The Messy Saint's Stubborn Ways
The two-day journey to Lancaster City by carriage passed without a hitch. After safely completing the first day, we pulled over for a short rest.
At the simple waystation between relay stations, we let the horses rest and had the coachman doze to recharge his strength. And then we...
“Saintess-nim, please let go of this!”
“Why keep trying to head somewhere, Saintess-nim?”
“Going to see the Hero, is that it?”
“This troublesome cat... just stay put already!”
We were engaged in pointless arguing.
...But why was the Saintess constantly calling Cloe “that cat”?
Cloe might be cat-like, but calling someone that way out of the blue isn’t something you’d say to a woman you don’t particularly like, right?
“Then the Saintess-nim should come over to the Hero instead!”
“...Hm?”
“Why not? You can’t do that? Then I’ll be going. Take care~♡”
“...Stay right here.”
...That hurts. If I pull, I’ll just yank her by the nape of the neck again.
Since it apparently hurt quite a bit, Cloe sniffled and yapped at the Saintess.
“You violent Saintess!”
...I could almost guess why the Saintess called her a cat. That angry expression really did look cat-like.
“Violent? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I only grabbed Cloe.”
“Then grab somewhere else!!!”
Given the two women’s bickering, I worried the coachman might wake up any second.
“...You two. The coachman might wake up. Quietly.”
“...Yes.”
“And Saintess-nim, don’t grab the nape of the neck. It’s pretty painful from the receiving end.”
“...Hmph.”
The Saintess turned her head sharply.
...Why the sulk? The sulking Saintess leaned slightly against the carriage wall with her head turned away from me.
“Rest well, everyone.”
“Yes, Hero.”
“...Rest well.”
...Even when sulking, she still greets us.
♫
THUD!
“Ouch!”
The carriage suddenly stopped, slamming my head hard against the ceiling.
Damn it, it really hurt. Like hell.
“Fufu♡ Hero-nim, a horn is sprouting from your head~♡ It looks like a rhinoceros, fufu♡”
“Then look away, please, and treat it... or something.”
“Just kidding~♡”
...But it really felt like I had a horn. The skin near my crown was slightly swollen.
“I really think a horn grew.”
“Eh?”
The Saintess, who had been smiling, suddenly looked surprised and reached out to me. After touching the spot near my crown, she let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s just a little bump. Don’t scare yourself.”
“Heal it for me.”
“Can’t.”
Stupid woman.
“By the way, why did the carriage stop?”
In response to Cloe’s question, the Saintess and I looked at each other. Both of us had the same look of “do you know too?”
...No one knew.
“... ...!”
“...! ... ...!”
Outside, it sounded like people were talking.
“It’s a bit noisy out there.”
“I’ll take a look.”
Peeking out the carriage window, I saw people blocking the road in front of the carriage. Men with beards so dense they looked like they never shaved, dressed in ragged, worn-out clothes.
And they...
“Get down and hand over everything you have! If you don’t want to die, khehe!”
They were spouting some tired old cliché I’d heard before.
This is...
It was the kind of clichéd crisis situation straight out of old novels—a gang of bandits attacking right in front of us.
...Author-nim, how stupid are you...
While I was marveling at my favorite author’s stupidity, Cloe—who had also peeked out like me—spoke up.
“Bandits. Judging by their looks, they might be ogres.”
“How do you know they’re ogres?”
“Those bushy beards, hair all over their arms, and dark skin. Definitely ogres.”
...That’s just speciesism.
Looking closely, I spotted a few men carrying sacks—probably for carrying herbs or wild vegetables they’d gathered. Yeah, they were definitely bandits.
“Then what do we do? I’ll go...”
“Hero-nim, subduing them is harder than killing people~. If a pathetic Hero like me accidentally kills someone in a flinch, it’s a disaster. Stay put~♡”
“Will the Saintess-nim do it?”
“I have no choice~♡ Instead of this pathetic Hero...”
“I’ll do it!”
The Saintess and I both looked at Cloe at the same time. The Saintess could have handled it easily, so why bother?
“If you leave it to the Saintess-nim, it’ll be resolved in no time.”
“Then I can show my usefulness so that even after graduation, the Hero will accept me!”
...Was that really the plan?
“It’s fine?”
“It’s fine! Besides, since you’re worried about me, it makes me feel good.”
Cloe gave me a sweet smile. I wonder why...
Anyway, it wasn’t bad to watch Cloe’s skills. Last time I saw her fight an ogre, she had melted its face in an instant...
And I was curious how a mage would handle this situation. What would Cloe do?
The ogres spotted Cloe getting down from the carriage and laughed.
“What’s this? A little brat?”
“Hey, brat! Go eat some mom’s milk first! Oh, and hand over everything you have, khehe!”
...Who laughs like that. It sounded like a troll’s laugh.
Cloe walked boldly up to the ogres and asked.
“One thing first. Do you guys have any intention of surrendering?”
“Surrender~? Hey, guys! This little girl says we should surrender. What do you think?”
“Kahaha! What a fun little brat! Boss, we probably need to teach her a proper lesson!”
“She’s pretty cute up close. Let’s grab her and sell her! She’ll probably fetch a good price.”
Do these bandits in this world do human trafficking? Scary. Terrifying.
“As expected, right? I was just asking out of courtesy.”
Cloe raised a finger and began drawing something in thin air with mana. And when I saw it, my eyes widened.
“...Eh?”
The thing Cloe was drawing in the air with mana was some characters I’d seen before. I didn’t know what they meant, but... it looked like Hanja?
“Saintess-nim, what is that?!”
“Rune characters. Special characters needed to use magic.”
“...Huh?”
“Rune characters. By the way, Cloe is amazing for writing runes without any aids. She’s no ordinary student of the Royal Magic Academy.”
...Runes? But aren’t they just Hanja?
“...It’s hard to just write runes?”
“Of course. Look at how complicated the shapes are. Hero-nim, does it look easy~? Ordinary active mages usually use wands or staves to write them.”
...Hanja has many strokes and is complex. There are also many Kanji combined into one. I guess the Hanja are set as the base for runes in this magic system...
Then, since Hanja form the foundation of magic here, could I write runes too?
I even went to Hanja academy classes in elementary school. Most of it is forgotten, but I still remembered a lot.
I’ll have to ask Cloe later.
“D-Damn it! Is this brat a mage?!”
“Shit, stop casting quickly!”
The ogres, seeing Cloe start drawing Hanja—er, runes—rushed to stop her.
But Cloe drew runes without hesitation, like a schoolteacher correcting homework, and the magic activated instantly.
“Binding Swamp!”
The ogres’ steps halted. They didn’t stop themselves—the ground beneath them turned into a swamp and pulled them down.
“U-ugh! Boss, my feet are gone!!”
“Snap out of it! It’s not gone, it’s sunk in! Calmly pull yourself out!”
“I’m not letting you out.”
As Cloe waved her hand down, the swampy ground spread out and grabbed all the ogres’ limbs. Then, as she waved her hand up, the swamp dropped the captured ogres to the ground.
“Ouch!”
“Gurgle! There was a mage...!”
O...
I honestly admired how a single spell had subdued the entire gang of ogres. She was truly elite. Not ordinary skill at all?
“Cloe is amazing. Even though she’s still a student, she has great skills.”
Clapping and praising her, the Saintess said.
“Hmph, maybe Cloe will be more useful than this pathetic Hero~♡”
“...Huh?”
“The Hero is worse than a young girl younger than him~♡ Fufu, pathetic♡ Weak♡”
Haha, damn woman. She’s consistent as ever today.
But I sensed something different about the Saintess. A look of dissatisfaction. Why was she glaring like that after she herself had said something so crappy?
...Irritating.
I lightly placed my hand on the Saintess’s forehead. She looked at my hand with curious eyes, and I simply pressed it to her forehead...
SMACK!
“Ouch!”
I slapped her.
“...H-Hero-nim?”
The Saintess stared at me with an incredibly flustered expression. That face of hers was actually kind of cute.
...It’s adorable up close too?
I smiled lightly at the Saintess, whose forehead was wrapped in my hand.
“That’s the price of sulking.”
“...Y-Yes?”
“You were sulking. Just now.”
Seeing me look at her with a displeased expression, the Saintess couldn’t say anything. If she had a conscience, she shouldn’t have started the fight first.
“Hero-nim, what should we do with these ogres?”
Cloe, who had returned to the carriage, asked me that. How long would the magic last?
“How long will this magic last?”
“It will continue until I release it.”
“Then leave it as is and head to the city to report to the guards. They’ll handle it.”
Saying that, I looked at the Saintess. She nodded in agreement. Still with her hand on her forehead.
...Did I hit her too hard?
♫
The coachman drove without stopping, thanking us for saving him from the ogres. Thanks to him, we arrived in Lancaster City about one or two hours earlier than scheduled.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Aww, it’s the other way around. I’m really grateful you saved us, kind people.”
We arrived at the relay station, got down from the carriage, said our farewells to the coachman, and stepped outside. The moment we left the relay station, we saw a bustling avenue with many people coming and going.
The avenue was filled with the cheerful noise of hawkers’ calls from countless stalls, people chatting happily, and the music of street performers.
It was similar to Habsburg City, but a completely different scene.
“This is...”
Lancaster City, then.