Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party-Chapter 23: Am I Dead, Perhaps?

In hindsight, I should have killed myself the moment I realized I was sick.

This body would rot away and fall apart regardless of anything I did.

If I had died a little earlier,

if I had made up my mind just a bit faster,

The person who loved me more than anyone else wouldn’t have had to die.

*Who was I again?

Why was my life like this?

When I had power, I pushed away those who helped me, and by the time I realized who was on my side, I had lost everything.

Yes. I’m an idiot. The biggest fool of all.

A stupid woman. That’s who I am.

I know this is an unreasonable request, but

If I could only be given a second chance...

To repay the debts I owed.

To repay the kindness of those who helped this stupid woman...

If that were possible, I would do anything.

But no matter how much I regret the past, what has flowed by does not return.

“Your Highness the Princess. In the past, you had your subordinates cripple my son. My little daughter was so terrified that she developed a stutter and still stammers to this day.”

Yes, just as someone whose name I can’t even remember said to me.

“I want to tell you to go to hell, but you’re already in hell.”

The past cannot be undone no matter how much I regret it,

I walked to hell with my own two legs.

I, who am living a life with no future, am already as good as dead.

*-Supplicant. Remember this. The reason the Lord helped you today, is because He wants you to become a person who helps their neighbors.

Then, one day. Everything changed.

It all happened when I met a priest and he rubbed my back.

The dizziness that always blanketed my mind was swept away as if a storm had blown through, and an indescribable elation took its place instead. Vitality flowed through my rotten body.

Grace. Immense, magnanimous grace was there.

During my life, I have met numerous priests, even the highest-ranking members of the Church. But I could say with complete surety, that none of them felt like this.

None of the holiness they had displayed could even reach the toes of this great being.

Without realizing it, I raised my voice. At that moment, I didn’t even think about being a princess.

I was just a lump of flesh. A lump of flesh standing on two legs, and that great being was a sacred something looking down on us from above the sky.

There was only one word that could explain such a thing with my common sense.

A God was before me.

“Are, are you...An avatar sent down by God...?”

“Of course not.”

Just a priest he said...

Nothing more,

Nothing less.

Just an ordinary priest named Kyle.

He just answered like that, but I knew that wasn’t it.

An ordinary priest cannot communicate with God like that. The Lord’s will cannot be conveyed in such a way.

The reason scriptures exist is because not everyone can hear a God’s voice.

Even the Pope of a denomination cannot do that recklessly. Only saints can do it to a limited extent.

“Saint, please tell me about the one you serve.”

So I could kneel without hesitation. The God who gave me another chance. I wanted to express my gratitude to that unknown God.

But no matter how much I, a human, pray, those prayers do not reach God.

But telling a saint, who is like a son of God, is the same as telling it to God.

“The one I serve is simply the embodiment of Hope. The one who embraces the countless possibilities of the cosmos. He doesn’t need our faith or adoration.”

“I have never heard of such a being.”

No matter how foolish this Princess is,

I, at least know how close to impossible the chances of me being healed were.

“The one you serve must be an Ancient God that surpasses even the Trinity.”

Both God and priest must transcend the ordinary.

The local gods worshipped in a single village would not be able to heal me even if that God descended. Let alone a priest of such God.

Even if he is a priest of a god that surpasses the Trinity, if he is not at least a Pope or a saint, the result would be the same.

A god that surpasses even the Trinity. Yes, I’ve definitely heard stories.

“Because only the ancient gods, who are the laws and pillars of this world itself, can bestow such a miracle upon me.”

They are called gods, but they are fundamentally different from personal gods like the Trinity.

The laws of the universe itself, which have existed since the dawn of creation. They are not beings that humans can essentially serve. Even if you pray, those prayers are just hollow echoes, and they won’t even be heard by them.

This world is so vast, and the size of the laws that govern all things in heaven and earth are no less than that. The laws of the universe are so wide and deep that personality within them is as small and insignificant as an uninhabited island in the vast ocean. Ancient gods generally have no personality and simply exist as laws themselves.

But generally speaking, there are exceptions.

In the long history, I know of the secret stories of Ancient Gods occasionally awakening with a sense of self and bestowing power upon those who serve them.

The universe does not need our faith. The Ancient Gods are stronger than anything else just by themselves.

Those chosen by such beings have left large and small marks in history, showing miracles that astonish the world. It’s probably not something well-known to the public.

Because the many denominations, including the Trinity Church, did not want such things to be known.

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The saint was just smiling brightly. Somehow, he seemed to think that I was wrong. But there’s no way I could be wrong.

I saw it with my own eyes and witnessed the miracle.

The tears flowing down my cheeks are proof of that.

The tears I thought had already dried up,

This sensation of them falling and flowing on my cheeks,

It was proving that I had truly shaken off the curse of leprosy. The ticklish feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time was unfamiliar but pleasant. I felt like I could laugh all day long.

“It’s too early to tell you since it’s not even noon yet, but it would be best for you to sleep for a night before leaving. The Lord took away your disease Dein, but he did not relieve your exhaustion.”

“Ah!”

Only then did I realize that I was quite dizzy. My body was shivering with cold, and my forehead was slightly hot.

My head felt heavy and dizzy. I could tell that my stamina had greatly decreased.

I collapsed onto the bed. It felt comfortable, like being in a soft, pleasant, warm bath. I could feel the cozy divine power covering me like a warm blanket.

“That’s why. Please rest for a while.”

It wasn’t a mistake. A cozy blanket was placed over me as I slept.

Hoping that all of this was not just a dream, I fell asleep.

Come to think of it, I managed to journey all the way here on a mount, with my rotten body.

On top of that, I couldn’t even rest properly.

As the tension completely dissipated, the suppressed fatigue burst out in an instant. In fact, I was so exhausted that it wouldn’t have been strange if I had been groaning for days, but it seemed that most of the fatigue was relieved by the divine power, ending up like this.

Wait, I...

In the hazy feeling of losing consciousness, my face flushed.

I’m dirty right now...

But only for a moment.

Sleep embraced me warmly and took me to the land of dreams.

*****“Tsk...In the end, we’ll have to wash the blanket and the bedsheets.”

Roka grumbled. You rascal. It’s like you’re the one who will have to do it.

I just laughed. Am I the one doing the laundry or are you? I’ll be washing it anyway.

I don’t know where Dein came from but her appearance was no different from a beggar’s. As if she had rolled on the ground, her body was covered in dirt, and some of it naturally stained the bed.

But people are more important than worldly possessions. Beds exist for people, not the other way around.

“I should prepare a bath for her. I don’t know where her home is, but I’ll have to prepare money for her to return home as well.”

“Is there a reason to go that far?”

“She’s a guest. A guest who came to see me. That’s no different from a guest who came to see the Lord.”

“Still...”

Roka glared at Dein, who was sleeping on the bed, and grumbled once more.

“Then I’ll prepare the bathwater.”

“You? I’d appreciate that.”

“...I don’t like it, but she’s the master’s guest.”

I hope she doesn’t do something weird with the bath water, like spitting on it.

No, I should trust Roka. Just as the Lord trusts me, I must also trust my little wolf.

After Roka left to prepare the bathwater, I sat on a chair for a moment, made the sign of the cross, and offered a short prayer.

And just as I was about to get up, I suddenly saw a pure white arm blocking my way. Not just one arm, but hundreds or thousands of arms completely covered my field of vision.

“...Did I die in such a short moment?”

Looking back, I saw a familiar face... if you could call it a face. On that face, as empty as a void and as dark as an abyss without light, there were no eyes, nose, or mouth.

It was an old acquaintance.

The Faceless Angel.

-Not yet, Apostle. But you will die in the future, yes.

“Ah, for a moment I thought that Dein might have slipped some poison in the tea...”

-Ardein, Apostle. Her true name is Princess Ardein Von Illumina. The imperial princess of the country you live in.

“Ahahahaha...That’s a good joke.”

Now we could even joke with each other without hesitation. I’m thankful for getting closer to the Angels of the Lord.

Princess Ardein von Illumina. The war hero of the empire. The invincible Steel Princess.

Even so, by the time Yurinel Lakponcia began to rise, she was already starting to be erased from people’s memories.

The Imperial Family and Yurinel Lakponcia, who received support from the Church-State, were not on very friendly terms.

If that was the case for Yurinel Lakponcia, it goes without saying for me, who was just an ordinary priest following her.

I knew that leprosy had broken out in Princess Ardein, but it was unthinkable for me to seek her out first.

Above all, the princess, especially the First Princess of the Empire, was someone who could receive treatment from the saint of the Church at any time, so I didn’t think I could be of any help to her.

There’s no way such a person would have come all the way here, right?

The Goddesses worshipped by the Trinity Church must be as great as my Lord.

“Why would someone who is the imperial princess come to see me in such a state?”

-Should I tell you another joke then? Perhaps a bad one will fit this occasion.

But it seems I was the only one who thought it was a joke.

-Apostle. The day you come to our side is not far off.

The angel spoke to me very seriously.

-Soon, a new cycle will begin in this world. One more perilous than the others. Perhaps the last.