Hinata Sakaguchi

"I do think I was in too much of a hurry. I wanted to save people with my own hands, or so I thought. I didn’t think I was wrong in sacrificing a few to save the many. I can proudly say that I fought for what I believed in. Also… I don’t think it was wrong of me to try and save everyone. I only believe that I was too focused on the big picture and therefore lost something important in the process. I don’t want to save only the majority; I want to save everyone. Feel free to laugh if you think that's impossible. I just want to see the world, judge it with my own eyes, and pick the path I truly believe in."

- Sakaguchi Hinata

Hinata Sakaguchi 「坂口日向, Sakaguchi Hinata」is the leader of the Imperial Guards under the Pope's direct command. She was previously assigned to guard the interior of the Holy Kingdom Ruberion's palace.

Personality
She doesn't remember the people she's killed. Both the good and bad, Hinata killed them all equally. As far as she was concerned, everyone was equal before God. After becoming a world traveler, she was no longer a normal girl.

To her, her body was merely a means of winning others over. Of course, she had carnal desires. She's not sexually frigid. Only a few men she likes are allowed to do as they wish to with her body. However, men she hates will not be forgiven if they do the same.

Hinata has a strong sense of disgust, the head is a funny existence. For the rationalist Hinata, god's blind acceptance was a symbol of stupidity. It is ironic considering Hinata's position as God's guardian of justice.

She is said to be the ultimate pragmatist who doesn't like to follow through.

She looks ruthless at first glance, she even gives off the strong impression of being a coldblooded murderer. However, for those who rely on her, she lends them a helping hand. She helps those who grab her hands, but the ones who ignore it and don't listen to her advice never see her again, that's the kind of girl she is. Her character is akin to that of a rationalist.

She lives in order to create an equal world without a struggle. Perhaps this is an idealistic and impractical goal. But for Hinata, the church appears to be the embodiment of that ideal. Since then, Hinata would never doubt the Church's Creed and systematically worked to propagate it. Unlike her mother who clung to religion, she was at a position where she protected the creed. And that was the source of Hinata's confidence. Though she didn't believe in god, she would recognize it as long as it was of use. Achieving one's goal was more important. Thus, she had never faltered since joining the Western Saint's Church.

Appearance
Hinata has glossy, shoulder-length black hair. She often sweeps her bangs over her right eye while tucking the left side behind her ear.

In the light novel, one of her defining characteristics is her small round glasses. It's unknown whether she wears them out of fashion since her eyesight seems to be fine.

She wears dark clothing that's easy to move around in, but clearly designed for ceremonial occasions. Her outfits consist of a pair of pants and a clerical robe. She is usually armed with a rapier and does not wear any visible armor.

Her eyes are described as cold, cruel, but also filled with profound wisdom. Otherwise, people tend to describe her as beautiful.

Background
Hinata's father was a gambling addict who seemed to regularly beat his wife. As a result, her mother abandoned herself to religion for emotional support. Eventually, her father racked up a massive debt from gambling on horse races and "disappeared" from her life. Officially, he is believed to be missing; in reality, he was murdered by Hinata for two reasons: (1) to relieve the burden on her mother, and (2) to collect the money from his life insurance. The murder was never discovered. Hinata also planned to kill her mother. It is implied that her mother did pass away at some point, but it is unknown whether this was actually by Hinata's hand.

On her first day of high school, Hinata was on her way home from the entrance ceremony. She stopped by the shrine she frequently visited when a strong gale suddenly whipped up. She shut her eyes to the wind, but when she opened them again, there was an unfamiliar scenery before her. She was 15 when she was summoned. Upon arrival, she was attacked by three men. It took her less than 5 minutes to kill them all.

Some time after her arrival in the new world, Shizue Izawa took her in as a disciple. Hinata claims that Shizue was the only person who had been kind to her during her early years in the new world. Within a month, Hinata had surpassed Shizue in strength, and after a few years received an important post within the kingdom, but was not satisfied. Instead, she treated the promotion with mild indifference.

At some point, Hinata spent time studying under each of the Seven Celestial Sages, one at a time before moving on to the next.

Eventually, she becomes the leader of the Knights Templar and the personal knight of Cardinal Nicholas Spertus.

Story
Hinata is first seen sleeping with Cardinal Nicholas when a servant requests an audience to inform her that the demon slime Rimuru was building a nation of monsters in the middle of the Great Jura Forest. She quickly assesses the threat level and decides that Rimuru and his country needs to be destroyed. In Light Novel, she was first seen contemplating about her past after which she decides to kill the monster who killed Shizu who is the one person she respected.

She is next seen ambushing Rimuru as he returns from his first trip to the human kingdoms. At the time, she completely overwhelmed Rimuru with her 『Disintegration』 skill, though Rimuru manages to escape by transferring his soul into a clone. Hinata, believing that she'd successfully destroyed the enemy leader, returns to the Holy Empire Ruberion instead of joining the crusaders and the Falmas army in their attack on Tempest.

When Hinata learns that Rimuru had survived and even decimated the army of 15,000 that had been sent to subjugate his country, she approaches the Seven Celestial Sages and requests permission to use the Hero's Spiritual Weapon. Eventually, she returns to Tempest with a group of 100 elite Holy Knights. By that time, Rimuru had become a True Demon Lord and was capable of defeating Hinata. Rimuru learns of Hinata's plans beforehand and sends his elite forces to occupy Hinata's soldiers. As their forces fight each other, Rimuru challenges Hinata to single-combat and uses his skill 『Wisdom King Raphael』 to connect Hinata with the remnant of Shizue's soul that resided within him. Once contact is made, Shizue burns away the Curse's Crystal that maintained Hinata's 『Thought Restraint』, thus freeing Hinata from Yuuki's influence. Doing so also awakened Hinata's 『Hero's Egg』. Finally, Shizue warns Hinata about Yuuki once again before disappearing and breaking the thought connection. Afterward, Hinata resumes her battle with Rimuru, who easily defeats her. During the second half of their battle, Rimuru notes that Hinata had become like a different person, a battle genius who reveled in the spirit of the fight. The battle results in Rimuru's overwhelming victory as his subordinates force all the Holy Knights to admit defeat without killing a single one. Afterward, Rimuru invites Hinata and her knights into the city and treat them kindly. Before they leave, the knights bow their heads, apologize for their actions, and admit that they were wrong in believing that all monsters were evil. Hinata's most talented knight Arnaud Baurman even proposes that the citizens of Tempest be labeled as demi-humans instead of monsters, which would reconcile Tempest's existence with the Church's adamant anti-monster doctrine.

After returning from her unsuccessful attack on Tempest, Hinata resigns as the head of the Imperial Guard and cuts all ties with the Holy Empire Ruberion. She follows Shizue's advice about Yuuki and tries to rescue the five children from the other world that Yuuki kept confined in the Ingracia Kingdom's Academy. With the help of Fritz, she successfully infiltrates and meets the children, but discovers that one child, Chloe O'Bell is missing. Yuuki suddenly shows up and explains that the children had been bait all along. Hinata questions them about Chloe, but strangely, both the children and Yuuki insist that they don't know anyone by that name. A fight ensues between Hinata and Yuuki. Despite being stronger now that Shizue had awakened her 『Hero's Egg』, Hinata is surprised when Yuuki reveals that he commands the true Hero, the girl who had been trapped in Lumious's spirit coffin. He orders the Hero to pierce Hinata's heart and kill her and succeeds. However, the ensuing pandemonium allows Fritz to use Alice's Space Manipulation Magic Formation and escape with both the children and Hinata's corpse.

Fritz takes Hinata's body and presents it to Cardinal Nicholas and Leonard. As they mourn and discuss Yuuki's actions, Luminous appears before them with the Seven Celestial Sages. Luminous reveals that she was the one behind the Western Saint's Church and the true face of their god Ruminas. She asks for their loyalty, but they decline, stating that their loyalty was to Hinata only. Shortly after they proclaim their loyalty, the Hero who slew Hinata arrives and reveals her identity as Chloe O'Bell, though different from the one Rimuru and the others knew. She explains that by killing Hinata, Hinata's soul had transferred into her body and taken over. Hinata, now possessing Chloe as a spirit, announces that Chloe is the True Hero. She explains that in the future, Yuuki controls the Hero and brings an end to the world. In order to change that future, the Hero Chloe used her 『Spirit of Time』 to travel to the past. Eventually, the future Chloe becomes trapped in a holy spirit coffin, which Luminous protected until it was stolen by Yuuki. When Yuuki stole the future Chloe's body and awakened it, there suddenly existed two conscious Chloes in the same timeline, and both possessed the『Spirit of Time』. Since there can only be one person with the 『Spirit of Time』, the child Chloe ended up reduced to an unrecognizable spirit, disappeared from the children's and Yuuki's memories, and merged with the future Chloe to become the new Chloe standing in front of them. Hinata explains that Chloe had killed her in order to take her 『Hero's Egg』. Once in possession of the 『Hero's Egg』, the new Chloe traveled back in time to a more peaceful era and gave it the child Chloe to raise. It's implied that this passing of the 『Hero's Egg』 from the future to the present Chloe is what Rimuru saw when he took the children to the Dwelling of the Spirit. All this was as designated by the Heroes Program. When the child Chloe assimilated with the future Chloe, the 『Hero's Egg』transferred as well, resulting in a single Chloe that had awakened as the True Hero. Though Hinata's soul was still present inside the new Chloe's body, it was fading quickly. As Hinata says her goodbyes through Chloe's body, Lumious steps in and offers to use her skill 『Lustful King Asmodeus』 to resurrect her. This was only possible since Hinata's soul hadn't dissipated yet and an empty vessel (Hinata's dead body) was readily available.