240. Childhood Friend – Maryel Side Story

Just over twenty years ago, ‘Maryel Bailei’ was an ordinary young lady of the Bailei Baron family.

She had an older brother who got married and a younger sister who needed to set an example while her younger brother trained diligently in swordsmanship to become a knight.

It was a family without anything special.

There was hardly a way to introduce this baron family except for the fact that they were situated at the southernmost tip of the Asran Kingdom, bordering the Belita Kingdom.

Ah, they were quite a remarkable knight family too. Given the conflict between the Belita Kingdom and the Asran Kingdom, Baron Bailei at the forefront received financial support from the kingdom.

However, his stubborn father squandered all that money maintaining a very small number of soldiers. So, the young ladies of the baron family had to dress themselves and cook their own meals. They were even responsible for shopping.

“Sister, sister. You’ll be getting married soon, won’t you?”

On their way to buy groceries, Maryel’s younger sister, Marsha, asked. Since their older brother got married, wasn’t it now her turn? Maryel smiled sweetly as she replied.

“Perhaps?”

“Where are you going? Tsk, even if men get married, they eventually stay at our house, but you’ll be going somewhere else?”

“Oh my, look at you. So, Marsha, do you want to bring in a live-in son-in-law? That means~”

“Yikes!”

Marsha covered her mischievous sister’s mouth. Most likely, it was because it was about her future husband, causing the young girl’s face to turn bright red.

Maryel wasn’t getting married yet, but Marsha’s marriage had been somewhat settled. It was the grandson of the chief of a local tribe that settled in the Bailei Barony.

Due to the nature of the Asran Kingdom, a mix of feudalism and chieftainship, most of the residents living in the Bailei Barony were indigenous people, ruled over by both Baron Bailei and the tribal chief.

Thus, the two families maintained a very close relationship, and since the chief’s grandson and Marsha were about the same age, there had been talks of marrying them for over ten years.

Maryel was gleefully teasing her younger sister, who had her engagement set before her. Marsha sulked, wondering why it had come to this.

“I don’t like him. He just blusters about wanting to become a great warrior by catching monsters…”

“Then just stop him from going.”

“How could I stop someone who says he wants to go?”

“Do you think such a pretty sister’s words won’t be heard?”

“Hey! Are you going to keep teasing me…? Huh?”

“Hmm? What’s that…”

The bustling market surrounding the girls fell into silence. The tribal people gazed blankly at the sky, and the only noise was the clattering sound of someone tripping while trying to look up.

Even the sound of dogs barking was absent.

The wind had stopped.

As Maryel looked up, she saw the blue autumn sky split open. Through the gap, a massive being wearing a crown of thorns and another crown was faintly visible, but it quickly became engulfed in a white light.

It was bright.

But it wasn’t blinding.

Maryel failed to notice how the light that covered the entire continent was gradually narrowing towards her. All she could feel was an overwhelming presence,

the Master God.

“Uh, sister…!”

“It’s the God.”

Everyone except her younger sister knelt down. No, even Marsha eventually kneeled before the newly born saint’s holiness, and those bowing their heads were not just the people of the Bailei Barony.

A cardinal of the Asran Kingdom rushed in barefoot. The elderly king rode in on horseback instead of in a litter and bowed his head, asking for the first blessing to be bestowed upon his young son, who looked like a bloodied infant.

The Saint.

Maryel had no one above her anymore.

Even her strict father and mother bowed their heads, and they ceased to be her parents.

For a saint, the daughter of the God, having human parents was absurd.

Maryel accepted it easily.

In a moment, she lost her surname, Bailei, and her parents too, but she felt nothing as she succeeded the eighty-sixth saint, who had just passed away.

She was engulfed by the overwhelming fulfillment of encountering the Master God. To her, the deity became everything, and the conflicts and loves of human life faded from her sight. She lived only to serve the God fiercely.

‘My younger brother Jensen and Marsha cried a lot at first.’

But it seems the human heart is something even the God cannot affect. Or perhaps, the God allowed the human heart to be as such.

It wasn’t until nearly twenty years had passed that the saint began to gradually pull away from the God’s inescapable presence.

Her feelings towards the God hadn’t decreased but perhaps she became accustomed to it? The saint had, to that extent, become more human again.

The four avatars of the God. The God of Patience and Dedication, Namere, felt frustratingly quiet, while the God of Noble Sacrifice, Boar, felt like a familiar sister, and the God of Battle and Honor, Lachar, felt like an obstinate older brother. By the time the admonishments of the God of Evil, Binard, began to feel increasingly like nagging, Maryel was finally able to look around her.

After nearly twenty years, she wrote a letter.

While she could have sent a message to the church in her hometown, how could the saint, who hadn’t contacted her older sister since becoming a saint, dare to ask for a conversation? A handwritten letter was far better.

The reply came after several months.

Her younger sister, whom she was overjoyed to hear from, had gotten married. She married the man they had expected and was living well with children, but apparently, she still hadn’t given up on her dream of becoming a great warrior and was causing trouble… It seemed nothing had changed, and Maryel smiled contentedly.

Through the letters exchanged over several months, Maryel learned what had happened in her hometown.

Her brother, who became the Baron Bailei, had safely navigated the schism war in the Asran Kingdom, and her younger brother became the commander of the knights in the Austin Kingdom. While she was happy, her heart pained when she received the news about her parents through an inquiry about how they were doing. Maryel prayed for her parents’ souls.

As she was fulfilling her duties as a saint while waiting occasionally for her younger sister’s letters, it was during the midday prayer as usual when the sun suddenly tilted.

For a moment, she thought she had dozed off.

But was it even possible to doze off while walking? It seemed the time had changed. Not only the time, but she also realized that the clothes she was wearing had become thicker.

Time had leaped from late autumn to winter and even forward to the year-end, and a new letter from her younger sister arrived.

What in the world was going on?

Maryel prayed to the God, but did not receive an answer. Only the often talkative Binard replied,

[ It’s still not necessary to know. More importantly, a war will break out soon. The God wishes for the Cross Church and the Holy Kingdom not to get involved in that war. ]

Of course, her questions remained unresolved.

When she persistently prayed, the God and the three avatars remained silent as usual, and only Binard spoke as if he were letting something slip.

[ The time has come for the evil to descend upon the earth, so do not worry and carry out your duties. The power of humans is valuable, but one must be mindful of time and place. The God takes you dearly, providing three rivers across the continent, letting them flow naturally in order… (omission) ]

…He delivered an incredibly long message filled with metaphors that provided no assistance. She thought perhaps she would understand someday, and as she resumed living, the following summer, it jumped back to summer. To the previous summer.

It wasn’t just the seasons that had changed, the hour of the day had changed as well.

It was early morning.

As Maryel changed her clothes, she noticed a letter on her desk neatly folded that bore the news of her parents’ passing, and she had already sent a reply.

Could it be that the time had been turned back? — she speculated, but the day after she went to sleep, Maryel woke up in disbelief. Before the sun had fully risen, just as she was about to open her eyes after awakening, flash! She found herself sitting in the reception room.

Strangely, she was listening to Cardinal Michael’s (the report she’d received a few weeks prior).

“It’s now time to finish expelling the indigenous people who worship the Evil God. Can we redefine the church’s future projects?”

Cardinal Michael asked. Maryel, still rubbing her ‘sleepy’ eyes, replied,

“Please discuss it with the other cardinals. Oh, and Cardinal Michael, you may return from your pilgrimage.”

She preemptively answered the request she expected.

Had Cardinal Michael thought he had received the God’s command? He couldn’t hide his astonishment and left with a smile.

Immediately after, Maryel returned to her room. Upon checking the time and examining the letters exchanged with her sister, she discovered that this time, a letter bearing the news of her parents’ passing lay unopened on her desk.

She had returned to the same summer, roughly a week earlier. Last time she had gone back early in the morning, but this time, it was in broad daylight.

Since then, there have been several more times of going back. Maryel began to understand the pattern, but there was no set time for when she would return.

Sometimes she would go back late at night and sometimes wake up in shock in the middle of the night. There were evenings, bright afternoons, or mornings at noon as well.

On the other hand, the times for returning were fixed. One was in winter, and the other two in summer, each with an interval of about a week apart. Amongst the returns to summer, the previous one was quite early in the morning.

Winter at the year-end, early summer in the morning, and summer during the day—that was the order of the seasons Maryel thought in her mind.

However, the reason why time kept going back was something the God didn’t answer, so there was no way to know. Yet Maryel learned the reason for the average short lifespan of saints.

‘This isn’t happening to just me.’

There were saints who lived to old age, dying at the age no different from others, but there were also saints who aged and died only days after becoming saints.

That was just the appearance, but they probably all lived out their original lifespans.

Just like how time flows for Maryel herself.

Thus, Maryel also aged in the looping times. However, at some point, unusual events began to occur.

“The son of Gilbert Forte, the Swordmaster of the Belita Kingdom, has been assassinated. The culprit has not been found.”

This was the first time, it seemed.

Whether he was the son of a Swordmaster or not, such minor nobility was none of the saint’s business, but the reason she remembered him was that Gilbert Forte came to the Monastery Church ‘every time.’

Every time, reports came in that the son of an important family was seeking asylum due to political reasons, but that man had abruptly died.

What on earth was happening?

Then, she received urgent news in the middle of the night. A horrific hole had opened in the sky over Rutina, a communication from Cardinal Berg dispatched to the Conrad Kingdom.

The appearance of the Evil God.

Maryel asked whether assistance would be needed, but Cardinal Berg said he would take care of it himself. Right after that, time was turned back.

“What is going on? Do I not need to do anything?”

Maryel inquired, but the God stated this time that she would have work to do and told her not to move from the Monastery Church until the following autumn…

‘What could be the work I would do in autumn?’

Could it be conducting ceremonies for apprentice priests? That was about it.

However, this time as the Apostle of the Evil God appeared in the Orun Kingdom, Maryel realized what was expected of her. The only thing uncertain was…

‘Why does He want me to wait?’

Shouldn’t they be apprehended before any more damage occurs?

But the God was indifferent, as if wanting the Apostle of the Evil God to arrive at the Monastery Church…

And finally, autumn.

Nevis was devastated, and the Holy Knights and priests who were dispatched along with the knights of the Jerome Holy Kingdom were all slaughtered. Cardinal Berg, who rushed in from the Conrad Kingdom, and the priests he had secretly trained also perished.

Aren’t things becoming uncontrollable? Maryel worried, but the Apostle of Barbatos rushed towards the Monastery Church.

It didn’t make sense.

There were plenty of offerings available, so why?

The reason was soon revealed.

Without even having a proper fight, Lachar told her to gather the brass cup in the library. She would be fighting her today.

However, the Apostle that entered the Monastery Church wasn’t a woman. It was a young man who was staggering, and what on earth was this?

The Apostle of Barbatos, whom she had thought would come directly to her, went the wrong way. Out of the blue, he headed to the library where he encountered a priest apprentice. Maryel then understood.

‘The author is being punished. There’s someone who has fallen into temptation.’

Realizing that the author was the first river, Maryel bestowed a blessing upon that poor soul.

The young man, twisting in agony and transforming into wood, was ignited by the blessing, and a girl apprentice who was devoured by the Evil God shouted with all her might.

“You have come. You, filthy whore of the God! You will pay for killing my followers in place of the God… Argh! Damn it! It wasn’t just about not dying!”

Maryel saw it.

The young man and the strange form of spirit soaring high into the air. And it was then that she understood the reason time was repeating.

– Clank.

The twelve-sided die of the God enveloped the two souls soaring through the air. Maryel was now prepared for time to rewind, but…

Time did not go back.

The girl who became Barbatos opened her mouth in fury. Grabbing her own (Leah’s) throat, she shouted in a frenzy.

“Why? Did you think time would turn back? Hahaha! You know nothing, know nothing at all! I’ve now realized that this world is all because of that damned girl! Just because of this girl…”

“Shut up.”

Maryel aimed the staff at Barbatos. The relic of Saint Azra, the brass cup, chimed as it sliced through Barbatos’s overflowing divine power in half and then further halved that.

Such shoddy, reverse-triangular divine power could not be her opponent. And in fact…

Unless the God intentionally allowed her to lose, Maryel could not be defeated.

This world belongs to the God.

Even the Evil God was a possession of the God and merely a piece on the board.

*

Maryel smiled as she instructed the two rivers to take their place. Reb and Leo Dexter sat down.