We'd gotten rid of the squid, and we were currently flying over Fuguten, surrounded by my light. Why were we in the sky, you ask? Well, because we were on our way to Alfrea's grave.
After my call with Alfrea had been cut short by connection issues, I'd told everyone what had happened. I hadn't expected them to believe me, but surprisingly enough, none of them had questioned what I'd said. Instead, they suggested that we set out for Alfrea's grave as soon as possible.
Since Alfrea was the very first saint, she hadn't had a guard. In fact, people had only truly begun to acknowledge her existence after she'd defeated the witch, which was why her life had been lost to history. No one knew her birthplace or birth date. So with all that said, if someone suddenly were to suddenly tell you that her grave was located on an island on the other side of the world, you'd be at least a teeny, tiny bit doubtful, right?
I was still baffled that everyone had accepted what I'd said on the spot. "If Lady Ellize says so, it must be true," they'd said.
I couldn't help but worry about them. I mean... I did hear Alfrea's voice. I didn't lie, but I could have! If I were a con man, you'd all be out your money, you know!
"Profeta, are you sure we're heading the right way?" I asked.
"Yes. Alfrea is sleeping over there," the turtle answered.
I'd really made a good call bringing the all-seeing turtle along. Without her, we would've had to spend hours collecting information. We still had a little time until we reached our destination, so I figured I might as well ask Profeta a few more questions.
"Do you know why Lady Alfrea's grave is in this country?"
"Yes, I do. This place is the first saint's homeland, you see," Profeta explained. "Most of the fighting between the witches and the saints happens on Giardino nowadays, but it all started here, on this small island."
I'd never heard about that! It was a pretty important piece of information, but the game never mentioned it.
Uh-oh. The longer this goes on, the more worthless the intel I already have becomes.
By the way, just for the sake of clarity, I'd like to reiterate that the first witch and the first saint were two different people. The witch was the first to be born into this world. As the world's proxy, she was given the duty to rule over the humans. However, she eventually went mad, which prompted the world to give birth to Alfrea—the first saint.
"We're there," the turtle notified me. "You can bring us down."
I slowed down and landed in a valley surrounded by rocky cliffs on both sides. The turtle trudged toward a cave and entered. We followed her inside, and after a few steps, were greeted by an incredible sight.
The ceiling was entirely made of some sort of beautiful white stones; I assumed they were marble. The light that came pouring in from the entrance reflected itself on the possible-marble and onto the body of water inside the cave. The result was breathtaking rays of blue glimmer that almost didn't seem to belong in this world. An array of plants were growing freely inside the cave, adding to the wondrous spectacle.
A battered, rusty set of armor stood a bit farther into the cave. The armor was empty, but it somehow held a rusty sword as it teetered forward, the metal clanking against the stone floor with every step. It looked like it'd come crashing down if I so much as poked it.
"What is—"
"That's Alfrea's knight," Profeta answered before I could even ask the question. "That's not exactly accurate—at the time, the saint didn't have knights, let alone a guard. The people didn't know of her, so how could they have thought to create one? However, there was one person who vowed to protect her. Even after his death, his soul has remained in this world, and he continues to fulfill his oath."
We approached. While the armor let me pass through, it stood in Layla and the others' way.
"It would seem like her knight won't allow anyone but the saint through," the turtle said, looking at me and then at Eterna.
What?! You freaking set of rusted junk, do you not have eyes?! Oh right, you don't. My bad. That doesn't mean you get to disrespect the saint, though!
Sadly, I couldn't really complain out loud unless I wanted to out myself, so I simply frowned and moved forward.
Are you sure it's okay for me to be here? I'm just a fake, you know?
No one tried to stop me, so I kept on walking. Eventually, I reached the deepest part of the cave and discovered a huge crystal. Inside it was a young woman who was...NAKED?!
N-N-Naked! Naked! She's NA☆KEY!
I screamed inwardly for a couple of seconds before forcing myself to calm down.
The woman seemed to be about as old as Layla. She had beautiful silver hair, just like Eterna, though hers was shorter—it only went down to her shoulders. A couple of strands stuck out on each side of her head, and for some reason, only the tips of those locks were black. It made her look like a puppy. Her features were very defined and, unsurprisingly, she was absolutely gorgeous.
Saints are all beauties, aren't they?
Moving on to her boobs: they were huge! Two massive melons! Even Farah had nothing on her.
Image here:
Speaking of which—you know those weird-ass futuristic capsules that always have a naked pretty girl trapped inside? They were a staple in manga and anime! Well, I absolutely loved those. Those scenes always got me hot and bothered. This time, the mysterious beauty was trapped inside a crystal instead of a futuristic capsule, but it was still right up my alley. Props to whoever had done this!
Leaving my sexual preferences aside, I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do here. I could try touching the crystal, but would that do anything? I decided to try it, and—lo and behold—my surroundings changed as if by magic. I found myself floating in an ocean of light. I also somehow happened to be naked.
Hey! Why am I buck naked too?! Come on, who wants to see that?
I hid my private parts with my ultimate defensive light spell, but I still felt uneasy.
I seemed to be in some sort of spiritual realm. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still feel my physical body and move it slightly.
"Welcome, current saint. I've been waiting for you."
A voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw the pretty lady I'd seen in the crystal a few moments ago...still completely naked.
Wow! Now there's a sight for sore eyes!
Girls being defenseless around me was the greatest perk of this whole gender-bender thing. They weren't shy about showing skin in front of another girl. I was all too aware of how gross I was being, but... Heh heh, I would so have an erection if I still had my little Niito.
"Are you Lady Alfrea, the first saint?" I asked. I was already pretty sure she was, but it wouldn't hurt to confirm.
"Yes, I am. You're Ellize, right? The current saint."
"Yes... I'm currently acting as the saint," I answered.
"Acting as the saint? What do you mean?" she asked, looking genuinely confused.
Boy, she really doesn't have a clue, does she?
She was good at posing and looking majestic and all, but I'd just confirmed the sad truth—the girl was an idiot. I didn't have the heart to tease her for much longer, so I decided to give it to her straight.
"I'm not the saint," I replied calmly. "I simply happened to be born in the same village as the true saint. I have strong magical powers, so I was mistaken for her."
Alfrea stared at me, dumbfounded. "Huh?!"
There goes her dignified behavior.
It was nice actually. I couldn't let my perfect facade slip off because there was nothing but a mountain of trash under it, but Alfrea was super cute. Dropping her cool exterior only made her more likable.
"N-No way... But you succeeded in doing what no other saint in history has been able to accomplish. You? A fake mistaken at birth? This has to be a lie! Do you mean to say that any ordinary person could have done what the saints struggled to do for generations if they simply put in a bit of effort? But then...our raison d'être as saints would be... What about our heritage?! Our thousand years of struggles? Were we all just incompetent?! Are all of us less worthy than one regular girl? You have to be kidding me, right?! No... Now that I think about it, I've always thought it was strange. I've never met anyone with as much mana as you, and yet, you have less saint power than any other in history. And you couldn't hear me, no matter how many times I called out to you... Actually, that girl, Eterna, sometimes seemed to react to my pleas, and— Wait. Could she be the one?!"
Alfrea seemed to be at her wit's end or on the verge of having a panic attack. She'd apparently felt my saint power, but that was nothing more than the dark magic I'd taken from Verner. It was only natural that I had the least amount of saint power in history—it wasn't even mine to begin with.
Eventually, after some more muttering to herself, she raised her head and started scrutinizing me from top to bottom.
Random thought, but aren't Alfrea's and Alexia's names way too similar? They both start and end with the same letter, and they have the same number of letters. Then again, I suppose Ellize and Eterna are kinda similar too.
I had a feeling I'd slip up and say one name instead of the other if I wasn't paying enough attention.
"There's no way you're just a common girl!" Alfrea finally shouted. "You look even more saintly than all the previous saints! You're the saint of all saints! You con woman!"
"Well... I'm sorry, I suppose. Anyway, what would you like me to do? Do you want me to bring Eterna here? She's the real saint, so I'm assuming you may want to share what you had to say with her, right?"
"No, stupid! If you do that, I'm going to look like an idiot who can't even recognize the saint! No, no, no! I didn't make any mistakes! You're the saint now, and that's final! I'm the first saint, so I get to decide. I don't accept complaints. See? I was never wrong! In fact, I was right all along!"
Huh? Damn, this girl isn't just an idiot—she's an absolute nutjob.I knew she wasn't all that smart when she'd mistaken me for the real deal, but her reaction was out of this world. I'd originally assumed her IQ was a little below average, but it was actually rock bottom. In fact, she had to be the least saintly saint in the history of saints.
Continuing this conversation wouldn't lead anywhere, so I decided to try changing the topic.
"Lady Alfrea, I have two questions for you. I've seen your body in the cave. Now that I've also met your spirit, I must say...it doesn't seem like you turned into a witch. There's only one thing I can infer from these facts, but I'd appreciate it if you could confirm it for me: you...didn't kill the first witch, did you?"
Alfrea averted her eyes very, very blatantly and didn't answer.
Yeah... I expected as much.
If she'd killed the witch, she wouldn't have had a grave now, would she? If she'd killed the witch, she would've naturally turned into the next one. Then, she would've been hunted down by the following saint. Even if the saint who'd defeated her had left her body be, I doubted anyone would've wanted to erect a grave for her, a hateful villain.
Alfrea's grave was still guarded to this day, and now that I'd met her, she didn't seem the least bit like a witch. There was only one way to explain all this: she hadn't fulfilled her duty.
"I-It's not what you think. I did defeat her once... The thing is, she pretended to be dead to fool me! After a couple of years of peace, she took me by surprise while I was drinking—um, I mean, while I was...distracted! Anyway, she trapped me in that crystal and left me in a state of suspended animation."
So, all in all, you didn't subdue the witch.
To be fair, pretending to be dead had been a pretty smart move on the witch's part. After diverting the saint's attention away from her, she would've had all the time in the world to plan her next move and increase her army of monsters.
I should be mindful so Alexia doesn't pull a fast one on me.
"I suppose that also answers my second question," I said. "You've been trapped in a crystal, and you're still being protected to this day. I was going to ask who had done that to you, but now I know it was the first witch. I'd like to switch to a different question, if you do not mind... Why did the first witch trap you in a crystal instead of killing you? She allowed someone to remain there to protect you. She even went through the trouble of putting you in a state of suspended animation so another saint could be born. I can't seem to understand why she'd do all this."
Alfrea groaned.
Putting the saint in a state of suspended animation was also incredibly smart. It was such an obvious thing to do, and yet no one on the saint's side had ever thought to do it. I supposed it always was—people never figured out the most straightforward solutions.
It's hard to see what is right under your nose, huh? The human brain sure is lacking.
A new saint was born when the previous one turned into a witch or when the world recognized the previous one as dead. To put it in other words, making the world believe a saint was dead just long enough for another saint to be born before bringing the other one back to life would allow you to have two saints.
While this was an incredible advantage for the saint's side, I couldn't see how it'd benefit the witch in any way. The first witch's behavior simply didn't make a shred of sense to me. I would've understood it if she'd trapped the saint without killing her to prevent another saint from being born, but she hadn't done that. She'd gone out of her way to put Alfrea in a state of suspended animation, which let another saint be born. It was way too strange.
"Y-Y-You're so annoying! I was about to explain everything and surprise you," Alfrea grumbled, "but you've already figured everything out... You're even trying to guess why my mother trapped me in that crystal instead of killing me."
"Wait a minute!"
Hang on! Did I really hear what I just heard?! Her mother?! The first witch was her mom?!
Everything suddenly made sense. The first witch had let Alfrea defeat her once, and she'd pretended to be dead so that her daughter's reputation could grow. Then, she'd attacked her by surprise. She'd been very careful not to kill her, even though she most definitely could've. Instead, she'd chosen to let her sleep for a long time. I was starting to get it. The first witch had done that because she absolutely did not want her own daughter to turn into the next witch.
Actually, Ijuuin-san had once told us something interesting:
The witch went mad—I'm not sure why—and she turned against humanity. At first, she only killed humans. Eventually, though, she started doing the very thing she'd been created to prevent—destroying nature. So, the world decided to create a new proxy—the first saint, Alfrea. While the first witch was eventually defeated, her grudge stuck to the saint, which turned her into the next witch.
I'd assumed Alfrea had defeated the first witch, but now that I thought about it, he'd never said a word about Alfrea being the one to do it. He'd simply said that a saint had turned into the next witch.
To be fair, I was pretty sure Ijuuin-san had only heard about the general setting from the scenarist. He probably didn't know that Alfrea wasn't the second witch; he'd most likely just repeated what the scenarist had told him, hence the vague wording.
To think a clue was hiding there...
"I think I understand everything now," I said after a pause. "The first witch—in other words, your mother—pretended to be dead so she could get the chance to put you in a state of suspended animation. She held on to her last human emotions, and it pushed her to protect you from the tragic cycle that plagues the saints and witches. That's why she used such a roundabout method. She wanted to make sure that even if she was killed by a saint, it wouldn't be you... All so that you wouldn't have to go through the pain of becoming a witch. Did I get it right?"
Alfrea didn't know how to reply, so she simply groaned softly. Her reaction told me everything I needed to know—I was right.
Tears welled up in Alfrea's eyes, and she started shivering. "Why are you like this?! I wanted you to let me explaaaaaain! Why are you making deductions all on your own and assuming you're right? I mean you are right, but... It's not fair! Let me speak! I wanted you to be shocked and shudder at my awesome revelations!"
Man, what should I do? She's already starting to get on my nerves.
She seemed to be mad because I'd drawn my own conclusions. I figured it'd probably be best if I asked her something to make her happy.
"Lady Alfrea, could you explain why you called me here?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? I'm sure you're dying to know, even. You are, aren't you?!"
Oh god, she's such a pain! I don't care anymore, I'm leaving.
As soon as she saw me beginning to disappear, Alfrea screamed, "WAIT! HANG ON! I'LL TELL YOU, SO WAIT!"
I could see the tears threatening to fall, so I gave up on going home.
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