Wasn’t This a Night Game

Just Don’t Break

Saint Amael, lookin’ up at the sky, he was wailin’.

Tearin’ at his chest, his head.

“Please… Please. I just wanna be happy. Please.”

Sobbin’ and beggin’, then he screamed, crumplin’ to the ground.

He was breakin’ down.

Twistin’ in pain, sinkin’ deeper into the dark.

And then…

Gone.

*

Both princesses shot up in bed, like they were sprung from a trap.

Cold sweat drippin’ all over ’em.

“What… What was that?”

Iomene wiped her forehead, then stared at the back of her own hand.

The Scar of Dulanear shone bright.

They both knew, immediately, that this was no mere dream.

“Why, in the world, would the Saint? Why…?”

Almene murmured, just as a memory flickered through both their minds.

The time when Iomene’s mind was still untethered.

The memory of Amael, cradling Iomene and weeping.

“If Iomene stays by my side, she will be hurt.”

They remembered the Saint’s sorrowful gaze as he looked down at her, the one who had asked for his hand in marriage.

A mournful smile, as if forcing down frustration and injustice, surfaced in their minds.

“I am sorry, Iomene.”

And the moment he held Iomene and wept, that too returned.

For a moment, the two Princesses lingered with those memories, then simultaneously rose, faces now pallid.

Hastily changing their clothes, they rushed outside.

“To the Mars Magic Tower Branch. Depart immediately, please!”

“As you command, Your Highnesses.”

The limousine was readied like a bullet, and they arrived at the Magic Tower before long.

Stepping out of the car, surrounded by their guard detail, they entered the Magic Tower. Despite the abruptness of their visit, the Tower Lord was summoned and descended without delay.

“Wh-what brings you here?”

Flustered, Tower Lord Jörgen hurried down to them. The two Princesses bowed their heads cautiously.

“Forgive this discourtesy, arriving without prior notice. However, there is someone we urgently need to meet, compelling us to come so abruptly.”

“Who is it you wish to meet?”

“Is Erpa here? I wish to meet with her.”

“With Erpa?”

“Yes. Me, Iomene, and Erpa-nim. Just the three of us wish to speak.”

“I’ll summon her immediately. Would you wait a moment in the reception room?”

“Please.”

The two Imperial Princesses went to the Magic Tower’s reception room to wait quietly, and before five minutes had passed, Erpa entered directly into the reception room.

“Then, please converse.”

The Magic Tower Master bowed his head politely and closed the door, leaving only three women inside the reception room.

Erpa, with a blank expression, gazed at the two Imperial Princesses for a moment, then gave a polite greeting.

“Your Imperial Highnesses, I greet you. I am Erpa, a witch of the Magic Tower.”

In Erpa’s eyes, wariness, fear, and a strange jealousy flickered.

The two could understand why she wore such an expression.

“Erpa-nim, we came because we wish to speak about the Saintess-nim.”

As Almene opened her mouth first, Erpa’s hands began to tremble.

“As I thought. Is that why you came?”

Erpa opened her mouth with a choked voice.

“You’re going to tell me to give up on the Saintess-nim, aren’t you? And the two of you intend to monopolize the Saintess-nim, is that it?”

Erpa lowered her head as if she were miserable.

“That’s right. I was jilted. I was rejected in front of Iomene-nim. But even so, I will absolutely never give up. No matter what threats you make. I will absolutely never give up on her.”

Iomene rose at those words.

“I’m sorry, but you’ve misunderstood.”

“If it’s not that, what other reason could you have for seeking me out?”

Iomene tossed out a word, carelessly.

“The Saint will die, Erpa.”

With that one phrase, Erpa’s aura shifted.

“…Excuse me?”

Iomene gestured to the stigma on the back of her hand.

“Dullanear showed it to the two of us this morning. The Saint, unable to bear the pain, eventually collapsing and breaking.”

The jealousy vanished from Erpa’s eyes.

The anger too.

The rivalry, all of it, gone.

And finally, the look Iomene had wanted.

She became desperate.

“Sit down, for now. It seems the story will be a little long.”

Iomene quietly indicated the opposite side of the reception room sofa where the two were seated, and Erpa didn’t refuse.

Sitting on the sofa, Erpa’s eyes trembled.

“Tell me everything, in detail.”

Almene explained.

“It’s just as I said. We saw the Saint in agony, consumed by the darkness and vanishing. It looked as though his mind had crumbled. He was begging us to please, make him happy.”

Erpa’s eyes flickered, jittery.

“Why? He is the most devout servant of the gods there is. Saved countless lives, rescued even us. So why him, then?”

Iomene answers the question.

“Speculation. Only speculation, but there’s one thing that keeps gnawing at me.”

“And that is?”

“Perhaps the Saint received a revelation that he must continue fighting evil. The fact that Dullanaer, god of evil’s obliteration, bothered to show us the Saint’s image is proof enough. Even if he serves a different god, he will be used to fulfill Dullanaer’s will.”

Erpa shook her head, a look of utter bewilderment plastered on her face.

“Obliteration of evil? Isn’t that the job of the White Order’s Saintess, Iomene? Why the Saint?”

Iomene offered a wry, bitter smile.

“It must be how urgent things are. For 300 years, no Saint, no Saintess, no Hero was permitted, and yet, nearly simultaneously, humanity receives a Healing Saint and an Evil-Obliterating Saintess. Surely the Saint wasn’t sent to simply heal and leave, was he?”

Three hundred years ago.

Before the Empire was even founded.

Back then, finding Saints, Saintesses, and Heroes wasn’t such a difficult task, so they say.

The gods, too, spoke their pronouncements to humans more directly, and divine power, blessings, miracles were far more potent than they are now.

But for 300 years, the pantheon gods stopped granting Saints, Saintesses, and Heroes to humanity, pronouncements became incredibly rare, and miracles and divine power weakened considerably compared to their golden age.

Conversely, evil god worshippers and demon cultists steadily grew their strength in the shadows for 300 years, growing to the point where they could place a chosen of an evil god right in the heart of the Imperial Palace.

Humans couldn’t know exactly what was happening in the heavens and hells, but it was obvious that the pantheon’s power was waning while the strength of evil entities was growing.

In the midst of this.

The Saint appeared and saved the Empire.

As Iomene said, he wasn’t sent to simply heal the sick and leave. That much was clear.

“This ‘Evil Extinction’ isn’t necessarily just about physically bashing heads like the White Order. He’s clearly been given the mission to save the weak, even now.”

Almene took up the thread.

“Besides, he’s a Seer. It wouldn’t be strange if he saw a future where the world is destroyed in the hands of evil ones. Maybe, to stop that future and save those who suffer, he’s carrying all the burden alone and keeps going…”

The words stopped short.

All three women were pale.

They hated it.

The Saint disappearing and breaking down.

They really, really hated it more than death.

Erpa grasped her four trembling hands tightly together.

“The reason you pushed me away… It was because of that. You must have thought I’d get hurt if I stayed by your side, because you have to fight evil beings.”

Erpa seemed to recall the moment the Saint coldly rejected her.

Just a moment ago it was a depressing memory, but now it was a memory that bred anxiety and worry.

“What should we do? How can we stop the future where you break down?”

At those words, Almene smiled faintly.

“It’s simple. You just need someone to open your heart to.”

“Knowing you, you’d rather suffer alone! You’ll never, ever open your heart. You’re the kind who’d rather die than have someone else struggle because of your mission.”

It wasn’t wrong.

Foolishly good and never looking after yourself at all, a being who willingly throws himself into danger to save people.

That was Saint Amael, as the three of them knew him.

No matter how much they tried to approach, he’d surely push them away, worried that they would get hurt.

No matter how much you plead and persuade, he’d never open his heart.

Inside, he was suffering more than anyone, collapsing, but he’d act like a fool, that was certain.

Erpa didn’t know how to make the Holy One open up, but Iomene and Almene wore knowing smiles, as if they held the answer.

“Let’s get him drunk.”

Iomene spat out the words.

“And then… we do it.”

Erpa choked, swallowing wrong, and coughed.

“W-what!……”

“Knowing the Holy One’s character, he’ll never give his heart in an ordinary way. He’d never lean on anyone, ever. So, I think it’s time for a somewhat extreme method.”

“The Holy One loves you, Erpa-nim. When you rejected him and left, you wouldn’t know how sadly he watched your retreating back.”

Erpa was stunned by those words.

“Really… he really did?”

“It was a look that couldn’t come from anything but love. It’s clear. So you have to do it. Go and get his heart, somehow. And comfort him. He’ll be in pain in the future anyway. You have to be the pillar that keeps him from crumbling.”

“That’s what we came to say. You can do it, Erpa.”

Erpa fell silent at the words of Iomene and Princess Almene.

After a long while, she opened her mouth.

“Why are you doing this for me, going this far? Weren’t you two also in love with the Holy One?”

At those words, the two princesses nodded.

“We love him. We love him so much it takes our breath away.”

“To be honest, we thought about getting rid of you somehow and keeping the Holy One to ourselves, just the two of us, many times. But we just… couldn’t do it.”

“To be saved by the Saint, and then try to stop another, equally saved, from loving him… I thought it was too selfish.”

“So go. Go and take the Saint’s heart and make him happy. That’s what we want.”

The conversation ended.

Iomene and Almene were smiling with sad faces, and Erpa was staring back at the two princesses.

Erpa seemed to be thinking something over.

For a good long while she wrestled with it, then finally let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“You’re both fools. Trying to hand over the man you love to a rival.”

Iomene smiled bitterly.

“We were thinking what fools we were being on the way here, too.”

“Don’t worry. I’m just as big a fool as you two.”

At that, the two princesses looked surprised. Erpa shrugged at their expressions.

“Three are better than one, right? And besides, you want me to go there with a bottle and make the Saint drink? I’m a woman who’s been hiding away half my life. There’s no way I could do something like that skillfully, is there? I guarantee you, the two of you would be much better at it.”

The two princesses looked at Erpa cautiously.

“Are you really alright with this? Erpa?”

Erpa nodded.

“It’s just like what you two said. To be saved together, and then to insist that some should love and others should not, is too selfish, isn’t it? I don’t think that’s right.”

At that, smiles blossomed on the faces of both Iomene and Almene.

“We’ll get him to drink somehow. And then we’ll call you. Erpa.”

“Please do. Just one thing. This, I won’t yield on. The first experience is mine.”

Almene and Iomene clicked their tongues as if regretful at those words.

“Alright. That much, I’ll admit.”

“Just warming things up. But after that, it’s us.”

Erpa nodded.

And so, it was decided.

*

Being someone who frequented the place daily, no one stopped Erpa when she entered the Magic Tower Temple and headed for the Saint’s chamber.

Erpa carefully made her way past the Royal Knights standing guard, the Court Mages, the priests and paladins of the White Order, and into the Saint’s room.

A sound, utterly inaudible from the outside, reached her ears as she stepped inside, the Court Mage having preemptively cast a soundproofing spell.

“Just a moment. Iomene. Don’t just insert it so suddenly… Ahh♥… Ugh♥”

“Since the senses are shared, it feels like I’m doing it with two Saints. How fascinating.”

Twin sisters lay on either side of the Saint, moaning.

Seeing Erpa enter, the two of them lifted their flushed faces.

The two princesses grinned sheepishly at Erpa.

“We haven’t done it yet, as promised.”

“Only touched with fingers and arms. That much is okay, right?”

Erpa nodded at their words, then approached the bed.

She saw the Saint, fast asleep.

His eyes were slightly swollen, as if he had been crying.

She felt a pang of pity for him.

Erpa quietly climbed onto the Saint’s body.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

This man, so foolishly good and kind, would probably wake up tomorrow,

check on the situation, and instead of being angry, would worry about the three of them. Of course.

Because he was that foolishly good, he wouldn’t show his mission to anyone, and in the end…

he’d end up broken, just like in the two princesses’ dreams.

She didn’t ask for much.

He would undoubtedly continue saving people in the future.

That process would be painful and difficult.

So, even for a moment, she wanted to give him a happy experience.

Erfa hoped that after he woke up, this incident would be a catalyst for him to open his heart.

She wanted him to be happy, if only for a little while, in their arms.

She wanted him to say that the burden he carried was heavy.

She wanted him to cry and act spoiled, saying it was painful and difficult.

Erfa carefully lowered her face and kissed the Saint.

“After today, you can blame me, you can be angry. I don’t care how you react, just please… don’t break.”

Her four arms moved slowly and delicately, removing the carefully wrapped witch’s robes.

“I love you. Saint-nim.”

The night was growing late.