The Pope was currently sitting upon the Holy Seat.
The doors were kicked open, the hinges letting out an extremely sharp, metallic screech.
Beatrice wasn't wearing her crown; it sat askew on her knees as she held an open holy scripture in her hands.
When she looked up, she looked exactly like an ordinary child whose afternoon nap had been interrupted.
“Oh my, Esper, your door-kicking stance is quite imposing. Beya was quite startled.”
It was a self-address she used to show off when others were present.
But there was no one else present.
Esper gripped her sword hilt tightly.
“...What did you do to Ela?”
“Hmm~ I didn't do anything at all. It's just that the aura of the Black Tide suddenly appeared on her, and she left a trail of it wherever she walked. With that as evidence, the conclusion was drawn that the Saintess had defected to the Black Tide.
She should be running toward the Black Tide right now, right? After all, she turned traitor.”
“Liar!”
Her voice echoed through the empty hall several times before slowly fading away.
How could Ela possibly be corrupted by the Black Tide just like that? How could she leave her just like that, without saying goodbye?
Beatrice tilted her head, closing the holy scripture and setting it aside.
“Although it's indeed a bit hard to accept when put that way, unfortunately, Beya is not lying. Eladia has defected, and she is no longer the Saintess of the Church of Radiance.”
She pursed her lips and added another line.
“And, she is no longer a companion of the Hero's party either.”
As she spoke, she tapped her temple with her index finger, making a thinking gesture.
“Please don't say Beya is lying, okay? Beya will be very sad to hear that. Think about it, Esper. How could a Rank Nine Pope as powerful as Beya let a weak, defenseless woman escape right from under Beya's nose?
She must have started gathering power a long, long time ago. It's all her fault for being naughty; Beya is truly innocent.”
“Even if she gathered power, how could she possibly match you...!”
Esper's teeth ground together, the tip of her Holy Sword pointing at that youthful, smiling face.
“If you didn't want her to leave, she wouldn't have been able to escape at all! If you really wanted to stop her, even if she had already run out of this city, you could have dragged her back! You could have easily done it!”
“Well, Beya could have done that, yes.”
Beatrice leaped lightly down from the Holy Seat, brushing off nonexistent dust from her Pope robes.
“But Beya was praying for the believers at the time! It was a formal, large-scale, very powerful kind that mobilized the Vow Power of the entire populace... about this powerful!”
She raised her hands over her head and opened them wide, drawing a circle.
The circle she drew was very large, so large that her robes slipped down from her wrists, revealing her slender, fair forearms.
“This is Beya's duty as the Pope! Beya can't be leading worship for the entire city's citizens while distracting herself to catch a little traitor, that would be irresponsible to the believers!”
She raised a hand to press against her chest, putting on an extremely sincere posture.
“That's just the way it is. Beya really didn't do anything. Eladia chose to betray the Church herself, and you, Esper, must accept this fact now. Although it might be cruel to you, it can't be helped.”
“...Then why did no one stop her!”
Esper's questioning voice had already grown hoarse.
“Why didn't the believers stop her? Why didn't the gate guards stop her? In this entire city, why did not a single person stop her? Don't tell me the whole city was at worship!”
“Hmm. Speaking of which, that is indeed very strange.”
Beatrice knitted her brows in distress, her golden eyes narrowing as well.
“Logically speaking, even on a worship day, the gate guards wouldn't desert their posts. But it was as if they didn't see the Saintess at all, letting her walk right out of the main gate. Beya went to ask them afterward, and they said by the time they came to their senses, the Saintess was already gone from the city.
Supposedly, they even needed someone else to remind them before they realized something was wrong. Mmhmm~ truly interesting.”
“...”
Esper fell silent, but the Holy Sword still pointed in the Pope's direction, its tip not wavering in the slightest.
Beatrice watched her expression, the amusement in her eyes deepening a bit more.
“Why are you still holding up your sword? Beya knows you have a prejudice against Beya, but that's no reason to falsely accuse Beya! Beya is super, super good~”
Esper stared at those golden eyes for a long time.
The amusement in them was real, the pleasure was real, and everything that made her angry was real.
But the words were false.
Beatrice was pinning everything on Eladia herself.
She had turned traitor herself, she had escaped herself, everyone had witnessed it, and she just hadn't managed to stop her in time.
She was lying. She had definitely done it on purpose, without a doubt.
How could Eladia ever leave me?
But the Holy Sword was still slowly lowered.
“You had better not be lying to me.”
Even if she knew Beatrice was lying, there was nothing Esper could do.
Beatrice saw through this, and so the corners of her mouth curled into an extremely beautiful arc.
“How could Beya ever lie to our lovely Hero?”
Esper turned around, walking out of the cathedral step by step.
With every step she took, she felt something expanding in her chest, pushing up toward her throat, squeezing her ribs with a painful force.
She remembered when she parted from Ela yesterday, Eladia had nodded to her. The movement was very light, as if telling her not to worry.
She had also said they would meet in the room later, but Eladia hadn't come.
She had thought she was just delayed too long by the Pope or some other trivial matter, or that there was some religious ceremony requiring the Saintess's cooperation. She thought she only needed to wait one night, and the next day, that blue-haired idiot would reappear three feet away, saying “Good morning” in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible.
Then the door was knocked on, and Constantine arrived with those words.
Kaylar had been taken away, Renn had returned to Avalon, and now even Ela had been branded a traitor.
Everyone had vanished completely. Yet here she stood, holding the most dazzling Holy Sword on this continent, unable to keep even a single person by her side.
“...Wait for me.”
If she couldn't keep them, then she would take them back.
She had believed, and she still believed now, that the blue-haired idiot would absolutely never betray her.
She still remembered how Zhong had been corrupted by the Black Tide, and she knew why the death marchers were born.
Ela would never be corrupted so easily.
She had been stripped of everything until there was nothing left; the only thing she pinned her hopes on now was a single person.
And Esper was still here.
Which meant Beatrice was lying.
The entire city's populace was testifying to her lie, but a lie was still a lie.
Ela would not turn traitor.
Ela had simply been taken away.
In that case, I will go and take her back.
Rate on N.U.
