No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 98
EP.98 Stubbornness and Arrogance (10)
"……."
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"If we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dwarves passing through, then yes… I suppose people wouldn't take too kindly to that."
People don’t trust other people easily. And when the numbers reach hundreds of thousands, even with strict oversight, complete control would be nearly impossible. Not to mention, there might be extremists among them who find this world… too much to their liking.
"Um, could we just pretend you didn’t hear what I said earlier…?"
"Somehow, I doubt that’s the proposal you're about to make, Your Highness. You didn’t just tell me—you wanted me to experience it firsthand. That must mean you—"
"Uh, excuse me? Sister? That was a very important thing I just said, you know?"
"……."
"Hey. Hey."
As I fell silent, Ria jabbed my arm with her elbow.
"Do you get it now? This is exactly how I feel whenever you randomly blurt out prophecy-like things out of nowhere."
"……Prophecy-like things? Isn’t there some kind of ritual required for that?"
The princess tilted her head at Ria’s words, looking puzzled.
"Oh, no. This girl just casually drops them while sweeping the yard with a broom, like an afterthought. The same way you’d wonder, ‘Hm, what’s for dinner tonight?’ I’m pretty sure talking to the entity up there is just second nature to her at this point."
That’s… not entirely true. All I usually see are the flickering lights above my head. But I couldn’t exactly deny it now, not after all the lies I’d told up to this point.
"She does this casually?"
The princess's expression grew even more bewildered. Thankfully, she didn’t look outright disbelieving, which was a relief… or was it?
Wait.
Had I been digging my own grave this entire time?
Sure, I’d been using the Saintess Candidate excuse as a convenient cover, but now that I thought about it, even the original Saintess in the story never displayed abilities quite like this. Not that I had much choice. This was just the explanation that stuck the best.
"……Anyway—"
"Oh, right."
Just as I was about to steer the conversation away—relieved that we had smoothly skipped over the royal bloodline issue—the princess cut me off cleanly.
"I’ll tell you about my lineage."
"Uh, no, Your Highness. Look, I might be a Saintess Candidate, but I’m not actually the Saintess yet. Extracting such critical information about your kingdom would be a bit… inappropriate, don’t you think?"
"You’re not extracting anything. I’m telling you."
"But is there really a need to take such a risk?"
"There is."
Her answer was so crisp, so definitive, that it was almost refreshing.
"The reason behind my mixed blood is simple. My father was deliberately trying to integrate the highest-ranking dwarven bloodline with the gnomes. I’m a princess, and one day, I’ll likely marry into another noble family. One generation won’t make much difference, but in time, when my descendants multiply, even the most hardline nobles won’t be able to deny it anymore."
Hmm…
That made sense.
The fact that she didn’t have a beard could probably be dismissed. After all, no one in this kingdom would ever even imagine that their royal family carried gnomish blood.
"But… isn’t that humiliating for a dwarf?"
"Yes. This is all a preparation for a distant future where we can eventually coexist with the gnomes. It will take an incredibly long time, and countless things must be arranged, but it’s a cause worth pursuing."
No matter which path they chose, it would inevitably lead to war and conquest. A quick look through history made that clear enough. Time and time again, displaced peoples had reclaimed their lands—driving out those who had replaced them, toppling entire nations in the process.
Dwarves and gnomes had been locked in war for so long that their battle lines had practically solidified into a permanent stalemate. A full-scale war now would only lead to mutual destruction.
And relocating somewhere else? That was just as impossible—unless they were willing to abandon the dwarves already living here. Carving out mountains for shelter instead of constructing buildings required an unimaginable amount of labor. Even with their expertise in heavy machinery, there were limits to what the dwarves could handle. If they had been a small, nomadic tribe at the beginning, it might have been feasible. But uprooting hundreds of thousands of citizens? That was out of the question.
"Of course, we had other plans in motion."
The princess spoke evenly, likely in response to the expression on my face.
"But unfortunately, we have lost a great deal of our technology over time."
She gazed up at the ceiling.
"Structures like this… we can’t build them anymore. Maybe if we dedicated ourselves to research, we could rediscover how, but it would take a long time. And constructing something like this again? That would take centuries."
"……."
"I'm fine with that. My father is fine with that. If it means keeping our kingdom alive, we could dig into a randomly discovered burrow, endure the cold, and scrape at the earth with our bare hands. That is how dwarven history began, after all. But."
She turned her eyes to me.
"What do you think, Saintess Candidate? Do you believe the dwarves—hundreds of thousands of civilians, hundreds of nobles—would simply accept that fate without resistance?"
I shook my head.
"Exactly. That’s why we had been preparing for every possibility. Whether that meant borrowing land from another civilization and becoming dependent on them, or abandoning all remnants of our past and searching for new lands altogether."
But it was all too late. Because the dwarven territory had already rotted from the inside out. They had dug so deep into the mountains that some parts of their underground cities were now brushing dangerously close to the surface. In some areas, cracks had formed, leaking magic uncontrollably.
Even with some surface-level farming and melting snow for drinking water, that could only support a fraction of their civilization. Unless they were royalty or nobility, most dwarves had no choice but to survive on mushrooms, cave-dwelling livestock, and whatever water could be drawn from the underground. Everything was slowly decaying. And by the time they realized it… it was already too late. Every peaceful solution required time. But time was the one thing the dwarves didn’t have.
"……."
I thought through everything and looked at the princess. Her expression was calm, without any hint of judgment or personal opinion. Even though she was looking up at me from her shorter height, she didn’t seem small at all.
"……Even so, Your Highness, you’re against the idea of invasion, aren’t you?"
"Did the gods tell you that as well?"
"No, that’s my own judgment. If there was an alternative, then the two of us wouldn’t be standing here, having this conversation. And the reason you’re telling me everything so honestly… is because you want another way."
"Yes, that’s right."
The princess let out a small breath.
"I believe war is impossible. No matter how much we prepare, in the end, it will always be the dwarven kingdom alone facing an alliance of nations. And that is a war we cannot win."
"If you could achieve an overwhelming victory, are you saying you would wage war?"
"If it were my father, then yes. Without a doubt. And as for me… Yes, I suppose I would too. If that were the simplest and most effective way to resolve everything, if it guaranteed clear benefits, I would support it with both hands. What ruler wouldn’t?"
But the reason most rulers avoid war unless absolutely necessary is because, in the long run, it tends to cause more harm than good. Then again, those who do believe war is a viable solution… have already been waging them for generations.
"…What is it that you want from me?"
At my question, the princess fell silent for a moment.
Then—
"…What if I converted?"
Her words took an unexpected turn.
"And what if the Dwarven Kingdom accepted your religion? Sister, would you then be willing to aid our kingdom?"
"……."
Oh. Right.
I am here as a representative of the Church.
I smacked my forehead with my palm.
Next to me, Ria let out an incredulous snort, but I ignored it for now.
"That’s… a bit complicated," I admitted. "For one, I don’t actually hold any real authority within the Church."
"But at the same time, you are a symbol of it. And in matters of faith, symbols can sometimes hold more power than actual authority."
"Well—yes, you’re not wrong, but that’s not exactly what I meant…"
I trailed off, hesitating.
Because how was I supposed to explain this?nThat I don’t exactly believe in the concept of a god, yet I have no issue borrowing power from the very entity watching over me from above?
Ria stared at me, her expression unreadable. Her lips were pressed in a firm line, as if she were deliberately holding back any reaction. Would she oppose this?
…I wasn’t sure.
If this were the novel’s version of Ria, she might have. But the Ria standing beside me felt… different. Still, there was one thing I was sure of. Ria would understand my decision. She would trust my words. Even if admitting that felt a little embarrassing.
"…I don’t make decisions based on personal gain alone."
"So then, what you’re saying is?"
"If there’s something I can do, then I will."
"……."
"And besides, my reason for coming here in the first place was to prevent your kidnapping, wasn’t it?"
I still didn’t know exactly how events would unfold. The novel had started after the incident had already happened, so I never got to see the details.
But at the very least—
If I could prevent the princess’s kidnapping, then maybe, just maybe, things wouldn’t spiral into disaster like they did in the original story.
Because when magic accumulates, it can form a magic core. And if that magic core grows too large, it can become the heart of a monster.
There were those who could control such monsters. The ones who believed that the Gates were a divine gift bestowed upon them. There was a theory floating around in the comment section—that they were created in such a way. And honestly, I thought that theory made a lot of sense.
"……."
The princess studied me in silence for a moment before turning away and walking toward the table. She placed three cups down and poured liquor into two of them. For the last cup, she picked up a nearby fruit juice and poured it instead, handing it to Ria. Ria’s face turned red as she accepted the drink. Then, the princess lifted the remaining two cups and offered one to me.
"Even if that were the case, I can’t just accept without giving anything in return. Sometimes, the fact that you didn’t take something can be the steepest price of all."
"……You should discuss that with the officials."
Even thinking about it gave me a headache.
At my words, the princess let out a quiet chuckle.
"I think I finally understand what kind of person you are, Sister. Don’t the people around you worry?"
Ria shot me a look.
Why?
I was, without a doubt, a rational and reasonable person. I always made choices that worked in my favor.
The three glasses clinked together. We all took a drink in unison.
Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had shared a drink with the princess since coming back from the mines. Before, she had been drinking alone the whole time.
…They say alcohol makes people forget their manners. Maybe, in her own way, the princess had been doing her best to remain courteous all along.