“You mean that Saintess Sophia?” Vinny’s expression turned even stranger.

“Don’t tell me you don’t even know who Saintess Sophia is, young man,” the elderly woman said, unable to hold back.

“I know. Of course I know.”

She was his actual great-grandmother. How could he not know who she was?

Precisely because he did know, he understood just how wrong the history the old woman described was.

“But Great-Grand—oh, I mean, wasn’t Saintess Sophia supposed to have perished together with the Myriad-Demon Fox King? How could she possibly have had enough time to return to the Holy Capital?”

That was right. In the history Vinny knew, Sophia had arranged everything in advance, then led the Radiant Cross Knights against the main force of the Demon King’s army under the Myriad-Demon Fox King. In the end, the two of them had fallen together.

They were dead. Hardly any survivors had remained. Where would there have been time for anyone to return in triumph?

Vinny was certain Sophia had not defeated the Myriad-Demon Fox King, returned, and then later died because her injuries were too severe. If that had happened, Holy Fall City never could have existed in the first place.

“Where did you hear that wild history, young man?” The old woman rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t go spreading nonsense. If a priest or nun happens to overhear you making up false history, they’ll lecture you for sure.”

“But think about it. The Saintess’s holy light could heal anything. At the very least, she shouldn’t have died. How could she have been wounded so badly that she never recovered?” Vinny asked, baffled.

“Do you really not understand, or are you pretending not to? That was the Myriad-Demon Fox King. After Saintess Sophia defeated that great fiend, she herself fell unconscious from the severity of her wounds. And the surviving Radiant Cross Knights around her were all paladins. Their healing spells were rudimentary, while the people responsible for healing had all died. That was why Saintess Sophia failed to pull through and passed away on the journey.”

The old woman sighed.

“This...”

Vinny was more certain than ever now. He had never heard this version of history.

No, it was more than that.

It had never existed at all.

But there was no reason for this old woman to lie to him about something like that, was there?

“All right, young man. I have things to do. If you run into trouble, go to the church and ask the clergy for help. But remember—don’t repeat that nonsense of yours in front of them. A good-tempered clergyman might try to set you straight. A bad-tempered one might just throw you out. Then no one will help you.”

“Ah. Thank you. I understand.”

Vinny was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on, so that was all he could manage.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The old woman took a few steps, then remembered something and turned back. “If you came here as a tourist, there’s no need to rush away these next few days.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” The old woman looked utterly speechless. “Her Eminence the Saintess has returned from her visitation tour. The Church’s procession will pass through this city, where she’ll meet the faithful and listen to their voices.”

“Stay a few more days, and you’ll get to see Her Eminence the Saintess.”

“What the hell?”

Vinny was completely dumbfounded.

“A Saintess? One that’s alive?”

“You—?” The old woman nearly laughed from anger. “That is incredibly disrespectful, young man. What exactly do you mean by that?”

“If you say it any louder and the people in town hear you, be careful they don’t tie you to the city wall and leave you hanging there for a day or two.”

“Ah, that’s not what I meant. Sorry.”

He had simply been too shocked.

Every Dawn Saintess Vinny knew of had one thing in common: they were all dead. The very term Dawn Saintess belonged to the past. How could there still be a living one?

“What I mean is...” Vinny scrambled to recover. “Uh, sorry. My knowledge is lacking. May I ask the current Saintess’s name?”

“I don’t even know what to say to you.” The old woman shook her head. “The current Dawn Saintess is Saintess Sophia’s great-granddaughter. Her name is Kaleni Facilis.”

“Kaleni...”

Vinny repeated the name under his breath.

He had never heard it before. Was there really someone like that among the Dawn Saintesses?

Granted, he could not recite the names of every ancestor he had ever had, but this name was unfamiliar even to him.

And Kaleni was Sophia’s great-granddaughter too?

Then what was he?

So who was he? Who the hell was he?

For the past several days, Vinny had been steadily losing confidence in his own identity. First Margaret had claimed to be another great-granddaughter of his great-grandmother Sophia. Now there was Kaleni too.

So who exactly was he supposed to be?

Hadn’t the Facilis Family always passed down through a single direct line? When had it become so absurdly prolific?

If people started talking about this, Sophia would probably end up with several scandalous rumors attached to her name. Even if the Church tried desperately to suppress them, unofficial histories would still record that the Saintess had apparently gotten around a little too much in private.

Just imagine it: a Dawn Saintess who had died for the greater good, only to be saddled after death with mocking titles like “the Scandalous Saintess” or “the Many-Lovers Saintess.”

That would be truly unfair.

The old woman had already left, leaving Vinny alone where he stood.

He had noticed far too many inconsistencies. After thinking it over, he decided to take a walk around the city.

After crossing a stone bridge, he seemed to have reached the center of town. The streets were much livelier here, filled with a steady stream of people.

Vinny glanced at the clothes they wore. The styles all looked familiar to him. Every human nation had inherited its culture from the Tyrelis Ancient Empire, so while each country had developed some distinct characteristics of its own, the overall style remained broadly similar.

When he looked up, he found himself standing in front of a bookstore.

A suspicion had already begun to form in his mind.

Vinny paused outside for a moment, thought it over, then entered.

“I’d like to buy a map.”

“Of course. Would you like a local map of the surrounding area?”

“No. I want a map of the entire continent.”

“Oh. Certainly. Please wait a moment.”

When it came time to pay, the bookstore accepted Vinny’s currency without issue.

The common currency used across the continent had been minted during the Tyrelis Ancient Empire. There was simply too much of it in circulation, so even after the empire’s fall so many years ago, it remained widely used.

Some nations had tried melting those old coins down and minting new currency bearing the faces of their own emperors, kings, or high chieftains in order to reinforce national authority. But their citizens quickly discovered that those coins could not be used once they crossed the border. Before long, everyone went back to using ancient imperial currency.

In terms of convenience and craftsmanship, the old coins were still superior.

The emperors, kings, and high chieftains had been left with no choice but to accept it. After taking power, they could only mint a small symbolic run of currency bearing their own portraits. Most of the time, people still used the coins of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire.

Vinny unfolded the map he had purchased.

It looked familiar.

Only familiar.

The shape of the continent was correct, and the broad distribution of the various powers was also correct. If he had not studied it closely, he might never have noticed that many of the place names and major city-states marked on the map were ones he had never heard of.

“No way...”

Vinny put the map away. The suspicion in his heart was being confirmed again and again.

He looked over the crowds passing through the street.

This place was so familiar.

And yet so foreign.

Vinny asked the bookstore owner where the history section was, then searched for a long time through shelves packed with books before he found a massive volume from the last few centuries—thick as a dictionary.

He opened the table of contents and searched for an entry on the holy fall of Saintess Sophia. Then he turned to the corresponding section, flipping through dozens of pages before he found what he was looking for.

The account of Sophia’s holy fall matched the old woman’s story exactly.

There was almost no difference.

Not only that. Vinny followed the table of contents and kept reading.

The farther he went, the colder he felt.

By all rights, Sophia Facilis—his great-grandmother—should have given birth to a boy.

His grandfather.

Yet this history book claimed that the Demon-Subduing Saintess Sophia had given birth to a girl.

Was that even real?

Had he ignored history for so long that they had rewritten the books without him realizing?

No. That could not be it.

Even if the Church of the Dawn wanted to spread rumors behind his back, spite him, maliciously discredit him, and undermine the legitimacy of his family line, they could not possibly alter the historical record so openly and claim that Sophia had given birth to a daughter instead of a son.

These histories had been written down for years. Changing them now would provoke countless objections.

The book recorded that Sophia’s daughter was named Monica Facilis.

Not a single letter matched his grandfather’s name.

And Sophia’s granddaughter—the mother of the current Dawn Saintess Kaleni—was named Ailinster Facilis.

That name did not match his father’s either.

As for their accomplishments, the discrepancy was even greater.

That section of history should have been blank. After Sophia, the Facilis Family had become a dead line and broken off. For three generations afterward, Church history contained no records whatsoever of any Dawn Saintess.

The break in the bloodline had dealt the Facilis Family a fatal blow.

If not for that, the Pope would never have had a chance to seize power.

Yet what was written in this history book was completely different from everything Vinny knew.

In this version of history, Sophia had not perished alongside the Myriad-Demon Fox King.

Like the Sophia Vinny knew, she had arranged everything before leaving for battle. But the difference was that she had only prepared for the possibility that she might not return.

She laid out how the Church should operate in that case and wrote her succession documents in advance. She handed them to the bishops she trusted—the people she had entrusted with her daughter’s future—and instructed them that if the battle turned unfavorable, they were to hesitate no longer and immediately install the new Dawn Saintess: her daughter, Monica Facilis.

The Church was to continue carrying out its duties from then on.

Because Sophia had gone into battle prepared to die for everyone else, Monica had been able to ascend as Dawn Saintess in an era of peace.

There were quite a few records about this Saintess. The remainder of the book was almost entirely about her.

Vinny skimmed a few pages.

Those histories did not seem fabricated. Some things could not be described with such detail by people who had never experienced them. Imagination alone could not create accounts like that.

After consulting several other historical volumes for corroboration, Vinny became certain that their internal logic was consistent and that the details all lined up.

Historical records could certainly be polished to some extent, but doing so would inevitably create inconsistencies elsewhere.

These books had none.

As one of humanity’s symbolic lights, the Church’s histories were generally recorded truthfully. At most, they would do some polishing to preserve the Church’s dignity.

Like many things concerning Selena.

So after reading only a few pages, Vinny could already tell that this Dawn Saintess named Monica had been rather mediocre compared with the others.

Naturally, as a member of the Facilis Family, she lacked none of the qualities expected of a Saintess.

But weren’t those qualities supposed to be the bare minimum for a Dawn Saintess?

There was no question that Monica was mediocre in ability. But she was diligent, ambitious, and deeply responsible. Because her mother had died protecting the people, she had been profoundly influenced by her.

Unlike certain Saintesses who spent all day talking about wanting to hold concerts and become idols, Monica had genuinely wanted to become a qualified, good Saintess.

Unfortunately, that had created an extremely frustrating situation.

The harder she worked, the more thoroughly she ruined things.

The more she tried to fix something, the worse it became.

In short, she was a Saintess with plenty of records but few actual achievements. She had spent her whole life living beneath her mother’s shadow.

Her successor, her daughter Ailinster, had been much more capable than Monica.

But when Vinny read that Saintess Ailinster had been mischievous as a child, constantly declaring things like, “I don’t want to be a Blessing Angel. I want to be a fish,” and had jumped into the Holy Capital’s lake several times to make trouble—once even disguising her wings as fish scales—only to instantly transform into a proper, refined lady once she grew up...

Vinny knew the historians had done some selective recording again.

This Saintess Ailinster’s problems probably were not any smaller than Selena’s.

There was another amusing pattern in the Facilis Family.

The more of a problem child someone had been, the stronger her abilities became once she got her act together.

The obedient girls who wholeheartedly wanted to be good Saintesses, on the other hand, tended to be mediocre.

Vinny had never heard any of this history before.

Yet these historical accounts did not seem fake. Many details could only have been written by people who had truly lived through them.

After confirming it again and again, Vinny placed the book back on the shelf with a somewhat blank expression.

Then he crouched where he was, sinking into thought as he stared at the sky beyond the bookstore window and let out a long sigh.

He had thought this would be easy.

He had only been transported to some unknown place. All he had to do was find his way back.

But of course it was not that simple.

Fuck.

Could parallel worlds actually be real?

Vinny could not help swearing inwardly.

This was ridiculous.

He had been transported into a parallel world?

A worldline where the Facilis bloodline had never been cut off, where the Dawn Saintesses had continued passing down properly.

Still, the more he thought about it, the less impossible it seemed.

Someone like him could transmigrate here. Someone like Aesphyra could be reborn.

Against that backdrop, parallel worlds were not exactly beyond comprehension.

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