“Saintess… Saintess! Are you alright, Saintess?”
Kale’s soft urging and gentle touches finally woke my mind up from the daze that I’d been left in.
I couldn't help but find what had just happened strange; Everything else was just like that time with Inaiah’s relic, and even this relic, Teer’s relic, had disappeared after I’d viewed her memories, just like it had last time. But why did I only see the end of her memories? Why didn’t I see a slideshow of her entire life, like I did with Inaiah?
My mind reeled, trying to make sense of everything. From the supposed ‘demon lord’ to the shadow’s garbled words, and finally to the Goddess’s cruel and ominous actions at the end, all of it felt like too much to unpack. And that bright energy that I saw coming out of her as she died... Was it divine energy? The same divine energy that I, and all the other saintesses were supposed to have? I think that's what the Goddess was taking from her, but I really can't be sure. It certainly looked like it should have been, but somehow it feels like it wasn't exactly right...
The only thing that I knew for sure, the only thing that I could be positive of, was that I knew who Teer was supposed to be:
The Saintess of War, who’d famously given her life to fight against a great evil, and had ended an era of terror.
Even now, looking around where we were, I couldn’t stop seeing similarities in the terrain with the outskirts of the demon lord’s castle. Perhaps, if the lord of Tarsus’s people weren’t in the middle of trying to spirit the relic away right now, then maybe I would have even found this thing inside the ruins of the rotting, broken castle. Then again, considering how prominent her name is amongst all of the past saintesses, it’s actually pretty likely that there would have been a shrine set up to honor her relic, if not right where she’d died, then at least somewhere near it.
…Maybe that’s why the relic was wrapped in used priest clothes, now that I think about it.
Really, if this guy went out of his way to fight off the priests and steal this relic, then he’s gonna be in some big trouble with the church soon.
Well, not that there’s any relic left to get mad about though, I guess.
“...Saintess?”
Oh right! I still haven’t answered him.
“Sorry, Kale. Something weird happened to me just like last time, but I’m fine now, promise.”
I shot Kale what I’m sure must have been a very weak and unconvincing smile, but I guess just finally responding to him must have been enough for Kale to breathe a sigh of relief. In a way, seeing him like that somehow made me feel relieved too. Really, I’m such a simple person…
Ah, but enough about that. I guess I’d better finally look at this notification that this stupid popup has been trying to shove into my face, huh? Let me guess-
{[One Who Redeems] has activated, creating the subskill [Incarnation: Teer].}
Yup. I figured as much when I saw that the relic disappeared. So what? Is it just like everything with Inaiah’s skill?
{[Incarnation: Teer]: Channels the spirit of the Saintess Teer, enabling the use of her strength. (1000 energy per minute)}
Yyyyup. It’s juuuust like it. Wow. Great.
Okay, don’t get me wrong. Honestly, being able to channel those two is pretty darn amazing, considering how much better they seem at handling a dangerous situation than I am, at least at the moment. But until I either get a crap ton more energy or learn how to turn the skills off before they kill me, they both really seem like crazy kamikaze choices, you know? It’s totally good to have powerful options and secret cards up your sleeve and everything, but I’d rather just keep the actual relics with me themselves than erase them and get this kind of catch 22-like power-
Oh that's right, wait...
Shit…
“Uh, Kale?”
“Yes, Saintess?”
“Is… Is it normal for a saintess to erase a relic like this?”
“...I don’t know, Saintess.”
“Damn. Yeah, of course you wouldn’t know…”
I guess I was hoping for too much there. Still, if it was normal for Saintesses to slurp up relics like how I’ve been doing, then I doubt that there’d be any relics left to find in the world, now would there? Like, by now there would have just been an inherent ‘don’t let the Saintess’s touch any relics!’ message printed on the wall of every church if that were a thing, right? There’s no way people would just let me go around touching them all willy-nilly like this!
…Maybe it’s best to act normal and hide the evidence for now. Let’s just pretend that I put the relic away in my storage space for safe keeping or something. Guess it’s best to take all these clothes and things that it was wrapped in along with me, just to be safe; Either to keep up appearances, or for blackmailing the lord over there with later.
Ugh, speaking of that guy, I can still hear him yelling and attempting to resist against the guy paladin even now. But at least that means he’s still far away and didn’t see anything, right? Thankfully the workers all scattered away to avoid catching any blame, so I doubt they saw anything either, and it looks like the knights are mostly hovering around their lord, unsure of what to do, so I'm pretty sure they should also be safe. I guess that means that I’m good, right-
Oh. Oh damn… Yeah, I forgot all about the lady paladin existing, didn’t I?
Guess she must have also followed me over here to protect me… And judging from the terrifying look on her face, she must have also seen how I made the relic disappear. Really, it’s already a wonder that she hasn’t come down here and tried to run me through with her sword yet. If looks could kill, I’d already be dead just from the face she’s making alone…
“...Kale, don’t let her kill me, please.”
“Don’t worry, Saintess. I won’t let anyone kill you.”
Yeah? Well that’s a good reply to hear, although I can’t find it too overly trustworthy considering all the times I’ve died so far since coming to this world…
Eh, best not to spit on Kale’s good intentions. I should just be happy that he cares about me so much and stop acting so crabby.
{A zone effect, [Dance of Blades] is ending in 5 minutes.}
Ohhh right. Yeah, that was a thing too, wasn’t it? I completely forgot that the relic I’d gotten rid of was actually doing something, huh…
Welp, I don’t know what [Dance of Blades] was supposed to be doing, but here’s hoping that it wasn’t anything too important right now!
Alright… If I wanna get out of here before either the lady paladin kills me or I find out whatever [Dance of Blades] might have been keeping at bay, then I better get moving, huh? At the very least, it’d be better to have the lady paladin do whatever she’s gonna do to me somewhere with less prying eyes… It’ll be best to just say my piece to the lord of Tarsus quick and get us all out of here as fast as we can!
First though lemme get out of this ditch.
I doubt I’ll look very intimidating or authoritative talking to anyone from down here…
It’s a good thing Kale came down with me, or there’s absolutely no way that I could have come out of that steep of a hole without looking like a complete and utter doofus.
“Ahem… Sir Werner, you can release Lord Marn for now! I need to have a talk with him.”
“... ... ...Yes, Your Holiness.”
The guy paladin looked like he really wanted to say something back to me about it, but thankfully he just did what I asked and didn’t do anything to possibly undermine my authority, even if his face still looked super unsure about it. Really, having someone calculating like him is so much better than having someone passionate like the lady paladin around… I know what to expect from him most of the time, and even if I do things he doesn't agree with sometimes, it’s unlikely that he’ll shank me in my sleep or anything for it later. Still, I’d better make sure that I keep performing in the way that he wants if I don’t want him to abandon me for some reason later on…
“Lady Saintess, please-”
Ugh, I guess the lord of Tarsus still hasn't given up on this yet, has he? Jeez, read the room! You're supposed to be some kind of super beloved lord or something, aren't you? Shouldn't you be able to tell that your pleading isn't working on me already?
“...Enough of that. It’s time for you to answer some questions now, instead.”
And preferably quickly please, because I don’t want to be here if/when things start to suddenly go wrong!
“But Lady Saintess, that relic-!”
“I’ve taken the relic and put it away inside of my dimensional storage for now. You won’t be getting it back unless you can give me a damn good answer for why you stole it away from its resting place.”
-Is the excuse, but really, even if he does give me a good reason for it, it’s impossible for me to give it back now, sorry…
The lord flinched, looking slightly uncomfortable in the face for a moment before quickly clasping his hands together and taking a begging, apologetic stance. I guess he must have realized that I knew he’d taken the relic without permission, although I can’t possibly imagine how it wouldn’t have been plain as day to see; I mean, if the church had agreed to him having it for whatever reason, then there’d at least be one or two priests or paladins with him, right? The fact that all he has with him are a handful of knights and a number of peasants kinda screams that this wasn’t an ‘official’ kind of job, now doesn’t it?
The gasp of realization and shock that I could hear from the lady paladin behind me was a little bit worrying, though. Guess she must have had a really big reaction to hearing about someone ‘stealing’ a relic, especially someone that she’d seemed to put so much belief into.
I shot the guy paladin a glance, which he immediately gave a stern nod of understanding to. The way he quickly gave up on keeping any kind of eye on the lord and instantly positioned himself next to the lady paladin proved that he, too, was worried about what she might just do. I’m glad that the focus of her rage has shifted for now, but I kind of need her to not do anything before I can get a proper answer from this guy!
Come on and spill the beans so we can leave already, lord of Tarsus!
If whatever happens when [Dance of Blades] ends isn’t life threatening to you, then whatever the lady paladin might do certainly will be!
