Chapter 101 - Aftermath

Very slowly, consciousness rose like something submerged surfacing from the water.

A strange sensation of floating in midair drifted through her body, followed by the soft, fluffy feel of something covering her.

Realizing she was lying in bed, Renée twitched her hand, then slowly lifted her eyelids.

"... Saintess?"

Bera's voice reached her.

"Yes..."

The answer came reflexively. Renée felt herself flinch at the sound of it: her voice was terribly dry and cracked.

Apparently, she had been asleep for quite some time.

'Let's see...'

She recalled the last thing she had done before collapsing. She had drawn out all her divine energy and bound it to her divine powers, then forced open the gateway to the divine realm that Rohan had been trying to open. Over that, she had layered sacred arts to weave an area-wide healing formula.

"Are you feeling more alert?"

"How many days has it been?"

"A week has passed."

Surprise settled over Renée's face.

"That long?"

"... Yes. Many people were worried about you. How are you feeling?"

At his words, Renée checked her condition. Perhaps because she had been lying down for so long, her body felt weak and her mind was still drowsy, but otherwise there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I'm fine. Fit as a fiddle."

She answered with a gentle smile. After letting out a long breath, she asked another question.

"What happened with the attack? What about the people and the imperial palace?"

"Everything was resolved. The divine energy pouring from the gateway you opened healed the wounded quickly, so casualties were limited. I have also received word that His Highness the crown prince is now recovering."

"That's a relief."

Everything had worked out. Her heart felt considerably lighter.

"Did you catch the master of the Magic Tower? What about the accomplice?"

"... I severed the tower master's head, so she must be dead. The accomplice... escaped us. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for. At least you got the tower master."

A soft chuckle escaped her.

Renée closed her eyes again, exhaled in profound relief, and took stock of herself once more.

She felt as though something had changed—not in her body or her abilities, but in her outlook.

All the petty worries that had so often shaken her had fallen away, leaving a strange, refreshing sense of freedom. She felt a little more detached from things, and her thoughts seemed to flow more clearly.

As she enjoyed that curious feeling...

"... Saintess."

"Yes?"

"You pushed yourself far too hard this time."

Bera's rebuke came down on her.

The worry and reproach in his words made Renée let out a sudden snort of laughter.

"Do you understand how I feel now?"

She answered thinking of how he was always overexerting himself alone and returning injured, and of what she would say to him each time.

Bera's groan reached her ears.

"Oh, don't apologize. I'm just telling you not to even think about lecturing me."

"... Yes."

His voice was trembling.

For some reason, that delighted Renée. She laughed, her shoulders shaking, then held out a hand.

"Your hand."

Bera's hand settled onto hers. Gently stroking the large hand, rough and cracked in places, Renée spoke.

"You were hurt too, weren't you?"

"Only slightly. I used too much divine energy, resulting in divine-energy exhaustion..."

"But you were hurt, weren't you?"

"... Yes."

"You realize you're in no position to talk?"

Bera groaned again, and Renée burst out laughing.

What had changed?

She could not put it all into precise words. The change was simply something she felt.

But she had come to one realization, and that was what allowed her to act so boldly.

"Bera."

"Yes, Saintess."

"I've found something I want to do."

A hint of surprise appeared on his face, where Renée could not see it.

"Have you?"

"Yes. I want to help people. More earnestly than I have until now. I want to give it everything I have."

What she needed to do was etched clearly in her mind.

She wanted to become a light more brilliant than anything in the world, so that this rough-edged man she loved could finally reach the light and fulfill the dream he had long cherished.

That clear goal must have been why she felt so unburdened, and why she somehow felt so at ease.

Renée smiled, her face utterly refreshed.

* * *

Renée spent her time lying idly in bed.

Although nothing felt particularly wrong with her body, she had been told to refrain from moving about for now, since she had spent an entire week bedridden.

It was boring.

After all, being blind, there was little Renée could do while lying still like this.

She spent most of her time talking with Bera or the four novice priests attending her, but they had their own daily duties and could not stay beside her all day.

'Aisha said she wouldn't be here until tomorrow.'

Perhaps having done nothing but flee throughout the attack had wounded her pride. Renée had heard that ever since it ended, Aisha had been out on the streets with Dovan, helping deal with the aftermath.

The apostles were doing the same.

Outsiders or not, they could hardly sit around doing nothing when they held the office of apostle.

That left Renée with time to lie idly and sort through her thoughts. And amid that boredom, the subject she returned to most often was... naturally, Orgus, whom she had encountered in the gutter.

Those strange moments he had shown her, from some unknown time, continued to trouble her.

Renée thought on, working her mind as hard as she could.

'It wasn't the past.'

She was certain of that.

Too many pieces failed to fit for the time Orgus had shown her to be the past. Even the tone of Bera's voice was one of them.

'It was more subdued than it is now.'

His voice already carried too much maturity for it to belong to the past.

The voice of Bera as he snapped someone's neck with a crunch had unmistakably belonged to an adult.

'But it wasn't the future, either.'

Rohan, and the person with him.

There were too many questionable details to call the time showing those two the future.

The unknown figure whose voice and name were all concealed by a silence of '---' was proof of that—the same person who had also met Bera at some unknown point in time.

Renée began sifting through what she knew about that unknown person, one detail at a time.

They held enough standing in the Holy Empire for Rohan to address them respectfully.

They had seemed very close to Bera.

At the end of the moments she had been shown, they had shaken his emotions to their very core.

'It doesn't add up...'

Renée frowned.

The information she had was such a jumble that it was difficult to make anything of it.

The only real clue was that Orgus had concealed everything about that person while showing her another timeline.

'It's someone I'm not supposed to see.'

She did not know his purpose, but Orgus had been preventing her from seeing that person in that timeline.

'Why?'

The question occurred to her, but there was no way she could answer it.

She could only vaguely sense that the person must be that important.

A heavy sigh slipped from Renée's lips.

'What could it mean...?'

She recalled something she had once heard about Orgus.

'Orgus never acts without a purpose.'

There was a purpose behind everything he did. Those moments he had shown her, whether past or future, depicted an event she had needed to know about.

As her pondering deepened, little groans escaped her.

She wanted to press Bera to tell her who that person was... but of course, doing so would yield no answer.

How could even Bera know?

The events Orgus had shown her had not happened yet, and it was uncertain whether they ever would.

'... A warning?'

Was it a warning that something like that might happen?

As her thoughts grew increasingly tangled and more groans began escaping her...

CREAK.

"Saintess?"

Bera entered the room.

"Oh, yes."

"Have you been comfortable?"

"Yes, well..."

An awkward smile appeared on Renée's lips.

Her body was comfortable enough, but her mind was anything but.

"What about you, Bera? Did everything go well?"

"Yes. I was asked to help clear the district, so I went."

"Oh, that's right. You said the Magic Tower was destroyed."

Really, that tower master must have been quite ruthless.

'Destroying the Magic Tower just because things were going against her...'

Her obsession, at least, had been extraordinary. Trying to kill the crown prince, experimenting on human beings, blowing up the Magic Tower without hesitation...

Renée wondered what could have driven her to go that far.

"She was utterly appalling."

"Yes. But I did sever her head, so she cannot still be alive."

For some reason, hearing him talk so matter-of-factly about cutting off someone's head felt awkward.

"I-is that so?"

Fidgeting with the fingers of both hands, an awkward smile on her face, Renée let out a breath and asked another question.

"Bera."

"Yes?"

"Did you live alone before coming to the Holy Empire? I mean... was there anyone precious to you, or anyone you felt bad about leaving behind?"

She asked casually.

Even if Orgus had shown her events that had yet to happen, she thought Bera might already know the unknown person.

Bera tilted his head at the question.

He could not quite understand why she had suddenly brought it up.

After a thoughtful hum, he decided there was no reason not to tell her, and nodded as he answered.

"There was someone, yes. I am human, after all. It isn't as though I never formed any relationships."

"Oh! What sort of person? I'd like to meet them sometime, too."

"Hmm. I don't think that will be possible. They're someone I can no longer meet."

Bera meant that introducing Renée to Renée was impossible, but not knowing that, Renée looked disconcerted.

"Is that so...?"

She flinched.

'They died?'

No, that could not be it.

There was a more plausible explanation.

'... He hasn't met them yet.'

That was more likely.

The person he was talking about now must be someone other than the unknown figure.

While Renée's thoughts continued, Bera felt nostalgia well up at his memories. He gave a wry chuckle and murmured,

"She was an unusual woman. So much so that I doubt I'll ever meet anyone like her again in my lifetime."

An unusual woman.

Renée abruptly went rigid. It was a natural reaction to what she had heard, and her mind rapidly pieced his words together.

If the person Bera was talking about was not the unknown figure, but someone who had already died...

'His first love?'

"Saintess?"

"No! My back just felt uncomfortable for a moment."

Cold sweat trickled down Renée's forehead.

She swallowed her dismay and tried to soothe herself, bringing her emotions under control.

'No, he only said she was a woman. Why am I overreacting?'

It was time to outgrow this sort of behavior. How long was she going to keep fretting like this?

All those wild imaginings! All that suspicion! It was time to shake them off! Hadn't she resolved just the other day to be more mature?

Renée forced the corners of her mouth upward and nodded stiffly.

"I-I see..."

An awkward silence settled over the room.

Naturally, it was Renée who had created it. She was so busy trying to swallow her dismay that she could not get any words out.

Human hearts did not obey simply because one made up one's mind.

Could someone who changed in an instant just by resolving to do so even be called human?

Suddenly finding the atmosphere uncomfortable, Renée squeezed her eyes shut.

'Why did I have to bring that up!'

Why had she gone and brought up someone who was dead?

Regret swept through her. She wished someone would come and break the tension.

As she fervently prayed for just that, heaven answered her prayer for once.

BANG!

"Lady Renée!"

Aisha's excited cry rang through the room.

"Keep your voice down."

"Nope! Don't wanna!"

Aisha and Bera faced off briefly. As Aisha stuck out her tongue and taunted him, a sunshine-bright smile spread across Renée's face.

"Aisha!"

"Lady Renée! Lady Renée!"

"Yes!"

"Ta-da!"

Across from Renée, Aisha raised both arms into the air and cried out. White light burst through the room.

WHOOSH!

"I can do this now!"

Her voice brimmed with excitement. Bera sprang to his feet, eyes widening and mouth falling open.

Renée was equally stunned. Her cheerfulness of a moment before gave way to shock as the light suddenly settled over her body.

"D-div..."

Divine energy.

The light Aisha had just released was divine energy.

A strange silence settled over the room.

In that silence, Aisha asked, her eyes sparkling,

"Does this mean I can be a priest now?"

No one managed to answer.