…Now, what should I do?

In the room assigned to me, I looked outside the window and pondered.

“Mia, what are you thinking about?”

Voldred, who stood nearby, called out to me. He was a handsome knight with beautiful black hair and amethyst eyes. Ever since I’d saved his life, he’d been following me.

He’s more like a butler than a knight…

“…No. It’s nothing.”

“You’ve been thinking about the future, haven’t you? If you have any worries, please tell me. I’ll kill all your enemies.”

“Thank you, but I don’t want anyone to die because of me, so please just leave them half dead—wait, that’s not it.”

Since I arrived to this world, I had decided to crush all my enemies, so I wouldn’t say nonsense like, “You shouldn’t say such terrible things!”

Still, this was neither an anime nor a novel, and seeing someone die would be horrifying.

The princess is a different case, though.

“There’s no need to hide it. Right now, Lady Mia’s position is unstable and precarious. It’s only natural that you’d want to settle it quickly.”

“Well, I can see why. Because I’m the saint, everyone is impatient for results. I’m sure there are many who want to use or kill me.”

Thinking that far ahead, I suddenly asked a question that had been nagging me for a while.

“I haven’t met the king and queen of this kingdom yet. Where are they?”

“They’re currently abroad requesting help regarding the damage caused by monsters in Fenzel. Therefore, the state affairs are in the hands of the prince and the princess.”

“…Since the king and queen went out of their way to ask for help, the damage must be quite serious.”

“To be honest, they are most likely treated it like a vacation, relaxing in a peaceful kingdom and forgetting their own. That’s why they haven’t come back in so long.”

“The royal family of this kingdom is that shitty?!”

Give me back my sympathy!

“The prince and the princess summoned the saint on their own. They thought they’d be praised as heroes if they saved the kingdom in the meantime.”

“If the royal family, the ruler of the kingdom, is like that… The people must be suffering.”

…If I use my power correctly, I can save many people.

“Mia, are you wondering about whether you should use your power for the people from now on? Here’s some advice for you.”

“What?”

“Just abandon them.”

Amazing. He said it so elegantly, as if they were insects.

Well, when he was dying, I also told the princess to just let him die, so I can’t really say anything about other people.

“Just let me be the only person you saved, who’ll love you—I’m all you need. Why don’t we leave this country and run away? We can live somewhere quietly, just the two of us, without minding anything else.”

“…You say that, but if I had abandoned you in the same way, you’d have died.”

“But you didn’t, so it must be fate.”

“In hindsight, anyway. What if I really had refused to heal you back then? You’d have been the one who was abandoned.”

“There are no ‘ifs’ and, or ‘buts.’ Mia saved me—I’m the only person you can save.”

Voldred looked at me with a graceful smile.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Lady Mia. What I’m trying to say is that you have no obligation to save the people of Fenzel.”

“Yes, that’s true, but what you said made me realize my true nature.”

“What do you mean?”

“No matter how you put it, I dislike the idea of abandoning innocent people.”

To be honest, when he told me to just abandon them, I thought, ‘That’s an option, but it makes me feel a bit uneasy.’

Just like how in my previous world, I couldn’t abandon the children, and how I healed the dying Voldred without chanting… in the end, I couldn’t be heartless. Call me naïve, but…

…But, if I only thought about myself, then I’d be the same as Arisa, Masaki, and the princess. I absolutely refused to be like them.

“Voldred. It’s not that I absolutely don’t want to use my powers as a saint. I just don’t want to be taken for granted.”

If I let them take advantage of me by doing unpaid work once, I’ll end up doing it all the time. I refuse that.

“I want to aim for a win-win relationship with the people of this world, rather than serving them unilaterally as a saint.”

Rather than one side constantly sacrificing themselves, each party should give to the other. That was what made a healthy relationship.

“That’s it. I want to help those in need, and in return, borrow their power to help me find a place and a way to live in this world. To do so, I want to learn more about the people of this country and their current situation.”

“Understood. I’ll take you to the royal capital.”

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