Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Let's Go to Septimoa

The next morning, we began preparing to leave Sodom bright and early.

We'd already lost far too much time.

On top of that, because of my condition, we'd be traveling to Septimoa by carriage, which meant following the main roads connecting one city to another.

That would force us to take a longer, winding route instead of cutting directly through the mountain paths, so naturally it would take more time.

Of course, using the main road meant traveling along a well-established route.

The upside was that we wouldn't have to fend for ourselves if we couldn't resupply, or camp outside because we couldn't find somewhere to stay.

In exchange for taking longer, it was a safer and more comfortable route.

Still, there were no guarantees.

If something wanted to go wrong, it could happen anywhere.

In the original story, even the Eris Order, one of the Seven Great Holy Orders, had been completely destroyed.

A main road was no reason to let my guard down.

‘Come on... I've already run into the Apostate. Surely nothing else is going to happen now. That'd just be shameless, wouldn't it?’

I tried reassuring myself that way, but the unease didn't fade at all.

What made it worse was that even if something did happen right now, there was basically nothing I could do about it.

“Ughhh... I'm dying.”

With the old man's help, I barely climbed into the carriage, collapsed onto the cushioned seat, and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

Just look at the state I'm in.

I can't even board a carriage without help.

If anything happened, forget being useful—I was guaranteed to become dead weight.

I really had no interest in playing the pitiful heroine like this.

But what else could I do?

All I could do was pray to Goddess Eris that nothing strange happened.

“Huaa...”

A faint sigh escaped me.

Honestly, I'd initially thought it wasn't a big deal.

I'd only been hit with a whip a few times.

But the wounds were much worse than I'd expected.

Yesterday, when we removed the bandages to disinfect them, my reaction upon seeing the injuries had been...

[...Oh, holy shit. That's incredible.]

It was an exclamation of genuine shock.

The long wound stretching from my shoulder down to my side looked as though someone had seared me with a red-hot branding iron.

Worse, the flesh around it had turned black, and purple veins spread outward from the wound in a shape resembling a rose.

[What exactly is incredible about this...?!]

The old man had gritted his teeth after hearing my reaction.

He clearly wanted to start yelling immediately, but I suppose he'd held back because I was currently a patient.

[Doesn't this kind of look like a tattoo? I've wanted to try one at least once. Honestly, it looks cooler than I expected...]

[Saintess!]

With the veins looking like a rose tattoo and the bandages wrapped around me, I felt a bit like one of those female gangster characters from fiction.

I thought it looked surprisingly cool and said so, only for the old man's shout to cut me off.

[We are barely preventing the demonic energy from spreading through your body using healing sacred arts!]

This is a dangerous situation, and you're joking around?!

I don't know where you developed this fantasy, but tattoos are absolutely forbidden while I'm alive—no, even after I'm dead!

He'd gone on and on like that for ages.

Come on.

It's not like I actually intended to get one.

Sure, I've thought tattooed women looked cool before, but it's a completely different story when it's my own body.

...One stupid joke earned me a very long lecture.

“Is anything about the carriage uncomfortable?”

While I sat there remembering yesterday's ordeal, the old man's question pulled me back to reality.

“No. I'm the only one riding while everyone else walks. How could I complain?”

Everyone else was traveling on foot.

It would've been pretty shameless for me to whine while I got to ride alone.

Besides, the old man had even cast a sacred art to prevent motion sickness.

And although this carriage looked rough from the outside, it was actually very well made.

“They say this is the finest carriage in the village.”

“...Uh, is it really okay for us to take something like that?”

Apparently the village had provided not only the carriage, but the horses as well.

For a remote mountain village like this, both had to be valuable resources.

Was it really okay for us to accept them?

Couldn't we have just borrowed some ordinary cart?

The Holy Knights could pull it instead of horses...

“There was little choice. You need to remain as stable as possible until we reach the capital, Saintess. We can compensate the village later.”

“Well... I guess that works.”

Come to think of it, people from our Order would be visiting this village again eventually.

There was cleanup to handle and traces of the Apostate to investigate.

The Order could compensate them then.

“And Saintess.”

“Yeah?”

“The villagers wish to thank you personally. I have continued refusing because your recovery takes priority... but since we are about to leave, perhaps you would like to exchange a final greeting with them.”

“Why not?”

Thinking about it, I'd never had a proper conversation with the people of Sodom.

When I first entered the village, everyone had been out of their minds under Selenia's curse.

And by the time they recovered, I was bedridden and couldn't meet anyone.

Yet now they wanted to come thank me...

It felt a little strange to exchange farewells when we'd barely even met, but there was no real reason to refuse.

I nodded.

The old man stepped away for a moment, and as though they'd been waiting, an elderly man who appeared to be the village chief approached the carriage leading a long procession.

He was exactly the sort of kindly, white-haired elder you'd expect to find at least one of in a small village.

“...Saintess of Eris, you have our deepest gratitude. Thanks to you defeating the Apostate and breaking her sorcery, our village has escaped that threat and regained its peace.”

Tears glistened in the village chief's eyes.

Behind him, the villagers lined up, knelt, and offered prayers toward me with tears in their eyes.

“...Please, everyone, stand. I only did what needed to be done.”

Seeing them like that, I answered with a somber expression.

They probably remembered too.

Even if they'd been under sorcery, the memories of stripping women of their clothes and treating them like tools had surely returned.

Those memories wouldn't disappear easily.

Especially for the women.

...Fucking demons.

I swallowed the curse trying to escape my mouth.

“Truly... no amount of repayment would ever be enough.”

“The carriage and horses are more than enough. I heard you even prepared food and water for us.”

“That alone cannot possibly suffice...!”

...Honestly, this was getting a little embarrassing.

I hadn't fought Selenia expecting a reward.

If I were being completely honest, whatever my intentions at first, by the end I'd simply been fighting to stay alive.

So when they insisted on repaying me, I wanted to refuse outright.

But the resolve in the eyes of the village chief and everyone behind him looked anything but weak.

And now that I looked closely, they'd all come carrying bundles of something.

Their faces practically said, ‘No matter what it takes, we're putting these gifts in your hands.’

Well... fine.

Since they clearly weren't going to back down easily, I decided to bring up something I'd been thinking since the moment I first heard this village's name.

“No reward is necessary. Instead... why not change the village's name? Think of it as making a fresh start. The current name feels rather ominous.”

Changing a village's name couldn't be an easy decision.

A remote mountain village like this probably had a strong sense of community and attachment to its home.

Changing the name tied to that place was no small matter.

No matter how badly they wanted to repay me, if I demanded something as extreme as renaming the village, maybe they'd finally drop the idea of giving me gifts.

But what came out of the village chief's mouth was slightly different from what I'd expected.

“Ah, you mean the name ‘Sodom.’ That was merely a disgusting name the witch invented according to her own tastes. Now that the curse has been broken, it is time for us to reclaim our true name.”

“Oh. Figures.”

Yeah.

You'd have to be insane to willingly name your village Sodom.

Right?

“So what was the original name?”

“Our village is called ‘Luminous.’ It means the village of light. What you restored to us today, Saintess, was not merely peace, but our very identity.”

Luminous.

That's a nice name.

...Wait.

If that's the case...

“So please, accept our gratitude. If you wish, you may even choose whatever name you desire for the village.”

...What do I do now?

First they want to reward me, and now they're asking me to name the village too.

I feel like I just tripped over my own feet.

Accepting their gifts made me uncomfortable.

But barging in and renaming the village now that I knew Sodom wasn't even its real name would be even worse.

Ah, screw it.

Let's just take the direct approach.

“I cannot. As someone who serves the gods, I cannot casually accept such generosity.”

“Then please consider them offerings to Goddess Eris.”

“...In that case, give them to the people from our Order when they come here later.”

“But...”

“I'll accept the sentiment alone. My condition still isn't good, and increasing our luggage during the journey wouldn't be wise either. You understand, don't you?”

At my final mention of my condition, the villagers finally nodded.

No matter how stubborn they were, they weren't unreasonable enough to insist if doing so might harm the health of their benefactor.

“Huaa... I'm exhausted.”

After refusing the villagers' gifts and exchanging one last farewell, I closed the carriage door.

The carriage slowly began moving.

The villagers lined both sides of the road, applauding, praying through tears, bowing their heads, and seeing us off.

I opened the carriage window and waved back.

I still felt uneasy because I couldn't be sure I'd actually killed Selenia, but the fact that we'd uprooted the seed of darkness she'd planted here and restored some peace gave me a little comfort.

“Let's go to Septimoa.”

Since I'd muttered it alone inside the carriage, naturally no answer came.

But saying a line like that is practically mandatory, isn't it?

With that thought, I closed my eyes.

I'd already slept all day yesterday, but my injured body kept demanding more rest, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

“Haa... haa...”

In the mountains some distance from Sodom—no, Luminous.

A woman wearing a nun's habit, torn and scorched in countless places as though she'd been burned alive, staggered through the forest before finally collapsing.

She writhed for a moment, then barely managed to drag herself against a tree and sit upright.

Ugly burn scars covered much of her body and half her face.

The woman was none other than Selenia the Apostate.

“Huaa... Hah, what a fiery little junior you are...”

To think she'd burn away all of my demonic energy with divine power.

How long had it been since she'd been beaten this badly?

She'd certainly let her guard down because she'd trusted the Curse of Carnal Desire too much, but she'd genuinely come within a hair's breadth of being annihilated on the spot.

Even now, almost all of her demonic energy had been burned away.

“To think she'd already undergone the Bath...”

The Bath required more than the rank of one's soul.

Mental maturity was equally important.

No matter how lofty the soul, if the mind itself wasn't mature enough, losing a screw or two upstairs would be the least of the consequences.

How old was her adorable junior again?

“Twenty-one...?”

Hmm.

She ought to have been at least thirty.

What exactly was going on?

Breaking the Curse of Cognition.

Surviving the Bath at such a young age.

She truly was a girl overflowing with mysteries worth uncovering.

“Hehe... truly... fascinating.”

Selenia muttered quietly and spat out phlegm mixed with blood.

A grotesque laugh leaked through her hideously distorted lips.

Her burned fingers traced the scar left across her chest by the holy spear.

A searing pain radiated from the wound.

Yet paradoxically, that pain reminded her of a light she had long forgotten.

“Ahh... my lovely junior.”

Once, I too stood beneath that light.

There had been a time when she wore a beautiful nun's habit and prayed as though she meant to shoulder every sorrow in the world.

When she too had been called Eris's most beloved daughter and dreamed of becoming someone's salvation.

And what had become of her?

The Curse of Carnal Desire had shredded her soul.

The once-noble Saintess had fallen into a monster who seduced countless people into ruin and felt ecstasy every time their purity was stained.

I'm jealous.

Of the way you shine so brilliantly.

Because I once shone too, yet now I've fallen so far that even a fragment of that light is denied to me.

I admire you.

That nobility that drives you to throw yourself into danger and fight at the very front despite being a Saintess.

Unlike me, who surrendered to the curse and fastened the collar around my own neck, you never let go of your spear until the very end.

You're adorable.

The awkward way you spit out crude curses while hiding a soft heart beneath them.

I hate you.

The fact that you still know nothing of the hell I endured drives me mad.

“Beatrice.”

Selenia softly spoke Beatrice's name, savoring every syllable.

Could you become a blade capable of piercing through the Seven Sins?

Countless demons would surely hurl themselves at that dazzling blade like moths trying to break it.

Could you endure the weight of despair they would bring you?

If you eventually failed and fell into corruption, then I would be the only one in this world capable of understanding you completely.

But if those countless trials instead tempered the blade called Beatrice until it grew sharp enough to pierce Lady Lilith, the master who shackled my soul?

Could you become the savior who drags me out of this hell?

“Ahh... I can't wait.”

Whether we roll together in this pit of sin...

Or you save me from it.

Either would delight her.

Selenia slowly lowered the grotesquely twisted corners of her mouth and closed her eyes.

At least for now...

The divine power of Eris, which she had always found so revolting, didn't feel quite so disgusting anymore.