Time Acceleration and Saint Blue
I listened to Armonia's explanation while holding the sleeping Seong Sua in my arms.
Zodiac had been drowning in financial trouble from the moment I took this mission. They'd been scraping by day to day — until I snagged Viola from the hero and finally gave them room to breathe.
Room to breathe, though. Not enough to pull the oxygen mask off just yet.
The real problem was that I was the reason Zodiac's Enel production had hit a major snag.
Huh? What did I do?
It is not that you did anything directly, Suho. Do you recall that the time-acceleration system is currently in operation?
Yeah. The other worlds are still running slow right now.
The world I occupied ran at normal speed. Any world I temporarily left behind crawled along at 0.1x. I would have preferred not to use it — but I only had one body.
Zodiac had granted me the time-acceleration system so I could handle long-term missions without friction. The problem was that system itself…
Does using time acceleration burn Enel?
No. It is not consuming Enel. The problem is with production.
…Ah. Sutra?
Correct. Zodiac's finest Enel production site has been locked at 0.1x speed for far too long. They have filed a formal complaint.
Zodiac had treated the whole arrangement as an investment and let me run the time-acceleration system however I liked. Unfortunately, one of the places currently stuck at 0.1x was Sutra — and Sutra was the single most important Enel farm Zodiac owned. They could not afford to lose it.
Illunia Continent falling completely under Demon King Gardia's control had bought them some breathing room, but not every sentient being on Illunia was worshipping the Demon King yet.
The method for harvesting Enel from living beings was roughly the same as elevating a saint in a religion. The headmaster of Sutra was the textbook example. Every human in that world held Ludwig Lifenstein in fundamental reverence — something like taking every famous saint from my old world and rolling them into one man. Those feelings of faith and devotion were the engine that generated Enel from intelligent life.
And now that engine was running at 0.1x.
No wonder Zodiac was panicking. The problem was that there was nothing I could do about it.
It's not like I can just hop over to Sutra right now…
My schedule was past packed and into precarious. I still had to spend a stretch at the Hero Academy before heading to Yggdrasil, and carving out time to come back to the Academy afterward was already a stretch.
Zodiac, it turned out, had a solution for that exact problem.
Zodiac is aware of that as well. Which is why they have requested a different approach.
What kind of approach?
Not only deceleration — acceleration as well.
The time-acceleration system could push a world to 10x speed or drop it to 0.1x. Their proposal was simple: run the world I currently occupied at 10x, and lock every place I left behind at 0.1x. A hundredfold time differential.
I had judged that deceleration alone would be sufficient, but it appears Zodiac's circumstances have changed.
If the client wants it, we give it to them…
Armonia had been deliberately avoiding high-speed acceleration herself. Overuse the system enough and control could eventually tip to the other side. The only reason Zodiac could still throw time acceleration around freely was that they had spent years refusing to touch it — stubbornness, pride, and sheer spite holding the line. At least they weren't stupid enough to sit on an oxygen tank and wait for natural healing.
Further coordination will be required, but you should prepare yourself for a trip to Sutra in the near future.
Got it. If it matters, I'll go.
Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Luna in a long time… From her perspective it had only been about a week, but for me it had already been close to two months. The thought of seeing her again stirred something warm.
If this goes through, the time problem basically solves itself.
Yes. Once it is confirmed, I will brief you in detail.
Alright. I'm going to sleep.
I wish you a restful night.
It wasn't until Friday that Zodiac finally sent a concrete answer.
You will be able to travel to Sutra starting three weeks from now.
Got it. I'll keep that in mind on my end too.
Zodiac's plan was to accelerate time tenfold for both Sutra and the Hero Academy where I currently was. Everywhere I left vacant from that point on would be locked at 0.1x, and they would provide me free means of travel between them. Convenient all around — but it was still drawing future resources forward, so they made a point of asking me to give the mission everything I had.
Until I left for Sutra, life would continue as normal.
And the moment the time-acceleration issue was settled, the field trip arrangements locked in as well.
"We'll be taking the cadets on a field trip to the Church next Monday."
"Understood."
I received the cadet roster, and luckily there was one name I recognized.
Song Ara.
At least one kid who actually listened was confirmed. That was a relief.
"Once classes wrap up today, we'll also meet separately with the Recovery Department escort."
"The Recovery Department escort?"
First I'd heard of it. I'd been under the impression that one assistant instructor was responsible for six cadets.
"Because the destination is the Church, they ordered us to attach one person from the Recovery Department."
"The Recovery Department, huh…"
"Come to think of it, you've never actually met anyone from Recovery, have you?"
I might have passed one in a hallway by accident, but I had no memory of ever knowingly seeing a Recovery Department member.
"You're right. Now that I think about it, they don't even show up at faculty meetings. I've never seen them."
"That's just how Recovery is. They kind of… operate on their own. The Church manages them directly, so the Academy treats them as Church personnel."
The Recovery Department — instructors, assistant instructors, security, even internal staff — was entirely under Church administration. Recovery security was a completely separate department from Academy security. The manual even said not to bother worrying about them.
Right. Their whole sector is marked as off-limits for security deployment, isn't it?
Correct.
Getting a look at Cho Kang-hyun's face is going to be a real pain…
"Anyway… tough it out for about two weeks. The Knight Department kids have solid discipline, so they'll move sharp. The Magic Department kids are a bit flighty, so those might be harder…"
Cho Seohyun started subtly flexing her pride in the Knight Department. I smiled and asked,
"So do I meet the Recovery escort on Monday?"
"No. After afternoon classes today, head to the principal's office. You'll meet them there."
"Understood."
With that, I finished up the Knight Department class.
Lunchtime… the most awkward hour of the day.
"…"
"…"
Ever since Cho Seohyun had started inserting herself, the three of us had naturally fallen into eating together. Seong Sua had every reason to find Seohyun's presence uncomfortable, yet she refused to back down even an inch — sharing all three meals a day with me.
Honestly, eating with both of them wasn't something I disliked. I could just coast through and get it over with. The problem was the relationship between the two of them.
I need to do something about this…
This is clearly not a healthy development.
But nothing useful came to mind. I couldn't exactly announce that I was eating alone from now on…
Then, mid-spoonful, my eyes caught someone loading food onto a tray.
That's it. That guy!
…?
I carefully opened my mouth to Cho Seohyun and Seong Sua.
"Ah — starting tomorrow, I think I should eat lunch separately."
"What!? Why!?"
"W-what for…"
Cho Seohyun's shout drew every eye in the cafeteria, and Seong Sua's flustered expression only fed the curiosity. Mistake. I should have brought it up later…
Off in the distance, the guy who'd been loading rice onto his tray spotted me, clapped a hand over his face in panic, and bolted. The effort to stay out of my line of sight was painfully obvious.
Even his running away is twitchy…
I watched Go Chungshin flee, then turned back to Seong Sua and Cho Seohyun. I waited until the surrounding stares finally drifted away before speaking again.
"I'm working as a manager. I figure I should at least share a meal with the security staff now and then."
"You don't have to go that far…"
"Right. Wouldn't that just make them uncomfortable?"
For the record, this table is already uncomfortable for me…
I swallowed the complaint and did my best to persuade them. Mealtime was just one piece of the workday, and more importantly, I framed it as my fault and apologized.
"I feel like I've been making things awkward for both of you."
"That's not…"
"It's not like that…"
Neither of them pushed back hard. There was something they felt guilty about. Pride contests look ridiculous from the outside, but to the people in them they're life-and-death. Lose one and humiliation coats you from head to toe. What Cho Seohyun and Seong Sua were doing was less a fight over love and more a pure battle of wills — and that did me no good at all.
But right now I had to push hard. Especially since a usable excuse had just presented itself. The opportunity was here.
The awkward lunch finally ended. Cho Seohyun shot me a wounded look and retreated to the Knight Department faculty office, while I headed to the Magic Department classroom with Seong Sua.
She kept glancing at my face and started apologizing.
"I'm sorry… I made things uncomfortable for no reason…"
"No, it's not that. I really do think talking with the security staff matters. And more than anything…"
"…?"
"I felt bad seeing Instructor Seong Sua looking so uncomfortable."
"Ah…"
Seong Sua looked up at me with a soft, pleased smile.
There was only one play available to me.
Player strategy!
…
I felt a little bad for both of them, but I needed to bluff their moods up, then spin separate meal arrangements with carefully chosen words.
"Instructor Cho Seohyun doesn't come in the mornings, so let's eat breakfast just the two of us, nice and easy. I'll have dinner with Instructor Cho Seohyun. We're colleagues — I should look after that."
"You don't have to force yourself to eat with her if it's awkward…"
"It's work. And besides…"
"…?"
"We don't need to eat dinner together. We can still see each other at night."
"Ah! Th-that's true…"
Seong Sua caught my meaning immediately and smiled.
I used a similar line on Cho Seohyun.
"Yeah, she does get annoying sometimes."
"Haha…"
And Seohyun understood too. The key was to subtly take one side just enough to soothe her pride.
"…I was acting like a kid, wasn't I. Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one apologizing."
"…Hmph."
Cho Seohyun snorted — and smiled. Then something seemed to occur to her.
"Have you been to the principal's office before?"
"No. I figured talking to Instructor Cho Seohyun first was more important."
"Heh-heh…. G-go on, then."
Listening to Seohyun's peculiar little laugh, I headed for the principal's office. The tension between her and Seong Sua seemed to have eased for now. Lucky timing, too. Lunch was covered by the security-staff excuse. Mornings with Seong Sua, evenings with Cho Seohyun. Perfect balance.
The only downside was that I'd be leaving the Academy for a while.
That's a problem… leaving Go Chungshin alone feels like such a waste…
There was no telling what that guy would pull while I was gone. And besides…
Messing with him is just too much fun!
…
Honestly, the thought of not seeing him for two whole weeks was agony.
What am I going to do? I'm going to miss Chungshin so much!
…
I was seriously considering swinging by the Academy every weekend just to torment him when a brilliant idea struck.
…Would it hurt to just ask?
Ask about what, exactly?
Bringing a security guard along. That's something I can at least float, right?
Who was I? The security department manager. A man with more than enough authority to ask that kind of question.
"Hmm… not a bad idea, but…"
"I only brought it up because I thought it might help."
"…"
The principal drummed his thick fingers on the desk, turning my proposal over. The idea itself was simple: attach security personnel to this cadet field trip. Not a large detail — just a small number, enough to add a little extra safety for the students.
And the real point was trust. We'd hired a large batch of new guards recently. Having the assistant instructors observe them up close and confirm whether they were reliable people seemed like a solid secondary benefit. That was the angle I sold.
"There's a rumor that there may have been an insider among the previous security staff. This time, having assistant instructors watch them directly and verify who can be trusted seems worthwhile."
"Mm…"
The principal closed his eyes for a moment, then fixed me with a sharp look.
"Very well. Three people. Three per escort group."
"And the selection…?"
"Would you handle it?"
"Yes. I'll narrow the candidates and submit a roster."
"Hahaha… we hired the right man for security manager."
The principal laughed and gave me a glowing evaluation. Whether he meant it, I had no idea…
He was still smiling when he glanced at the clock and his expression turned awkward.
"Ah… the Recovery Department instructor is running late. Class must have gone long…"
Click.
Behind me, the door opened and a woman's hurried voice filled the principal's office.
"I'm so sorry!"
"Ah, there you are."
The principal looked past me with a bright smile. I didn't bother turning around — I waited for her to come to me. The presence of someone standing at my side registered, and the woman began apologizing to both the principal and me.
"I'm so sorry! The cadets had questions and I was answering them…"
"Haha, if anything, I should apologize for calling you too early."
"Ugh… I'm sorry."
Only then did I turn my head and look at her.
The woman apologizing in my direction.
"I'm sorry…"
"…"
I recognized her at a glance.
[Recovery] · [Kindness] · [Consideration] · [Dependent Personality]…
Saint Blue.