Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad!
Author: Lord_of_Fluffy000© WebNovel
Chapter 1: Prologue: Reincarnated as the Fake Saint
A tragedy was coming to a close in the quiet of the forest; or perhaps, the ending itself was the greatest tragedy of all.
A young man was sobbing as he held the body of a young girl to his chest. She was dying and all he could do was embrace her as she slowly turned cold.
"Ver... I... Having you by my side truly was...a blessing..."
"No! Don't die! You can't! Don't leave me!"
When did our fates diverge? Why did it have to end this way?
It was already too late to find the answer to those questions. Things could no longer change...
The only thing the young man could do now was to lose himself in regrets.
"Ver... I love...you..."
◇
I was overcome by sadness as I watched the scene unfold on my computer screen. I was so devastated I felt like I might've been able to throw a perfect assassination fist, Ryuken-style, out of sheer sadness—Fist of the North Star, anyone? After all, didn't he say something along the lines of "life springs from nothingness" or whatever?
Aaaaaaaaaargh, I'm gonna cry! Wait, everything's getting blurry... Too many tears. Can't see the screen anymore. Oh jeez—get a load of that ugly scrunched-up face. Who's that ugly bastard? Wait. That's my reflection, isn't it? Yeah, that's totally me.
My name's Fudou Niito. As my name might've suggested, I was a lazy NEET. Well, to be fair, I wasn't a real NEET—I did work as a web writer.
I was currently playing a dating sim called Kuon no Sanka ~Fiore caduto eterna~, or Eternal Scattering Flowers ~Fiore caduto eterna~. Interestingly enough, the kanji characters used and their reading aren't the usual ones.
The characters for "kuon"—eternity—were normally read "eien," while "sanka"—scattering flowers—should've been written and read "sange" like the Buddhist rite. My guess was that the writer just coined the words as he went. The use of the word "kuon" to refer to eternity—although it was spelled with different characters—was also related to Buddhism. I supposed they might've gone with the Buddhist rite of scattering flowers in order to keep the title cohesive.
That being said, the Italian part was also weird. They used a masculine noun, but put the adjective after it in the feminine form, to say nothing about the incorrect verb. All in all, the title was full of inconsistencies, so I could only assume the person who wrote it had no idea what they were doing.
The game was set in the magic academy of Fiori. You played as Verner—the most boring guy in existence—and had to try to hit on one of twenty heroines. The game's distinguishing point, as it were, was that in almost every single route, the girl you picked ended up dying.
Hey, that's probably why they decided to add "scattering flowers" in the title...
Anyway, the pretty girl who'd just died in my last playthrough was called Eterna. She was the main heroine, the final boss, and...my number one waifu. I'm not kidding when I tell you the only reason I picked up this title at my usual game shop was because I fell in love after seeing her on the cover.
The only problem was that...my beloved waifu died in every single ending except the bad one, even though she was the main heroine and everything! Despite her name, she was the very opposite of eternal!
I know no one asked why, but I'll happily provide a short explanation anyway.
In a nutshell, Eterna was a saint. She was born to face the witch—the villain hellbent on messing up everything in their world—and fated to save the world. Oh, by the way, you could also date the witch in the game. She had a heartbreaking backstory and all, but that had nothing to do with Eterna's story, so I'll just skip that. Besides, having a terrible past isn't an excuse to do whatever you want...
Anyway, back on track. As I was saying... Eterna, the saint who was born to defeat the witch, was involved in a mix-up at birth. She was swapped with another baby and ended up growing up in a poor village where she met the main character, Verner.
The fake saint who took her place was called Ellize, and she was utter trash and a piece of shit. She used her title to get away with all the awful things she did. Like I said—utter trash. In fact, I'd go as far as to call her the worst piece of trash in the world. Needless to say, she wasn't one of the game's heroines, and you couldn't date her.
Thankfully, her crimes finally ended up catching up to her, and she died like the dog she was. Unfortunately, she left behind another pile of headaches in doing so.
While Eterna and the fake had always been two different people, many weren't aware of that fact. Rioters had already started an anti-saint movement before the truth came out. They ended up raiding Eterna's hometown and slaughtering her parents and close friends. As a result, Eterna lost all faith in humanity and flew into a rage. That was how she ended up being the final boss in most of the other girls' routes. You needed to slay her to clear the game in almost every single route. Wasn't that incredibly depressing?
The only route where you were able to reconcile with her was her own route, but...she still ended up freaking dying anyway! She fulfilled her duties as the saint and sacrificed herself to defeat the witch. She died in the arms of the main character—also known as the heart-wrenching scene I'd watched just now.
I just can't... She didn't deserve that...
Everything was that damn fake's fault! If she didn't exist, Eterna could've lived happily!
Arrrrgh! Couldn't they have added some new content or something?! I needed a save-my-little-Eterna route! Seriously, come on!
At this point, I'd even be happy with a fanfic. I just needed someone to write it, pleaaaaase! I would've done it myself, but my writing skills were hopeless. The best I could do was a script... Look, the author could even go as cliché as they wanted—like having an original character getting transported to an isekai or something—and I swear I wouldn't even complain! As long as Eterna's fate could be changed, I'd be thankful. Oh and could they please erase the freaking fake saint from existence while they were at it?! Thanks.
To be honest, I liked Eterna even more because of all the hardships she had to go through but I just wished she could've had at least one happy ending. I guess I couldn't bring myself to like characters who just had it all—it was too far removed from reality. Life wasn't easy, after all. So yeah, while I was usually the type to cheer for characters who'd been through a lot, in Eterna's case...it was just too much.
Lost in my thoughts, I turned off my computer and crawled under the covers. It was already three in the morning. I'd been so focused on Eterna that I'd forgotten to go to bed.
I'm so sleepy... All right, time to hit the sack. Good night. Damn it! At least I can dream of Eterna living a happy life!
My body felt incredibly sore and heavy, but I guess that was what I got for staying up so late...
When I woke up the next morning, I was inside a castle I'd never seen before. If someone asked me to explain my situation in a hundred words or less, my answer would be... Nope. No way. For real, I had no idea what in the world was going on.
Had I been kidnapped? If so, the kidnappers were already freaking loaded. And where the hell was I?
Do we even have European-looking castles like this in Japan? Wait. The D*sney hotels kinda look like this, don't they?
To be fair, being kidnapped didn't sound too bad if I got to stay in such a cool place. No matter how I thought about it, going from living in a cramped apartment to living in a castle was a huge upgrade.
I decided to get out of my new, comfy, super-soft bed while I pondered over the situation. When I did, I noticed that the furniture looked incredibly tall.
What's going on here? How is the room so big?! In what world is furniture this huge? Just look at that humongous mirror!
"Huh...? AH! AAAAAAAH!!!"
I heard a strange voice—high-pitched, clear, and way too melodious to be my own—as I stepped closer to the mirror. The thing was, it definitely had come out of my throat.
Plus, the reflection in the mirror wasn't me.
A doll-like face—complete with large, bright green eyes that shone like jewels and flowing, waist-length honey-blond hair—gazed back at me. She looked like she was made in CG. It reminded me of the remake of that famous RPG; you know, the one that blew up because the characters were so well-made you could see their pores and peach fuzz.
Yeah, it definitely looks like that. Wow, my skin is so smooth.
There were no spots or wrinkles whatsoever. I could barely see any pores or peach fuzz even if I stuck my face close to the mirror. I brought my hand to my cheek and was shocked by how nice and soft it felt under my fingers.
It's really...me. The pretty girl I saw in the mirror followed my moves to a T, so there was no way I was wrong about this.
So I'm a girl now? All right, all right. We've got some genderswapping going on here.
I was still the same old me inside, though, so I totally failed to see the appeal. Even if I became the prettiest girl ever, it'd be a complete waste considering my personality.
Sure, looks are important but the inside is just as crucial!
Image here:
It's like in manga, you know. When the girl has a shit personality, even panty shots don't hit the same.
Actually, now that I'd taken a closer look, I had a feeling I'd seen this castle before... Or maybe I hadn't? It kinda looked like the saint's castle in Kuon no Sanka...
Wait. It doesn't just look like it—it's exactly the same. Aaaaall right. I get it now. I knew exactly what was going on. I was dreaming of Kuon no Sanka, wasn't I?
And...while the girl in the mirror was still young, her beauty was already shining through. She was brimming with charisma and a sacred aura seemed to surround her. She just had to be...the young Eterna! I was currently in the body of the cutest girl ever, the main heroine of Kuon no Sanka.
She didn't look quite the same in 3D as she did in 2D, but there was no way this beauty could belong to anyone else. Her hair and eye color were also a bit off, but it wasn't like anyone would care about those small details. Game characters always changed a little between the concept art and the final product, after all. For instance, some characters that were supposed to have black hair ended up with a shade of blue instead. Others had bright pink or green hair when they were never supposed to initially, just to make them easier for the players to visually distinguish. I had a feeling her facial features weren't exactly the same either, but it made sense—it'd be impossible to have the exact same face in 2D and 3D.
I see, I see. My wish had been heard, hadn't it? I wanted to have a beautiful dream in which Eterna was happy, but this probably meant I had to make her happy myself. If the only way to make her happy was to become her, then...
Sure! Let's roll with that.
To be honest, I'd always been curious about how it felt to be a pretty girl, so this was the perfect chance to live like one. Oh, don't get me wrong—I was perfectly happy with being a man, and I'd hate to stay inside a girl's body forever, but I was down to try for a short while.
Oh, uh... Just putting this out there, but sleeping with—or even kissing—another dude is a hard pass, though.
Even if my appearance had changed a lot, my mind hadn't, so I had no interest in that kind of stuff. Just thinking about some guy's face getting closer to mine and taking up my whole field of vision...
Yeah, no, I can't. There's just no way. Whatever! I can do this!
Err, not the kissing dudes part. I just meant I could roll with the genderswapping thing.
Now that I had become Eterna, I'd do everything in my power to make her happy! As soon as I achieved that, I'd give her body back to her.
Just as I'd finished gathering my thoughts, a man who looked like a butler stepped into the room.
"Oh, I see you're already awake, Lady Ellize," he greeted me.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! I'M THE FAAAAAAAAAKE!!!
It took me a few minutes of lying facedown in bed to regain my calm after understanding that I had transmigrated into the fake saint.
Talk about a major disappointment! I feel so betrayed.
Now that I knew I wasn't Eterna but rather the freaking fake—Ellize—I'd lost all motivation to do this seriously.
Yeah, I'm not doing this. Can the dream end already? I'm done. Doooone! So done. Literally over it. Game over. Bye-bye.
Out of all people, why did it have to be her?! Since I was also kind of a piece of shit myself, I supposed that our minds were more in sync in a way. That meant there was probably a good balance between the mind and body.
At least I didn't have to feel guilty about stealing her body. I didn't even feel the need to ever return it, actually. If Ellize got her body back, she'd definitely just end up acting like a bitch again.
Maybe I should just kill myself and get this over with.
The only issue was...I couldn't be sure this was only a dream.
I'd been in here for a while and it didn't look like I was about to wake up anytime soon. I'd had breakfast earlier, and it had tasted pretty good—just like regular food. On top of that, the longer I waited, the more awake I felt and the more everything around me started to feel real.
An old lady called for me. "Lady Ellize, it's time for your classes."
I figured it was better to answer my teacher politely for now. "Y-Yes! Thank you very much for reminding me."
If I started speaking like a rough guy out of nowhere, the people here were sure to be taken aback. Speaking like a girl was out of the question, though. Just thinking about it made me want to throw up. So I went with the same polite speech I'd used at work back when I was a part-timer. That was the best I was willing to do.
Now that I thought about it, it was strange that I could speak the language of this world perfectly. The structure was very similar to Japanese, and polite speech seemed to be a thing here as well.
For some reason, the old lady's jaw dropped open and she stared at me, aghast.
What's up, lady? Did I do something weird?
She shivered and happily exclaimed, "Lady Ellize! You... You said 'thank you'! It's the first time you've ever thanked me..."
Ah, I get it now. Even as a kid, Ellize acted like a little shit, didn't she?
After all, this was the girl who had no qualms firing people left and right if they displeased her, or—after growing up and rising to power—driving the people she didn't like to suicide. Hell, she'd even ordered a gang of ruffians to attack and **** one such woman without batting an eye.
Ellize really is the devil incarnate. Compared to her, the regular villainous ladies you see in stories are literal angels.
Considering her appearance, Ellize was roughly five years old right now. That meant she probably hadn't done anything too horrible yet—she was just an insufferable brat.
As I pondered over the situation, I effortlessly went through Ellize's classes. Needless to say, her studies were a walk in the park for me.
I mean, it'd be stranger if I struggled with elementary-school-level math, I guess.
I tried to envision my future as Ellize. At first, I'd been incredibly disappointed to have taken over her body but, now that I thought about it, this was a chance to save Eterna and give her a perfect happy ending.
Ellize's actions were at the root of Eterna's suffering. If it wasn't for her, I was certain Eterna could have a much happier life. The silver lining was that I was currently in control of Ellize's body. In other words, as long as I didn't do anything evil, everything would be fine.
I had no clue what state my real body was in right now. I couldn't even figure out if this was a dream, or if I'd taken possession of her body like in light novels. Maybe I'd just been reincarnated as Ellize from the start and recovered the memories from my past life by chance earlier today. Finally, there was a possibility that I was Ellize herself, and that I was simply confused because I'd inherited some random guy's memories by mistake.
Well, not that it really mattered. At the end of the day, I still loved happy endings and loathed bad ones with every fiber of my being.
I'll change this story, then. I'll save Eterna and Verner, and I'll overwrite all of the tragic events that plagued them. No, I won't stop with just the two of them—I'm not letting any of the other heroines meet their ends either! I'll make everyone happy!
Ellize was a piece of trash, but she was a very smart piece of trash—a genius, even. She was no saint, but she had an enormous reserve of mana, enough to be mistaken for one. She was also blessed with a great talent for close combat.
This was the very reason why she'd been swapped with Eterna at birth. Even as a baby, her tremendous potential and mana had shone through, and that was what had led everyone to assume she was the saint. I remembered fighting her in some of the routes and, let me tell you, she was freaking strong.
Worst of all, she had reached that level without ever breaking a sweat. This kind of writing was only acceptable for villains. Even the official booklet described her as "a fiendish genius born into this world by mistake."
Well, with that backstory, it only made sense that her fate was to get drunk on her own powers before eventually facing her demise.
Anyhow. The important thing was that if I made use of Ellize's natural talent and worked hard every day from childhood...I'd probably be able to take down the witch when she appeared!
According to the lore, only the saint could hope to defeat the witch, but I knew for a fact that wasn't true. In certain routes, it was possible to get rid of her without relying on Eterna.
All right. I've made up my mind. I'll lead this world toward a happy ending. I'll pull through even if I have to destroy Ellize's body in the process!
The first step was to devote myself to my studies and practice magic as much as possible. Then, I'd start practical training.
I'd also be as nice as possible to my servants. Not that it'd be hard. My servants were all pretty ladies and, as we all know, being nice to pretty ladies is the most important duty of any proper gentleman.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone