G-gotta get away from the Pope, fast!
But there was no way a small child could outrun an adult, no matter how desperately they tried to flee.
“Aaah!”
I was quickly caught by the knights the Pope had sent and the village adults alike.
I deliberately ran for the back mountain trail that only the villagers knew — and yet the villagers themselves were the ones leading the charge to catch me……!
Among those who came chasing after me were friends I’d been close with up until now. That hurt me more than anything else.
Because what I saw in their eyes wasn’t worry over a friend being dragged off to some faraway place — it was joy. Joy at the prospect of knowing a saint, or of their village being the one that produced him.
The eyes of the other villagers were no different. To them, I was already something akin to a saint — or rather, a golden calf.
Not a single person will help me.
The ordinary, simple life I had lived as ‘Kevin’ scattered inside me like a daydream dissolving into nothing.
I must have been shedding heavy tears without even realizing it, because one of the Pope’s holy knights glanced my way and reached for his handkerchief, moving to wipe the corners of my eyes.
I resisted by shaking my head frantically.
“I don’t need this kind of consideration — please, just let me go!”
The tall, broad-shouldered holy knight in silver armor responded with a blank expression and a single word of refusal.
“That is not something I can do.”
“W-why not?! I’m nothing but the child of a tenant farmer……!”
At that, the holy knight reached into his chest and pulled out a small mirror, holding it up in front of me.
“Please look in the mirror.”
“……!”
The moment I saw my own reflection, I nearly fainted.
“What…… is this……”
My ordinary curly brown hair, the freckles scattered across my face like strawberry seeds, the skin darkened from helping with farm work — all of it was gone without a trace.
In its place was a beautiful boy who looked as pure and delicate as a fairy.
Silver hair, woven as though from moonlight, gradually blended into a pale blue toward the ends, adding an air of mystery. His eyes were oddly mismatched — one a deep blue like the ocean floor, the other a vivid gold that shone brighter than a gold coin.
His skin, too, had turned flawlessly white and smooth, like polished jade without a single blemish, as though it had never known a day of hardship.
The most horrifying part was the intricate blue pattern that had appeared on my forehead, exactly where the Pope had pressed his finger.
Even in this rural corner of the world, there was at least a small temple and chapel, so there was no way I didn’t know what this pattern meant.
It’s the symbol of this world’s Chief God……
The work I had read before reincarnating as Kevin had been written by an author who was genuinely committed to their worldbuilding — enough to lay out detailed settings like patterns and symbols, even for a series that had been discontinued for poor reception — and that made my despair doubly crushing.
The Pope must have breathed some divine power into me.
That’s why my appearance had changed, and why that clear pattern had appeared on my forehead.
According to the world’s lore, the Chief God’s mark only manifested on two people in any given generation: the Saint and the Pope.
This generation’s Pope had come all the way to our village searching for the Saint… meaning I had effectively been exposed to the entire world as the Saint, with no room for argument.
There are far too many witnesses……. Running was pointless from the start — I was always in the palm of the Pope’s hand.
So was I just going to be trapped here, forced to walk the same path as ‘Hyakin’ all over again?
The holy knight, oblivious to the despair and fury swirling inside me, smiled as though this were a pleasant occasion.
“This generation’s Saint was so difficult to find that the Pope had quite a hard time of it — but what a joyous occasion this is.”
“……”
“You may be confused right now, but once you enter the Papal Palace, your feelings will change. As the Saint — the son of God, his great representative — you will be treated with the utmost reverence.”
“……”
“Living as the Saint will surely be far happier than rotting away as a tenant farmer’s son in a backwater village like this for the rest of your life.”
Fuck.
This generation’s Saint is fated to die without leaving behind even a handful of ashes — what’s happy about any of this?
How lavish the Saint’s life might be. I had zero interest in that. It was nothing but empty noise that didn’t reach my ears in the slightest.
Still bound, I made several desperate attempts to break free.
“I have no interest in any of that.”
“But, Saint——”
“Even the Pope cannot forcibly drag away a child who is struggling to refuse. This is tantamount to kidnapping.”
I spoke with considerable firmness, but they simply kept closing the distance.
“Right now—— release this rope right now!”
Even when I finally resorted to shouting, the knights showed not the slightest sign of wavering.
“We apologize, Saint. But that is the one thing we cannot do.”
“Why on earth can’t you——!”
The answer came not from the knight, but from behind me.
“You have already proven yourself to be chosen by God. As servants of God, surely we cannot commit the sacrilege of leaving his son buried in the mud.”
The Pope……!
The moment I laid eyes on him with his benevolent smile, I clenched my teeth and shouted.
“So you intend to take me by force after all?”
“By force? I have the permission of your biological parents — the ones who brought you into this world — to take you.”
“……What?”
“Is that not so, Tom? And Sara?”
The moment their names were called, my parents gave a small flinch — and then, with glistening eyes, they turned to me and clasped their hands in solemn prayer.
“Of course……. The Saint is a person of great nobility. It is only right to send him to the Papal Palace.”
“Kevin…… no, the Saint will surely live a more comfortable and fulfilling life at the Papal Palace than in this village — please take good care of him.”
……There was no answer to be had. From the moment they had joined the chase earlier, it seemed the two of them had already let me go.
In a world where the authority of God was absolute — much like the Middle Ages — it was a natural reaction. And yet…… the knowledge that I had been abandoned by my parents again tore my chest apart.
After caring for me and loving me like that.
To let me go so easily……
I looked over at the other villagers with resignation in my eyes, and they, too, were offering me reverence just as Tom and Sara had.
As though the days I had lived as ‘Kevin’ had dissolved into dust and blown away, they treated me now with utter thoroughness — as ‘Saint Hyakin.’
If they hadn’t given me love to begin with, if they hadn’t loved me at all, it wouldn’t hurt like this……
If I left as Hyakin, I would never be able to come back to this village again.
The pain forced a single tear to fall at last — and the surroundings erupted into chaos.
“T-the Saint is crying!”
“Are you in pain somewhere?”
“I-I’m the village herbalist, so if a root of some effective herb would help……”
Amid all the commotion, only the Pope maintained his serene and merciful smile, extending his hand to me.
“I admit that in my joy at finally meeting the Saint, I was rather discourteous — and for that I apologize.”
“……”
“But this too is your fate as the Saint. Will you not accept it?”
“……”
“You are the pillar of this nation — indeed, of this world itself. For the sake of the faithful, and for the sake of the world, I hope you will come with us.”
His gentle manner and soft tone were so warm they could instantly ease even the most rigid of hearts — but I glared at him with eyes full of resentment.
“……Do I even have a choice left?”
He had already blocked every path of escape.
To my question, the Pope simply smiled. The meaning of that silence was clear.
There’s nothing I can do right now…… It burns, but for now I’ll accept life as Hyakin and bide my time until the right moment to escape.
In that brief instant, I mapped out Plan B — then spat out my words to the Pope through a twisted expression.
“Fine. I’ll go. To the Papal Palace.”
“A wise decision.”
* * *
Everything that followed moved like water rushing downstream.
The Pope was a shrewder and more calculating creature than a thousand-year-old raccoon dog, and so I was loaded into the carriage still bound — like a piece of cargo — and made to travel all the way to the Papal Palace sitting face-to-face with him.
Even when I complained about the discomfort, the Pope spouted nothing but drivel along the lines of ‘this too is a trial — accept it.’
By the time my opinion of the Pope had hit rock bottom and was starting to dig a tunnel through the earth, we finally arrived at the Papal Palace.
So this is the Papal Palace……
The sight of a building overwhelmingly more splendid and elegant than the royal palace I had glimpsed briefly from a distance drew an involuntary gasp of admiration from me.
As I stood staring up at an enormous stained-glass window the height of a three-story building, the Pope seemed to take it as a sign that my impression of the Papal Palace had improved even slightly, and slipped in a question.
“What do you think, Saint? Your first impression of the Papal Palace — your new home and homeland from here on?”
“Repulsive. You must collect quite a generous amount in offerings from the faithful.”
The Pope maintained a composed expression with visible effort as he replied.
“……You are still very angry. I understand.”
You don’t understand anything.
“If you understood me, you’d start by cutting this wretched rope. I feel like my body is going to start rotting at this rate.”
Over the past few days of travel, I had come to understand that no matter what I hurled at the Pope, he didn’t budge an inch.
So I had made my words deliberately more cutting than usual — but the Pope was completely unfazed. If anything, he seemed to be lavishing praise on me even more extravagantly.
“As the son of God, the Saint will suffer no physical harm from something of that level.”
“……So you’re saying you’ll never untie me?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
The Pope pointed toward a brilliantly glittering chapel.
“Take three steps into that place, and I will have the rope cut.”
“……? Fine.”
One, two, three.
True to his word, the Pope had a holy knight sever the rope.
The moment I saw the rope cut clean through, I let out a wild cry of relief — and bolted, as a bonus.
“As if I’d walk into the Papal Palace that ea——!”
Gack!
This escape attempt didn’t make it past three steps.
What is this? There’s something like a transparent, solid barrier — I can’t move any further forward……!
No matter how many times I threw myself at it, there was no way through.
The Pope looked down at me with the smile of a victor.
“You may not know this, Saint, but any true Saint who enters within the barrier erected here by the founding Saint cannot leave until their journey as a Hero has begun.”
“……!”
“Now then — there is a great deal to be done, so let us hurry and help you freshen up first.”
Just as the Pope was about to call for an attendant, there was a rustling from within the bushes — and a boy around my age suddenly emerged from them.
A pretty boy with gleaming golden hair and blazing red eyes stared at me for a long moment with a displeased expression, then shot a sharp remark.
“So this is the Saint of this generation. Honestly unbelievable.”
