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Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Takai

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

After Story: The Image of the Saint from Here On (Part 1)

—The Saint’s Castle.

It was the building that had been set up hundreds of years ago as a place to foster and protect the Saint, and also as a prison to contain the Saint in case of an emergency.

It was rebuilt and repaired many times throughout history; sometimes it was wrecked in the chaos of war and had to be rebuilt from scratch. As a result, nobody knew when it was actually first built. The only person who was aware of it, the Prophet Propheter, had already passed away.

However, it was speculated that it had already been built by the time people were aware that the birth of the new Saint coincided with the appearance of the Witch, so at the very least, it was a building that didn’t exist during the era of the First Saint Alfrea. 

Until recently, the castle was the place where Elrise, the Greatest Saint of All Time, lived in. But since Elrise chose to retire from the position of Saint, another Saint currently lived there.

The name of that person was Alfrea, the First Saint.

As the First Saint, she was a person who wasn’t supposed to exist in the present time, but due to various circumstances, four Saints resided in this world at present.

Originally, there should have been only one Saint in each generation, but various irregularities occurred in quick succession, which resulted in such an abnormal situation.

The first one was the Saint of this generation, Elrise.　

She was known as the Greatest Saint of All Time, the Saint among Saints, who performed various miracles and managed to put an end to the cycle of tragedies of Witches and Saints that lasted over a thousand years.

She was the Saint who saved people without discrimination, brought grace everywhere she went, and the one who was loved the most by the people…

However, she was actually not a Saint. She was just a normal girl who got mistaken for Saint because she was born in the same village as the supposed Saint.

This very mistake was referred to by the few people who knew the truth as “The Greatest and The Most Wonderful Mistake of All Time,” but there was no way they could explain to people that “she actually wasn’t a Saint at all” considering all the achievements she had accomplished.

Therefore, she was granted the title of “Great Saint” which placed her above the Saint, and the truth that she was actually not a Saint was concealed.

The second person was Eterna, the real Saint of this generation.　

She was thought of as a mere knight candidate that hailed from a small village until recently.

Although she possessed both the beauty and power worthy of the name of the Saint, the reason that nobody thought of her as the real Saint was… well, probably because the person she got compared with was just too amazing.

Eterna was definitely not inferior by any means compared to other generations of Saints.

However, any generation of Saint would seem lacking if they were compared to Elrise.

There were voices that pushed Eterna to be the successor of Elrise’s title as the Saint when Elrise retired, but due to Eterna’s own strong refusal, she didn’t take the title of the Saint in the end, leaving only a few people aware that she was the real Saint of the generation.

The reason she turned down the title was because declaring her as the real Saint after all Elrise did was nothing but a joke.

That was a sound argument.

The third person was the Saint of the previous generation and also the former Witch, Alexia.　

As the curse that made Witch become what they were had dispersed, Alexia could no longer be a Witch but was a Saint once more.

However, there was no way they could let the masses know about that.

It would be bad if people were even aware of the fact that she was still alive.

Because Alexia happened to clash with the great miracle known as Elrise, Alexia was known as the least active Witch of all time.

But still, during the ten years from Elrise’s birth, until she actually took her title as the Saint, Alexia was certainly the Witch of the generation.

She propagated a number of demons and used them to attack villages and towns; sometimes, she personally went to the battlefield herself, killing and hurting many people, both directly and indirectly.

Naturally, many had a grudge against her. If it somehow became known that she was still alive, there would definitely be voices all over clamoring that “Alexia has to be executed!” and she might get attacked in the process.

Therefore, Alexia couldn’t succeed the title of Saint.

They have no choice but to treat Witch Alexia as if she had been killed by Saint Elrise.

And the fourth person… was Alfrea, the actual daughter of the First Witch, Eve.　

She was put in stasis and sealed over the thousand years, making her the only Saint who didn’t turn into the Witch as her role was succeeded by the next generation.

There was no reason to keep her existence secret, so the fact she was the First Saint was widely disseminated, but she was still not well known to people because their impression of Elrise was too strong.

It was this Alfrea who succeeded the title of Saint after Elrise’s retirement.

It sounded weird that the person who succeeded the Saint, who managed to end the cycle of tragedy that lasted for millennia, was the First Saint, but in fact, she was the most suitable candidate.

Alexia’s very existence was hidden from the public, and Eterna also didn’t want to name herself as the real Saint since it no longer served any purpose.

In that respect, Alfrea was a Saint who had been around for a thousand years. It wasn’t like she was hated like Alexia, and there was no problem with her title as the Saint unlike Eterna, who would make things more troublesome if she did reveal herself.

Moreover, although Alfrea wasn’t as well-known as Elrise, her name was used as the name of the academy. 

Due to such circumstances, Alfrea was living in the Saint’s Castle at the time.

…And that became the source of troubles for the knights.

---

“Alfrea-sama. Regarding today’s schedule, you are to grant blessings to the believers of the church…”

“Eh~ I don’t want to. It sounds troublesome.”

Alfrea, who was rolling around on her bed, casually rejected the schedule that was being narrated by the current Prime Knight.　

The name of this poor Prime Knight was Rex, the man who became the Prime Knight as he ended up becoming the successor of Leila Scott, his predecessor Prime Knight.

Leila also returned her title as the Prime Knight at the same time Elrise retired from being the Saint, then proceeded to follow Elrise along, so Rex ended up getting promoted in a hurry.

Obviously, they tried to stop her, but at that time, Leila blatantly declared “I’m not the Saint’s knight, but Elrise-sama’s.”

Rex was very envious of Leila, but he couldn’t go along with Elrise like Leila did.

After all, it was Elrise who personally requested him to be the aide for the First Saint Alfrea.

Therefore, abandoning his duty would be disrespectful toward Elrise.

And since Alfrea became the next Saint after Elrise retired, Rex ended up becoming the Prime Knight as it was.

“…I-it’s not about it being troublesome in this case…”　

“I don’t want to. What are blessings in the first place? I cannot do such a thing, though? The power of the Saint is basically all about defeating Witch and her demons, so while the Saint might have an edge in combat skill, their capability to protect or heal others isn’t much different from that of a normal magic user, you know? 

Well, the Saint did indeed possessed greater magic capability than normal people, so they might be able to perform a greater amount of healing and support magic… but that was simply because they possessed greater amounts of magic power, and what they could do was not much different than you people.

Rather, since all of you gained knowledge over a thousand years, perhaps you people might be more capable than I am in that respect, you know?”

“Tha-that’s…”

Saints were by no means all-powerful, and they weren’t a transcendent existence.　

They were just a normal person whose ability developed in a way to resist the Witch.

The power of the Saint supposedly allowed them to pierce through the dark element that was used by the Witch, but the true identity of the so-called dark element was manipulating space that not even light could penetrate, thus rendering them invincible through such ability.

And the power to pierce the defense of space manipulation also came from the power of space manipulation… In other words, the power of Saint was that very dark element that the Witch used.

The only difference was with how people called it. Dark element had a bad image since it was used by the Witch.

Also, it would make it more likely for people to guess that the Saint would become the next Witch if they used that same name.

Therefore, people used the vague term of “the Power of the Saint” to refer to the Saint’s ability to defeat the Witch for the purpose of deceiving the public.

Basically, while a Saint might have the ability to manipulate the space… they lacked the power to give blessings to people.

The power to grow plants and give edible fruits to everyone? Purifying tainted water and making it drinkable? Disseminating light and making people healthy?

…What the hell is that? I have no idea… It’s scary… such was Alfrea’s honest opinion.

“I-it’s not like you have to use some sort of magic. You can just say you grant blessings to believers…”　

“But Elrise actually does something, right? If I only do it for the sake of appearance, won’t people end up being disappointed?”

“That’s… that might be true, but…

“Ah, by the way, what kind of blessing did Elrise do?”

“It varies depending on the time… but it might cure injuries and sickness, recover one’s vitality and weak physical function… and visibly improve the luster of skin and hair…”

“Sorry, I honestly don’t know how that is possible.”

Although it was the question Alfrea asked herself, she couldn’t help but reply without any expression. 　

It was something that was so out of common sense, regardless of how many times she heard of it.

It was so absurd that she could declare that a Saint couldn’t do that.

Alfrea dove into the bed and rolled around sloppily.

“You guys seem to be misunderstanding what Saint is… A Saint is basically like a hunter who is forced upon unreasonable requests by the World and is just given a weapon that is effective against the Witch. Rather than blessings, we, who are forced with this curse by the world, would only seem weird if we granted blessing to others. 　

And that’s my reason, so I’ll pass on that appointment. Rather than that, bring me some snacks.”

Alfrea asked Rex to do some chores as she sloppily lay on the bed.　

As she was rolling around in the white dress of the Saint, one could see that it was full of wrinkles and it caused her skirt to hike up, baring her thigh.

Rex looked away and deliberately coughed.

“Kuhum…! It’s not like you have to do it the same Elrise-sama did. It’s just, at least do it like a Saint would…”　

“And I honestly don’t understand what you refer to when you say ‘like a Saint would.’

There was no title of Saint during my era, and I was always known as the Witch-spawn until the day I defeated my mother, you know?

Then when I managed to defeat my mother… Well, I was deceived by her pretending to be dead, though… anyway, the world welcomed a temporary peace, and those kings’ attitudes went 180 degrees before giving me the title of ‘Saint’ after that.”

“I-is that so…?”

“Yes. In other words, that title of Saint is basically referring to me on its root. In that case, won’t acting ‘like a Saint would’ basically mean me just acting like myself?”

“U-uhm… I-is that so…?”

Rex groaned as he thought about Alfrea’s words.　

Certainly, it was a logical argument in a sense.

If one went by its root, then the title of Saint was something granted to Alfrea.

In that case, “like a Saint would” meant “like Alfrea would” …Perhaps that was the case.

But actually, although Alfrea said such things, it wasn’t like she didn’t actually understand the image of the Saint that people sought in this era.

In fact, shortly after being released from the seal, she tried to put on a proper image and speak as a Saint would.

…However, she completely gave up doing so now as she learned that she sucked at acting.

“Even so, the thing is already scheduled. The carriage is waiting outside. So please get ready.”　

“I guess it can’t be helped. A-ah~ I thought I could be comfortable every day, but there are tons of things that the Saint of this era has to do.”

Unlike Alfrea’s era, where the title of Saint didn’t exist, the Saints of the succeeding generations were given a high level of education ever since they were babies and given many responsibilities.　

Their main responsibilities were “defeating the Witch”, “removing the anxiety of the people”, and “Meeting with kings and aristocrats.”

There was nothing to be explained about the first role, while the second was about blessing the people and praying for a good harvest.

Of course, Saints didn’t have such powers, but even if it was merely a deception without any effects whatsoever, people still sought some semblance of comfort during days of despair, making the Saint’s existence a necessity.

It could be said that Elrise, whose blessings were actually effective and could bring about a bountiful harvest, was a great irregularity.

The third one was officially about discussing the nations’ future policies and countermeasures against demons, but in practice, it was about listening to the misery and sacrifices that each nation suffered; basically, the nations strongly implored the Saint that “this situation won’t improve until you defeat the Witch.”

But because the first responsibility was completed flawlessly by Elrise, the source of the disaster was no more.　

From that moment on, the existence of the Saint was no longer necessary, but after discussing it with the kings of nations and archbishops, they decided to let the role of Saint continue for the time being.

They couldn’t have said that “the Saint is no longer needed since there’s nothing more to do” since it would be too selfish of them, and people would likely oppose such a decision.

Besides, the Saint was the symbol of the church of the Saint, so the church would be in trouble if they disappeared.

Also, since the Witch was no more, it was unknown if the next Saint would be born.

Usually, a new Saint would be born when the previous Saint died or became a Witch… but there were three of them in this generation.

Would there be three Saints born from now on? Or would the new Saint only be born if the proper Saint of this generation died?

…Or maybe, no more Saint would be born since its existence was no longer needed.

Moving forward, regardless of whether the position of Saint remained or not, they should observe how it would turn out. That was a decision that they all came to agree with.

It would be a long time of observation for the eventual death of the three Saints, Eterna, Alfrea, and Alexia.

And the Saint who lost her role would continue to give blessings in the church, baptize the newborn child, and pray for a good harvest as before.

And then…　

---

“There’s trouble! Alfrea-sama is missing!”　

“Again! Not again! She tends to go off somewhere if we look away for a little! She is way too carefree! What is she, a child?!”

“Now that I think about it, she seemed to be looking at the bar inside the carriage while biting her fingernail…”

“She should be there! Let’s go!”

—As soon as she arrived at the castle town, Alfrea immediately got lost.　

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A/N: The second volume of “Ideal Saint? Too Bad, It’s a Fake Saint!” Will be released on 10 February 2022

田村丸様 have presented us with support illustration!
It seems the one who draw it is木尾様

https://img.syosetu.org/img/user/381914/91149.jpg
The illustration is about Elrise’s time in japan, her gold coating of a façade, and her reaction when she saw her galge video in modern japan.

It is of amazing quality… I can watch it all the time…

※By the way, Rex group only looked away for a few seconds. While they were discussing their schedule with the people in the church and parked their carriage, Alfrea was already gone.

Since Elrise never did such a thing, the knights were still unable to adapt with Alfrea’s carefree attitude.

Alfrea got aggressive curiosity to the point she would immediately go if something caught her eye unless someone kept watch.

And so, it’s been a while everyone.
Just as I wrote in the preface, the second volume would be released on 10 February 2022.

This was all thanks to everyone. Thank you very much.

For the time being, I would frequently post more details in Kakuyomu’s activity report, so please take a look if you are interested.

The second part of this story will be posted by 10 February, the date of the second volume released, so let’s meet again then.

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