
"Ah... hello."
They were elves she saw every day, but greeting them in a language she could now understand felt strangely awkward, so she brushed it off lightly—
In any case, it seemed they no longer needed to struggle to learn each other's languages.
As Erin exchanged greetings with the elves, something caught her eye—
"Uh...? That statue...?"
In a place she'd passed countless times, a new statue stood. Drawing closer, she saw a stone figure of a female elf gazing resolutely at the sky.
[In honor of the great hero Helena, who saved the elves from the false evil god.]
'This is...!'
She remembered the name Helena.
Wasn't she the mother of Pibiola, who had been deceived by the evil god and lost her life?
"It's a statue made with God's love."
"Lord Igugwoden's love?"
"Yes. Pibiola said you'd understand it that way, as the Saintess Erin."
Eirene said this and then offered a prayer before the statue.
Erin carefully alternated her gaze between Eirene and the statue several times—
'...Did something like that happen back then too?'
She still remembered it clearly.
A world that no one else could even perceive now, but which she, chosen by God and bearing His providence, remembered—the dark age before Lord Igugwoden's descent.
Just as that hopeless, futureless, grim world had been overwritten and vanished by Lord Igugwoden's plain facts—the elves must have gone through something similar.
'But then... it doesn't explain why I remember the evil god's existence.'
Of course, she couldn't recall the evil god's name no matter how hard she tried—
But she was certain such a being had existed.
The inscription on this statue easily refuted the idea that she remembered because she was the Saintess and thus similarly exempt.
Just as she was puzzling over the exact situation—
"You're awake, Lady Erin."
"...Pibiola?"
Turning toward the voice, she saw her—the woman who strikingly resembled the statue's figure—
Pibiola approaching with an incredibly benevolent expression.
Gone were the tattered rags; she now wore a beautiful outfit that accentuated the elves' signature graceful curves.
"We were worried since you'd been unconscious for quite a while... but thankfully, you woke up early. What a relief."
"Was I out that long...?"
"Yes. About two days, I'd say."
Two days...
She still couldn't quite believe that much time had passed, but since there was no gain in lying to her, it was safe to accept it.
"Right, Lady Eirene. The Demon King is looking for you."
"The Demon King is?"
"Yes. She said it's past the appointed time and you're nowhere to be seen."
"Oh, come to think of it..."
Realizing she'd forgotten the appointment while talking with the newly awakened Erin, Eirene turned to her and gave a light nod.
"I'm sorry, Saintess. I need to go now."
"It's fine. I can walk around on my own now. Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Take care."
After Eirene left—
Pibiola approached Erin's now-empty side and posed a question.
"You've noticed, haven't you, Lady Erin?"
"...That the world has changed?"
"Yes."
Pibiola gazed at her mother's face engraved on the statue and continued.
"After Armageddon, the evil god—whose name is no longer even remembered—can no longer torment us elves. Neither physically nor mentally..."
"Mentally..."
"Yes."
She drew closer to the statue—
"Everything he mocked has become not wounds, but sources of pride. We may have suffered at his hands, but we never fell. All the wounds we perceived... have now become wings."
"...!"
"Those horrific memories haven't been erased as if they never happened... but even so, our actions did matter. Our desperate struggles against him to the very end weren't meaningless—"
—She gently caressed the inscription bearing Helena's name.
"They've become evidence of God's love, shining here."
"Pibiola..."
It seemed Armageddon's second change was this shift in the elves' perception.
They couldn't erase their past of being toyed with by the evil god, but by altering the fundamental perception of that past, it became a source of pride for the elves.
From the perspective of overcoming, this was far closer to the Igugwoden Church's ideals than denying and discarding it outright.
No matter how sorrowful the memory, standing upon it defined humanity—and the elves, who lived with feet planted on the earth, could do no less.
"Lady Erin."
Pibiola turned to face Erin—
And bowed at a perfect ninety degrees in greeting.
"Before it's too late, even now... I will try believing in the true God."
"Pardon? You mean—"
"Speaking on behalf of the elves, we wish to formally convert to the Igugwoden Church."
"!!!"
"If you'll just permit it, Lady Erin, we'll begin constructing a cathedral right away and welcome the priests. Our elves' faith will naturally become the Igugwoden Church."
Stunned, Erin stared wordlessly at the bowing Pibiola for a moment.
Then, realizing her goal had been achieved, tears welled up as she replied—
"Of course I'd permit it...! No priest would refuse a request to study Lord Igugwoden's plain facts...!"
Perfect.
With this, she'd successfully planted the roots to spread Lord Igugwoden's teachings across the new continent.
Considering the evil god's influence, she hadn't dreamed it could happen this quickly—a tremendous achievement.
Of course, she knew full well it wasn't because she was an exceptionally talented Saintess.
It was because Lord Igugwoden never stopped sharing His plain facts even with unbelievers.
Because He couldn't pass by the elves who didn't believe in Him, cherishing them dearly—
'Lord Igugwoden...'
Erin thought.
Come to think of it, it had been the same at His first descent.
When He saved her, a non-believer starving to death, He must have acted with similar intent.
As someone who remembered the dark age, Erin knew: No god was as filled with love as Lord Igugwoden.
Before Lord Igugwoden's descent—before she became the Saintess—what had that era been like?
Religious folk recited scripture verses on their tongues while coveting wealth and riches; threats and even lives were taken simply for not believing.
There were many good priests at the grassroots, but the villagers' laments about the higher-ups reeking not of sanctity but corruption were unforgettable.
And the Imperial Family?
Until Lord Igugwoden's touch, hadn't they been embroiled in court intrigues, opposing the religious world with no care for the people's welfare?
Erin knew better than anyone how the Emperor's change at the pinnacle reverberated through many.
And now, even to the elves' world on this new continent—
Everything transformed at Lord Igugwoden's touch.
The people spoke of hope in the name of faith. The Imperial Family and court discussed the future in the name of faith.
The elves would tremble in the evil god's shadow no longer. Instead, they would rise and step toward the tomorrow that was sure to come.
We, who receive Lord Igugwoden's love and enact His will—must stand beside the elves striving forward and support them.
That was the only way to repay the love Lord Igugwoden had given us.
Erin looked to the sky and thought—
—You think so too, don't you, Lord Igugwoden?
'...Huh?'
And then.
Only now did she notice another decisive change from Armageddon's influence.
Erin was the Saintess.
She had conveyed words to Lord Igugwoden through prayer countless times.
Yet, there had been only one moment when she truly sensed Him.
That time she conversed directly with God.
Otherwise, she'd never felt His gaze so intensely when addressing Him...
"You've noticed?"
Pibiola cautiously spoke to Erin from the side.
"You thought it was odd, didn't you? Even after two days unconscious... isn't it too rushed for such a grand, intricate statue to be completed? Something like that."
Eirene had called it a statue made with 'God's love.'
Not in some abstract sense?
Eyes wide in shock, Erin gazed at the sky.
And... she became aware of 'His presence,' vividly felt through her skin.
...Lord Igugwoden.
Are You... right here beside me now, watching over me?
* * *
—Gulp.
I swallowed dryly and glanced back and forth between the manga's final panel and the game screen.
Erin's pitiful expression as she asked if I was watching her.
To calm my relentlessly pounding heart, I took a deep breath. What appeared in the game window was—
[
Erin
/
♰
]
[ Interaction ]
[
What
will you do?
]
—Erin's eyes, blinking with a flushed face as she gazed at me.
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