She Must Be the Saintess

When I opened my eyes, the little child who had hit me earlier was sitting next to me, fidgeting anxiously.

The sight was so adorable that I forgot I had just been knocked unconscious and let out a soft chuckle.

"Pfft. I'm fine, so you don't have to worry so much."

Upon hearing my words, the fidgeting child suddenly cleared his throat, straightened his back, and shouted.

"H-how insolent! How dare you show such disrespect to a god!"

A god?

"This little brat...?"

In an instant, the child's face flushed as red as a tomato.

"Brat?! Take that back this instant!"

As the child shrieked, the world began to crumble. Seraphina, who had been frozen in time with her hand stretched out toward me, and the old wooden pews of the chapel slowly began to dissolve into gray ash, scattering into the air.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Hearing my terror-stricken apology, the child smiled as if he had never been angry and hugged me.

"Since I am a kind and merciful god, I'll let you off the hook just this once! Only this time, okay?"

"U-understood..."

To be honest, it was terrifying enough to send shivers down my spine, but I still didn't want to use formal language with such a tiny kid. So, I gathered my courage and asked a question.

"But why did you go as far as handing down a divine oracle to bring me here?"

"Do you know Luna?"

Luna.

She was the Saintess who had always been by my side as a companion in Astral Saga.

Unlike the perverted, corrupted "saintesses" commonly seen in web novels these days, she was a true Saintess in every sense of the word.

The very epitome of a saintess, she loved everyone and embraced them willingly. She was a truly kind-hearted girl who even pitied her enemies and demons.

Out of all my companions in the game, I cherished her the most. After all, she had stayed by my side through every single playthrough.

"Yeah. She's the Saintess."

"No, she's still just a candidate for now. But you've heard about how beautiful she is, right?"

Luna really was beautiful. Her beauty was so striking that it practically pierced through the crude game graphics.

"And do you see Seraphina, who is standing right next to you?"

"...Yeah."

"She loathes the church. She even finds me, her god, annoying and dislikes me."

"..."

"But did you know that her divine power is so monstrously off the charts, even among humans?"

Now that he mentioned it, he was right. Wasn't divine power supposed to be granted in proportion to how fervently one believed in and prayed to a god?

Luna, for instance, used to pray at least three times a day.

"You know that divine power is 'power bestowed by a god,' right? That means no matter how much humans worship and revere me, it's completely meaningless unless I choose to grant them that power."

"...Then..."

"Yes. Seraphina's overwhelming strength was entirely given by me. And I gave her a generous amount, enough to utterly transcend most high-ranking clergymen."

"Is there... a specific reason for that?"

Saintess Luna, who loved the world and prayed to save everyone—it made perfect sense for God to grant her immense divine power. But why on earth did he give such formidable strength to Seraphina, who openly despised the church and proudly boasted of her dislike for God himself?

"The crucial common denominator between Luna and Seraphina. Yes, as you might have guessed, it's their 'beauty.'"

"...?"

For a moment, I almost failed to control my facial expression. Because of their beautiful ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faces?

"The leadership of the Holy See over there is made up entirely of handsome men and beautiful women. There is only one reason for that. It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because I value human appearance above all else!"

"...Is a god allowed to do that?"

"Of course. I don't permit it for wicked evildoers, you know? I only bestow it upon pretty humans who perform even the slightest good deeds."

With that, the child-god stared intently up at my face.

"In that sense, you... are a pass."

"A pass?"

"No. To be honest, 'passing' doesn't even begin to describe it. You are more beautiful than anyone else in this world."

"...Huh?"

"So, whether you like it or not, it means you are going to obtain an astronomical amount of divine power."

As I stood there with my mouth agape, utterly speechless at this baffling logic, the god smacked his lips slightly.

"Honestly, if you were a being like me, I would have locked you up by my side and doted on you... but of all things, you had to be a human..."

Then, completely ignoring me, he began to mutter to himself.

"But where on earth did such a pretty child suddenly come from? Was it my mistake to never look toward the slums because they were smelly and dirty?"

I asked the muttering god the question that had been weighing on my mind this entire time.

"If you are the god who created this world... will you just sit back and watch even if this world is destroyed by the Demon King...?"

His expression turned into one looking at someone asking a bizarre question.

"Of course!"

"...Why on earth?"

"I fulfilled my role simply by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠creating this world. The rest is up to them. Of course, I do share my power with pretty people... but I have to do things like this to keep from dying of boredom."

Seeing his face as he declared his bystander status so proudly and cheerfully, I fully understood why God never showed up in the game even when the world was ending.

"...I-I see."

Still, it was somewhat commendable of him not to give power to rotten villains. Though it was blasphemous to think of a god as "commendable," it was only natural to feel that way when he took the form of a child even smaller than my already small and thin self.

Perhaps that was why.

Without realizing it, I placed my hand on the crown of the child's head and gently stroked it. Yes, I stroked the head of a god.

"......!"

In an instant, the child's face flushed crimson all the way down to his neck.

"...Y-you! You seduced Seraphina like that, didn't you?!"

"Huh? Seduced...?"

"H-mph! I am a god, for heaven's sake! I will absolutely not fall for this kind of physical contact!!"

The child shrieked and shoved me away with both hands.

Flash!

And in the blink of an eye, he vanished from sight. I looked around in a half-standing posture, searching for the god.

Then, my eyes immediately met Seraphina's, who was staring at me in utter shock.

"You... you?"

"?"

"That absurd divine power... what on earth is it?"

.

Perhaps it was thanks to her own monstrous divine power, but even within the frozen flow of time, Seraphina had managed to barely perceive a presence so blindingly radiant it threatened to steal her sight.

Like a human unable to look directly at the sun, she couldn't even make out its form, but that colossal light was clearly conversing with Ruby.

When the light struck Ruby on the head, she had wanted to rush over and tear it to shreds that very instant, but her body wouldn't budge at all.

And then, as their conversation came to an end—

Gong—

The sound of the frozen bell began to ring out, and her paralyzed body finally regained its movement.

Her eyes snapped wide open as she urgently checked on Ruby's condition.

But, oh heavens.

The divine power currently radiating from Ruby's body... was so colossal and sacred that it far surpassed even Seraphina's own.

Was that light earlier really a god? Did God himself descend in person...?

Yet, joy preceded her astonishment.

Because now, Ruby no longer needed to hide herself like before.

Even if she never belonged to the church, that divine power would never vanish.

Unlike her past, where she had spent years denying herself and living in a personal hell, she could now live proudly and beautifully in the light.

For the first time in her life, Seraphina felt a sincere sense of gratitude toward God. She knew God was merely a bystander who watched the evils of the world without unconditionally saving the good, but because he had saved Ruby...

She was truly, deeply grateful.

Around the time Seraphina was offering her thanks to God (though she didn't go so far as to clasp her hands in prayer)—

Knock, knock.

A polite knock echoed from the chapel door.

"Is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anyone inside...?"

This greasy, butter-coated voice?

It belonged to Alex, a priest who claimed to have dedicated his body and soul to God, yet went into heat the moment he caught sight of a nun's skirt.

Of course, ever since she had beaten him to a pulp, he couldn't even look her in the eye.

Of all people, why did it have to be that horny bastard?

If she showed Ruby's face—which was like an angel bestowed by God (it was official now)—to a guy like him?

The rumors would undoubtedly spread beyond this remote church and reach all the way to the Holy See in the capital.

She didn't know what anyone saw in that gigolo-looking fellow, but Alex was well-acquainted with many people in the Holy See.

In a hurry, Seraphina snatched a large cloth draped over a chapel pew and threw it over Ruby, completely covering her face and upper body.

Only then did she fling the door open with a stiff expression.

"......!!"

The moment the door opened, Alex's eyes widened instantly.

This motherfucker is doing it again?

To go into heat even when her face was completely wrapped in cloth... Seraphina was starting to find it downright terrifying.

Of course, Alex hadn't fallen for her looks. In the first place, Ruby was wrapped in a cloth, so nothing was visible. He was simply shocked by the wondrous divine power overflowing from her body.

However, to Seraphina, who had already branded Alex as a horny dog, he was merely drooling over her simply because she was a nun, even without seeing her face.

"Hey. Lower your eyes. Get lost before I gouge your eyeballs out."

Seraphina growled, quickly slinging Ruby over her shoulder, and sprinted toward her room.

Watching her back recede like a shot, Alex quietly drew the sign of the cross and began to pray.

She's bullying people again.

In truth, contrary to Seraphina's misunderstanding, Alex had no interest in women. He simply couldn't ignore anyone in trouble and treated them with kindness, which often led to nuns falling for him and creating misunderstandings.

His reason for approaching Seraphina in the past had also been entirely pure. Since she went around recklessly swinging her fists, he had wanted to ask her to please exercise some self-restraint.

The lines Alex had prepared back then were:

...but the moment he uttered the words "Your appearance" to Seraphina, a fist had immediately flown at him.

And it was packed with her monstrous divine power, to boot.

Since he had been beaten black and blue without being able to offer even a shred of resistance, he hadn't told a soul... but ever since then, Alex had never approached within a ten-meter radius of Seraphina. A mad dog would never avoid a person, so he had to be the one to avoid her.

To Alex, the scene he had just witnessed was simple: the fearless Seraphina, looking flustered, wrapping a girl possessing immense divine power in a cloth and kidnapping her.

"Wait..."

Something flashed through Alex's mind.

The divine oracle handed down to Seraphina. And the divine power radiating from the girl who was with her.

That girl is undoubtedly the Saintess!

Of course, it wasn't as if there were no other Saintess candidates, but if that girl—who possessed a divine power akin to God himself—wasn't the Saintess, then who was?

An incredibly social butterfly with a wide network of contacts, Alex absolutely could not keep this monumental truth to himself.

That night, rumors began to circulate that a god-sent Saintess had been born.