Chapter 746
"Who said you could come in without permission?"
Saying so, she slowly turned her head.
"Rena."
The sound of rain-soaked footsteps echoed.
Soon, from the darkness, a white-haired girl stepped into the military tent.
Behind her was also a boy with his robe hood pulled low, but Israfil’s gaze was fixed on Lete.
"Well, it’s been a while, Lady Israfil."
"What is this about?"
"I came because I have an urgent request."
Israfil scoffed.
A request, now, at this point, to me? Ignoring them, she pulled out a quill from the ink bottle and placed it atop the letter.
"I’m busy. Leave...."
"I want to use the teleportation magic circle right now."
Israfil’s quill froze.
"......Teleportation magic circle? Where are you planning to go this time?"
"I have to go to Teacher Anna on the battlefield. Right away."
The moment she heard that, Israfil nearly failed to suppress the emotion that flared like fire deep in her chest.
"......Unbelievable. Really."
Israfil slammed the quill down.
"Why should I send you to Sister Anna first? There are priests here far more capable, far higher in rank than you! If anything, I would go myself before a mere servant like you should be at Sister Anna’s side......!"
"Two reasons."
Lete cut her off calmly, raising two fingers.
"First, we’re here to stop the war. Everyone here, including you, only wants to win the war, not stop it."
"Stop the war?"
Israfil felt her irritation rising.
"A war no one has been able to end for nearly a hundred years. Do you think it will be solved just because you make such a vow?"
"Yes, well. It won’t be simple. Maybe it will take miracles happening over and over again. But that is Teacher Anna’s will. Teacher Anna is now trying to stop the war."
At the mention of Anna, Israfil’s lips trembled.
Lete folded down her second finger.
"And second, we can help Teacher Anna reach the ending she truly desires."
"......You mean stopping the war?"
"No, not that."
Lete frowned as she continued.
"If you still don’t even know that, then I don’t think I have anything more to say to you."
"You dare provoke me......!"
At that moment.
Like a lie, a thought flooded into Israfil’s mind, and her lips parted.
The night before the sealed letter was discovered, before Anna was dispatched to the territory of the Dark Alliance.
—Israfil, I have something to tell you.
Like someone saying their final farewell.
Or like someone standing before death.
With a sad smile, Anna had called her name.
Buzzing!
Israfil shook her head violently, pulling herself out of the memory. It was something she hated to recall.
"Well, seems like you have some idea."
Lete gave a crooked smile. Seeing that, Israfil stood up, face twisted with fury.
"......It’s all because of you!"
Thud!
Her bloodshot eyes glared as she grabbed Lete by the collar and slammed her against the wall.
"Because of you, Sister Anna has changed!"
Lete’s eyes narrowed, half-lidded.
"......Because of me?"
Dangerous.
Simon thought so as he looked at Lete. Normally she was calm and composed, but when it came to anything involving Anna, it was different.
She became extreme, emotional, and impulsive.
"Calm down a little......!"
Simon tried to intervene, but Lete raised her hand to stop him, glaring at Israfil as she spoke in a sharp voice.
"If you have a conscience, put your hand on your chest and think it through!"
This time, Lete grabbed Israfil’s collar in return and dragged her. Overpowered, Israfil let out a strained sound, "Kugh!", as she was shoved back.
"Do you think Teacher Anna has been happy all this time?"
"......What?"
"You know it better than anyone! Religious life! Saintly duties! Every day dragged to battlefields she never even wanted, exhausted and overworked! Prayer wasn’t proof of her faithful devotion! Teacher Anna only endured it all through prayer!"
Bang!
This time it was Lete who slammed Israfil against the wall.
"Isn’t it enough already! She wrung out miracle after miracle to save the Holy Federation from crisis over and over again, wasn’t that enough! Now, when she’s finally mustering the courage to seek her own happiness, are you going to stop her for your own selfish desire? How is that any different from saying, ‘Stay here for me and keep being unhappy!’?"
Thud!
Israfil collapsed onto the floor, eyes wide with shock. Lete turned her back, breathing hard.
"If you won’t help, then we’ll seize the teleportation circle by force."
"......."
Lete strode forward. Simon glanced nervously between the two of them.
‘This is bad.’
Richard and Anna, the main parties, were inevitable, but Neftis’ directive had been to avoid interfering too much with the values of people from the past.
"I just—"
At that moment, Israfil’s voice rang out.
"I only wanted to be like Sister Anna. She was my goal, my dream. If Sister Anna disappears, then I’m...... nothing."
Her voice wavered with tears.
"I am nothing...."
"Ah, dammit!"
Lete ruffled her hair roughly in frustration and stormed back toward Israfil.
"You don’t know anything!"
"W-what......?"
"Do you even realize how incredible you are?"
She shook Israfil’s collar roughly.
"Teacher Anna will open a new era, but you’re the one who will hold it together in reality! So don’t just sit there looking like some pathetic wreck in front of me!"
"W-wait!"
Simon quickly pulled Lete back. By then, her eyes were slightly red too.
"You don’t understand! How many lives you will save! How many wars you will stop! You’re the one who is the true, great hero!"
"Ah......?"
Israfil looked at her with a bewildered expression, not understanding what she meant. Lete, still bristling, shouted even as Simon dragged her back.
"Get a grip, Israfil!"
* * *
Simon and Lete left Israfil’s tent and entered deeper into the headquarters of the front lines. Here, the teleportation circle was being prepared.
Lete cautiously poked her head out to observe ahead.
"......Lete."
Simon still looked upset. For some reason, Lete glanced at him with a sheepish expression.
"I-I said I’m sorry."
"It’s not me you should be apologizing to. How could you provoke Aunt Israfil like that? If words don’t work, we were supposed to just leave, that was the plan."
"......Seeing her sitting there with that shitty face, looking like she’d given up on life, I just boiled over. I couldn’t control myself. Sorry."
Lete closed her eyes and apologized. Since she seemed genuinely remorseful, Simon didn’t say any more.
‘At least that’s a relief.’
If we think positively about the incident, fortunately, Lete did not directly reveal the future.
If she had said something like, In the future, Israfil will accept Anna’s ‘Essence of Miracles’ and become the ‘Saint of the Divine Sea’, that would have been dangerous, but simply saying, You’ll become someone great in the future and save many people, was something anyone could have said, not only someone from the future.
Come to think of it, Israfil sinking into guilt and discouragement might have been the more dangerous situation.
After all, the Executioners had already changed the past, so variables were something they had no choice but to accept. In the end, perhaps Lete had made the best choice she could to keep Israfil from breaking down.
"We’re here."
Lete lowered her voice as she spoke.
Up ahead, the teleportation magic circle came into view. Workers had been laboring through the night to construct it.
Now, they had to seize it, and arrive in time before the ‘Betrayal of the Legion Commander’ incident took place.
"Let’s go, Lete."
"Yes."
There were fifteen people preparing the teleportation circle at the moment.
The headcount was large, but they had to manage somehow.
Simon circled wide to the rear and cast a ‘Sleep’ curse on the two in the corner preparing the circle. Lete quietly caught their drowsy, collapsing bodies and carried them behind the wall without making a sound.
"Now it’s thirteen left."
The remaining thirteen were busy at work, focused on the magic circle. Then one of them spoke.
"Anred! Where did you go?"
"!"
They seemed to be looking for the very person Simon had just put to sleep. Simon and Lete exchanged uneasy glances.
"I told you to help with the circuit work, what are you doing? Not answering? Anred!"
Simon hesitated.
Should he mimic the man’s voice? Or should he just stay silent? But if Anred didn’t show up soon, suspicion would arise.
"Let’s move."
Lete was of the opinion to act first. Simon had no better idea, so he nodded.
Just as the two were about to leap out.
‘!’
Suddenly, they sensed someone behind them. Stiffly, they turned their heads.
"You’re working hard."
Israfil appeared, smiling. Simon tensed up in shock.
‘Don’t tell me, she’s here to arrest us......!’
"Is everything ready?"
But Israfil walked out as though she hadn’t noticed them at all, and spoke with the workers.
"Yes! If it’s just one or two, we can send them right away!"
"All that’s left is to finish the circuit wor—"
Boooooom!
Suddenly, a distant explosion rang out, and several mana lamps went out.
As the area dimmed, the workers looked around in alarm.
"W-what’s happening?"
"Looks like the mana power unit has failed, seeing as the lights cut out."
Smiling, Israfil gestured forward.
"I’ll keep watch on the magic circle, so hurry with the repairs."
"Y-yes!"
The workers rushed off in a group. At once, Israfil spread a deft holy barrier, blocking their line of sight, and beckoned Simon and Lete over.
"A-are you helping us?"
Lete approached with a bewildered expression.
Israfil placed her palm at the center of the teleportation circle, finishing the work, and activated the circle with her authority.
"This isn’t for you, it’s for Sister Anna."
She gestured again, and the circle glowed brightly.
Simon and Lete stepped onto it, and Israfil stepped back.
"Rena, you were right. I always thought I was acting for Sister Anna’s sake, but maybe it was all for myself."
Kiing!
Kiing!
The lights of the circle flared in sequence.
"I’ll probably never understand Sister Anna, who admired a necromancer. But—"
She smiled.
"This time, I’ll act for nothing but Sister Anna’s happiness, with no thought of my own gain."
The teleportation circle activated.
Their feet slowly rose from the floor.
"If Sister Anna is to stop the war, then the Holy Federation’s offensive must be delayed, right? Leave that to me."
"Lady Israfil......!"
Lete’s voice trembled with emotion. Israfil gave a faint smile.
"And just so you know, I’m not moving because of that sugar-coated nonsense you spouted about me following Sister Anna’s steps, or saving people in the future. I’m not that kind of person. I’m a servant-born of Sister Anna, and I have a clear, objective evaluation of myself. Still—"
Finally, their bodies floated completely into the air. Israfil waved.
"For Sister Anna, I’d make the same choice again and again."
* * *
The night before the sealed letter was discovered, before Anna was dispatched to the Dark Alliance’s territory.
—Israfil, I have something to tell you.
Like someone saying their last farewell.
Or like someone standing before death.
With a sad smile, Anna had called Israfil’s name.
—I’m going to leave now to do something strange.
—Anna...... sister?
—The world around me has changed drastically. Recently, because of just one trivial matter.
She smiled sadly.
—I may throw away everything I’ve built until now. It might even be something against the will of the Holy Federation.
—Wait, please calm down! I don’t understand what you’re saying!
Someone who had never spoken like this before, was now speaking with utterly serious eyes.
Anna was sincere.
And it was clear she had made some great decision.
Too shocked and panicked, Israfil cried out desperately.
—Throw away everything you’ve built? You said it yourself! It was just ‘one trivial thing’! How can just that one trivial thing......!
—But.
Anna smiled radiantly.
—What if those two trivial days shone brighter than the life I’ve lived so far?
Fwaaaaaaaaah!
Brilliant holiness overflowed from her body.
Israfil staggered back, mouth open. Suddenly the world was covered in clouds, heavenly trumpets rang, white feathers fell like snow, and pillars of heaven rose up.
A holiness so clean and vivid.
Pure holiness is the symbol of ‘faith’. And this holiness was clearer, purer than even the holiness Anna had shown when she performed countless miracles.
And Anna, smiling with that radiant heaven behind her.
She had already made her great decision. The Goddess herself seemed to uphold that decision, as the holiness shone so brightly.
Please don’t go. Stay by my side.
In the end, Israfil could not bring herself to utter such selfish words.
Anna turned her back.
—Thank you, for everything until now, Israfil.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!