129 – In Destruction (5)

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“The Holy Sword… you say?”

Alice muttered with a sigh of relief.

Holy sword.

A legendary sword said to be used by the warrior to cut down the Demon King.

I have heard of it.

Only in a fucking fairy tale book,

During her time as a member of the Goddess Church, no, even before that, when Sylvia traveled as a warrior, she had never heard of anything called a holy sword.

In other words, the Holy Sword was an object that did not actually exist.

“Are you kidding me? This is the Holy Sword?”

“That’s what they said,”

“Where… was this?”

“It was kept in the Vatican’s secret vault.”

Alice laughed bitterly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, if there was something like this, I should have given it to Sylvia. Why…”

“That sword, it was definitely a cane until recently.”

“…what?”

“They say that when the Pope went into the secret storage to take refuge, he found the sword. I don’t know the exact details, but I’m sure the sword was in the same place where the staff used to be.”

“If it’s a cane…”

“Yes, the staff that the saint should have held, who would have appeared and saved the world if only that disgusting cardinal hadn’t been there.”

“…”

Alice was struck with shock, as if she had been hit hard on the head.

The staff turns into a sword,

The staff that the saint should have held has turned into a sword and has come to me.

This is like…

‘The green lady also told me that I must help the hero defeat the Demon King, that that is my destiny.’

Doesn’t it sound like the fate Ash spoke of?

Sylvia put the gleaming sword back into its scabbard with trembling hands.

For some reason, I kept laughing in vain.

“What Ash said… was it true…”

Alice covered her mouth with her palm, muttering quietly to herself.

Ovid spoke to Alice like that.

“I won’t ask what you’ve been doing until now, or why you didn’t show up during the crisis of the Goddess Church. It seems like you have a greater mission.”

“Ovid… Captain,”

“I am no longer the leader, the goddess cult has fallen… and I am now just the leader of a bandit gang.”

“…”

Alice could have been kind enough to deny that, but she simply kept her mouth shut.

If the man in front of him truly still had his old sense of mission and faithfulness, unlike the other fallen priests, then he certainly would not be hoping for such a pitiful consolation.

It was a strange feeling, difficult and complicated to explain, but one that Alice could understand well enough.

Ovid must have read Alice’s thoughts as well, as he moved his thick chin and smiled slightly.

Alice asked Ovid:

“If the Goddess Cult falls, what good is all this… What good is the Goddess…”

“That’s true, no matter how I look at it, you’re not the type of person who can spread the cult of the goddess.”

As the saying goes, Alice couldn’t even memorize all of the doctrines of the Goddess Church.

Even if they helped Sylvia and Ash defeat the Demon King, it was clear that the Goddess Church, having lost the Pope, most of the priests, and almost all of the believers, would never be able to regain its former form.

Ovid quietly agreed with the idea.

“The Cult of the Goddess is certainly finished. It failed to lead humanity to goodness, and failed to protect humanity from the threat of the Demon King. Perhaps, the moment Cardinal Eliard raped the girl who should have become a saint, the Cult of the Goddess may have already ended.”

“surely…”

“But humanity does not end here.”

“…!”

Ovid spoke firmly and with a firm tone.

“The world will not perish. This world will never be taken over by the Demon King.”

“…”

“Because you’re here, Alice.”

“…”

＊

Alice walked through the empty city carrying a large backpack.

The armor and weapons of Alice, Ash, and herself, which she carried on her shoulders, were somehow weighing down on her body particularly heavily.

Her new sword hanging at her waist rattled unusually.

The size and weight seemed unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar.

It was a completely different sword from the ceremonial sword of the Goddess Cult that she had been using until then, but it was very similar to the sword she had used when she was challenging to join the warrior party before actually entering the Goddess Cult.

To be honest, this was a type of sword that was a bit more familiar to her hands.

The Holy Sword had that appearance, as if it had been prepared for her from the beginning.

“shit,”

The last words of the obi kept ringing in my ears.

The Goddess Church may fall, but humanity will not perish.

no,

Her.

She, Sylvia, and Ash had to prevent the destruction of humanity.

It was certainly the plan from the beginning, but somehow Alice kept feeling uneasy, as if all of this had been decided from the beginning.

To me, to Mary, to our parents, to countless people in this world.

Was all the pain and misfortune that happened to so many people all for the sake of this fate?

As that thought entered Alice’s mind, a heavy, stifling lump of iron seemed to grow in size.

I felt even more heartbroken as I became aware of the vibrations and sounds of the machinery quietly turning inside my chest.

“No, no.”

Alice quickly came to her senses.

Fate is just a current, you still hold the steering wheel.

Alice’s will to catch the Demon King never wavered, but it was not at all motivated by any noble goal of saving the world.

From the beginning, Alice wanted only one thing: revenge.

Revenge for my parents, for Maria, and for Maria’s parents.

That was it.

Perhaps, for now, the only added purpose was to give Ash a happy future.

“…Okay, that’s fine.”

Alice muttered as she steeled herself.

I chose it myself.

It was he who swore revenge, and it was he who volunteered for such a dangerous experiment.

So, there’s no need to feel wronged.

If I can finish my revenge, save the world, and give Ash a happy future even though I failed to save Maria,

If only it could be so, Alice could have no complaints about this fate.

No, I constantly urged myself not to complain.

Even though, in that future, Alice herself may no longer be alive.

Before we knew it, a deep sunset had taken over the sky.

Alice hurried her steps and returned to the basement of the bar where she had talked with Eric.

Because we promised to meet again here after each of us finished our business.

Alice carefully placed the load on her shoulders on the floor, sat down with her buttocks resting on the large barrel, and finally let out a deep sigh that she had been holding back.

Eric hasn’t arrived yet.

Looking at the fact that it was already pitch dark outside, it seemed like he probably wouldn’t be back today.

Of course, I didn’t expect Eric to come back in one day.

Unlike Alice, who had a clear location and goal, Eric went to investigate the spirits without any clues other than the wise man named Malier.

Besides, given the timing, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to ask anyone or leisurely look up information at the library, so there was a good chance that Eric wouldn’t arrive tomorrow… or even the day after.

While Alice waited for Eric, she began to mentally organize the things she had to do.

The journey to the Demon King’s Castle would essentially be a journey through a forest of fallen trees, so it was clear that it would take at least two months.

Food for those two months could be replenished through hunting and other means, and fire could also be lit with magic, but simple cooking utensils, a sleeping bag, and rope for emergencies had to be prepared separately.

I briefly considered whether I should bring bandages, but Alice’s divine powers protected her from wounds and injuries, so I didn’t think they would be necessary.

Rather, since you’re not sure if you’ll have the opportunity to take a leisurely bath, you may need more than just a cloth to wipe yourself dry.

Alice held her head with both hands and muttered softly.

“I should have asked Sylvia in advance.”

It was clear that Sylvia would know more about the necessary items than he, who had not been able to join the warrior party.

Of course, you may not be aware of it right now, but there may be something you feel a strong need for while traveling.

Up until now, Alice had been to many different places, but since her journeys were supported by the Church of the Goddess, she had never really brought anything with her.

“You’ll need to sharpen your blade, so you’ll need a whetstone, and linseed oil, too! It’s useful for cleaning your sword and smoothing out the gaps in your armor… and…”

It would have been nice to write them down, but since she didn’t have any paper or writing utensil to write them down, Alice was reciting the necessary items one by one out loud.

Then, as the number of things she had to pack increased, Alice suddenly stopped talking and wiped her face.

“Let’s get some writing utensils first. Eric won’t be back for a day or two.”

Alice thought as she lifted her butt off the cask and slumped down on the floor.

As soon as I arrived in the city, I met Eric and had a brief conversation with him, and then we wiped out the remnants of the fallen goddess cult.

In fact, I was so tired that my head wasn’t working properly.

Alice, who thought that she would just close her eyes today, sat down on the floor and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

＊

The next morning, Alice wandered around the ruined city in search of the supplies she needed.

After he was lucky enough to find a piece of parchment, he carefully folded the parchment and wrote down the items he needed one by one in each empty space using the charcoal from the charred wood. He then erased each item he found.

One day, two days, three days,

Since there were many things I needed, each day was busy but also quite rewarding.

Was it because the city had been in ruins for a long time, or was it because Alice had killed all the priests on the first day?

I never encountered any particularly dangerous criminals or looters.

No, I had never met a living person in the first place.

Here and there, traces of people having passed by until recently could be found to some extent, but the number of corpses lying down was much greater than the number of living people.

There were corpses that had been brutally murdered and were crawling with maggots, bodies of people lying on the floor, starving to death, and even the bodies of a young newlywed couple who had taken their own lives.

Alice used every new corpse she saw as a sort of reminder point to briefly stand and reflect.

Finding things, finding bodies, finding traces of people.

So now, a week has passed since Alice started wandering around the city.

Eric still hadn’t shown up.

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