Though Claudina said she will go alone it will take some time for the ship to set sail again.
It turned out the gates of the harbor in the Gull's Land Island was closed off for sailors coming from Whirlpool Reefs islands. Due to people going missing everyday they thought there was a disease festering in those islands.
So Claudina was stuck in the village island with a rather hostile party of saints.
'How lovely.' She flipped the cards. "Ahhh~ I lost again!" Sullivan raised his cards in mock frustration. "I have lost as well," Sylvester said.
Currently she had been playing cards with Sullivan, Oriane and Sylvester down in the inn.
Anatole and Shulia had been avoiding her since that day. Anything they had to say to her was directed by the others.
'At this rate the future saints will have animosity with Chronostis' saint. Watching Chronos tearing out his hair due to this is quite fun but the Evil that had risen in the future is still a pain. I would need the others' cooperation'
Oriane collected the cards to reshuffle them. "Oh I am not playing anymore," Claudina said stopping her from passing a card. She slowly nodded and only distributed the cards to the other two and her.
She watched them play for a while before standing up to fetch her cloak. She told them she would be taking a walk to stretch her legs and set out.
Previously she had seen Shulia going out. 'Let's deal with the dumber of two.'
Claudina had no idea where she could be so she went where she believed Shulia would be. She checked the tavern from before. She wasn't in there. She checked the other tavern and bars. Not there as well. She even went as far as checking the harbor. Nothing.
'Where is she?' She looked all over for her in the village. She started to suspect Shulia may have taken a small fishing boat to the other scattered islands. She tapped her feet on the ground.
Should…she get a boat now?
"And that's how you do it!"
That was…Shulia now wasn't it?
She looked up and followed the sound. It was coming from behind a large house. She craned her neck around the bend. She saw Shulia surrounded by laughing children as she used a carving tool on a piece of wood.
"Done!" she announced. She held up a wooden figurine of a rabbit. It was expertly crafted and likeness was realistic. "Here you go." And she handed the figurine to wide smiled boy supported by a pair of crutches. "Thanks big sister!"
'Crutches?'
Then she noticed that nearly all of the children were injured to a degree. Some leaned on crutches. Others had their hands in crude slings while bandages were wrapped here and there.
She looked up and realized where she was.
It was an orphanage.
Claudina gazed back to the sight. The children who were all wearing dirty clothes and malnourished cheered at the sight of Shulia taking bread out of a large paper bag. She broke them in pieces and handed it the children. In a distance were a few women hanging clothes. They shot dirty looks at her while whispering among themselves. Their clothes were relatively clean and their cheeks were chubby. Even a child could tell what was happening here.
The boy on the crutches took his share of bread and the rabbit figurine towards the women. Claudina couldn't hear the conversation but she understood it was a request of sorts. In reply one of the women pushed the boy and stomped on his arm clutching the figurine.
'No matter where I go people treats orphans like dirt. I will never understand why we must protect the same people who use their strength on someone weaker than them.' Her face darkened. 'This is why I hate the gods who create the saints as a symbol of righteousness.' She turned to leave when someone yelled.
"HEY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
She jumped in surprise. She whipped around in time to see Shulia rushing to the coughing boy's side. The children all fled inside the house through a back door, spooked to their bones.
Shulia sat down on the ground and pressed her hand on the boy's abdomen. A green brown glow emitted out from her hand. In an instant the boy stopped coughing now that his pain was ebbing away. The women looked guilty now realizing who this young girl was.
She looked up her red eyes glinting in the sun. "You are supposed to protect your charges. Not treat them worse than animal!" The boy trembled before fainting on her arms.
The one who pushed the boy spoke up "S-saintess! That boy carries disease! What could I have done if caught something? I have a young child at home!"
"So it's fine if your sickly child touches you, but if it's this orphaned boy that's a crime? Do you even hear yourself?"
The woman gritted her teeth. She lowered her face in shame. "I wanted to donate some money and clothes here but it seems it will be in vain if the director himself commits embezzlement with his workers in such a dire situation."
The women flinched before cowering in fear. "Get out of my sight and tell the director there will be someone from Gaiarit coming here first thing tomorrow. This will be last time I will ever tolerate something like this." The women continued to shake.
"Didn't you hear me! Get out of my sight!" she barked.
They scurried away nearly falling over one another. Shulia tsked under her breath. She looked down at the boy in concern. He was fast asleep.
Someone clapped behind her. Shulia turned around to see Claudina an amused smile on her face. The children fanned behind her peeking at the sleeping boy. She scowled. "What do you want?" The children flinched so she guiltily softened her expression.
"I am impressed with how you handled it."
"Ha? I thought someone was watching us. So it was you?"
'Shulia is an asset if she can sense my presence when I hid it. A dangerous yet valuable asset.' "Yes I was watching."
"Is there something you wanna say?"
She lowered her gaze. "To be honest I hate being a saint."
"I can tell," Shulia scoffed.
"You didn't ask why."
She gave a look of disbelief. "Isn't it because you are a noble? You are just doing this for more fame."
Claudina was surprised before she burst out laughing "Hahahaha! Did I give off such a vibe? That's hilarious! Oh dear! Hahahaha!"
"Oh, oh no, no. No I am not doing this because of more fame." She sat down beside her. She reached out her hand to crease the boy's head. A bright gold light spread out like tendrils and wrapped around the boy's missing leg.
She removed her hand. The tendrils uncovered themselves to only show the missing leg was reattached on the boy's leg. Shulia lightly gasped at the returned leg. Not only that all his injuries were healed. The children were obviously impressed as they gripped Claudina's shoulders asking how she did it.
'She is able to heal something so sever without breaking a sweat! Just how strong is her Holy magic?!'
Instead of answering she told the children to take the boy back inside. They obediently did so a normal reaction considering the way they lived. For a long time they sat by side by side. Claudina watched the sun starting to sink down while Shulia curiously watched her. Claudina's eyes caught the rays of the sun. They glowed up like golden gems while her lashes created fascinating shadows.
'She looks like a doll like this…'
Claudina finally opened her mouth. "I became a saint for a personal reason. It was to protect someone very dear to me."
"That so..."
"You see when I was younger I had a friend in the palace. At that time I didn't knew she was a maid in training but I used to sneak her out of the palace so we could go play. She was always smiling around me. I was drawn to her because I had to constantly restrict my expressions. I liked how free she was."
"Also I had been a crybaby so I liked how she did everything in her power to make me laugh."
Shulia snorted. "You, a crybaby? Can't imagine that."
She closed her eyes. "Yes, that seems hard to believe but it's the truth."
"Regardless she was a rowdy child who always fussed around me, making sure I was alright when nobody else did."
But one day everything changed..."
She stared at Claudina to finish her story. She averted her gaze to stare in the distance again. "That day like always we were playing in a hidden garden far away from prying eyes. when it happened. In the middle of running the hooks of her skirt came off so she stopped for a second to reattach them. I always remembered how she would wear clothes that hid every shard of her skin so that was the only time I saw what she looked underneath all those layers."
"What I saw still haunts me to this day. Scars that looked as if someone was trying to peel back her flesh, burn marks, and razors loosely tied around her waist so with each movement her skin would cut more."
"I believe she had mistaken my look of horror as disgust because immediately she started to cry. I won't forget how she tried to muffle her sobs or how she flinched back when I tried to reach for her. My clumsy eight year old self couldn't even fend for herself at that time so how could comfort her as I do now."
She became silent again.
Shulia gently touched her arm to urge her to continue.
Hesitating she nodded. "...It took a while for her to calm down but the words she let during the time she had been crying made no sense to me then as it did now." Claudina glared in the distance. "How I wish to see those bastards who didn't even leave a young child!"
"Unclean."
"Filthy."
"Ruined."
"Dirty. That's what she called herself."
"That night when we parted ways she hugged as if she will never see me again. She thanked me saying if I wasn't there she would have taken her life long ago. And I the forever foolish brat only smiled at her dumbly.
"She was right. I never saw her after that night. I tried asking where she went but they all said she had run away."
"No matter where I looked I could never find her. After she left I only had myself to blame. In that moment I had come to realize that I could never done anything even if she did told me sooner. I was powerless and I could do nothing for anyone that I cared about."
"So I strived to become powerful. Powerful enough that I alone can protect anyone I choose. I became a saint so I would be able to protect my most precious things."
She had bitter smile. "However in the midst of getting strong I was forced to see in an early age of what humans truly are. We are the personification of sin yet we refuse to believe it when someone else points it out. We are much crueler, more evil then the demons we eradicate."
"And that is why I hate saints. We are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. We protect those who ignore the pleas of others."
Shulia said nothing for a while. Here sitting in front of her was a future generation of Saints who will take on their legacy when they are gone.
Is this how the future Saints will be?
Claudina detested saints but she was only doing it so she is able to protect those who are under her wing only. She only protected others because it was an order. Will the other saints will be like her; selfish and blasphemous?
If that is the fate can she truly give up her position to the next saint?
But somehow she could not bring herself to refute it.
What Claudina said was right.
It was a general feeling among saints. After a while they could no longer take it anymore and start to question their faith. That's why all saints retire before they reach 50 and move to someplace remote so they never have to meet the new saints.
The saints of her generation ranged from ages 29 to 19 with Sullivan being the oldest and Oriane being the youngest. Sullivan never showed it but she knew that he was surely losing his mind and Oriane has started to realize just how twisted the work of a saint is.
Shulia's heart bleeds for the other saints but the moment she will question it is the moment she will question her god and existence. And she can never do that because then everything she worked so hard for will crumble down. The very foundation of her life will be dust. And she was sure the others were like this as well.
Not willing to rock the already sinking boat.
Perhaps she was wrong. It was not only the next generation; it was her generation that was like this as well. Maybe even the previous generations were similar.
The curse they bear is for all of humanity. And if this is the price than so be it.
"Did you ever find your friend?" she asked hoping to change the subject.
"No. I looked but I never found her. I was later on told the palace maids have killed her." She carelessly said but her eyes held a bit of melancholy.
"Oh. I am …sorry."
"Don't be. Besides I don't fully trust that statement. I have a feeling she is simply hiding from me and some day she appear before me with that ridiculously bright smile. Funnily enough she never told me her name."
"Maybe you forgot?"
"I would have never forgotten it. I asked her but she never told me. I think she was worried how I will react if I found out who she was if she had told me. But even so she continued to laugh even brighter saying since she is happy today then tomorrow she would be more happier."
Shulia smiled. "She sounds like a very nice person."
"Nice doesn't begin to describe her. She was this big ball of sunshine and soothing. Whenever I was with her I could breath easy. In a sense she was my angel that brings salvation. "
"You seem fond of her."
"Extremely. We may have met for a fleeting time but it gave a lasting impression." She stood up dusting herself. "Come on. Let's go teach that director a lesson." She held out a hand for Shulia.
She looked at her then her hand for a brief moment. She grinned and snatched at her hand pulling herself up.
"I like the way you think! I hope you have a good plan for this too?"
"I always have a plan."
"Alright!" Shulia raced ahead.
Claudina continued smiling until it dropped the moment Shulia had turned around.
'How simple. Telling a sob story from the past has made her trust me this much.' Shulia waved at her. "Come on Claudina I am almost at the door!"
'It's so simple I can cry.'
"Yes, yes I am coming~" She gave a close eyed smile. She reached behind her neck to press it. 'It's unpleasant. Sharing something imitate like that precious memory to a complete stranger. I won't be surprised if it is later on used as blackmail. I had to do the same with Sylvester now that I think about it.'
She started to walk towards. 'But…it doesn't feel bad. I am…almost relieved? It was like this with Sylvester as well. Maybe I feel a bit of kinship since we are all saints.'
Claudina stopped mid step to stare at the sky. The sun had sunk long ago letting out the first few stars to twinkle in the red purple sky. A gust of wind blew through her hair uplifting her bands from her eyes.
'I remember now.'
'Forget-me-nots reminded me of her. She always wore one whenever we met.'