The sole deity of this world, her hometown where she grew up since childhood. In the Order of the Sun, there had been a prophecy passed down since ancient times.
In the distant future, when chaos returns to the world again, someone stronger, nobler, and braver than anyone else would appear.
This person would become the Hero and face the resurgent Demon King, ultimately sealing him away.
This prophecy had been fulfilled throughout the past several hundred years, and everyone on the continent grew up hearing these stories and nurturing their dreams.
Or perhaps, rather than dreams, they were delusions.
"The new Hero will surely be amazing!"
"The new Hero will be stronger and braver than anyone!"
"They'll be noble and sublime like a prince on a white horse!"
These were the kinds of delusions children typically had.
They created their own idealized version of a Hero in their minds, expecting a perfect finished product.
Like fairy tales, children grew up hearing tales of previous Heroes' exploits from a very young age.
It was only natural for them to have such expectations.
And the Saintess was no different.
No, having been born and raised in the church, her admiration and expectations for the Hero could only be greater.
Believing in the Sun God's radiance more than anyone else, she naturally believed that the Hero prophesied by Him would also be perfect.
Therefore, her first impression of the Hero when she finally met him was...
"Hello, pleased to meet you."
Literally the worst.
To an extent that couldn't be expressed in words.
"I'm Luke, newly selected as the Hero."
He hadn't done anything particularly wrong.
He had simply greeted her politely with good manners.
Nevertheless, Yulice couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Behind him flowed countless Fragments of Sin.
The traces of crimes he had committed and would continue to commit.
As a Saintess, she could vaguely see the sins of others, and when she saw the Hero, this vague Authority was fully activated.
Even a serial killer who had murdered dozens, or the boss of a massive criminal organization, wouldn't carry such sin.
Only the Demon King's army, officially designated by the Goddess, would spread such darkness.
Naturally, she couldn't help but be suspicious.
Even if he had truly drawn the Holy Sword and been selected as the Hero,
with such a terrible first impression, she couldn't help but deny it.
That's why Yulice thought he must have used some dark arts.
She believed he was an enemy spy who had infiltrated as the Hero using some means, or perhaps an executive of the Demon King's army.
She wanted to believe that, and she did believe it.
Of course, later she realized that those Fragments of Sin were just illusions caused by a curse...
But by the time she realized this, everything was already too late.
Far too late.
*
Despite many concerns about the Hero's party, they still set out.
Since he had already been officially selected as the Hero, they couldn't back out even if they wanted to.
Of course, the atmosphere in a team forced together couldn't possibly be good.
"I still can't believe it. Is that guy really the Hero?"
"There must be some mistake..."
When the Hero briefly left his seat, they often gossiped about him.
Like the Saintess, they too had some ability to judge people. It seemed they all sensed something off about him.
An inexplicable chill, an unpleasant feeling. Combined with his suspicious appearance and the good justification of "Fragments of Sin,"
they already had more than enough reasons to doubt and dislike him.
After some time, it became accepted as fact that he was a spy for the Demon King's army.
"This won't do. How about we put some psychological pressure on him? That might reveal his true colors."
"That sounds good."
Such suggestions naturally emerged as a result.
Psychologically pressure him to reveal his true nature. Or, encourage him from behind to leave the Hero's party voluntarily.
In other words, forcing a resignation.
It was truly a malicious plan, but at that time, they saw no better option.
After all, no one wants to be with someone who gives them chills just by approaching, whose every word and gesture seems suspicious.
From then on, the Hero began to be criticized for all sorts of reasons.
He was scolded for not wielding his sword well, frowned upon for having an unsettling flow of mana, or assigned the most arduous task of dismembering monsters.
Yulice also participated in this method.
When he was injured, she deliberately used her holy power sparingly to delay healing.
When he was covered in poison, she refused to purify him with the absurd excuse that her holy power was depleted.
Such days continued for half a year.
Half a year.
*
Half a year passed.
Yulice thought this so-called Hero was quite persistent.
Despite constantly receiving unwarranted criticism, albeit minor, he didn't leave.
She knew well that what wears people down isn't massive trials but small, consistent stresses.
Usually, when pressured like this, people's true nature tends to emerge one way or another.
But he didn't. Though he occasionally showed irritation, most of the time he continued the journey with just a slight smile.
Because of this, her suspicions grew day by day.
Why? Shouldn't she have stopped being suspicious after he remained unchanged despite continuous pressure?
One might think so, but from her perspective, it was different.
Something...
*
[Curse of Distortion activated...]
No matter what you do, the probability of others misinterpreting your actions greatly increases!
*
...she thought he was hiding his true nature as much as possible because he had some ulterior motive.
Despite facing such pressure, he remained in the party because there was something he needed to obtain.
At least that's what she thought, and she firmly believed that Luke was truly a spy for the Demon King's army.
Therefore...
SLASH-!!
"!!"
When the one called Hero was cut in half by a Minotaur, she couldn't hide her shock.
"...!"
It happened in an instant.
After much struggle, they had cut off the beast's two horns and were celebrating.
When the creature finally fell to its knees and they felt mentally relieved.
When everyone was certain we had won—
The beast seized that moment of complacency and swiftly swung its axe.
What remained was a diagonal line of bright red blood and the Hero's upper body floating in the air.
The cross-section of his diagonally torn torso.
Blood and organs unable to resist gravity, about to flow down.
Flesh that hadn't yet realized it was cut still twitched, emitting a grotesque appearance.
The clearly visible severed spine was quite shocking even for the Saintess.
No one had anticipated it, and no one had been able to react to the attack.
A fatal blow that could have reasonably caused instant death was delivered, exploiting a moment of doubt.
Moreover, the Hero, who had seemed least likely to die, was the first to fall.
It was only natural that Yulice's mind momentarily froze.
In that silence marked by shock, where no one could react,
the Hero muttered.
"I... sacrifice... 30... reverse..."
Just a single, light mutter.
The distance was too far for her to hear clearly.
Even without that, her mind wasn't calm enough at that moment for someone's words to register properly.
All she could understand was that he had muttered something, and
that it had caused a strange miracle to occur.
WHOOSH!
In an instant, his severed body began to restore itself.
The intestines that were about to spill downward rose back up, and the scattered bright red blood was sucked back into his body.
An injury so severe that even the Saintess couldn't heal, one that should have caused instant death, was healing in the blink of an eye.
As if time had been reversed.
It took less than a second for the Hero, who had been cut in half, to return to a perfectly intact body.
"What?!"
"What was that? What did you just do?"
Shock erupted from all around, but the Hero dismissed it with a single statement.
"...Let's deal with the problem in front of us first."
His face was filled with complicated emotions as he said this.
Still, they followed his words and defeated the beast.
Their curiosity could wait until everything was over.
Fortunately, defeating the Minotaur was relatively easy.
After all, that unexpected blow had simply been too powerful; its actions were otherwise predictable as before.
It didn't take long to defeat the Minotaur.
THUD!
After the somewhat shocking opponent fell, the Hero also collapsed to the ground, seemingly exhausted.
Having had his body split in half, he might have been mentally drained.
But their patience wasn't deep enough to leave it at that.
Moreover, at this time, there wasn't even a Yulice who would stand up for him...
GRAB-
Camilla seized the Hero by the collar and pulled him up.
Her eyes were a complex mix of confusion and irritation.
Behind her, Adel and Lily stared at him accusingly.
"Hero... what's going on? Didn't you say it would calm down if we cut off its two horns?"
"What just happened? Your body was cut in two... how did you survive?"
"No... this is... well..."
A look of embarrassment crossed the Hero's face. His face, stained with sweat and fatigue, was full of trouble.
In the original... that is, in the world after she returned,
she would have stepped in to mediate the situation at this point. Seeing how tired he was, she might have held back the party members and told him to rest first.
"Um, everyone, could we talk about this later... I'm quite tired..."
But at that time, she...
"No. We can't."
She couldn't do that.
"The books in the cathedral say that dark magic includes various extraordinary spells that defy common sense. And that regenerative ability that defies common sense..."
As mentioned earlier, what ruins people isn't a single massive trial, but the small stresses that consistently follow.
Just as a giant tree that withstands multiple typhoons can fall to beetles that could be crushed by a human finger,
a person's mind can also be broken by continuous gnawing away.
The Saintess spoke with a face full of disgust.
"Tell us. Did you use filthy dark magic?"
The look on his face at that time... was that of someone about to collapse at any moment.