Fake Saint of the Year
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter AF13 – Supple Ment’s Exploration③
――What a blunder!
Supple was ashamed of his carelessness as his hands and feet were restrained by vines.
There were many things that one mustn’t do in battle, one of which was believing that victory was certain before the enemy was completely incapacitated.
Taking a hundred steps back, even if thinking victory was certain could be tolerated, to stop moving for that reason was the worst.
What’s more he even stopped thinking upon witnessing an unexpected situation this time.
Supple was only frozen for about two seconds. It was a short amount of time that didn’t matter in everyday life, but it was fatal in combat. That was more than enough time for the opponent to kill or incapacitate him.
It was a great blunder that shouldn’t have happened to a person who usually taught knight cadets how to behave in combat…!
While Supple mocked himself for his stupidity, he quickly restarted his thought.
The plants were still moving and the knights were still fighting. Finley was cutting vines one after another in an attempt to get closer to Supple.
Supple’s limbs were restrained, yet there was no sign the opponent was trying to finish him.
“To think I got blatantly deceived by fake bait… I guess that’s how it is. It’s a simple but effective move.”
Supple praised the skill of the enemy and cursed his carelessness.
For magic casters who weren’t proficient in close combat, “tightly protecting a place they weren’t at” wasn’t an uncommon method.
By showing off as if to advertise the caster was hiding there through the tight guard, it would naturally incite the enemy to aim there.
That was why casters made use of that logic and instead protected unimportant places on purpose while they hid elsewhere instead. By doing so, the enemies would voluntarily move toward the location where the caster was absent… and to the most difficult spot for the enemy to resist while the caster launched their attack.
However, Supple felt something was off with the movement of the plant.
He didn’t know what it meant… but the plant carefully lifted the skeletal corpse, made it sit back on the chair, and began to protect it tightly again.
“What… is the meaning of this?”
Preparing fake bait was an effective method.
But that was based on the premise that the enemy didn’t realize that it was fake bait.
There was no point in protecting those bones as the Supple’s group already realized it was fake bait.
Yet the flock of plants continued to protect the skeletal corpse who wasn’t even the caster, just like a knight protecting their Saint.
――Does that mean those plants weren’t magic, but demons that received the simple order of protecting those bones?
――No, that’s not the case. Those plants clearly contained “will.” A demon made from plants that lacks the ability to think wouldn’t be able to move like that.
――In that case, is that a magic that only executes simple commands?
――The spirits that Elrise-sama used are also said to only carry a few simple commands and don’t possess advanced thinking abilities.
――However, I didn’t think the caster had the power to cast such a powerful spell that lasted this long…
Supple thought.
There were two ways to get out of this situation.
First was to wait to be rescued. Second was to use magic to seize control of the plants that restrained him.
The first method was too dependent on others. Besides, it didn’t feel like the result could be expected given the current situation.
The second method failed just earlier.
Supple didn’t know what was the trick behind it, but he couldn’t make it happen with his mana.
In that case, there was no choice but to increase his mana further.
The method to increase mana was very simple and easy.
It was the same way like people train their lung capacity by repetition of inhaling and exhaling air many times, people could increase their mana capacity by inhaling and exhaling their mana to the limit. This was known as mana circulation.
Elrise’s divine power was also obtained through this training.
However, this was fraught with great risks. Mana contains other people’s emotions. Negative emotions should be dominating around him in this environment and situation.
In order to maintain their mental balance, humans in this world unconsciously spew out bad emotion that poisoned their mind.
When they circulated mana, they would take the poison into their mind, which would put a strain on their mind, and in some cases, it could change their personality.
That was why originally, mana circulation wasn’t to be done all at once, resting their mind and doing it little by little over the course of time was considered the iron rule of this and even at the academy, cadets were made to comply with this rule.
Supple decided to do that very thing right now.
The mental burden would be tremendous. But he just needed to endure that with his love toward the Great Saint.
As Supple resolved himself and started to circulate his mana… he felt a great sadness.
◇
There was a knight.
And there was a Saint whom he loved.
The Saint’s name was Eslaine. She was originally a girl from a rural farming village who just loved soil and trees.
Saints would be raised separated from their parents as soon as they were born.
But not all parents willingly let go of their children like Elrise’s parents.
The Saint’s parents loved their daughter. They didn’t want their daughter to be sacrificed as a Saint.
That was why they chose to escape. They defied the royal order and took their daughter to flee far away.
The couple adopted a child in addition to their own daughter.
It was a lonely boy whose parents were killed by demons, something that wasn’t unusual in that era.
The boy, who would later become a knight, fled together with his foster parents and Eslaine.
They kept fleeing and finally arrived at a small farming village, where the boy and Eslaine grew up together.
At that time, the reason they weren’t caught was because the Propheter, who should be able to detect their whereabouts, hid its presence.
Only Propheter itself knew why it did such a thing at this time.
But as it turned out, the royal family found Eslaine.
Her parents who resisted were captured, and Eslaine was forced to fulfill her mission in exchange for the lives of her parents.
…All while having no idea that her parents were already executed behind the scene.
Because the boy was still young and to serve to stabilize Eslaine’s mind, the boy was kept alive and trained.
In order to protect his little sister whom he loved as a girl at the same time, the boy grew stronger, became a young man, and eventually climbed to the rank of knight.
But that was the boy’s limit, as he couldn’t become the Prime Knight or even part of the Guard Knights.
Even when Eslaine fought the Witch, he couldn’t stay by her side, and after Eslaine became the Witch, he couldn’t find where she went, moreover for an unknown reason, Eslaine, who should have become a Witch, didn’t show her appearance at all on the front stage.
People rejoiced at the thought of the Witch running around in fear of Truffa-sama.
Then a few years later, after hearing the next Saint, Truffa, had been sighted in a certain mansion then disappeared, he was able to find Eslaine’s trails for the first time.
He ran.
He didn’t mind even if Eslaine became a Witch. He didn’t mind becoming enemies of the world with her. He might be weak for a knight but even so, he swore to protect her. He wanted to be her only knight.
He wanted to protect her and fight for her sake… and when he arrived at the mansion, he saw it.
What was there was her figure sleeping in the innermost room of the mansion.
――Bound to a chair with plants, with a sword thrust into her chest, died as if she was sleeping… the figure of his beloved little sister.
The knight understood.
Even after becoming a Witch, Eslaine still protected the people and the world.
She was good at magic that manipulated plants. She used that to bind and seal herself.
It was so tight that even the person who casted the magic herself was unable to untie it.
Just like that, the absurd binding of numerous vines that wrapped around her couldn’t be unraveled even after she became a Witch.
And so, she continued to seal herself until the next Saint… Truffa grew and was killed without resisting in the end! 1
The knight lamented. He cursed himself from the bottom of his heart for not being able to protect her when he was supposed to and not being a use to her at all.
That was why he decided to live the rest of his life in this place.
He might be an incompetent knight who was useless when she was alive, but even so… at least, he resolved to protect her peace after her death.
He resolved to protect her dignity so that she wouldn’t be trampled anymore.
He wouldn’t let anyone get close to her. He wouldn’t allow curious fools to touch this noble Saint.
That was why he let none enter this place. He wouldn’t let anyone approach her.
With that conviction alone, he continued to protect her in this place until his death.
Even after his death, he continued to protect her, and even after his body decayed, his soul continued to remain in this world, moving plants and continuing to protect her.
And even now, he still protected her, even though his beloved couldn’t move anymore.
◇
“……Aah.”
Supple let out a deep sigh and looked at the pitiful skeleton and surrounding plants.
He understood. All the information flowed into him.
The knight’s painful grief, curses toward the world, and love for the Saint.
So that was how it was. The reason the Witch didn’t appear in Truffa’s reign wasn’t due to Truffa’s miracle. It also wasn’t because she was afraid of Truffa either.
The Witch Eslaine protected the world by sealing herself.
Supple also understood the sense of incongruity that he felt in this mansion.
He first assumed that this was the place that Truffa defeated the Witch… but even then, the mansion was too clean.
There was deterioration and decay that occurred due to the flow of time, but for the place that was assumed to be the location where the final battle between a Saint and a Witch happened, this mansion was too unscathed.
But Supple knew why now.
There was no combat in the first place. Eslaine was killed without resistance.
Supple always thought it was weird. He always thought something was off.
Despite Truffa being called “Saint of Miracle,” the important “power of miracle” that caused the Witch to fear her was never specified. Why was that?
If the Saint truly possessed the power strong enough to make the Witch fear her, the threat of demons should be reduced.
Indeed, just like when Elrise did it.
But no matter how Supple investigated it, even though there were records that “the Witch went into hiding because she feared Truffa’s power of miracle,” neither what exactly the power of miracle was nor the demon forces being weakened had ever been recorded.
But the mystery had been solved.
There was no miraculous power to begin with. That was all.
“How… How wonderful and noble.”
Tears flowed from Supple’s eyes.
The real Saint of Miracle was Eslaine.
Even after she was corrupted into a Witch, how strong was her mental fortitude to decide to bind herself?
She could have just resented the world that stole her parents, yet how could she be so devoted?
Then Supple strongly thought.
This Saint shouldn’t be left as a “coward who continued on running away”!
This mistaken history must be corrected as soon as possible, and her true greatness and nobility must be passed on to the future generation!
Also, I have to make the idiots of the royal families understand this crime and make them reflect on it, correct all the textbooks, replace it with the foolishness of the royal family at the time, and convey them as unparalleled foolish and vicious heretics!
Therefore, I can’t afford to stay caught forever!
“Supple Ment ROOOOLLLLL!”
Supple’s glasses gleamed with disgusting light and Supple spun around furiously.
He dislocated the joints of his whole body and performed high speed rotation. He pried open the gap that was created and slithered as he escaped from the vines like a snake… then reconnected his joints! Bluntly said, it was disgusting.
The knights, including Finley who witnessed that, leaked “eeh…” in confusion.
Supple landed on the floor then pointed at the plant.
“Oh, nameless knight, I pay my respect to your loyalty! I see, so only your soul remained here. No wonder I can’t take over the control of the magic. I never thought the plants are neither manipulated by magic nor demonized, but possessed by the soul of a knight. In the past, in front of Alfrea-sama’s grave, there was a knight whose soul possessed armor and continued to protect her, so you did the same thing. What a blunder of me to not notice such a possibility even though there is a precedent! And the personage who laid there isn’t an artificial bait, but the Saint you decided to protect. Certainly, it is inevitable for you to get angry for her to be touched rudely. First of all, let me apologize for my rudeness.”
What the heck is he talking about? Finley and other knights looked at Supple with such sentences written on their faces.
Supple was the only one who fully understood the situation through mana circulation.
Therefore, the knights could only see Supple as someone suddenly starting to talk about things that didn’t make sense.
“However, now that I know how it works, it’ll be easy to handle. Although the soul is controlling the plant, it’s still only a single soul. Just like the knight who possessed armor in Alfrea-sama’s grave, I saw that it’s not possible for a soul to control several bodies. In that case, the vines that seemed to be several plants must be a single plant in the same body. It’s just one of countless trees that grew around here… one of those that’s taken root in this mansion.”
Supple hit the ground with all his strength and activated earth attribute magic in all directions.
Even weak power would do. To put it bluntly, it didn’t matter if the magic didn’t produce any effect.
Even so, he tried to direct his magic to the trees around and manipulate them. And then…
“Did you resist? …It’s over there.”
Only one of the countless trees resisted Supple’s mana control.
Supple laughed without overlooking that carelessness and activated his mana to the limit.
The ground rose and began to take on a humanoid shape.
The earth that supported this mansion became a palm that wrapped around the mansion so that it wouldn’t collapse and transformed into a giant humanoid… a golem.
The giant golem whose size pierced the sky stretched out its opposite arm that supported the mansion.
Then it pulled out a large tree that was growing just behind the mansion.
Then many roots were pulled out from the ground, revealing many roots that were stuck through the floor and into the mansion.
The tree grabbed by the golem struggled desperately to escape, but it wouldn’t even budge.
“Sensei, this is!”
“That giant tree is the identity of our opponent, Finley-kun. It’s possessed by the soul of a knight from a long time ago.”
After giving a simple explanation to the bewildered Finley, Supple calmly walked out of the entrance and jumped onto the golem’s shoulder.
Then he spoke to the restrained giant tree… nay, to the nameless knight.
“Rest assured, oh nameless knight. I will never treat her… Eslaine-sama carelessly. I promise I’ll definitely make her true greatness known and restore the honor she deserves. Obviously, we’ll bury her body with dignity… let’s see… to the place where the farm village she was raised once existed. Of course, you’ll also be buried there together with her.”
The giant tree was still moving.
However, it was as if it sensed something from Supple’s story, its movement slowed down.
“Your lonely fight until this day is definitely not in vain. You have protected Eslaine-sama until I, someone who understood the greatness of the Saint-sama, appeared, and today is the day when she would regain the honor she deserved. Be proud, oh knight… you really have protected your Saint.”
The giant tree――gradually moved slower until it didn’t move anymore.
The wind swayed the branches, passing through hollows, and made a sound similar to crying voices.
Then a part of the tree collapsed, revealing a skeletal corpse inside.
The loyal knight who had fulfilled his duty had now earned his rest.
Supple paid homage to the way the knight lived and died and offered a moment of silence.
“…Um, sensei? I don’t understand the situation at all… no, I know that the battle is over, but… Eslaine-sama? Who is that…?”
“Don’t worry. I will definitely explain about it carefully even if you don’t ask me about it. Aaah, that’s right. I have to tell this truth to everyone. Otherwise, those two won’t get what they deserve.”
“H-haah…”
Supple returned to the mansion and silently knelt down at the skeletal corpse sitting on the chair… at Eslaine.
The period of “miracle” she had created only lasted for about 20 years, a small amount of time compared to the 1,000 years long cycle of tragedy.
Even in those 20 years, the demons were still active, so all that achieved was slightly slowing the speed of demons cornering humanity.
But that “small amount of time” extended the time that humanity had until their extinction.
And then, the supreme Great Saint named Elrise was born, turning the situation upside down.
If not for the “small amount of time” that Eslaine had earned, it was possible that humanity went extinct before Elrise appeared.
Or, it might become the future in which Elrise was never born.
The amount of time Eslaine earned through her “miracle” might be very small. But that small thing connected the path that led to the huge miracle that occurred later.
That was why Supple offered his heartfelt respect to the “Saint” in front of him.
◇
――After that.
All the knights who were taken away by the plants were found unconscious outside the mansion and all of them returned without danger to their lives.
Supple, who returned with the knights, immediately worked hard to spread the truth he had obtained at the mansion to everyone, and the story of the Saint of Miracle Eslaine and the nameless knight was told to people.
The textbooks ended up to undergo major revisions and the people in charge of their production were forced to scream at the amount of work they had to do, which was pitiful to say the least.
The documents left behind in the mansion were kept in strict custody, and the corpses of Eslaine and the nameless knight were buried by Supple at where the village they were raised once stood, and the giant tree was planted on top of it.
After that, Supple confronted the kings of each nation, including King Aiz, with the truth.
“This is your sins. I’ll leave it to you what to do now you know about it… but if I may say one thing, I wish you don’t disappoint her more than you already have.”
“…Aah, I know. We have piled up sins since ancient times. We did all that while raising the just cause for the world and our nation’s sake. Eslaine-sama is one of those victims. I promise to pass on the truth to the later generation… about the foolishness of our ancestors.”
Aiz exhaustedly accepted Supple’s request.
What happened to Eslaine must be true. Aiz knew that since he was also a king.
After all, should he be the king of that era, he was sure he would commit the same thing.
For the sake of the world, nation, and people… all while saying all that, they continued to trample on the Saint of their own power and personal safety. That was how the royal family was.
The sin, which the kings thought was already made aware painfully, was increased by one. And it would probably continue in number as the exploration continued.
“…The king of that era… King Cyanin was said to have been a great king who ruled during the period when the Witch was least active in history, and a particularly splendid tomb was built in his name in the cemetery. Kings of the past had prayed at the tomb of King Cyanin, and I was also one of them… His royal tomb was cleaned and sanctified daily… however… from now on, I guess nobody will clean it anymore…”
Aiz lowered his face with a dry smile.
Seeing that, Supple thought he was already kind enough to not suggest digging up the grave and scattering the remains in the manure pit.
◇
――The knight was walking a long road.
He had no idea where he should go. He didn’t know if he had any destination to begin with.
He failed to protect what he wanted to protect, and he spent his days cursing his own incompetence.
Even though he was well aware she was no longer there, he kept spending his time clinging on to it.
He was freed from that and entrusted the future to that suspicious looking person… and honestly made him doubt if it was really okay to believe in that shady man with glasses, and before he knew it, he was here.
He could no longer remember his own appearance when he was alive.
He couldn’t recognize the voice of the foster parents who had raised him.
He couldn’t even remember the face of the woman he loved so much…
Even so, he continued to walk.
Was it the sin of failing to protect? If this was the punishment for his incompetence, he would accept it.
――
Suddenly, he could hear voices.
Whose voice was it? It was a nostalgic voice he hadn’t heard in a long time.
He looked up … and there he saw.
Some people had waited for him.
He wondered who that girl was.
He wondered who the old couple were.
It was people he didn’t recognize, nay, people he had forgotten.
“――――！”
The girl called for someone’s name.
He wondered whose name it was. It felt like a nostalgic name.
It was a name he hadn’t been called for a long time… aah, that’s right, it was his own name. The knight began to remember.
Then that girl was…
…That’s right. That girl was… the old couple were.
The knight ran and shouted.
They were the foster parents who he had lost. And his most beloved Saint he wanted to protect.
The girl also came running from the other side and before they knew it, both of them returned to their childhood appearance when they were alive.
――Then the two embraced each other tightly.
Author Note:
Today was the day the first volume of Fake Saint’s comic was released!
Please buy some!
Tsukii Note:
This is it, folks! We reached the end of this time’s release! Thank you for reading.
I guess I am a crybaby for crying when I read this and when I translate this.
Well now, if following the author’s tradition, it means the author will release another wave of chapters in the release of the second volume of the comic version, which could take about a year for each volume. Even so, it’s great to learn that the journey still continues!
See you again when the author decides to release another wave of chapters!
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
man… Mad respect to pervert, the nameless knight and to the selfless saintess.
supple you have my respect
Amazing story. I read it all.
suple ment ROOOOOLL!!
A gentle reminder that had the Kings of the past not kept the secret of the Witches and Saints, they would’ve had a restrained Witch they could research as well as extending their rebuild grace period since there was an active saint plus weakened demons.
Massive respect for perverted glasses….
Massive respect for the actual saint of miracle and the nameless knight. Her love for the world triumphs any saint that was born (Even Elrise’s, but to be fair she’s technically the worst saint lololol)… Binding herself in a room all alone on a mansion so that she will get killed easily. It’s too heartbreaking for both her and the nameless knight to end up like this, those royals should pay for the shits they do
Man…
I kinda expected this but maaaannnn that was pain T-T
at least they reunited in the afterlife, let’s wish their happiness there
Thanks for chapter.
Wow, she real saint. She knew her fate and what happened to her parent, yet still decide to fighting for humanity.
she still wished to protect the world where people she loved once existed, even after gradually becoming witch
Supple was very cool when he feel like it.
he is that devoted to saint as whole, though elrise still the best for him
Sobbing… You have done a great job perverted bastard glasses. Thanks so much for the chapter!
the pervert have my respect indeed
Uuuuooohhh almost shed a tear while reading this chapter