Encounter with the False Heroine
“This area is off-limits.”
The girl looked down at me, a smile playing only on her lips. A distant memory… the figure of the girl seemed familiar, and as I tried to take a step forward, those who appeared to be Temple Knights around her stepped forward protectively.
“Please wait,”
The girl stopped them with a smile, though I had sensed a momentary, dangerous atmosphere from them.
“…Are you acquainted? Saint-sama?”
“She’s a student from the academy. Good day, Leighton-san.”
“…………”
So this is the “Saint”…. She seemed to know about me, but I knew more about her than just the rumors.
At the Saint’s words, the Temple Knights stepped back. However, they kept a distance where they could immediately protect her, and I sensed a loyalty that went beyond her being an “important figure of the Holy Church.”
With the appearance of the Saint, priests and ordinary believers who noticed her began to gather around her.
The information we have is that she was one of the female students who had been clinging to the Crown Prince since she entered the academy, and that she had somehow managed to captivate the Crown Prince, causing chaos involving the Crown Prince’s younger brother and the Temple Master’s grandson.
Elena believed that she was the starting point of all this, and decided to eliminate her along with the Crown Prince, and began to take action.
…But I know something else.
The reason I became the “me” I am now… that woman who tried to become the “Heroine of the Otome Game” said that I was the heroine.
If I wasn’t there… if I had left the story, it shouldn’t have started. But she settled into the heroine’s position, and she appeared, calling herself the same “Alicia” as me.
There is a possibility that everything that woman said was just a delusion. If I think rationally, I would think so too, but the current situation is too similar to the game in that woman’s memories.
Could it be that she is the “real” one, and that woman just mistook me for her? But Margrave Melrose, who seemed to be a relative of that heroine, seemed convinced that I was the person he was looking for when he saw my hair color and face.
And the ring in the Amulet Pouch given to me by my mother had the same family crest as Mikhail’s family….
Situationally, it seems that the “real” one is me after all. That’s why I don’t understand why she’s in that position.
My impression of her after actually meeting her was that she was just a girl. Her Mana Capacity was so low that I couldn’t believe she was a noble, and I couldn’t understand why she was recognized as a “Saint” by the Holy Church.
That’s why I thought she was troublesome. If she only looks like a normal girl, then the other parts… her personality and appearance must be excellent.
I understood it at a glance. Even though Elena had told me about her and considered assassination, the moment I saw her, I thought that she was truly a good person.
But—
“…Haa.”
I watched her, surrounded by people and responding with a smile, and exhaled the breath I had taken deeply.
No… that’s not right. No matter how favorably I feel, I believe the words of Elena and Theo, who told me about her.
If that’s the case, then this feeling is a deception. Think rationally. If that’s the case, then the cause is… the Divine Protection (Gift) she has.
Not a strong power. The moment I understood that this feeling of “goodwill” was an “attack,” the goodwill I had for her vanished. At the same time, I understood.
Keeping this girl alive will harm Elena.
The moment the urge to kill the false Saint welled up inside me, she looked back at me.
“”…………””
Her eyes widened slightly, and my eyes narrowed slightly as our gazes intertwined, and the next moment, she distorted her lips as if displeased.
“—Gaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”
Suddenly, a beast’s roar echoed—a shadow fell for a moment, and three grotesque Monsters descended from the sky into the Holy Church, which should have been dedicated to God.
“…A, a demon!”
Someone screamed. Starting with that voice, ordinary believers screamed and fled in panic.
[Beast Demon] [Race: Lesser Demon] [Difficulty: Rank 4]
[Mana Capacity: 848/850]
[Overall Combat Strength: 933/935]
“Three Lesser Demons!?”
After all, the Ostール House, the Temple Master, is involved in the demon summoning…
“Gaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”
The three distorted, ape-like Lesser Demons roared, creating countless rocks similar to [Stone Shot] and firing them at me.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
There are still people who haven’t escaped around me. I exhaled with spirit, rotated the four Pendulums I released, and deflected the rain of rock bullets falling around me.
I won’t let them fire the next magic. At the same time as knocking them down, I kicked the ground, drew my Black Knife, and swung it back greatly, putting the will to “destroy” into the Blade.
“—[Critical Edge]—!”
“Gah—”
The blow of the Combat Art released in mid-air decapitated one of them that was directly in front of me.
But I was frozen by releasing the Combat Art, and seeing that, one of the demons swung its claws from its powerful arm. At that moment, my body was unnaturally pulled back, and I dodged the demon’s claws while lying on my back. I slammed the Blade at the tip of my toes, which had unfrozen, into the demon’s left eye.
“Gaaaaaaaahhh!?”
The demon, who had received an unexpected counterattack, retreated. Anyone who calls themselves a warrior knows about the Combat Art’s freeze. That’s why I stuck the Pendulum’s Blade into the gap in the floor stone the moment I jumped out, securing my movement in the air with a thread.
Not only the demon who received the counterattack in this moment of offense and defense, but also the remaining one flinched and pulled back, and the next moment—
“—[Purify (Clean)]—”
A child-like voice was heard, and light was poured from the backs of the two demons.
“Now!”
“Oooooooooh!”
Aiming for that moment, the Temple Knights pierced the two demons with the Spears in their hands, and the Lesser Demons disappeared into black dust.
At that uneventful end, those around the Saint immediately raised their voices.
“Ooooooh!”
“They defeated the demons!”
“As expected of Saint-sama!”
“Saint-sama and the Knights defeated the demons!”
The believers praised the Saint and the Temple Knights, and were enveloped in cheers.
I stood up while watching them rejoice. Some of the believers turned their faces towards me, but before they could say anything, the Saint spoke and attracted their attention.
“Everyone! It’s okay now! Because the ‘real’ me is here!”
Cheers erupted again at the words of the Saint.
“…………”
I see… so that’s what it is.
When she said “real,” the believers took it as “the real Saint recognized by the Holy Church.” But when she said that, she looked at me for just a moment, unconsciously.
That she is the “real” one….
I turned my back and left the Holy Church’s Temple. I already understood that girl. And what I should do….
I glanced back at the distant Temple once, then headed towards an unpopular area, and in an alley where there was no one, I wrote a report to Elena on the paper I took out from Shadow Storage, and tied it to the recognition obstruction pendant I received as a reward from the Royal Family.
It was necessary for me to act as Elena’s decoy, but I can’t have the Royal Family’s treasure from now on.
“—Wait.”
I slowly turned around at the voice called from behind in the back alley. There were three men wearing exactly the same white cloaks.
“We can’t let you go back like this. I’m sorry, but—”
“Temple Knights, huh?”
When I interrupted the man’s words with my own, they trembled slightly, and the man in the middle who had called out to me lowered the hood that had been hiding his face as if he had given up.
I’ve seen that face before. He’s one of the Knights who was next to that girl.
“What do you want?”
When I asked quietly, he distorted his mouth but opened his mouth.
“Leighton… you’re from the Royalist Faction, right? I appreciate your cooperation in defeating the demons. But… if that power becomes an obstacle to Saint-sama, we must do our best.”
“…Is that your will?”
“…That’s right.”
Is he under that strange mental interference…? He gripped the hilt of the weapon under his cloak tightly, and let out a voice full of anguish.
“We don’t think this is right either. We don’t think all of Saint-sama’s actions are right either. But even so, we have been condemning the innocent for the sake of the Holy Church’s correct teachings. There is also evil that is necessary for the right world.”
“That’s necessary…?”
“That’s right. …No, maybe it’s not. But Saint Licia-sama forgave us, who were tormented by guilt. We decided to fight for her, who gave us peace.”
As those words ended, the remaining two knights also drew their swords.
They weren’t being manipulated. The gaps in their hearts that had always been there were pried open by the Saint’s Divine Protection, and they were corrupted by being affirmed with sweet words.
“Let’s go!!”
The three knights kicked off the ground simultaneously, swinging their swords. All three were high-ranking Rank 3, but I felt the sharpness of their skills that couldn’t be expressed by combat power alone. But…
If that’s your will, then I won’t hold back either.
“—Iron Rose… Real Breaker—”
My pinkish hair changed to a scorched, ashen-gray color, and the three swords passed through me, who was clad in light emanating from my entire body. As we passed each other, I crushed their necks with my bare hands.
“…………”
I glanced at the three men, who had no external wounds other than their broken necks, and used Real Breaker to send the pendant to Elena’s castle.
Even though Carla was also mad, I could sympathize with her in some ways. That’s why I wanted to grant Carla’s wish.
But that one is different. That Saint is the same as “that woman.” Like that woman, she knows the Otome Game and is trying to rewrite it into a world she prefers.
In order to become the “real Heroine”…
The current me doesn’t feel like “me.”
I thought that by protecting Elena, I could change our fate. That’s why I, who was in the darkness, came to the forefront and became Elena’s shield in her lonely battle.
No, that’s not right… Just like with my master, I felt comfortable being by her side.
I gained peace by standing next to Elena, but it also created bonds.
But now, Rookwell and Mikhail are also by Elena’s side. The Dandole Family and the Melrose House will also protect her.
Since the demon targeted me, it recognized me as an enemy. That makes it even better for me not to be by Elena’s side.
I absolutely can’t let that one live. If that one, who knows the game like that woman, moves on her own, Elena will be in danger. But as long as she has the reputation of a Saint, I don’t know how the Crown Prince and his followers will move if I interfere carelessly.
So, I will return to the darkness once more and eliminate everything around her before the Crown Prince graduates. I told Elena what I felt and asked her to pretend that I had died.
If unnecessary people are gone, Elena will never lose.
“I will eliminate that girl… the woman who calls herself Alicia, in my own way.”
“…That Pink-Haired Girl.”
Saint Licia stared out the window at the townscape where the Pink-Haired Girl had disappeared, and gripped the Magic Stone in her hand tightly.
That’s probably the “real one.” Because she knows the scenario of the Otome Game, she understood that she was the real one.
She is the Protagonist (Heroine) of this story now. She can’t afford to be stirred up by foreign objects and lose everything now.
She thought that Elena, Carla, and Clara… these three Villainesses were the biggest obstacles, but after encountering her today, she realized that she was her biggest “enemy.”
“Kill that Pink-Haired Girl. Even if I have to use everything I have.”
Aria temporarily leaves and chooses the path of returning to being an Assassin.
Because Elena understood that, she felt anger at herself for making Aria make such a decision.
Next time, Aria’s battle.
The climax is approaching.