For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Chapter 234: The End Of Waiting (4)

As the other party members finally managed to defeat the remaining named chimeras, they barely managed to calm down Clara.

“Sniff, sniff.”

“Please don’t make crying sounds with your mouth…”

“It means I’m that sad. Someone took advantage of the chaos to sneak a peek at my underwear.”

“Good heavens. Who would do such a thing? Perhaps it was that foolish saintess who can’t even recognize the God she serves?”

“…Go die!”

Clara picked up a stone from the ground and threw it. However, it simply rolled at their feet without any real intention of hitting.

As I laughed at the sight, Clara’s trembling grew more intense, and she suddenly began to act out.

Oops! I had barely calmed her down, and I unknowingly made it worse!

Even if Clara disappeared now, the dungeon would still be cleared safely, but it wasn’t time for that yet.

There were still things to be taken care of here, and above all, Helena, who had been looking at me with desperate eyes since earlier… I had to let her meet the Righteous Radiance.

“It was a joke. So please don’t try to ascend just because you’re upset. There’s still work to be done, right?”

“That’s true…”

Clara sighed deeply, extinguishing the light she had been emitting from her entire body.

Now that I look at it, she wasn’t really trying to disappear; she was just creating light with her holy power.

As Clara looked at Helena with an awkward smile, Helena also approached with a similarly awkward gesture.

“Um… Are you the saintess of this generation?”

“Yes. My name is Helena.”

“Nice to meet you. As you may know, I’m Clara. More precisely, I’m not really her, but a lingering thought…”

“That’s… fine. Just now, the Righteous Radiance said that if anyone could call themselves Clara, her saintess, it would be you.”

“That’s… a kind thing to say.”

The two, or rather three if you count the Righteous Radiance who was present but unseen, introduced themselves hesitantly.

“……”

“……”

However, after that, they just stared at each other without saying anything.

Clara and Helena might be expected to be like this, but I didn’t think the Righteous Radiance would be at a loss too.

Maybe the Righteous Radiance felt guilty for having abandoned Clara in the end.

Otherwise, it didn’t make sense that the usually boisterous spirit I’d seen was so quiet.

It was also unlikely that Helena would ignore and not convey the Righteous Radiance’s words.

Seeing them eager to meet but unable to speak now that they had met, I opened my mouth.

“It seems everyone is hesitant to talk outside, so let’s go inside first. Clara, how long can you maintain the barrier?”

“Huh? Oh. I recovered the holy power I had saved for a self-sacrificial spell, but I used quite a bit while fighting the Tarasque… I think a day? That should be fine.”

“That’s not very long.”

Well, maintaining a barrier this strong with almost depleted holy power was impressive in itself.

It wasn’t for nothing that she was called a saintess.

“It’s a bit short, but it should be enough time to talk.”

At my additional remark, Clara and Helena, who were looking at each other, nodded simultaneously.

---

The Cassis Valley Fortress was as desolate inside as it appeared outside.

But if there were six beautiful women, even such a bleak room would feel like a flower garden.

While I was stroking Iris’s head as she nestled on my lap, I suddenly felt a sense of discord and lifted her up.

“Hmm?”

Iris, now accustomed to being lifted like this, tilted her head.

“Beautiful…”

“Hmph. Of course, I’m a bit pretty, but if you suddenly compliment me like that, it’s embarrassing.”

I gave a warm smile to Iris, who was twisting her body.

“Let me call you a beautiful girl.”

“…Somehow, that makes me feel bad. Put me down!”

Gently shaking the flailing Iris to calm her, I looked ahead again.

Unlike us, who were waiting to avoid disturbance, Clara and Helena sat in the center, talking calmly.

Although it felt like they were still skirting around the main topic, the atmosphere was much calmer than before.

Watching the chimeras tapping on the barrier through the window was momentary.

Clara, who had been talking about the recent events on the Eurelia Continent, subtly brought up the main topic.

“By the way… you mentioned you’re still inexperienced with divine descent?”

“Yes. I can do basic connections, but I can’t fully embody the power and consciousness of the Righteous Radiance.”

“Ah, I see. Since I died, there haven’t been any saints or oracles for 300 years. There would have been no one to teach you how to use the saintess’s power.”

“Yes. I’ve tried it alone based on the remaining records and the Righteous Radiance’s words…”

“Ah, the Righteous Radiance is like that. She’s not very good at explaining things.”

“That’s exactly it. Saying things like ‘use the power with a whish!’ What does that even mean?”

Bonding over their shared experiences with the Righteous Radiance, Clara and Helena seemed to form a connection. Did they not realize that the tail of the unseen lion was twitching in displeasure?

Seeing Helena sighing heavily, Clara continued with a somewhat wistful smile.

“Shall I teach you?”

“Huh? Teach what?”

“The method of divine descent. And how to bring the will of the Righteous Radiance to the surface.”

Clara, now ready to meet the Righteous Radiance, said this. Helena nodded with a slightly nervous expression.

“Please do.”

“It’s actually simple once you know the trick. Receiving additional holy power is difficult, but the will of the Righteous Radiance is already within you.”

Clara then gave a brief explanation. It included some tips on manipulating holy power and advice to meditate rather than pray.

As Helena quietly pondered over this, she soon closed her eyes. She neither recited prayers nor clasped her hands in prayer.

Helena continued her steady breathing, as if merely looking inward comfortably.

It seemed quite rough for a devotee seeking a God, but for Helena, this was just right.

Because her God was not in the heavens, but within her.

Paaa!

Light emanated from Helena’s body. Simultaneously, her ears and tail made of light swayed as before.

But the moment Helena opened her eyes.

“Ah.”

Her already beautiful golden eyes shone even more brilliantly, and her pupils constricted, giving her a fierce, intimidating gaze.

Just by looking, her intense eyes scattered an oppressive aura.

With her ears and tail added, Helena’s expression, reminiscent of a lion, suddenly became sullen.

“I’m sorry. I’m too late, aren’t I?”

“…No. Not at all, My Lord. You are not late. You have come to find me.”

“But I… I couldn’t be with you at your last moment, Clara. I couldn’t take you to the promised heaven. In the end, I made my own saint die alone in agony.”

Helena, or rather the Righteous Radiance, was nervously fidgeting like a child who had done something wrong.

Clara hugged the anxious Righteous Radiance tightly, with a touch of tenderness beyond the relationship of a God and their devotee.

“I know you didn’t abandon me. You sent reinforcements several times.”

“H-however, in the end, Clara, you…”

“It’s really okay. I’d rather hear your praise than an apology.”

“Praise?”

“Yes. Even though we lost the fortress after I died, I managed to block the way to the center for a while, didn’t I? If the center had fallen like the south… Oh, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

Clara shivered playfully. If the center had been taken, the War of the Gods would have ended before the hero Rahim was even born.

Clara’s desperate resistance wasn’t in vain.

When I first heard Clara’s lingering regrets, I could have said this. But I didn’t.

She would have preferred to hear it from the Righteous Radiance rather than from me.

After hesitating for a moment, the Radiance cautiously asked.

“You… don’t resent me?”

“Not at all. I revere you so deeply that it’s imprinted in my lingering thoughts.”

“……”

The Righteous Radiance, like someone wanting to say something but unable to find the words, just moved her lips silently.

Clara slowly knelt on one knee before her, bowing her white head like a devotee receiving a blessing.

With trembling hands, the Righteous Radiance placed her hand on Clara’s head and began to stroke it gently.

“You did well.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks to you, the alliance could hold out a bit longer, until the hero Rahim appeared.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes. Because of you, Clara, we could win the Great War. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. I’m your saintess. I only did what I was supposed to do.”

“And… thank you. For believing in me until the end. For not resenting me. For waiting for me.”

“……”

“Really, thank you, Clara.”

“…That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Clara lifted her head, which she had been bowing deeply.

She smiled brightly like a child who had just received praise from her parents, but her eyes glistened with tears.

Eventually, the tears she couldn’t hold back rolled down her soft cheeks and fell from her chin.

Drop.

As the tear fell to the ground, Clara’s body began to glow softly.

I could tell at a glance. This wasn’t the same holy power trick as before. Nor was it something she could suppress with her own strength.

At this moment, Clara was truly satisfied and freed from all her lingering regrets.

With nothing left to bind her, she would return to her original place.

Even if Clara didn’t want it.

Of course, this would be a warm and peaceful end, unlike her lonely and painful last moments in life.

…But I wasn’t happy with that.

Even though she was rewarded at the end of her long wait, it was far too little compared to what Clara had done.

I thought so even when I only knew this world as a game, and I still think the same now.

So I intervened.

“Hey.”

Clara and the Righteous Radiance, both forcing smiles while crying to show each other their best final expressions, were interrupted as I reached out and grabbed the medallion around Helena’s neck, bringing it to Clara’s forehead.

“Ouch! What are you doing? It was such a touching moment.”

“Weapon enhancement.”

“What? What enhancement? Wait, this medallion… whoa?”

The light that had been dissolving Clara in the air as if scattering her suddenly began to be absorbed into the medallion.

Both Clara and the Righteous Radiance looked at me in shock as I shrugged.

“I prefer noisy endings to touching ones.”

Clara, who had been about to say something with her emerald eyes wide open, was absorbed into the medallion faster than she could speak.

With Clara completely gone and the Righteous Radiance in shock, the medallion glowed with a serene light and vibrated loudly in my hand.

Buzz. Buzz.

As if protesting, I tapped the medallion with my fingertips and held it up high for everyone to see.

“Tada~ Yandel has successfully enhanced the medallion!”

Despite announcing the good news, all I received were looks as if I were crazy.

How mean.