Wasn’t This a Night Game

And so, the Saint lived happily ever after…right?

Following that little beak-bumping incident with Erpha at dawn.

I returned to my everyday life.

Not that it was exactly the *same* everyday life, of course.

Sometimes, when I caught Erpha’s eye, she’d be wearing a face that looked like she was about to die of happiness, waving and practically throwing herself at me, and I, well, I’d grin back like an idiot.

Apart from that, not much had changed.

I was still healing the sick of the slums.

Though of course, I also visited the nobles when they called, and treated them too.

They’d repay me with donations, or introductions to people the slums needed, leveraging their connections. That kind of thing.

Peaceful and quiet.

Karma Company was doing well.

More than just well, actually. It was a company that had the absolute support of the people from Slum District 3.

That’s because Karma Company had announced they would provide elixirs at half price to anyone doing business in Slum District 3, creating a wealth of jobs.

And the Mage Tower temple clinic, it was thriving something fierce.

Simple ailments like colds or bruises, things like that, I didn’t even have to look at ’em no more.

Only the real bad cases, the ones no ordinary miracle or healing could touch, those were the ones that landed on my table.

And just like that.

Life got easy, too damn easy almost.

Three square meals, good sleep.

No more seeing patients ’til my eyes bled, meant I even had time to wander, take a stroll.

The folk in the slums, they were still sweeping, scrubbing, keeping things tidy, just like I told ’em.

You wouldn’t believe how well they listened. Come weekend, a whole heap of ’em would gather ‘fore the Mage Tower temple, praying their hearts out in the street, and after the service, the place’d be cleaner than it was before.

Slum District Three, it weren’t that dirty, ugly place no more.

Trees planted, looking right pretty, and them shacks crawling with rats and mold and filth? Gone. Replaced with proper, handsome housing estates.

People working, laughing, eating, drinking, with hope in their eyes.

Kids started going to school, and folks, after a long day, they’d hit the bathhouse, scrub themselves clean, then head home, happy smiles on their faces.

Now that I had some breathing room, I’d walk the streets, and everyone knew me, gave me a nod.

The poor of Slum District Three, near all of ’em were Lilia’s followers now.

Everyone fawning over me, worshipping me.

I’d been through it enough, I’d just gotten used to it.

Not like it felt bad, mind you.

At this point, the thought changed into the belief.

I got you more followers, didn’t I?

Made the Lily Order rich, didn’t I?

Cleaned up the slums, didn’t I?

Raised influence among the nobles, didn’t I?

Did it all, didn’t I?

*Krk!* Straight to faith normalization.

Seeing this, the priestesses are sure to be moved, to look my way.

And me, personally, if only there’s no wrath of the Goddess, I want to keep doing this, on and on.

Suits my aptitude, and I’ve also discovered another use for those trashy ero-game skills I thought were good for nothing but lewdness.

Money’s piling up, astronomical.

Everyone respects me, and on top of that…

Even got a woman I’m kinda-sorta dating, even kissed her.

Yeah.

They always said do what you’re good at, more than what you want.

With the situation forcing my hand like this, running away would be even dumber.

I’ll just keep living as this saint, playing the part.

“Saint! The Temple is finally complete!”

Just as I was about to try and really adopt the faith, having gotten myself a ‘Grace Scripture’ and settling in to read it with determination.

Jonathan Karma comes to my room, shouting that out, so proud.

“135 floors! Reaching 600 meters in height! It’s 20 floors higher than Mars Tower, the tallest building in the capital! A large-scale elixir mine and refinery has been built underground! We’ve even secured a contract to supply elixir to most of the automated factories, magic lamps, and gas stations in the capital!”

“You’ve worked hard. Thank you, Jonathan Karma.”

Before, Jonathan Karma was the villain trying to sabotage my plan to bankrupt the Order, but looking back now, he’s just a goddamn lucky charm.

Yeah.

Ain’t that the truth?

Don’t know how it happened, but somehow he unearths a business genius like him and then the elixir gushes out too.

Didn’t I do a damn good job?

Didn’t I?

Even considering having faith.

No need to fear any divine retribution.

Thanks to thoughts like that, I could give a genuine, warm smile now, unlike the past when I was crying inside but only smiling on the outside.

“Please continue your hard work. Thank you, Mr. Jonathan Karma.”

“We plan to hold a commemorative banquet, inviting the main Order representatives from the Pantheon and various nobles of the capital, and members of the Imperial Family for the completion ceremony. Will you grace us with your presence?”

What.

I’m the only one who did big things like elixir springs out from the middle of the capital and District 3 slums are purified.

Of course I gotta go and show my face, right?

I don’t even want the Lilia Order to collapse anymore.

The Goddess watches over me, so what.

I’m gonna settle down here and live a good life.

While diligently playing the role of a Saint.

It’s like how some cop gives up being a cop and opens a chicken shop if the one he opened for undercover work does too well, right?

I won’t try to run away anymore.

“Of course, I must attend. When is the banquet?”

“Three days hence.”

“Understood, then.”

Just heading out in my clergyman’s robes should do it, right?

So damn sweet that I don’t have to wear some stuffy swallow-tailed coat.

Ah.

My heart’s at ease.

Yeah.

Why try so hard to run?

If things have turned out this well, just accept it as fate and live as a true saint. That’s all there is to it.

*

Three days later.

The banquet unfolded.

Various nobles, dressed in flamboyant gowns, and high-ranking officials filled the temple’s interior.

On top of that, the highest figure in the land had come.

“I behold His Imperial Majesty. It is an honor to meet you.”

The Emperor of the Empire sought me out directly.

Theobilo von Arcal.

The Emperor, a hardened man in his fifties, always appeared in the newspapers with a grave expression.

But him, checking my fluster as I almost bowed with my lack of etiquette, stopping me, taking my hand, and gently kissing the back of it…it was as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“Human glory is fleeting, but the Goddess’s grace is eternal. Glory, rather, is mine. Saint Amael.”

A manner both measured and dignified.

Quiet, yet weighty, movements.

This, then, is charisma.

Just standing near feels…natural.

“Unfamiliar with etiquette, I know not how I should act. Forgive me if I should err.”

“Demanding etiquette of one so noble would be more peculiar, I think. I wished to meet you, most earnestly. Saint of the slums.”

The Emperor’s words made my nose feel like it was climbing to impossible heights.

Even the Emperor’s approval.

Could there be a smoother path than this?

My life.

Now, only flower-strewn paths from here.

“To the first Healer Saint in three hundred years, the ruler of the Human Empire offers a meager gift.”

Gift time had begun.

Starting with the luxurious grandfather clock bestowed by the Emperor, people showered me with presents.

Some gifted teas, others, precious tea leaves.

I felt tears prick my eyes as I watched the mountain of expensive things grow.

In my entire life.

Including both Korea and the Arkal Empire, had I ever been so acknowledged, so celebrated?

For the first time, I thought that being reincarnated…it was a good thing.

I thought there couldn’t be a more useless isekai reincarnation, saddled with a shitty dating sim skill and prophecy I couldn’t even use.

Honestly, thought becoming a VTuber after a TS in Korea would’ve been the better path.

Who knew things would turn out this well.

“Thank you, everyone. However, I’ll make sure these gifts are used so that everyone, not just myself, can be happy.”

Going all-in on this saintly act, so I throw out lines like that.

To be honest, there were too many gifts that felt like a burden for me to use alone.

Giving them to those who need them, or decorating the magic tower’s shrine so everyone can see them, wouldn’t that be better? That’s what I was thinking when I said that.

Everyone applauds at my words.

Feels good.

Yeah.

This is what a saint is!

The banquet continued long after that.

Laughing, chatting, greeting, eating, and drinking.

The banquet, which went on late into the evening, eventually came to an end, as all events do.

I, too, left the banquet hall and was about to head to my room.

“Saint of Healing. A moment, please.”

Huh?

These people.

Weren’t they the ones I saw at the Pantheon?

“High Priest Zerva of the Order of Prophecy, meets the Seer and Apostle of Grace. Saint. May the temple built on this land be eternally glorious.”

“Ah! Right!

A member of the Prophecy Order!

Those people who worship Rupiel, the god of the future, weren’t they?

The very same order that made me a Seer.

“Welcome. Zerba-nim. What brings you here?”

“We haven’t yet delivered the gift we prepared.”

The moment I wondered what sort of gift they’d give, they offered me a gift truly… them.

“Lord Rupiel has granted me a prophecy for the new Saint. Might we remain alone for a moment and speak? It is, after all, the principle that a prophecy should only be shown to the person in question.”

A prophecy?

Right.

Whatever.

Let’s hear it then.

What kind of prophecy.

I am curious, truth be told.

How I’ll be living my life from here on out, I mean.

“Of course. High Priest-nim. Please, come to my room.”

Without much thought, I led Zerba to my room.

I locked the door and told Old Man Yodel not to let anyone in, leaving Zerba and I alone in the room.

“I will now speak Lord Rupiel’s prophecy. I will lose consciousness for a short while. The words of Lord Rupiel, placed within me, will speak directly to the Saint.”

“I’m in your care.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than Zerba’s eyes snapped shut.

A tremor ran through him, then, just as quickly, they flew open again.

His eyes were now bleached entirely white, and between his brows, a radiant, golden light began to blaze in the shape of an eye.

Human eyes, and a third eye of pure gold, now stared at me.

[Mortal.]

From human lips spilled a voice that was not, could not be, human.

A voice that chilled you to the bone just to hear, a voice that anyone would recognize as divine, a voice both terrifying and sacred.

[I shall speak of your future. This prophecy is given directly by one who sees, and so it shall surely come to pass.]

I focused, a faint thrum of anxiety beneath my skin.

What would become of me?

Surely not…

Surely, after all this, the goddess wouldn’t just smite me with a bolt of lightning and end it all.

She’d have done that already.

No.

It couldn’t be.

I was even trying to have faith now, and hadn’t I been diligently caring for the poor and weak all this time?

Let’s just get confirmation, once and for all.

Get confirmation and just relax.

That would be better.

Just as I was thinking this…

A chilling voice began to chant the prophecy.

I listened, a mix of expectation and tension coiling in my gut.

[He who rises in grace’s name. He who deludes himself. He who denies and flees, yet cannot escape destiny’s decree.]

High Priest Jerba slowly pointed a finger at me.

[Also, he who hails from another world. Ignorant and foolish, forever to suffer alone. The powers held within your hands are base and vile.]

Laughter ceased.

My body froze, pierced by those core words.

Surely, not a bad omen?

It couldn’t be.

It just couldn’t.

Please…

[The day your most secret shame is revealed. You shall die by the hands of those who love you. Death shall engulf you in your most joyous moment, and you shall not escape.]

I felt my blood turning to ice.