Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 195

[Side Story] Saintess Aria – (2)

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A desolate wasteland filled with acrid smoke.

Scattered among the collapsed stone walls are corpses, torn to shreds or rotting.

Whish―

Only a bleak wind sweeps across the black earth. Traces of demon blood polluting the land… and far more human blood than that.

Clearly, this place was once a fortress, now entered by cavalrymen clad in red and yellow cloaks.

The few remaining swords of the Iron Kingdom. Royal knights and the elite soldiers they lead.

“We’re too late.”

The knight at the front, holding his spear askew, mutters as he raises his visor.

Just two days ago, they fought fiercely against a horde of demons trying to move south, defeating them.

Their forces were about two companies strong. They rushed here with a small force upon hearing news of a Saintess candidate being discovered, but fortunately, they were able to fend them off.

The problem is that the village might have been trampled. That’s why they spurred on as much as possible, but….

“It seems they’ve already swept through. I can’t sense any signs of life.”

Another knight responds. The other knights at the head of the group also wear grim expressions.

“Then, Two-Axe Gloop is….”

“Probably dead. Or corrupted.”

“With that temper, corrupted? The demons probably couldn’t even talk to him and just got their heads chopped off.”

Those who know the fortress commander add a word each. It sounds like a joke, but their expressions are all grim.

The death or survival of a mere commander in charge of the northern fortress isn’t a big problem.

The real problem is the reason they came here.

“Any survivors…?”

Someone opens their mouth, but trails off, unable to continue in the somber atmosphere.

The messenger sent from the fortress entered the royal castle a long time ago. They formed a unit as soon as they heard the news and rushed as quickly as possible, but they were still too late.

She may be a Saintess candidate, but she’s still just a child. What could have happened to her in this battle….

Peeeeep―!

Just then, a scout who had been patrolling the inner part of the village in separate groups blew his whistle.

The knights turned their horses and rushed to the scene, where an unbelievable sight unfolded before them.

“….”

The lead knight, Yarop, finally took off his helmet. In the middle of a cabin with most of its roof and walls blown away, a pure white hemispherical barrier emitted light.

Sitting in the center was a platinum-blonde girl who looked to be about ten years old. On closer inspection, she was holding a boy in her arms, who appeared to be already dead.

“How can she wield such divine power at that age…?”

“Unbelievable! It’s far more radiant than the Archbishop’s barrier!”

“They said a monster appeared in Ortzk, so the messenger wasn’t making things up. I’ve never seen such light from any of the nuns in the royal castle.”

As the knights murmured as if possessed, Yarop dismounted and approached the girl.

Even though he was a devout believer, he couldn’t cross that radiant barrier. In the end, he raised his voice from outside.

“Are you… no, are you Aria Riverot?”

At that question, the girl’s closed eyes slowly opened.

How long has she survived without water or food? Her parched lips moved, and the first words, beyond the knights’ imagination, flowed out.

“Did you kill all those sons of bitches?”

“…All of those who attacked the fortress. We engaged them in battle before arriving and annihilated them.”
Yarop is also a warrior who has experienced all sorts of hardships. Without panicking, he showed her the black blood on his sword, and the girl’s hardened expression softened slightly.

Another knight who approached from the side suddenly knelt on one knee.

“Glory to Asruel! Come with us, Saintess. If there is anyone who can save more people and end this calamity, it is you, Saintess!”

“I don’t care about any of that.”

The knight, who was shouting enthusiastically as if the girl in front of him had already been appointed as a Saintess, blinked his eyes.

Raw language contrasting with the sublime miracle. Ignoring the knights’ reactions, the girl carefully laid down her childhood friend and stood up.

With a large cross in one hand and a blood-stained mace in the other.

“As long as I can smash the demons’ skulls.”

*

Time flies like an arrow.

One year, two years, three years… While fortresses burned and flags were broken, the Iron Kingdom experienced unchanging springs, summers, autumns, and winters.

Enough time for 70% of its territory to be trampled by the demon army, and for the Saintess candidate who vowed revenge to gain the qualifications.

“Wow, Aria again?”

“She’s incomparable to the other candidates. This selection is certain without even watching.”

Only seven years.

The young girl who created barriers and defended herself in the middle of the demon army grew rapidly.

She passed all the annual tests of divine power, and the prevailing theory was that she would take the long-vacant position of Saintess on the day she came of age.

“Is divine power that great?”

“Divine power is one thing, but she’s also incredibly tenacious, and her desire for revenge against demons is immense.”

“Well, just looking at her personality, she’s not ordinary. Wasn’t it the eldest son of Marquis Jacintos? He messed with her and got a duel challenge and was beaten to a pulp….”

“Shhh! Someone might hear you!”

Compared to other Saintess candidates, Aria’s conduct and character are not very saintly, which is already known to everyone residing in the royal castle.

However, the top priority for a Saintess is divine power. If she has the qualifications to save the continent from the Great Demons and summon a hero, she will receive absolution no matter how great her sins.

Perhaps knowing this, Aria’s actions after being officially appointed as a Saintess were truly unstoppable.

“We must accept the refugees. If they are driven out of the royal castle, they will not survive the winter.”

“But Saintess, you already provided relief to the southern villages last time, didn’t you? If we increase the number of mouths to feed, the nobles in the castle will object…!”

“Say it’s the Saintess’s order. That a revelation has descended from the high heavens.”

The King of the Iron Kingdom, Orcot de Lazarus, eventually granted her request.

Watching her back as she wore a lion’s skin cloak, Aria twisted her lips in contempt.

‘Stupid and incompetent human. It was the Archbishop and you who ruined this country.’

From the 1st Prince to the 4th Prince, those children who arrogantly call themselves the Emperor’s sons are even worse than their father.

‘If those guys hadn’t come right to our doorstep, I would have made one of them king….’

Over the past seven years, the Iron Kingdom’s front lines, which had repeatedly retreated, had been pushed right up to the royal castle.

Heroes and rebellions arise in times of turmoil, but in a situation where the destruction of humanity is imminent, they must join forces.

The only way to save the common people suffering from the incompetence of the king and nobles, and to save the continent, is to quickly acquire the ‘qualifications’ and summon a hero.

So when the hero appeared, Aria unknowingly vowed to herself.

“We succeeded, Saintess!”

“To think that a summoning would actually happen, is this truly a revelation from the high heavens…!”

The voices of the excited King and Archbishop were not heard.

That man with black hair, black eyes, wearing camouflage uniform and looking around,

“…Where is this?”

I will definitely save him and send him back.

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*

“…Saintess.”

Time, that cursed existence, passes quickly.

Sometimes repeating, sometimes returning to the previous moment.

Aria rubbed her blurry eyes. The gaunt hero was looking down at her with a face quite different from when she first saw him.

“Saintess, it’s dawn.”

“Ah, yes.”

“There will be a battle soon. Count Kenzerin, the second commander of Valmon, has approached right before us.”

“I’ll prepare. The others will wake up too.”

The hero, nodding, turns away. At that insensitive, weathered rock-like back, Aria feels both anger and guilt.

‘…What kind of forbidden art is this? To mess up a person so badly without even erasing a single memory.’

She doesn’t know how it happened, but the hero—Gord—did not lose his memories even after going through regression.

And he didn’t stop fighting the Great Demons.

Even though he must have all his memories, his mental strength, as if death is not a problem, is constantly focused on training, even to the point of being awe-inspiring.

-I can do more.

-Hero, your mind won’t be able to handle it. I can only heal your body. Training is good, but you need to rest now….

-There is no time. The Great Demons will be getting stronger even at this moment.

When she advised him to rest because she was worried about overwork, the hero’s answer was always the same.

Even his talent was so great that he soon broke through the 5-star Harmony and reached the stage where he could barely stand against the Great Demons.

First was Gorgon of Arrogance, and then Modeum of Discord.

So, the number of times he had set out to catch the third Great Demon, Valmon of Wrath… was this the twenty-first time?

Aria frowned.

Having gone through countless regressions with the hero, her memories were also jumbled up.

“If it weren’t for Valmon, that monster….”

Still, it wasn’t bad until then. Because she could protect her companions with holy light.

But Valmon’s Decomposition. The power of that guy, who physically annihilates the place he looks at, was all she could do to protect only the hero, no matter how hard she tried.

Most of the others who participated in the expedition die.

-Saintess, please save me! Valmon is coming―

The cry for help becomes the last dying breath. The sight of the knight, with only half of his head left, turning to dust is tragic and desperate.

What’s even more terrible is that their great cause requires sacrifices.

“Everything is ready. All commanders will move when the hero orders.”

On the stone mountain that had been prepared and ascended. Looking down at the lined-up knights and soldiers, the hero suddenly turned his gaze to her.

“Saintess, do you remember Marseus?”

She rummaged through her memories, but couldn’t remember. A soldier, or a knight?

When Aria shook her head, the hero continued gloomily.

“Martin, Oliver, Feran, Saint John… They are all comrades who fought back-to-back. They gave their lives for me while coming here.”

In an instant, Aria realized. The hero was talking about the names of the comrades who had died in the previous ’rounds’, not this expedition.

“I remember everyone who died fighting together. No, I should say I used to remember.”

“….”

“I don’t remember now. I don’t know if I became a monster while fighting monsters.”

After pausing for a moment, the hero adds a word.

“…Or if I was a monster from the beginning.”

Silence falls on the two. Soon, a trumpet sounds to announce the advance, and the human army moves to kill the Great Demon.

Driving her horse at the forefront of that angry wave, she bites her lip.

The vow to survive and send the hero back has not yet been kept.

And… time flows again.

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The hero accomplished a truly great feat.

He finally caught that Valmon with the minimum number of troops, and stubbornly broke through Berial’s Demon Realm and killed the fourth Great Demon.

Before heading to Asmeraus, the sky opened and archangels descended from the high heavens.

To take the Saintess and the hero, who had exhausted their usefulness, the sacrifices of this ’round’, and use them as eternal tools.

-You may resent us. But hero, even those deaths you experienced are only a fleeting moment in the time of the great beings.

-So be grateful.

-That as a mere mortal, you can become nourishment for another world beyond dimensions.

And she raised the first and last rebellion against the absolutes she had served.

-What are you doing….

Asruel, the archangel of red light, emits a wave mixed with anger and bewilderment.

A gamble to forcibly open a dimensional rift. She took on the dangers of this dimension to send the hero back to his previous world.

“Because I promised. That if we defeat all the Great Demons, you can return to your original world.”

-You fool, are you betraying the world for that petty friendship?

-Look at the sky! Do you even know what you’ve done!

At her calm words, Matekael and Prauriel behind her also shouted in anger.

They could destroy her existence right away, but that would also be meaningless. Asruel, who gave his gaze to the north, drew his red sword.

-The rift that was the limit has been torn. Now, foreign beings will appear and devour our world. All because of your shallow sympathy.

Aria also raised her head. The sky was already dyed a bizarre purple.

Red and black lightning flashed, and beyond the clouds, a huge eye appeared and stared at them with a long, torn pupil.

“…I have no regrets.”

-What?

“Just as that man did his best, I did what I could do. I would rather perish with the world than live with false beliefs.”

The three archangels looked at each other.

As if some agreement had been reached, Matekael and Prauriel also drew their swords, and Asruel, who had turned his back, emitted a subtle wave.

-In the end, you drove us into a corner. I don’t think you thought about this, but your foolish courage….

“…?”

-Called for destruction.

And the world stops.

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In the stopped time, the golden eyelashes that seemed to be dreaming twitch.

Everything is stopped. The spider web-like lightning striking from the sky, the huge gray claws that seemed to grab the mountain range, and the archangels who were frozen with their swords crossed.

A faint consciousness swims in it.

The three archangels will not be able to move. They gathered their last powers to hold onto the timeline, so all they could do was stop those monsters from rushing in.

After the supreme years passed and those absolutes faded away… this world would be reborn.

‘…I don’t know how long it will take, but me too.’

Soon, a small miracle manifests. Even though time and the world are stopped, a part of the escaped consciousness flows into the gap in the dimension.

A torrent flowing like tangled waves.

In that fierce flow, a girl who was once a Saintess began to walk.

To cross dimensions and find her comrade,

To keep a new promise.

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