Chapter 94
"Heading to Pernoer Cliff and Chetika Port City without the Order's consent. Driving the Order's precious Holy Knights to their deaths, and despite holding the position of Saintess, failing to return to the Order and staying outside for an extended period of time…"
They dryly recited Ruen's charges one by one.
At first glance, it sounded as though Ruen was undeniably at fault.
[If you think about the true nature of the Order, you can tell that what those guys are saying is actually wrong.]
In the first place, the Order was a place that existed to save Humans.
I didn't know if it was truly right for those who evaded their Reason for Existence by citing various excuses to hold Ruen, who had fulfilled her duties and responsibilities, accountable.
[Of course, I know that there are too many complex factors involved to define a group simply by things like moral duty.]
Even so, I wasn't sure if it was right to discipline a Saintess who had saved countless people.
Looking at the Holy Knights standing in front of me, I debated whether to flip the table like I usually did.
But since Ruen waved her hand, signaling me to stay still, I had no choice but to remain quiet.
[… It's best to wait and see for now.]
To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, I infused my power into Ruen's Shadow and watched.
If things went wrong and Ruen ended up locked in prison or in a bad situation, I could just use the Shadow to take her and run away.
Just as I was thinking that, the people from the Disciplinary Committee walked right past us and headed somewhere else.
[Surprisingly, they aren't dragging her straight to Prison or Courthouse?]
Seeing how recklessly they acted, I thought they didn't have any procedures, but it seemed they surprisingly did.
Just as I was finding this unexpected, Ruen trembled and spoke to me.
"I-I thought I was going to die."
Ruen wiped away her cold sweat and let out a sigh, then subtly approached me and said.
"… I did it."
I had no idea what she meant by that.
But when I smiled awkwardly and told her she did a good job, Ruen gave a thumbs-up, looking incredibly triumphant.
[What did she actually do?]
I wanted to ask… but not wanting to ruin the mood, I turned my gaze away.
Ruen adjusted her outfit once more and spoke to us.
"Then, let's go to my office."
Thinking it would be best to head there first and sort out the situation, I nodded.
*
It seemed the Order didn't want to expose the existence of the Saintess to the outside, as they had assigned Ruen's Office to the Outskirts.
[Or is it because she's a Fake Saintess they can dispose of at any time?]
Regardless, seeing how poorly she was being treated made my expression harden.
Ruen opened the window of the tidy but dusty office and spoke.
"According to procedure, the Disciplinary Committee comes and says, 'You committed this crime!' Then, a day or two later, it comes back and drags you to the Courtroom."
So that meant Ruen would face trial tomorrow or the day after, which meant we needed to resolve this situation before then.
[I don't know what we need to do to overcome the current situation, though.]
Since things were definitely tangled right from the start, we needed to come up with some sort of plan.
While I was pondering what to do, Liana, who was wearing a robe pulled over her head, spoke to us.
"By the way, isn't it strange? The Chetika Port City incident is one thing, but doesn't it feel like they're finding fault with the Pernoer incident way too late?"
"That's true."
"It's just my guess, but… aren't they just tacking on whatever they can to lock the Saintess up?"
When I asked for the reason, Liana looked around Ruen's neglected office and replied.
"I'm not entirely sure yet, but… I suspect the fact that she is with Lord Damian has reached the Order Faction."
An action was taken to hold me back.
At those words, a certain hypothesis came to mind.
This was the hypothesis that 'Mikhail Archbishop' might be involved in this.
Just in case, I shared this thought with Ruen and Liana.
Liana narrowed her eyes, seemingly catching onto something, and spoke to me.
"… That seems highly likely. If it's that sly snake Mikhail Archbishop, there's a high chance he's roughly figured out the plans Lord Damian has set up."
When I nodded, Liana crossed her arms and paced around as she continued.
"If this assumption is true… then keeping Elysia locked up in the Order isn't just because of the Artificial Sun."
I didn't know what Mikhail Archbishop was plotting.
But I was certain it wouldn't be anything positive, so I decided to put a stop to it.
"In that case, I'll investigate this angle. Lord Damian and Lady Shiren, please protect the Saintess."
I nodded in agreement.
Liana gave a light bow and left the office.
Shiren, who had been quietly watching this, looked back and forth between us with an expressionless face, then rolled up her sleeves and spoke.
"Since it's come to this, let's start by cleaning."
It was quite unexpected for Shiren, rather than Ruen, to make such a suggestion.
But there was no need to stay in a dust-covered office, so I decided to go along with it for now.
*
"The cleaning supplies are here, and the other things are…"
I thought Low-ranking Clergy would do the cleaning for someone of a Saintess's status.
Perhaps because she was persecuted within the Order, it seemed there was no one assigned to clean Ruen's Office.
[Then again, if someone had been assigned, it wouldn't be this dirty.]
As I was wiping down the dusty desk.
Shiren, wearing a cloth mask, began moving around, quickly cleaning the surroundings with rather skillful movements.
While I was admiring her unexpectedly good cleaning skills, a question suddenly popped into my mind, and I asked.
"But Shiren, couldn't you just use Magic instead of doing it yourself?"
At those words, Shiren looked at me blankly, then stared at me with a very sullen expression.
I was flustered, completely unable to understand why she was making such a face.
Shiren let out a sigh, then floated back down and spoke.
"Forget it."
Could it be that Shiren was cleaning by hand to show me her Cleaning Magic?
Realizing this, I immediately tried to praise her.
But Shiren pouted and slipped into my Shadow.
[……]
I was smiling awkwardly and scratching my cheek when Ruen subtly approached my side and spoke calmly.
"Damian…! It's been a while since it was just the two of us, hasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Hehe."
Ruen, seemingly delighted by something, clung to me and smiled brightly.
She pointed toward the inner part of the Office and spoke.
"This is the space I've stayed in ever since I was chosen as the Saintess. It feels like my little Hideout. For reference, you can think of the house I lent you as my big Hideout!"
I was thinking that the reason she had so many Hideouts was probably because she kept ending up in rather dangerous situations.
Ruen pointed to some items in a corner and spoke to me.
"The things over there are items I used before I became the Saintess…"
The spot she pointed to contained quite a few cute items.
Among them were grubby dolls, toys, and things like diaries.
As I watched Ruen smiling brightly while introducing these things, I found myself smiling along with her, until she discovered something and spoke.
"Ah, this is here too. A Four-leaf Clover!"
She picked up the well-sealed Four-leaf Clover and handed it to me.
"I'll give this to you. A different kind of luck has already found me."
A different kind of luck?
Wondering what that meant, I looked at Ruen, and she looked back at me with a meaningful expression.
"… Me?"
"Hehe, who knows."
Ruen smiled playfully, then stood up from her seat and spoke.
"Anyway, let's finish cleaning quickly and get some rest. The disciplinary whatever is happening tomorrow or the day after, but it'll work out somehow!"
No matter how persecuted, a Fake Saintess she was.
Perhaps because she knew that finding a replacement would require massive resources, she knew that no major problems would arise.
At those words, I nodded and said I understood.
*
After finishing all the cleaning, I stepped out of the Office to take a brief look around the Order.
Unlike this dark place, as I followed the countless lights visible in the distance.
I noticed one bizarre thing.
[It's bizarre how there are no Clergy in sight.]
It was night, but it was only around 7 PM. It wasn't a time you could call late at night.
Yet, as I walked down this Passage where no one could be seen, I found it rather strange.
Shiren suddenly popped out of the shadow and spoke to me.
"I think I found Elysia's exact location."
"Really? Where is it?"
"I don't know the Order's building structure, so I'm not exactly sure, but… she's right in the center."
That meant I would have to go see for myself, so I decided to head there straight away the next day.
Just as I was about to turn back after that conversation.
A voice came from behind.
"I ordered that no one be allowed in here, so why are you here?"
It was that sharply honed voice.
I didn't know who it was, but feeling like I shouldn't get involved, I kept my face lowered as much as possible and spoke.
"I am currently monitoring Ruen under the orders of Archbishop Mikhail."