Fake Saint of the Year

Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Geli

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 87: After That…

After the battle against the Witch, many things transpired.

…Ah, well, it happened.

No good. If I relaxed even just a little bit, my inner voice somehow became more formal.

I thought I had thrown away everyone’s positive energy that time, but it seemed there was still some mental pollution… no, purification (?) within me.

Even so, I was still the worst scum of the year after all. Even if I got purified a little, it wasn’t like I would suddenly turn into a saint; I just changed from hopeless scum to slightly more decent person.

After that, the whole country held a funeral for Propheter.

Thanks to Turtle, I was able to keep on living, and Turtle became my substitute and died in my stead; Despite that, its expression upon dying had been so full of peace and satisfaction so much so that other people might get jealous of it.

I thought that Alfrea, who had known it since way back, would end up getting sad about it, but that was not the case.

According to her, it wasn’t like she wasn’t sad about it at all, but since it had been satisfied with its life and had managed to die in a meaningful way, it seemed that Turtle had been happy with it, to the point that it actually irritated her instead… or so she had said.

Propheter’s guardians somehow managed to learn of its passing and they had all tried to join the funeral. But somehow, they got mistaken as demons and had almost been eliminated on the spot.

…Since I had no choice, I saved them but then they got attached to me even more.

I wasn’t happy that those monkeys got attached to me though…

Also, since the Witch had been truly defeated once and for all, a massive parade was held; every day was like a festival.

Even though people should already be aware I wasn’t a real Saint, for some reason, I ended up being named as the “Great Saint” instead.

Who gave me that title? I already told you I was a fake.

Rather, there are two real Saints over there, just give them the Saint’s seat.

I don’t want it anymore.

Ah, since Turtle had declared me as its successor, I also obtained Turtle’s ability.

If I concentrated, I could pick up images and voices from far away even if I wasn’t physically there.

Naturally, trying to process all of that information at the same time was beyond the abilities of the human brain, but I could basically see and hear things from anywhere in the world if I wished to.

That was why, if I ever wanted to, I could peek at Eterna when she bathes.

No, but I wouldn’t do it though. I really didn’t do it, you know? I was a gentleman after all. I wouldn’t do such a thing.

…Fuh.

And so, we were truly in the Happy END.

Since Turtle ended up dying, I wasn’t sure if I could really say it was a Happy END, but… well, let’s just treat it as a Happy END.

If I insisted on saying it was Bad END, I’d feel bad for Turtle since it had traded its life in exchange for mine.

If I thought of it as a Happy END because of that, then it would show that there was value in how it had sacrificed itself.

All I had to do at this point was to relinquish the Saint’s seat and run away into the night.

It wouldn’t be good for a fake like me to keep that position for much longer.

Yet even as I kept telling old man Aiz that I was a fake and that I wanted to give the seat back to Eterna, it never really pushed through.

Since that was the case, then all I needed to do was to disappear.

Just in case, I would also bring Leila along with me; if I left her behind, she might end up crying.

But before that, there was one more thing that I had to do.

…It was a request that had been one-sidedly and selfishly asked of me, but I did get a request to help Alexia after all.

And so, because of that, we were all standing in the underground space of the church, right in front of the crystal that Alexia was currently sealed in.

“Elrise-sama… Are you really going to do this?” 

Leila said this with a clearly dissatisfied expression, but it wasn’t like I didn’t understand why she was feeling the way she did.

Everyone was already aware that all the Witches throughout history were merely victims.

But despite logically knowing this, there was still a difference between accepting it logically and emotionally after all.

For the current generation, Alexia was known as the hated Witch, and that perception of her wouldn’t easily disappear.

I myself didn’t actually like Alexia that much, and I had once thought about just abandoning her altogether.

But since everything had already ended, there was no point in keeping Alexia sealed.

Also there was Alexia’s expression too… What stayed on her face was an expression of terror right before she got sealed; if I left her as is, it would make me feel bad.

If I did nothing and just left her alone, the future generations would make fun of how she was stuck with such an expression.

I did hate her, but as expected, it would be too pitiful to leave her with such a fate.

“The darkness within Alexia is already gone. Because of that, the person sealed in there is no longer a Witch.” 

I winked at Alfrea as I explained this to Leila.

I had forcefully broken those seals with brute strength last time, but since the caster, Alfrea, was present, all I just needed to do was have her dispel her magic.

Alfrea had no real history with Alexia, so she didn’t have a hateful expression like how the members of Vernell’s group did.

If I had to ask Vernell, there was a chance that he wouldn’t dispel the seal.

“All right. I, too, understand the pain of being sealed. This sealing magic made it so that even after death, the sealed soul wouldn’t be able to move on to the afterlife …so I do understand why you feel like releasing her.”

Alexia’s soul was still confined.

In the first place, this sealing magic had been created to seal Alfrea and to put her into a state of suspended animation, triggering the birth of the next Saint even while Alfrea was still alive.

So if one was to be confined with this magic that froze time and space itself, not even their soul could leave.

If that wasn’t the case, then there would’ve been no way for Alfrea’s soul to remain within her body for 1000 years.

As a matter of fact, even though Fudou Niito had only died for a few moments, most of his soul had already been transferred and reincarnated into Elrise after all.

In other words, Alexia’s soul was still in there.

She died because Vernell’s power went berserk, but she remained in a state of having just died, so her brain hadn’t truly registered it yet.

This meant… it was still possible to revive her.

“Let’s do this. Release Seal!

Alfrea held up her hand and the crystal, which had been confining Alexia, was destroyed.

I caught Alexia’s body using wind magic and gently laid her down; I sat in front of her and found the area of her chest where her heart would be.

First, I cast healing magic. With this, all her wounds were healed. Then I used thunder magic to run an electric shock through her heart.

Additionally, I used wind magic to send air through her mouth and airway to help her breathe once more.

“Elrise-sama… what are you!?”

If I explained what I was currently doing to Leila, she would definitely cut her down so I didn’t respond and just continued casting magic.

Then Alexia coughed, her chest started to rise and fall.

Okay, the revival was a success. As I thought, I definitely still had the time to save her.

“Elrise-sama, why…?”

“As I’ve said before, she is no longer a Witch. In that case, there is no point in treating her as an enemy… that’s all.” 

Since she already had a terrible reputation everywhere, there was no way she’d be reinstated as a Saint.

But they should at least allow Alexia to peacefully spend the rest of her life in seclusion.

I definitely would’ve never thought such things before, but it seemed that I’ve become more naïve.

Finally… there should be a fragment of Alexia’s soul within Vernell.

He should be able to return it to her without any problems.

“Vernell-kun. I have kept quiet about it, but the dark power you have within you originally belonged to Alexia.”

“…I already know about it. During the  fight, Alexia herself had told me about it…”

“Perhaps before she had lost herself and became a Witch, she had tried to leave something behind that could stop her. That’s why her power within you also contained a fragment of her soul.”

“I also already know about that…”

The fragment of Alexia. Because he had that, Vernell had been able to play the role of a protagonist.

But it surprised me that he already knew about it.

Thinking about it now, when I had watched the game at that point from the other side, it had looked like he’d managed to make peace (?) with Alexia while he had been fighting in front of the crystal. 

Perhaps this was because the game’s creators… for Ijuuin-san and Yamoto-san, Vernell was the protagonist, so the story shown was from his point of view.

Also I wondered if Ijuuin-san’s memory returned after Niito (I) died?

Even though I had troubled him so much, I never managed to apologize to him in the end.

“If it is okay with you … Could you give back Alexia’s soul back to her?”

“Okay, gladly.” 

Oh, what a quick answer.

If he did this, Vernell wouldn’t be able to use Dark Power anymore and he would become weaker. Despite that, he didn’t hesitate.

As expected, handsome men have handsome minds.

Perhaps, something in him changed when he fought alongside Alexia during the Final Battle.

I held my hand out to Vernell, as I placed my other hand on Alexia’s.

And just like how I’d borrowed Vernell’s dark power before, I transferred the fragment of Alexia’s soul along with her power from Vernell into me, before transferring the soul fragment into Alexia.

I didn’t give the power back to her. It was better for that kind of thing to disappear completely.

That’s why I manifested it, along with the dark power that remained within me, and then I gathered the light of the human heart that was in the surrounding mana and used that to destroy it.

The dark power had still gone in me for a bit, but since it had only passed through my body, my lifespan only got reduced by a few weeks.

I lost a little bit of the lifespan that Turtle had given me, but it looked like there would still be about a hundred years left anyway… It wasn’t a big deal to lose a few weeks.

Rather, 100 years was way too long.

The dark power that had been inside me and Vernell was all gone.

Even though I had destroyed it, the lost lifespan still wouldn’t get restored, but… since the Witch was no longer there, it was no longer necessary.

Also even without the dark power, my mana was still quite considerable, and I’d gained the new skill of weaponizing the light of the human heart.

Since that was the case, it wasn’t a big deal even if I lost the dark power.

“Hm…”

Oh, Alexia woke up.

She didn’t seem to understand how she was still alive and looked troubled at the beginning, but when she saw me, she reflexively drew back.

“E, Elrise…! What is the meaning of this! Why has my seal been released… no, why am I still alive?”

Although I had taken away all the traces of the Witch from her, it wasn’t like her personality would suddenly change.

Perhaps this was what she’d really been like during her days as a Sain

Even in the game, her tone had always been somewhat proud, perhaps she’d originally been like this.

“Calm down. The reason you were released from the seal is because you are no longer the Witch. The reason you are still alive is because I revived you.”

 “…No longer the Witch…? Indeed… Now that you mention it, the neverending destructive impulse that once filled me is gone. It’s like a fog that has surrounded my heart has been cleared… but I don’t understand. Why did you revive me? What do you get out of this?”

Saints became Witches because they despaired over humanity after being forced to look directly at humanity’s ugliest part by the grudge of the First Witch and her successors.

Because that grudge no longer existed, her overly antagonistic tendency against humanity has disappeared.

Despite that, there was no doubt she herself truly did despair over humanity.

For the other party to trouble themselves to save such a person, it didn’t make sense.

“Do you always have to get something in return to save someone?” 

Even if she asked me what I’d get from doing this, it wasn’t like I’d get anything from it.

If I had to put it into words, it just made me feel bad to leave her alone like this.

Basically, I was just trying to act like I was a good guy.

I was just indulging myself with the feeling of doing something good; it was no different from mental masturbation. That’s all there was to it.

One would feel good after doing good deeds, right? It was basically that.

“…The former Headmaster, Diaz, asked me to help you. That was enough of a reason for me to do this.”

“You really are…”

Alexia looked at me as if I was strange.

Then she sighed in amazement and corners of her lips twisted.

“…What a stupid person. There should be a limit to how kind you can be. I have… never thought like that even once. During my time as a Saint, all I ever felt was pain as I fulfilled that role. It was always, “Why do I need to go through such pain to save other people?” I kept complaining inside… if I was as noble as you, then perhaps I wouldn’t have ended up like this… Right now, I’m just simply jealous of you… you really are a Saint to the core.” 

No, you’re wrong.

The only reason I was fine was because I was indulging myself in this mental masturbation;, since I only did things that made me feel good, I felt no pain.

Basically I was such a lowly piece of scum that I couldn’t fall any further into darkness.

I merely acted like a good person, and by looking at myself objectively, I could think, “I’m so cooool!”

Also, the reason the Saints fell into darkness was because their actions had all been done for the sake of other people; that’s why they were unable to enjoy what they did.

You couldn’t last long like that. Rather, you were  amazing for holding on for that long.

In short, it was because you were such noble and good people that you had ended up falling into darkness.

…There’s no way I could honestly say that though, so I just vaguely laughed.

Social interacting secret skill: “If you don’t know how to respond, just laugh it off.”

But it couldn’t be used too often.

After that, Alexia was taken away somewhere by King Aiz and his soldiers.

Even though she was no longer a Witch, she couldn’t ever be around people for the rest of her life.

Even so, King Aiz seemed to carry some guilt about this, so when I spoke to him on her behalf, he agreed.

As she couldn’t be allowed out in public, there was no other choice but to keep her under house arrest. However, they would build a small mansion with a garden in a remote place, and she and Diaz could live there together.

Of course, people would still have to guard the area, but they could still go outside the mansion as long as they were within its perimeter, and as long as they didn’t do any evil deeds, then they could live peacefully until the end of their days there.

What’s with that pampered life? Actually, I’m really jealous of you.


A/N:

Thank you for accompanying me for this long.
The next chapter will end this “Fake Saint worst scum of the year.”

https://img.syosetu.org/img/user/304845/64091.pngIllustration gifted by わっさわさ様
I thought I would post it in the epilogue, but Leila’s clothes did not match with the Ending so I posted it here instead.

Want early access to Fake Saint and Executed Sage? Support the translator on Patreon! Also, check out their latest project, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer. It’s a Rance fanfic, sort of like a prequel to the main story.

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Catman48
Catman48
1 year ago

“Mental masturbation” – is my new favourite phrase.

SoulsTogether
SoulsTogether
1 year ago

All loose ends are finally being tied together into one grand ending.

Please live happily Alexia, Diaz, and Elrise.

Thank you for the series author-sama and translator-sama!

Subber Guy
Subber Guy
2 years ago

So I got a bit of the original Elrise’s circumstances wrong with the parents just straight up switching the the name they were gonna choose but I knew the prophet ability was gonna come into play to extend new Elrise’s shortened lifespan. It was too convenient not for it to be used this way. The positive emotion part blasting away the witch entity made sense but it was kinda cringe because of how cliché it felt but that was alright.

FeuerDrach3
FeuerDrach3
2 years ago

predicted it right mostly, didn’t think she would get revived a second time though, forgot about prophet ability.

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  FeuerDrach3

So prophet life transfer is within consideration, but not expect it would carry out at the moment of Elrise near death, huh

Kzalca
3 years ago

I’m glad Alexia gets a happy end.
also
Mental masturbation… What a wonderful set of words I never thought of.
Thanks for the translation!

tsukii
tsukii
2 years ago
Reply to  Kzalca

Yeah, considering all the hardship Alexia suffered, she deserved the reward. it might be house arrest within limited perimeter, but at the very least, she could spent it peacefully now, without fear and pressure from duty

Sugitama-san
Sugitama-san
3 years ago

Alexia can finally get a quiet life now… to be honest I think He is a very sad character. so I’m glad he can finally live in peace

Last edited 3 years ago by Sugitama-san
tsukii
tsukii
3 years ago
Reply to  Sugitama-san

she finally earned her deserved peace… after all the hell she went through

Tommy
Tommy
3 years ago

Since it mentioned that Vernal also can transfer some of the darkness power via sex, and concerning how fatal this is, that means Vernal can literally kill someone by snusnu.

Well, not that the game heroines would notice since they would presumably all die via secret boss post epilogue regardless.

tsukii
tsukii
3 years ago
Reply to  Tommy

hey, all other plot but the canon grand route is product of tamaki’s imagination, so can’t say for sure it was possible