Infinite Returns : The More I Give, The Stronger I Become
Chapter 69 - 69: Fallen Saintess

Airi looked at Ethan with a strange mix of fascination and disbelief etched into her face. She just couldn't understand it—couldn't fathom how someone could be this free. This unbothered.

And it annoyed her more than she liked to admit.

"Why are you like this?" Airi asked, tilting her head. Her black tears still streamed down her cheeks, and the divine chains remained embedded inside her flesh.

It was… a fascinating sight for Ethan. To witness such beauty, bound and breaking, and still speaking.

'Truly, this tower is something else,' Ethan mused. 'I'm seeing weirder things every single day.'

Then, out loud—casual, almost amused—he answered, "Like what?"

Airi's lips twitched.

He knew exactly what she meant. She could feel it. And yet he still danced around it with that damn smile. But she didn't push. Not yet. She still needed him if she wanted even a shred of freedom.

'Ah… being at a complete disadvantage really is a sin in this world,' she thought bitterly. A stage-2 goddess—forced to play games with a D-rank mortal.

What a joke.

"I mean the way you carry yourself," she clarified. "The calm. From the moment you stepped into that forest, it was like… you were never worried about dying. Never once believed you didn't have a choice. Why?"

This time, Ethan didn't deflect. His response came quiet and plain.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said with a shrug. "You can only afford to act like this when you've got something that guarantees your survival."

"I know that," Airi said, leaning closer. "What I'm asking is—what gives you that confidence? Even in front of me… a goddess?"

Ethan didn't answer with words.

Instead, he reached down, picked up a small pastry—made by the fairy race, soft blueberry and raspberry folded into chocolate—and gently placed it into Airi's slightly open mouth.

Airi froze.

Completely dumbfounded.

And Ethan just smiled. "You are a goddess," he said. "But a chained one. Does that still make you threatening?"

He tilted his head.

"If anything… you look a little lonely. A little desolate. Pitiful, even."

He smirked.

And for a long moment, Airi said nothing. She didn't lash out. Didn't curse him. Didn't threaten to turn him into ash for his impudence.

She just let out a low, quiet chuckle. "Heh…"

Any other goddess would have been furious. Would have taken this as blasphemy.

But not Airi.

No… she found it funny. Ridiculous, almost.

That's what loneliness did to a being like her.

It made you starved. Starved for something, anything, that wasn't just you. So when that presence finally arrived—even if it came in the form of a rude, overconfident mortal—you welcomed it. You laughed. Because for the first time in centuries… something mattered.

Ethan smiled too. Not because he won something—but because she didn't get angry.

His trait, Eye of Revelation, didn't work against beings too far above his rank. So he had to rely on smaller things. Reactions. Demeanor. He had to watch carefully to know what kind of creature he was truly dealing with.

Good or bad?

Sure, it wasn't accurate. It was awkward and clumsy. But that's all he had.

Anything else would've cost karmic points—something he didn't have the luxury of spending right now.

But now?

Now he'd seen enough to make his judgment.

And the discussion could begin.

"I want to cross this forest," Ethan said plainly. "I need to reach Castria Kingdom. Can you help me?"

Airi stayed silent for a moment. Then slowly nodded.

"I can. The entire forest is under my domain. I can show you the path."

She paused.

"But I want something in return," she said, voice shifting—lower, colder. Her face, wet with black tears, looked terrifying in its stillness.

Ethan didn't flinch.

He expected this. Anyone would, seeing the state she was in.

"What's the demand?"

"Free me from these chains," Airi said.

Then she added, her voice trembling just slightly—like a crack running beneath ice, "And if you can't… kill me."

Ethan's face didn't change.

He'd heard worse. With his identity as The Merchant Beneath the World, he had encountered all kinds of desperation and madness.

Even coming from a goddess, this didn't shake him.

"Before we get into that," he said, "why don't you tell me your story first?"

He leaned back.

"You can't seriously expect me to risk everything for someone I don't even know, right?"

Airi nodded slowly.

She understood. He was right, even if she didn't like it.

Still… sharing her truth with a stranger? That was a heavy ask.

She closed her eyes. Composed herself.

And then, softly, she opened them again.

"My name is Airi Claimance ," she began, voice quiet but steady. "I am—or rather, I was—a Saintess."

Ethan blinked. "Saintess?"

"What do you mean?"

Airi gave him a sad smile. The kind that lingered between grace and bitterness.

"Don't you know what that title means?" she asked. "It's simple, really."

"Whenever you hear that word—Saintess—think only two things: chosen by god, and self-sacrificing."

"And do you know what happens when the very god who chose you as their messenger decides to abandon you?"

Ethan frowned. "Why would a god abandon someone they chose in the first place?"

Airi shrugged. "Because I didn't obey."

Her voice was colder now.

"He wanted sacrifice. Specifically, he wanted our believers. Our women. He demanded the purest—virgins, the young, the beautiful. He wanted them for himself. To satisfy his divine lust."

"I couldn't accept it," she said, her voice cracking for the first time. "I wouldn't. I watched parents offer their daughters with tears hidden behind smiles. I watched innocence slaughtered in the name of divinity. And I said no."

Ethan didn't smile anymore.

"And what happened when you resisted?" he asked quietly.

Airi looked at him—eyes glimmering with black sorrow—and answered slowly.

"He cast me away."

"He stripped me of his blessing, fully accepting the backlash that came from it. He made me a fallen Saintess. Turned the people against me. Said I was the one orchestrating the sacrifices. And as if that wasn't enough…"

She laughed bitterly.

"…He made a prophecy. Said I would bring ruin to them all. A fucking liar."

"That's what truly sealed it. They turned on me. They cursed me."

She gestured at her chains. Her tears.

"They cursed me to cry forever—as they cried for their daughters. And to be bound forever—to keep the ruin I never wanted from ever reaching them."

She stopped.

Then slowly, like announcing the final act of a tragedy already foretold, she smiled.

"And that's who I am now. Airi, the Fallen Saintess."

Ethan said nothing.

He just looked at her—at her eyes, at the pain swirling within them.

'Is she telling the truth?' he wondered.

He didn't expect an answer.

But—

[She is.]

The system responded.

Ethan blinked. Then gave her a small smile.

So it was true.

And knowing that, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of pity.

But curiosity, too.

"…Who was the god?" he asked softly. "Who did this to you?"

Airi's entire face shifted.

Anger. Rage. A divine hatred too old and too deep to put into words.

And with venom dripping from every syllable, she whispered:

"The father of bastards. The thunderous leech…"

"…Zeus."

—End of Chapter 69—