Episode 001
"I've decided. I'm definitely going to become a saintess!"
In a field dyed by the light of the setting sun, where a cool breeze blew,
we sat side by side on a hill overlooking the village, watching the sun wave its hand beyond the western mountains.
"A saintess… you mean?"
When I turned my head, my gaze met eyes as clear as a lake.
Even as she stroked the bruise left by the orphanage director, she nodded with an innocent smile.
"That's right, I'm going to become Lady Saintess!"
Mixed with the scarlet glow of dusk, her pink hair shone even more beautifully.
"……."
"Is it strange?"
I stared as if bewitched into those eyes that seemed ready to draw me in, then opened my mouth.
"No, it's not strange at all. An oracle came down, and you have the qualifications. If it's you, Ria, you can definitely do it."
"Hehe… right? Thanks."
I couldn't take my eyes off Seria as she showed a charming, satisfied smile.
"Tana, you know it too. We can't keep living while being abused by the director forever."
"…Yeah."
She clenched her fist and looked at me with a serious expression.
"If I have this kind of power, I want to use it more for the world."
"Yeah… If it's you, you can do it."
The qualifications of a saintess, said to appear in perhaps one person out of a million.
"I want to make one, you see. A world where there are no children suffering like us."
I knew.
That she was a chosen being.
"Yeah, Ria. I'm sure you can do it."
She might be the one to lead the centuries-long war against the demons to victory,
the one who would put an end to that history.
"Will you stay with me?"
"Huh?"
So when she said those words to me, I was so happy I could have leapt for joy.
"…I mean, stay by my side forever."
She trailed off and turned her head as if embarrassed.
Hearing words no different from a proposal, my heart pounded so hard.
"If you're fine with me, then as much as you want…"
"Really? You promised, okay? You can't cheat on me?"
"Of course not!"
As I looked at her, blooming brighter than any flower in the world,
I firmly believed
that the promise we had just made would be kept forever.
…How truly stupid.
When I should have known better than anyone how fleeting those words were…
Pathetically so.
******
Was it thanks to the blood-shedding effort I put in at the academy?
Or if not that, was it thanks to the prayers I offered day and night without rest?
As if answering my desperate efforts,
I was able to be chosen by the Goddess.
The hero of the Kingdom of Ersha.
Tanas.
Back then, I thought everything would go well.
I thought I could save the suffering people and stand against the Demon King together with the other heroes. That was what I thought.
…Until it was revealed that I was a half-wit who couldn't use a divine artifact.
*****
"Tanas, can you not even do this one thing properly?"
At the tearing, sharp voice, my mind returned to reality.
"Huh?"
Without realizing it, I shrank my neck and turned around.
A mage with sparkling blond hair,
Lurein.
The moment our eyes met, cold sweat ran down my back.
Damn it!
What did I mess up this time?
I did all the laundry, and I set up the tent in advance…
"Didn't I tell you over and over? I do not eat meat unless the gamey smell has been completely removed!!!"
She glared at me, spitting as she spoke in a voice full of irritation.
"…Sorry."
"The same apology every single day! How many times has this been? Throw away this garbage-like filth at once and make it again!!"
Lurein growled and threw the meat at me.
I don't even know how far it is to the next village, and she's wasting food like this…
I picked up the food that had fallen to the ground with a thud and took a bite.
"…It, it doesn't smell at all…?"
"Ugh, disgusting… Then are you saying I'm lying?"
"That's not what I meant…"
"I'm offended. I won't be eating dinner tonight!"
"S-sorry! I'm sorry, Lurein."
But it didn't end there.
Smack!
Along with the crisp sound of a blow ringing out, a stinging pain came.
"……."
"Hmph! This is punishment from me. Reflect on it until tomorrow."
As if she were a queen, she turned sharply and disappeared into the tent.
…At least she didn't hit me with her staff.
"Ah… Seriously, why is Tanas so useless?"
When I turned my head and looked at the chair on the other side, Rein, the thief with chestnut-brown hair, pointed at me and giggled mockingly.
"…Sorry."
"Enough with the apology. Do the dishes for me."
"R-Rein, we agreed each person would clean up what they ate…"
"Why? You don't want to?"
At that half-forced question, I had no choice but to lower my head and look at the ground.
"No… All right."
Because in this party, I was a handyman, nothing more and nothing less.
'How did it end up like this?'
Probably from then…
"Tanas!!"
When I turned my head, a woman with blue hair, Arshe, came striding toward me with her eyes glaring sharply.
"Wh-why? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Are you in your right mind? Look at this!"
Arshe flung her outer garment at me.
Clothes washed clean without a single speck.
What exactly was the problem?
"Don't tell me you don't know what's wrong?"
"…Sorry."
She extended a finger and pushed my head again and again, glaring at me.
"Just what—"
"……."
Poke—
"Inside this—"
"……."
Poke—
"Head—"
"……."
Poke—
"Of yours—"
"……."
Poke—
"Do you even have in there?"
"……Sorry."
"The smell. Can't you smell it!! I clearly told you to use fragrant oil at the end! Or am I the only one who can smell it?"
It was faint, but there definitely was a slight smell of blood.
However…
"If we use fragrant oil, monsters with keen senses of smell will find us…"
"Shut your mouth!"
"……."
"You really are hopeless. Excuses, excuses every day! Do you have no thought of doing better? Do you have any idea thanks to whom this party is still together?"
"Arshe's right. Tanas really has no conscience. Even though he's so weak."
"Other heroes can draw and use sacred swords or sacred spears just fine, yet you can't handle even a single divine artifact…"
"The biggest mistake of my life was probably following Tanas. Useless."
"Haa… At this rate, forget the Demon King, we won't even get near the Demon King's territory. …I wonder if the other heroes might come find us?"
"I hope it's the hero said to be the strongest."
Their laughter became daggers and lodged in my chest.
"……."
Now, whenever I hear the word useless, I reflexively turn my head.
But I can still endure it for now.
Because I have…
"Girls. Don't be too hard on him. It's not like Tanas did it on purpose, right?"
"Tch… Seria always takes Tanas's side."
"How boring. I'll be going in now."
Because I had my childhood friend, Seria.
"Tanas, are you all right? Oh my! A handprint…! I'll heal it right away."
"Mm."
Along with a bright light, an immense amount of divine power befitting a saintess candidate instantly wrapped around my whole body.
"How is it? Are you okay? Honestly, they're too much…"
"Th-thank you… Seria."
"But even if they talk like that, they're all following Tanas, aren't they? When a crisis comes, I'm sure they'll be a help."
"Th-that's right…"
That was what I thought.
Pathetically so.
**********
"Criminal Tanas. You are hereby urgently arrested as a suspect in the rape and murder of the imperial princess."
"What? That can't be!"
Something must have gone wrong.
"The suspect is fleeing! Catch him!"
I barely managed to escape and asked my comrades for help, but…
"Arshe, I-I'm innocent! Help me!"
"This is your own karma."
"What?"
"I knew you were trash, but I didn't think it was to this extent…"
Why would she say that…?
Before I could even answer, she cut me off decisively.
"It seems there's nothing more to say. …Then goodbye. I hope we never meet again."
Showing a reaction as cold as her blue hair, she turned her back on me.
How miserable.
**
"Yeah, I just heard. They say you've become a suspect in a horrible murder case?"
"Lurein, this isn't something you can say so easily…"
"So? You committed a crime. …Then we're strangers now, aren't we?"
Lurein's answer was far from what he had expected.
"What did you just say…?"
I had come to ask her to mediate, but with an answer like this, it was as if…
"Hurry up and disappear. Other people might misunderstand and think I'm an accomplice."
"L-Lurein, you…"
"Why, should I report you? Sir. Useless. Hero?"
She shook her glossy blond hair and let out a sneering laugh.
This can't be…
It was all useless.
I blankly watched her back as she heartlessly grew farther away.
It was far too miserable.
***
"R-Rein, wait, just let me talk…!"
"Who are you? I don't know anyone like you."
There was no way for me to catch up to her as she moved swiftly.
Her back showed no hesitation.
As if saying everything was over.
"……."
It was truly miserable.
But what was most miserable among them all was…
"Wh-what do you mean by that? Are you saying that seriously?"
She set her teacup down with a clack and opened her mouth.
"This can't be helped, can it?"
The shocking words I had just heard.
"Are you saying you're abandoning me too…?"
And from the one I trusted most…
From the woman I had promised my future to, at that.
Words so impossible to believe,
or perhaps my mind was refusing to understand them.
"Yeah, and a good position happened to open up too. …Still, I did agonize over it quite a bit, you know?"
She paused there for a moment, took a breath, and cleared her throat.
"About whether it was okay to stay together with Tana, I mean."
"What, what does that mean…?"
No way.
Was she abandoning me over a false charge that wasn't even certain yet?
If she helped me, then surely…
"Seria. Are you serious? You said we'd be together forever. You said you'd stay by my side for the rest of our lives…"
I gathered my confused thoughts and barely managed to cry out, as if wringing my heart.
"Pfft, pft—!"
"Huh?"
Only,
her following reaction was enough to tear my heart to shreds.
"Ahahahahaha! It was a promise we made when we were tiny little kids, wasn't it?"
"What…?"
Ria, what are you saying right now?
Because of those unbearably shocking words, my open mouth would not close.
"Yeah, that's right. I really did like you in the past. But…"
Even without hearing it, I could predict what would come next.
"When I think about it, back then, you were the only one my age nearby, weren't you? Of course I'd become interested. It would've been the same with anyone else."
"……Ah?"
I had been nothing to her?
"I feel regretful too. If only Tana had been able to use a divine artifact… No, if only you had been just a little stronger… Still, the place I'm going this time is by the side of the imperial hero."
I'm confused.
I can't understand.
"Wh-what…!"
"Don't be too disheartened. It's what you'd call an honorable death, isn't it?"
"Ria, how could you do this to me… Do you know how much I did for you…"
She smiled brightly and twisted the corners of her lips.
"I even liked that lacking part of you too~ Then take care."
The ridicule contained within was enough to shatter what little hope remained.
"……."
"Don't catch a cold!"
When she clapped her hands,
soldiers sprang out from everywhere and surrounded my body in an instant.
"R-Ria, how could you do this to me…?"
"Lady Seria, saintess candidate. Thank you for cooperating in the arrest of this heinous criminal. We will report it to the church immediately."
"Seria!!"
"Not at all. It was only natural for me to do as a citizen of the kingdom."
With those words, she turned away without the slightest lingering attachment.
"Seria, Seria!!!"
*
*
*
"Trash bastard!"
"You're a disgrace to the kingdom!"
From all over the courtroom, food flew along with all sorts of abuse.
Splatter!
It smelled so awful that one would have to pinch their nose, but he did not so much as blink.
Because he had already lost his sense of smell.
"……."
As he was led by the soldiers and moved toward the center, he continued thinking.
Last night,
his comrades had come to the prison and forced him to confess.
'Tanas, if you admit your crime even now, you may be able to avoid execution.'
'Rotten though you are, you are still a hero.'
'We'll do our best to defend you too. It will be easier if you obediently admit your crime.'
'After that, let's go on a journey again!'
'Yeah… I will.'
But he wasn't enough of an idiot to believe those words.
Being abandoned once was enough.
After they left,
he had already given everything to "that god."
"……."
This must be the end.
Gradually, the strength drained from his entire body.
"Wh-what's wrong with this bastard?"
"Stop playing tricks and stand up straight!"
At the end of his life,
the last thought that came to him
was that he hoped they would regret it, just like he did.
*
After collapsing to the floor for a moment,
he raised himself up again.
"Is this for real…?"
##