One day when Exa was away because he was summoned by Igniver-sama.
We were eating lunch in the dining room while chatting about meaningless stuff as usual.
By that I mean stuff such as how we had been receiving a lot of sexual harassment at the reconstruction site, how when we beat the culprits, they would wake up to a weird fetish where they would ask to be hit more, and how they had been forming lines recently, hampering the reconstruction—a truly meaningless conversation, but I supposed it just went to show how peaceful the world had become.
Well, let's put that aside for now.
More importantly, it all started when Zana suddenly said this during the meal, "By the way, who do you all think the most saintess-like among us?"
"Fumu, do you mean the one who is most faithful to her duties as a saintess?" Arcadia asked.
"Not quite. What I mean is more like, the person who comes to mind when talking about saintess? For example, when asked who is the 'Savior' or 'Hero', everyone will think of Exa first, right?"
"I see. In other words, you're talking about the image, aren't you? In that case, it should be—" Magmell gave everyone a once-over before saying with a smile, "Me."
[Oi.] Naturally, everyone, including myself, retorted.
I mean, what's with that confident smile?!
To be fair, she does look the part—which is even more annoying—?!
Except, she always has naughty stuff in her mind?!
"My, but if we're talking about the sense of 'mysticism', I don't think I'll lose. I mean, I'd been working as a mysterious fortune teller for quite a while," Shiva said.
"That's right! Tell her, hag!" Ophir shouted.
"…The next time you call me 'hag', I'll kill you." A vein popped out on Shiva's forehead.
She gave a death glare at Ophir, but Ophir paid it no mind and said, "Rather, ain't a 'saintess' supposed to be someone powerful who can bring peace to the world by beatin' the shit out of monsters and bad people? In that sense, I'm the most suitable, 'aight?"
"Fumu, it's true that we've been overshadowed by Exa, but originally we saintesses or saints should have been the 'Savior'. That is to say, to the people, the one fit to be the true saintess should be the strongest saintess."
And that is me, Arcadia declared boldly, and we looked at her with exasperated gazes.
The problem was this self-proclaimed strongest saintess had been going around wreaking havoc in martial arts tournaments, ignoring people in trouble…
Then.
"Here."
『?』
Tirna raised her hand and called our attention.
"If a saintess is a mystical and special being, I believe I'll be the one who fits the bill the most. After all, I was born between a mermaid and a human. I'm strong and beautiful, too."
『...』
This girl… she said she was beautiful with a straight face…
Maybe she had gained confidence because Exa kept praising her that she was cute…
Well, I often called myself a 'peerless beauty', but I wouldn't go say them out loud…
"…Geez, at this rate, this is never going to end." Zana sighed.
"Fumu, that reminds me, you haven't made any claims, why?" Arcadia tilted her head in wonder.
"Isn't it obvious?," Zana shrugged her shoulders and said, "That's because I'm the only one worthy to stand by Exa's side, in the first place."
『...』
Everyone else, including me, wore a 'Yeah, right…' face. Then I said,
"In my opinion, a 'saintess' is a woman who is beautiful, pure, innocent, and possesses both strength and compassion—at least that's what I was taught. So I think the true saintess is the one who checks all that…"
That was what I had exhausted myself pretending to be, anyway.
"Is that so? That's such a shame," Arcadia shook her head in pity.
"What do you mean by that?!"
Rather, can you please stop making that seriously disappointed face?!
I feel like you are looking at me as a disappointing girl?!
Despite my objection, everyone, Arcadia included, continued to look at me with disappointed faces.
No no no!?
I mean, yes, I might be disappointing, but you all were mostly disappointing, too?!