Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Aram liked studying.

She loved it. When eating food, when listening to music, even when simply walking down a road, knowledge is needed. And the more you know, the clearer the world becomes.

In the end, a lowly beggar with nothing to her name became a priest by luck.

“Will you come with me?”

“Is it okay for me to go?”

“Yes. I see aptitude in you.”

“Then... I’ll go.”

Hands clasped.

She had been informed in advance and learned of the dangers of joining the Moon Lady Religion. But it didn’t matter. It wasn’t just that she could escape the status of a mere wretched beggar—that wasn’t what made it good. What was good was that she would be able to enjoy knowledge beyond her station.

“How does the Moon Lady grant wisdom?”

“If the priests join their strength and pray for about one month on average, we can obtain information from our teacher. If you want an easier method, then naturally, you receive the help of a saint and communicate directly with the god.”

“But the saint who is here now looked like they would soon pass away. Even now, they’re lying on a sickbed, so they can’t do questions and answers with our teacher.”

“Then another saint can appear. We gathered for that, didn’t we?”

“Ah...”

From that moment, Aram’s fate might have already been decided. From the moment she heard the bishop—her foster mother’s—words, she formed a vague goal that ‘I will fulfill that role.’

But it wasn’t as though she thought it absolutely had to be so. Aram liked studying. Learning was enjoyable. She welcomed becoming brighter and clearer about the world. She wanted to become a more perfect being.

‘If I change myself day by day like this, I’ll be able to accomplish more things. I’ll become a better being, and that will let me live through happy days. I can do it.’

And Aram became a saintess.

“...?”

On the day she heard the Moon Lady’s voice.

“...You say you heard the teacher’s voice.”

“Yes. She clearly told me about what I was curious about.”

“If what you say is true, then verification is needed. We will make preparations.”

“I will wait.”

She knew what it meant to become a saint of the Moon Lady Religion. Even so, Aram was fine with it. Even if she died as a human like the previous generation’s saint, or became a fragment of divinity, it was fine.

This place was a perfect home for her. She also had family she relied on and loved. She wanted to repay the grace she had received, and for her own sake as well, she wanted to become a more perfect person. There was nothing to fear.

“If I become a saintess, I’ll ask the teacher the things you’re curious about, Bishop. Especially what you’re curious about, I can ask even more diligently.”

“...That is something to be grateful for.”

“I’m fine.”

“...”

The bishop did not answer.

The test was carried out. Deep and varied questions poured forth that she should not have known. Following the Moon Lady’s voice, Aram responded without rest. The priests marveled, and a new saint was born.

“It’s fortunate I’m here, isn’t it?”

“Of course, Saintess.”

“...Now I’m not the bishop’s daughter anymore?”

“...”

This time, too, the bishop did not answer.

“...That part isn’t quite fine...”

“I’m sorry.”

“I hate it even more when you apologize.”

“I’m sorry, Saintess.”

“...”

This time, Aram closed her mouth. She realized it.

‘It wasn’t that you didn’t answer—you couldn’t answer.’

Because no matter what was said, nothing would change. Because you didn’t know what would be the right answer. Because even if words came to mind, you were afraid that if you spoke them, the wound would grow bigger. That was why, all this time, the bishop had not answered Aram’s words.

But this, too, was the path Aram had decided on.

“...”

“I’m fine.”

She still liked learning.

“I can make this world better. Even at the Association’s research institute, they receive the most counsel from our Moon Lady Religion, don’t they? Someday, if I become divinity and can make the Moon Lady warmer, I’ll be satisfied with that.”

So.

“...So don’t look at me with those eyes.”

“My apologies.”

That crisp tone came across so chillingly.

“...”

She did not regret it.

‘I chose it.’

It is the path I walk because I want it.

She was still young, and there was much to learn. Her family was indifferent, but dependable. The depth of mystery had not yet even been confirmed to the end. There was still a long way to go before the enjoyable things ran out.

Even so, at times, in sudden loneliness, Aram would feel fear.

“...Is even the Moon Lady’s embrace this frightening?”

“It must be cold and dark. That is why we must make the moon warmer.”

“Even though she must be providence, she makes people afraid.”

“That is foolish talk. Even if it is providence, it is not as though it cannot kill mere tiny creatures.”

“My learning is still insufficient, Bishop.”

Earth is chaotic. Even if you want to learn, the Moon Lady’s embrace is filled to the brim with wisdom you cannot learn. The Moon Lady Religion was striving for the world. Aram respected and loved such a Moon Lady Religion.

She felt pride, thinking, I am a member of it too.

“I will draw closer to perfection.”

“Excellent.”

So my fear can never become the first priority.

Aram learned and studied with all her might. Her vessel had barely been broadened with the Moon Lady Religion’s support, so she might die at any time. Because it was not a vessel large and sturdy enough to hold the Moon Lady completely.

‘If I’m fated to die young, then I’ll enjoy more pleasures.’

And she would leave more things behind here.

‘Knowledge remains in a permanent form and spreads to various beings.’

Knowledge is an immortal concept. If she became a part of that knowledge and remained in the world, that was enough. Aram studied with all her might, and in the end, when the time came, she collapsed. Her mind grew hazy, as if the Moon Lady was going to take her.

And she met someone named Seo Gio.

“Today it’s French toast.”

“French toast...?”

“I didn’t think it would be your first time eating it, but is there a problem?”

“I was wondering if it’s originally this thick.”

“If it’s thick, it’s delicious.”

“That’s true.”

He often gave Aram delicious snacks.

‘...As expected, it’s delicious.’

A soft sensation like clouds crumbling on her tongue. A fluffy texture that spread out. Savory egg mixture that seeped in without any fishy taste. And the taste of butter and milk. Honey and cinnamon.

‘I can taste it.’

Perhaps because, though her vessel was incomplete, she did not entirely lack aptitude, as time passed, she could feel mystery accumulating in her body. Aram was growing farther from being human. Even when she ate food, it didn’t feel like she had eaten. She could taste it, but somehow it was growing dull.

It was all because she was becoming divinity. Divinity could not be satisfied with the food of mere tiny creatures. Aram felt satisfaction through the five senses less and less. Only knowledge made her happy, and she even burrowed into the Moon Lady’s embrace, but...

“What is this? It’s my first time having it, and it’s so delicious.”

“It’s just water made by soaking fruit from some dungeon in sugar, then fermenting it.”

“You’re saying ‘fruit syrup’ in a really long way...”

“I thought I’d try saying it in a way that sounds fancy.”

“Pointless.”

Before she knew it, she was enjoying fine food.

‘...Ah, I see.’

All this time, I had forgotten how to eat.

‘Forgetting what you learned is a stupid thing even the Moon Lady Religion’s prospective priests don’t do.’

She recalled how she felt when the bishop first taught her table manners. She taught her how to hold a spoon in her hand. She also taught her how to savor food. She taught her the way to eat with the greatest joy.

“...I’ll remember it all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The taste of this toast you made, Teacher, and its texture, its color... and even if it’s not this, all the foods you made for me before. I won’t forget anymore.”

“Is there a reason?”

“So that even when I become the Moon Lady, I’ll still remember this.”

She could not forget that a meal prepared by a mere tiny creature could be this delicious. She must not. A saint is a small warming stone that heats the Moon Lady so she can become warmer. She wanted to be faithful to that role.

Hunter Seo Gio asked.

“Is that what you want?”

“Of course.”

It is my chosen pride.

“Someday, I’ll become the Moon Lady and cultivate the world more perfectly. Right now, it hasn’t been long since the Great Catastrophe ended, so everyone is struggling and confused, but if more knowledge is revealed and people become smarter, it will become a much better world.”

More perfectly.

“So I won’t forget.”

“I hope your mother doesn’t forget either.”

“...”

Once again, her throat tightened.

“...I don’t want to cry, but why do you keep making me cry...”

“If you want to make the Moon Lady warmer and more perfect, you have to remember sorrow too.”

“...What you say is right, Teacher.”

“Now, look. I won’t make you into a strange child.”

Teacher was a very gentle person.

“You have to live a life you won’t regret.”

“Up to now, I haven’t regretted even once...”

“How grown-up.”

He even let out a deliberate sigh.

“Your mind ripened far too early.”

“It’s because I’m special.”

“So remember the emotions you can obtain from ordinariness as well.”

“I will.”

“You can become anything.”

“...Teacher...”

She grew curious.

“What about you, Teacher?”

“Me?”

“...Don’t you want to remain human?”

“Hm, my father does not absorb me.”

“But I can feel it.”

It was instinctive. She had never once felt a similar sensation before, but she naturally knew. The man before her was indeed a saint. And perhaps he had already shed being human.

“Teacher, too... already, mystery is...”

“Full, isn’t it?”

“...”

“And yet, the fact that I am an ordinary person is what makes me special.”

“It sounds like a story that makes no sense...”

“I was always a person.”

“Did you choose that path?”

“For me, the path isn’t what’s important.”

That was an unfamiliar story to Aram, who had chosen a single path her whole life.

“But if mysteries like us don’t choose a path, don’t we become calamities?”

“Even calamities have their own kinds. What matters is not crossing the line, Aram.”

Teacher did not hold any expectations of her, nor any disappointment. He only looked at her with gentle eyes. If there was something wrong, he corrected it, and if there was somewhere she could improve, he told her.

That came to Aram as something very sweet. A comfortable sense of stability she hadn’t felt in a long time. It felt like her feet were on the ground.

“I really wish you would keep staying here, Teacher. I want you to talk with me without missing a single day, and I want you to always make delicious food like this too.”

An equal existence to me. Someone who neither pities nor expects, and simply stays by my side.

“But that would be difficult, right?”

“You don’t get greedy until the end.”

“...Still, I’ll be greedy just once.”

“What would that be?”

“Can I become your disciple, Teacher?”

“...”

For the first time, he did not answer.

He could not answer.

“...Did I put you in a difficult position, Teacher?”

“...Not exactly.”

He even seemed sad.

“It’s just that I never even thought I could take in a disciple.”

“I... I’ll learn how to live from you, Teacher, just like I learned from the bishop.”

“No, Aram. You will learn from me how to rely and let go.”

“...Isn’t it too wasteful to let go?”

“You have to learn even that.”

Teacher smiled.

“If you want to become perfect.”

“...I will.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you smile like a child who is nothing at all.”

“Can I really do that?”

“Of course. You’re a talented child.”

His words of encouragement were so warm.

“You can do anything.”

With the fear receding, she wanted to cry a little.

I’m afraid that one day I’ll end up regretting this... it was scary.

* * *

“The saintess seems much more at ease.”

The bishop still felt mixed emotions.

She wanted the saintess to walk the path of divinity and open a new guideline for the Moon Lady Religion. But she also wanted the child she cherished like a daughter to enjoy a comfortable, happy life.

“In the end, choosing is up to her.”

“She will be able to choose the path she wants well.”

Gio smiled.

“She can do anything.”

Now it was time for the wicked Demon King to appear.

(To be continued in the next part)