Chapter 25
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 25: Crushed by the Disaster I Brought Upon Myself (5)
"Mr. Ethan, look at this!"
"What is this?"
"The Holy Sword grew by one stage!"
"....Yes?”
I looked at the Saintess proudly presenting the Holy Sword.
It wasn't a lie; the energy the Holy Sword emitted was more intense than before, and accordingly, the Saintess's divine power also became a level stronger.
Although it was still similar to or slightly lower than my level, whether it was the Holy Sword or the Saintess, it wouldn't be strange to be overtaken anytime if only an opportunity arose.
"How did you do it?"
"While learning Holy Magic this time, my understanding of divine power increased by a level!"
"Oh my god..."
Right... This was correct.
Originally, shouldn't the protagonist's growth be fed back quickly?
Realizing the necessity of Holy Magic after being miserably defeated by the Flesh Giant, she grows with Holy Magic as the catalyst.
This was something like the fate of the world.
I could feel the unfairness of life in real-time.
"If the Saintess gets stabbed by a sword from a student belonging to the Knight Department, you can just think 'what was bound to come has come'."
"Yes?"
"Who told you to grow strength so easily. Since it feels like my stomach is twisting, just get stabbed once and recover."
"That's too much!?"
"What's too much is the Saintess's talent. It's because it's me that I understand, but if you boast to other students, it will only feel like teasing."
"B... But Kyle or Asel from the Knight Department congratulated me...?"
"Gal!" (Note: A shout of scolding/correction)
In the first place, Kyle is the 6th Prince whom it's hard to find anyone above him in the Empire, and Asel is also a genius whom it's hard to find a match for even searching the entire academy in terms of talent.
What do those two people lack to be jealous of the Saintess.
They would have congratulated her enthusiastically to score points at times like this.
But to someone like me, that was no different from deception.
I'm struggling feeling a wall recently, but if someone suddenly comes and says 'I became strong in an instant', who would feel good.
Explaining this point, the Saintess's expression quickly became gloomy.
"I'm sorry... That is, I just... wanted to share happy things.."
The Saintess probably didn't have malice either.
She was just ignorant.
How much would she, who was an ordinary noble young lady just a few months ago, know about the ecology of martial artists.
I know she is sincere about the sword, but comparing her to real martial artists, her thinking was bound to be different.
"You just have to be careful from now on. Fortunately, since you only told friends close to the Saintess, things won't get bigger, right."
"Yees..."
I looked at the Saintess.
Although she gets me involved in all sorts of things, since she wasn't a person with bad nature, seeing her with a gloomy expression didn't make me feel very good.
"Shall we go eat dessert for a change of mood?"
"Re... Really!?"
"Why do you react like a person who hasn't even tried dessert?"
"I eat dessert when I want to, but this is the first time Mr. Ethan suggested doing something with me alone!"
Ah, was it that way.
Thinking about it, the Saintess's words were true.
Usually getting involved with the Saintess was mostly when everyone was together rather than when we were alone.
Whether with Male Lead Candidates or with the Knight Department training party including Kairin and Asel, there had been no cases of going to do something alone with the Saintess until now.
I'm not a Male Lead Candidate, why would I go play with the Saintess.
I just avoided her on my own because it would be tiring if more annoying things happened by getting involved with her.
However, since the warlock terrorized the academy, contact points with the Saintess increased, and the situation changed a bit.
Originally, people get close to those they see often; seeing the Saintess every day, I gradually came to consider her familiar.
If it were me when I first came to the academy, it would have been a change to be appalled at, but now that 3 months have passed, this daily life didn't become that special.
We headed to a nearby dessert shop.
Since dessert also falls within the category of gourmet restaurants, there were a few places marked by the club, so finding one wasn't difficult.
Entering the shop, we grabbed a private room to avoid unnecessary rumors and ordered a piece of cake and a drink each.
What the Saintess ordered was a safe fresh cream cake and black tea, and mine was cheesecake and coffee.
Perhaps because it was a dessert shop, the ordered food came quickly.
The Saintess and I cut the cake little by little and ate while conversing.
"How did Mr. Ethan decide to become a knight?"
"Because being a knight is one of the professions whose value doesn't change, like gold. Just in time, there was no one in the family trying to become a martial artist, so it was a not bad choice."
Unless guns are developed in this world, the value of a knight doesn't change.
No, even if guns are developed, it would take another century for knights to perish.
Because knights in this world aren't simply people who fight well after receiving knight training, but superhumans who strengthened their bodies through mana.
If hit by a gun, a knight would also be in danger, but unlike Earth, guns couldn't replace the position of all knights.
"You were calculative since you were young!"
"I will take it as a compliment."
"Then why was it a spear? Usually when talking about knights, don't people think of swords? Even in biographies of heroes or founding myths, they mainly use swords."
"That is why."
At my words, the Saintess tilted her head.
"Yes?"
"There are plenty of people who prefer swords even though swords can't beat spears. It means if I become a knight, there are many people I take advantage against compatibility-wise.”
“Woaah……”
The Saintess made an expression of being fed up.
This is why swordsmen are no good.
Isn't it because they fall into the romance of the sword and can't look at reality that they say things like the sword is the king of all weapons or the strongest weapon.
Knights are ultimately people who receive a high value in exchange for their lives.
To a knight, a weapon is a companion to be with for a lifetime and a partner responsible for one's life, so choosing which weapon was the most cautious thing in a knight's life.
To not understand such rational judgment, as expected of a swordsman.
Still, I could understand the Saintess.
Being given the best weapon in the worldview in the form of a sword, which is bound to the owner, grows on its own, and strengthens the owner if it becomes stronger; would one not become a swordsman?
If I were given something like that, I would have changed jobs to match the weapon too.
If given a sword, I would have become a swordsman, and if given a bow, I would have become an archer.
But I had nothing like that, and thinking it was better to aim for a niche market by becoming a spearman if I wanted to be a knight, I just grabbed a spear.
“Saintess, you should show such a reaction after putting down the Holy Sword first.”
“Ah… Sorry.”
“Actually it is fine.”
“Why?”
“Because no matter how strong the Saintess becomes in the future, you will meet stronger enemies.”
Unfortunately to the Saintess, the Holy Sword was a blessing but also a duty.
It would be easy to understand if thinking about the reason she first grabbed the Holy Sword.
She grabbed the Holy Sword in a situation where she was about to be sacrificed to warlocks in the first place.
Although she is doing well as a Saintess now, she didn't become a Saintess because she wanted to, nor will she fight in the future because she wants to.
Even so, she will have to fight against warlocks as a Saintess just for the reason of holding the Holy Sword.
The reason she becomes strong easily with a click of the Holy Sword while I work my ass off is also because the enemies she has to deal with are absurdly strong.
So although I envy her, I don't envy or dislike her.
“I do not get jealous of you. Because I train for myself alone. Looking a bit wider, I could include people around me, but people around me are all people who can support themselves sufficiently.”
“Are you saying I am not?”
“As I told you before, I think there is a clear reason why you became the Saintess. The group of warlocks that reappeared after hundreds of years openly declared war on the academy. So all swirls of fate that will happen in the future will revolve around the Saintess.”
The Saintess is a symbol of hope given to humanity by the Goddess and a sign of love.
Ultimately, the Saintess's existence has no choice but to become the light of the continent in itself.
Whether she wants it or not, she will become the eye of the typhoon in all incidents.
The fate of the continent must hang on the Saintess's shoulders.
Since that difference was too big compared to the small burden called my future hanging on my shoulders, I sincerely sympathized with her.
Hearing my words, the Saintess fell into thought.
I drank coffee quietly so as not to disturb her contemplation.
A moment later, the Saintess said.
“Mr. Ethan seems really smart.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, both the process of becoming a knight and thinking about my future.”
Well, aren't clichés of novels all similar?
Unless the author of the original work went crazy and drifted into tragedy making a massacre ending, the big flow is bound to be similar.
“I want to ask Mr. Ethan just one thing.”
“What is it?”
“If it is as Mr. Ethan says, I will fight more enemies and go through more things in the future, right?”
“Since the warlocks' conspiracy is just beginning, it will be so.”
“Will I be able to overcome them?”
It was an unexpected question to come from the Saintess who requested sparring with me every time and fought well against warlocks too.
While trying to grasp the intent thinking what kind of question this was suddenly, I happened to see her eyes.
Beautiful pink eyes reminding of pink diamonds.
Her soft and strong gaze that made that charm a level stronger was trembling in fear right now.
I felt something was wrong.