The man’s hand that cut my finger belongs to the assassin chasing me and Tia.
But why is it that my heart feels at ease when gripped in that hand…?
‘Is it because she’s a priestess, able to repel evil spirits?’
The eerie voice that had been buzzing in my head suddenly vanished.
Did she exorcise the evil spirit with her holy power?
I wanted to immediately tell her to let go of my hand, but the thought of the whispers that would torment me again as soon as she did made me too afraid to say anything.
Before I knew it, I had tightly grasped the priestess’s hand.
As if pleading for her not to let go.
It was slightly embarrassing, but at that moment, I had no choice but to be desperate.
“Ugh…”
Remembering Alexander’s words from a moment ago, I tried to calm my breathing.
I felt that maybe I could sense whether it was magical power or holy power now.
I focused my awareness on the movements within my body instead of external sensations.
Then, from within my chest, I felt something bubbling up.
I had felt it vaguely before, perhaps once or twice, but it had never been this clear.
Now I can say with certainty.
This is my intuition, which does not correspond to any of the five senses I know.
I had finally succeeded in awakening the power of another realm.
“What…?!”
“Teacher?”
At that moment, my hand slipped from hers, and the sensation vanished completely.
I opened my eyes slightly.
Then I was completely frozen, seeing Alexander staring down at me with a shocked expression.
He had a look on his face as if he had just encountered something incomprehensible.
He hesitated for a moment, trembling as he adjusted his glasses, and then cautiously spoke to me.
“Julia. If I remember correctly, you haven’t been baptized yet, right?”
“Yes. That’s correct…”
“What about any blessings?”
“Blessings? What’s that?”
“Never mind. It seems you haven’t had any.”
Alexander observed my gaze and shook his head.
Blessings.
It’s possible that the owner of this body had performed them in the past, but as far as my memories go, I have never had such experiences.
I might have unintentionally told a lie.
Alexander seemed to be pondering for a moment, stroking his chin, then reestablished eye contact with me.
For a brief moment, I felt a sense of fear in his eyes.
Could I be mistaken?
“Let’s leave it at this for today.”
“Huh? But it’s not even been 10 minutes yet?”
“I’m sorry. Something urgent came to mind. I will cover the part we couldn’t address in the next class.”
“Oh? Is this really happening?”
Alexander suddenly grabbed my shoulder and stood me up, pushing me out.
I felt his warm breath on my nape.
His breathing was quite rough.
Did I unintentionally make him uncomfortable?
In the end, I was just ejected out of the room.
Without understanding why.
“What the hell…”
The tightly closed door showed no signs of opening again.
Even when I knocked on it loudly, I received no response.
When I rudely turned the door handle, it seemed locked from the inside, and it wouldn’t budge.
It seemed he was serious about this.
The fear on his face couldn’t have been an act.
“This is so awkward.”
Why was he acting like that?
With a slight discomfort in my heart, I had no choice but to turn away.
Considering the hot weather today, maybe I should buy some gelato that Tia likes on my way back.
.
.
.
Clunk, clunk.
The sound of footsteps echoed continuously in the small room.
After reaching one wall, I turned around and walked again with a clunk.
Upon reaching the other wall, I turned again and walked with another clunk.
For a while, Alexander walked without a break, wearing a serious expression.
“Is that really the holy power of the Holy Maiden…?”
He had been half-convinced that Julia was a Holy Maiden.
At this point, he only had a suspicion, but no tangible evidence, so securing as much real evidence as possible was his current task.
He thought that he could take this opportunity to secure proof that Julia was indeed the Holy Maiden.
If she was a Holy Maiden, she would surely possess more holy power than anyone else.
And indeed, as Alexander had expected, Julia possessed abundant holy power.
But it was excessive, even too much.
It surpassed not just that of ordinary people but also exceeded that of cardinals and the Pope, ultimately reaching the limit of measurement.
The holy power measurement magic has a limit based on the maximum holy power once possessed by the hero.
At that point in time, the hero Leopard was equipped with various holy swords and artifacts, embodying the maximum amount of holy power that a person could possess while preparing for an assault against the demon realm.
By now, the hero had greatly weakened, and the holy artifacts and swords from that time had scattered across the world after the war, so it was thought that this limit would never be broken again.
Yet, just by quietly concentrating on her inner holy power, Julia was releasing this enormous amount of energy.
“Is it really possible for a Holy Maiden to have more holy power than a fully armed, peak hero?”
When one encounters something that transcends humanity, they feel not just fear but also awe.
The moment Alexander saw the endlessly rising numbers through Julia’s hand, he finally understood what that meant.
He still didn’t know if Julia was truly a Holy Maiden or some other beast, but at least it was certain that she was not an ordinary human.
“I have no time to waste.”
Alexander suddenly halted his footsteps.
Only then did he remember the urgent reason for sending Julia away.
He had just absorbed Julia’s holy power and analyzed its wave.
Before the carefully analyzed wave dissipated, Alexander hurriedly recorded the data.
If Julia were indeed a Holy Maiden or of some other clergy, the archive of the Papal Office would certainly have that holy power wave data stored.
“Search… please… Alexander.”
He wrote a letter requesting that the data he recorded be searched in the archives and that the search results be sent back.
Quickly putting the letter and data sheet into an envelope and sealing it, Alexander handed the envelope to a passing priest in the corridor.
“Please send this to the Papal Office by special delivery.”
“Yes. Understood, Father.”
Once he received the results of this search, it would determine whether Julia was a Holy Maiden or not.
If he could secure definitive evidence, the Papal Office would have justification to act, whether it be against Dragania or the Emperor.
However, Alexander was completely unaware.
He didn’t realize that the person he had just handed the envelope to was a hired assassin, Sailor, disguised as a priest.
‘This is troublesome.’
Behind the church.
Sailor quickly tore open the envelope and furrowed her brow as she examined the data sheet.
If this reached the Papal Office and confirmed the holy power wave as belonging to a Holy Maiden, it would be the end for Julia.
Immediately, the Heretic Examiners would storm in and take both Julia and Tia.
The Heretic Examiners dispatched directly from the Papal Office boasted battle prowess that was worlds apart from the makeshift vigilante groups formed within towns.
If one were to resist them, not even Duke Dragania could guarantee his own life.
‘I’ll need to alter this slightly before sending it.’
She could have just torn the letter to shreds, of course.
But doing so would mean a reply would take days, and Alexander would find it suspicious.
So, Sailor decided to cleverly modify the data.
Changing just one digit can turn the whole data into something entirely different.
Thus, Alexander would end up receiving a response indicating that there were no search results.
‘Of course, it’s just stalling for time.’
Distrustful of everything and wary even of allies, that’s Alexander.
Sailor had trained and educated him, so she understood his character well.
Even if he received a reply indicating that there were no results, Alexander would never conclude that Julia was not a Holy Maiden.
If a situation arose requiring a return to the Papal Office, he would directly access the archives to attempt a search.
‘I may have succeeded in dispelling his doubts this time, but how long will that last…?’
It was fine that Julia approached Alexander on her own.
He likely thought there was no way a Holy Maiden would willingly walk into a tiger’s den, and Julia’s holy power had far surpassed her own past strength as Aerial, which only further added to her alibi.
However, that alone would not completely eliminate Alexander’s suspicions.
Given his nature, it was obvious that he would eventually discover that Julia was a Holy Maiden.
For now, all I could do was postpone that moment as much as possible.
But when that inevitable moment comes…
‘I have to kill him.’
I have no choice but to rid myself of him.
The boy I raised, took care of, and trained with my own hands,
Of course, I wasn’t particularly worried about it.
There were many times I struggled or was troubled by emotions.
But when the moment came to make a decision, I became exceedingly cold-headed and made thoroughly rational judgments.
“Tsk…”
Imagining what it would be like to kill Alexander with emotionless eyes made Sailor click her tongue.
Holding onto the letter envelope, she gracefully moved away.
As she passed a pillar, she had already transformed into the appearance of an ordinary priest.
