Tiendavis - For Perfect Salvation - Chapter 57

“Do you, as the chosen one, swear to prioritize the justice and order of Tiendabis above all else?”

“Do you swear to dedicate and sacrifice yourself for the peace of the two continents as a symbol of hope?”

“Do you swear to cherish and care for the poor and unfortunate as the connector of the two continents?”

“Do you swear to maintain your honor and dignity at all times as an example of purity?”

“Do you swear to never forget your duty and mission as the saint, the representative of Manyana?”

To these solemn questions, the seventeen-year-old young saint, Roble Tuha, answered without hesitation.

“Yes, I swear.”

It was a dazzlingly bright day.

On that day when the sky was incomparably blue with Manyana’s color, Roble passed the final hurdle of saint selection, the question-and-answer session, in the tower’s sanctuary overlooking the brilliant lake.

The tower master proclaimed the birth of a new saint, and Roble finally became a saint.

She was joyful and overwhelmed.

Although the world was full of sarcasm that ‘the saint is inevitably the daughter of Tuha’, it was by no means easy for Roble to reach this position.

Rather, she stood here after being selected and chosen again and again while competing with her peers bearing the Tuha name. Throughout that long time, Roble was more desperate than anyone.

Roble, having finally achieved her dream, held back tears as she mulled over the questions posed by the great nobles and the previous saint.

As much as she was moved, her shoulders felt heavy. At the same time, she felt ambitious. She wanted to do well no matter what.

So she resolved and resolved again to become a good saint.

Being so excited, she failed to notice. The strange smile of Tower Master Rohika, and the dark look in the eyes of the previous saint.

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A festival was held for a month to celebrate the birth of the new saint.

Around the middle of that festival, the tower master summoned the new saint to the tower.

On that day, Roble set foot in the tower’s underground for the first time.

“There was an underground in the tower?”

“Yes, now that you’ve become a saint, I’ll show you.”

When the elevator that had always gone up started moving down, Roble asked in surprise. Rohika answered with a calm smile, and so Roble followed her with a light heart.

The tower’s underground they finally arrived at was very deep. And wide.

Befitting a part of the noble tower, the underground also boasted a grand and beautiful structure, but it was inevitably eerie due to the flickering light of the lamps. It felt like stepping into the tomb of a god.

Before Roble could look around, Rohika took the lead. As she followed Rohika without knowing why, she heard singing from somewhere.

It was a very familiar melody.

As she walked following Rohika, the sound grew closer, and when they stood in front of a massive door, Roble couldn’t hide her excitement.

The singing was coming from behind that door. It was the song calling for Manyana, all too familiar to Roble.

That song instantly captivated Roble’s ears even though it was separated by just one door.

Although she had sung the same song countless times, it had never been interpreted so magnificently.

So Roble even imagined that perhaps it was Manyana herself singing beyond there.

When the attendants finally opened the door, Roble was literally overwhelmed.

The sound washed over her like a tidal wave. The chorus created by hundreds of voices in harmony swept over Roble with an impact beyond mere thrill.

Moreover, the sight before her eyes was marvelous enough to be cruel to the young saint.

What filled her eyes was water. With shadows varying due to sunlight piercing through the water’s surface, it was clearly the deep underwater of a lake.

That water, in an incomprehensible structure, formed a wall without pouring down, fully displaying the sight of sunlight rippling along with the waves.

And on the massive platform facing that water, hundreds of girls were singing.

‘This can’t be… What on earth…’

Roble couldn’t stop goosebumps from rising all over her body.

Although she had been singing for over a decade and had been instructed by the most capable teachers including the previous saint, she had never heard singing so sharply honed as this.

Compared to their singing, the songs sung by the saint and the purifiers were mere children’s performances.

It was then, as Roble was walking a tightrope between awe and despair.

Suddenly, three or four of the girls singing in formation collapsed.

But that was all.

Even though people collapsed right next to them, the girls didn’t stop singing.

Roble, unable to understand this sight, stared at them before belatedly realizing what she had overlooked in her shock.

The girls hadn’t stopped; they couldn’t stop.

They had their eyes covered with ribbon-like lace, and their wrists and ankles bound with luxurious frills.

That’s why she hadn’t noticed earlier. She thought they were just decorations, never imagining that such pretty things could be used to restrain limbs.

While Roble was catching her breath at this bizarrely lovely sight, attendants pulled the collapsed girls out of formation.

Rohika asked the attendant carrying a girl:

“What is it?”

“She has breathed her last, ma’am.”

“Oh dear.”

At this all too natural conversation, Roble was dumbfounded once again.

As the young saint stared blankly, Rohika smiled sweetly.

“Don’t misunderstand. We take utmost care of them. But no matter how well we feed and rest them, it’s useless. Resonating with the dragon damages their bodies.”

Rohika’s explanation only confused Roble more. So Rohika added kindly:

“It’s common sense, isn’t it? What good would it do if a few talentless noble girls just fooled around singing? It would be nice if such child’s play could save the world.”

“What do you mean…?”

“It’s those children who purify the water. They call the dragon for over half a day every day. They have to spend a full 40 days like that to barely purify that lake.”

“Then what about us?”

“You?”

When Roble asked with trembling eyes, Rohika burst into laughter.

“You are just a smokescreen to hide this.”

“Why? Why hide this? If it’s those children purifying the water, why not just tell the truth!”

Roble shouted without realizing it. Even then, the girls’ singing continued without pause.

Roble had dreamed of becoming a saint since she came of age. But to think that being a saint was such a vain deception. It felt like her very foundation was being denied.

So she demanded fiercely, but Rohika’s answer remained light:

“Well, people would feel uncomfortable if they saw this. Who would want to know that young girls are being overworked and even dying to purify water?”

At Rohika’s answer, Roble’s face turned pale white.

She couldn’t believe it. The Rohika that Roble knew was just clumsy at socializing, but had a tender heart.

But after becoming the tower master, Rohika had become a different person. Roble didn’t know a girl so skillfully cruel.

“Besides, if this gets out, we won’t be able to gather children to sing.”

“Gather…?”

“Yes, that’s your role.”

That’s a story completely unknown to the nobles of Tienda.

A suspicious rumor floating only in Bis’s slums, orphanages, and slave auction houses.

Children with beautiful singing voices can go to Tienda, if they can follow the saint’s song.

“The saint going down to Bis every cycle is to teach the song. So that poor children with nowhere to go can hear the rumor and learn that song.”

Then the tower picks up children whose talent is confirmed. After that, it’s just like this.

Rohika gestured with her eyes like spring leaves towards the singing girls.

At that sight, Roble’s breath caught. Like having poured strong perfume into her mouth, her throat closed up and she couldn’t breathe.

“Then, what happens to those children? Like that forever, or…”

“We release them after 3 years. Beyond that, their voices get damaged and become unusable. But to be honest, hardly any of them survive that long.”

At Rohika’s answer, Roble groaned as if sobbing.

To her friend who looked at her like an insect, Rohika whispered with a slight smile:

“It’s for the sake of the world. For everyone, something someone has to do.”

“This can’t be…!”

Roble finally screamed. The girl who became a saint trembled and denounced the tower’s cruelty.

But the response to that condemnation was ruthless.

“Don’t you care about your family’s well-being?”

Roble was at a loss for words.

The reason Tuha makes a name for itself despite its minor power is because it has produced the most saints.

But if this matter is revealed and the existence of saints is denied, furthermore, if the deception of past saints is exposed, then Tuha would…

Roble gritted her teeth. Then, recalling the saint’s oath, she shouted:

“The family doesn’t matter! I, I can’t accept this, how could…”

“Really? Then you try to save them.”

At Roble’s rebuttal, Rohika lightly raised her hand. Then the attendants pulled strings to stop the girls’ singing.

“Congratulations. Your mercy has saved those children. Now their lives depend on you.”

Unexpectedly, Rohika immediately granted Roble’s words. So Roble was rather perplexed. She felt like she had fallen into a trap.

“If you can replace those children, I’ll let all those poor children go. But if you fail, you keep your mouth shut and behave nicely, like the other saints.”

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As Roble expected, it was a trap.

After that, the purification stopped. Roble Tuha was condemned as the most incompetent saint in history.

And innocent people fell ill and died.

Unable to bear it any longer, Roble went down to the tower’s underground after exactly half a year. And Rohika gladly welcomed back the prodigal daughter.

“Because the water wasn’t purified, there’s a drought in Bis, and an epidemic due to salt damage. It’s pitiful, no drinking water and an epidemic. Thousands have died in the West alone, and who knows about the South where there aren’t even reports yet. Moreover, due to the hopeless crop failure, quite a few will die this winter too.”

Rohika recited the desperate situation in Bis point by point, like a senior teaching a lesson. Then she tilted her head and smiled.

“What do you think?”

At that cruel question, Roble finally collapsed at Rohika’s feet and burst into tears.

You should have just gotten angry! You should have scolded and taught me for recklessly jumping in, for saying foolish things!

But it was too late for such regrets now.

In the end, Roble couldn’t save either side. Neither the girls singing before death, nor the innocent people of the lower continent.

She only confirmed her powerlessness while being extremely hated. And she realized for herself another role of the saint.

Ah, the saint was a scapegoat. One who takes on all problems on behalf of the tower and is dragged out onto the streets. An extremely convenient existence. That was the saint the tower cherished so much.

“It’s okay, you can do well from now on. You killed thousands trying to save hundreds, but if that makes you a great saint, I don’t mind.”

Rohika smiled down at Roble.

Roble was so scared of such a Rohika that she couldn’t say anything.

She even thought about telling the nobles about the tower’s true nature. But the moment she saw that green-eyed demon, all her will crumbled.

Even if this is revealed, who would really step up?

Who in the world wants to know that the rock they climbed to avoid the crashing waves is someone else’s head? And even if they knew, how many would readily come down?

We are all already accomplices.

In the midst of distant despair, Roble recalled the question-and-answer session from the day she became a saint.

You, the chosen one. Symbol of hope. Connector of two continents. Example of purity. Representative of Manyana…

She wanted to go back to that moment when she took the oath with all those flowery words and tear out her ears and mouth.

Ah, if this was the saint’s real role, why on earth did they make such an oath?

If it was to tame the worldly ignorant saint, it would truly be a devilish idea.

And we shake hands with the devil every day.

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Roble finally accepted her role as a saint, and 5 years passed.

One day, as she was holding her breath as usual.

“Put that down first!”

“I don’t want to.”

“It’s dangerous!”

“If you know, then move aside, or we all burn to death together.”

A very calmly crazy girl flowed into the tower’s underground.