Chapter 59 (2/2)

The royal family, the knights on guard, the prime minister, and even the maids who had knowledge of diplomacy were all at a loss for words. Those in the know felt dread at how much this woman might know, while others silently chewed on what this declaration might mean.

“What do you mean to say?” it was not the prime minister but my father who directly asked the Saintess. He had gone pale and had broken out in a cold sweat.

“Oh my, will it be fine to reveal it here?” The Saintess spoke with a knowing smile.

Now, everyone who knew the secret had come to a single conclusion.

―――― …… The Saintess knows that the Hero has been summoned.

The Saintess of the Lunaria Church which adheres to the doctrine of vanquishing all evil had come to our kingdom not for a political reason, but a religious one. On the surface at least. Now, the only religious reasons a Saintess would personally need to travel for would be for requesting funds for missionary work or, more importantly, for the Hero Summoning Ritual.

And if she had come to request the former, would she have said “will it be fine to reveal it here?” No, she wouldn’t, as requesting aid requires no need for secrecy. What she was coyly implying she shouldn’t reveal was the fact that the Hero summoning was done without their knowledge or participation.

The Hero summoning was done to counteract the encroachment of the demonkin, but for the Lunaria Church, the Hero is an existence just as important as the Saintess. They’re very likely to accuse us with trying to monopolize the Hero if they learn of our secret endeavour.

But then, we were trying to monopolize the Hero. We had planned to train and manipulate the initially weak Hero into our pawn. Later, we could easily make the excuse that we could not let the demonkin know of the Hero when he was at his weakest, so this was a measure we had to take. At that stage, they would be hard pressed to point fingers.

But our situation, as it stands, is very bad. The Hero we summoned is a madman and sees the kingdom as his bitter enemy. After how he brutalized myself and so many knights, we would be insane to think that he is anything but hostile.

If the events that transpired were to become public knowledge, the royal family would receive a serious blow. One that could leave us defenseless if our neighbouring nations decide to sanction against us.

“… All here other than the prime minister and knight captain are to leave us.” Father declared.

“S-sire?” “But we can’t…” Some tried to protest.

“Now. That is an order.”

Those not in the know were deeply flustered by Father’s sudden decision, but followed their king’s order and left the hall.

“You should leave as well.” the Saintess said to her attendant maid.

“B-but Materia-sama, I-”

“You need not worry, I will be fine.”

“… Yes, Milady. I shall abide by your will.” The attendant bowed and also left.

As the last of the unrelated parties were removed, the door to the audience hall was closed to maintain privacy. Now, the only ones remaining were Father, Mother, myself, Baras the prime minister, Guidott the knight captain, and the Saintess.

Father and the prime minister had become sparse of words, not knowing to what extent this woman knows. Does she only know that the Hero had been summoned or does she also know about the heinous acts he commited after being summoned?

“Let us begin then, shall we?” The Saintess broke the frozen air. “I am informed about what the kingdom has done. So without further ado, let us discuss the matter of he with black hair and black eyes. I of course speak of the Hero.”

All except for the speaker herself gulped. I suddenly felt anger boiling up within myself. The simple act of being reminded of that monster made me furious.

In contrast, Father looked dispirited, or rather, he’d given up putting on airs.

The Saintess having knowledge of the Hero’s distinctive features means that she has confirmation of his sightings outside the castle. She, at the very least, knows that the Hero has made himself an enemy to the kingdom. We would go nowhere attempting to hide that fact now.

“… Right. Lady Materia, what are your demands then?” Father said finally.

I mentally clicked my tongue hearing Father speak as if there was no more room for negotiation.

It’s too soon to give in. I know that Father isn’t the sharpest when it comes to political discourse, but we must stay firm in negotiations no matter how inevitable our loss. If not, we might lose more than we bargained for.

“I request that the kingdom not interfere with the time I spend with my dear Hero. I, as the Saintess, am destined to be one with the Hero, as you know.” The Saintess smiled like a blooming flower, in complete contrast to Father’s gloom.

I first felt relieved that she didn’t demand anything costly, but upon processing her words, I felt a sense of unease toward the lady.

I simply could not comprehend what sort of personality this Saintess would have to have for her to be smiling so affectionately despite knowing of the Hero’s atrocities.

According to the Lunaria faith, the Saintess is a woman who is to be bonded to the Hero and soothe his heart. As such, she must be the very picture of compassion. However, no matter how strongly she may believe her role to be honorable, I could not empathise with someone who could unhesitatingly say that she loves that vile otherworldly creature.

But from how she’s wording herself, I understood that even she didn’t know the Hero’s exact whereabouts.

“Apologies lady Saintess, as of now, even the kingdom does not know of his whereabouts. We have information on his brief period of activity in the castle town, but none whatsoever of where he’s gone.”

(Father, please try to reign in that loose tongue, this is ridiculous…)

I bit my lower lip at how easily Father was divulging information we could’ve used to our advantage. But surprisingly, the one who showed the most drastic change in expression from the revelation was,

“… Eh?” The Saintess herself. Likely, she had found this fact so outside of her expectations that she completely neglected to maintain her outer calm.

Father didn’t seem to notice that, and continued speaking.

The royal faction has been losing power in recent years so he must be thinking it unwise to make an enemy of the theocracy. Our plan had been to reign in the anti-royalists by showing off our control of the Hero, but that evidently ended in failure.

Thus, Father likely wants to reveal everything we know about the Hero in order to bury the hatchet with the theocracy.

“From the atrocious state of my daughter and many knights after the Hero assaulted them, we had initially been led to believe that he was a savage madman with strength beyond his control.” Father explained. “But seeing as how he’s been able to elude us thus far, it seems he is no mere barbarian. From the words he left behind, we can assume that he plans to cause trouble eventually. We believe it may be more productive to wait for him to reveal himself. Of course, we have not laxed on our search, but with only his black hair and eyes as unique features, it has been difficult.”

“By words he left behind?” The Saintess inquired.

“He said ’I refuse to be your pawn. Let those scars on your back be proof of that. I can, and will do worse. I will take everything from you. And there will be no mercy from my revenge, this time’.”

Father’s words made the wounds on my back, which were now fully healed, burn up in phantom pain. Once again, rage boiled inside me. And once again, I showed not a hint of it on the surface.

“I do not know if the theocracy possesses further details, but I am certain that he will act soon. And when he does so, we can be prepared to capture him.” Father finished with a sigh.

“…-is time? … can’t be, … why, … but, …… no.”

“Lady Materia? Is something the matter.”

The Saintess showed more reaction to the Hero’s message than even I on whom it was torturously carved on. She paid no heed as Father called to her. Her breathing hastened and her face had a dark expression as she looked down and started mumbling in a quiet voice.

Was she so aghast because of the news that the Hero is missing?

“…… then, …… oh, …… Leticia Lew Harston!”

All of us were shocked. The Saintess’ calm demeanor had crumbled and she was audibly grinding her teeth in frustration. I felt a chill run up my spine as I saw the lady display intense rage.

“Lady Materia, lady Materia.” Father called strongly. “Is everything alright?”

There was a pause.

“…… Pardon me, I am fine.” The Saintess raised her face and put on her usual smile. “I seem to have been more fatigued from my travels than I realized. I humbly request a continuation of this discussion at a later day, would that be agreeable?”

She may be smiling, but the difference from before, from that smile like a blooming flower, was like night and day. The contrast was apparent to everyone present.

“I, see.” Father said stiffly. “Very well. We can’t have the Saintess fall ill in our country after all. Let us put this off for another day.”

With that, the Saintess made a gesture of prayer in spite of her abnormal condition and with a bow, she also took her leave from the audience hall.

(Leticia Lew Harston?)

I was unable to make out most of what she’d said, but I heard the name she spoke at the end very clearly. I felt a strange unease from that name I didn’t know.

☆

“Aaaaaaahhhh!! Ahhh, Uggghh, uhhuu, Aaaahh!!”

Inside the guest chamber prepared for Milady, mad wails echoed. The Saintess, as if she’d gone off the deep end, took out her boiling frustrations on the lavish bedding.

“Why! Why! WHY!! How much, will you taint, my Hero, before you’re, satisfied!! Demon! Demon! DEMON!!” Milady gripped and raised her pillow, and thrashed it on her sheets in rage.

I was assigned as the Saintess’ attendant not long before we left Lunaria to come to this kingdom, so I cannot say that I know Milady well enough to understand her. However, I have never seen or heard of such behavior for the esteemed lady, this anger, no, a furious rage is what this is.

“Why did this happen!? Why, why was my dear Hero’s soul corrupted by her, even in this new world!!? This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! Not this soon! I should have had time to save him this time!!”

“M-Materia-sama?” I hesitated, “Is there anything I can help with?”

This was a Saintess unknown to me. I trembled on the inside, but still ventured to ask if I could be of use. In the first place, I haven’t a clue as to why the Saintess had been angered so. I regret leaving her alone in that audience hall.

“That woman! Witch! You dare dirty my, my dear, my dear…!! Uuuuuuu!!” Cried the Saintess, not paying any heed to my presence.

“Materia-sama…”

I could only watch on as Milady thrashed about in anguish.

First, there are some parts repeated from older chapters that I’ve reworded, namely, the enchantment names and blood message.This chapter marks the end of Volume 2 of Nidome no Yuusha, and also marks the point where I drop the series. Let me repeat, I’m dropping this series as of this chapter. No take backs. Please don’t ask why. I have multiple reasons but they’re annoying to explain.Many thanks to Sebas Tian who’s helped me edit a number of chapters and also look up terms from past chapters. He’s helped coming up with some of the chuuni sword name translations too. He’s sort of like a guardian angel for a lot of series…… Dick sucking aside, I hope a good TL group picks this up soon. I’ll try to link to their site once it happens.