Please Hear My Prayer
Please Hear My Prayer
"And Iomene? How was my daughter?"
Almost kidnapped the moment I left the Detached Palace, I was dragged before the Emperor.
The Emperor and Empress both stared at me with overwhelming expressions.
What was I supposed to do?
Could I say right in front of them that your daughter's body was covered in self-harm scars, that she was skin and bones like a zombie?
I couldn't exactly say that, could I?
"Removing the Fragment of the Evil God and fully healing her mind will likely take some time. I expect I'll need to visit Her Highness regularly. For now, I've performed the basic treatment."
"I was told you entered without wearing protective gear. Were you not harmed by the curse?"
"Nothing of the sort happened. You need not worry overly much."
At my detached composure, the Emperor and Empress wore expressions of admiration.
"Oh, Goddess of Grace. We give thanks for sending us the Saint. Truly... thank you."
"I am not a saint, Your Majesty. I am merely the human Amael. You may simply call me by my name."
Just as Old Man Yodel had advised, I intended to assert it strongly at every opportunity.
I wasn't a saint!!
I said no!!
But naturally, they didn't seem to believe me.
"Please. If you can only make our daughter well, we will pay any price. So please..."
"I will do everything in my power."
"Ahh! Saint!..."
The Empress, unable to hold back any longer, shed tears and collapsed before me.
I hurriedly tried to help her to her feet, but the Emperor, who should have helped me, merely stood by and watched the whole scene, shedding tears of his own.
Ahh.
I didn't know anymore.
I was going to get hit by the curse and return to Korea anyway, so I decided to just let it be for this brief moment.
Besides, these were parents who had suffered for so long.
For sixteen years, they must have agonized daily over whether simply killing their daughter would have been a far better choice.
Couldn't I at least offer a little comfort?
"Do not grieve. I am here."
The one who would receive your daughter's curse in her stead and have his soul destroyed was right here.
"Saint!!... Saint!"
I carefully supported the wailing Empress and helped her up.
Fine.
I was going to get my soul hit and return to Korea soon anyway.
Until then, I'd play the saint as much as you want.
After receiving all the tears of the imperial couple, I left the Imperial Palace.
***
I returned to the Magic Tower Temple.
Now, before long, I would be struck by the curse and return to Korea.
Once I returned to Korea, I probably wouldn't be able to use my eroge skills anymore.
Since that place was a bleak world without skills or magic.
So before I left, I tended to as many sick people as possible, again and again.
Skills I wouldn't be able to use anyway.
Better to use them as much as possible before leaving.
Maybe it was because the clinic had been established.
The number of critically ill patients I had to treat wasn't that large.
After treating patients until roughly evening,
just as I was starting to feel hungry and thinking about having a meal,
"Saint!"
Erpa came looking for me.
Lately, she had been stopping by the temple whenever she had a spare moment to see me.
Ever since that kiss incident, she seemed completely smitten with me.
"I-I brought food I cooked myself today. Would you like to try it?"
She held out a packed meal to me.
Ohh.
A meal personally made by a woman!
Not bad at all.
We ate together in my room prepared within the temple.
The food was very delicious; she seemed to have put a lot of effort into it.
"How is it? Is it good?"
While I ate, she asked that question dozens of times, as if she were anxious.
Each time, I smiled and nodded.
Honestly, what did the taste matter?
The fact that such a beautiful woman cooked for me was more important.
After the meal ended,
we shared trivial conversation.
How we had spent our days.
What had happened.
I had thought I was bad at talking to women, but when the woman was proactive, the conversation flowed very well.
Thinking about it, it was bullshit.
To have to leave a place where a woman treated me this kindly and return to Korea, where soon no woman would even want to talk to me.
The thought of going back there and living as a squid again made my chest feel utterly desolate.
Still, what could I do?
It was better than going to Hell.
"It's gotten quite late. You must be tired from looking after patients all day... please rest soon, Saint."
Erpa said that, waving her two right hands childishly.
"Yes. You should hurry back and rest as well, Erpa. I wish you a good night."
Even at my reply, she didn't leave.
As if wanting something, her four hands were fidgeting.
Her face was flushed.
"I... perhaps... well..."
"Yes."
"Before I go... could you give me a kiss?"
No matter how much of a perpetually single virgin I was, if I couldn't recognize it after coming this far, there'd be something wrong with my head.
This woman loved me.
And not just simply loved, but was likely passionately in love with me.
If only I hadn't heard the prophecy that the Goddess would personally destroy me...
I probably would have accepted her love.
Refusing when a beauty like this says she likes you? That's what a eunuch does.
Did I dislike the idea of getting touchy-feely with a pretty woman like this? Absolutely not.
In fact, I was all for it.
But what would happen if I accepted her love?
Before long, I was destined to get hit by the curse and head to Korea.
Since my very soul would cross into another dimensional plane, she would likely be left all alone.
Thinking of that, I absolutely could not accept her love.
But I couldn't stay here either, could I?
If I chose to give up on Korea and remain here, it might be fine right now, but what about later?
When the entire world figured out my fraud and tried to kill me,
what would Erpa do then?
She would probably fight the world for my sake.
She'd throw away her position, her honor, everything, and fight for me until she finally died.
Miserably and horribly.
She would die like that.
Of course, she might not die.
Because she was an incredibly powerful witch.
Instead, the world would be destroyed.
The form and motive would just change; like the prophecy of destruction I had seen, she would end up becoming the ruin of the world.
In a burned-down world,
just the two of us, left alone.
Could that really be called a happy ending?
My fist clenched tight.
I had to refuse.
Not for my sake, but for hers.
I had to wound her feelings.
It was the same situation as the imperial couple, who had to abuse their daughter to save her.
The moment that thought struck,
I had to stop myself from pushing her away.
I had witnessed how wretched Princess Iomene's state was.
Even if the ultimate goal was to save the child, if the process was excruciatingly painful,
what use was a good outcome?
I didn't want to make that kind of choice.
I approached Erpa.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed her on the mouth.
The sound of Erpa's heart pounding reached me even there.
I pulled away from her.
And I stroked the head of her, who wore a smile as if she were melting.
"Could you promise me just one thing?"
"Yes. Yes. Saint. Anything..."
Erpa answered me in a voice that sounded as if she were flying in a dream. I smiled at her and said,
"Love yourself more than you love me."
"Pardon?"
"I want you to live a long, healthy, and beautiful life. I must not come before you in your priorities. Do you understand? Regardless of what happens to me, you must live your own life."
This was my best.
Erpa stared at me as if she couldn't comprehend.
I smiled toward her.
She would understand in time.
"I understand. Whatever words the Saint has spoken..."
Erpa said that carefully.
"It's late at night. Please go back safely."
At my words, Erpa gave an ecstatic smile, then rushed at me once more and showered me with kisses.
At her kiss, which felt playful yet thick with sticky affection, I felt a little sad.
Fuck.
Once I returned to Korea, I'd definitely never get to experience something like this again.
Why did I have to leave when there was a woman who liked me this much?
That damn Goddess.
It wasn't even like I wanted to falsely call myself a saint!
I even made the Lilia Order filthy rich!
I treated the sick for free, improved the living environment, created jobs—I really did it all!!
Why did I have to fall into hell!!
I wanted to enjoy a harem power fantasy in this other world too!
I even had skills perfectly suited for a harem power fantasy, for fuck's sake.
Why...?
Forget it.
Let's just focus on avoiding hell.
"I'll come again when I have time! Next time, let's go on a date! Saint!"
I nodded at her excited voice.
Love yourself more than you love me.
Those words were sincere.
Because that way, she'd be able to endure after I disappeared.
Erpa vanished from the room.
Inside the empty room,
I was sighing deeply.
Although I would be returning to Korea before long, I wasn't simply that happy about it.
***
Returning to her laboratory, Erpa wrapped her flushed face in her four hands and slowly collapsed onto the floor as if sliding down.
She had kissed him.
And she had very proactively kissed a man, of her own volition.
It was the first time in her entire life.
She had never imagined she would fall so deeply for one man.
Truly, never in her wildest dreams.
But she was so very happy.
She had never known that loving someone could be this joyful.
That the Saint had accepted her love filled her with immense joy.
With no one around to tell, she squatted on the floor and writhed in delight for a long while before carefully pulling a scroll from her bosom.
It was a scroll inscribed with Contraception Magic.
She stared down at it, her heart racing.
"You're crazy, Erpa. Crazy!"
Naturally, she had no experience with men.
No,
it wasn't just a lack of experience; because of her hideous left face, she was a woman who had never even properly held hands.
And so, she lacked the courage to proactively suggest sex, like an experienced woman would.
Her courage had been completely exhausted in that proactive kiss today.
But...
'Soon. Someday. Definitely.'
She carefully folded the Contraception Magic scroll and placed it back inside her clothes.
In one corner of her laboratory, a small statue of the Goddess of Grace and a scripture were set up.
She approached it, placed her hand upon the scripture, and carefully prayed to the Goddess.
"Goddess. It's me again. I offer my prayer today as well. Thank you for sending down the Saint. Thank you for allowing me to be this happy every single day. Each day truly feels like a miracle thanks to your Divine Grace."
She had already received so much.
It was no exaggeration to say her life had been restored, her career had improved, and everything she had ever wanted had come true.
But humans were greedy.
So she intended to ask for one more thing.
"Just one more thing I ask of you. You absolutely, absolutely must grant it."
Fervently,
she brought her four hands together and offered her prayer.
"Just as much as I love the Saint, please let the Saint love me too. Let him someday see me as a woman and embrace me. Let him love me for the rest of my life. And more than anything..."
Erpa grinned broadly.
"I hope he never leaves my side, so we can be together for a long, long time. Please. Goddess. Please hear my prayer."
After making the sign of the cross and rising from her spot, for some reason that day, she felt as though the statue of the Goddess of Grace was smiling at her just a little more brightly.
Erpa smiled back at it.
She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that the Goddess would grant her prayer.