Chapter 10: The Name of the Saintess
***
Pushing open the tavern's wooden door, Isha and Su Ling stepped inside together. The place was lit up like midday, yet not a single person sat at any of the tables. Other than the owner washing glasses behind the bar, the tavern was completely empty.
Closing time?
Thinking that, Su Ling took a careful look around. Every table was spotless, but there were no signs that they had just been wiped down. Rather than the place having been tidied up after closing, Su Ling leaned more toward the idea that no customers had come in at all tonight.
The 2 of them walked up to the bar counter. Before Su Ling could say anything, Isha's voice rang out first, filled with uncertain surprise. "Father?"
The tavern owner set the freshly wiped glass back behind the counter. The face that had been absent for the past few days looked far more weathered, as if he had aged 10 years overnight. Even so, when faced with Isha's question, he wore a smile that could only be described as gentle.
"10 years and you've grown up." The guilt hidden in the priest's eyes didn't escape Su Ling's notice. Strangely, that guilt didn't seem to be directed at Isha alone, part of it seemed to stem from... herself?
But why would he feel guilty toward her? They had only met once, and all she had done was pay him to ask for directions. What reason could he possibly have to feel guilty about that?
Su Ling felt a creeping unease. That guilt with no apparent cause made her feel like she had overlooked something, but she had no idea whatsoever what that something was.
"Why did you bring me to that church back then? Can you tell me now?" Isha pressed her lips together. She didn't feel any nostalgia from the priest's words, because the past held nothing worth reminiscing about for her. She only wanted the truth.
She had spent 10 years living alone in that rundown church. When she was still young, the priest had practically tricked and coaxed her into coming, though at the time she hadn't sensed any malice from him, and so in her childlike innocence she had trusted him, only to end up 'imprisoned' in that church.
Granted, her quality of life there hadn't actually been bad. In fact, it was better than that of most ordinary people. But she had been so utterly alone. On countless nights falling asleep by herself, the thought that tomorrow would be just as solitary made her wish she would never wake up.
So she had no desire to reminisce with the priest about the old days. She only wanted the truth. She wanted to know why she had been locked in that church for 10 years, and why it had to be her of all people.
"I can answer that question." The priest let out a sigh, and by the looks of it, he wasn't planning to drag things out and play the mystery card. However, before addressing Isha's question, he first glanced over at Su Ling.
"But your friend here may need to step away for a moment."
Isha's brow furrowed, she seemed a little reluctant, but Su Ling gave her sleeve a light tug, signaling that she didn't mind.
Whatever the priest wanted to say was clearly sensitive in nature. Su Ling could tell his stance was firm. If she didn't step away, Isha probably wouldn't be able to get anything out of him.
Of course, that didn't mean Su Ling was just going to sit back and hear nothing. She had a little 'cheat code' on her side, after all. Even if they locked her in a completely soundproofed room, she had ways to hear what Isha and the priest talked about.
"Lu, I'm counting on you."
"You're hopeless, you know that."
An elegant girl in a teal ruqun appeared out of thin air beside Isha. She settled onto a stool at the bar, propped her cheek on one hand, and lazily toyed with a coin between her fingers.
Lu, as a sword spirit, was invisible and undetectable to anyone except Su Ling, her sword master. And the only one who could actually see her also happened to be Su Ling herself, having Lu do the eavesdropping was, in other words, an absolute piece of cake.
The priest pushed open the kitchen door and turned back to offer Su Ling an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it'll just be a little while."
Su Ling shook her head to say it was fine. Without any hesitation she walked in, and the wooden door swung shut behind her. The entire kitchen then fell into a dead silence.
She pressed her hand against the wooden door and closed her eyes, focusing all her attention on her hearing. Sure enough, nothing. This kitchen had almost certainly been treated with some kind of special soundproofing. Whether sound could escape from the inside was another question entirely, but nothing from outside was getting in.
Faced with this entirely expected outcome, Su Ling calmly pulled over a chair and sat down. She leaned back against the backrest, and as 【Spirit Eye】 activated, her field of vision shifted from the kitchen's interior to the bar area.
Sensing that Su Ling had linked her consciousness over, Lu stood up and found a spot where she could keep both Isha and the priest in view. Then, with a casual squeeze of her left hand, a bucket of popcorn materialized out of nowhere.
"You really went all out, huh." Su Ling's mouth twitched as she muttered instinctively.
Lu, for her part, showed absolutely zero self-awareness about it. She even conjured up a cup of cola. "What's wrong with watching in style? Just sitting here doing nothing is boring."
"The question is where did all this stuff even come from?"
"Conjured it up, duh. It's not like it's a physical object that affects reality, I can make whatever I want."
Hearing that, Su Ling had no comeback but didn't press further either. There would be plenty of time to banter later, but learning the truth behind Isha's imprisonment in the church, that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The priest and Isha had already started talking. Whatever roasting she had on her mind would have to wait. Su Ling knew well enough what mattered more right now.
"Before I tell you the truth, I need to tell you a story first." The priest produced a clean cup, filled it to the brim with warm milk, and slid it over to Isha.
Isha didn't respond to that. She simply picked up the cup and took a small sip. The milk was neither too hot nor too cold, the perfect temperature for a smooth, pleasant taste.
"About 100 years ago, a powerful kingdom was suddenly struck by a catastrophic disaster. A contamination of unknown origin began turning people into monsters one by one. These monsters were not only extraordinarily strong and fast, but also possessed powerful regenerative abilities."
"Even the kingdom's greatest warriors could barely manage to kill a single one at full strength. Yet these monsters were countless, hundreds and thousands as far as the eye could see, and on top of that, more humans kept turning into monsters."
The priest let out a long, slow breath. His distant gaze seemed to drift back a hundred years, back to that era like a living hell, cries of agony everywhere, despair everywhere, death everywhere.
Human lives, at that time, were worth the least of anything. Because everyone faced the threat of death, and no one had the power to save themselves.
"The mighty kingdom collapsed almost overnight. But just as the disaster was about to spread across the entire continent, a young girl appeared."
"Armed with nothing but herself and a single sword, she tore a thread of hope out of the darkness for the people who had given up. Her power left even the kingdom's once-greatest warriors in the dust. The terrifying, unstoppable monsters, before her, they crumbled like paper."
"Later generations would come to call her the Saintess. People believed she was a messenger of the gods, a hope sent down by the divine to save them."
At that, the priest paused. The nostalgic look in his eyes returned to the present, and his gaze settled on Isha before him. "And that Saintess's name was Isha."
Isha frowned at that, and the question slipped out on reflex: "Same name?"
But the moment she said it, she knew that couldn't be right. She had been an orphan since childhood, she didn't even have a name until the age of 8. The name 'Isha' had been given to her personally by the Pope after she was 'chosen.'
A fallen kingdom. A strange little town. Monsters born of contamination, the gray mist that seeped into the body after they were slain. Ten years of imprisonment. And a name personally bestowed by the Pope himself — 'Isha'.
Isha had never been a foolish person. When all the pieces were laid out in front of her, there was no way she couldn't see the truth.
She laughed at herself softly, set the still-unfinished milk back on the table, and posed a question to the priest: "How did the Saintess die in the end?"
The priest fell silent for a moment and was about to speak when Isha added: "I can tell when someone's lying. Don't even think about fobbing me off with some made-up ending."
The priest's lips parted and closed, parted and closed again. After several hesitant attempts, he seemed to resign himself to it, and with a sigh he finally said: "The contamination killed by the 【Pure Heart】 doesn't disappear. Those slain by it still hunger for that purity."
The answer was already plain without spelling it out. A person with a Pure Heart could kill the monsters, but in doing so, they would themselves be gradually contaminated, until at last they became a brand-new source of contamination.
What was this supposed to be? The dragon slayer becomes the dragon? Isha couldn't help but laugh out loud. She leaned back against the backrest, arms crossed, wearing a mocking expression. Beneath her calm tone, a rage like a volcano simmered. "On what grounds?"
The priest hung his head, as if ashamed before Isha and choosing to look away. He didn't answer her question. Instead, he brought up something else, something that, on the surface, seemed to have nothing to do with the current topic.
"After the Saintess killed the last of the monsters, she built this town. She knew she would become the new source of corruption, but before the Pure Heart was completely tainted, the newly born monsters would remain docile, and their appearance would revert to how they looked as humans."
"The Saintess may have died, but her power was passed down. Whenever the Pure Heart is on the verge of being fully corrupted, a new Pure Heart will emerge. As long as the new Pure Heart kills off the monsters again, peace and stability can continue indefinitely."
Isha just stared at the priest. Her cold expression made it clear she was completely unmoved. She didn't care whether the contamination running out of control would threaten the current kingdom. All she knew was that she had been forcibly imprisoned for 10 years, and now that she had finally gotten out, they wanted her to lay down her life too?
On what grounds?
None of what had been done to her was done with her consent. She felt no attachment to any kingdom, and what did the people living there have to do with her? She had been tricked into coming here, after all. What a masterful design, Your Holiness. The priest truly bore no malice toward her, because the only feelings he had ever had for her were reluctance and guilt.
And he never even felt like he was hurting her, because in his view, she had been given the name of the Saintess, and it was only right that she sacrifice herself for the people of this world.
Sure, perhaps the original Saintess had genuinely sacrificed herself to save others. Perhaps she truly had that kind of resolve. But on what grounds did that resolve have to be forced onto her? And on what grounds was she supposed to accept a resolve that should never have been hers to begin with?!
"The town has been completely sealed off by an enormous barrier. There is no way out." The priest sighed and continued.
But Isha's expression still didn't change. Sealed by a barrier, so what? She wasn't even sure her current strength couldn't break through it. And even if it couldn't, worst case scenario, she'd just wait for the previous Pure Heart to become fully corrupted and let everyone go down together.
Seeing that Isha was still completely stone-faced and unswayed, the priest seemed to age a little more right before their eyes. He slowly turned around and looked toward the tightly shut kitchen door.
Isha's pupils contracted sharply. Her reaction naturally didn't escape the priest's notice. He let out a bitter smile, he hadn't expected that careless little move of his would actually come in handy.
He already knew that the Su Ling standing here now was the same youth from a few days ago who had asked him about the 'Saintess.' He had no idea how that person had come to look the way they did now, but this town never received outsiders. So the girl now standing by Isha's side had to be that same youth from before.
The priest turned back around. He looked directly into Isha's eyes. Those dark irises of his were nearly overflowing with guilt. He pitied Isha's fate, but he had to do this.
His own family now lived in the new kingdom too. If the disaster were to break out again, not only would the continent be plunged into devastation once more, the family he held dear would also be displaced, facing the threat of death.
He could not stand by and let that happen.
"Contaminators are drawn to the Pure Heart by instinct. She is too weak. You might be able to escape on your own, but with her in tow, can you truly protect her?"