This Is Insane (3)
Honestly, Kena's fight didn't impress me much. I felt a spark of admiration for those fierce flames of his, but the problems that overshadowed them were far greater. I still couldn't understand why he'd refused the five-minute preparation time I'd offered.
Well, it's not really any of my business anyway.
The current Kena still hadn't shaken off his thug behavior. Until he got properly crushed by Mir in a student sparring match, I had no interest in getting involved with him. Frankly, if it weren't for the matters involving the Freya family, I wouldn't want to cross paths with him much even after that. After all, I'd never been particularly fond of the character Kena to begin with.
His injuries looked fairly severe, but the infirmary would fix him right up...
The Academy Infirmary's treatment was the best in the world. As long as you weren't dead, they'd somehow restore you to perfect condition—the number one mystery in that category. Knowing its reputation, I wasn't overly concerned about him.
...And besides, I didn't have the mental energy to spare on Kena right now.
Viiiiing—
Right on cue, a brilliant pillar of light descended toward Garein above the sparring arena. As time passed, the arena's interior increasingly resembled a ruined temple. This was the battlefield Mir had chosen herself. There, she moved with such fluid energy that the phrase "flying around" came to mind without the slightest exaggeration.
Boom. Crash. Bang.
It was a fight that went beyond dazzling—it was downright spectacular. As expected of the protagonist. Even without me controlling her directly, the level of combat was on a completely different plane from anything ordinary people could produce.
Asking me to worry about Kena while a battle like this unfolded right in front of me?
I can't do it.
In the early days, when I'd played Mir's body myself, I'd learned just how broken the Incarnation of Light truly was. After that, through PVP matches against the rare few who'd obtained it despite its abysmal probability, I was confident that almost no one in this world understood that power better than I did.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Swoosh.
"Haaaaat!"
Yet even in the face of such an incredible fight, there were those with harsh evaluations.
Those voices belonged to none other than Hoya and Cheonma. Listening to their commentary, I soon began to spot the awkward parts in her fighting style as well.
Viiiiing—
Mir had already formed two daggers of light and was engaged in extreme close-quarters combat. Her movements were certainly stealthy and fast, like an assassin's, yet somehow they still fell short of first-rate.
It's definitely impressive. Impressive... but what is it that's missing?
That lingering dissatisfaction came from—
Clang!
"Ugh!"
"Changing your attacks is a good idea, but switching from daggers to a spear was a miscalculation. If you're going to change weapons, remember the characteristics and advantages of the new one."
Daggers demanded closing the distance, while a spear required keeping it. Switching between the two right now was clearly a bad choice for Mir, who was already in close range. In short, it was a clear error.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Still, perhaps thanks to the special nature of her class, Mir's mistakes were quickly overlooked.
The light weapons she'd created afterward flew toward Garein on their own, following her will even without her touch. Even when an attack missed, they would explode and trigger a light-attribute blast. The power was considerable; that kind of strike would be fatal to undead enemies.
So the power can be used that way too.
Even so, my eyes still caught small imperfections. It didn't take long to realize why—I was unconsciously comparing her current fight to the other Incarnation of Light users I'd faced before.
"Do you wish to continue?"
"Huff... huff... N-no. I yield."
So this is the current limit of Mir's skill.
Comparing a girl who'd just entered the academy to one of the top-ranked players known for their strength... I really was an idiot. And looking at Garein's condition, it wasn't as if she hadn't fought seriously. The bruises, the burns from detonating those light weapons earlier, and the cuts that were still bleeding—all of them were Mir's doing.
At that level, she'd be stronger than Reglia.
Even considering the secret technique she'd shown at the end, Mir seemed slightly ahead. And judging from the movements she'd displayed in battle, her stats had to be considerable too. She might even have an all-30 build like I'd had at the start.
"Head to the infirmary immediately."
"Yes..."
Mir staggered out of the arena. At the same time, Cheonma and Hoya began sharing their impressions of the spar they'd just witnessed.
I flinched.
The moment Cheonma spoke, I couldn't help but start. Her words weren't far off the mark. This was a truth that only appeared in the latter half of the main scenario—that the power wielded by the Incarnation of Light was actually the Goddess's authority.
More precisely, it was a fragment of that authority, wasn't it?
Unlike Cheonma, the setting related to the Goddess had been revealed to us multiple times through various locations and events. And among that information were details connected to the Incarnation of Light.
Primordial Light and Primordial Darkness. The almighty authority possessed by the Goddess who had created the world. She had rooted the laws of the world in Primordial Light and held its balance together with Primordial Darkness. The power used by the Incarnation of Light was described in the story as a fragment of that Primordial Light.
Even if it was only a fragment, it was still a piece of the Goddess's authority that had established the laws of the world. Its effects existed on a completely different dimension from ordinary light attributes.
Considering its connection to the Goddess and its healing properties, it might actually be closer to holy power.
That was why Mir, following the official setting of the Incarnation of Light, stood in the same category as the Goddess's apostle—or the Hero commonly found in fantasy stories.
Sigh... I can already hear the sound of the temple people's eyes rolling back in their heads.
It might be fine for now, but if the temple discovered her power later, her position would be even higher than that of a Saintess.
Things are going to get really troublesome later.
It wasn't an issue yet, but there were scenarios involving the temple once in the second semester and again in the first semester of the second year. Aside from the infirmary and the headmaster, there were practically no places where one could deduce the connection between Mir's power and holy energy. And the woman running the infirmary didn't have a particularly good relationship with the temple, so she would likely cover up information about her. Or perhaps she might even deliberately conceal it.
Even if the second semester goes smoothly, the real problem is the first semester of the second year.
The lower-ranking clergy who appeared in the second semester could be dealt with, but the figure tied to the temple in the first semester of the second year was none other than the Saintess herself. She was more than capable of sensing something unusual the moment she saw Mir. Given her personality and the temple's position, she would undoubtedly try to pull Mir out of the academy by any means necessary.
Not a chance. Who do you think you're trying to take?
Considering the relationship between the empire and the temple, once Mir was taken to the temple, she would never return to the academy. Even if she wanted to come back, those around her would stop her. And what would that lead to? The start of a main scenario with no protagonist.
Of course, the tutorial had high freedom, so the story could still progress even if she dropped out midway. But just thinking about the damage that would occur in the process already gave me a headache. No matter how much I stepped forward, I couldn't possibly take on all of her roles. There were things only she could do. Therefore, I absolutely had to prevent her from going to the temple.
First, I need to divert that little Saintess's attention.
There was a strange rule that those who strongly wielded the power known as the Goddess's holy energy must never bow their heads. Because of it, neither the Pope nor the young Saintess would bow even to the emperor. No matter how many constellations of the night sky one possessed, they were still judged inferior to the Goddess's power.
That created one massive problem. The Saintess's mental age was far too low. Or rather, she was simply a child. The Saintess of this world wasn't the compassionate, warm-hearted, charming woman we usually imagined—she was an eleven-year-old brat who hadn't even properly developed her sense of reason yet.
Ah, she was eleven when she first appeared, so right now she must be ten.
A little kid half our age was being revered as the Saintess. Of course, true to her title, her abilities were monstrous despite her youth. Basic recovery powers were a given, and this generation's Saintess was so beloved by the Goddess that she could even summon angels—the guardians of heaven—as her servants.
Those damn pigeons annoy me more the more I think about them.
The angel summoning skill was, amusingly enough, a high-difficulty skill that could only be learned after the scenario by creating a character, becoming a devout believer, and praying to the Goddess alongside the Saintess. Still, its powerful effect meant many players brought it with them on their first PVP attempts. Because of that one skill, the black mage class that specialized in summoning undead had temporarily disappeared from the meta.
When I remembered how the bone dragon I'd spent over three months creating during my brief interest in black magic had been destroyed by three strikes from an angel... Ugh...!
A month's worth of effort per attack... It was so futile it felt empty.
Anyway, for now I need to make sure Mir doesn't catch the Saintess's eye.
Still, if Mir did end up in her sights and drew her interest... well, there was nothing I could do about it.
I guess I'll just have to take out a few of those pigeons.
I'd cut off the information before it could reach the temple. For the record, this was absolutely not because I held a grudge over getting beaten by those angels before. There's no way I'd do something like that, right?
Crack.
Yeah. Absolutely not.