After going through an ordeal that could be written into a book, I was finally home at last.
But the comfort only lasted for a moment.
The house was not empty.
And I was not alone.
The table I and the two brats sat and ate on every day was occupied by a single person—the Saintess.
She looked even more radiant up close.
The images I saw of her in-game really did her dirty compared to her actual appearance.
Her porcelain skin and platinum blonde hair shined with a scintillating, holy pale yellow.
She was dressed in white robes embroidered with golden threads, a simple silver locket resting on her chest.
There was seemingly no one else here aside from us two, but I still had my guard up.
"Please, won't you sit? Though it's fine if you prefer not to; it is your abode, after all."
I looked back at the Saintess and slowly, yet surely, walked up to the table.
I sat in the sit opposite to hers.
"Thank you."
The seat felt…surprisingly clean and refurbished.
The table, too…
Actually, it seemed like this entire house had been cleaned until it shined.
Now, I'm not saying that Farida and Khovor did a bad job of cleaning the house—I myself am a witness to how skilled they are.
But this…was a different kind of cleaning.
I don't think even magic could turn this house into what it's become right now.
I glanced toward the Saintess, but all she was doing was gently smiling.
Her eyes, as per usual, narrowed to the point where you could barely tell whether she had them closed or opened; thoughts difficult to
Well, since she isn't going to say anything, guess I'll look at her status screen.
+====================================+
// Isabelle - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: The Saintess of Light (Legendary)
|AFFILIATION: Goddess Theocracy
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♀
+====================================+
Legendary.
Seeing it didn't really surprise me—I had already known the Saintess's class long before I even got here.
Data miners were able to pretty quickly figure a few of the characters' classes, levels, and skills.
But once they posted that first leak, they went silent; AWOL.
I'm guessing either the game company made them shut up, or some other external factor did.
The Saintess was one of those characters, and her level was…
Hm…
I…forgor.
What matters is the fact that she was a major character that only started to become relevant in the late-mid game to end game.
And yet, here she was, in my house.
Wait—wait.
She's doing something.
She's…standing up.
And now she's…walking…to the kitchen.
…
…
…She came back with a tray with two cups and a piping hot tea pot.
"I hope you don't mind that I used your kitchen."
She set the tray down on the table and sat back to where she was.
"May I offer you a cup of tea?"
I do wonder what kind of taste would tea made by a Saintess have, plus I don't think she, of all people, would do any funny business with it, so I agreed.
"Zug."
She took a cup from the tray and placed it in front of me, and then, to my shock, taking the still piping tea pot and pouring it into my cup.
She took the tea pot with her bare hands!
"If you would please."
Not standing on ceremony, I took the cup and gulped it all down in one go.
I didn't want to be outdone.
Surprisingly, the tea didn't feel extremely hot.
It felt hot, sure, but not hot to the point that my tongue would get burnt.
And the taste was simply…divine.
If this is what all tea tasted like, I wouldn't mind becoming a tea addict.
But I knew this tea was different from the rest; after all, a Saintess had made it.
"Would you like more?"
Cheering inside, I nodded.
Once more, the Saintess poured tea into my cup.
This time, I didn't hurriedly gulp it all down.
I took the time to savor the aroma.
It smelt of honey and fresh flowers.
And once I tasted it, the tea was even more delicious.
Who knew waiting for a few more seconds before taking it all in would have such a vast difference?
As I was mulling over why the two cases felt so different, the Saintess watched me, a faint, pleasant smile on her lips.
"Do you see the difference, Grul?"
She asked, pouring tea for herself.
"The first cup was swallowed with greed and pride, causing the effort to go to waste and the flavor to dwindle. But the second cup was offered to patience, thus providing a better taste. As the Holy Text says: 'The Goddess gifts the sun to our fields, but only the patient farmer, who waits for the soil to yield, truly knows the joy of the harvest.'"
O…kay?
I guess I'm getting that sermon that I was looking for a while back.
And a personal one, at that.
"Before the Goddess chose me, my life was…quiet."
She continued speaking, her voice as soft as clouds.
I don't exactly know where this was heading, but I'm all for it.
"I lived in an orphanage. Amongst other orphans and the nuns. There were many other children, and the nuns were gentle; kind. I was happy there. Playing, laughing, doing things without a care in the world. It was simple. Comfortable. I never had to worry about what to do that day or where to sleep that night, because all I was then was an orphan child."
Her hand fidgeted with her cup, her smile lowering just a few centimeters.
It would not have been noticeable had I not have the eyes of a hawk from my skills.
"Then, one day, men in robes along with armored knights bearing the insignia of the orphanage came along. They looked around and pointed at me, saying, 'She is the Saintess.', and just like that, I was taken away from the orphanage and brought to the heart of the Theocracy."
—Hold on.
This…
She's talking about her past!
I knew about her class, and her position as the Saintess, but I never heard or seen backstory of her in the game!
Leaning a little more forward, my attention to her words spiked.
It's cool to know something no one else has before.
This might be the lore drop of the century!
"After I was moved, life became…complicated. Difficult. Endless lessons about faith. Strict teachings by the priest. Every day was a challenge. I was told I had to be perfect: to have the qualities and attitude of a Saintess of the Goddess."
Damn, that's rough.
"The only time I could breathe was when I was locked in my room to meditate. There, I was given a bookshelf full of holy texts and stories about the Goddess. But…there was one book—perhaps mistakenly added—that was a simple children's fairytale."
The Saintess's demeanor had noticeably changed at this point—instead of a gentle, warm mood, it felt more bittersweet.
Her eyes were lowered, looking at the cup of tea below her, swirling it round and round.
"It was called…'The Hero and the Caged Princess'. A story where a princess was caged by the kingdom because of her beauty. In that story, the most memorable scene to me was the ending: The Hero relentlessly fought through the entire palace and went up into the tower where the princess was locked in. He broke the princess's cage with his might, and left the kingdom with her."
The Saintess's bittersweet smile changed once again.
Yet, instead of the seemingly perfect, pleasant practiced smile of her Saintess persona, it was a more authentic smile.
One seemingly belonging to the orphan girl that existed before the Saintess.
"They ran away together, escaping the golden cage and kingdom to a place somewhere far, far away, and lived happily ever after."
The story ended with that.
A bit generic for a fairy tale, but still good nonetheless.
"Grul, I have a question for you: sometimes, don't you just want to…run away? Away from everything—find a nice, quiet, solitary place and live there for a while?"
Her eyes lifted and gazed solely at me.
They had an intensity to them that felt a bit eerie.
"Please answer. I'd like to know what you feel about it."
Her question.
Yes, right, her question.
Honestly, after what I went through in the Quietus Forest, my impression of 'quiet places' has turned a bit jagged.
If you told me that before, I would've said yes.
But now…
I actually quite prefer the presence of other people and the bustling of civilization.
Shaking my head, I disagreed with her question.
"No. Like being with others."
"…I see."
Her eyes, that were no longer narrowed, slowly closed once more.
Her mouth, too, closed itself.
She looked a bit disheartened by my response, it seems.
The atmosphere has turned a bit awkward.
…Well, I guess that's the end of her lore drop.
Kind of feels like I picked the wrong dialogue option, didn't I?
At least in games, you could load to a previous save, or just restart the run altogether and say the correct choice, but in this one…you can't.
But I didn't regret it; I wanted to be honest, and that's just my personal opinion on her question.
If she changed her question so that I could bring along other people that I was close with, I would've had a completely different answer.
Never mind that, I'll just ask her to get to the point now.
Her story of her past is done, and my sleepiness was starting to creep up.
"Saintess. Point, get to it."
"…Yes. The point for my arrival here. Shall I tell you, then?"
After my directing, the Saintess's head slowly raised itself.
She was back to smiling like a saint, true to her role.
But to me, it felt more like a mask now.
A mask she uses to hide her true feelings.