Level Up Saintess

I opened my eyes absolutely terrified that everything was a dream. I practically flung myself out of bed just so I could get a good look at everything, but I still couldn’t see Kale.

 

“Kale…”

 

He’s not here. Why would he be; This is my room. …Wait, what am I doing just standing here?! I have to go get Kale out of that awful place!

 

“Kale…!”

 

“Woah woah woah, stop right there Arissa! Where do you think you’re going?!”

 

Even though I tried to run out of the room, Chella’s strong arms grabbed me and pulled me back before I could even open the door. I struggled desperately, but Chella had much too good of a hold on my weak and thin limbs for me to put up too much of a fight.

 

“I have to go to him! Let me go! I have to see Kale! He needs me! He-”

 

“Calm down already! You’re gonna bruise us both! And who in the Goddess’s name is this ‘Kale’ you’ve been calling out for?!”

 

“It’s Kale! He was the last one who came out, the white tall one with the specks of gold! He’s… He’s Kale. He’s been my closest friend since forever, and he-”

 

-He’s the most important person to me. In this world or the last, he’ll always be the most important person, no matter what. I don’t care if he’s suddenly a bird now or something, he doesn’t deserve to be treated like some kind of livestock, and he definitely shouldn’t be chained up in a basement somewhere! He already had such a hard life before! We both did. He doesn’t deserve such a harsh life here too! He hasn't done anything wrong!

 

I guess I lost all of my steam once the tears started filling my eyes. If it weren’t for Chella’s strong grip on me, maybe I would have collapsed onto the ground again. At least this time I didn’t faint. …Maybe that would have been better, though.

 

After a moment of me no longer resisting, Chella sighed and dragged me back over to my bed. She grabbed a small cloth from nearby and started dabbing at my eyes, looking annoyed all the while, but even in my wretched state and messed up mind, I could still tell that she was really worried about me. I guess that helped to calm me down a little bit, however miniscule an amount that it was. It was at least enough for me to formulate some important questions for her.

 

“...Why was Kale tied up like that? Did he and the other birds do something?”

 

Chella looked confused for a second, but she quickly averted her eyes from me even as she kept dabbing at my tears, as if she couldn’t stand to see my reaction to her words.

 

“...It’s because he’s a slave. They all are.”

 

I’d thought as much, but I guess some small part of me was hoping that I was misunderstanding somehow. Maybe it’s better than them treating them purely like brainless livestock, since they still realize that they’re still people, but… All those bruises, the dirt that covered them, how broken and desolate the looks in their eyes were… No, there’s no way they were being treated with any kind of humanity anymore.

 

“How… How can this be okay? Why are they being treated like this?! …Is it... Is it some kind of race thing…? Is it because they’re birds?! All the other beast-people get to walk around free on the streets and they’re animals too, so then why are you only-”

 

“Arissa!”

 

Chella shouted with so much force and anger that I immediately stopped and clenched my teeth. I’ve been hit enough times after being yelled at like that that I’ve learned quickly shutting up and being good is the best way to not get hurt. It’s a very effective fight or flight fear response that I’ve built up over the years; Funny to see that it works even now, when Kale is at stake. Doesn’t mean my shaking or my glaring has stopped at all though, although maybe she won’t be able to notice it since my tears are still in full effect, even if I was being more quiet about my crying now.

 

Nah, I guess I was still being very very obvious, because Chella let out another sigh, and her face softened really really quickly.

 

“...Arissa, I don’t know where you grew up, but you can’t talk like that about the beastfolk. Don’t you know about the ‘Beast Peace Agreement’ that the Saintess before last helped arrange? It’s been hundreds of years; There’s no way you haven’t heard of it before. I’ve seen you reading that book about Saintesses before, so you must have seen it in there, right?”

 

Geez, not this shit again. I keep getting pop-quizzed about the other Saintesses out of nowhere like this! What stupid fucking all important fact did I miss about another Saintess now?!

 

I guess Chella took my silence and annoyed glare as a signal to continue, because she sat down next to me and talked while stroking my back, like she was consoling some kind of child.

 

“Well, that peace agreement happened at a time when the beastfolk all lived in the beast kingdom and none of them lived in any of the other countries. It was made with all of the neighboring countries so that no beastfolk could be treated as inferiors, assaulted, or made into slaves, right?”

 

Yeah, I think I remember reading about that. It’s what made it possible for there to be so many beastkin wandering around in this middle of nowhere town without ever getting harassed like I’d read in some of the novels in my past life. But if that stupid piece of shit agreement has been in effect for almost 500 years, then how in the hell-!

 

“Well… The bird people don’t come from the beast kingdom; They all live in the mountains next to us. They aren’t part of the agreement, and are therefore free to be captured as prisoners of war and turned into slaves. That’s especially true for the hostile bird tribes… like your Kale’s.”

 

Oh…

Oh no.

So he actually did do something to deserve being locked up like that...?

 

“Wha-what did he-?”

 

No, that’s a silly question. She said he was a prisoner of war who’d been turned into a slave, and that he came from a hostile tribe, so it’s obvious that he was captured in battle. There’s no way the country is going to be lenient to those who attack them, especially if it’s often enough that they’ve been marked as ‘hostile’. Even if he didn’t do anything, that’s not important. What is important is that all the circumstances point to him being lawfully enslaved here. No, I should be asking much more important questions, instead.

 

“...How long has it been since Kale was locked up here?”

 

“I have no idea, he was there already before I joined the church. But I do remember hearing that the war between the birds and some of the nearby towns ended about 4 years ago. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember a lot of soldiers partying at the brothel around then.”

 

…4 years. He’s been a slave for at least 4 years. I only died and got here a little over a week ago, but Kale’s been here suffering for who knows how long now without me, and I didn’t even know it. Maybe if the Goddess hadn’t brought me here, I still wouldn’t have known anything about it. …Was it the Goddess who brought Kale here, too…? Is he also being punished here for some reason? …But why? Kale died in a car crash, it’s not like he did what I did and-

 

“I really don’t get it though.”

 

Chella’s sudden words snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked back over to her.

 

“I don’t understand how you could have possibly met this ‘Kale’ guy with all these battles going on. It just doesn’t make sense. Even if you were young, you would have surely heard about the bird-folk of the mountains and been told to stay away from them, especially back then; It’s not like this whole war thing with them was anything new. Heck, I’m amazed you didn’t die just from meeting him. They’ve been warmongering maniacs towards us for a long time now, it’s part of why we have to keep them locked up in the cellar. Otherwise we don’t know what the townspeople might do if they see them.”

 

…Warmongering maniacs?

…Kale?

 

“No, Kale would never be like that! He wouldn’t hurt anyone! He’s kind and gentle and maybe he’s sad on the inside, but he would never ever take that out on anyone!”

 

“Geez, sorry! You must really have a lot of trust in him if you're like that. Does he really mean that much to you?”

 

…Does he mean that much to me…? What a stupid question.

 

“He does! Of course he does! He always has! Ever since we were kids we were always together, always! For so many years we were all that each other had! He was the only thing keeping me together the whole time, and after he died I had absolutely nothing left! I never would have killed myself in my last life if he-”

 

“...What? Arissa, what are you even-”

 

{Unacceptable knowledge detected, restriction applied.}

 

As soon as that screen shoved itself in front of me, my mouth refused to keep moving. It was as if it had turned into stone, or like I was completely paralyzed. Chella also suddenly stopped talking or moving, just the same as I had, and all I could hear was this constant whirring noise filling the air around us, like the sound of something mechanical, loudly turning. Maybe it even sounded like a video tape destroying itself inside of a VCR. And then, just like the tape had finally figured out what scene it was supposed to be playing, everything suddenly skipped forward. Chella had inexplicably teleported in front of me, and her hand was firmly placed on my shoulder as if she were in the middle of comforting me. There was even a resolute look on her face, as if she had come to some kind of an understanding.

 

“Yeah, I get it. Sometimes there are some things that are really hard to talk about. I also have a few things like that that I’d feel uncomfortable bringing up. But well…”

 

Chella’s head turned slightly to the side like she was too embarrassed to look at me, and a bit of a bashful blush was visible on her cheeks.

 

“...We’re friends, right? So I’m here for you if you need me. Okay?”