Fake Saint of the Year

Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Geli

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 14: Misunderstanding Deepens

For some reason, Eterna got scared and ran away. I don’t know why. 

No seriously, I have no idea. What happened?

Unlike the game’s Elrise, I didn’t do any bullying; I even saved her during the Fara-san kidnapping event.

Favorability should be increased with that, but I don’t know why it decreased instead.

As for any reasons, well I can think of some.

For example after she noticed that I gazed toward her with lust MAX sight, she might have thought “No, this is disgusting!” and then ran away.

While I’m quite thorough on my Saint role play, it’s still acting in the end. It might be possible my true nature got leaked out somehow.

But I feel her way of being scared is different.

Rather being disgusted, it’s more like the fear of being harmed. 

As for an in-game event that makes Eterna react like such… it existed.

This game’s Final Boss varies, it depends on which heroine’s route you chose. It’s either the Witch or Eterna, but, in the routes where Eterna ends up as the Final Boss, the Witch is dead without being fought in-game.

The reason being that Eterna dragged a large number of knights to the Witch’s place and defeated her while Vernell was absent. During these routes, Eterna will react like that just happened.

But those are supposed to be events in the future, not something that can possibly happen during this time.

In first place, the Witch is still alive.

… Did Eterna already defeat the Witch outside of my knowledge?

Nah, no. Or rather it is impossible.

While it’s possible for Eterna to defeat the Witch without Vernell’s support, it happened in the story’s later half, and during the event she brought many knights (meat shields) to the field, of which the majority ended up dead.

By the way, in some routes Leila also died there.

And for that event to happen, Eterna needed to reach level 40 at least.

In other words, Eterna has to be strong enough on top of having a large number of meat shields before she’s able to achieve victory.

There’s no way Eterna could win solo at this point, even if she tried to, she would end up dead.

Why did Eterna show such fear in those routes?

The reason being… ah, is it okay to say it? It’s quite a spoiler.

Okay I guess. I will honestly say it.

In conclusion the Saint = the Witch.

There is no difference between the two. They are the same.

Therefore, the Saint and the Witch have the same characteristics, and that’s the reason why they can be damaged by their own power.

Vernell’s dark power works against the Witch because it is actually the same power as that of the Saint.

Then, when the Saint defeats the Witch, something like the curse1 within the Witch is transferred to her, and the Saint who defeated the Witch will become the next generation’s Witch.

While there is no official explanation for this curse, the most commonly accepted theory about this is that this is the soul of the first Witch.

To be precise, this resentment would move toward “those who defeated the host”, but the one who is capable of defeating the Witch is only the Saint, so it’s practically only transferred within generations of Saints.

That’s why in routes where Eterna defeats the Witch, She then turns into the next Witch, which leads to her becoming the Final Boss.

The current generation’s Witch is actually what remains of the previous generation’s Saint.

This is proof that “The Saint gave up their life to defeat the Witch” is mistaken knowledge.

The truth is, “The Saint who defeated the Witch has gone into hiding, then the small number of royalty who know the truth would declare her as dead to cover the fact up.”

The reason for there being a 5 year span until the next Witch’s appearance is because that’s the period the Saint resisted the curse.

By the way, it’s impossible to commit suicide. While the Witch’s own power makes it possible to hurt herself, something like her survival instinct will act up, the result being that no matter how hard she tries, the damage she could inflict to herself will always be non-lethal.

It seems that the curse tries to keep its host alive. It’s possible for the Saint to commit suicide though.

There’s been theories that there’s something like the will of the first Witch that prevents it, like saying it’s troublesome for its host to perish.

And as one turns into the Witch, they will gain uncontrollable destructive impulses, which then turns its host into a villain regardless of their will.

Then, when the world senses the death of a Saint and the birth of a Witch, the power of magic origin (which goes by the name of mana, typical) will try to maintain balance and goes like “Ah, no good. The Saint became a Witch”, “Looks like this cycle has also failed”, “Then let’s try again with the next one”, “The next one should do better, I guess” development and then creates the next Saint.

This is the reason why a Saint is always born after the Witch reveals her presence. It’s truly a bad system.

By the way, if anyone other than the Saint DOES manage to kill the Witch, they won’t be able to endure the curse and will end up dead.

It’s not something that could be resolved by power; it’s more like their vessel was not designed to be capable of even accepting such a thing in the first place.

Even my cheat-self got my lifespan shortened despite only taking a tiny amount of it, so it’s natural.

In this case, there won’t be a new Witch being born, so destroying the system is possible.

Our Protagonist Vernell could achieve this, but if he does do it he will end up dead and it will be treated as a BAD END.

But this BAD END will still free Eterna of the Saint->Witch cycle, Eterna will also survive, so isn’t this considered a Happy END? Some players did think so.

That’s the reason why I didn’t go to defeat the Witch immediately.

I could do it, but it is a one way trip to the afterlife. That’s why I didn’t do it earlier.

The demons have not been wiped out completely yet, there will also be events where some nations would end up destroyed if I leave them alone…

If I go to genocide2 the Witch immediately and drag her to the afterlife it may be considered a Happy END, but after that Vernell and Eterna’s peaceful life will be destroyed by the demons who managed to survive somehow, thus ruining the whole reason of me being reincarnated here.

I don’t like a Happy END that leaves behind a bad stinger3, that kills the purpose of it.

That’s why I will leave the plot after I have removed all unstable factors.

Naturally, after I have driven the demons to extinction.

…… What? Demons are also desperately trying to live? There are also demons who didn’t commit any sins? I don’t give a damn.

If you say that, those livestock that are slain every time demons attack those farmsteads have lesser sin than they did.

Back to the problem, in routes where Eterna defeated the Witch, she obviously found out the terrifying truth of it.

While she behaves normally on the surface, deep down she is afraid of herself becoming the Witch, and keeps on avoiding Vernell.

When her time is almost up, before she completely loses herself… She pretends to have completely turned into the Witch, as she wished for Vernell to kill her, and in those routes Vernell will show off and flirt with his chosen heroine and defeat her.

In the end, not even her final wish of “At least I want to die by Vernell’s hand” is granted.

Rather, most of them end up with the Heroine slaying Eterna in Vernell’s place to protect him and dying due to it.

And Vernell goes to the Heroine, hearing her last words, embracing her gradually colder body and cries… while completely ignoring Eterna who was also slowly dying nearby.

The final battle’s other ending is that Eterna uses the last of her consciousness on death’s door to commit suicide to protect Vernell.

This girl sure is pitiful.

By the way, the routes where Eterna managed to survive until the end and then committed suicide are Lina Thomas and Aina Fox’s, the so called “heroines who only survived in their own route”.

Those were the few occasions where the Heroine would survive the ending, and were considered as some of the rare moments where the game was kind.

Back to the original topic, I still don’t understand why Eterna reacted like that.

The Witch is still alive. Eterna is not a Witch. 

Yet why is she reacting as if she became one?

I don’t know, I don’t get it, I don’t understand. I know nothing.

…let’s handle this later.

I’ll just tell Vernell to take care of Eterna, and look at how it develops.

There’s no sign of Aina Fox attacking so far.

So this will also be handled later. Maybe she will end up becoming a mob character.

Then next… There are also some problems involving various heroines, but since none of these problems will affect their survival, I’ll just ignore it.

Or rather, Vernell doesn’t have any connections with heroines other than Eterna in the first place.

As cruel as it sounds, most of this game’s heroines are reduced to mob level if they’re not involved with Vernell, but they will survive in the end, so I guess it is better to let things stay this way.

As for the mid-term exam before the summer break… There is also no need to care too much about this.

Summer break… There are personal events of high favorability heroines that will happen then. It’s okay to ignore it.

As for the period after the holiday… there is a fighting tournament that’s held twice every year. During the tournament, the Witch’s forces will launch an attack, the demons’ attack is considered a Mid-Boss battle.

…hmm.

Anyway, it’s peaceful until the fighting tournament.

Ah, wait. There is also one more event to be wary of.

There is an event where the demons which are kept within the Academy goes on a rampage.

This is an event where the demons which were kept for training (meaning that they’re kept for the sake of being killed for training. Poor them (monotone)) went berserk due to being affected by the Witch’s power which was used from underground.

Even so, these demons are small fry, they only caused the deaths of 2 nameless mobs before the situation was under control.

In addition, if Vernell works hard and defeats these demons, he will gain a large amount of favorability with the heroine he teams up with, it’s such a bonus event.

It’s pitiful for mobs to die a dog’s death though.

I guess I will help them when it happens.

 Ever since Elrise enrolled in the Academy, every day was akin to a festival.

Everyone got all excited, saying they walked past the Saint today, or that they managed to see her today, things like that.

Yet Eterna’s mood got heavier as time passed.

She felt that she might be the Witch. Nay, she must be the Witch.

As she thought that, fear had bound her.

Elrise came over to the Academy because she felt the Witch’s presence within it.

Would she be one day be revealed as the Witch? What would happen to her if such a thing occurred?

Such thoughts made her spend countless nights sleeplessly.

Recently, she felt like Elrise was observing her somehow.

To dispel suspicion, she killed several weak demons during training, but nothing changed.

Even so, she felt a faint hope that she might be spared if she shows Elrise that she has no evil intention.

Yes, it’s not like she did anything bad despite being the Witch.

All she needs to do is not commit any crimes. She might be forgiven for that.

As for why Fara-sensei ended up like that… she didn’t understand, but there must be a mistake that happened somewhere.

She didn’t do anything to Fara-sensei after all.

As Eterna thought that, she gradually calmed down… but then the next trial arrived.

“Help me!”

 “Why are there demons inside the school’s buildings?!”

She heard screams outside while she was attending her classes.

Before she could understand what was happening, Elrise suddenly flew away and her Guard, Leila, immediately ran after her.

Soon after Vernell ran and opened the door.

What lay beyond… was the scene of demons rampaging everywhere and attacking the students.

While they were not as strong as the demons she saw back in the basement, there were countless demons overrunning the whole Academy.

If this goes on, some people will be killed before the situation is under control.

But there’s one person here who could break such a future, who currently stays within the Academy.

Hope For The Best, But Prepare For The Worst

Elrise said something, at the same time light expanded from below her feet with her as center.

The light rapidly grew until it covered the whole Academy, and covered the students with light.

The demons tried to attack the students… but the moment they touched the light, the demons were knocked back and lost consciousness.

“Light Protection Magic?! No, it’s even reflecting the power towards the attacker! Not only does it reflect it perfectly, it’s doubled… tripled in power?! In addition the demons who got countered also became paralyzed… this is a compound magic including the thunder element! It’s such a high level of compound magic! In addition, at this speed, she managed to cover every student in the Academy at the same time!”

The Magic Lesson instructor, Supple Ment, who was on the podium got excited and shouted, while explaining just how high level the magic being casted was.

This instructor might unexpectedly be an amazing person.

As people were surprised by Elrise’s brilliance, Eterna saw a student outside the hallway.

“It, it hurts… so painful…”

It seems he was bitten on his shoulder.

As his blood flowed and he slowly turned pale, Elrise approached him and healed his wound.

“Elrise-sama… is this uproar…”

 “… Yes, perhaps that is the case. The demons were touched by the Witch’s miasma, and they went berserk as a result, I believe that’s the situation.”

As Eterna heard Elrise’s reply to Leila’s question, Eterna shivered.

Because demons came into contact with the Witch’s miasma, the demons went into a frenzy.

Eterna was aware of why this could be happening.

Ah, why is this. She indeed came into contact with the demons within the Academy recently.

(A- Ah… it’s my, fault… because I am here…)

“It’s fine as long as I do no evil”… Such a thought was naïve.

Regardless of whether her intention was evil or not, the Witch is the Witch.

Indeed, it’s something anyone could figure out with a little thinking. There should be at least one Witch within history that was not naturally evil.

Yet they were still a Witch.

… Does the Witch bring darkness to the world just by existing, regardless of their respective will? So Eterna thought.

Just like how Elrise gave off light just by standing there. It’s not too exaggerated to say that she was the incarnation of light.

Just by Eterna existing, darkness exists. She was darkness itself…

(No good… before more people end up being hurt by my presence, I must disappear… I need to disappear… from this world…)

She stood up weakly and left the classroom while swaying unsteadily as if she would collapse at any moment.

It’s an anomaly that anyone would normally notice.

Yet ironically … at this moment everyone’s eyes were stolen by the vivid miracle Elrise created.

No one had noticed Eterna.

Sometimes when light becomes too bright, people’s vision are more blinded compared to when darkness does it.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N:

Q: It says above that “Most of the routes end up with the Heroine slaying Eterna in Vernell’s place to protect him and dies due to it”, why are those heroines capable of finishing Eterna in Vernell’s place?

A: It was during the night prior to the decisive battle where death is very likely to happen. This is a couple who loves each other. Do the math.

I will only say the Heroine got a part of Vernell’s dark power through some method…

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Diair
Diair
7 months ago

…I don’t get it. The Witch cannot commit suicide, but Eterna can choose to kill herself before the grudge completely consumes her in order to save Vernell? If Eterna can simply kill herself while infected by the Witch’s grudge, doesn’t that mean the entire curse of the witch is easily broken? This is something that has going on for countless generations, no? How come none of the previous Saints tried to end it by killing themselves? They had 5 years to contemplate the matter, and surely at least a few of them would rather die than become the Witch themselves, no? Or is Eterna a special case, somehow?

Anyway, say, isn’t this rather similar to the plot of Final Fantasy 10? Summoners are trained from a young age to defeat Sin, and after Sin is defeated the Summoner’s Final Aeon becomes the new Sin and kills the Summoner.

Catman48
Catman48
1 year ago

“lust MAX sight” damn elrise, control yourself.

Certain methods eh author?

Anyway, since normal people cant handle darkness power, does that mean that having seggs with vernell reduces the life expectency of the heroines who do so?

Raizen
1 year ago

Some method,eh..?

Lvuer
Lvuer
1 year ago

Strange… I thought the reason Eterna fall and become witch is because the fake saint follower kill her entire family? Not because of some curse…

RayREI
RayREI
1 year ago
Reply to  Lvuer

It’s more the combination of both that made her fall actually. For the Saint to become a Witch they must fail to resist the curse first, it’s been said this chapter that the time between the appearance and death of the Witch is the time where the Saint is resisting the curse right? It would be…harder to resist the curse of destructive impulses when you experienced having your loved ones killed. So basically that incident just make her fall faster than usual.

Eternal perspective
Eternal perspective
1 year ago

Thanks for chap
Noooo you just had to give the author note, now the entire chap’s contents got replaced….

SoulsTogether
SoulsTogether
1 year ago

Oh, dear. Please don’t commit suicide Eterna! Your existence is needed for our protagonist to actually care!

…I wish only the best for Eterna now, honestly. She really is every bit a pitiful girl as Elrise kept portraying her to be.

Who Knows?
Who Knows?
1 year ago

Lmao, that author’s Q&A explaining how the heroine gets the power to defeat the witch tho xDDD

But wow, a surprising explanation behind the birth of the witch… Truly, a tragic cycle…

Actually, Since it was just brought up that the saint can commit suicide… Got a bad feeling…

Kzalca
2 years ago

Pain

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Kzalca

indeed

Bully Maguire
Bully Maguire
2 years ago

Haa… This misunderstanding was too much

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Bully Maguire

i love misunderstanding, but not tragic one

3rd Citizen
3rd Citizen
2 years ago

Haha te original plotline has all the markings of being a hated story..

No wonder they curse the absolute incompetence of the Mc.

And seriously, in a game with multiple heroine routes they thought it was a good idea to make Mc flirt with heroine in front of the villain who we know isn’t actually a ‘villain? ‘

Truly a kusoge.

Still, now the deaths of all of them makes sense. But how does the witch route work then?

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  3rd Citizen

there are times when witch is lucid enough to converse normally so she could go out during that time, but due to elrise existence, that route disappeared altogether

exqalph03
2 years ago

— Thanks for the chapter!!!

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  exqalph03

thx for your comments too!

Val
Val
3 years ago

Poor girl. She did nothing wrong yet was still condemned by the world.
By the way, with such plot, no wonder many people called it a kusoge.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Val

she always died regardless the route, which show how unfortunate she was