I’m an Immigration Officer!

"Restraint complete. Good work, sir!"

At last, the commotion came to an end. The shapeshifter’s arms and legs were tightly bound.
A cavalryman approached and saluted me.
"That was a truly effective suppression strategy, Immigration Officer!"

Bright, shining eyes—completely mismatched with his rough, battle-worn face—sparkled with admiration.
"To prioritize a complete encirclement first and capture the target with minimal personnel and zero casualties—!"
He looked at me as though I were some kind of general.

"So that’s why the Duke entrusted the entire operation to you, sir!"
"A-Ahaha... Not at all. Just a bit of luck, that’s all."
Feeling uneasy under his gaze, I turned my head slightly and asked,

"...What happens to the suspect now?"
The shapeshifter, unconscious and limp, was being dragged off somewhere.
On the surface, she was a terrorist. In truth, she was the one who had kidnapped the Saintess.

But this wasn’t an arrest carried out solely by the Immigration Office.
We’d received help on multiple fronts—and requested cooperation as well. That made the chain of custody a little more complicated.
The soldier seemed to grasp my implication and replied,

"Don’t worry. Since the disturbance happened in the Duke’s territory, the initial interrogation will be handled on our end."
That was reasonable.
The Duke of the Borderlands had borne the full burden of road control and perimeter establishment.

So the first right to interrogate was rightfully his.
"We’ll notify the Immigration Office shortly. It won’t take long."
At that firm promise of a handover, I gave a nod.
"But... what sort of punishment does someone causing this level of chaos usually face?"

It occurred to me to ask out of simple curiosity.
Normally, the Immigration Office would impose a permanent blacklist and an expulsion order on anyone who caused this much disruption.
But what did the laws here in the Duke’s domain dictate?

The soldier looked at me for a moment, then answered with layered meaning.
"...Execution."
"Oh."

A shiver ran down my spine before I even realized it.
That word... far too familiar.
"Especially since she assaulted a government official. She won’t be eligible for a pardon either. Given the Duke’s personal interest, she’ll be placed in the underground prison."

"How fitting a punishment."
I offered a silent prayer for the shapeshifter.
Looks like you’re in the same boat as me—on borrowed time.

But I won’t pity you.
You committed a crime worth dying for.
"Then I’ll be off. The remaining soldiers will disperse once cleanup is complete."

With that, the soldier saluted one last time, turned his horse, and rode off.
The air began to settle into a mood of conclusion.
The curious onlookers also slowly returned to their places.

But we still had one last job to do.
I turned toward the werewolf, who was stretching with a long yawn under the fading sunset light, and spoke.
"You’ve done well, Olfactory Inspector. Thanks to you, it all went smoothly."

If it # Nоvеlight # hadn’t been for him, we’d have lost a good number of soldiers.
And despite his frenzy, the Olfactory Inspector hadn’t killed the target.
Impressive restraint. Outstanding operational performance. Those two alone warranted praise.

At my words, the Olfactory Inspector finally relaxed his face and grinned.
"Uuuuugh! That cleared out a whole month’s worth of stress, hehe."
"...Right."

I narrowed my eyes.
Sure, praise is one thing...
But he’d forgotten the most important part.

"Woof-woof-woof, grrrr, bark-bark? (= So where is the Saintess?)"
Suddenly, in the language of werewolves, I asked the real question. The Olfactory Inspector blinked for a moment, then furrowed his brow.
"...This officer is still your Olfactory Inspector, Chief Inspector. That hurts, you know."

"Bark-bark-bark. (= Answer the question.)"
But I repeated myself in his native tongue, signaling with my eyes for him to look around.
Too many ears listening.

Even if it looked like cleanup time, soldiers were still lingering nearby.
And if we mentioned the Saintess out loud here, it’d certainly reach the Duke’s ears.
The real reason we’d launched this wild pig hunt was for one thing only.

The Saintess. Who wasn’t even here.
Where’s our pig?
Finally grasping the meaning behind my question, the Olfactory Inspector hastily switched languages.

"Woof, woof-woof-woof. Grrrr bark-bark grrrr, bark. (= Ah, the piglet in the bag. She was in an inner room on the second floor.)"
"Ruff-ruff pant-pant-pant woof-woof-woof? (= Why didn’t you bring her?)"
"..."

No answer.
A face of dawning realization.
He averted his eyes.

Obvious.
He must’ve gotten high off the scent of blood and thrown himself into battle—completely forgetting.
He always does so well until the very end...

"Sh-should I go get her?"
"That won’t be necessary. This officer will retrieve her."
With that, I stepped into the half-destroyed building.

Persuading the Saintess was my job, anyway.
 
****

"...."
Erzena was trapped inside a bag.
She had no idea how much time had passed.

She no longer had the strength to scream or resist. She simply lay still, as if dead.
‘I just want it to stop…’
From the highest rank—a Saintess—

To the lowest—a pig.
She’d fallen in an instant.
Only two emotions had been granted to her.

The hope that someone would come to rescue her, and the despair that there might be no salvation, no future.
Hope still lingered.
When she had nearly given up, she had heard a man's voice.

— Se, Saintess?
The one man who had recognized her at a glance when no one else could.
At his touch, she had felt divine power, and believed—truly believed—that she would finally be freed from this hell.

That through him, the Lord God would deliver her.
But—
— Thud!

That hope shattered beneath the brutal stomp of a foot.
— If you want him to live, you’ll come quietly.
And so, it became a shackle.

A tool used to bind her in chains.
"Ugh..."
Her forehead throbbed.

She had thrown herself against the wall to stop the Chief Inspector from being killed.
She didn’t regret it.
He had done nothing wrong.

‘Just someone doing his duty, following principle, standing straight.’
She couldn’t let someone like that die.
No one deserved to die at the hands of blind fanaticism.

‘That’s my atonement.’
But even that resolve eroded over time, as her hope dwindled.
The Chief Inspector—who had seemed like a final salvation—was gone.

God did not answer.
The shapeshifter’s whisper—“It’s too late.”—pierced her like a dagger.
With her very will eroded, all that remained to Erzena was darkness and silence.

Things she had never once endured since becoming Saintess.
Unfamiliar. Unbearable. She trembled, curled up, endlessly.
But the despair didn’t end there.

— Awoooooooo!!
A wolf’s howl, loud enough to shake the world, slammed into her ears.
Scared, scared!

For the first time in her life, she felt raw, overwhelming fear.
The cry of a predator is like a death sentence to a powerless animal.
And as a pig, she felt it with excruciating clarity.

From within the prison-like bag, as beasts roared and swords clashed outside, she cried out for salvation.
A salvation that would not come.
And so, Erzena gave up.

The Saintess abandoned by God.
She believed that would be her pathetic end.
Just as she was about to surrender herself to despair completely—

"Kuhak! Damn, how much stuff did you knock down for there to be this much dust…"
...!!!
A familiar voice echoed.

Step, step.
Human footsteps drew closer.
"First, let’s get these curtains open. Can’t find anything if I can’t see."

Whoosh.
It was a voice she knew.
The voice of the man she had worried about so much.

But she didn’t dare speak up.
A hallucination?
Had she finally gone mad—hearing things just to escape this crushing silence?

Had she conjured the Chief Inspector as a delusion?
"The bag… where was it again? I swear it was around here."
No.

This was real.
It wasn’t a hallucination.
The Saintess's eyes flew open.

"Here! I’m here!"
"Hm?"
A response came immediately.

Footsteps approached her.
Click.
The bag opened.

"Ugh...!"
Suddenly, the darkness split in two, and golden light from the setting sun struck her face.
So bright, she couldn’t even open her eyes.

"You were here."
The voice was even clearer now.
Erzena blinked slowly.

A man with black eyes was looking down at her.
It was the face of the Chief Inspector—the one she had longed to see more than anything.
Exhausted, yet never truly weary.

"Good evening, Saintess."
The golden sunset poured over him, illuminating his features.
A relieved smile welcomed her back.

"I’ve come to rescue you."
Ah.
Ahhh.

You…
You of all people...
Why do you always come to me as salvation?

"You’re safe now."
It wasn’t a hallucination.
He had really come to save her.

The only one who recognized her even after she had become a pig.
He hadn’t given up.
He hadn’t bowed to despair.

"I’m glad you’re unharmed. Truly."
Her chest burned.
Her body trembled.

Overwhelmed by emotion, the piglet dove into Nathan’s arms.
Human warmth—so soft and real.
As warm as the golden twilight now wrapping around her.

Something so obvious, she’d forgotten it.
Something she had longed for, something she had needed desperately.
Nathan Kell gave all of that to Erzena.

And so, Erzena wept—without restraint.
With everything she had repressed—regret, guilt, relief—bursting forth.
"Uwaaaaah!!"

And at that moment—
— Fwoosh.
The transformation potion’s effect wore off.

 
****
Crash.

"Whoa."
Caught off guard by the sudden weight, I fell backward.
And just like that, the Saintess, now fully human, landed squarely on top of me, crying like the sky was falling.

"I… it was all my fault!"
"W-Wait, Saintess!?"
"Hic… Everything was my fault! I called you a heretic, I—uwaaaaaaah!"

Shrill sobbing filled the room.
But I was just as thrown off.
What the hell was happening?

I’d heard pig sounds, opened the bag—and there she was.
She’d looked at me, jumped into my arms—
And then turned back into a person. Now sobbing her eyes out.

And… completely naked.
Her pale body shimmered under the evening light.
Her sky-blue hair, despite everything she'd been through, fell around me like a soft veil.

"Hicc… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…"
Tears fell from her eyes again and again, soaking my chest as she repeated her apologies.
"Uh…"

Where her hand touched my skin, a faint golden shimmer flickered.
A grown woman, completely nude, clinging to a man like this—
Yeah, anyone walking in would definitely get the wrong idea.

"F-First, let’s get you dressed."
I hurriedly took off my outer Immigration Officer coat and wrapped it around her.
Since she was still too overwhelmed to even speak, I buttoned it up for her.

As soon as her hands left my body, the golden shimmer faded again.
"Saintess. You’re safe now. Everything’s over. So—"
I was trying to calm her down when—

— Bang!
"Chief Inspector, are you alright!? I heard a loud noise and—!"
The Olfactory Inspector burst through the door in a panic.

"...Huh?"
"Ah, Olfactory Inspector. Just in time."
He stood frozen, staring blankly at the scene before him.

A room bathed in soft sunset light.
A building no one ever entered.
Two young adults.

A woman with tear-streaked eyes, clinging to a man, nude beneath his coat.
A man awkwardly holding the woman, wearing a deeply troubled smile.
The Olfactory Inspector was sharp.

"My apologies. Please enjoy your time."
"Wa—Wait! Inspector! Hey!"
— Creak. Slam.

He shut the door.
And then, from behind the closed door—
"Huh? Why didn’t you go in?"

"Dude, you walk in there now and you’re dead. Just… just walk a lap with me outside, alright?"
"What? What do you mean? Is the Chief Inspector okay?"
"Oh, he’s okay. He’s so damn okay that it’s a problem."

Completely shameless.
With that, the Olfactory Inspector dragged the Gustatory Inspector off the premises.
I watched them go, stunned, and then remembered what I needed to do.

The reason I went this far to save the Saintess.
Now wasn’t the time to be sitting here like this.
I quickly adjusted my posture and sat facing her.

"Saintess."
"Y-Yes?"
"I’m sorry to say this so suddenly, but there’s a reason I saved you."

"A… reason? Sniff… a reason…?"
I hesitated for a second.
Was it alright to tell her everything?

This woman—Erzena—once armed with zealotry and black-and-white extremism.
But right now, I needed her.
Now that I had rescued her from captivity, any past grudges should be considered cleared.

Which meant—
"The truth is…"
Alright.

Time to lay all my cards on the table.
In the end, the only way to move a person’s heart is with honesty.
I told her everything—no embellishment, no evasion.

How I’d denied entry, how the Queen had nearly executed me on the spot.
How, when that failed, she issued a royal decree to force the Holy Crusaders through the border.
And finally, about the trial that was now imminent.

Despite still sniffling, Erzena listened to every word.
"That’s… what happened…"
"I know I’m asking a lot. You’re still a member of the Holy Church, after all. But—"

I was trying to say something like, I saved you, so please save me,—anything to negotiate—
But the Saintess spoke first.
"I’ll do it."

"Please, just consider it a— Wait, what?"
That was… fast.
 

****
"I’ll do it."
Erzena had already made her decision in her heart.

She slowly looked down at her hand.
Though she had returned to human form, her divine power had not returned.
The soft golden shimmer was also gone.

Of course it was.
Her transformation into a pig had nothing to do with her divine power.
The moment the Chief Inspector stamped the rejection seal, her power had vanished—and turning human again wouldn’t bring it back.

‘But just now… I definitely felt something.’
She had seen it.
When she couldn’t contain her emotions and clung to Nathan—when her hands touched his body—

A faint divine light flickered from her fingertips.
And in that moment, Erzena understood.
It was a revelation—and a trial.

A revelation that her destiny lay with this man.
And a trial to move forward without relying on the divine power she had leaned on all her life.
This is a true trial.

Was she only revered because she possessed divine power?
No.
To truly deserve the title of Saintess—

She must not be swayed by such things.
She had to believe in what she thought was right and follow it, without hesitation.
Just like the man before her now.

Just like Nathan Kell, who had endured through all external pressure and hardship.
And so, Erzena wiped her tears and said:
"I, Erzena Seraff, will attend your trial as a witness, Chief Inspector."

She had made her decision.
She would right her wrongs.
She would be reborn at this man’s side.

Just as he had saved her—she would now save him.
The pig who had fallen into despair was gone.
Only the Saintess remained, standing tall once more.

"What kind of testimony should I give?"
Her resolute golden eyes shone, catching the light of the setting sun.