Chapter 30
The next day.
Aria shut herself in her room.
She canceled all her scheduled prayers, services, classes, and other commitments. She thought that the moment she attended class or went to the chapel, Raul would persistently try to control her.
So she didn't leave the grounds of the Department of Theology dormitory.
‘…He let me go surprisingly easily yesterday. But the longer I’m around Lord Raul, the more suffocated I feel.’
-Hehe, understood. Then please enjoy yourself.
“….”
Even that easy permission felt suffocating.
Even when she refused,
it felt as if her refusal never reached him.
As if her answer merely echoed in empty space.
“….”
Aria was afraid of Raul now.
She no longer understood what he was thinking. Though she had known the Inquisitor for ten years in the Theocracy, at some point his eyes had become obscured by the Sun’s shadow, and she could no longer see into them.
‘I’ve known him since I was little, but he’s starting to feel more and more frightening and strange… Is this right?’
Just then, someone knocked on Aria’s door.
Knock, knock!
A gentle woman’s voice came from the other side of the door.
-Saintess, it’s Edel. I heard you’d be taking a walk around the dormitory grounds soon.
“!”
Aria hurried to the door. Then she greeted the ‘senior’ who had come to meet her.
“Good morning, Senior Edel.”
“Good morning, Saintess.”
Edel was a third-year female cadet in the Department of Theology. On Raul’s orders, she had been assigned to ‘attend’ Aria while she secluded herself.
Edel bowed her head with an apologetic look.
“The Saintess should be allowed her own freedom… Please understand that I have to stay by your side like this.”
“Senior Edel…! Please, speak casually.”
“No. I’ll be ordained as a priest next year, and I have no shame in showing the Saintess proper respect. As a servant of the Sun God, I must bow my head to all who have received His grace.”
“….”
Edel was quiet but incredibly strict. She was also an ardent admirer of Adrian, the Prayer Priest.
Aria recalled that and smiled wryly.
“…Then shall we go?”
“Yes. It’s an honor.”
The two left Aria’s dormitory and slowly walked around the grounds where the Department of Theology students lived. Since classes were still in session, there was no one around.
Aria glanced around.
Then she looked at a tree that towered above the others. Its branches were thick with green leaves. But the ‘thing Aria was looking for’ wasn’t there.
It seemed today wasn’t the day Lydia had mentioned.
-‘When the right time’ comes, I’ll hang a letter on the tallest tree on the Department of Theology grounds. Read it.
“….”
‘What does the right time mean? The Hero’s second test?’
In any case…
today wasn’t the day.
Aria quietly turned around, intending to head back to her dormitory. But something hard caught her foot.
Thud!
“!”
Aria looked down.
“…A wooden sword?”
“Ah, the holy knights must have left it behind during their morning training.”
“The holy knights train here, by the roadside? There are plenty of training grounds and open spaces at the academy.”
Arti trained in an open space every dawn, after all.
But Edel’s answer was astonishing.
“I heard that even within the Holy Knights, the brothers who serve directly under Lord Raul and those who don’t… well, they don’t get along very well.”
“….”
In other words, it was a factional dispute. The knights who weren’t part of Raul’s powerful faction even had to avoid them when they trained.
Edel sighed.
“I heard that the brothers serving directly under the Inquisitor who took part in yesterday’s Hero’s examination were very upset. So they… well, they took it out on some of the other brothers.”
“….”
“Apparently, swordsmen who’ve reached the Flow stage can easily handle ten people who haven’t. It seems the others were beaten one-sidedly.”
“….”
In short, they’d taken their frustration out on the wrong people. They’d lashed out at those much weaker than themselves to vent their anger over their crushing defeat at Arti’s hands.
“….”
Now Aria sighed, too.
“…Phew.”
They all worshiped the Sun God, yet
their behavior was pathetic and disgraceful.
‘Even with strength, they don’t try to protect those who are weaker….’
Strong people like Arti, Mave, and Lydia trained every day to protect others. The way they trained solemnly every dawn had been so noble.
“….”
Remembering them,
Aria picked up the wooden sword on the ground.
“….”
As she held it,
Lydia’s voice came to mind.
It was the voice she’d used to teach Arti.
Aria closed her eyes and recalled the memory.
“….”
-Grip the handle of the sword firmly with both hands.
The hard feel of it.
The smooth surface.
The weight, heavier than she’d expected.
“….”
-Spread your feet shoulder-width apart. Then take a deep breath. Imagine yourself as a triangle standing firmly on the earth.
Sss—
“Hoo…”
Aria imagined herself as a triangle beneath the sun.
Her feet naturally planted themselves firmly on the earth.
-Then aim naturally at your enemy. Be ready to thrust at any moment.
Thrust!
“….”
Her mind felt clear.
At the same time, she felt she couldn’t retreat.
It felt so familiar.
As if she’d felt it for a long time.
No…
More precisely, it felt as if she were inheriting someone else’s memories.
‘…So this is how it feels. This is how the Hero has been fighting.’
But the feeling didn’t last. Edel called out to her from behind, sounding bewildered.
“…Saintess?”
“?!”
‘…Oh, what am I doing, leaving Senior Edel standing there?’
She wasn’t some kid pretending to be a Hero.
Aria hurriedly lowered the wooden sword. Her face was turning red. Then she hurriedly spoke to Edel.
“H-ha ha. I-it’s just… I suddenly thought of the Hero’s examination. It’s nothing.”
“I see…”
“Let’s go back to my room now.”
“…Yes.”
Aria hurried ahead.
Edel followed her.
“….”
And Edel thought,
‘The Saintess seems… really good with a sword. Her bearing seemed similar to that of the academy’s holy knights. Her stance was very clean, too.’
…Was she imagining it?
*
Swordsmanship class.
Instructor Zach was silent. Not because he was angry. The freshmen were following the lesson so well that he had nothing to say.
-Dominic! You pretty-faced weakling, losing to a girl! You’re sparring with me! I’ll show you how tough women from southern Gallia are!
-I-I didn’t lose…!
-Arti, you’ll have to earn all three of our approval!
-Why me, of all people?!
-We’re not letting you be alone with Her Highness the Princess!
Regardless of whether they were boys or girls,
the freshmen sparred like berserkers.
The sound of wooden swords clashing rang out all around.
Whack—!
Clack!
They were this energetic even after physical training and tactical lectures. They were completely different from the start of term, when they’d slump over as soon as physical training was over.
Even as they sparred, the freshmen kept sneaking glances at the princess, who was elegantly taking them down one by one. Lydia defeated the cadets who came at her with the bare minimum of technique.
Taah!
At last, one of the cadets hit the ground.
“A-ah?! I yield…”
“You fought well. Next.”
“Hah… Thank you for the beating, Your Highness.”
“Call me Lydia. Next.”
“I’m next!”
“Come.”
Whack—!
“Gah?!”
“You fought well. Next.”
“It’s an honor…”
Even after getting beaten, the cadets would grin whenever they met Lydia’s eyes. She faced the freshmen one after another, expressionless.
The freshmen mumbled as they staggered around.
-As expected of someone at the top tier of the Flow stage…
-Her Highness is too noble for us.
-We want to be by her side, too…!
-How skilled a swordsman would you have to be to become her lady-in-waiting?
They immediately lined up to get beaten by Lydia again.
Lydia glanced at Instructor Zach and smiled as if she were troubled.
She seemed to be saying,
-Aren’t you going to end this, Sir Zach?
Instructor Zach gave a quiet laugh.
“….”
‘It’s not as if we’re going to war, but they’re all fired up. They’re pushing themselves just to impress Lydia.’
Even the assistant instructors, who usually roused the freshmen with playful threats, stood silently with their arms crossed. In their hearts, they were pleased to see the new recruits so fired up.
The moment recruits became warriors
was thrilling for the veteran soldiers.
“….”
“….”
“….”
…But they didn’t let it show.
Just before the freshmen got too carried away, Instructor Zach made his announcement.
“Class is over for today! Go back and get some rest!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Dominic grumbled at Mave and the female cadets. He’d been beaten up by the girls more than anyone else.
“Grr… The women of the Theocracy and the Republic are so delicate and beautiful. Why are women from the Kingdom of Gallia so tough and difficult?”
“What are you talking about?”
Mave glared at Dominic.
“You’re just pathetically weak.”
“But even I can tell Mave’s strong.”
“W-what…?”
“Anyway, I think Lord Dominic was in the wrong.”
Lydia spoke from among the female cadets.
“Oh? Are you saying I’m tough and difficult?”
“Gasp?! No, Your Highness!”
“Dominic’s judgment was accurate. I am a tough and difficult woman.”
“Th-that’s…”
The female cadets looked at Dominic and giggled. Then they whispered in low, teasing voices—just loud enough for the people around them to hear.
-Look how red his face is.
-Sir Lucian is always so cold he’s scary, but Sir Dominic is kind of cute.
“….”
Embarrassed, Dominic
suddenly shouted at Arti as if he were trying to run away.
“You! You commoner, Arti! Come here and tell me about the Hero’s examination!”
“I was curious about it, too.”
“It was kind of satisfying seeing those Holy Theocracy knights get beaten down by sheer force.”
“Me too, me too.”
Arti mumbled awkwardly.
“…H-ha ha. Well, I just somehow managed to hold out.”
Lydia watched him with satisfaction. It was similar to a reputation-boosting event that happened much later in the original story.
‘It’s like an athlete who won a medal being welcomed by politicians, regardless of their politics. Is this the power of patriotic fervor?’
There were only two tests left. If Arti passed both, he would become an official Hero.
Just like Aria…
he would gain an authority that transcended social status.
‘Regardless of the feelings between those two, this is also a prerequisite for becoming completely independent of those awful events and characters.’
Lydia made up her mind.
“….”
No matter what.
I’ll make sure to bring them together.
Trust me.
*
Albert, Raul, and Adrian had gathered in a small meeting room in the corner of the chapel. They were discussing the Hero’s examination and what to do next.
But their discussion went nowhere.
Cardinal Albert finally slammed his fist on the table. A loud crash echoed through the cramped room.
Bang!
Cardinal Albert shouted in frustration. It was an unusually blunt display of emotion from him.
“Prayer Priest!”
“Why are you calling me?”
“At this rate, the Theocracy’s authority will be tarnished!”
“If its authority can be tarnished by something as trivial as this, it would be better to have none at all. How could there be eternal authority beneath the sun?”
“….”
Albert’s fist trembled. For just a moment, he wanted to punch that old man as hard as he could.
‘Sun God….’
Adrian spoke in a curt voice.
“The Hero’s examination is a test on behalf of the Sun God. There can be no changes or compromises to its contents. It makes no sense to alter the test just because the Hero candidate is stronger than expected.”
“….”
“Instead of having this pathetic discussion, I’d be better off helping the cadets with their lessons on interpreting the prayers in scripture. I’m leaving.”
Adrian walked out of the meeting room.
A cold silence filled the room.
Albert and Raul wore expressionless faces.
“….”
“….”
Again,
again, something was always going awry somewhere.
That was how they felt about the situation.