Fake Saint of the Year

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Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Evelet

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 77: Conclusion

“Well then, let’s do this.”

Alfrea put her hands together then brought her palms forward.

It made her palms glow faintly, and waves of mana shook the space around them.

With her palms in front of her, she slowly spread her hands, gradually turning her arms into a circle in front of her.

Then trails of light remained in the pattern of her hand movements, forming a ring of light.

Well, let’s see how she finishes it…

…Nah, it looks impossible.

Alfrea’s movement stopped there for some reason, she didn’t do her next movement and had cold sweat flowing on her. Did she run out of MP?

Anyway, I put my hand on Alfrea’s back, transferring MP to her.

I didn’t know how much MP she spent during her fight against the Witch but, going by her personality, she might have gone overboard to the point she didn’t have MP remaining to use for Sealing Magic.

“Hmno? Oooo… I feel overflowing with power! Good, I can do this!”

So it really was because she lacked MP.

You see… I did tell you to have Alfrea and Eterna attack together at the same time to force the Witch to defend and spend her Mana as part of the plan.

But I also told you we would complete the sealing afterward, so you were supposed to have MP remaining to be spent on Sealing Magic.

Well, it wasn’t a problem for me.

“Wha- what…? What are you thinking of doing? Yo, you should know, right? If you kill me…”

 “The Saint who killed the Witch will become the next Witch… right? But you don’t have to worry about it. I didn’t plan to kill you, just to seal you.”

She might say it in an attempt to stop an incoming attack.

Alexia let slip a spoiler about what would happen if she was killed, but Alfrea didn’t care and continued her magic.

“If I seal you like this without allowing you to die, there won’t be a successive Witch. The cycle of tragedy that started with me and my Okaa-sama will end with this generation.”

When you said it, it sounded like an exceedingly simple method.

I wondered why nobody had thought of this for a thousand years.

The light made by Alfrea surrounded Alexia, confine her inside the spell.

Alexia hurriedly tried to escape, but I wouldn’t let her.

I made a chain of light that bound Alexia and sealed her movements.

“Wa, wait! Stop! To think it was a seal…! No! No no no! Why… why! Why am I the only one who has to suffer like this!”

Alexia was half-frenzied as she shouted this, but her bad luck was quite something. 

When she was the Saint, since her predecessor died in the middle of completing her mission, the people’s faith in Saint was minimal, and the pressure she suffered was enormous.

The Witch she was supposed to beat had a longer lifespan than the others so it was a veteran with a high level of difficulty. Once she became the Witch, she had to face two Saints and a fake one to boot.

On top of that, we were planning to seal her so she became a human pillar.

Once she was sealed, she wouldn’t be able to move on to the afterlife, so she was truly done for.

…No, wasn’t this way too pitiful?

I guess it was better for me to go with the original plan where I defeat her instead.

That way, the victim would be me alone and I could go to the afterlife without burden.

When I played the game, to say it bluntly Alexia had been my most hated character.

I did play her route, but during it, I always wondered, “Why, while Eterna cried, did she have to put on such a happy expression?” so I never played her route again.

That was why I had expected that my only thought when I sealed her would be, “Nicely punished.”

But I guessed it was only human that one would be unable to predict how one would end up thinking when the time came.

Now that the moment was upon me, I felt none of what I thought I would feel. Rather, I pitied her.

And now for some reason, I remembered old man Diaz’s irresponsible request to save Alexia.

Ah- ah-! Like I care! That wasn’t a promise or anything!

Old man Diaz merely asked one-sidedly and then passed out without hearing my response.

In the first place, I wasn’t the real Saint here.

My real self was a helpless scum; I only looked beautiful on the outside.

There was no way I would help her without expecting any reward.

Alexia herself was not a mere victim to begin with.

She didn’t do as much evil as other generations of Witch because of me, but even so, she still piled villainy upon villainy until the moment I began taking active duty. If we counted those affected both directly and indirectly, the number of her victims would reach at least three digits.

No, if we included people who died of starvation because of her, it would be four digits at least.

If we were to go by modern law, it would undoubtedly lead to her execution.

I wasn’t kind enough to abandon the glimpse of a perfect ending that was almost within reach for such a person, nor could I become someone with such kindness.

There could be neither room to plead for sympathy, nor consideration for her inability to be responsible for her own actions. If we decreed that she was innocent, all those victims would cry foul.

That was why we had to seal Alexia into a human pillar for the sake of peace. Then I would confess that I was a fake Saint, then I would run away and spend the rest of my life in a mountain far from human civilization, and that was the end! The end!

“No! NOOOOOOOO! Help me! Help me Diaz! Pochi! Octo! No, Noooooo!”

As Alexia shouted and cried, the space around her started to freeze.

Unlike the Sealing Magic that First Witch used toward Alfrea, according to Alfrea, this one wouldn’t leave the Witch in a state of apparent death.

The reason the First Witch had sealed Alfrea was to prevent her from becoming a Witch. 

To achieve that end, she put Alfrea into a state of apparent death to deceive the world, and set it up so the next Saint would be born.

This time, however, Alexia was being confined while she was alive to prevent the transfer of power.

Thus her state wouldn’t even mimic death. Alexia would remain conscious as she was sealed. ¹

…As expected, this was going a little too far.

Ah, damn, this sure leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

As I thought that, Leila stood in front of me for some reason.

“That’s no good, Elrise-sama. Please hold back.”

For some reason, I was preached at despite not having done anything.

I didn’t understand why.

“It is you after all. You might be thinking of doing something for Alexia-sama since you pity her. But this is necessary for the sake of the world. I respect your mercy, but please rein it in this one time.”

It seemed that Leila realized I had been thinking of saving Alexia.

No, was I such a good person after all?

While we spoke, the sealing was completed without incident.

When I noticed, Alexia had become as Alfrea had been before, confined inside a crystal.

But unlike Alfrea, she wore her clothes properly.

I wondered why Alfrea had been sealed naked… Perhaps, she had stripped herself when she was drunk…

But Alfrea and Alexia’s names sure sound similar, so that was quite confusing.

Why not change one of their names into Hanako?

“Okay, the sealing is complete!”

Ah; it was no good. Since Leila stood in front of me, my gaze had been blocked and I missed the climax.

Oi, Stocco!

As I stepped aside and peeked around Leila, I saw Alexia lying there, confined inside a crystal.

How to say it… Yeah. Her expression was bad.

When Alfrea was sealed, she still maintained her beauty, but Alexia was sealed with an expression of fear and horror plastered on her face.

Well, this kind of tale involving sealing would typically end in a time when people thought it was safe and broke the seal. Was it really alright?

I was not the only one who was wary about it; everyone there also thought the same thing and stared at Alexia in the crystal.

But after 10 seconds, 1 minute… then 10 minutes passed and nothing happened, we could confirm the sealing was successful.

“Is- is it over…? Is it all over?” ²

Aina tried to suppress her happiness yet was still unable to hide it in her voice.

Then the happiness spread, everyone there was sure of victory, and we cheered.

“We did it! We won! We ended it!”

Kuon no Sanka, END!

— Yet, the moment we thought that —

Suddenly the power of darkness inside Vernell turned into a spear and flew, pierced Crystal, and went into Alexia.

…Yup. I KNEW IT. Rather, so it went from there. Since we all were staring at Crystal, nobody paid attention to Vernell.

Well, I did think there was no way the sealing could have gone that well.

Vernell looked confused, as if he didn’t understand what had just happened, but I guessed his dark powers had gone berserk.

It had originally been Alexia’s power.

It was just a guess, but I thought it moved by itself as if answering Alexia’s desire to “at least die properly.”

In other words, it was her suicide attempt.

But that was weird. Since I knew Vernell’s power could easily go berserk, I had supposedly given him a pendant to prevent that, though…

…Ah, it had fallen on the ground… that pendant.

So it fell in the middle of battle. Then it couldn’t be helped.

If this kept up, Vernell would be treated as the one who killed Alexia, which would trigger the transfer of power.

Since Vernell was not a Saint, he wouldn’t be able to endure the transfer and would die because of it, and it would also result in the cycle being broken … but it was a Bad END.

Well, it couldn’t be helped and it wasn’t a problem.

It wasn’t like I expected this possibility, but I did prepare just in case things went wrong.

That’s why — I increased the power of the chain of lights binding Alexia and used my mana flow to stop Alexia’s heart and put her in a state of apparent death.

Damage from Vernell’s dark power was considered fatal, but it was not an instant kill.

So before she died from his dark power, I killed her.

Also, I healed the wound that Vernell had made, just in case.

With this, the transfer of power would be triggered to me instead.

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

In the end, it still went as initially planned.

Only a few days of my life remained and I was supposed to be dead already anyway.

I had no fear of death… I guessed I was crazy somehow.

Comparing crazy me and Vernell, it was clear whose life was more important.

Without a doubt, mine was worth less.

That’s why I would replace him.

If one of us had to die… it was better for it to be me, who had no future.

“E, Elrise-sama… wha, what are you doing!? Right now, what have you done!?”

Leila shouted in a shivering voice.

The moment the chain I made began to shine, it should have been clear what I had done.

Since it was already to this point, I didn’t need to hide anymore. I wanted to confess everything before I died.

“I have killed Alexia-sama. That’s why the Witch’s power will be transferred to me.”

As I said that, everyone’s faces were painted with despair.

I guessed everyone was scared of the invincible Witch being born.

But it was okay, calm down. The Witch wouldn’t be born.

The cycle would end here.

And my poor acting as the Saint would also end here.

Well then, it was time for the climax.

I actually felt really bad for Leila who had kept serving this fake one… so at the very least, I would keep up my act until the end to let her think “she had no choice since she was deceived by a fake.”

With that, Leila wouldn’t be treated as a fool who had foolishly served a fake.

That’s why, to reassure everyone, I let out the last smile of my lifetime.

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