NOVEL NEXT Chapter 240
Chapter 240. Childhood Friend – Meriel’s Side Story
Just over twenty years ago, ‘Meriel Bailei’ was merely the ordinary young lady of Baron Bailei’s family.
She had an older brother who was already married, a younger sister who looked up to her, and a younger brother who was fervently practicing swordsmanship with dreams of becoming a knight.
Their family was nothing special.
Located at the southernmost tip of the Kingdom of Aslan, bordering the Kingdom of Velita, there wasn’t much else to note about this barony.
Well, they were known for producing good knights. Given the tense relations between the Kingdom of Velita and the Kingdom of Aslan, the Bailei Barony, positioned at the forefront, received support from the kingdom.
Her stern father spent all the funds on maintaining a small force of soldiers, leaving little income for the family residing in the mountainous region. The daughters of the barony had to make their own clothes and cook their meals. Even shopping was their responsibility.
“Sis, sis. You’ll be getting married soon, won’t you?”
On their way to the market, Meriel’s younger sister, Masha, asked. Since their brother was married, she assumed it was Meriel’s turn next. Meriel smiled gently.
“Probably.”
“Where do you think you’ll go? It’s unfair. Even though men marry, they stay here, but you’ll have to leave.”
“Oh my, look at you. Do you want to bring a husband into the family? In that case~”
“Eek!”
Masha covered her teasing sister’s mouth. Her face flushed red as the topic turned to her potential husband.
While Meriel’s future was still undecided, Masha’s marriage had been more or less determined. The grandson of the maintain of the local tribe settled in the Bailei Barony was to be her husband.
Given the feudal and tribal mix within the Kingdom of Aslan, most residents of Bailei Barony were natives, ruled jointly by Baron Bailei and the tribal maintain.
The two families maintained a close relationship, and for over ten years, they had considered marrying Masha to the maintain’s grandson, as their ages matched well.
Meriel giggled, thoroughly enjoying teasing her younger sister, who had her marriage settled before her own. Masha, grumbling about how the conversation had turned, said,
“I don’t like him. He talks big about becoming a great warrior by hunting monsters…”
“Then stop him.”
“How can I? He’s determined.”
“Surely he won’t ignore such a beautiful wife’s words.”
“You keep teasing me… Huh?”
“What’s wro…”
The bustling market surrounding the girls suddenly fell silent. The natives stared blankly at the sky, and the only sounds were the occasional crash of something being knocked over by those trying to catch a glimpse of the sky.
There were no barking dogs.
Even the wind had stopped.
Meriel looked up to see the clear autumn sky splitting open. Through the gap, she glimpsed a thorned crown and a great figure wearing it, but soon, a brilliant white light poured down.
Bright.
But not blinding.
Meriel didn’t realize that the light enveloping the entire continent was gradually narrowing down to her. All she could perceive was the infinite presence—
The main deity.
“Sis…!”
“Dear God.”
Everyone except her sister knelt. Even her sister, overwhelmed by the sanctity of the newly anointed saintess, eventually fell to her knees. Those bowing were not only the people of Bailei Barony.
The Cardinal of the Kingdom of Aslan came running barefoot. The elderly king, riding a horse instead of a palanquin, came to bow and asked for the first blessing for his newborn son.
Saintess.
Meriel no longer had superiors.
Even her stern father and mother bowed their heads, and in doing so, they ceased to be her parents.
As a saintess, the concept of human parents was irrelevant for the daughter of God.
Meriel accepted this easily.
Though she lost her family name, Bailei, and her parents overnight, she seamlessly succeeded the recently deceased eighty-sixth saintess.
This was because she was overwhelmed by a profound sense of fulfillment upon encountering the main deity. To her, the deity became everything, rendering human affairs, conflicts, and even love insignificant. She lived solely to serve God with all her might.
‘My younger brother Jensen and Masha cried a lot at first.’
However, it seemed that not even the main deity could completely control the human heart. Or perhaps the deity allowed human hearts to remain this way.
It was nearly twenty years later that the saintess began to gradually distance herself from the overpowering presence of the deity.
Her devotion to God hadn’t lessened, but she had grown accustomed to it. As she became more familiar, she could return to being somewhat human.
She felt the silence of Namere, the god of patience and dedication, upsetting, saw the noble sacrifice of the goddess Boaor as akin to a familiar older sister, and began to view Racharr, the god of battle and honor, as a stubborn older brother. When the admonishments of Binar, the god who guides against wrongdoing, started to feel like nagging, Meriel was finally able to look around her.
For the first time in nearly twenty years, she wrote a letter.
She could have contacted the church in her hometown, but after becoming a saintess, how could she have the nerve to initiate a conversation after all this time? A handwritten letter felt much more appropriate.
The reply took several months to arrive.
Her sibling was extremely happy. Her sister had gotten married. As expected, she married the man they had predicted, had children, and was living well. However, he still hadn’t given up his dream of becoming a great warrior, causing her some distress… Nothing had changed, Meriel smiled warmly.
Through the letters exchanged over several months, Meriel learned about the events in her hometown.
Her older brother, now Baron Bailei, had safely navigated the civil war in the Kingdom of Aslan, and her younger brother had become the commander of the knights in the Kingdom of Astin. She was joyful but heartbroken when she received news of her parents’ deaths in response to her inquiry about their wellbeing. Meriel prayed for their souls.
While fulfilling her duties as a saintess and occasionally waiting for letters from her siblings, one day after finishing her usual midday prayers, the sun suddenly shifted.
At first, she thought she had dozed off for a moment.
But it was unlikely she had fallen asleep while walking; time had changed. Not just the time, but she also noticed her clothes had become thicker.
Time had leaped from late autumn to winter, even to the year’s end, and a new letter from her sister had arrived.
What on earth was happening?
Meriel prayed to God for answers but received none. Only Binar, usually the talkative god, responded,
[You do not need to know yet. More importantly, a war will soon break out. The main deity wishes for the Cross Church and the Holy Kingdom to remain uninvolved.]
Her questions remained unresolved.
Persistently praying, she received no answers from the main deity or the other three incarnations, only cryptic remarks from Binar,
[The time when the evil cast upon the human realm is nearing its end is approaching, so do not worry and fulfill your duties. Human strength is valuable, but be mindful of time and place. The main deity cherishes you all and has placed three great rivers on the continent to ensure that despite their twists, they flow according to the natural order… (etc.)]
…Though Binar’s long speech was filled with metaphors, it was of little help. She decided she would understand someday and continued her life. The following summer, time again shifted, this time from summer to the previous summer.
Not just the season, but the time of day had changed too.
It was early morning.
Meriel, changing her clothes one by one, saw the letter announcing her parents’ death neatly folded on her desk, having already sent her reply.
This time, had time reversed? — Meriel pondered, but the next day she awoke in a bewildering manner. It was just before dawn, and as she was waking up, she suddenly found herself in the audience chamber.
Incredibly, she was in the middle of receiving a report from Cardinal Michael (a few weeks ago).
“We can now wrap up the task of expelling the native believers of the evil god. Can we set new objectives for the church?” Cardinal Michael asked. Rubbing her still ‘sleepy’ eyes, Meriel replied,
“Discuss it with the other cardinals. Oh, and Cardinal Michael, you can go on your pilgrimage.”
Michael, thinking he had received divine permission, beamed with joy and left the room.
Immediately after, Meriel returned to her quarters. Checking the letters exchanged with her sibling, she found the letter reporting her parents’ deaths unopened on her desk.
She had returned to the same summer, approximately two weeks prior. The previous time, she had returned to early morning, but this time it was midday.
There were multiple instances of time reversal following this. Meriel gradually discerned the pattern; however, there was no fixed point for when she would return.
Sometimes it was late at night, other times she woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. There were occasions when it was evening, midday, or morning.
In contrast, the times she returned to were fixed. One was in winter, the other two in summer, each about two weeks apart. One return in summer was to early morning.
Winter at the year’s end, early summer morning, and summer midday—this was the sequence Meriel figured out.
But why time kept reversing, she had no way of knowing, as God did not provide any answers. However, Meriel came to understand why saintesses had short lifespans on average.
‘This didn’t only happen to me.’
There were saintesses who seemed to live a full life and die at a normal age, but some aged rapidly and died within days of becoming a saintess.
Though it appeared so, they likely all lived out their original lifespan.
Just as Meriel was experiencing with the passage of her own time.
Meriel too aged within the repetitive cycles of time. However, at some point, unprecedented events began to occur.
“Gilbert Forte, the son of the sword master from the Kingdom of Belita, has been assassinated. The culprit has not been found.”
This was the first time.
Regardless of being the sword master’s son, such a minor nobleman was of no concern to the saintess, but she remembered him because Gilbert Forte ‘always’ visited the capital church.
Every time, reports came in that the son of a prominent figure was seeking asylum for political reasons, and now that man had suddenly died.
What was going on?
Next, there was an urgent report in the middle of the night. A bizarre hole had appeared in the sky over Rutina, reported via communication from Bishop Berg, dispatched to the Kingdom of Conrad.
It signified the appearance of the evil god.
Meriel inquired if he needed assistance, but Bishop Berg stated he would handle it. Immediately after, time reversed again.
“What is going on? Is it alright for me to do nothing?” Meriel asked. This time, Binar advised her that there would be something for her to do by the coming autumn and that she should not leave the capital church.
‘What could I have to do in the fall?’
Performing rites for trainee priests? That was the only possibility.
However, with the appearance of the evil god’s apostle in the Kingdom of Rhen, Meriel realized what her task was. The only thing she couldn’t understand was…
‘Why am I being told to wait?’
Shouldn’t the apostle be captured before more harm occurs?
But the main deity allowed this. It was as if they desired the apostle of the evil god to reach the capital church…
And eventually, autumn arrived.
Nevis was scorched, and the dispatched crusaders and priests, along with the knights of the Holy Kingdom of Jerome, were annihilated. Bishop Berg and the priests he secretly trained, who had rushed from the Kingdom of Conrad, were also killed.
As things seemed increasingly out of control, the apostle of Barbatos swiftly advanced toward the capital church.
It was incomprehensible behavior.
With numerous offerings available, why?
The reason soon became clear.
After returning without a proper fight, Lord Lachar instructed her to fetch the bronze chalice from the library. Today, she would be fighting.
However, the apostle who entered the capital church was not a woman. It was a young man, staggering as he walked. What was this?
Instead of coming straight to her as expected, Barbatos’s apostle headed elsewhere. Unexpectedly, he went to the library and encountered a trainee priest. It was then that Meriel realized.
‘He’s being punished. There’s someone undergoing a trial.’
Recognizing that the apostle was the first stream of water, Meriel bestowed her blessing on the poor soul.
As the young man’s body twisted and turned into wood, he was set ablaze by the blessing, and the trainee priest, possessed by the evil god, screamed.
“You’ve come. Filthy whore of the main deity! You will pay for killing my followers in the name of the main deity… Ah! Damn it! It’s not enough to just not die!”
Meriel saw it clearly.
The young man and a strange form of soul soared high into the air. She realized that this was the reason for the repeated time loops.
– Clang.
The main deity’s dodecahedron enclosed the two souls that had risen. Meriel braced herself for time to rewind again…
But time did not reverse.
The girl, now possessed by Barbatos himself, spoke in a voice filled with rage. She clutched her (Leah’s) neck and, consumed by madness, screamed.
“Why? Did you think time would reverse? Hahaha! You know nothing. You know absolutely nothing! Now I understand. This world is because of this cursed girl! Just this girl’s…”
“Silence.”
Meriel aimed her wand at Barbatos. The bronze chalice, a relic of Saint Azura, resonated, halving and then halving again Barbatos’s overflowing divine power.
Such inferior divine power in the form of an inverted triangle was no match for her. And in truth…
Unless the main deity deliberately made her lose, Meriel could not be defeated.
This world belonged to the deity.
Even the evil god was merely a piece on the deity’s chessboard, a part of the divine plan.
* * *
Meriel smiled warmly and invited the two streams of water to take a seat. Rev and Leo Dexter sat down.