Chapter 40

Chapter 40

I Was Acting Like a Complete Idiot

How should I interpret the situation unfolding in front of me?

The Kael in my memory—the Kael from the original story—was your classic righteous, upright Hero.

Then what the hell was this bastard in front of me?

When I'd seen him standing behind Clarice before the Council, his atmosphere had been so completely different that I'd immediately concluded, ‘There's no way someone like that is the Hero.’

And his skill was exceptional too.

This wasn't merely a matter of talent.

The way he fought carried the unmistakable experience of someone who had crossed the line between life and death thousands of times.

‘Something is seriously, seriously wrong here.’

If this guy really was Kael, then there wasn't just one thing wrong.

‘Did the original story get twisted?’

There was a saying called the butterfly effect.

A tiny flap of a butterfly's wings could become an enormous typhoon on the other side of the world.

Maybe the fact that I had become not the original story's frail ‘Silver Saintess,’ but the ‘Silver Holy Spear’ rampaging through the Demon Realm had caused unexpected changes.

If so, I couldn't rule out the possibility that my own changes had somehow affected Kael too.

‘...Honestly, it'd be easier on my head if I just assumed this bastard was impersonating the Hero.’

But the starlight divine power he'd shown earlier could only be possessed by a Hero.

On top of that, he'd openly been traveling together with people from the Justitia Order.

So much for that convenient theory.

“...Saintess.”

Kael forced the word out through gritted teeth.

His voice was saturated with horrific killing intent.

“Kill him.”

What the hell is wrong with him?

Did Cassian murder his whole family or something?

Or did he seriously eat something bad?

I agreed that Cassian was trash who deserved to die.

But when the original story's protagonist suddenly appeared and started insisting Cassian had to be killed, the whole thing went beyond confusing and entered downright surreal territory.

“Why.”

“...”

“What's your reason?”

“I cannot tell you.”

For a second, anger surged up.

What the hell was this bastard expecting me to do?

Was one of the prerequisites for becoming a Hero being exceptionally good at pissing people off?

Kael's lips moved slightly.

He looked like there was something he wanted to say but couldn't bring himself to.

Was it something he couldn't say while Cassian and Leonid were nearby?

Snap-

I lightly snapped my fingers.

“Go ahead. I've blocked the sound with divine power, so I'm the only one who can hear you right now.”

Fine.

I'll set the stage for him.

And if he still clammed up and acted frustrating after this...

Well, what could I do?

Clearly he'd be indirectly asking me to beat the shit out of him, so I'd simply grant his wish.

“...He is a man who will lead you to ruin, and ultimately destroy the Holy Nation itself.”

Kael's words were filled with absolute certainty.

“Hah? You talk like you've seen the future.”

“And what if I have?”

“What?”

My eyes widened at his question.

Don't tell me this bastard...

A thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Maybe I wasn't the only person who had possessed someone in this world.

“Korea.”

“...?”

No?

Ah, right.

K-webtoons are popular worldwide.

There was no reason another reader had to be Korean.

“Corea.”

“...?”

Fine.

Maybe he'd read an illegally translated version and didn't know the country.

There were plenty of people in remote corners of the world who thought East Asia was nothing but China and Japan.

“America. USA. Washington. New York.”

“...Is that some kind of code?”

Kael's expression was filled with confusion.

Was he acting?

Or was this guy genuinely ignorant enough not to know America?

Fine.

One final check.

“The world we live in is actually round.”

“Excuse me?”

Kael stared blankly at me for a moment.

Then his expression shifted into one that clearly asked whether I'd gone insane.

“What are you talking about? If the ground beneath us weren't flat, how could we stand without rolling off—”

“Ah, forget it.”

Possessor my ass.

This bastard was just an ignorant medieval native.

Which only made my headache worse.

Then why the hell had he changed so much?

And how did he know Cassian would go batshit insane in the future?

“Saintess, kill Cassian immedi—”

“God, shut up for a second.”

My head was already complicated enough.

Seeing this bastard repeat ‘Kill Cassian’ like a broken parrot snapped the final thread of my patience.

I immediately dropped a divine-power-loaded nuclear knuckle bomb right onto the crown of Kael's head.

BAM-

With a dull impact, Kael released a dying groan, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed face-first onto the ground, twitching.

“...Haa.”

Kael had been loudly insisting Cassian was a damned bastard and needed to die immediately.

Normally, hearing someone else voice the same thoughts I'd always carried should've made me happy.

But...

“Fuck.”

For some reason, all I felt was irritation boiling up inside me.

It also felt like there was something I desperately wanted to say, yet I couldn't even figure out what.

The words were caught in my throat.

In the end, unable to identify the source of the strange disgust inside me, I spat out another curse.

I shook out my hand and released a deep sigh.

...First, let's clean up this fucking mess.

“Cassian.”

“Yes... Yes?”

The bastard answered with a blank expression.

“Stop spacing out. Carry Leonid to the main palace and get him treated.”

“Understood.”

“He's lost a lot of blood, so shock is possible. Move him as carefully as you can.”

“Mmm... Understood!”

Cassian had been preparing to throw Leonid over his back, but at my order to move him carefully, he flinched and changed his posture.

After hesitating for a moment, Cassian slid one hand under Leonid's back and the other beneath his knees, then lifted him.

The so-called princess carry.

“...”

Hmm...

It probably was more stable for the patient than carrying him on his back.

But seeing Leonid nestled in Cassian's arms like a princess somehow...

“Pfft...”

The thought that I was witnessing something deeply cursed entered my mind at the same time laughter started leaking out.

“...Don't laugh, Sis... And man, can't you carry me some other way...”

“No, no. This is perfect. Take him exactly like that. And if possible, walk proudly so everyone in the Holy Nation gets to see it.”

I waved my hand and cut Leonid off.

“Understood!”

“Wait...!”

Cassian answered loudly, then took off at a run while carefully(?) hugging Leonid in his arms.

Well...

Leonid would be fine.

He'd bled quite a lot, but Kael had apparently shown some restraint because none of the wounds were fatal.

A few days of treatment and proper sleep would have him back on his feet.

He'd ended up in much worse shape than this in the Demon Realm and was still walking around just fine today.

“All right, then what do I do with this bastard...”

The remaining problem was Kael, the male lead of the original story.

Judging by the deranged look he'd had earlier, the moment he woke up he'd probably start trying to kill Cassian again.

I didn't want to deal with that...

‘But why?’

The question that had refused to leave my head resurfaced.

I definitely hated Cassian.

He'd been acting differently lately, sure, but during our first meeting I'd gone so far as to try killing him.

Then shouldn't I feel favorably toward Kael, who wanted the same thing?

So why was he only pissing me off?

Did I hate Kael the same way I hated Cassian?

‘Do I have some kind of Hero allergy?’

Obviously no such allergy existed.

Kael's behavior simply irritated me beyond belief for reasons I couldn't explain.

...And if someone asked what the difference was between that and simply hating Kael, I didn't exactly have an answer.

But that was how it felt.

“Haa... Life. This is so fucking annoying.”

A faint sigh escaped me.

I've been thinking things like that constantly lately.

Overcomplicating things isn't my specialty, so let's just let it go.

I'll be grateful I arrived in time and prevented a complete catastrophe...

‘Wait.’

I suddenly remembered how suspiciously the chairman had been acting while deliberately dragging out our conversation.

‘...Don't tell me these bastards...’

It was only an uncertain suspicion.

But I had one indisputable justification.

Kael had tried to kill Cassian.

That meant there was no reason to hesitate.

I grabbed the back of Kael's neck while he was still foaming at the mouth.

He was over 180 centimeters tall, but divine power made him light enough to carry.

And I wasn't planning to treat him gently anyway, so his size mattered even less.

Step.

Step.

My rough footsteps echoed through the marble corridor.

Priests and maids passing by stared in horror at the sight of me dragging the blood-covered Kael along the floor.

But perhaps intimidated by my murderous aura, none tried to stop me.

‘Chairman... You old lizard bastard. You dare pull this shit?’

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

The chairman's earlier suspicious behavior and obvious stalling replayed vividly in my head.

Before he was chairman, he was Pope of the Justitia Order.

There was no way Kael, their Hero, had launched a lunatic attack like this without any connection to him whatsoever.

If they were going to throw away all common courtesy, then returning the same treatment was only polite.

I stopped before the chairman's office I'd been in earlier.

“...Saintess? What exactly is...”

The guard knight outside stammered in confusion, looking back and forth between Kael and me.

“Open the door.”

“R-Right now, the Archbishops and the chairman are in discussion. Even for you, Saintess, barging in without permission would—”

“Open it.”

“I-I cannot...”

Yeah.

It's not your fault.

But I need to get inside.

Normally, I would've waited until the knight opened it for me.

Right now, I had no patience left.

BOOOOM—!

A kick infused with divine power ripped both doors clean off their hinges and sent them tumbling into the chairman's office.

“...Saintess?”

Old Bartolomew was the first to see me.

His face filled with horror.

Sorry, old man.

I need to go a little wild right now.

Instead of answering, I threw the ‘piece of luggage’ in my hand straight into the middle of the office.

CRASH-!

Kael rolled several times across the floor before slamming into the chairman's desk and coming to a stop.

“You've been up to something pretty interesting, haven't you? Chairman.”

The chairman glanced indifferently at Kael sprawled across the floor.

Then, as though nothing had happened, he calmly lifted his teacup again.

His brilliant yellow eyes met mine over the steam rising from the tea.

“I had heard your temperament was rather fierce, but this is entertaining. Do you understand what this action—”

“I think I need an explanation for what the Hero of Justitia just did.”

I cut him off with a growl.

“What outrageous disrespect is this?! We will lodge a formal protest against the Eris Order—”

“Disrespect my ass. So the Hero of Justitia beating our Vice-Captain half to death and trying to cut off our Hero candidate's head is proper etiquette?”

At my words, Archbishop Gregory—who had been shouting at the top of his lungs—froze exactly as he was.

Only then did the chairman slowly lower the teacup in his hand.

I didn't miss the tiny crack that appeared in his previously relaxed expression.

“Well? Why don't you give me one good reason I shouldn't cut this bastard's head off right now, you goddamn lizard?”

At my blatant insult, the chairman's eyebrow twitched sharply.

An icy silence descended over the office.

...That was what happened earlier this afternoon, when I reduced the chairman's office to a disaster zone.

Surprisingly, my reckless behavior passed without much consequence.

A Hero from another Order had tried to kill our Order's Hero candidate.

And Leonid had been severely injured trying to stop him.

Those were undeniable facts.

If Leonid hadn't intervened, Cassian's head would've rolled.

Combined with the obvious evidence left at the scene, I had the strongest possible justification.

Still, the chairman handled the situation flexibly.

The murderous gleam in his eyes lasted only a moment before vanishing, and then the slippery old snake smoothly maneuvered through the situation.

Damn old lizard bastard.

Honestly, the idea that the chairman had deliberately kept me there to buy time was nothing more than suspicion.

Unless he admitted it himself, there was no way to prove it.

So in the end, the incident was officially wrapped up as ‘an unfortunate accident in which Kael's excessive competitive spirit nearly caused him to harm another Order's Hero candidate.’

The outcome wasn't satisfying.

Still, I'd managed to land one good hit on the chairman, so that part felt refreshing.

It did feel refreshing...

So what the hell was this bizarre unease and disgust still sitting inside me like dregs?

“Arghhh...! Seriously!”

Before I realized it, evening had arrived.

I'd wasted half the day locked inside my room thinking about this.

I tore at my disheveled hair and slammed my innocent table.

The half-empty bottle of wine rattled pitifully in protest.

‘I'm pissed off.’

I wanted to just let it go.

But my instincts kept jabbing me in the ribs, demanding I figure out the cause of this intense disgust.

All right.

Calm down.

Let's go through it again carefully.

What would've happened if I hadn't blocked Kael's sword?

Obviously, Cassian's head would've rolled across the floor.

Then why the hell did I stop Kael?

If I'd simply slowed my steps and pretended to arrive a little too late, I could've removed Cassian—the source of my unease—without getting a drop of blood on my own hands.

After that, I could've held Justitia responsible and squeezed them for hefty compensation and concessions.

Two birds with one stone.

What scenario could've been more perfect?

Fine.

Let's generously blame that part on instinct.

I'd witnessed someone from my Order about to have his neck cut off by some unidentified bastard.

Reflexively stopping it wasn't strange.

Good.

Let's move to what happened next.

Until I beat Kael down after he attacked me, I hadn't felt this disgusted.

At that point, all I'd felt was confusion about what the hell was wrong with him and a headache from trying to figure out how badly the original story had been twisted.

So the source of this shitty feeling came after that.

“...Ah.”

Right.

I understood.

My disgust had started the moment Kael, speaking as though he'd seen the future, declared with absolute certainty that Cassian was ‘a bastard who deserved to die.’

That certainty in Kael's eyes.

That arrogant attitude of claiming he'd seen the future and using it to judge another person's entire life however he pleased.

The instant I heard him, I'd wanted to shout:

‘Who the hell are you to judge someone else's life?

What guarantee do you have that people can't change?’

But I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Because...

‘He's exactly like me.’

Kael looked exactly like I did.

Consumed by memories of the original story, I had already decided Cassian was evil.

I myself had already changed completely from the original.

I wasn't the timid Silver Saintess anymore.

I was the Silver Holy Spear, carrying a weapon into the Demon Realm and butchering demonic beasts.

Even the righteous, upright Kael had become someone who reeked of blood.

Leonid had gone from a delinquent into a proper Vice-Captain—though he was still a little cheeky.

So why was Cassian the only one who couldn't possibly change?

The bastard was already acting so differently that it was hard to even call him the same person from the original story.

I'd possessed someone inside a webtoon and twisted the original story however I pleased.

Yet when it came to Cassian, I'd kept judging him by the original story, staring at him through tinted glasses.

“...Haa. I've seriously been acting like a fucking idiot.”

This wasn't some simple webtoon moving according to the author's thoughts.

Even people whose names had never once appeared in the original were alive here.

Breathing.

Interacting with each other.

This was ‘reality.’

I'd changed the fate of everyone in the Eris Order however I pleased, yet I'd decided Cassian could never change and kept doubting him endlessly.

How fucking stupid was that?

Yeah.

Not once had I ever truly faced Cassian.

I'd only ever seen the ‘character’ from the webtoon destined to destroy the Eris Order.

Not once had I treated the man standing in front of me as a ‘human being’ living in this reality.

I rose from my chair and stood in front of the mirror.

Inside it stood one pathetic human being who had been blinded by prejudice.

It was time to face Cassian the human.

“That bastard. He's definitely at the training ground.”

He's an idiot who does nothing but train.

He was definitely there.

I grabbed the half-empty bottle of wine from the desk and immediately pushed myself to my feet.