Chapter 04
That’s a quest I don’t have to worry about right now.
The real problem was where I was supposed to get holy water and a sword.
“Shall we go see His Holiness the Pope now?”
Her cheerful voice almost made me answer, “Yes!” without thinking.
The Pope? I’m going to meet the Pope?
As far as I knew, he possessed authority almost equal to the Emperor’s.
The thought made my breath catch in my throat.
“…Do I really have to meet him?”
Whether in my previous life or this one, I was just an ordinary person.
Meeting someone as powerful as the Pope was nothing but stressful.
Seeing how reluctant I looked, the priestesses hurried to reassure me.
“You don’t need to be so nervous. His Holiness is a very kind and gentle person.”
“That’s right. His Holiness is like a father to all who believe in God. You can think of him as your father too, Saint.”
* * *
What kind of relationship did the Saint, known as God’s daughter, have with the Pope, God’s representative?
A father?
Goosebumps ran down my arms.
It was hard to believe I could call anyone that.
I didn’t even have a family in my previous life.
…Well, in any case, this worked out perfectly.
If I wanted holy water, where else would I get it besides from the Pope?
After being persuaded over and over, I finally gave in.
I’ll ask him for some holy water.
Just think about the Good Deeds Gauge!
This was a mission item worth five whole points!
My steps immediately became lighter.
Humming to myself, I walked between the two priestesses while holding their hands.
Maybe it was because I was so small, but everything looked enormous and magnificent.
Even the patterns carved into the pillars.
“You’ll memorize the layout once you’ve walked around a few times.”
“That side is where commoners come to pray.”
“And this side is reserved for nobles.”
What a rigid class system.
I quietly closed my mouth.
If I hadn’t become the Saint, I probably wouldn’t have been allowed to set foot here.
Even the level of maintenance was different.
The commoners’ area had overgrown bushes and untrimmed grass.
Here, flowers bloomed beautifully, and the lawns were perfectly manicured.
“You may go anywhere you wish within the temple, Saint.”
“Just be careful not to get lost.”
“Okay.”
I absentmindedly nodded.
As I turned a corner—
Bang!
“Ow!”
“…!”
A sharp pain shot through my forehead, and tears sprang to my eyes.
Looking up, I saw a boy whose eyes had also reddened.
He must have hit his chin.
He glared fiercely at me.
His jet-black hair looked strangely out of place in the pure white surroundings.
His skin was pale enough to resemble a corpse.
Dark circles hung beneath his sharp eyes.
The boy, only slightly taller than me, clenched his teeth and roughly wiped away the tears in his eyes.
“Y-Your Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince!”
The startled priestesses hurriedly bowed and shielded me.
So that’s the Crown Prince who’s destined to become that crazy tyrant?
He’s still just a kid.
“What are you?”
Even his voice sounded nice.
Main-character privilege, I guess.
Although he looked worn out, his features were strikingly handsome, like a finely carved statue.
“Greetings, Your Imperial Highness.”
I bowed along with the priestesses.
His intimidating expression softened slightly.
“Your Highness, this is the newly chosen Saint.”
“The new Saint?”
He let out a cynical laugh.
“Hah. So they finally decided to send one?”
Oh?
Blaming God in a world like this?
That’s unexpected.
“When I desperately needed one, there wasn’t a single answer.”
It seemed the Crown Prince harbored a great deal of resentment toward God.
I looked at the boy who would one day cut off my head…
…then deliberately turned away.
One of his eyebrows twitched upward.
“What’s with that attitude?”
“Your Highness, the Saint is still very young and doesn’t yet understand proper etiquette. Please forgive her.”
The Crown Prince stared coldly at the priestess defending me before letting out a small laugh.
“A Saint without an oracle? That’s ridiculous.”
“His Holiness will make the announcement shortly.”
One of the priestesses stepped forward with a stern expression.
I’d been quietly listening until now, but I was starting to get annoyed too.
“You’re tiny.”
“…!”
“I thought you were supposed to be a Saint. You’re just a baby.”
“You’re small too, Your Highness.”
“…What?”
He took a step toward me.
I didn’t move.
When our faces drew close…
…he was the one who looked away first.
His ears had turned bright red.
What? You’re the one who came closer.
Besides, I wasn’t wrong.
Of course, he’d probably grow up to break countless girls’ hearts.
But right now…
He just looked like a handsome little kid.
He doesn’t seem like someone who’ll become a tyrant.
He was bad-tempered and looked a bit sickly.
Nothing more.
Completely unaware of what I was thinking, he pouted.
“Whatever. I don’t believe it.”
“Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter.”
“…!”
“The fact that I’m the Saint won’t change.”
“How dare you.”
How dare me?
So what?
I was the Saint.
This was the temple.
I proudly lifted my chin.
Go ahead.
Try something.
The Crown Prince looked embarrassed by my fearless reaction.
Blushing, he averted his eyes.
Unexpectedly…
He seemed rather shy.
“What’s your name?”
After watching me with a strange expression, he finally asked.
“Diane.”
“…I’ll remember that.”
With those words, he started walking past me.
Why remember it? So you can cut off my head later?
A sudden wave of irritation hit me.
As he passed by, I secretly plucked several strands of his hair.
Pluck.
He immediately turned around.
It must have hurt.
“Hmm~ Hmm~”
Pretending nothing had happened, I happily skipped away.
Even humming a little tune.
“Why, you…!”
I heard him shouting something behind me.
I didn’t care.
Fireworks were exploding right in front of my eyes.
[Quest: Can’t Understand the Ghost?]
Progress
Doll: 1/1
Holy Water: 0/1
Sword: 0/1
Fingernails: 0/5
Hair (excluding your own): 5/3 (New!)
Oops.
I pulled out two extra strands.
Hmph. He looked like he had plenty of hair anyway.
Kids’ hair grows back quickly, right?
Without a shred of guilt, I stuffed the five black hairs into my pocket.
* * *
The Pope frowned deeply and let out a long sigh.
The Crown Prince’s condition had shown no improvement.
By now, it had become a well-known topic even within the Imperial Palace.
“Ha…”
Had they approached the problem the wrong way from the very beginning?
Whenever a certain time of day passed, the Crown Prince behaved like an entirely different person.
It had only gotten worse.
He had even begun imitating animals.
Everyone working in the palace kept the matter strictly secret.
Even so…
Rumors that the Crown Prince has completely lost his mind are spreading everywhere…
The Pope pitied the young prince.
Although the temple and the Imperial Palace had always been political rivals, there was no real hostility between them.
That was why he had willingly agreed to examine the Crown Prince.
Six years had already passed.
“And yet, after six years… there has been no improvement.”
Nowadays, every time the Pope visited, the Crown Prince looked at him with eyes that said he was tired of seeing him.
The Pope couldn’t even meet the boy’s eyes properly anymore.
Every weekly visit had become painful.
Today, too, he was returning empty-handed.
Unable to discover the cause.
In the end, tears welled in his eyes.
“…Please don’t lie to me. I’ll probably just go insane and die in the end.”
“Your Highness, that’s not true. Just a little longer—”
“Father already knows. He knows it’s useless. What’s the point of drinking holy water every time I feel something strange? It doesn’t work anyway!”
The Pope recalled how the Crown Prince had stormed out in frustration only moments ago.
He sighed bitterly.
Then—
His eyes widened.
A refreshing wave of divine power drifted toward him through the air.
The Pope instinctively leaped to his feet.
Finally!
It had been three hundred years since the last Saint had appeared.
He had imagined countless times what the next one would be like.
Eventually, he had given up thinking about it altogether.
To be honest, he had doubted it.
An oracle had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Then it claimed a Saint, absent for three centuries, had finally appeared.
It all sounded unbelievable.
What an honor.
What kind of person would she be?
The oracle had only revealed the Saint’s location.
It gave no other information.
So the Pope had no choice but to send Liam with nothing more than that.
Unfortunately, when Liam returned with the Saint, the Pope had been examining the Crown Prince and hadn’t had time to receive a report.
The great doors of the cathedral slowly opened.
A long shadow stretched across the floor.
“…”
The Pope froze.
A… child?
She was even younger than the Crown Prince.
A tiny little girl who looked no older than three or four.
She was so undernourished that her stomach, which should have been round like any child’s, was flat.
Despite her tiny, adorable steps…
Her eyes were completely lifeless.
“Hello.”
The little girl walked up to him.
She bowed politely before introducing herself.
“I’m Diane Irenne.”
“I’m five years old.”
“…”
“I look forward to your guidance.”
She smiled brightly as she said it.
But there wasn’t the slightest trace of hope in her eyes.
How…
How am I supposed to respond to this?
The Pope looked down at the child before him with a bewildered expression.
