Translator: Nox

Chapter 4

4. The Saintess Rescue Operation (2)

You have to look at the sky to pick a star.

Of course, Lucia couldn't possibly be the Saintess's mother.

Then and now, Lucia thought the only reason the child mistook her for her mother was her black hair.

The temple had been collecting data on black-haired Saintesses for hundreds of years because of a prophecy from a thousand years ago.

Even in that temple, the list of black-haired people on this vast continent was only about 50 people.

However, regardless of that fact, if someone were to meet this child's pure eyes and hear this magical word, they might feel the urge to become her mother at least once.

"No. I'm not your mother."

But, as expected, Lucia was not that kind of person.

At her firm words, the child seemed quite frustrated.

As if the lamp illuminating the child had been extinguished, the sparkle disappeared from her glittering golden eyes, and they rapidly darkened.

"But I came to save you. This is a dangerous place, so I'll take you somewhere safe."

She didn't even notice the child's shocked reaction and gestured for her to follow, but as expected, the child didn't move.

Lucia was flustered.

Her plan was this:

To save the unfortunate Saintess, find a house on the outskirts, and then hire a trustworthy nanny to hide and raise the child until she awakened as the Saintess.

She thought it was a pretty good plan for someone who had regressed this morning.

But something was lacking, and she didn't know it.

Even for non-human, speechless animals, trust is necessary.

'……I see. She probably doesn't understand words.'

She thought that the child would naturally follow her, according to her flimsy plan, and was barking up the wrong tree.

Eventually, Lucia approached the child and reached out as if to lift her up.

Then,

"……Annie has to stay here."

The child muttered, turning her head with a look of resignation.

So she wasn't misunderstanding the words.

It was a great relief.

"Annie. Can't go. This is clean. ……Hurts if I don't clean."

Surrounded by a disgusting smell, she hadn't noticed, but what the child was saying seemed to be true, as there were piles of excrement gathered regularly in various places.

But it was barely noticeable, as it wasn't a scale of work that a child could do in this huge warehouse.

More than that, something else bothered her.

'Hurts?'

She remembered the Saintess's gruesome death before her regression.

The Saintess is a child sent by God.

It was written that even though she looked so fragile, she had the strength to survive even if she starved for days.

That's how she was sealed in the Tree of Sin, which was packaged with such beautiful words as the Tree of Life, and lived and breathed for years.

But that child says it hurts?

Lucia hurriedly pulled away the cloth the child was holding and examined her body.

The child resisted the rough touch, but that small strength couldn't possibly work on Lucia.

"No! No! It hurts, it hurts……!"

It was strange.

Despite the child's violent resistance, she stood her up and examined her from head to toe, but there were no wounds.

Then, suddenly, a white light gathered in the child's hand.

The child trembled and urgently held it out to her with a pitiful gesture, as if to show it off.

It was the third piece of evidence, Divine Power.

"This. This……! No hurt. Comes out well now. There. There……. Now many circles……!"

When she held the lamp up to the wall that the child was pointing to desperately, there were numerous check marks lined up along with a discarded whip.

"……!"

'……I'll tear them apart and kill them.'

A vein popped out on Lucia's fair forehead.

She couldn't help but notice.

No matter how she looked at it, it could only be seen as a hideous mark to check Divine Power.

It was a much harsher reality than expected.

Whips that were too big for this small child's body.

At this rate, in her previous life, the Saintess lived in pain not only at the moment of sealing but throughout her life.

Lucia's poker face, which didn't flinch at most things, instantly crumpled.

"Tell me. How did you end up here?"

Judging by the fact that she knew how to speak, the child must have grown up among people.

She would find them all and make them suffer the same way.

The child was just trying to pull away, as her wrist was painfully grabbed by the excited Lucia, and couldn't answer.

But Lucia didn't stop asking questions.

"Where were you before? Your parents?"

At her intense questions, the child's body, which had been trying to escape until just now, went limp as if all the strength had been drained from it.

And she lowered her head and mumbled as if squeezing it out.

"……Orphanage. Mom, Dad…… don't have."

The child with her head down trembled her small chin, and tears that she had been holding back welled up in her pitiful golden eyes as if they were bursting.

"……."

'……If she had parents, she wouldn't have called me Mom.'

She was stupid.

For a child who was already struggling with so many wounds, that petty revenge was only important to her, who felt guilty towards the Saintess.

Lucia noticed her insensitivity only after touching the child's wounds.

She blamed herself again for her ignorance, which was similar to how she handed over the child without knowing anything before her regression.

.

.

.

"I'm sorry."

It was a truly old apology.

The strength in the rough hand that was holding the child's wrist was released, and it dangled.

Then, the child quickly escaped and hid further into the corner than before.

Lucia, who was looking at the sobbing child with a miserable heart, was troubled because if she didn't take the child today, the things that would happen in the future would become bigger.

Although she had erased the child's information from the temple, the smugglers involved here would not stay still.

'Anyway, I have to take her…….'

If she had her usual indifferent personality, it would have been simple.

It wouldn't have been difficult for an adult to take this powerless child without any consideration.

But as if she instinctively sensed that this matter was different from those things, Lucia stared blankly.

She stood there for a long time, then listened to the sound of sobbing that rang in her ears.

It was a strange sound that she had never heard around her, who had no children.

She recalled her childhood as if comparing it to the current young Saintess.

Lucia's childhood was completely different from the current young Saintess.

She didn't sob, hide, or answer anyone well.

The reason was clearly her temperament, but it was probably also due to the influence of her birth and environment.

Her mother died giving birth to Lucia.

And even her living father never saw Lucia until her coming-of-age ceremony.

Also, the nannies and maids who were like parents to such a young Lucia were unusually silent, and she, who grew up in such a dry environment, was insensitive to everything like a doll.

She thought that it was wrong herself because of the influence of her colleagues who lived with her in the royal guard after she became an adult.

But even if she realized that loneliness, she was already grown up, so there was nothing she could do.

Loneliness had already become a habit, and swinging her sword was the only living stimulus.

So she gave up everything and waited for death alone in a place where no one was, past the age of ninety.

The child is similar to herself, who grew up without parents, yet different.

Lucia judged that the child still had expectations for her parents, as she called her Mom.

If so, does that mean that there is still a chance for her to grow up as an ordinary child, unlike the lonely herself?

'An ordinary child…….'

But the child is the Saintess.

It is realistically difficult for the Saintess to become an ordinary child under ordinary parents.

This is because there are many temptations in the world that can make even real families give up on their families.

She frowned as she recalled many ugly things she had experienced during the war regarding families.

But then, it was then.

In Lucia's eyes, who had been standing there for a long time, she saw the child's hair being ruffled by a small tremor.

'……Rare black hair. Training period of 5 years. 5 years old…….'

Looking at the hair of the same color as herself, she had an idea.

And with that one thought, the noise wandering around in her head disappeared, and words began to come out on their own.

"I am the same as you."

After a long silence, when Lucia made a sound, the child, whose face was covered, flinched in surprise.

"I grew up without parents. So I don't know. What parents are like."

At her confession, the child peeked at Lucia through her covered hair.

"And I probably won't know in the future either. But unfortunately, there is only one way to protect you."

Since she is a special child, her parents must also be special to protect her.

"That is for you and me to become a family."

"……Family?"

The young Saintess blinked.

"So, what I mean is that I have to become your mother."

In her opinion, if she was a Saintess who could purify the black pollution that would destroy this world, she could only be protected by the strongest woman on the continent.

Lucia, like her.

She held out her hand to the child.

A nonsensical proposal with no clear reason.

No, it might be close to coercion or intimidation.

But strangely, did her clumsy proposal reach the child?

The child, who had a dark complexion, touched her pure white glove and began to shine again.

But, that was only for a moment.

The child, who had been looking at Lucia's hand with sparkling eyes for a while, looked around at the birds and the garbage on the floor and darkened again.

"……This is. Where I am."

The child had the eyes of a pitiful beast that couldn't escape the place, even though her leash was loose.

Lucia sighed softly.

It was then.

"Hey! The lock!"

"What? The lock is broken?"

A rough man's voice was heard from the warehouse entrance.

Then, the child's face quickly changed to an uneasy one. It seemed like she knew the man.

Lucia soon recalled the heavily scribbled wall and frowned.

However, if she gets rid of them now for the sake of personal revenge, the child might be afraid of her.

She endured the rising anger with all her might and promised herself the next time.

As the men tried to enter, the birds fluttered in their cages, making bizarre noises.

The child, flustered, hugged the cages as if to protect them.

It seemed the men would take some unpleasant measures if the birds didn't stay still.

Watching this, an amusing idea popped into Lucia's head.

"Child, would you open all the cage doors?"

"......?"

"If they open the doors, the birds will fly wherever they want."

The child blinked, looking bewildered.

Lucia, as if to show the child, hurriedly began opening the cage doors.

And as she shook the cages, the birds began to emerge one by one, making a racket.

As the last cage door was opened and the bird escaped, the wooden bar blocking the warehouse was almost completely broken, perfectly timed.

Lucia reached out her hand again to the bewildered child amidst the fluttering birds.

This time, it was Lucia's firm hand, filled with the conviction that she would never let go.

The child stared blankly at the hand held out in front of her.

The child's eyes hesitated, as if faced with a forbidden apple that should not be eaten.

"Let's go. Together."

She said, pointing to the birds preparing to fly.

It was then.

The warehouse door burst open with a loud noise.

Immediately, countless birds fluttered and flew out through the open door, and the two burly men were flustered, their vision obscured by falling feathers.

In the meantime, Lucia pulled up her hood to hide her face.

"What is this...!! Hey! Who's that!!"

"What are you doing! Catch them quickly!! They're expensive!"

The child hesitated, looking uneasy at the men's shouts, and finally grabbed Lucia's hand with all her might.

"......!"

After a long journey, Lucia finally held the small hand she couldn't afford to lose.

Only now did a refreshing smile spread across her face after a long time.

And she lightly lifted the child she was holding and embraced her.

The child blinked in surprise at the unfamiliar warmth.

And before that surprised expression could fade, Lucia summoned her Aura Blade and, as if venting her anger, hurled it at the warehouse wall, which was covered in graffiti.

"Ugh! What, what is it!"

The men, crouching down as the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, even dropped the birds they had been trying to catch.

And Lucia, passing through the gaping hole in the wall, lightly climbed onto the roof.

Behind the child and her, a spectacular sight unfolded as colorful birds flew freely towards the sky.