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Chapter : 6
The Baby Saint Wants to Destroy the World!
“Ugh!”
“Get lost, you bastard! What the hell was I thinking!”
What on earth was she supposed to do with this infuriating man?
True to his nickname, Casanova, even with one eye swollen black and blue, Jack still wore that captivating smile.
“You’d do well to stay on my good side. After all, the one in need right now is Your Majesty, not me.”
Smiling brightly, he mercilessly rubbed salt into her wounds.
Just endure it. Endure it for now.
Grinding her already tiny baby teeth together, Lucy asked,
“Does anyone else know about the Saintess?”
“Who knows? Now that I’ve discovered you, the Temple will probably make an official announcement before long.”
“…So if you hadn’t found me, they could have kept it hidden forever.”
“Even throughout the Temple’s long history, the reincarnation of a Saintess—the Goddess’s incarnation—has only happened a handful of times.”
The Saintess was the representative of the Goddess.
Blessed with limitless divine power, she was treated as a living Goddess herself and, in theory, even held authority above the Pope, the leader of the Temple.
“Is that really true?”
“In theory, yes. In reality, however, she’ll most likely end up as nothing more than a pitiful ornament manipulated by the Pope and the Temple’s upper ranks.”
“Don’t tell me… Bahaman intends to—”
Bahaman possessed a body blessed by the Goddess.
On top of that, he had become the very first person to discover the newly descended Saintess. In effect, he could already be considered the Temple’s current leader and the strongest candidate for the next Pope.
“I don’t believe he’s the kind of man capable of handling such a position.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
He had never been particularly talented at political maneuvering.
The only reason someone like him had become the leading candidate for the papacy was because the Goddess herself had arranged it.
For Lucy, who had never believed in gods, it made the situation all the more troublesome.
“At the very least, you need to be able to walk on your own. I’ll do everything I can to keep things under control for about five years.”
“Really?”
“Stay quiet until then. If the priests discover who you truly are, they absolutely won’t leave you alone.”
The Temple and mages were sworn enemies.
And if anyone ever discovered that the baby pretending to be the Saintess was actually the reincarnation of a witch, surviving would become nearly impossible.
“You’d better grow up quickly. The day Chrome’s patience finally runs out, this beautiful city will become a wasteland overnight.”
If Chrome seriously decided to come looking for her himself…
Lucy, who had once been his master, knew better than anyone just how terrifying he became when enraged.
“Please take good care of him.”
Like a newly hatched chick imprinting on the first thing it saw as its mother, Chrome had been one of Lucy’s most devoted followers in all of Lunafeld.
Adding that unnecessary remark that only made her heart heavier, Jack gently returned the baby Saintess to her cradle.
“Ugh…”
The unexpected natural reaction from earlier had left her feeling extremely uncomfortable.
“It’s about time you went to sleep.”
Jack snapped his fingers.
The Spirit’s power that had been lending her a voice disappeared as though it had never existed.
“Abu? (What?)”
[My beloved Jack, please grant lovely Lucy’s request.]
That bastard!
After hearing the Spirit repeat those words over and over in its borrowed voice, Jack smiled in complete satisfaction.
Still…
No matter how irritating he was, he wasn’t the type to go back on his word.
As soon as the Spirit’s blessing vanished, her useless baby body immediately returned to acting like an ordinary infant.
Unlike adults, who could endure discomfort, newborns had no way to express themselves except by crying.
Just as tears were about to burst out because of her already soaked diaper, Jack lightly snapped his fingers again.
“Shh. I’ll change your diaper with the Spirits’ help. Don’t cry. Just get some sleep.”
“Uwaa! Uwaaa! (How did you—?!)”
She had tried so desperately not to let anyone notice.
Jack simply nodded as though he already knew everything before speaking again.
“Looking after Her Majesty at the closest distance is naturally the duty of a loyal attendant.”
The Spirits, who had been pinching their noses in misery, vanished.
Before she realized it, her diaper felt perfectly clean and dry.
The humiliation doubled.
To think she’d end up making him do something like this.
“Having a secret shared between just the two of us isn’t such a bad thing.”
Apparently delighted, Jack gently kissed the tiny hand of the adorable baby Saintess.
“Uwaaaah! (Shut up!)”
Why did he always have to say things like that?
“For now… grow up safely, my Queen.”
When Lucy glared fiercely at him, Jack merely smiled radiantly, looking genuinely pleased, before disappearing into the darkness.
***** ***
“Haa…”
That meeting had brought her nothing but despair.
After confirming that Jack’s presence had completely disappeared, Lucy lay in her cradle and organized everything she had learned.
- Lucifella, the Mistress of Lunafeld and the ninety-ninth life of Pride, was already dead. (Fact.)
- The identity of the murderer remained unknown. (Fact.) However, Jack suspected it was one of Lunafeld’s Seven Mages.
- Chrome was currently preserving Lucifella’s corpse. (Fact.) Roughly fifty years later, Lucy had been reborn into the body now known as the Saintess.
- Chrome was still searching for the person who had killed her.
And if he ever discovered she was here…
He really is the kind of man who’d reduce an entire city to ruins.
Thinking about her overly fussy disciple made her chest ache.
Before her death, Chrome had only been eighteen years old.
Despite possessing terrifying magical talent, he had also had a youthful appearance and an unexpectedly gentle heart.
Though…
She alone had known that side of him.
Unlike Lucy, whose lifespan was uncertain, or Jack and the other immortal mages, Chrome had still been growing, so he had never used immortality magic.
He always used to say that he wanted to grow taller.
By now, he had probably become far more mature than she had ever been at twenty years old.
No…
Fifty years had passed.
Even if he wasn’t quite as old as Bahaman by appearance, he would certainly have aged considerably.
Of course, once one became immortal, numerical age lost all meaning.
Still…
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t curious about how her old companions were doing.
He must resent me.
She had died so absurdly right before the final battle.
How shocked must he have been?
From the very beginning, every time Lucy caused trouble, it had always been Chrome who cleaned up after her.
If she got indigestion from eating something strange, he treated her.
If she tried lying down too soon after eating, he lectured her.
If she overslept, he woke her up.
He had done everything.
Honestly…
The reason she didn’t want to return wasn’t only because she suspected he might have killed her.
She still had her pride as his master.
There was no way she wanted him to see her in such an utterly ridiculous state.
“Saintess.”
“Eek!”
A head suddenly popped up over the edge of the cradle.
Lucy screamed in shock.
Cardinal Maria, who had volunteered for the night shift out of pure devotion, opened the diaper with practiced hands before tilting her head.
“You should be needing to pee around now. Still no sign?”
“……”
“And you’re not hungry?”
Now that she mentioned it…
She really did want some warm goat’s milk.
For some reason, it reminded her of enjoying a hearty bowl of soup at her favorite restaurant near Lunafeld.
“Baa! (Give it to me!)”
“Oh my, what a good child. I’ve cared for over a thousand babies, yet I’ve never seen one as clever and well-behaved as our Saintess.”
As though she had prepared it in advance, Maria immediately handed over a bottle of warm goat’s milk.
Lucy eagerly drained it in one go, memories from long ago surfacing in her mind.
Ironically…
The truly clever baby who hardly ever cried had been Chrome.
She had never imagined the day would come when she would receive such praise.
Nearly fifty years had passed since she had disappeared.
The more she thought about it, the more curious she became about how her disciple had been living all this time.
***** ***
“…My ear itches.”
Chrome, the Governor responsible for overseeing the magical city of Lunafeld, frowned at the strange sensation.
His long navy-blue hair was neatly tied up.
Nothing should have been brushing against his ear.
Blinking his grayish-blue eyes, he suddenly thought of the precious person he had lost so many years ago.
“You know what it means when your ear suddenly itches? It means someone’s talking behind your back.”
The woman who had laughed heartily while teasing him—
his savior…
his older sister…
his master…
had died decades ago.
It had taken him more than ten years simply to accept her death.
Her sudden passing had forced him to stop the war.
He had personally eliminated every fool who tried to seize her place.
After all those years, only three of their former companions—including himself—still remained in Lunafeld.
He had eventually cast immortality magic upon himself, freezing his age.
But compared to her, who would forever remain twenty years old…
He had become much more of an adult.
I suppose… she’ll never call me cute again.
If she could see him now…
What would she say?
Lucifella.
Even merely remembering her name still made his heart ache.
She had treasured Chrome, the only one younger than herself, like a real little brother.
And not only that.
Even the greatest natural talent required someone capable of recognizing and nurturing it before it could truly blossom.
Ironically, the strongest mage in Lunafeld had never possessed extraordinary talent.
What she had possessed instead was endless knowledge…
and an iron will capable of enduring any amount of hardship.
Although Chrome’s innate talent far surpassed hers, he had never once managed to truly defeat her in a duel while she was alive.
“Brat, it’ll take another hundred years before you’re capable of beating me.”
Every time she joked like that, he secretly prayed.
If only…
If only she could really break the curse placed upon her and live for another hundred years.
If she saw him now, she would no longer be able to treat him like a little brother.
Around the time he turned twenty, his height had suddenly shot up until he stood well over 185 centimeters tall.
The martial arts he had practiced as a hobby had broadened his physique even further.
Anyone who remembered the boy he used to be would mistake the current Chrome for someone else entirely.
Time had changed everything.
The youthful child she remembered now existed only as a distant memory.
Even if it had been nothing more than a childish wish…
He had wanted to become a man worthy of standing beside her.
“I just hope… you’ll still recognize me.”
When would the promise they had made to meet again finally come true?
Holding that bittersweet longing close to his heart, Chrome quietly immersed himself in memories from a long-forgotten past.
