“Haa, haa, huuh…!”
Panting heavily, Arthur finally dropped his sword and rolled on the ground. Completely out of stamina, he collapsed onto the earth, propping himself up. Kail cautiously extended a hand toward him.
“What are you doing? Get up quickly.”
“J-just a little longer…”
“A little? Your enemies won’t wait even a second for you.”
Though harsh, it was true. Hearing Kail’s words, Arthur let out a weak groan and forced himself to stand.
As Kail pulled her up by force, he suddenly felt an eerie gaze prickling at his neck. Startled, he whipped his head around.
Seeing this, Arthur tilted her head quizzically.
“Kail? What’s wrong?”
“…No, must be my imagination.”
For a moment, he thought he felt the intense stare of someone like a Master. But there couldn’t possibly be another Master in the Academy that he didn’t know about. Convinced he was mistaken, Kail brushed it off lightly.
After dismissing the strange feeling, they resumed their sparring.
Not long after, Kail realized that the gaze he had felt earlier wasn’t just his imagination.
* * *
“It’s been a while, Hero.”
“…Hero?”
Right as class ended, a pink-haired Saintess approached them. Arthur reacted to the word ‘Hero’ that slipped from the Saintess’s lips.
The Saintess chuckled softly as she gazed at Arthur, then carefully explained why she had called Kail a Hero.
“Yes. You are indeed a Hero. Since you eradicated the demon that destroyed the city before greater damage could occur, you deserve the title fully.”
“Eh… Kail, you fought a demon too?”
“Just briefly during vacation.”
It wasn’t something to say so casually, but Kail spoke with indifference as if it were no big deal.
Whether because of his nonchalance or boldness, seeing Kail act so unfazed despite defeating a demon powerful enough to destroy an entire nation made Arthur mutter, “Heeh…”
“But, Hero?”
“Well, since you defeated a demon, it’s only right to call you a Hero.”
“No, that’s not what I mean… When I was younger, in fairy tale books, Heroes were beings who faced incredible foes… Defeating a demon is certainly amazing, but wouldn’t you be called a Hero only after the battle?”
“…”
Struck by the core of the question, the Saintess narrowed her eyes as she looked at Arthur. As Arthur said, those who defeated formidable foes weren’t typically called Heroes.
Those who accomplished great deeds were called Heroes—already complete beings. Yet, the Saintess deliberately referred to Kail as a Hero.
This hinted that Kail still had a destined great foe left to face…
“It’s just my personal opinion~”
The Saintess playfully poked her cheek with her finger, attempting to brush it off cutely. It was a tactic she often used when trying to avoid awkward topics, and usually, people let it slide—especially in the Church or among others.
Her trick worked again; Arthur awkwardly let it go without further suspicion or questions.
Having smoothly deceived Arthur, the Saintess chuckled softly and turned her gaze back to Kail.
“So—Hero. Starting today, I’ve transferred to Diaros Academy. Please take care of me from now on.”
“Oh. Sure.”
“…Uh, Kail? Aren’t you going to introduce her?”
“Huh? Arthur, you don’t know who this is?”
“I’m… not sure…”
Kail began clicking his tongue at Arthur, who failed to recognize the Saintess despite her distinctive appearance: pink hair, nun attire, and ample bosom.
Even though Arthur came from a rural village, as a wise Academy student, shouldn’t she have read newspapers and kept up with world affairs?
Truthfully, Kail himself hadn’t read anything beyond the newspaper Gawein had shoved into his hands recently, but he shook his head disapprovingly and spoke.
“She’s the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom.”
“S-Saintess?”
“Aha… I didn’t expect anyone not to know me.”
The Saintess gave a slight awkward laugh and cleared her throat. Meeting Arthur’s gaze, she clasped her hands together prayerfully.
“Under the name of God, I am cared for. My name is Lagraisha, though I humbly bear the excessive title of Saintess.”
“Ah, I’m Arthur.”
“Yes, Lady Arthur.”
Arthur faltered slightly upon meeting the Saintess for the first time. The name of God carried immense weight—enough to easily overshadow a country bumpkin with a dragon’s heart.
Watching Arthur stumble over her words, the Saintess chuckled softly. After checking Kail’s expression, she cautiously approached Arthur and whispered into her ear.
“…Um, Lady Arthur?”
“Yes, yes—what is it all of a sudden…?”
“Are you and the Hero perhaps… dating?”
“…What?”
Looking utterly bewildered by the unexpected question, Arthur hesitantly recounted what she’d seen earlier.
How Kail, who acted coldly toward other women, blushed and freely touched hands with Arthur, who was the same gender.
After hearing this, Arthur blankly stared at the Saintess, then burst into soft laughter, denying such a thing could be true.
“Saintess, Kail has a fiancée.”
“Ah, I see.”
However, the Saintess didn’t take this explanation to heart. Despite being chosen by an unseen existence and wielding superhuman powers, she was the type to believe only what she witnessed firsthand.
From her perspective, the relationship between Arthur and Kail seemed far from a mere friendship. There was some hidden secret neither revealed to others.
‘You can’t deceive me.’
Chosen by God, she could temporarily borrow divine wisdom to discern truth from falsehood. According to this wisdom, her hypothesis held some truth. Whether their relationship was unusual or they were hiding something, one of these assumptions was correct.
In the Saintess’s view, the former was more likely—because it would be far more interesting.
“In any case, please take care of me from now on.”
* * *
News of the Saintess’s transfer spread throughout the Academy in no time. Though rumors of her arrival via newspaper had circulated, many hadn’t believed it until now.
“Saintess!”
“Please look this way just once!”
“Kyaaaaa─!”
Even nobles, in a world where divine existences were nearly confirmed, revered the Saintess chosen by God with sky-high popularity.
As she represented God’s will on Earth, it was only natural.
The Saintess waved lightly to the cheering Academy students. Some asked her about their futures, treating her every word as divine prophecy.
“Saintess, what will happen to us after graduation!?”
“Keep striving. The day your strength is needed will surely come.”
“Ah, thank you so much!”
Amidst the Saintess monopolizing all attention, a few individuals viewed her with disdain—namely, the group known as the Royal Road, composed of high-ranking nobles.
“Does God really exist?”
“Isn’t it just some kind of power ability? I heard even devout people often receive nothing…”
Another club formed by the heads of various Academy clubs—the very one Kail had once ruined—began gossiping negatively about the Saintess.
Most members were high-ranking nobles who looked down on others, making their disdain even stronger.
Carlos, the current head of the Royal Road and leader of the Art Club, glanced at his drink while eyeing the Grand Duchess who elevated his club’s prestige: Izuna Hela of the Duke Hela family.
Though petite in both height and chest, her backing was anything but small. She was the heir to the Hela family, which owned a mega-trading company responsible for the empire’s logistics and controlled over 40% of the empire’s currency.
“Izuna, what do you think?”
“…”
“Heh, lost in thought, huh.”
Carlos assumed Izuna was deliberately ignoring him—a safe assumption given her status.
Of course, Izuna wasn’t intentionally ignoring Carlos. She had her own reasons for not paying attention to him.
‘…That’s.’
Born with the ability to see things others couldn’t—like abilities, states, or titles—she had never met anyone else with similar powers or even someone who noticed she could ‘read’ them.
[Bo1̶͍̘̰͖̜̙̱̙̦̟̠̠̺̘̑̾̐̏̊͊@̶̨̧̭̫̼͉̤̰̲̮̝͈̞̈́͗̒̈́̀͂͘͝@̷̆̈́͘͜͠͝#̵̡͙͍̹͎̰͎̟͇͎̰̗̐̋̊̈́̔̈́́̋̒͂̿Ma1̶͍̘̰͖̜̙̱̙̦̟̠̠̑̾̐̏̊͊%$Oh]
Until this very moment, that is—right before meeting the Saintess.
