Level Up Saintess

“Ah… My likes…”

 

Kale’s eyes trailed down towards the floor, and from the way the feathers on the back of his neck slightly ruffled up, I could tell he was starting to get anxious. Was my question difficult for him for some reason? I really didn’t mean to make him have to think this hard!

 

“I-if that’s too much, then would you rather tell me something else about yourself? You could tell me about your past, or something you find super important or unique about yourself, or-”

 

Oh... I think I might just be making things worse for him, if the still rising feathers are any indication. Maybe I should just shut up and give him a moment. Yeah, that’s probably for the best.

 

Kale’s downcast eyes slowly raised back up towards me, but they didn’t fully make it to my face, which was honestly a little concerning.

 

“I… I don’t think I have any likes.”

 

Oh okay, so he wasn’t looking more stressed because of what I said just now, it was just that he was still stewing over that first thing. Guess I just repeat myself then? Ugh, I hope I'm not picking the wrong things to say somehow...

 

“That’s fine! What about telling me a bit about yourself instead? Like maybe about your past, or whatever stuff about yourself you think is special!”

 

Kale’s eyes averted themselves from me again, and one of his hands came up to his chin while he thought. He still looked super ruffled feather-wise, so I guess this topic still wasn’t any easier for him than the first. Oh no... Did he maybe actually hear me earlier and just pretended he didn’t because he didn’t want to talk about it? Does he think I’m forcing him to answer it now because I insisted on it or something? Ahh, what do I-

 

“Well, if the Saintess would like to know, then it should be fine to say… I was born the child of my tribe’s leader.”

 

“Oh wow! So does that mean you were in line for being the next leader then?”

 

I think that’s usually how that would work, right? Unless they’re so tribal that it’s decided by fighting or something. But I’m sure there’s some old systems that passed it down by lineage, right? The child of the toughest fighter would be expected to be tough too anyways, so maybe it’s both. Either way, if it’s true that he should have been the next in line to be their leader, then why did they let Kale get captured in the first place? How weird...

 

Kale’s hand that had originally been on his chin came forward like he was presenting his arm to me, and he gave the feathers growing there a soft shake.

 

“No. I have golden feathers, so I had to go.”

 

…Huh? Does that… mean something? He’s right, his feathers do have a very solid line of gold ringing the edges of them, way more than on any of the other birds that I saw here before. But... why does that mean Kale had to go away?

 

My confusion must have been painted all over my face, because he quickly pulled his arm away as if he’d been burned, and gently began to stroke his feathers.

 

“Golden feathers are a sign. The one with the most golden feathers must go serve the Bird God.”

 

Oh, so he basically got sent away to become some kind of holy man for their religion. Huh. I know it’s a total stretch, but I can’t help thinking that our situations are a bit similar... I mean, he was forced to go serve his god, and I was forced here to serve mine.

 

…Still no idea if this ‘Bird God’ is even real, though, so maybe it was only the peer pressure of his people making him do it.

Not that that can’t be equally as bad, in its own ways.

 

You know what, now that I think about this more, it kind of makes sense. I mean, maybe I’m just being biased here, but Kale seemed a bit different than the other birds I saw. He certainly seemed to understand some things a bit quicker than them, and they seemed to let him speak for them, too. Knowing that he was some kind of religious figure for them, it really makes the pieces fit together a bit more. Still doesn’t make sense how he ended up getting brought here as a slave, though. Maybe I should probe a bit and see if I can figure it out? Not that it really matters anymore, though...

Ah, whatever, I'm curious.

 

“Alright. So what did you do to serve the Bird God?”

 

Kale’s face was starting to look a little bit melancholy, which was impressive since he kept it pretty neutral for the most part. It was like this the last time he had to speak to me about the Bird God, too… Does he just not like talking about it? Did the Bird God do something bad to him? Or did it maybe get hurt somehow during the war? But what could possibly hurt a demi-god?

 

“...I eased the Bird God’s pain. I took care of his body as he died.”

 

Oh wow, so something really was killing the demi-god. Unexpected. …Was it really even a demi-god, then? Are demi-gods just really weak here or something? Or maybe instead of a demi-god it was really just a ‘divine beast’ that they worshiped super hard for being ‘divine’? I wonder if the Goddess is okay with that happening, if it is the case. It could be that that has some bearing on why the birds and this country were at war, and why we captured one of their holy men.

 

I wanted to ask Kale some of the theories that were swimming around in my head, but when I finally selected which one to ask, Kale suddenly launched into more of his story before I could even say anything. Apparently it goes like this:

 

Kale had spent the past 10 years serving and protecting the Bird God, when one day it got up for the first time in centuries and began to fly away. Kale and the guards outside of their temple or whatever building that they’d enshrined the dying Bird God in also began running after their god, and accidentally stumbled into the defensive army that had been set up on the outskirts of this country to protect it from the raiding birds. And because they were all dressed up much more nicely and ceremonially than the usual raiding parties of bird-kin, the army people correctly assumed that Kale and the other birds were important figures, and therefore kept them as prisoners of war to hopefully barter some of their own people back from the birds, not knowing that the bird-kin ritualisticly kill their prisoners, so no exchanges would be had. Of course, the birds who came with Kale fought back and injured many of their captors along the way. Not Kale though. No, Kale just stood there, watching off into the distance where his god had coldly left them behind.

 

Kale was sure that the Bird God had led them there on purpose, and so he as its servant resignedly accepted his fate.

 

The war ended quickly afterwards, since the birdfolk who’d lost their deity had also lost their will to fight.

Really makes me believe more in my ‘holy war’ hypothesis, at least on the bird’s side.

 

“...Did the Bird God ever come back?”

 

Kale gave his head a soft shake, causing the feathers on the back of him to rustle a bit.

 

“I’ve been here all this time, so I have no way of knowing.”

 

Oh, right, of course he doesn’t. I don’t know why I just assumed he had some kind of telepathic connection with the Bird God or something... Not like he has some kind of ‘Bird God radar’ built into him. He was a servant of it though, so you’d think he’d be really curious what ended up happening; He did chase after it when the Bird God left, after all.

 

“Well… Do you want to go back and see if it’s there again?”

 

Kale’s already neutral face somehow became even blanker for a moment. It almost looked like he was trying his best not to let whatever emotion he was feeling show on his face or something. Maybe he realized how much I was scrutinizing his face though, because he quickly dropped his gaze down to the floor a moment later.

 

“No, I…”

 

His clawed hands twitched, and I could tell he was holding his breath. I knew all these questions I’d been asking him were hard on him, but they were all important, just like this one is. Hell, this one is especially important, since it might just change my plans from now on. I reached out and took Kale’s hands into mine, firmly holding on to him and trying to give him whatever meager support I could. Maybe it helped, because a moment later he sighed and gave me a very weak looking smile.

 

“Maybe I’ll go back one day… But until then, I would like to continue being ‘Kale’ with the Saintess.”

 

Ah… Oh wow. I wasn’t expecting that, I really really wasn’t. It was hard to stop myself from tearing up, which understandably made Kale start to worry in his own minimally expressive way. And seeing Kale fretting over me with that stoic face of his just made me laugh instead, even with all the tears still threatening to drip out of my eyes.

 

Maybe it’s silly. Maybe it should have just stabbed me again, facing me with the acknowledgement that he sees this whole thing I’m doing with him as some sort of pretend ‘Kale’ game. But I couldn’t help but take his words to mean that he was happy being Kale with me, you know? I wanted to believe that he was going along with this selfishness of mine not because I was a Saintess with power over him, but because he well and truly liked it.

 

Hell, he could have just said it to make me happy, and if that was the case…

Well, it definitely worked.