Fake Saint of the Year

Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Geli

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 50: The Prophet

Since then, those monkeys started to adore me for some reason.

Several minutes after the demon’s attack, those Guardians were always standing around me and saying something.

I thought I saw another Guardian come from the other side of the door, and he was carrying something roasted that looked like bird meat, skewered on a wooden pole.

It was not placed on a plate, but used on leaves instead as an alternative.

How were these guys capable of operating a steam train?

Was this steam train really okay?

“AMAS-TNAIS! TAEM TSEB EHT! OG UOY EREH!”

While saying something, he gave me some meat.

What? Was this supposed to be a gesture of gratitude for saving him earlier?

No, I didn’t want to eat meat that was just roasted plainly.

Or rather, wasn’t that the bird from earlier? That made me even more reject it even more.

To begin with, it might be because I was in this body, but I couldn’t eat that much in the first place.

Before I had gotten sick in my past life, I had a decent appetite when compared to a normal person. However, since I became Elrise, my body has become more energy efficient.

It was strengthened once I learned mana circulation. In my current state, I could easily last 5 days without eating or drinking and the need to use the toilet has also been reduced.

The original Elrise was supposed to be a glutton though.

At the same time, the Guardian who offered the meat to me looked like he very much wanted it for himself, so much so that he started to drool.

“…Go ahead, you don’t have to hold back for me. Share it with everyone. I am not that hungry.”

“AMAS-TNIAS! DNIK OS ER’UOY!”

As I told them to eat it themselves, they happily started to tear into it.

It wasn’t that important to me, but the word AMAS-TNIAS they kept repeating seemed to be referring to me.

As I was starting to get tired from dealing with those monkeys, the steam train arrived at a forest and then stopped.

It seemed that we had arrived at our destination.

“DEVIRRA EVAH EW. FFO GNITTEG NEHW LUFERAC EB ESAELP.”

As the Guardian gestured that we should detrain, the old man and I got off.

After that, the Guardians also got off the steam train, then surrounded me and the old man as if to protect us.

“EREH DNOYEB SI TI. AMAS-TNIAS, GNITOOF RUOY FO LUFERAC EB.”

They were likely talking to me, since there was AMAS-TNIAS in their sentence, but I didn’t understand what they were talking about.

The Guardian in front of us started to walk. Seeing that, the old man and I started following him into the forest.

Inside the forest… it was quite peaceful.

A squirrel-like animal jumped around the trees, then landed briefly  on my shoulder before jumping to a different tree.

A bird perched on a tree branch and started trilling. Between the trees, we saw a glimpse of a tiger-sized cat.

Which was it… was it a cat that evolved into a tiger-sized creature or a tiger that was so calm, it looked like a cat… Well, I guess whichever was fine.

Anyway it was a type of cat that didn’t exist on earth.

Thinking about it again though, I often hunted demons so I saw their variations, but I didn’t know much about this World’s animals.

“EREH TSAP SI TI.”

The Guardian stopped and gestured for us to go ahead.

A few steps ahead should be the so-called Prophet.

Well then, time to meet them.

The old man and I left the Guardian behind and started to move forward.

But as we did that, a voice was heard from further in.

“I have been waiting for you… Only Elrise may pass beyond here.”

Was that the voice of the Prophet?

To know my name before I introduced myself, it might be because they prophesied the Saint’s birth, but… I guess it wasn’t that, though.

Even if they knew the name of the Saint, I was a fake. So that wasn’t enough to explain it.

Since the old man worriedly turned to me, I nodded to him to calm him down then walked ahead alone.

The place I ended up at was an unnatural spot covered with trees.

What lay beyond there was just a lake. There was nothing else.

What’s with that? There’s no so-called Prophet here.

Should I just dive into the lake?

As I was thinking that, I had kept my attention toward the lake, and suddenly noticed the face of something rise up from the water.

The thing that came out — was a turtle.

Size-wise, its shell was around 5 meters.

The turtle was large enough that it could probably carry a human around and still comfortably swim.

I see, so I should ride it to enter the lake.

It kinda feels like Urashima Tarō.

“You made it here, fake Saint who has exceeded the real one. I’ve been waiting for you to come here. I am Propheter… Among humans, I am known as the Prophet.” 

Right as I decided to ride it, the turtle opened its mouth and spoke.

I had thought the turtle was the guide to the Prophet’s place, but to think the turtle was the Prophet itself.

I see. So this was why the old man said, “You will understand if you meet them…”

I had imagined it as a human since it was called the Prophet, but to think that it was not even human…

Rather, since it was an animal that spoke, wasn’t it totally a demon? More like a Greater Demon.

Wasn’t it actually the Witch’s follower?

“Are you… a demon?”

“Kakaka, it’s only expected that you’d think that. But I am no demon. I was just a common turtle that happened to be selected as a spokesperson by the World.”

A common turtle that happened to be selected by the World, what a striking statement.

But I understood what it meant to say.

The Saint was, bluntly, just a human that had been selected by the World.

Similarly, Propheter was another existence that was selected by the World.

But I didn’t understand why it had to be a turtle.

“You are wondering why a turtle was selected? It’s nothing special. It’s simply because it has a longer lifespan than humans. My species is called the Millenium Turtle, and is capable of living over 1000 years. Such is the will of the World. It seeks individuals who could live long and continue to prophesy about the Saint’s birth.”

I see. So it’s to reduce the transition time between generations.

But then, that begged the question of whether it was possible that the Saint didn’t have to be human?

In the first place, humans were fundamentally unsuited for battle. If both sides had to go all out, even a pet cat could come out victorious; that was how weak humans were.

In this World, you could gain superhuman-like abilities just by training and magic also existed, so this wasn’t necessarily always true but generally, in terms of basic specs, it was still a beast > human.

So instead of humans, wouldn’t it be better to make a strong animal like a bear or tiger as the Saint, (?) then grant it magic and intelligence; this way,  it could easily come out as stronger compared to past generations of Saints.

While they might not turn out as strong as me, I could confidently say that they would still be strong individuals.

So if we thought about making a strong animal as a Saint (?) then… then… then—

…No good. They still wouldn’t reach the Witch.

To let the Saint fight the Witch, you would need to do something about the demons and Greater Demons that follow her.

In other words, you still needed to use knights and soldiers as a sacrifice to press forward. But for example, if there was a bear Saint, then humans likely wouldn’t feel like protecting it.

Since it would be hard to differentiate  them from a common demon.

Hypothetically, if the Prophet declared, “This bear is the Saint,” would the Knights really wholeheartedly protect it with their lives?

The one they’d have to protect was a bear, you know.

Since that was the case, they couldn’t use the same tactics just because humans wouldn’t help.

Even if a bear did become a Saint and had its intelligence increased, an animal was still an animal. They wouldn’t go out of their way to protect it.

So if something other than a human was made into a Saint, it was inevitable that such an existence would end up fighting alone.

It was an impossible situation, even if they were stronger. They would end up being overwhelmed by demons and getting killed.

“You called me a fake Saint. In that case, you know my identity…” 

“Yes, I know. You are not the Saint. You just happened to be born in the same village with the Saint, a different person who happens  to be overflowing with talent.”

Fumu, so it knew.

Well, since this individual itself was the one who prophesied the Saint’s birth, after all.

So it wasn’t a surprise for it to notice who the real Saint was and who wasn’t.

But what I didn’t understand was, why did it know my name? Why did it know I was coming?

“Well then, what do you want to ask about? I long for conversation here. I will answer almost anything you will ask. I can’t have a conversation with those monkeys, after all.”

“How do you know my name? Also, it sounds like you knew I would come here today, even beforehand…”

“Kakaka. Of course I know. I have the ability to know what happens in the World despite just staying here. That’s why I have seen all of it, your tale.”

Uwah, it was such a terrible ability. There was no such thing as privacy there.

But with that knowledge, it wasn’t weird for it to know my name or the fact I was coming here today.

I heard that the Prophet was God’s… The World’s spokesperson for its will.

If it was the World, then it was indeed capable of knowing everything, since everything would happen within it.

And the Prophet, who was capable of receiving the World’s will, would also be capable of grasping everything within it… I guess it was something like that.

Right then, as I was convinced about that, I asked Propheter another question.

“What do you mean you have been waiting?”

 “Yes, I’ve been always waiting for you. I’ve been looking forward to having a conversation with you. After all, you are a point of singularity1.”

Singularity? What the hell does that mean?

I don’t understand what it means.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Could you explain in more detail about it?”

“Well, I guess that makes sense. I need to explain about that first. But the thing I am going to talk about is in the realm of absurdity. It’s up to you whether you believe it or not.”

Realm of absurdity, huh.

Magic exists here, and the Witch and the Saint were made according to the World’s will. These were things I already understood, but… well, let’s listen for now.

Perhaps I could learn something that was unexpectedly new to me.

“I have mentioned before that I could learn about everything that happens in this World. But one day… perhaps it was because there was a  soul that was about to reach the end of its lifespan and was about to be separated from the World, but I managed to get a glimpse of things from another World called EARTH.”

At this, I was immediately surprised.

It seemed that this turtle could catch sight of things that were happening on earth.

It slowly moved its head as it kept talking.

“Then there was this mysterious thing. It seems that there is something in that world called a GAME that records the things that have happened in this World… It’s called “Kuon no Sanka,” but it was like someone was peeking at the events that have happened in this World. Also, that World in that GAME is extremely similar to this World and is centered around the man called Vernell … the drawings are a little weird though. The eyes are big, yet the noses are merely dots…”

We, weird, it said? This turtle, it said that the 2D drawings were weird?

2D drawing was the result of much study and refinement by our forefathers, and with that it eventually reached art that was called moe culture. It wasn’t something that should be called weird.

Moe drawing was an art of deformation. It wasn’t  something you drew realistically, you turtle!

…hey, that wasn’t important.

It seemed that this turtle possessed knowledge about the game.

“But within that, there was one part that was clearly strange… and that was you, Elrise.”

“I… was strange?”

“Yes. You indeed are a fake Saint, but… you are a fake that has exceeded the real Saint. In the past, there was never any Saint who had done as much as you have, or was more suited to be called Saint like you are. It’s ironic… For the fake to be the most authentic amongst them all. Even now, when I look at you directly, it’s still hard to believe you are actually a fake one… Yet for some reason, the “Elrise” in this GAME… was someone who looked nothing like you. She was portrayed as a woman who reached the pinnacle of evil.” 

I took a deep breath as I heard Propheter speak of what they knew about the game.

The Elrise who was totally different from how I was and was a woman who had reached the pinnacle of evil… that was the original Elrise.

If we considered how I was internally, I wasn‘t much different compared to the original Elrise, but the original version never created a façade for herself.

It seemed that this turtle realized that I was a fake based on my appearance; there was no doubt that the “Elrise” it was talking about was the Pizzarise that I had known.

But why was Propheter only aware of the World before its change… I didn’t understand this.

Was it something similar to the case of stars?

It was like how the star I observed at night was probably not its current form, but actually the light it emitted from the past.

For example, since it took 8 minutes for sunlight to reach the earth, the sun I observed was actually the sun from 8 minutes ago.

This was the case with all stars; none of them could be observed in their current state.

A few years, a few dozen years, or even a few centuries… Anyway, it was all light that had been emitted a long time ago before reaching  earth. That was the state of stars we see all the time.

Was it something similar to that due to the distance between worlds?

Which explained why Propheter was only capable of observing the past version of earth, and didn’t know that the scenario that has changed… was it something like that? Was this explanation a little bit of a reach?

Yep, it was totally a reach.

In the first place, if we were talking about the past, then I myself traveled to the past.

I played “Kuon no Sanka” until its end.

If the game called “Kuon no Sanka” was something that was made by observing this World, then that meant the story originally already met its end in this World.

Yet here I was, reincarnated and living life as Elrise.

This could be described as me traveling to the past.

Going back to what I had talked about with stars, it has been said in science fiction that to travel back to the past, you should be capable of moving faster than light.

I didn’t think the soul could fly faster than light, but the moment I reincarnated, it would mean that I had travelled 17 years to the past?

But as I traversed between these two worlds several times, I didn’t think there was a major time difference between the two.

On the other side, Niito (I) said there should be some time difference between Earth and this side of the World, but… but the clear difference was only the first 17 years. There was no major difference in the flow of time afterward.

For example, if a week passed here, then a week passed there as well… It was something like that.

I didn’t think that several days over there equaled a time difference of 17 years here.

Also I went to the other side to gradually collect parts of my soul that didn’t reincarnate, but… why was it only happening recently?

Didn’t that mean that, after 17 years had passed, I was finally returned to the same timeline?

I had returned to the original timeline. That was why I could go to the other side with no major time difference between the two Worlds’ flow of time… Was it something like that?

Well, it was just my speculation at the moment, so I planned to confirm it once I travelled there again.

But on the off chance that this speculation was true… then I was able to reach this World and reincarnate, which then sent me 17 years into the past.

But, wasn’t their observation merely events they’d seen in the past?

It seemed that Propheter had at least seen Earth after “Kuon no Sanka” was released.

“Kuon no Sanka” was released 4 years ago, so it had at least managed to observe the timeline beyond that.

Based on that, maybe it was able to get a glimpse of Earth somewhere between several days to several years ago. Did reincarnating make me pass through some sort of dimension wall, which caused a time difference to occur… so… anyway… basically… no good, I didn’t get it.

Whatever, let’s stop thinking about it.

I was originally stupid anyway, thinking about all that would only confuse me.

So I decided to leave all of that to the me on other side and Ijuuin-san.


A/N:

“It’s quite hard to understand, so we compiled her speculations.”
※it’s strictly Elrise speculation.

1. Someone from earth observed Fiori, and created the scenario of “Kuon no Sanka.”

2. Fudou Niito who saw “Kuon no Sanka” left part of his soul on Earth and reincarnated. For some reason, there was a time difference and he reincarnated on Fiori 17 years ago.

3. Elrise reincarnated, spent 17 years there and eventually reached the original timeline. As the timeline matched, the connection with Fudou Niito grew stronger, and his consciousness alone went back to the other side to collect his soul.

4. Since Elrise changed from the inside, the story changed along with it (it was unknown why the game on Earth’s side also changed. It is for Niito and Ijuuin to investigate) but Propheter had observed the “Past Earth”, so it had seen the scenario before it was changed.

Q. Is this deduction correct?
A. Did Elrise ever have any correct deductions?


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Yoiko
Yoiko
7 months ago

So uhh… is he Fiori’s Turtle bcuz that was the only thing in my mind as I skimmed through all those lines of some super science-y multidimensional something theory.

Catman48
Catman48
1 year ago

The author did not have to roast elrise so hard.

Anyway i love these theories that people are making. But dont worry people, read ahead and you will understand what the truth is.

Nelia Arendale
1 year ago

This is bad…,my brain is dying right now

Eternal perspective
Eternal perspective
1 year ago

Thanks for chap
Calls herself dumb after explaining a possible multi timeline theory.

Her theory has credit if only the producer didn’t exist with his memories.

SoulsTogether
SoulsTogether
1 year ago

Interesting. Taking into account the turtle’s words, they seem aware that Elrise is not the saint, but is also not aware about Elrise’s hidden nature at all. They probably think Elrise generally is a kind-natured being…either that or the turtle’s sees no difference between a kind person and a person who never stops acting kind. A lie that is indistinguishable from the truth is not a lie, after all.

In either case…I think I under Elrise’s deduction a little bit. Reincarnation + regression. Two different timelines. When one timeline caught up with the other, the connection between worlds grew stronger with Elrise as the focus point. Information transference between the world is a lot slower via other means than soul fractioning. …that’s the basic gist of it all.

Still, it is a bit simplistic. Why is information travel between split souls faster than any other means? Why did Nitto’s soul fragment even travel between another world if the transfer speed is so slow? Time travel is put into place here, so that might explain something, but that also begs to question…why did it time travel in the first place?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m not a smart guy myself, so making assumptions on information I’m not familiar with is not the most practical idea. I’ll just let the author tell me because me a big dummy.

Thank you for the chapter!

Who Knows?
Who Knows?
1 year ago

I am, uh, quite confused, haha. So reincarnating as Elrise sent him 17 years into the past in the world of Fiori, and in those 17 years, there was a noticeable difference in how time flowed between the two worlds, but after that time passed, there was no longer any difference in the flow of time?

Hmm… But then how does that relate to the turtle only being able to see the old version of Earth, while over on Earth, the changes in the Fiori are reflected immediately in the game?

If we assume that the game is based off of the events of Fiori, then the events would have reached their conclusion by the time he played the game… So we could say the world of Fiori exists in the past, relative to Earth’s time. So he is not only reincarnating when he woke up as Elrise, but also travelling back in time as well.

And by changing the events in the the world of Fiori, he is changing the future, and since Earth’s world exists in the future, those changes are immediately reflected when he travels there.

But then as for why the turtle is seeing the old version of Earth… I would imagine it’s because the changes in the future are not immediately reflected in the past? Or maybe it’s a different timeline altogether?

Maybe both worlds exist in each timeline, and they’re currently in a completely separate timeline to the original world. So the Earth that Elrise is travelling to right now is the Earth of a new timeline (still existing in the future, relative to Fiori), and the Niito’s memories of the old world isn’t because the world is being rewritten, but because he’s just switching timelines? And then the old Earth that the turtle is seeing is just the original timeline before Niito reincarnated as Elrise and changed the world? I don’t even know, lol.

Brin brin
Brin brin
2 years ago

my brain… my brain is flowing like a bunch of slimy jelly

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Brin brin

follow the story first. maybe you’ll grow to accept it as it goes

Canelé
Canelé
2 years ago

But then… The mysterious writer is named as “Fiore’s turtle” which is given on the last dream of two Niito.

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Canelé

i wonder who that turtle is?

Faust
Faust
2 years ago

Her deductions can’t be correct. If they were true, no one would notice the game’s changes on Earth besides Elrise/Niito.

Kingshand
Kingshand
1 year ago
Reply to  Faust

I think you only ended up supporting their argument with this.

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Kingshand

well, maybe he tried to, but couldn’t find supporting argument, so it worded like that

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Faust

There’s ijuuin-san, but well, that’s about it

Rauna
Rauna
2 years ago

Time fracture? Thanks for the chapter.

tsukii
tsukii
1 year ago
Reply to  Rauna

what is time fracture again? thx for the comment

Celestia
Celestia
9 months ago
Reply to  tsukii

Pay no attention, time can’t fracture, even if it could it’s a higher dimensional plane to us, we wouldn’t know and could never understand, like how a 2d figure can’t understand 3d

Val
Val
2 years ago

…this chapter legit made me dizzy.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Val

she also trying to make sense of things

AnargyaValkries
AnargyaValkries
2 years ago

Did Elrise ever have correct deductions? Lmao.

Thanks for the chapters~

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago

she trying to draw conclusions in her own way