A person who was no longer here?
Gale's first reaction was that this Saintess of the church was going to leave the Oswell territory.
“Are you leaving the Oswell territory?”
His gaze fell upon her face, a trace of suspicion flickering in his eyes. Then, he clicked his tongue, as if he had seen right through the young girl.
“You're purifying Marcus tonight, and yet you're leaving the territory so soon? You didn't do something with a guilty conscience and now you're trying to run away, did you? Don't tell me those people you healed really will turn into monsters?”
“I am the Saintess of the church. I would not do such a thing.”
Gale sneered, falling back into his usual cynical tone.
“Hmph, that's hard to say. Setting aside whether that's your true nature, people change in the end. Just because you are kind now doesn't mean you will always be this way in the future.”
“Then do you still want me to heal you?” Lovene arched an eyebrow.
“Yes, of course I do!”
Gale grinned and quickly sat down on the nearby sofa. “Without my right hand, I'm worse off than a monster.”
Lovene sat down beside him and extended her hand toward the stump of Gale's right arm. Then, a golden Holy Light gradually lit up, and the flesh that had been dormant for years began to slowly squirm.
The intense itching made Gale grimace, but he forced his left hand to stay still and resist the urge to scratch. Soon, he watched in awe as his right arm began to slowly grow back.
At this moment, he was already too shocked for words.
Once his right arm had fully regenerated, he stood frozen in place for a long time. Then, he slowly rotated his right wrist, clenched his hand into a fist, paused, and released it. He repeated this several times, looking just like a child.
“It's real... limb regeneration, it's actually real?!”
“My sword... I can hold a sword again!”
Tears welled up in his clouded eyes at some point. He swung his right arm through the air, as if trying to vent all the suffering he had endured over the years.
Once he had gradually calmed down, Lovene placed a hand over her chest and asked earnestly, “May I ask you to promise me one thing?”
Gale was taken aback. He looked up from his newly grown right hand, his voice carrying his usual mockery. “Heh, I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to heal me. So this is what you were building up to.”
“Go ahead. As long as it isn't anything too unreasonable, I'll agree. And don't mind my attitude—when it comes to people from the Church of the Morning Light, I'd love nothing more than to kill them all.”
After experiencing a church knight stealing his beloved, his already lukewarm feelings toward the church had turned into pure disgust, not to mention how his best brother, Marcus, had been heartlessly abandoned by them.
His hatred for the church had reached its peak. If not for the consequences of murder, he would kill every church member he laid eyes on, and the Saintess would be no exception!
“If I change in the future, please kill me.”
Gale froze upon hearing this, the mockery in his eyes instantly turning into astonishment.
“What did you say?”
“If I change in the future, please kill me.”
“Do you know what you are saying?”
“I know.”
Lovene said, “Don't you firmly believe that people change in the end? If I change, if I stop being kind, stop caring about people, and turn into... a monster, then please kill me.”
“After all, I don't want to live on looking like that. Please.”
With that, she bowed deeply to Gale.
Gale stared at Lovene, his mind racing with a flurry of thoughts.
Was this some kind of performance by the Saintess?
But what would be the point of doing this? Just to change his opinion of her? Even if his opinion changed, so what? With his status, the Saintess of the church didn't need to pay him any mind at all.
So, was this truly what she was thinking?
If this was real...
Gale's gaze grew increasingly complex. Putting away his previous mockery of the church, he answered with some difficulty, “I promise you.”
“Thank you.”
Lovene smiled, her smile as sweet as ever.
Yet for some reason, Gale felt a sense of fading vitality from that smile. It was as if the girl before him was about to embark on a path of no return, sacrificing herself to protect all living beings.
No, that couldn't be right, could it?
What kind of trouble could possibly be worth the Saintess of the church sacrificing her own life?
Even long after Lovene had vanished from his sight, Gale still couldn't find an answer to this question.
In the end, he could only chalk it up to his own overactive imagination.
...
By the sea.
The white mist rose from the sea, slowly spreading along the edges of the reefs. Lovene stood at the edge of the mist, the brightly lit coastline of the territory behind her.
At this very moment, she was the only one here.
She approached the bound monster and raised her right hand. The Holy Light shone brightly, and before long, the white mist rising from the sea swallowed her figure, bringing her into that pure white space.
At the center of the space was the black crystal, constantly oozing black water, and trapped beneath this black crystal was Marcus.
Sensing someone's arrival, Marcus's heart tightened.
“...The Saintess?”
“Marcus, I've come to save you.”
As her voice fell, Lovene, standing in the mist, burst with a dazzling golden light. Under the illumination of this light, both the white mist and the black water twisted and dissolved away.
Yet, seeing this, Marcus felt no joy whatsoever.
“No, no, no... The monster, you will turn into a monster!”
Lovene did not stop.
The black water shrouding Marcus was gradually dispersed by the Holy Light, but a wisp of black energy from the black crystal quietly bypassed the light and wrapped around the young girl's forearm.
The black crystal had chosen her as its next host.
Looking at Marcus as he was slowly freed, Lovene said softly, “In the future, take good care of the citizens in the territory. Your wife and daughter miss you very much. They really want you to come home.”
“Also, please tell Mia not to wait for me anymore. Tell her that this world is beautiful and she should go see it. I'm not worth her following for the rest of her life...”
The golden light intensified, while the darkness on the young girl's body continued to grow thicker.
The black contamination steadily dissipated from Marcus's body. The extreme pain of purification caused his already fragile consciousness to begin to fade. In his hazy state, he struggled to reach his hand forward.
Through his blurred vision, the young girl was gradually swallowed by the absolute darkness.
“...Live on well for me.”
These were the last words she left behind. After that, Marcus lost consciousness.
...
He didn't know how much time had passed when the cold seawater brushed against Marcus's cheek, waking him from his stupor.
When he opened his eyes, he was met with the crashing waves.
A few seabirds hovered near the shore, their occasional sharp chirps echoing. The salty, fishy smell of the ocean rushed over him, accompanied by waves of cold air that made him shudder as an inexplicable chill welled up in his heart.
He was just about to push himself up from the shore, but when his hands came into view, his heart nearly stopped beating.
They were a pair of human hands.
Rate on N.U.
