No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 97
EP.97 Stubbornness and Arrogance (9)
Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the intense light illuminating the area around me. A faint dizziness washed over me. It wasn’t as if I had poured every ounce of my strength into this, like at the gnome’s lake. There seemed to be quite a few places like this throughout the dwarf kingdom. If I wanted to purify them all as quickly as possible—
"……."
Wait.
I suddenly opened my eyes, feeling a bit unsettled.
Before me lay a now-crystal-clear pool of water. A well, filled to the brim with pristine, transparent water.
A murmur of admiration rippled through the onlookers. Among them, the priests grumbled in discontent. Judging by their reactions, one might call this a success. I had poured just as much energy into this as I had when healing the dwarves. The well itself was now clear enough for people to drink from.
However—
"Anna?"
Ria called my name beside me.
"……."
I knelt down and scooped up a handful of water. Like the lake in the gnome’s territory, the liquid shimmered faintly, imbued with divine power. And yet—the tingling sensation in the air hadn’t disappeared.
I turned my gaze back to the pool. From the rocks at the edge, something was dripping into the water.
Thick, black droplets.
Pure magic itself.
Each time they hit the surface, they were quickly purified. But that purification wouldn’t last forever. Not unless I destroyed the source completely.
I rose to my feet.
"Anna?"
"Ria, let’s go back."
I turned away as I spoke, and our escorts hesitated before hastily following suit. Then, after a few steps, I suddenly stopped. So did everyone else.
I looked at the dwarf priest—the one who had stood in my way earlier.
Did he truly see that pool as sacred on its own? Was that why he tried to stop me? If so, then why had they left it abandoned like this, alongside a forsaken sanctuary?
I turned to him and asked, "the people living here—how do they survive?"
A cave this deep underground, filled with such dense magic…
Only those affiliated with the church, capable of wielding divine power, or dwarves, who could store magic in their bodies for resistance, could endure this place. Other than that, the only creatures that could survive here were monsters. And monsters weren’t a viable food source.
The food at last night’s banquet had consisted of livestock, fresh vegetables, and mushrooms—not anything born from magic. The dwarves, dying from drinking magic-contaminated water, wouldn’t have been able to survive by eating creatures made of magic.
"There’s no way that well alone is enough to sustain them. They must need at least some water for daily life. And food, too."
"Well…"
The priest gave me a puzzled look, as if I’d asked something absurd.
"They sustain themselves by extracting and selling the liquefied magic from within."
I blinked.
"It’s not as efficient as magic stones, but if you mix it with earth and harden it into chunks, it can be used once or twice."
"…That sounds far more dangerous than mining magic stones. Do you handle the processing?"
The dwarf priests exchanged confused glances.
"……No, but we’ll try."
Which meant they wouldn’t do it.
The dwarves with the greatest amount of magic all stood at the very top of the kingdom. Naturally, their individual strength must have been incomparable. Of course, that was to be expected. It was common for such beings to rise to the upper echelons of society. And conversely, those who couldn’t take on important roles were pushed to the fringes of the kingdom.
In the end, those who could—wouldn’t. And those who couldn’t—had no choice but to. Because otherwise, they had no way to survive. Drinking magic-infused water, handling magic-laden clay with their bare hands, their bodies rotting from the inside out.
I resumed walking.
"Ria, let’s return to the palace. I need to see the princess."
"Alright."
Ria nodded. She didn’t ask why.
*
As soon as we returned to the palace, I requested an audience with the princess. She granted it immediately—almost as if she had been waiting.
"I haven’t even received a report yet, and yet you’ve come to see me yourself," she remarked.
I stared at her intently and spoke.
"I went to the place you told me about, Your Highness."
"The place where the most unfortunate people in this kingdom reside," she said.
That was how she had described it when I asked. And she had been right. It was hard to imagine anyone in this kingdom living under worse conditions. It seemed even the dwarves themselves knew of the place’s infamy.
But… something told me that the princess hadn’t merely pointed me there because I had asked. No, it felt more like she had wanted me to see it from the beginning. Even if I hadn’t requested it, I had the nagging feeling that she would have eventually urged me to go there herself.
"What did you see?" she asked. "People suffering? Priests who knew they needed help, yet turned a blind eye?"
I had seen both.
But that wasn’t the most serious thing I had witnessed.
No—among everything I had felt, the most alarming of all was—
"……The magic," I said.
That boundless, unfathomable flow of magic. Far beyond what I had encountered in the gnome region’s lake. A density so overwhelming that I couldn’t even begin to grasp its full extent. I hadn’t seen it directly. With my abilities, I wouldn’t have been able to gauge its true depth anyway.
"This entire mountain."
I voiced my conclusion.
"Isn’t that right?"
The princess nodded, as if I had given the correct answer.
"That’s right."
Then, she slowly extended her index finger and pointed upward—toward the ceiling.
"Up there. Most of this mountain—this land so rich in magic stones—is filled to the brim with raw magic. That’s why there are so many magic stones. For eons, this mountain’s bedrock has been steadily transformed."
"……."
"I apologize. I couldn't tell you outright. We had to know—whether your power was truly something that could help us, or if you were only here to spread your faith."
"You wanted to see if what I’d heard was true."
"And if you really could see the situation for what it is, I wanted to know how you would judge it."
So, rather than just explaining with words, she wanted me to understand more clearly—
"……No. More than that, I think you wanted to shock me."
"……."
This time, the princess fell silent.
"You must have heard that I purified the contaminated lake in the gnome territory. You wanted me to see this firsthand."
"……Will you forgive my rudeness?"
I didn’t know how to respond to that.
"Yes, you’re right. We dwarves… We’ve lived in these mountains for so long, carving tunnels through them. But now, we’ve hit our limit. Every member of the royal family knows—we cannot dig any deeper."
If they did, the magic would start to seep out.
But at the same time, moving aboveground wasn’t a simple option either. Leaving the dwarven kingdom meant facing a harsh mountain range—one far taller and colder than anything on Earth.
And beyond that…
"The only habitable lands are embroiled in war. And… Sister, you passed through those lands yourself. You must have seen their condition."
The only place where people could even hope to survive aboveground was now a wasteland. Magic corruption had spread everywhere. At this point, it was unclear if even grass could grow there anymore.
Perhaps the dwarves could try surviving in the desert, if they found a source of water. But most of those regions belonged to the gnomes. And given the long-standing animosity between their peoples, the gnomes would never welcome them.
Besides—
I knew the truth. That magic would become a catastrophe. One day, it would consume the entire mountain. And when that happened, it would swallow the gnome territories below as well.
"Now you understand why we had to research the Gates."
"……."
I remained silent.
"Some among the royals and nobles hope for one thing—that they might pass through your lands and escape to another world through a Gate. Because opening a completely unknown world is too great a risk."
If a Gate ever opened into the ocean, it could flood the tunnels and drown everything inside.
And if it led to a barren wasteland, crossing it would be meaningless.
But—
"……You understand that this won’t be easy, don’t you?"
The princess continued, her voice calm but firm.
"Even if it’s temporary, hundreds of thousands of dwarves would have to pass through your country. There’s no guarantee that problems wouldn’t arise along the way."
"……."
I had no response to that.
"And even if we did cross your lands and make it to another world through your Gate—there’s no telling whether we would even be welcome there."
If there was already an established nation on the other side, the government wouldn’t interfere too much. They wouldn’t want to start a war. But if there was no nation beyond the Gate… the government would simply claim the land as its own. They’d turn it into a dumping ground. A radioactive waste disposal site. Giving up such a valuable space wouldn’t be in their best interest. And even the refugees wouldn’t want to venture too deep into the gate either.
"……I’m sure some people have proposed more… radical solutions."
I paused, then asked,
"How highly do dwarves regard their own bloodline?"
The princess let out a bitter chuckle, as if she immediately understood what I was implying.
"……Enough that some don’t even consider other races to be ‘people.’ Especially the extremists. Let’s just say… if they knew that half my blood was gnomish, there would be plenty of people eager to assassinate me."
I closed my mouth.
Uh… Princess?
That’s quite a sensitive topic to bring up so casually…
Wait, is this even something I should be commenting on?