章 10: Chapter 9: Deepening Misunderstanding

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)