After-Story Chapter 31: Souma Goes to Yumuen (Part 2)

She was having a dream. A dream of walking endlessly down a pitch-black path.

The darkness was so profound that she couldn’t see her feet or what kind of ground she was treading on. Yet, in the far distance, a single sliver of light beckoned, and she walked toward it. The path was uneven, sometimes rocky, sometimes muddy, making progress incredibly difficult. Contrary to her desire to move forward, her feet advanced frustratingly slowly.

But because the light existed, she could take the next step without losing her way. Without stopping, without giving up, she could move forward even just a little. However, she noticed that the light she was aiming for was gradually becoming thinner and fainter. The beam of light was more fragile and ephemeral than when she last saw it.

As if hinting that it would soon vanish…

(Wait… don’t disappear…)

She desperately reached out. She moved her feet, trying to reach it before it faded. But against her will, she couldn’t move forward. She wanted to run, yet her own feet refused to move as she commanded. Even as she struggled, the light grew thinner and thinner… and then vanished completely.

(No…)

She was left alone in the darkness. She no longer knew which way to go. She stood in a gloom where she couldn’t distinguish front, back, left, or right, or even tell if the space above her was the sky or a ceiling close overhead. Only the unpleasant ground beneath her feet, yielding with every step, told her she was still standing on solid ground. Unable to walk properly already, and now lacking direction, she simply stood frozen.

As she stood there, her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. The world of darkness, invisible when the light was present, slowly and faintly began to reveal itself before her.

(Eh…)

When she looked down, she could see the state of the ground she was standing on. It was covered in fragments of various sizes, and through the gaps in the fragments, a thick, dark red substance was visible. The unevenness and muddiness that made walking so difficult were caused by these things. And when she realized their true nature…

(No… I hate it…)

She covered her face with both hands. The fragments of various sizes covering the ground were bones. Fragments of ribs and skulls revealed them to be human remains. And the thick, dark red substance was a mixture of blood and flesh, putrefied and dissolved. Realizing this, she was assailed by a foul stench… the smell of death.

(No… No, no, no…)

She had been walking on a path made of bone, blood, and flesh. She had trod this bloody path, reeking of death, all while aiming for a faint light. Unaware, unknowing, and unwilling to know what she was walking on, she had simply kept going. And when she realized… it was too late.

“!”

Then, a bony hand, growing out of the pile of bones as if it were a plant, grabbed her foot. Like some kind of gruesome vegetation, dozens of bony hands sprouted around her, clutching her feet and the hem of her clothes, refusing to let go.

“No… let go… please…” she pleaded.

But the bony hands gripped her feet with painfully strong force. Then, something floated up from the thick substance between the bones. White and round, it was a human eyeball.

“Hii!” she gasped.

Once realized, it was too late. Eyeballs began to surface one after another from the thick fluid, drawn by her terror. And all of their gazes were fixed upon her. Countless eyeballs stared at her.

“D-Don’t look… stop…”

Exposed to the stare of myriad eyeballs, she desperately tried to escape the gaze, but her bound feet made movement impossible. What were those eyes thinking as they watched her? Were they angry for being trod upon? Were they mocking her inability to move? Or were they simply staring?

The eyes spoke nothing. Yet, they tormented her heart ceaselessly. Whether she closed her eyes or covered her ears, the stares continued to pour down upon her mercilessly.

“AAAAAAAHH!!”

Unable to bear it any longer, she finally screamed.

“AAAAAAAHH!!”

“!”… Anne!”

Mary, sleeping beside her, jolted awake at Anne’s shriek. This was Mary’s private room in the main church in the city of Yumuen, the Lunarian Orthodox Papacy Territory.

“Nooo! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Anne, calm down! It’s alright!”

Mary tightly embraced Anne, who was sobbing and repeating apologies to someone who wasn’t there. Anne’s mind had broken during the political strife that erupted in the Lunarian Orthodox Papacy after the death of her master, Fuuga Haan.

When Fuuga was alive, the Lunarian Orthodox Papacy was dominated by pro-Fuuga believers, and anti-Fuuga believers were persecuted as heretics. Anne, known as the ‘Tiger’s Saintess,’ was the figurehead for the pro-Fuuga faction. Anne had merely followed Fuuga as a Saintess, but the pro-Fuuga believers used her authority to suppress political rivals. Anne herself accepted this, believing it was the very reason for her existence as a Saintess.

However, when Fuuga fell due to a betrayal by his subordinates, the anti-Fuuga faction in the Papacy surged back. Driven by the accumulated resentment of the past persecution, they attacked the pro-Fuuga believers. Anne was captured and imprisoned in a tower, while the pro-Fuuga followers were executed by burning as heretics, just as they had done to their political rivals.

Imprisoned, Anne was barely given food and forced to listen to the agonizing, hateful screams of the pro-Fuuga followers being burned outside the bars. That environment was sufficient to break the mind of a girl barely yet twenty. Anne’s ordeal continued until Soji and Mary, called in to resolve the situation, entered the Papacy and Mary rescued her from the tower.

With a deep wound in her mind, Anne began to suffer night terrors and panic attacks like this. The dream was always the same: walking in pitch-black darkness toward a light, only for the light to disappear, her footing to turn into a path of bones, and her being grabbed by the arms of the dead and stared at by their eyes.

Judging that it was dangerous for Anne to be alone, Mary began sleeping in the same bed with her, embracing and comforting her until she calmed down whenever she woke up from a nightmare.

“The eyes… the eyes are watching me! Those are the eyes of the dead people… I did it!”

“Calm down, Anne. It’s just a dream. There are no eyes blaming you in reality…”

“No! I… I drove them to their deaths… They haven’t… forgiven me. Big Sister… I shouldn’t be alive. They must be wishing I would fall into Hell…”

“Anne… Don’t cling to delusions. No one is using you or tormenting you anymore.”

“Big Sister…”

Anne had begun calling Mary “Big Sister.” This was a form of self-preservation. By believing Mary was her sister, she was supporting her own heart from sinking into loneliness. Knowing this, Mary allowed her to call her whatever she liked. Mary embraced Anne and continued to stroke her back. Anne whimpered for a while, but eventually began to breathe softly, falling back asleep.

Mary gazed at Anne with pity.

The next day. Mary went to the Archbishop’s office and reported the events of the previous night to Soji.

“Anne’s mental wounds show no sign of healing. We are keeping people near her, including myself, to watch over her… but if she is left alone, we don’t know when she might hurt herself. At worst, she might take her own life…”

“So we can’t afford to be complacent and say that time will eventually heal her,” Soji said with a sigh after hearing the report. His expression showed signs of fatigue.

The Lunarian Orthodox Church was in the midst of organizational reform. The internal structure was shattered by the endless chaos of political strife and inquisitions—a bloodbath. The turmoil had finally subsided when Soji, the head of the Kingdom’s Orthodox Church known for his leniency, became the head of the Papacy. However, flashpoints remained. Any wrong move that stoked opposition could reignite the political conflict.

The generous protection offered to Anne was partly intended to instill this sense of leniency throughout the entire Church organization. The Orthodox Church had a mountain of things that needed to be done, and the fact that even Soji, who was known as a worldly priest, was forced to dedicate himself seriously to state affairs for a long time showed the lack of flexibility in the current Lunarian Orthodox Church.

“Ultimately, it was those dirty adults who pushed those young girls so far,” Soji sighed deeply, resting his cheek on his hand. “They found girls with no family, made them Saintesses, and exploited them. That’s what the Saintess candidates were—pawns created for the Church’s purposes. It’s good that Mary and the others managed to escape, but that girl, Anne, was completely submerged… neck-deep in the dirty schemes of those adults.”

“I… I can’t say anything about Anne. I was only able to escape because I was fortunate in my circumstances. I think the only difference between Anne and me was luck, nothing more.” Mary said painfully.

Soji stood up, walked over to her, and placed his hand gently on her head. “It’s true that luck and environment play a role. But whether you can capitalize on the opportunity that comes your way depends less on luck and more on whether you have the courage to take a step forward.”

“Your Eminence…”

“Mary and the others had the courage to act to change their circumstances. That’s why they were able to change their fate. Anne had that chance, too, didn’t she? Mary reached out her hand, and it was Anne’s own will not to take it.”

“That’s… true, but—(Shake, shake)… What are you doing!” Mary glared lightly at Soji, who was shaking her head with the hand placed on top of it.

Seeing her reaction, Soji grinned. “Worrying about Anne is fine, but if you worry too much, you’ll break down, Mary. Anne’s problems aren’t something you have to carry alone. I’m planning to summon King Souma soon about the ‘Lunar Inscription.’ If we consult with that well-connected King, he might lend us good advice, or introduce us to someone who has it.”

“! You’re right! The Kingdom of Friedonia has many doctors, and maybe someone there can help Anne!” Hope, though faint, brightened Mary’s expression.

Soji seemed satisfied with Mary’s reaction and removed his hand from her head. “I’ll send a carrier Kui to King Souma right away. I hope he brings a good idea as a souvenir.”

“Fufufu. Yes, I hope so too.”

With a slightly lighter heart, Mary smiled and nodded.