Level Up Saintess

“Saintess…? Saintess, are you back? Please, speak to me.”

 

“...Kale…?”

 

Huh… You know, Kale’s really pretty. Honestly, I think this version of him is even prettier than he was in our previous lives. It’s so nice to be able to see such a pretty sight as soon as I wake up. I bet a ton of people would be jealous of me for-

 

Ah, wait, ‘wake up’? Did I just wake up? Was I sleeping just now? Oh right, I saw that stupid Goddess and shadow combo in my dreams again, didn’t I… What did we talk about again? The shadow said something about 'joining it' just like always, and I tried to get its name, right? But there was something important from the beginning of the dream I think, something that I’m supposed to be remembering, something that started it all off. What was it…?

 

Oh, I remember now! Kale and I were in the middle of being attacked by the quiet priest!!!

 

I quickly sat up from my lying position, grabbing Kale’s face and frantically looking around at him to check that he was alright.

 

“Kale! Did he manage to get you?! Are you hurt anywhere?! Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it immediately!”

 

“Um, Saintess, nothing happened to me. It’s you who-”

 

“Stop acting stupid and listen to us already you idiot! And lay back down! You shouldn’t be springing up like that after being out for so long!”

 

Chella quickly came into the room and snatched my hands off of Kale’s face while pushing me back down onto the bed. Her forceful caring managed to clear up my mind a bit just like it always did, and for the first time I realized that I was back in my room under the covers, instead of out in the hall where the fighting had been happening. Yeah, if that’s the case, then some time must have passed while I was out. It makes sense, since I’m sure that dream I had didn’t only happen in the span of a few minutes…

 

“What happened…? The last thing I remember-”

 

My eyes widened and turned to look down at myself, worried about what I would see. Contrary to what I was expecting, though, my arm and the rest of my body that had been sucked away into darkness were perfectly intact, as if it had never happened.

 

…Was it another case like that time with the devil? Did I just happen to level up conveniently at the right time again and save myself? No, that shouldn’t be the case since I was only 40 experience into this level when I got back home from the adventurer’s guild. A quick glance at my character board is still showing 40/1600 exp, and it still says I’m level 17, so I shouldn’t have leveled and miraculously fixed myself again, right? So then what happened…?

 

As I looked between Kale and Chella for answers, they just exchanged awkward looks between each other. Huh. What happened between them that they got close enough to communicate silently like that? Chella’s well known for her prickliness, and Kale doesn’t seem the type to just go around making friends quickly, even if that’s rude of me to think. …Honestly, it’s making me a little bit jealous. I mean, it’s nice for your friends to be friends with each other, but-

 

“Saintess… You’ve been unresponsive for two days.”

 

“Yeah, you weren’t even breathing, either. If it hadn’t been for Kale here, we would have totally thought you were dead.”

 

What? I wasn’t breathing? Then… did I really die like I thought I had in the dream…? But I’m awake now, and I didn’t go to hell, so…

 

“How… How did Kale know that I wasn’t dead?”

 

“I could still sense the divine energy within you, just like the Bird God’s.”

 

Oh, so he can do that? Kale has that kind of power? Well, I guess he has been the Bird God’s priest or whatever for a lot of years now, so it makes sense if he’s able to detect the god he’d been serving's energy. I wonder if I would be able to do the same thing if the Goddess somehow appeared in the real world and passed somewhere nearby me, since I’m her Saintess?

 

But why did he say it’s like the Bird God’s energy? Is it just because the both of us are ‘holy beings’?

 

“Actually, even though you did the same thing as last time and immediately healed up, since you weren’t breathing we had a hard time believing Kale that you were still alive. It’s a good thing that the Bishop listened to him and didn’t give up on you yet, or maybe you’d be buried somewhere right now.”

 

“What...? I did the same thing as last time? What do you mean?”

 

“Uh well, you lit up just like you did the last time you almost died, you know? You lit up and completely healed up, and then you slept for two days, just like then.”

 

Oh, so the same thing as last time happened… Now that I know that I actually died this time, and for sure wasn’t saved by leveling up, that whole ‘maybe the Goddess saved you’ idea from before isn’t starting to sound so far-fetched. …Does this mean that it wasn’t the level up that saved me last time, but was actually the Goddess bringing me back to life then, too? I mean, both times I ended up going to the Goddess’s realm after, even if the last time seemed a bit scripted since I was supposed to tell her my wish. Honestly, they line up a bit too perfectly for me to think it’s completely a coincidence.

 

So that means I might have already died twice in this life, in the span of only a month…?

But then why has the Goddess been saving me?

Wasn’t this supposed to be a redemption run?

Wasn’t I supposed to go to hell if I died?

Why does the Goddess keep a timer on me if she’s just going to keep me alive like this anyway?!

 

“Oh, and... there’s another thing that happened then, too…”

 

Chella’s words came out slowly, almost at a crawl, taking me out of my flustered thoughts. But even when I stared up at her, waiting for her to continue speaking, for some reason her mouth just wouldn’t open up and let the words out, as if it were hard for her to say. I looked over to Kale, wondering what it could be, since he didn’t look as troubled as Chella did. Kale was actually there for whatever happened and Chella wasn’t, so why is it that she’s the one who seems upset, and not him?

 

Well, if Chella can’t say it, then I’m sure Kale can. He’s always been the time to accept reality rationally, even if it was something painful.

 

“Kale? What happened?”

 

“...The Goddess smited that priest for killing you, Saintess.”

 

~~~

 

I think I read about it somewhere before. If someone kills a Saintess, then they would be smited by the Goddess right then and there for their crime. It’s not like it was necessarily a secret thing that anyone was trying to hide… Although I don’t remember reading that those Saintesses came the hell back to life after, so, you know, that’s a bit different. Well no, I guess they had some flowery text afterwards about ‘the Goddess’s mercy’ or some such being given to the Saintesses, or how 'their work was not yet done in this world' or something, so I guess they really must have come back, even if they make it sound like they never actually ‘died’ at that moment. Must make it confusing for the people who’ve seen a Saintess come back a bunch of times when they finally did kick the bucket, though…

 

Well anyways, whatever. Like they said, the quiet priest immediately got smited for killing me. From what I’m told, an intense ray of holy light burst through the ceiling and immediately obliterated him, leaving nothing behind, and once that was done, then I miraculously started healing. Crisis averted. Danger removed. Thank you for the efficiency, Goddess.

 

I feel like I should maybe feel a bit bad that the quiet priest is dead, me being a Saintess who’s supposed to care for the people and all. But honestly? I can’t feel bad at all for someone who tried to kill Kale and literally killed me. If anything, I just feel a whole lot safer in my own home now.

 

No, if I’m going to feel any bit of sadness over anything, it would probably be for Meria, odd as that is.

 

I guess everything that happened was too much for her. I’m pretty sure the quiet priest’s feelings weren’t completely one sided, you know. And having to watch him turn violent, repeatedly try to kill someone, actually kill someone, and then die himself… She was already distressed before all of that, enough that she didn’t want to leave her room; I’m not surprised that she went missing during the two days that I was out.

 

I wonder how Chella feels about all of this…

Her and Meria were very close in the past.

I’m sure this must be weighing on her.

 

Oh, and it seems there was one more development while I was gone. Remember how there were supposed to be escorts here to take me to the main church by now? Well-

 

“I received a letter from the head of the Paladin order. The group of dispatched escorts were met with a freak monster wave, and only one of them managed to escape it and send word to the main church that they’d failed. From what I’m told, they’re going to assign a new group of even stronger escorts to come, but that won’t be for another week at best.”

 

The Bishop’s face looked very grave. I couldn’t tell if it was because he’d just lost two of his priests, or if it was because so many fellow members of the church had been wiped out while trying to come here.

 

“That’s okay. I don’t mind being here for another week. I just hope that they can make it here without any more losses next time.”

 

“...Yes, I agree. But instead of worrying about them, we should be more worried for ourselves instead… I’m afraid there’s another much more pressing matter that we need to be concerned about, Saintess.”

 

His eyes narrowed, looking both resigned and yet somehow distressed.

 

“The monster wave… It’s coming towards us. It will reach us by tomorrow morning.”

_____

AN: Hey sorry, I never meant for there to be this big of a wait between these chapters! Life's just been crazy busy right now, although after this weekend it'll at least slow down a good bit, so I hope I can post this a little bit more often (even though I really don't have a schedule for when exactly I plan to put them out lol)