I was told that I had been chosen.
I was told that I was devout.
Everyone around me only spoke in praise.
The divine power I had since birth grew stronger day by day, and I became the youngest high priest.
There was a lot of talk about the possibility of the saint’s reincarnation.
Of course, I was one of the candidates.
Many people had high hopes for me. I told them it was too much to expect, but in truth, I had no doubt that I would become the saint.
My divine power was immense, and I believed my faith was genuine.
But I could not become the healing saint. Someone else took that title.
I was furious. Living under the belief that I had been chosen by the gods, I was enraged.
So, to understand why I was lacking and unable to become the saint, I sought out the saint herself.
And finally, I had the chance to meet the saint of my time.
I was struck with immense shock.
I can never forget the feeling when I first saw Aelia.
The overwhelming divine power that radiated from her, her manner of speaking, her actions, her expressions, and the compassion in her eyes.
At the same time, she was beautiful.
It was as if light was emanating from a human being.
At that moment, I realized it. This is what a saint truly is. This is what it means to be called a saint. This is the person chosen by the gods and their representative.
I felt ashamed for coveting the place of someone who shined so brightly.
After that, I repented for my mistake and focused on doing the best I could as a high priest.
One day, while serving as a high priest, I heard a piece of news.
The news was that someone had appeared who could predict the location of the Demon King’s army.
At first, it was just a rumor. There was talk of a prophet in Slein, someone who could predict the future, a fortune-teller, but nothing more than rumors.
So I didn’t take it seriously.
There had been many such occurrences before.
But as time passed, the rumors grew louder and louder until they could no longer be ignored.
One day, she predicted the location of the demon army, another day, the whereabouts of spies, and another day, the timing of a demon invasion.
And as more of her prophecies came true one by one, her title, which was once uncertain as either fortune-teller or prophet, became clear.
She was called a saint.
Someone in the Holy Kingdom said, “Could it be that the saint of prophecy has appeared?”
The priests of the Church of Origin denied it, saying it couldn’t be, but their eyes told a different story. Their eyes seemed to say:
It seems the saint of prophecy has truly appeared.
In this chaotic era, with the appearance of the Demon King, two saints have returned.
The gods have not abandoned us.
But there was one troubling rumor about the saint of prophecy.
The rumor was that she possessed no divine power.
At first, no one believed it. People thought it was just a baseless rumor spread to tarnish her reputation, as always happens.
However, as more people began to say that they had never seen her heal anyone, and as some priests who visited Slein testified that they could not feel any divine power from her, the rumor gained credibility.
But in the midst of these growing rumors, she boldly predicted the location of the Demon King.
And the hero, hearing her prophecy, went on to defeat the Demon King.
Thus, it was officially reported that the Demon King had been vanquished. It was the moment when humanity’s greatest enemy was finally defeated.
However, even with the news of the Demon King’s death, there was intense debate in the Holy Kingdom.
Opinions were divided into two camps.
Some argued that she was in league with the Demon King and had deceived us with sweet words to lull us into a false sense of security, while the Demon King prepared to attack us from somewhere.
Others insisted that we couldn’t dare doubt someone sent by the gods and asked whether we didn’t trust the hero who had slain the Demon King.
The reason for this fierce debate was simple.
She had little to no divine power.
In this confusing situation, I too was filled with many doubts.
Why? Why would someone without the divine power of the gods be chosen as their representative?
Divine power is faith itself.
And all previous saints had possessed immense divine power.
The healing saint of my time also had overwhelming divine power.
Because I had witnessed that overwhelming holiness, I could acknowledge her as the saint.
Divine power is faith. Divine power is the love of the gods.
A saint is the most sacred and the most beloved woman by the gods. Therefore, a saint has abundant divine power.
But if someone without divine power is called a saint.
If divine power is not the measure of being chosen by the gods.
Then why was I not chosen?
And I came to a simple conclusion.
She cannot be a saint.
She must be a conspirator in league with the demons. That’s why she can predict the future.
I must expose her.
So, when the hero called for priests to join him on his journey, I volunteered.
Because she would be there, and I needed to reveal her lies.
Thus, I headed to Luthria, and finally, I was able to see her in person.
What I saw was worse than I had imagined.
Her appearance was beautiful, but that was all. Unlike when I had seen the healing saint, I felt no divine power from her.
It was as if she was completely empty inside.
So, I ignored her. I looked down on her. I opposed any opinion she gave.
Because she had no divine power. Because she had deceived me. I believed that this behavior was justified.
And so, when she gave her first prophecy, warning not to take a certain action, I mocked her and did it anyway.
As a result, I ended up trapped here.
We were captured by goblins.
As soon as they brought me in, they shackled my entire body with iron restraints.
I heard they were goblins—wicked beings, fallen into the sin of endless greed and lust for women, with cursed, hideous appearances.
A disgusting existence that I couldn’t even tolerate brushing against my clothing.
Yet, here I am, standing before such vile, detestable creatures, unable to do anything.
No matter how much I tried to enhance my body with divine power, I couldn’t break the iron shackles.
My throat has gone hoarse from screaming at them as they drew nearer, and now I can’t even do that anymore.
My eyes were blindfolded with cloth, so I couldn’t see anything.
They had covered my eyes so that I was plunged into darkness.
As my sight was swallowed by darkness, fear consumed me.
I knew all too well what those goblins would do to me in my defenseless state.
I was terrified beyond measure.
Just hearing their footsteps made my body tremble uncontrollably, and each time their low growls echoed, I felt like I was going to cry.
The first thought that came to mind in this situation was regret.
If I had listened to her, if I had heeded her words, if I had believed in her, I wouldn’t be in this situation.
The second thought was guilt.
Seeing that even I, the strongest among us, had been captured, it was easy to guess what had happened to the others.
Thinking that they, too, must be suffering this shame and fear because of my mistake filled me with remorse.
And the thought that one of the most sacred beings, the saint, would be sullied because of my actions made me unable to forgive myself.
In this situation, I naturally began to understand the sins I had committed.
My sins were:
Jealousy.
I envied and was jealous of her, the saint.
Arrogance.
I believed I was chosen by the gods and lost my humility, acting with unbearable arrogance.
In truth, I was nothing but a mere human.
Greed.
I coveted the position of the gods’ representative, even though I was undeserving.
And then I realized.
Ah, yes, I was simply jealous. I had dared to be jealous of the one chosen by the gods, committing an unforgivable sin, and now the gods were punishing me.
And I thought.
If I repent for my sins now, will the gods save me?
No, will they save us?
I don’t care about myself, but if only she, the saint, Ruina, can be saved, I would do anything.
But with my entire body restrained, the only thing I can do is pray desperately.
So, even though I can’t bring my hands together, even though I’m tied up and lying on the ground like this, even though I can’t follow the proper rites, I pray to the gods more earnestly than ever.
“Oh Naias, I confess my sins to you.
I have committed the sins of arrogance, greed, and jealousy. I have sinned greatly in my jealousy of the one you sent directly.”
In the darkness, I confess my sins to the gods.
“And because of my wrongdoing, she is now in danger.”
And I plead.
“I know well that I am not worthy of saying this. I know I am a sinner.
I know that I have done something unforgivable.
But if you are truly watching me.
If you truly love your child.”
I weep and sob. Despite my hoarse throat, I speak.
Each word hurts as it escapes my mouth, but I say it anyway.
“Please, save your child from evil.”
Though I am in complete darkness and cannot even tell where I am, I pray, hoping the gods who watch over me can hear.
“This place is hell.”
I pray.
“Agh… Why is this so complicated…”
Much time had passed since I set out to find High Priest Bliss, who had been captured somewhere. But despite all this time walking, she still had not appeared.
I was following the path exactly as the goblin chief had told me, so why hadn’t I found her?
Let’s think about the reasons.
First of all, the cave is much larger than expected.
The paths, unusually wide for goblins, made me think that the goblin chief had probably dug out this cave using magic.
The scale of the cave was larger than I had anticipated; after each passage, there was a room, and from that room, another passage led to yet another room.
And that same pattern had been repeating for a while now.
Damn. How much did they dig out? How many goblins are there for the cave to be this massive?
I looked back at the path I had come down, pondering.
It felt like there was a word that could describe this cave perfectly… The structure was strangely familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before.
Where had I seen this…?
“Ruina.”
“Yes?”
“Doesn’t it feel like we’ve become ants walking through a colony?”
Ah, now I remember—it’s an ant colony.
“You’re right.”
Just as Ruina said, this cave felt like a massive ant colony, making us feel like ants ourselves.
A very complex ant colony. Damn it.
And if the goblin chief was going to give us directions, he could’ve done it properly. That goblin didn’t have a map, so he only gave verbal directions to Bliss’s location.
And those directions were awful.
He promised he would make it easy, but instead, he said things like, “Go right, left, right, left, left, left, second left…” How in the world am I supposed to navigate with that? Damn it.
He told us to follow this path.
Of course, I memorized everything he said with magic, but the problem is that despite following his directions, we keep seeing the same room over and over, and there’s no sign of Bliss, our kidnapped princess.
At this point, I’m starting to have doubts.
Did that goblin bastard give us the wrong directions on purpose?
Maybe it was supposed to be right-left-left-right, but he told us right-left-right-left instead.
The hero is on the way, and we need to rescue her quickly. We’ve been walking for so long, but there’s no sign of anyone, and it’s driving me crazy.
I wish I could catch another goblin like I did when I found Reina and make them guide me, but I can’t just grab one of those creatures while they’re fleeing for their lives.
This is maddening.
“Ruina, where do we go next?”
“The next one… is to the right.”
“Where is she…”
Reina grumbles.
Ignoring her complaints, I guide her through the right passage of the two available.
And behind that passage is, once again, another room.
“Ugh… another room… Ruina, when will we finally find Bliss?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Eh…”
It seems like our princess has had enough of this game of hide-and-seek. Her expression is steadily growing worse.
Well, considering all we’ve been seeing is dirt and rocks, it’s understandable.
It’s also been a long time since we’ve seen sunlight.
With these thoughts running through my mind, I continued walking.
But suddenly, Reina, who had been looking increasingly displeased, stopped in her tracks.
“Reina? What are you doing? We need to keep moving.”
I called out to her, puzzled by her behavior.
But despite my calling, Reina didn’t move.
What’s this? Has she grown too exhausted to walk any further? Maybe we should take a break.
We are in a rush, but… I suppose we have no choice.
I made up my mind to suggest a short rest to her.
But before I could even open my mouth, Reina suddenly ran up to me.
“Sis! Where are you?!”
She dashed past me, yelling at the passage behind us.
What is she doing?
“Reina, what’s wrong? You’re being too loud.”
Startled, I hurried over to her, thinking something must be wrong. But as I approached, she looked up at me and spoke.
“But… if we yell loudly enough, maybe she’ll respond.”
“I doubt our voices will reach her from here, even if we shout.”
“But… we’ve been walking for so long, and she still hasn’t shown up…”
…
“You’ve got a point.”
Honestly, I’m exhausted too.
I miss the sunlight.
“Still, we might startle someone nearby, so please don’t shout so suddenly.”
“Okay…”
With a slightly stern look, I spoke to her, and Reina’s expression grew sullen.
“But it was a nice change of pace, and I don’t think the idea was that bad.”
“Hehe…”
As I softened my tone and gave her some encouraging words, Reina’s mood brightened.
Praise really does make even whales dance.
“But even if our voices reach her, there’s no way we’d hear her response… or is there?”
Wait a minute.
I just realized there’s a way I could hear her response.
I have magic. I can enhance my hearing with it.
How will that help us find her, you ask?
We’ve already walked quite a distance. According to the goblin’s directions, we should have about a third of the path left.
That means if the goblin gave accurate directions, Bliss shouldn’t be far from here.
So, if I enhance my hearing with magic at this point, I might be able to catch her voice.
You’re wondering if we’ll only hear goblins instead? Maybe, but most of the goblins are by the entrance, and we’re pretty far from there now. So, we should be able to hear Bliss’s voice more clearly than the goblins.
Of course, there’s the chance that she’s too exhausted to speak, but based on what I know of her, Bliss isn’t the type to stay silent in a situation like this.
She’s probably at least muttering some kind of prayer.
Hmm? This could work.
Of course, the safest thing would be to keep following the goblin’s directions, but I don’t trust them completely, and if there’s a chance we can find her faster, it’s worth a shot.
I began chanting the activation words for the spell.
“[Enhanced Hearing].”
The moment the spell activated, countless sounds flooded into my ears.
“Govia! Get up! The chief is calling!”
Damn it, not that.
“Keep your place in line! Hurry up! Why is he calling? That man is coming! I don’t know! Everyone gather! Chief!”
Shut up already.
Ugh, are the goblins still moving around? All I can hear is the racket they’re making.
Damn, did I make a mistake?
Honestly, their voices are so unpleasant that listening to them feels like my ears are under attack.
Should I keep going with this? I’ll try a little longer.
Enduring the awful noise, I listened a bit more, but all I heard was more goblin chatter.
Finally, I decided I’d had enough of tormenting my poor ears and was about to stop the spell.
But just then…
“Save…”
A faint sound reached my ears from up ahead.
It was so soft and weak that I almost missed it, but when I focused again, I barely caught it.
“Hm?”
The goblins were behind us, but the sound was coming from ahead.
“Save us… save us…”
I couldn’t make out all the words, but I could tell that the voice was praying to the gods.
And the voice belonged to a woman.
A voice that sounded eerily familiar, as if I had been hearing it all day yesterday.
It was clear now.
This voice belonged to Bliss.
“She’s this way.”
“Huh?”
Surprised by my sudden words, Reina looked up at me.
I gazed down at her confused expression and spoke.
“Reina, it’s time to run.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I found Bliss’s location.”
Without a second thought, I grabbed Reina’s hand and started running forward.
“W-Wait a minute!”
‘Left, right, right, left, left…’
We passed through rooms and corridors, rooms and more corridors.
And before we knew it.
“The last left.”
We had arrived at the place where I expected Bliss to be.
Before us lay a room so dark we couldn’t see inside.
And her voice was coming from the room ahead.
“Are we… there?”
“Yes, I believe she’s in here.”
Breathing heavily, Reina looked at me as I lit a torch from the wall beside us.
With the torch in hand, I grabbed Reina’s hand once more and stepped forward, illuminating the darkness as we advanced.
The torchlight slowly dispelled the darkness within the room.
And at the far end of the room, revealed by the flickering light…
“Save your child…”
We finally found Bliss.