The Priest's Gaze
“……It’s fine.”
Ophelia answered carefully. It was a belated response to Kael’s apology, the one he had whispered while leaning against her. Their posture still looked like they were embracing, so just as his voice had reached her ear directly, her voice now brushed against his. It wasn’t intentional, but the way they were exchanging words in hushed tones so close to each other felt strangely intimate.
She had clearly meant to support him, yet the unexpected tension had frozen her body, leaving her unable to move an inch. Whether he knew of her state or not, Kael took a breath and tried to pull away from her. It seemed he wanted to walk on his own, but anyone could see he was utterly exhausted. Worried he might stumble again, Ophelia refused to let him go completely. Instead, she held onto his arm and supported him.
“I’m really okay.”
At Kael’s words, Ophelia put on a deliberately firm expression. She quietly steadied her breathing, not wanting to show how ragged it had become.
“After going through all the trouble of defeating that golem, it would be ridiculous to fall and get hurt.”
She made up a reason on the spot. Kael didn’t have any visible external injuries, but having completely exhausted his mana, he might as well have been wounded. Therefore, it was only right for her, who was still fine, to support him. Even if it had been any other student in trouble, she would have done the same.
Probably…….
“My lady……”
At that moment, Blair, who had followed them a bit late, called out to Ophelia. If someone needed to support Kael, Blair would have stepped forward without hesitation. When she had found the other students earlier and helped them take shelter before Kael arrived, she had done exactly that for the injured ones. But this time, Ophelia wanted to support Kael herself.
“Blair, I’ll leave Bridget to you.”
Conveniently, there was one more person who needed looking after. Just like during the previous group task on Moonlight Hill, Bridget had lost consciousness and fainted. Ophelia naturally entrusted her to Blair.
“Yes, my lady.”
Blair glanced briefly at Ophelia and Kael before turning toward the unconscious Bridget. With Haley’s help, she easily lifted the girl onto her back.
Ophelia watched them for a moment. At one point, her eyes met Haley’s. The red-haired girl wore a complicated expression, as if something about the situation made her uncomfortable. Considering how she had acted back at the campsite yesterday, Ophelia hadn’t expected her to stay quiet. Yet perhaps because they had received help, Haley remained surprisingly silent for now.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
At Kael’s prompt, Ophelia set her thoughts aside and began walking with him. For now, they needed to head to where the other students had been evacuated. Once there, they could either wait for the professors or start searching for an exit again.
After a few steps, she naturally draped his arm over her shoulder to better support his exhausted frame. Once again, she felt his weight pressing down on her. Though he looked small and frail on the outside, that weight was by no means light. He was someone with enough inner strength to throw himself into danger without hesitation to save others. Supporting him wasn’t difficult at all, yet for some strange reason, her breathing kept growing unsteady. It was because of her heart, which was pounding wildly in her chest.
“You’ll recover quickly once you drink a potion.”
Kael seemed to think she was struggling and looked apologetic.
“Then I’ll support you until you recover.”
She tried her best to sound composed. If she didn’t put in real effort, she feared her disheveled state would be noticed, and that made her nervous. At the same time, a part of her secretly wished this moment would last just a little longer.
How long had they been walking like that?
From the direction where the other students had been taken to safety, the murmur of voices could be heard.
“……!”
There were also shouts that sounded like people calling out to someone. The sounds echoed off the cave walls, making it hard to catch the exact words. Still, the voices didn’t seem to belong to the students they had found earlier.
“Could the professors have arrived?”
Blair’s face lit up with anticipation as she spoke in a delighted voice. Ophelia knew she should feel the same joy. After all, they had been dropped into this place without any warning, and now they could escape safely. Yet a small corner of her heart held onto a faint sense of regret. A selfish regret that no one else could know about. It was an emotion she had never felt before in her life.
“I’m really fine now.”
Kael stepped away from Ophelia. This time, she let him go without resistance. She no longer had any excuse to keep holding onto him.
“I came down here secretly. Please keep the fact that I was here a secret. I’m counting on you.”
Kael looked around at Ophelia and the rest of the group as he spoke. It seemed he really had finished the practical exercise and then snuck down here afterward. Earlier, in the heat of the moment, she hadn’t noticed, but now she saw that the evaluation bracelet he should have been wearing during the exercise was missing from his wrist. Even though he had already completed the task, he had come back in to rescue them.
But how exactly had he made it down here alone? The fact that the professors had only just arrived suggested that the first floor where the exercise had taken place and this underground area were quite far apart physically. Yet earlier, he had appeared before them far faster than the professors, as if it were nothing.
Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be time to ask him about it right now. He was already backing away, putting distance between them.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret.”
While Ophelia was lost in thought, Haley answered in her place.
“Ophelia! Blair!”
The echoes bouncing off the cave walls were gradually forming clearer words. It sounded like Professor Evelyn’s voice. They were coming from not too far away now.
Ophelia and everyone else turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
“See you later.”
Kael left a quick farewell and disappeared into the darkness. By the time Ophelia turned her head again, he was already gone.
A few days ago, after receiving a report from his subordinate, Saliass, a priest of the Cult, had gone to the Shadow Forest to investigate the scene himself. It was because of the death of the inquisitor named Roman. If it had been a simple death, there would have been no need for a priest like Saliass to get involved personally. However, he had received additional information that there was something unusual about the incident site.
The scene in the Shadow Forest was indeed intriguing. Clear traces remained of an overwhelmingly powerful spell that had swept through the area. Not a single fragment of Roman’s remains, presumed to have been caught in it, could be found. If they hadn’t discovered the throwing weapon he was known to favor still embedded in a tree, they might have thought he had simply vanished somewhere on his own instead of dying.
“Was this here from the beginning?”
Saliass found a completely shattered magic lantern at what appeared to be the spot where the massive explosion spell had first been cast.
“Yes, that’s correct. We left everything at the scene untouched.”
The apprentice priest following him answered diligently.
Saliass picked up a piece of the lantern. He possessed an innate talent for tracking traces left behind by others. The moment he held the fragment, the image of a red-haired girl dressed in the academy’s outdoor uniform appeared in his mind. Even the sight of her holding a staff was perfectly clear. Being able to see exactly what the last person to hold an object looked like was truly a heavenly gift.
“Just a kid.”
“Pardon?”
“A child already possessing this much skill.”
Saliass looked up at the devastated forest landscape and muttered to himself. This was truly a talent worth coveting. At that age, with this level of ability, her potential for growth was limitless. He immediately felt the desire to take the girl who had appeared in his mind under his wing.
After that, he began his investigation in earnest. Thanks to her distinctive appearance and outstanding magical prowess, it wasn’t difficult to identify the target as Haley, a first-year student in the upper class at Golden Academy.
However, instead of approaching her immediately, he decided to confirm whether the girl truly possessed such power. After all, it was possible someone else had been at the scene with her. The possibility that the broken lantern had simply been lying there unrelated to the incident couldn’t be completely ruled out.
So he chose to run a test first. Since causing a commotion inside the academy would be difficult, he waited for an external schedule. Conveniently, the first-years’ dungeon practical was coming up soon.
He had waited until Haley entered the ice cave dungeon and became separated, then trapped her on the third underground floor. Although some other students had been caught up in it, Saliass’s interest was focused solely on her. To see her unleash the same spell that had devastated the Shadow Forest once more, he had tamed an ice golem and ordered it to target only her. Fearing it might actually kill her, he commanded the golem to intimidate her to the brink of death without finishing her off.
And then.
KWANG—!
He witnessed with his own eyes the manifestation of a talent so unbelievable it defied belief.