Saint Pia seemed like someone who didn’t know how to get angry.
In the past, Kalia and Dana had once made a bet about whether the Saint or the Hero was the better person.
Kalia believed the Hero knew how to get angry.
After all, the Hero always wore a serious expression during sparring sessions with her and showed genuine anger whenever witnessing the atrocities committed by the demons.
If Kalia and Dana were to commit something unjust, she was convinced the Hero would be the first to express anger.
Dana, on the other hand, thought the Saint was a bit stricter. After all, the Magic Tower and the Church never had a good relationship.
The Magic Tower viewed the “Goddess” revered by the Church not as a deity but as a great prophet.
Since the concept of a god was deemed meaningless in their view, they refrained from using the term “Goddess” even while following her teachings.
Every time Dana referred to the “Goddess” as a prophet, Pia would wear an oddly uncomfortable expression.
Of course, Arna had dismissed the whole ordeal as nonsense, scoffing at them.
However, despite her dismissal, she had watched the situation unfold with great interest.
Still, the two never crossed the line, and their antics remained harmless jokes designed to tease and probe the Hero and the Saint.
Neither of the two ever got truly angry.
Saint Pia simply smiled awkwardly, as though troubled, and the Hero seemed oblivious to the fact that Kalia and Dana were even teasing him.
Ultimately, Kalia and Dana’s bet fizzled out when both of them grew bored with the lack of reaction and admitted defeat.
“…No matter how much, Arna, even you—”
If Arna had joined in the bet, she would undoubtedly have won.
Fortunately, this was the Saint’s room, and no one around seemed interested in raising such matters.
They were currently visiting each party member’s room to persuade the Hero.
If Arna and the others could convince the Hero, perhaps he might change his mind.
“If, at that moment, he chooses to do so, of course, I’ll respect his decision. But if I make that choice instead, will you respect mine?”
At Kalia’s question, Arna found herself at a loss for words.
…It wasn’t just Arna who was willing to sacrifice when the moment called for it.
The Hero felt the same, as did Kalia.
They simply hadn’t put it into words.
No matter what she said to Kalia, who was calmly inspecting her gear with a blank expression, it seemed her words would no longer reach her.
“You know just as well as I do. When the Hero is in that state, nothing anyone says will change his mind.”
Dana shrugged as she spoke.
Even as she said that, her hands were busy.
She was doing everything she could to find a “path where everyone survives.”
Arna could no longer bring herself to interrupt Dana.
The last room she visited was the Saint’s.
For once, the Saint looked at Arna with genuine anger.
It wasn’t a particularly terrifying expression, though.
She seemed like someone who didn’t know how to get angry in the first place, making it hard to imagine her expressing anger at all.
Even compared to the Hero, who sometimes showed fury toward demons, Pia’s attempt to glare at Arna felt awkward.
“I cannot forgive any act that insults the Goddess.”
“Insult? Did you just call it an insult?”
Arna knew it in her head.
The fact that she had angered Pia this much meant her own actions were utterly unreasonable.
It was true that elves didn’t see the Goddess as an absolute being, but they didn’t deny her existence either.
Unlike humans, who revered her as the ruler of the world, elves respected her as a manager who harmonized all things.
That’s right. The “Goddess” in the eyes of the elves was a “manager,” not an “absolute being” who could do whatever she pleased with the world.
“Bringing a soul that has already died into a place like this instead of letting it rest—how can that be considered just?”
Indeed.
If what the Hero said was true and he was a person who had already “died,” then he should never have been brought to this place.
If he was someone the Goddess had chosen among humans, not someone who had already departed, he should have remained at rest.
The Hero was one of the most selfless individuals Arna had ever known.
Of course, the party members who traveled with the Hero were no different.
The Saint, Kalia, and Dana were all powerful figures who could have wielded their influence to accomplish anything but instead chose to journey to vanquish the Demon King.
But those three were “originally” from this world.
They were beings who lived in this world, bore the weight of their lives, and took responsibility for them.
If the Hero truly came from another world and had already died once, his life should have ended then.
Considering his character, he wouldn’t have lived a life deserving of punishment after death.
That meant he should have found peace, free from the suffering of life.
And yet, he returned to this world.
To a place where the monstrous Demon King existed, where demons ravaged humans, where infighting and corruption festered among the nobility instead of unity against the Demon King’s army.
Of course, not all nobles and royals were corrupt.
Many good ones remained, which was why the kingdom still stood.
With enough effort, it wasn’t impossible to excise the rot.
Even so, this was no paradise.
It was a hell where humans barely lived to their twenties before dying on the battlefield.
It wasn’t a place where righteous souls should be condemned after death.
“That’s…”
At Arna’s words, the Saint momentarily found herself at a loss for a response.
“…The Hero made this choice himself.”
It was Arna’s turn to bite her lip this time.
…Right, that must be it.
He was such a righteous person.
If he could be reborn to save people once more, he would willingly choose to do so.
But if that were the case, shouldn’t the Goddess all the more have refrained from giving him such a choice?
“What you’re saying now disregards not only the Goddess but also the Hero’s will.”
“What?”
At Arna’s sharp retort, the Saint let out a deep sigh.
“Do you think I haven’t thought about it? Whether it’s truly right, even for the Goddess, to send someone who has already endured the pain of life in another world back here to suffer more?”
“I once confided my doubts to the Hero. Do you know what he said to me?”
The Saint was crying now.
Large tears streamed down her cheeks, falling steadily to the floor.
“He said he was simply grateful to have another chance at life.”
“That he was happy to have met comrades like you here. That he was glad to protect such a beautiful world. That he felt like he had become a real Hero, even though he was once nothing.”
Hearing this, Arna stood frozen, her mouth slightly agape.
“…What is that supposed to mean…”
She muttered under her breath, her lips trembling as though she wanted to say more but couldn’t find the words.
“I’ve heard about the Hero’s past life. Sure, you could say he lived in ‘the pain of life,’ just as you described. In his previous life, the Hero wasn’t rich, nor was he part of the highest echelons of power. But…”
The Saint clenched her teeth. Holding back sobs that threatened to break free, she continued her words with difficulty.
“But still, he had people he loved.”
Ah.
That’s how it was.
While Arna had only now learned of the Hero’s past, the Saint must have known for a long time.
She was the “Saint”—someone who could converse directly with the Goddess.
And because of that, she could also share knowledge with the Hero, another who could communicate with the Goddess.
“No life is made of only pain. Within it, there are always those you never want to lose, and a line you can’t step back from, no matter what. And…?”
“And there are always people you desperately want to meet again, aren’t there?”
Arna couldn’t say a word.
“So, if he says he wants to return… shouldn’t we let him go?”
Despite the content of her words, the Saint was clearly sobbing.
“That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it…? It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it…”
Finally, Pia sank to the floor, collapsing weakly.
Earlier, while talking to the Hero, she had kept her head bowed the entire time.
So that’s how it was.
Everyone had already made up their minds.
Each of them was trying to act in their own way.
The one stubbornly acting like a child, despite being older than the combined ages of the other party members, was none other than Arna herself.
In the end, Arna wasn’t able to persuade anyone that day.