Chapter 47
Even before awakening her blessing, Selenia had been a mage no one could afford to underestimate.
But after awakening the blessing <The Sun Goddess>, Selenia was on an entirely different level.
What had earned her the support of the mages was not so much her magical ability as the potential she possessed, vouched for by the Master of the Golden Magic Tower.
That potential had now been unleashed.
“Se...Lady Selenia...”
“Your Highness...what in the world...”
Lumiell and Jeras could not hide their astonishment at this unknown side of the Imperial Princess.
Her figure, radiating the Sun God’s power into the dark night like a Sun God, was beyond astonishing—it was awe-inspiring.
Yet all of this was from a human perspective.
“Lord Kir...that is...”
“Yes...Yan, that is probably what it is.”
Kir recalled his training.
Among the <blessings> bestowed upon beings loved by the gods, the one most feared by the Blood Kin was the ‘Sun God’s Blessing.’
If the ‘power of the moon’ had the same nature as the Blood Kin’s power and could neutralize it, the ‘power of the sun’ could destroy the Blood Kin’s power outright.
Fortunately, almost no one had received the Sun God’s Blessing.
Only heroes from legend and a few members of the imperial family barely possessed it.
And in all the missions Kir had carried out, he had never once encountered anyone with the Sun God’s Blessing or even heard that any of his other kindred had encountered it.
Yet of all times, he had encountered it now, at this very moment.
That Imperial Princess who had received the Sun God’s Blessing.
Bwoooong-
“…Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you going to attack?”
“Uuuugh...”
Selenia, floating in midair and radiating golden light, merely gazed steadily at the Blood Kin.
There was neither hatred nor anger in her eyes.
They held only compassion for a pitiful existence.
Compassion for a life that would crumble simply because it had encountered her...
And to the Blood Kin, she was like a Demon King who had suddenly descended.
Radiating the sun’s mana, their natural enemy, she was literally destroying the black-magic barrier their kindred had constructed at the cost of their lives.
“I feel as though my body is getting lighter.”
“Indeed. This must be part of Lady Selenia’s power as well.”
Lumiell and Rana could clearly feel their bodies growing lighter.
At the same time, the Blood Kin present felt their skin slowly burning away.
To the Blood Kin, she was a living calamity that rendered all their efforts utterly futile.
“U...Uaaaaah!!”
“Stop! Kang!!”
One of the Blood Kin, terrified by her mana, eventually lost his reason and charged blindly at her.
Kir, the Blood Kin captain who saw him, tried to stop him...but it was already too late.
“Get lost.”
Bwoooong-
Selenia merely swung her hand.
Without using any magic, she simply swung her hand lightly and released mana to stop the Blood Kin charging at her.
Then...
“Aaaaaaah!!!”
Struck directly by Selenia’s mana as if hit by a high-level fire spell, the Blood Kin assassin was reduced to ash on the spot.
Seeing this, Kir reacted quickly.
“Everyone...retreat!”
“Lord Kir! But!!”
“Hurry! That is not something we can fight!!”
At Kir’s command, the Blood Kin began fleeing.
Since their retreat might have been a ruse, everyone remained on guard and kept their weapons in hand.
A few minutes later, once their presence had completely disappeared, everyone there was able to lower their weapons in relief.
Selenia, too, could withdraw her mana.
Selenia breathed heavily as she looked at both her hands and the traces left by the Blood Kin who had turned to ash.
* * *
The Blood Kin’s attack had caused astonishingly little damage.
Perhaps because the assassins had focused solely and thoroughly on their objective, there had been almost no damage aside from several guards being killed.
And her power had played a major role in keeping the damage so low.
“My lord! Are you safe!!”
“Azel! Are you all right?”
It was Azel.
Azel had fought more than ten Blood Kin assassins, taking down six of them on her own and holding off half of the remainder until they retreated, or so I heard.
But she had fought so desperately that her entire body was covered in wounds, and I was worried about her.
“I’m fine. I did get stabbed twice in the back...but this is nothing for a knight! Hahaha!”
“Sir Azel, please turn around.”
“Yes! Understood, Mage!”
As Azel received healing magic from the Sila family’s healer, she answered cheerfully.
Fortunately, judging by the way she spoke, her life did not seem to be in danger.
While we treated those injured in the attack and cleaned up the aftermath, Selenia approached.
“Calix.”
“Yes, Your Highness...Lady Selenia.”
“Shall we talk for a moment?”
“Yes...let’s.”
I followed Selenia.
She walked up onto the castle wall, which was now empty.
From atop the wall, the long night was ending and the dawn sun was rising.
“You know I have a lot I want to ask you right now, don’t you?”
“Yes, I understand.”
From her perspective, she must have had a great deal she wanted to say.
There was so much to discuss, from the marriage issue we had been talking about earlier to the fact that I had known about her blessing.
She began with the greatest secret.
“How did you know about my power?”
“That...is a secret.”
“A secret?”
I was a reincarnator who had seen her event in a game in my previous life.
Unable to tell her that, I said that the source of my knowledge about her power was a secret.
“Lady Selenia must have information about me that I don’t know too, right? I’m sure I had something like that as well, though not to the same extent as you do.”
“Hmm...suspicious...”
She looked at me suspiciously.
But at the same time, she seemed somewhat convinced.
In this era, each family operated at least one information-gathering guild.
Surely, just as I had said, she too could know information about me that I did not know.
After looking at me for a moment, she relaxed her expression and said,
“But I’ll forgive you. I’m merciful to my people.”
She spoke with a smile that was warm rather than playful, like one she would give to a close friend.
“After what happened, it’s all right to say that we’re...in the same boat now, right?”
“I think it’s a little too soon for that.”
“Why!? They say when you go through something like this together, you usually grow closer and develop feelings!”
I flatly refused her attempt to subtly pull me aboard.
She complained with playful irritation, then looked at me with an imploring gaze like an abandoned puppy.
“...Does Calix dislike me?”
“No. If anything, I like you.”
“Then that’s great! Let’s do this together. I’ll treat you really well.”
Yes, I did have feelings for her.
But that was precisely why I could not join her side now.
“Please look at the situation from a broader perspective. Lady Selenia, if I join you now, it may actually make things worse.”
If I joined the Imperial Princess faction now, the balance of power could collapse abruptly.
The Imperial Prince faction was the greatest force in the Empire, but precisely for that reason, it was fighting countless problems and was embroiled in the intrigues of other factions.
But what would happen if I joined the faction of an Imperial Princess who had even awakened her blessing?
The balance of power would collapse, and everyone would start checking the Imperial Princess’s faction instead, which could actually weaken it.
“How many attacks has His Highness the Imperial Prince suffered because he bears the title of the greatest power? For now, it would actually help you more if I didn’t join you.”
“Hmm...yes, that makes sense.”
She nodded, seeming convinced by my words.
She was truly fascinating.
At times she was a playful girl, yet at others she displayed the judgment of a faction leader.
Just when I was wondering what her true self was like, she spoke.
“Then what will the relationship between Calix and me be until then? Enemies, allies, or perhaps an alliance?”
“Rather than any of those...how about 『friends』?”
“Friends?”
“Yes, friends who care about and acknowledge one another.”
She looked surprised by my words.
This was also an honest expression of my own desire.
I wanted to have many friends more than I wanted to build a faction.
“Friends...friends...I like that. Friends.”
She began muttering to herself, visibly pleased.
What was she so happy about?
“Lady Selenia?”
“Lily...”
“Yes?”
“You said we’re friends. Everyone close to me calls me ‘Lily,’ and you already called me Lily.”
I recalled when I had awakened her earlier.
I had been so immersed in the event that I had spoken informally to her and even called her Lily, just as the Tower Master, the event’s protagonist, had.
Naturally, anyone who spoke informally to a member of the imperial family without permission would be arrested.
“That—! I...I’m sorry. It was an emergency.”
“Hahaha! It’s all right. I’ll forgive you. It was an emergency.”
She approached me with a smile, as though her mood had lifted.
Then she looked into my eyes and said,
“Since we’re friends, I’ll tell you one thing.”
“Yes?”
What was she about to tell me?
Just as I was focusing on her words, she suddenly looked behind me and said,
“Ah! Rana.”
“Rana?”
Why was Rana suddenly here?
I turned to look where she was looking, but Rana was nowhere to be seen.
Huh?
“Where is Rana—mmph!?”
I looked at Lily.
Before I knew it, her face was right in front of mine.
Then she took my face in her hands and leaned toward my lips.
And then...
Smooch-!
It happened in an instant.
Lily’s lips, touched by the morning sun, were soft and carried the scent of sunflowers, a fragrance like the sun.
After a kiss that was both short and long, she smiled with a flushed face and said,
“You know, I’ve always gotten whatever I wanted to have.”
Facing the rising sun, she looked exactly like the Sun Goddess.
That goddess looked straight into my eyes and said,
“Don’t forget, Calix. You’re mine.”
It seemed the Sun Goddess had marked me.