Chapter 11: Destiny

“This is Father Gabriel, an expert exorcist priest.”

Father Gabriel, who roughly wiped his slightly cracked glasses and put them on, bowed his head deeply towards me.

As I bowed my head in return, Father Gabriel gave a kind smile.

“And I am Sister Elena, the Father’s assistant.”

When I bowed my head to Sister Elena as well, she smiled brightly.

‘I’ve definitely seen her somewhere before……’

Sister Elena was an incredible beauty.

Jet-black hair like ebony and skin as white as snow.

Kind yet refreshing features, with large, clear eyes that were particularly captivating.

She was a typical beauty with an innocent, endearing look.

It meant she possessed a beauty that, once seen, could never be forgotten.

‘But why can’t I remember?’

I thought I might remember if I heard her name.

But even hearing the name Elena, nothing came to mind.

‘Am I mistaken? Is this really the first time I’m seeing her?’

“Brother…?”

Oops.

My mind wandered for a moment.

“Ah, I am Dominic Rosenfeld. I am an official of the Amelia Kingdom, here in Renly on a business trip.”

At my words, both Sister Elena and Father Gabriel were startled, almost simultaneously.

“You’re not a priest or a monastic?”

“Yes. I am an ordinary person with no connection to the church.”

“No, then how did you, just now……”

“That’s actually what I wanted to ask you two. What exactly happened just now? I understand you were in the middle of an exorcism, but why did the demon suddenly disappear?

Judging by the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem like that’s what usually happens.”

The two didn’t answer my question and whispered something amongst themselves.

Then, they soon threw another question at me.

“In that case, how did you come here? You mean you didn’t come here sensing the demon’s energy?”

“I merely…”

I held up the silver rosary I had picked up while following Sister Elena.

“That’s…”

“I happened to see you drop this rosary in the square, Sister. I only followed you to return it.”

To avoid misunderstanding (?), I slightly altered the sequence of events in my explanation.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to think I was a strange person.

Sister Elena received the rosary back, bowed her head deeply in thanks, and then.

Resumed her hushed conversation with Father Gabriel.

Before long, the two finished their conversation, met each other’s eyes, and nodded with determined expressions.

Then…

‘Huh?’

Sister Elena approached me.

One step, then another.

Uncomfortably close.

The moment the distance became so close that she could take no more steps.

Suddenly, a thought struck me.

‘This woman… could she be a Saintess…?’

I don’t know why, but I suddenly had a strong premonition that she was the Saintess who appears in the novel.

The Saintess in ‘I Will Start a Revolution’ had no name.

She was simply called Saintess.

She was a character who appeared only a few times throughout the entire series, so I hadn’t bothered to give her a name, thinking it wasn’t necessary.

However…

An illustration of her had been made.

Just once…

It was when I was really into generating images with AI, so I used to create illustrations even for minor characters.

The Saintess was among them.

I don’t remember exactly what she looked like, but I clearly remember making an illustration of the Saintess.

It felt like all the pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place.

The reason I thought I had seen Sister Elena somewhere before.

The reason I couldn’t easily recall it despite that.

And the reason why I suddenly had a strong premonition that she might be the Saintess.

If she was the person destined to be chosen as the new Saintess in the near future, everything made sense.

It was then.

“Brother…!”

Sister Elena suddenly grasped both my hands with hers.

Then, with a voice full of solemnity, she spoke.

“Won’t you walk the same path as us?”

Huh?

Did I hear that wrong?

“What did you just say……”

“Won’t you become an exorcist priest like Father Gabriel?”

She’s asking me to become a priest?

“Brother, you have…”

“I refuse.”

“Eh?”

She seems very flustered.

Well, she probably didn’t expect to be rejected within three seconds of asking.

I don’t know if she thought she wasn’t enough on her own, or if this was their plan all along, but now Father Gabriel also approached me.

Then, with a very grave tone, he said.

“Brother, you were born with an incredibly powerful gift. Enough for a demon to flee just by sensing your presence.”

And then he began to preach about how important an exorcist priest is.

Father Gabriel looked to be about the age of a great-uncle.

As such, he must have been a priest for decades.

Perhaps because he had long been in the business of making non-believers believe, and believers believe more strongly, he was eloquent.

His skill in persuading people was clearly not something he had only done once or twice.

But it was no use.

His persuasion didn’t work on me at all.

“No, I am someone who cannot become a priest in the first place.”

“Now, don’t say that…”

Because I…

“I want to live having a lot of s*x.”

Although I have no experience here yet, to the point where I wonder how on earth I lived before regaining my memories of my past life.

Before transmigration, I had done it.

Not much, though.

I have those memories, I know that taste (?), and I have to live abstaining from it?

I’d rather die.

At my words, uttered like driving a final nail, Father Gabriel was speechless for a moment before finally uttering a single word.

“……Wow.”

Then he looks at me with an expression that seems to say, ‘Is this guy crazy…?’

Sister Elena is looking at me with outright contempt.

Perhaps because she’s a nun, she doesn’t seem to know that such an expression can sometimes be even more attractive.

***

After parting ways with Dominic.

Gabriel and Elena returned to the church.

Whether it was because they were tired from performing the exorcism, or disappointed they couldn’t make Dominic an exorcist.

The two said nothing the entire way.

They just walked silently, looking straight ahead.

Then, when they had almost reached the church.

Suddenly, Elena clapped her hands, spun around towards Gabriel, and said.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t tell you that.”

“Tell me what?”

“That I’m also from the Amelia Kingdom.”

“Ah, that’s right. You’re from Amelia too. But why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“I was thinking that if I had tried to persuade him after building even a little rapport through that common ground, it might have worked.

Even if not, we might have become acquaintances who exchange letters sometimes. Then, couldn’t we have received great help again someday? Just like today.”

“Indeed. That might have been possible.”

Hearing it, there was a point to it.

There was a sense that they had been too hasty in their persuasion.

After being rejected, they were so flustered by ‘that word’ that they couldn’t judge calmly.

Gabriel felt a lingering regret.

But what’s the use of dwelling on things already past.

Gabriel changed the subject.

“By the way, aside from being from the Amelia Kingdom, you’ve never once spoken about that place. Even though we’ve been working together for several years now.”

“They’re not very good memories.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yes. I was an orphan, one of the most vulnerable in society, and the Amelia Kingdom was a country that paid little attention to its vulnerable classes.

If I hadn’t met the Lord then, if the one who gave me this silver rosary hadn’t guided me to the Lord, I probably would have…”

“……?”

“Become a revolutionary.”

Gabriel looked at Elena with somewhat surprised eyes.

A revolutionary…

He hadn’t expected such a word to come from her lips in the slightest.

Elena smiled sheepishly and continued.

“Life there was so harsh, and I was filled with so much anger back then.

Children in the same orphanage died of malnutrition, died because they couldn’t get a single pill when they got sick, died from extreme labor… Seeing such things, I thought about wanting to overturn the world.”

Tears welled up in Elena’s eyes as if she recalled those times.

“The child who dreamed of being a revolutionary has become a soldier of the Lord fighting demons.”

At those words, Elena wiped her tears with her hand and smiled bravely.

“That’s right. It seems I was destined to be a soldier in some way or another.”

Gabriel gently stroked the head of Elena, who was by far the most outstanding among his disciples and had now become like a daughter to him.

“By the way, I’ve been wanting to ask for a while, who exactly was the person who gave you that silver rosary and guided you to the Lord? Seeing as they carried a silver rosary, they must have been quite a high-ranking clergyman.”

“Well…”

Elena said that and looked down at the silver rosary in her hand.

The day, the moment she received the silver rosary, seemed to vividly replay before her eyes.

“I still vividly remember the moment that person gave me warm bread and this silver rosary when I was starving, told me to become a nun, and then, after becoming a nun, to cross over to the Eos Continent to learn about exorcism…

That person had the biggest influence on my life… but strangely, I can’t remember their face at all.”

“Their name?”

“I don’t know their name either. So I wanted to find them, but I couldn’t. It would be nice if I could meet them again, even just once…….”

Gabriel, who had been staring intently at Elena and the silver rosary, turned his head to look ahead.

“Hmm. Perhaps the Lord Himself visited you.”

“Pardon?”

“I can’t be sure, but I wonder if that person wasn’t the Lord. I also wonder if your divine power is particularly strong because the Lord visited you.”

At Gabriel’s words, Elena lifted her head and looked where his gaze rested.

In the center of the church, a circle (○), the symbol representing the Lord, was hanging.

In that moment, Elena felt an immense sense of awe.

And Gabriel witnessed.

The white light emanating from Elena, her divine power, growing stronger.

Gabriel, who was quietly watching this, suddenly muttered.

“I want to let bygones be bygones, but it’s not easy.”

“Pardon?”

“The regret doesn’t fade. With that brother’s level of divine power, he could have taken down almost any demon…”

“I’ve never seen anyone with such strong divine power either.”

“I’ve lived as an exorcist priest for decades, but I have never seen anyone with stronger divine power than you, Elena.”

Very few people believe in the existence of divine power.

Even the Holy See doesn’t believe in it.

This is because people who can see or feel divine power are extremely rare.

People born with divine power are even rarer.

And someone with divine power of such immense might as that man… I dare say, there might be one, if any, in all of human history.

“Could it be that the Lord also visited Dominic?”

“Perhaps He did.”

Gabriel, muttering this, shifted his gaze back to the circle and added in a murmur.

“I wonder. Why He visited him, and what destiny He bestowed upon him.”

Then, after being lost in thought for a moment, he suddenly asked.

“His name was Dominic… Rosenfeld, was it?”

“Yes.”

“You said you have a nun you’re close to in the Wellington parish of Amelia, didn’t you?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes. Sister Lydia. We lived in the same convent.”

“Send a letter to that nun. Tell her to keep a close eye on Dominic Rosenfeld, and if any news about him arises, to send a letter immediately and let us know.”

“Pardon?”

“By observing his path, we will naturally come to understand. What destiny he has been given. Because, whether he likes it or not, he will have no choice but to proceed according to that destiny.”