Chapter Eighty-four: A Discussion Until Dawn
“Hey, Rin. As I mentioned earlier, we’re planning to report this matter to the higher-ups. Is it okay if we explain your situation to the party members?”
“Yes, that’s fine. I think it’s something we can’t keep hidden anyway.”
“Can’t keep hidden… Wait, Rin, did you have some kind of circumstances?”
“Well, it’s not really a big deal, but… The truth is…”
With a somewhat pensive expression, Mr. Ville turned towards me. He’s been so diligent about keeping his promise to keep my circumstances confidential. But if we’re reporting to the higher-ups, sooner or later, everyone will find out about my situation. It might be easier to just talk about it now. Besides, with all these suspicious events happening one after another, there’s no reason not to talk about the "saint summoning" that seems so obviously related. And it’s said "Two heads are better than one," so maybe we’ll come up with some good insights!
I explained what happened to me to the members who were showing various reactions: Mr. Ed was peering at me with great interest; Mr. Xenon couldn’t hide his curiosity; and Ms. Aria was tilting her head in confusion.
I told them about being caught up in a "saint summoning" on my way back from a fishing camp trip, being called useless and sent to this place, meeting Mr. Ville here, and starting to travel together.
“…Well… You’ve been through a lot, Rin… I’m glad you weren’t used up in that country!”
“For us, we’re nothing but grateful to those fools who misjudged you as ‘useless,’ but it must have been quite an ordeal for you, Rin. I’m really glad your spirit wasn’t broken…”
“Mm. You did well… to endure…!”
Right. I’m grateful that everyone is comforting me without treating me too delicately! I was a bit worried about being treated like I was made of glass, but there was no need for concern! And so, my confidential "saint summoning" handout has become public information within the party, and we can now talk about it normally. On top of that, the information Mr. Ville provided is that a "saint" has begun her journey in the neighboring country across the sea… I didn’t know about this at all. It must have been secret information obtained by the Guildmaster Tori. Apparently, she set out from the royal capital of the country, claiming to "purify the world"…
“If I remember correctly, the ‘saint summoning’ recorded in literature goes something like ‘A shrine maiden was summoned from another world to sweep away the evil beings in a divine cleansing, bringing peace and prosperity to the entire country,’ right?”
“Purification of the world, huh… But with all these monster disturbances happening, maybe they wanted to rely on the ancient ‘saint summoning’?”
Oh, the saint summoning was described in unexpectedly difficult language, wasn’t it? Essentially, it means they summoned a shrine maiden… a saint… to defeat monsters and bring peace to the country… The use of such grandiose respectful language suggests it’s from the perspective of the rulers of that time, I guess.
…And then. Mr. Ed’s words suddenly stuck in my mind. I’m usually not good at meta-reasoning or coming up with real ideas, but a strong sense of discomfort burns in my mind. Is it different because I experienced it myself? Let’s see… Where is the alarm bell ringing? What is it? What did Mr. Tori say when we first talked about the saint summoning?
When we had that conversation, it hadn’t been long since that high school girl and I were summoned to this world… In a world without the internet, TV, or even radio, gathering information would take a lot of time, especially for information from abroad. Yet, if I remember correctly, he said that nothing strange like an increase in monsters or the appearance of wild dungeons had happened in this country or neighboring countries. If the monster damage had been so severe at this point that they had to resort to a saint summoning, Guildmaster Tori, who deals with monster subjugation and such, should have had some information about it. And since it’s unlikely that information about monsters would be kept secret, there probably really wasn’t any monster damage.
But in reality, the "saint summoning" took place at this point. A saint summoning aimed at "purifying the world" despite there being no monster damage…
Why was there a need to summon a "saint" with the ability to "defeat monsters and purify the world" when there was no monster damage? Rather, it seems like the "anomalies" related to monsters and dungeons started happening frequently after I began traveling with Mr. Ville… after the "saint summoning" took place and that high school girl and I came to this world…?
If that’s the case…
“No. The order is reversed… It’s not the monsters first. The saint summoning came first…”
I could tell everyone’s eyes were on me as soon as I muttered those words.
“…Isn’t it more logical to think that these monster and dungeon incidents started rapidly after the saint summoning was performed…?”
“…Just what on earth is really happening…!”
Mr. Ville’s dumbfounded whisper echoed futilely in the now silent room.
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