After they had spent some time together, Caren had once asked Jeanne d'Arc a question.
Why could someone like her become a Saint's Master?
Although Jeanne had brushed it off by saying their essential natures were similar, she actually knew that was only part of the reason. The real reason was that Caren herself was a Saint in another sense.
Although the Church might see that rare gift as nothing more than a radar for exorcising demons, the Shroud of Magdalene Caren wore revealed that similarity in their natures.
Though it was a rare Mystic Code, the Shroud of Magdalene could not display its true power in an ordinary person's hands. In Caren's hands, however, it became a combat tool she wielded freely, powerful enough to restrain even Servants.
Its name was the Shroud of Magdalene, corresponding to Mary, who had appeared as one who was saved and witnessed the miracle of the resurrection.
Although her story meant that the Church mostly portrayed her as a penitent, and there were even many misunderstandings about her, none of that could change her sacred status.
For Caren, however, that resemblance was certainly not pleasant.
After all, she was not truly Mary, merely an innocent chosen to receive similar holy stigmata in the modern age.
Having a pure young girl do things no different from a prostitute in the name of holiness was still somewhat unacceptable to Jeanne. But she also knew that even among those who believed in the same being, there was more than one believer whose mind grew increasingly twisted through differences in ideals.
Fortunately, perhaps through the Lord's compassion, Caren had been very well protected in the past, although her constitution had given her personality a certain tendency toward becoming warped.
For instance, she had deliberately made Jeanne wear