Commendation

"Hoo... I've got a lot I really want to say, but let's both just shut our mouths and move past this one. It's better for both of us. What was the First Princess's request?"

I'd already lost any motivation to speak politely, so as I calmed Laika down—the little dog was baring its teeth—and slumped to the floor, Teneasi pulled out another one of the beads she'd given me earlier from her robes and continued.

Three spare lives. That was enough to qualify as solid mitigating circumstances.

"She said the Imperial Household and the Itisel Royal Household would arrange an official occasion to commend Eldmia's achievements."

Since she was offering to refill what I'd already field-tested, I had no reason to refuse. I accepted it graciously as I listened. The event was apparently scheduled for early January. Time-wise, there were still about two months left, but since they were also honoring me for saving the First Princess, Esmue, it seemed the Imperial Household was preparing with considerable intensity.

"But since Itisel is the host, an imperial delegation will visit to assist with preparations under ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mutual agreement between the two nations. The First Princess will be the representative."

It looked like things were unfolding exactly as Sheryl and the teacher had speculated over meals.

"Did she happen to tell you what form of reward I'll be receiving?"

The possibility of a noble title that Duke Lesrom had mentioned with that cold gaze suddenly came to mind, so I asked. Teneasi shook her head as she answered.

"No. She said she would tell you that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in person. She said she'd arrive in a week."

"A week? There's still nearly two months until January, isn't there?"

"Um... if it's joint preparation, that's about how long it usually takes, isn't it? With meetings, holding parties with nobles for the sake of appearances, preparing and reviewing correspondence to send to each nation, and preparing the supplies needed for the event..."

Watching her fold down her fingers one by one as she explained the process like it was obvious, I could see she was indeed a saintess who formed a core pillar of a religious order.

But her demeanor remained as clueless as ever, the kind that made me want to flick her forehead. So for all our sakes, I wrapped up the conversation as quickly as possible and sent her on her way. And right up to the very last moment, Teneasi displayed clueless reactions and bumbling behavior that made me want to kick her in the rear.

After sending her off like that, I knelt in the middle of my professor's office and, just as Saintess Deoni had taught me, offered a prayer to Epaga with all my sincerity.

I begged her to please, please never let me have a private audience with that insane self-destructing saintess ever again.

I wanted to understand that she was just young and extreme, but self-destruction crossed a line.

◈

The Imperial Divine Council did not reject other religions.

However, according to doctrine, they worshipped Ete of Light as the supreme god and venerated the Hero—who could be called her agent—with qualifications equivalent to a divine agent. More practical calculation than blind faith had gone into reaching that point.

Ete of Light was simply the one who showed the most mercy to the Human Race, so they honored her accordingly. They enshrined Ete of Light as the supreme deity because she was the god who stepped forward and extended a saving hand when the Human Race was in danger. Had another god done the same, the empire's state religion would have been different as well.

Of course, even if that was how it began, as befitting a religion that had shared history with the empire, the absolute majority were now pure believers. But because of that history, they maintained neutrality and friendship with any god who was not an Evil God. That included Demon God Epaga as well.

For they held that sin lay with those who distorted and worshipped a god's will.

Teneasi was one such pure believer. And after being chosen as a saintess and experiencing the divine authority that Ete had granted her, her faith grew even more steadfast.

Contrary to what was publicly known, the divine authority sanctioned by Ete of Light was not limited to Divine Power alone. Though only a very small number within the order knew it, Teneasi had received insight and the divine authority of knowledge alongside Divine Power.

That didn't mean she had come to know everything in the world. It was a strictly limited and biased ability meant solely to assist the Hero. Still, the moment she obtained that divine authority, Teneasi understood her mission and accepted it willingly.

For someone like her, Siegfried was faith incarnate and proof itself that Ete of Light loved the Human Race. So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was only natural that she devoted herself to him to a degree that the word 'blind' couldn't fully capture. Recently, as even personal feelings had begun to bloom, she had become someone who could do anything to protect not just her faith but her beloved.

She worshipped Ete, and she loved Siegfried. She could devote herself even if it meant sacrificing her own life and bringing harm to the order.

In her eyes, Eldmia was a far more dangerous existence than a Demon King she had never even seen before.

To be precise, the moment she faced the Archdemon, her divine authority had activated and she'd realized he was a dangerous being. Before that, she had truly felt nothing and had assumed he was just a somewhat exceptional person. Had she not witnessed him using that unidentified power to sever demons' heads from their bodies, she would have remained ignorant.

That brief moment—when powerful Magic Power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and divinity intermingled and intervened in the demon's body to neutralize it—was still vivid in her memory, as shocking as ever. Even afterward, Siegfried had earnestly agonized over whether there might be a way to learn that technique, full of anticipation. But Teneasi, who had feigned nonchalance on the outside and smiled with practiced cluelessness, had felt her heart pound more severely than ever before.

Because that was a technique that could potentially be applied not just to demons, but to those who carried divinity within them as well. It wasn't some wild leap Teneasi had come up with and concluded on her own. Beings capable of similar great feats had appeared from time to time in the past as well.

Those who had subjugated Evil Gods, saved the continent, and on occasion even ascended.

Conversely, those who had worshipped Evil Gods, sacrificed countless heroes, and made their infamy known.

Those who had received power directly bestowed by gods and moved on a different plane—history had recorded them as demigods.

Eldmia was not yet such a being, but the technique he had displayed against the Archdemon was a fragment of the potential inherent within him. If he had mixed aura or Mana with divinity, she would have let it pass. The problem was that it was Magic Power, of all things.

That was why Teneasi had actually felt relieved when she'd heard the story that Eldmia had gone missing during the battle with the orcs.

And that was why, from the day she'd received word that he was returning to Itisel, she had wrestled with countless worries and arrived at this point.

If there was something she had misjudged in that process, it was simply that Eldmia was utterly ignorant of his own potential, and that he had absolutely no hesitation about imposing sanctions on her.

'I mentioned Magic Power and divinity, and yet there was no reaction.'

A response as if he had no interest in what the problem was or what was different—or as if he didn't know at all. The moment she felt relief at that, and then felt relief again upon confirming there was no hostility—a blade had flown at her throat.

At first, she'd thought he had even deceived her Holy Arts. That was why she'd been so startled that she'd cast the Holy Art of Lie Discernment before even attempting healing.

In the end, it was nothing more than a misunderstanding. But as a result, the bewilderment born from that misunderstanding had saved her life. If she had openly revealed hostility and used Holy Arts on the spot, it was clear that irreversible consequences would have followed.

She had obtained limited knowledge and insight thanks to her divine authority, but her experience was too shallow to apply it properly. Not only had she failed to utilize it correctly, she had nearly allowed her impatience to drive her to create trouble where none existed. Teneasi furrowed her brow as she replayed this in her mind.

She had no choice but to admit it. She had been arrogant.

Because he was the Hero and she was the Saintess. She had assumed that among humanity, no one would be willing to make an enemy of the two of them on a grand scale.

That was why she'd thought that even if she had attempted a large-scale attack depending on the circumstances, it would end with some grumbling at most. She was here on an unofficial visit anyway, so she'd figured there would be ways to smooth things over even if problems arose later.

Handing over the healing bead as what passed for an apologetic gift had been nothing more than an extension of that same judgment. She'd thought that since she—the saintess herself, no less—had personally crafted and handed over three items, he would overlook a threat or two.

But instead, the moment he'd received them, he'd drawn his sword. She'd thought she was extending goodwill, but in a single strike, she'd ended up on the receiving end of goodwill instead. As she belatedly regretted it and agonized over whether she should lay all her cards on the table and try to placate him somehow, Eldmia had wrapped up the conversation faster than expected. It had actually been a stroke of fortune that things had ended in such a vague, muddled way.

The wound had left no trace, but the chilling sensation and pain she'd felt then still seemed to linger. Unconsciously stroking her neck, Teneasi—who had concealed her appearance with Holy Arts—paused as she was leaving the professor building and turned her head to look back at the place where Eldmia was.

Beyond a gaze so expressionless and cold that anyone who knew her would have faltered, a divinity that had become just slightly clearer than when she'd faced him alone flickered faintly.

'Demon God is unmistakably watching Eldmia, a member of the Human Race.'

And yet Demon God had told him nothing. Did she have no intention of telling him, or was she unable to tell him?

It was a situation for which it was difficult to find precedent even in the records kept by the order, or in the limited history she could examine through her divine authority. Because of that, Teneasi felt a sense of her path ahead growing bleak for the first time since being chosen as a saintess.

Why had she been in such a rush? It would have been better if she had just stayed still. If this visit and her half-baked attempt at intimidation instead became the catalyst for making an enemy of Eldmia, she would have personally cultivated a threat aimed at Siegfried with her own hands.

"...Haa, did I actually become a fool by acting like one?"

In her gloomy mood, Teneasi began trudging along and started racking her brain to find a more long-term way to appease Eldmia's anger. She had been the one to fumble the first step, so she had to devise a solution.

Amidst the continuing regret, the one consolation was that Eldmia had shown a rather satisfied reaction upon receiving the healing bead. Because that was something she could produce through her own effort.