As it turned out, the sick girl I'd healed was the type who had her curves hidden by clothing. I could still feel the warmth of her body and the plumpness of her chest on mine as I walked through the corridors.
Perks of the job.
Anyway, that was one thing to cross off my to-do list.
I'd casually run into her while walking around, so I'd quickly healed her to get it over with.
Seriously, why are the doctors of this world wasting precious ingredients to cure stuff like this? It's a total mystery. I guess their incompetence let me experience something fun.
When the sick girl broke down crying after my super heal, I saw my opportunity and took it. I was more than happy to give her a nice hug, gently combing my fingers through her hair and pretending to comfort her while enjoying the feeling of her body against mine. Hye he he he!
"Here you are, Lady Ellize."
Would you look at that—it was Mister Main Character Verner and Miss Heroine Eterna together!
You two have no idea how happy it makes me to see you walk together with smiles plastered on your faces. I'm not like those bitter loners who want happy couples to explode and die off.
Why? Because little Verner there was nothing but the incarnation of the player. In other words...my own incarnation! In a way, when Verner flirted with Eterna, it was like I was flirting with her.
Huh? I'm deluding myself? Of course not! That's what dating sims are all about! You have to empathize with the main character so you can date the girls through him! That's the whole point!
That was why I'd never be jealous of Verner. If anything, I'd always be happy to help him get the girl.
Grasp that happy ending and live happily ever after, all right? That's the only way I can die peacefully.
Anyway... Eterna looked a little off today. Was she worried about something?
I'm happy to hear you out anytime, darling.
"I... N-No need, I'm all right," she said.
Are you sure you're all right? You really look down. Did Verner neglect you again? Dude, you need to take care of the girl you like instead of exercising all the time!
"I-I'm still exercising, but I promise I've stopped spending all my time doing it. And, hmm...the girl I like isn't... Never mind. May I ask you why you decided to enroll in the academy, Lady Ellize?"
I see, you can't help but be curious, can you? What should I do? Should I tell you? I'm a nice person, so I guess I'll tell you...but you have to keep my secret, okay?
The two of them were kind of related to the main plot—actually, they were the main characters—so I figured they had a right to know. The sooner they knew, the safer they'd be if anything happened.
I made sure Verner understood he couldn't go around telling everyone about what I was about to disclose, then explained that the witch was most likely hiding in the academy.
"Th-The witch is...inside this academy?!"
Figured you'd be surprised.
I couldn't tell them exactly where she was, because I didn't want them trying anything rash, so I decided to make it seem like I hadn't pinpointed her exact location. Naturally, I'd actually known where she was from the moment I'd opened my eyes in this world, but they didn't need to know that.
Hye he he he! I'll teach the witch true dread by following her closely. She's not getting a moment of peace! Show me your expression when you're terrified, witch!
The last boss'd always looked so high and mighty in the game. Getting to see her crying and begging would make my day.
"The witch..."
Eterna, why do you look scared? I wanted to see the witch cower in fear, not you!
Did she freak out because she was so close to the witch?
There's no need to be so scared, sweetheart! I'll make sure you and Verner are safe. I'm here to defeat the damn witch and protect you, so don't sweat it! Killing her will be a walk in the park for me!
After I'd said something along those lines, Eterna's face turned pale, and she ran away without another word.
Did I do something wrong?
I shot a glance at Verner and Layla, hoping to get an answer from them, but they looked just as puzzled as me.
What the hell?
I had absolutely no clue why Eterna had suddenly run off. Was she scared of me? But why?!
I wasn't like the original Ellize. I'd never bullied her. Hell, I'd even saved her when Farah had taken her hostage. Even if she didn't like me, there was no reason for her to hate me, was there?!
Actually, I could think of a few possible reasons.
Maybe she'd noticed the lustful glances I tended to throw at girls' chests, and she'd gotten grossed out and run off.
I was also playing a role as the saint. Maybe she could see my true nature, hidden under layers of acting, and hated me because of that.
Either way, I had a feeling she should be more grossed out than scared. She hadn't looked like she despised me...rather, it'd been like she was afraid I'd hurt her.
Did Eterna ever react like that in the game? She did!
The end of the game changed slightly depending on the route you were on. Usually, the last boss was either the witch or Eterna. When Eterna was the last boss, it was actually possible to finish the game without fighting the witch at all—she'd just die off-screen. Eterna, accompanied by a bunch of knights, would defeat her while Verner wasn't there (hence why the player didn't get to see it). If you were to try talking to her after that had happened, she'd show a similar kind of frightened reaction.
But that event was meant to happen much later. There was no reason for her to act so scared while the witch was still alive.
Wait! Had Eterna killed the witch without my knowing?!
No, that didn't make any sense. Actually, it was impossible.
While there was a storyline where Eterna went off to kill the witch on her own, that only happened in the second half of the game. On top of that, she had to use tons of knights as cannon fodder to protect herself during the fight. It resulted in a large number of casualties.
Oh, spoiler alert—depending on the choices the player had made up until this point, Layla could end up being one of those casualties.
At any rate, Eterna had to be at least level 40 for the event to be triggered.
Unless she was strong enough and had enough cannon fodder to keep herself alive, she shouldn't be able to beat the witch. That meant there was absolutely no way the current Eterna could defeat her alone. If she were to try her luck, she'd be the one to die instead.
I tried to remember why Eterna was even scared in that route.
It was because... Oh, right! I remember now! It's a spoiler, but...meh, I guess it's not the first one I've let slip. I'll just go ahead.
The long and short of it was: her fear was because she'd learned the terrible truth that the witch and saint were, in fact, one and the same. There were absolutely no differences between the witch and the saint.
That was why they both had the same characteristics, and why they could only be hurt by their own powers as well as the other's.
Verner's dark powers worked on the witch because, at the end of the day, the nature of his powers were the same as the saint's.
The thing was, after a saint defeated the witch, the deep grudge etched inside the witch's heart was somehow transferred to the saint. That saint then ended up becoming the next witch.
There had never been a proper explanation as to what the whole grudge thing was, but according to a popular fan theory, it was a part of the very first witch's soul... Or rather, it was a curse set up by the first witch to transfer her hatred to the one that had killed her. And since only the saint could defeat the witch, it only ever affected them.
That was how, after defeating the witch herself, Eterna had ended up becoming the next one. Then she'd reappeared as the last boss.
In fact, the current witch was also Eterna's predecessor—well, what remained of her, at least.
As you'd probably figured out by now, saying that the saint "died" after defeating the witch was actually a lie. The truth was that the saint would hide herself while the royal family pretended that she'd died in order to conceal the terrible secret. The reason why there was a five-year gap between the death of a witch and the appearance of the next one was because the saint was only able to hold on to her sanity for about that long.
By that point, it would also become impossible for the saint to kill herself to avoid her inevitable fate. While her powers would still work on herself, and it technically was possible, her survival instinct would become too strong for her to bypass on her own—dark magic always tried to keep its wielder alive. No matter how badly she'd wish to, she wouldn't be able to take her own life. A saint who'd had yet to inherit that magic could commit suicide, though.
If the first witch had indeed been behind everything, it made sense for her to leave that kind of power behind. If her enemy were to have just killed herself immediately after their fight, her revenge wouldn't have been complete, after all.
Once a saint became a witch, she was overcome by destructive urges that she couldn't repress. Regardless of her will, the witch had to commit atrocities.
And so, when this world—or rather, the fundamental power that moved everything in this world, mana (incredibly cliché name, I know)—sensed that the saint was dead, or that another witch had appeared, it gave birth to a new saint to keep the balance. It was as if the world thought something like, maybe this time it'll all work out!
That was why the saint was always born after the witch appeared.
Pretty shitty system, right?
While it had never happened, if someone other than the saint were to hypothetically kill the witch, they'd die too. They wouldn't be able to bear the first witch's powerful grudge. Regardless of how strong they were, their body just wasn't made to handle that curse.
I mean, you just had to look at me—I was pretty much OP, but even I had lost years of my life and stopped aging after absorbing a small amount of dark magic.
If a human were to defeat the witch, though, a new one wouldn't be born to replace her; the cycle would finally be broken.
The only person who could achieve that was our local MC, Verner. However, if you did that in the game, Verner would die and you'd get a bad end.
Most people didn't quite agree that it was considered bad, though, since Verner's death would break the cruel cycle the witch and saint were trapped in, and it allowed Eterna to live a full life. That's more of a happy ending in my book.
Anyway, that was the main reason why I hadn't killed the witch already. I was pretty sure I could do it, but I'd kick the bucket right after. It was too soon for that.
I hadn't killed enough monsters, and there were some events that'd mess everything up if I wasn't there to help Verner...
Even if I were to unalive the witch and break the cycle now, Verner and Eterna's happiness could still easily be destroyed by monsters or unfortunate events. If that happened...there wouldn't have been any point in my reincarnation.
I didn't want to give them a happy ending so brittle that it could be ruined immediately after my death. I'd only make my exit once I was entirely sure nothing could threaten their happiness. Ever.
In practical terms, that meant I first had to get rid of every last monster.
Huh? What's that? Monsters have feelings too? They're just trying to live their lives? Some monsters are nice and don't hurt humans? Does it look like I care?
If you were to follow that line of thinking, the farmers who turned their livestock into meat every winter were much worse than I was.
Anyway, I needed to get back to the topic at hand. Once Eterna had killed the witch, she'd obviously noticed the truth. She'd pretended that everything was fine, but she was terrified of turning into the next witch. She'd run away from Verner.
In the end, she'd pretended to have fully become the witch long before it was actually supposed to have happened so Verner would kill her... All the while, she had to watch him fight her with the new waifu he'd chosen, hand in hand.
The worst part was that her last wish—dying at Verner's hand—didn't even end up coming true. In most cases, the girl Verner had chosen would sacrifice herself to kill Eterna and they would die together. Then, Verner would hold his dying waifu's body close, bawl his eyes out, and exchange a few final words with her...while Eterna died alone a little further away.
The last option was Eterna killing herself to avoid dragging Verner to his death with her. Suicide wasn't normally possible for a saint-turned-witch, but Eterna had somehow managed thanks to the power of love or something.
My poor Eterna's suffered way too much!
By the way, the aforementioned ending was only possible in two routes: the sick girl's and Aina Fox's—the two that were always destined to die unless you were on their route. Considering the heroine died most of the time, these two routes were pretty popular since you got to experience a true happy end.
Oh, I ended up rambling about a lot of useless stuff, but none of that told me why Eterna had reacted the way she had.
The witch was still alive, which meant Eterna hadn't turned evil yet.
So why had she reacted like she was the witch?
I really don't get it. Totally clueless. Let me think for a sec... Yeah, no, I've got nothing. All right, let's put that on the back burner for now.
I told Verner to check on Eterna and see if she was okay. I'd just observe the situation for now.
Aina Fox still hadn't made a move either, so that was yet another issue on hold. Maybe she'd never do anything at all, and she'd stay a nice quiet background character?
As for the next event... It differed depending on the heroine you picked, but none of them were dangerous enough to get someone killed. It didn't really matter.
Verner still hadn't seemed to get involved with any girl besides Eterna.
Although it might've sounded a bit mean of me to say, I actually thought that was for the best. As long as they didn't speak to Verner, most of the potential heroines wouldn't play a part in the story, and as a result, wouldn't risk dying.
Before summer vacation started there were mid-term exams, but...I didn't really have to care about that, did I? During summer vacation, Verner'd just go on a date with whichever girl had the highest affection level for him. I could ignore that too.
After that... It'd be time for the first biannual martial tournament. The witch would send monsters to assassinate the saint, so there'd most likely be a battle.
Well, at least we'd have some peace until the tournament started.
No, hang on a minute... I feel like I'm forgetting something important.
There was another event where the monsters that were kept in the academy went crazy. They were bred within the academy to be used for training. Wasn't that pitiful, to be born and raised as moving targets for the knight students?
Anyway, because of the witch's powers, they'd escape and start attacking people during the event. They were weaklings that didn't manage to do much damage, though. If memory serves, they only killed two random students before the teachers and the strongest students stopped them.
By the way, this event was a good opportunity for Verner to show off by killing one of the monsters in front of his prospective waifu. It boosted her affection level a ton in one go.
Regardless, it was a bit sad for the two students, even if they were unnamed extras. There was no reason for me to let them die like that, so I'd save them immediately when the event started.
◇
Ever since Ellize had entered the academy, an effervescent atmosphere had taken the school by storm. Some students squealed whenever she passed them by in the corridors, while others giggled after catching a glance of the renowned saint.
Most of the youngsters that had enrolled in the academy had done so in the hope of one day fighting by the saint's side. To be more specific, the majority of the current generation of wanna-be magic knights only dreamed of one thing: standing alongside not just any saint, but Ellize, the greatest saint in history.
"Lady Ellize smiled at me today!"
"How nice. Well, she greeted me today."
"Okay, but hear me out—she encouraged me. I feel like I can do anything now!"
While a group of students were chatting among themselves excitedly, Ellize—the very subject of all their gossip—walked by. Layla, Ellize's loyal guard, was so firmly glued to her side that it was impossible for them to approach her, but Ellize seemed to notice the students' worshipful gazes nonetheless. She smiled at them, and their faces flushed red immediately. One of them even swooned.
There was one person, though, who didn't seem to enjoy the current atmosphere. Rather, it seemed she was growing increasingly depressed. That person was Eterna.
She couldn't stop herself from thinking that she might be the witch. No, it wasn't just a possibility anymore—she was certain that she was the witch, and it terrified her.
Ellize had enrolled in this academy because she'd sensed the witch's presence. It was only a matter of time before she found out the witch's—Eterna's—identity. What would happen when she did?
Eterna agonized about it all day and all night. She could barely sleep anymore. From time to time, she felt Ellize's eyes linger on her like she was scrutinizing her.
She tried to fight weak monsters, hoping to take her mind off of things by focusing on training, but it didn't help much.
Perhaps if she talked to Ellize and let her know she didn't mean any harm, she'd spare her? Even if she truly was the witch, she'd never done anything wrong. As long as she continued to behave, Ellize would surely forgive her!
She wasn't sure why Farah had ended up that way, but it must've been some sort of mistake. Eterna had never tried to control her or force her to attack Ellize.
Eterna had finally begun to feel a little more settled, when yet another trial was laid before her. She'd been listening to her teacher's lecture when suddenly, screams echoed outside the classroom.
"Save me!"
"Monsters?! In the academy?! How?!"
Before she could react or even understand what was going on, Ellize had sprung into action, jumping to her feet. Layla, her guard, had followed closely behind. Verner had taken a few more seconds to act, but he'd also stood up and dashed to the door.
Beyond the door, a large horde of monsters were attacking some poor students. While they all looked smaller and weaker than the ones Eterna had seen in the basement that day, there were hundreds—no, thousands?—of them all over the school.
There was no way the teachers and students could get rid of all these monsters without any casualties... Or at least, that would've been the case if she hadn't been here.
"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."
Ellize said something Eterna didn't understand, then a magic circle appeared at her feet. It quickly began to expand and soon covered the entire academy, enveloping everyone in soft light.
A few people had been on the verge of being attacked by monsters, but against all expectations, the ones who ended up flying were the monsters themselves.
"It's a defensive spell! It doesn't just cancel damage, but also reflects the enemies' attacks back at them!" Supple Ment, the magic instructor that had been teaching Eterna and the others, screamed at the top of his lungs. "No, not only that—are the reflected attacks even stronger?! I'd say they're twice as— No...three times stronger?! Wait! The monsters who've been repelled are all paralyzed! That means there's thunder magic mixed in with the light spell! To think she covered the whole academy with such an elaborate spell in the blink of an eye!"
He'd immediately understood the gravity of Ellize's spell, which made him somewhat impressive too.
Eterna was astonished by Ellize's incredible display as she looked at the students in the corridor.
"I-It hurts...so much..." a student moaned in pain. It looked like his shoulder had been injured before Ellize had been able to deploy her barrier. Blood gushed out from his wound, and his face was as white as a sheet.
The saint walked up to him and healed him.
"Lady Ellize... Could this be...?" Layla trailed off.
"It's most likely what you are thinking," Ellize stated. "The witch used her miasma to stimulate the monsters and make them attack. I'm sure of it."
Eterna shivered at her words. The witch's miasma? Stimulate the monsters? She knew exactly how this had happened! She'd been in close contact with monsters while she'd been training recently...
No... All of this... Everything's my fault...
She'd naively assumed that everything would be all right as long as she bore no ill will toward anybody, but it was clear she'd been sorely mistaken. The witch was still the witch, no matter what. It should've been obvious. There were no records of a nice witch—not a single one. Regardless of her will, she'd plunge the world into an era of darkness and suffering. She understood this now.
Just like Ellize's presence was enough to light up a place, just as Ellize was the light itself, Eterna's presence was enough to draw a veil of darkness over her surroundings. She was the darkness.
I don't want to hurt people anymore... Yes, I need to disappear from this world before I cause any more suffering...
She got up and left the classroom, staggering like a drunkard. Under normal circumstances, someone would've noticed how oddly she was behaving. Unfortunately, Ellize's miracle had everyone enraptured, and no one saw Eterna walk off.
Ironically, a bright light sometimes blinded people and prevented them from noticing their surroundings even more than pitch-black darkness would.
(3.900k words)
throw me some power stone!
Ha ha ha! Flatter me more! Flatter the greatest genius of this world! Here, healed! Easy as pie! Oh, wait... Did I mess up?
I was currently having a blast healing people and basking in my accomplishments. I'd done a wonderful job of dealing with the monsters, if I dared say so myself! Thanks to me, the event had come to an end with a total of...zero casualties!
As long as someone wasn't dead, I could heal pretty much anything. Seriously, I'm such a genius that it even scares me sometimes.
As Ellize, I realized all over again how much of a monster she was. She was practically a bugged character at this point.
It made sense for her to be strong, since the player was meant to fight her in the second part of the game. I guess the writers had no choice but to make her into a dumbass who wasted her insane talent by playing around instead of training in order for the player to have a shot at beating her.
Not that I was complaining. Thanks to the setting, I got to enjoy being completely OP and I was here for it.
"After rain comes fair weather," I said in English.
Blurting out random sentences in English makes me sound so cool, for real! Everything ends up sounding like a killer move name! Guess it's time for my third super technique!
I activated my spell, and a rain of fine light particles showered down on all the injured students left in one go. If I went around treating them one by one, it'd take hours.
All right, BAM! Everyone's healed! Doooone!
"But Ellize, will your spell even heal people inside buildings?" you ask? Fear not! Although my magic rained down, it wasn't really water, so it could easily pass through roofs and ceilings.
If there was a flaw to my spell, it'd be that it affected literally everyone inside the casting area. If someone was hurt, it'd heal their wounds, but if they were already doing fine... Well, they'd have some extra energy for the day. They'd probably feel a little hyper until tomorrow, but oh well. Couldn't really help it.
Aight, Four-Eyed Pervert, I'm done. There shouldn't be anyone else who's hurt, but meh, I'm too lazy to check. You can do it, right? You guys—teachers—should try to actually be useful every once in a while, got it?
"Of course, saint! Please leave it to me! If I may... What you've accomplished here today is nothing short of a miracle..."
Sorry to disappoint, bro, but miracles aren't a thing. I'm just way too OP compared to these weak-ass monsters.
There was no reason to burst his bubble, though, so I kept that thought to myself.
Now that I was done dealing with this mess, it was time to go back to the classroom and resume my favorite activity: admiring my darling Eterna.
I wondered if Eterna had sensed the underlying creepiness of my stares—she was starting to become a little sensitive.
Ah, I knew I was looking at her butt too often...
I mean, I got it. It was kinda gross, after all. I was actually starting to understand it all too well, in fact, as I was also on the receiving end of a creepy dude's gaze—damn that Four-eyed Pervert!
I decided I'd apologize for staring so much later on, and— Wait. Where was Eterna? She'd vanished from the classroom for some reason.
Had she gotten so tired of being ogled that she left?
Hey, Ver! Kiddo, d'ya have any idea where your future wife is?
"Eterna? Now that you mention it... She left, didn't she?"
NERVER?! Are you for real?!
No, wait, his name was Verner. Whatever! SAME THING!!!
How the hell did you not notice that your waifu wasn't here?! It's the main route, it can't be that hard to stay focused on it, now, can it?!
"Now that you mention it"? "Now that you mention it"? Do you want me to punch you in the face? You're not even trying to woo another heroine, so what the heck are you doing?!
"L-Lady Ellize! If you're looking for Eterna, I saw her walk out of the classroom."
Finally, an eyewitness! Good job!
I remembered this girl—Fiora. She was pretty cute with her shoulder-length blond hair, so it helped. She was the one I'd healed some time ago. The one with the scar on her face who couldn't walk... Oh, and who'd been kidnapped by Farah along with Eterna and Verner.
"I also saw her leave. She looked down and went that way," a male student said, pointing in a direction.
And you are...? I just can't remember dudes. I can't.
I probably should've asked him who he was, but I decided to thank him with a smile instead. Whoever you are, thanks, I guess.
"Are you sure, John?" Verner asked.
So that's what he's called.
"Yeah... She looked like she was brooding over something," he answered.
It looked like he and Verner were pretty close. Now that I thought about it... I had a feeling he might've been one of the hostages that time...or maybe not? No clue. Maybe that was how they'd become close, though. Getting kidnapped together had to count for something.
"Let's go after her! I'm a bit worried," Fiora blurted out before leaving the room with Verner and the random dude in tow.
I should probably follow them... I know how it goes! We're going to Egypt, right?! I'm so in.
"Lady Ellize, if you're thinking of following them, let me come too."
Oh, there you are, Layla!
How reliable. Layla was a very capable person, so having her tag along was reassuring.
"If our saint is going somewhere, my duty is to follow... My dear students, please study by yourselves for the time being."
Oh no. I swear to God, I don't need you, you four-eyed bastard.
Talk about a messy party... It made sense for Verner, the main character, and Layla, one of the dateable heroines, to tag along, but what was with the rest of them?! Fiora didn't even appear in the game, no one cared about some random dude, and we even had a low-tier villain following us around.
Then, of course, there was the cherry on top—me, the trashy fake.
You couldn't have found a better cast for a comedy.
Anyway, our ridiculous group went after Eterna, but as you might've expected, we were too late. We couldn't find her anywhere.
"She should be this way. It's very faint but I can feel her mana," the damn Four-Eyed Pervert said, sounding for all the world like a self-confident ass.
Wait, could he be...much more talented than I expected? Right! Being a stalker must mean he's good at this sort of stuff! You're doing great for once!
While I was incredibly skilled at making everything explode with magic spells, I'd never even tried to track someone's mana. Hey, even the worst of lowlifes had to have good points, right?
We followed Four-eyed Pervert around and eventually made our way to the cliff located right outside the academy. Violent waves were crashing against the rocks.
Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to build a school here of all places?
Okay, I was being a little mean. The academy hadn't actually been built on a cliff—it had been erected on high ground, and the cliff just happened to be a little further down.
Anyway, that wasn't important. What really mattered was the fact that my little Eterna had gone over the fence and was standing at the edge of the cliff. One more step and she'd fall.
What the hell are you doing, sweetie?!
Verner, seeing Eterna in such a dangerous spot, freaked out. "Eterna! What are you doing there?!"
No, but for real, what's going on?
"Don't come near me!" Eterna yelled back, taking another step further. One of her feet was almost off the cliff now.
Uh oh. If she steps back again, she'll really fall.
She wouldn't die even if she did, but still. First, I had to get her to calm down and ask her why she was doing this.
"I... I must disappear!" she exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?!" Verner shot back.
While listening to the two lovers quarrel, I tried to make sense of what she'd just said. What made her act this way in the game?
I was proud to say I'd finished every single route and read every guide there was. Despite that, I still couldn't remember an event where Eterna threatened to jump off a cliff. Then again, small events were hidden everywhere, and people were still discovering them years after the game first came out. While there were strategy guides, it was hard to be sure they were exhaustive.
So how did this happen? Had she grown tired of waiting for Verner because he was too focused on his damn muscles?!
"Everything... Everything's my fault! It's my fault Miss Farah became weird... And it's also because of me that the monsters attacked everyone!"
Huh? What're you saying, girl? How are these incidents your fault? I don't follow.
I failed to understand why Eterna had suddenly gotten that idea. I'd told them very clearly that Farah had been controlled by the witch, and today's incident was also the witch's fault. Eterna didn't have anything to do with any of it.
Anyhow, first I had to get her to calm down. I could see how on edge she was.
"Please calm down. I can see your heart is unsettled. Come back to us, then we can—" I tried to reason with her, but she cut me off.
"I told you not to come near me!" she screamed.
I didn't get why, but she was getting even more agitated. Was she reacting like that because of me? Did she really think I was gross?! Aaargh, I shouldn't have stared at her butt! I really shouldn't have!
"You don't need to lie to me anymore, Lady Ellize... I-I know everything..." she continued.
What?! Uh oh... Did she figure out I was a fake?! Did she figure out I was a piece of shit all along?!
I shouldn't be too surprised—she was the saint, after all. She was bound to notice that she couldn't get hurt and figure out that she was the real deal. Unless it was really that butt thing...
It's not what you think, Eterna! I-I was just being possessed by some evil spirit, I promise! It forced me to think of how thick and juicy your ass is. I'm sorryyyyyyy!!!
No, wait... If it was really about that, why would she try to commit suicide? Did she plan to show to everyone that she couldn't get hurt even by jumping off a cliff to prove that she was the saint?
How foolish of you, Eterna. That idea...would totally work, damn it!
I tried to speak up again. "I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. Could you please come this way first and—"
"I knew you wouldn't understand... There's no way someone like you could understand my feelings..."
If you put it that way...
It was true, I probably couldn't understand. I'd spent my time pretending to be the saint and stealing her rightful spot. She was a victim, and I was the one responsible for her suffering. It wasn't really my fault that Ellize and Eterna had been switched at birth, though. If anything, the true culprit was that hack of a prophet who messed up when predicting which baby was to become the saint.
So don't hate me! It's not my fault!
Or so I thought, until Eterna dropped a bomb on me.
"How could the saint understand the feelings of the witch?!"
I see, I see. You're the witch... That comes as a surprise. But you know, being a fake saint isn't a walk in the park either—
Wait...
What the heck had she just said? The witch? Not the saint? Did she really say "witch"?!
Uh...
Sorry, but...WHAT?!
Even I was left speechless by Eterna's sudden declaration. I felt like a racer who'd just passed a long, straight tunnel, only to be sent flying off course unexpectedly by a random passerby.
N/A NOT FOUND. N/A NOT FOUND. N/A NOT FOUND.
First of all, the saint and the witch could NOT be the same age. A new saint was always born after the previous saint had died or after she had turned into a witch. For us to be the same age, the previous saint would've needed to kill the witch as a literal baby! Then, she would've had to turn into the witch instantly so another saint could be born.
Even if Eterna had no way of knowing all that, she should've at least learned that the saint was always born after the witch appeared in school—it was written in every textbook.
Speaking of these textbooks, the students weren't expected to buy them when they enrolled. They were passed down to the newer students by their upperclassmen every school year, so they were pretty old and dirty.
Anyway, this generation's witch had started doing horrible things and growing her army of monsters right after I'd been reincarnated into this world—or in other words, back when Eterna and I were basically toddlers.
Eterna had grown up in a small isolated village, but she must've at least heard of how scary the witch was, hadn't she? If she knew the witch was already terrorizing people when she was a child, why would she ever think that there was another one, let alone assume that it was her?
Even if she'd somehow gotten that idea, declaring it publicly like she'd just done was insane! Regardless of whether it was the truth or not, the witch was the common enemy of every human in this world—including the saint. Now that she'd said that, she risked getting killed for it.
Image here:
"The witch?! Lady Ellize! Step back!"
"Eterna, this is a very serious declaration you just made... While it's completely impossible for you to be the witch, you can't just joke about such things."
Hey! Layla! Four-Eyed Pervert! Stop trying to fight her!
I jumped in front of the two of them and stopped them with my hand while keeping my eyes on Eterna. She looked frightened.
How did we end up like this...?
"Wait, Eterna! You can't be the witch!" Fiora yelled.
"He's right! Don't you remember?! Miss Farah kidnapped you too last time! You almost died!" the random guy added.
They were completely right. If anyone stopped to think for a minute, it was clear that there was no way she was the witch.
However, the next moment, Eterna took out a knife and grasped the blade tightly. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't draw any blood.
Everyone froze.
"I've never gotten hurt," Eterna explained with a detached tone.
Argh, this is starting to become messy.
All of a sudden, Eterna was a much more credible witch in everyone's eyes. Naturally, she wasn't, but she'd managed to sow the seed of doubt.
When I'd last explained how witches and saints could get hurt, I'd said that they could hurt themselves. However, they could only do so in specific ways. The saint could hurt herself because the power of the saint worked on her. Putting it the other way around, it meant that as long as she didn't use her powers, she'd remain unharmed.
For instance, if Eterna had decided to wield the knife as a weapon and tried to cut open her hand, she would've succeeded because her powers would've gone through the knife she was holding. The blade itself wouldn't harm her, so just gripping the sharp edge wouldn't do anything. For the same reason, jumping off the cliff wouldn't do anything to her, nor would trying to hang herself.
"Sir... Only the witch or the saint can hold a knife like this without getting hurt, right?" she asked Supple Ment.
"That's...right," he confirmed.
"We all know that there's already a saint. There's no way Lady Ellize could be the witch, so...it must mean that I am! That's the only way this can all make sense..."
Ah. I finally found the answer I was looking for.
Now I understood how she'd reached that conclusion.
Instead of noticing that she had the powers of the saint and jumping to the assumption that I had to be a fake, she'd deduced that she was the witch. In her mind, I couldn't not be the saint.
Now that I'd finally figured it out, I understood where she was coming from. It made me realize all over again how different our ways of thinking were. Like, if I had been in her shoes, my first reflex would've been to doubt Ellize. That was just how I was. I had a hard time trusting people, and I was naturally suspicious of any new person I met.
Eterna was the reverse. She trusted people and wouldn't doubt them unless she had ironclad reasons. That was how she'd ended up like this. In a nutshell, Eterna was such a good girl that it had led to the giant misunderstanding.
Anyway, it wasn't the time to marvel over how wonderful she was. I needed to focus, otherwise she'd be branded as the witch.
The cliff situation wasn't really that pressing. What mattered was making sure that people didn't actually believe she was the witch. If that happened, everyone would start going after her.
Fortunately, there was a fairly straightforward solution to that problem—I could just come out as the fake.
Now, although it was straightforward, there were two issues with the idea. First, I'd be sentenced to death for impersonating the saint. Second, if I, the fake, disappeared, the witch would definitely try to kill Eterna—and she certainly had a shot considering Eterna's current level.
All in all, I kind of wanted to avoid being outed as the fake right now. Then again...if I didn't say anything, Eterna, the real saint, would be treated as the witch.
Should I come out and say it? Fuck... What should I do?
If I blew my cover now, all my careful planning would've been for naught.
I didn't want to accept the death penalty for the time being, so I'd have to go on the run. The difficulty would spike from easy to lunatic in a split second. But letting Eterna be branded as the witch didn't sit right with me...
Guess I don't have a choice.
"Eterna, you're mistaken. The saint is—"
"No! Don't come near me, I said!" she screamed again.
Right as I was about to spill the beans, Eterna tried to take another step back. This time, she fell right off the cliff.
SERIOUSLY?!
Eterna let out a surprised yelp as she started falling. "Ah," she blurted out, an idiotic expression plastered on her face.
Damn!
Her fall had been so sudden that I hadn't reacted fast enough. I activated my flying spell as quickly as I possibly could and flew toward Eterna.
For some reason, Verner jumped right after me—yet another unforeseen event.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!
He'd most likely jumped on instinct to save the heroine.
I get how you feel Verner, I really do! But you can't fly! What the hell are you hoping to do?!
I grabbed Verner's arm in a hurry, but he dragged me down with him. How was that idiot so heavy?! How much did he even weigh? Argh! It had to be because of all his stupid training! I hadn't had enough time to stabilize my spell, and I think I hadn't used enough mana to strengthen myself.
Long story short, I ended up falling too.
We were rushing toward a dangerously sharp rock that stuck out. If we hit it at full speed, Verner would definitely get badly hurt. Even his dark powers wouldn't protect him from something like that. He wasn't the witch, after all; he'd only gotten a little portion of her powers by mistake.
AAAH! We're gonna crash! Wasted!
I barely managed to get us to dodge the rock, but the sudden turn threw off my balance, and we fell into the water.
Ew. Salty.
◇
His body had moved before he even realized it.
Ever since Eterna had screamed that she was the witch, Verner's brain hadn't quite managed to follow. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't make sense of it. It was completely impossible for her to be the witch, and he couldn't see the situation as anything other than Eterna having a temporary bout of madness.
Still, he realized that what she was saying put her in a dangerous situation. He wanted her to calm down and sit so they could have a proper talk about all of this.
Sadly, Eterna hadn't given them enough time to convince her of her foolishness. She'd ended up falling over the cliff...with Ellize following right behind her.
Verner couldn't quite remember what happened next. Before he knew it, he was rushing toward the crags too. His body had most likely made the decision for him before any conscious process. Had he thought about it before jumping, he would've realized how utterly pointless it was. Ellize could fly; she didn't need him. On top of that, she was the saint. Even without her ability to fly, she wouldn't have gotten hurt at all.
Verner's heroic leap was basically nothing more than a suicide attempt, yet another nuisance for Ellize.
Aah... I'm such an idiot...
That was Verner's last thought before he blacked out.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was lying down in some cavern he'd never seen before. He looked to his side and saw Eterna's face. She was out cold.
That was when he noticed a light illuminating the cavern, floating around and emitting enough light and heat for them to feel comfortable. It was like a portable bonfire.
"Are you up?"
As soon as he heard the voice and saw Ellize's gentle smile, Verner jumped to his feet. He had gotten up so fast that even he was surprised.
He finally put two and two together and understood that even though he had inconvenienced her once again, Ellize had saved him.
He was pathetic... He wanted nothing more than to protect her, but he'd been the one who needed saving. Again. For the third time.
His debt toward her kept on growing.
"I must say, you scared me. I didn't expect you would jump so suddenly," Ellize said.
"I-I'm sorry... My body moved on its own..."
"I know that you did it to help your precious friend. I wish I could praise you for your bravery, but what you did wasn't brave—it was reckless."
"You're right..."
"Still," Ellize added after a long pause. "The fact that you were able to jump down immediately to save your friend shows how noble your heart is. That's very commendable of you. Still, please cherish yourself just as much as you cherish your friends."
The first word that popped up in Verner's mind was "no!" He wanted to deny it. He hadn't jumped for Eterna. She was a dear friend to him—irreplaceable, even. She was almost like family to him.
He had once lost everyone he'd held dear because of the power that dwelled inside him, and the people of her village had been kind enough to welcome him with open arms nonetheless. Even among the people of that village, Eterna had always been the closest to him.
He loved her a lot and wanted to protect her, that much was true. However, when Eterna had fallen, he hadn't been able to react immediately.
It wasn't that he didn't care about her. He'd just been level-headed enough to make a logical decision: Eterna had demonstrated that she couldn't get hurt, so falling off that cliff likely wouldn't have killed her. On the other hand, if he were to follow her, he'd lose his life for no reason. It made more sense for him to go down the cliff with everyone to look for Eterna. That was the correct answer.
And yet...when Ellize had jumped, he hadn't been able to follow the same thought process. Before he knew it, he'd already jumped, even though Ellize needed him even less than Eterna did.
I get it now... I finally understand my feelings for her...
Verner stopped himself from putting his feelings into words and lightly tapped his closed fist against his heart. It wasn't the time or place to say it. A confession from an immature man like him would only be a nuisance to Ellize. He decided to conceal his feelings for the time being and focus on what was important right now.
"Lady Ellize, I've been thinking about it... Could Eterna have the same issue as me?" he asked.
"The same issue as you... You're right! That's a possibility!"
"Yes. I... I can't say I've never gotten hurt, but I definitely don't get hurt as often as others do. After my family threw me out and I was banished from my village, there were many instances where I should've died many times, but didn't. That power kept me alive... Even when I didn't have anything to eat or drink, I couldn't die."
The saint and the witch couldn't get hurt by anyone else but themselves or the other. Everyone believed that this applied only to the two of them, but there was an exception—Verner.
He was neither the saint nor the witch. That much was obvious, given that he was a man. And yet, he held a power that was very similar to that of the witch.
That was how Verner had concluded that Eterna was most likely just like him.
When he told Ellize, she had looked like a god-given realization had suddenly hit her.
"That works... It's certainly a good explanation," she continued. "Eterna isn't the witch, she just happens to have similar powers."
Verner shared his worries with her. "Lady Ellize... I can't help but wonder if Eterna is having trouble controlling her powers... Just like I did in the past..."
Ellize nodded pensively.
Before Verner had met Ellize, he had also been unable to control his powers. He'd wandered around without daring to settle anywhere for fear of hurting people again. What if Eterna was also like that?
Ellize shot a glance at Eterna before shaking her head.
"No, that isn't the case. I can't see any trace of her powers having gone on a rampage. She hasn't hurt anyone. She was just unlucky... The coincidences piled up, and she convinced herself that she was at fault."
"I-I see... That's a relief," Verner said with a sigh.
Ellize smiled at him in return, but Verner immediately averted his eyes. He could feel how hot his face was, and he was certain his cheeks were bright red to match. Hopefully, the dim light would help him hide it.
"Let's go back. Everyone must be worried. We can tell Eterna what really happened to her when she wakes up," Ellize said.
"Yes."
That was when Verner noticed something strange—Ellize's sleeve had been torn off, and under the shredded fabric...was a cut.
"Lady Ellize? Your arm..."
"My arm? What's wrong with my arm?"
"Hmm... You... You got hurt."
Ellize reached with her other hand to touch the cut, a puzzled expression on her face.
When she removed her hand, her skin was as perfectly smooth and unblemished as always, and a red piece of thread dangled between her fingers.
"Looks like a piece of thread was stuck to my arm. It must have come off my uniform when I fell," she said with a light tone.
"A piece of...thread..."
What an embarrassing mistake, Verner thought.
Ellize couldn't get hurt, so he'd freaked out over nothing. If he'd taken a second to think about it and gotten a better look, he would've noticed it was just some thread immediately, he concluded.
Had Verner truly been able to think things through, though, what he would've noticed was that Ellize's story didn't hold up. Verner wore the academy's male uniform, which was black and blue. Eterna wore the same uniform, which for girls, was white and green. Ellize...wore the exact same clothes as Eterna did.
That meant none of them had any red fabric on them, so how could a piece of red thread find its way on her arm?
However, for the time being, Verner remained blissfully ignorant of the obvious discrepancy in Ellize's story.
(4.8k words)
throw me some power stone!
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