Before She Was the Saint
"Just so you know, that doesn't make me scared, Senior Trisha."
"Hilde, Trisha, you two need to stop now. Especially Trisha—once your evaluation is over, why don't you go back to your class?"
The Saint and Trisha must not have been able to argue with Sevie, because they only shot Hilde a glare before quietly leaving. Today's assessment was meant to test control over divine power. If one teacher were to evaluate every student's ability alone, favoritism and oversights would inevitably weaken the distinction between them, so the teacher in charge of the advanced class sat side by side with Sevie behind the table.
A student who looked to be in the early teens activated her divine power by pressing a sphere of amplification identical to the one Hilde herself had first used when she arrived. The strength of her divine power was Rank 7. Her specialized area was the right arm. They checked her performance in Nova Movement. For students whose specialization was the arm, weighted objects of various masses had been laid out.
"Please choose the dumbbell with the weight written beside it and try lifting it. It's better to choose a weight you're confident about than one you can't even raise."
Taking Sevie's advice, the student selected the dumbbell marked 80 and gripped the handle with her right hand. Groaning, she managed to lift it up to around her navel before lowering it again. The two teachers wrote down the student's abilities and points that needed improvement on their paperwork.
As one student after another passed through and finished their evaluation, a smile spread across the face of the advanced-class teacher, who was seeing the beginner-class students' abilities for the first time during this assessment.
The students in this generation's beginner class are exceptional. The future of the Senium Church is in good hands.
As time went by, Hilde's turn finally arrived. The advanced-class teacher looked at her and furrowed his brow.
Is this the girl who requested a duel evaluation with one of our class? Unless she's hoping to learn a lesson from her senior, that's a reckless choice.
But the moment Hilde's evaluation began, his eyes widened. With divine power at Rank 4 and Nova Movement nearly mastered, Hilde displayed an incredible achievement unmatched by anyone her age. In particular, once a Holy Stigma manifested, the amount of divine power increased dramatically, and Trisha, who had received her Holy Stigma the previous year, possessed divine power only at Rank 3.
Trisha has the edge in raw power and Nova Movement, but this girl is a genius. This should be a good match.
"All right, everyone, you've worked hard. Please manage your condition well until the final evaluation, and I hope you all get good results. That concludes today's assessment."
Once the students had all left for their schools, the advanced-class teacher looked at Sevie and said, "This year's students are excellent. There are a few who really stand out."
"That's right. If there were just no big or small disturbances, it would be perfect."
The advanced-class teacher fell silent. But it wasn't his fault. The people who caused most of the disturbances were the Saint and Trisha, both members of the class he was responsible for. No matter how much of a teacher you were, it was difficult to control someone who held the rank of Saint.
"Let's hope there aren't any major problems."
Agatha, who happened to overhear the rumor that Hilde would be dueling a student from the advanced class, took Hilde to a deserted stretch of grass near the church the next day. Moreover, if Hilde was guarding the Saint, it was likely that her opponent would be among the upper ranks of the advanced class. Since Hilde had been showing a remarkable rise day by day, Agatha judged that it would be difficult for her to overcome both the gap in Holy Stigma and the five-year difference in age, so she decided to help her train personally for three days.
"Seeing my sweet daughter, who'd never even gotten into a fight, actually get angry... I guess that other girl must have really tormented you."
Agatha wore a simple priest's robe with a bit of fabric at the sleeves and legs. It was clothing that wouldn't interfere with free movement. It had been a long time since Agatha had been seen holding a sword.
"I only wanted to test my strength."
"Hmm... I see. Our daughter really doesn't have any peers her age who can match her."
Agatha felt a little bitter inside. Hilde probably didn't want to tell her that she had been bullied.
But the fact that the Saint had bullied Hilde was reported to Agatha that very same day. The reason Agatha hadn't intervened immediately was that Hilde herself didn't seem to mind, and hadn't asked for help; it wasn't something Agatha could simply decide on her own while Hilde was handling it well.
"It's a technique that's hard to learn in just two days, but even if you only get the knack of it, it'll help. Let me show you first."
Agatha glanced around and picked up a small stone. Then, with a little force, she threw it, and the stone rose about three meters into the air before arcing forward in a neat parabola.
The moment it reached its highest point, Agatha jumped straight up in place and rose to the same height. But she was still nowhere near the stone moving along its parabolic path.
Then came the change. The hem of Agatha's clothes and her hair fluttered lightly in midair as she moved quickly toward the stone's location. She caught it right in front of her and came back down. Hilde stared in shock at Agatha's astonishing ability. It looked exactly like levitating.
"Mother flew through the air!"
Seeing her daughter act with such childlike wonder for once, Agatha couldn't help smiling softly.
"I didn't fly. You can't use magic with divine power, remember? I simply moved the direction of the gravity acting on my body to another direction outside of me. And once you get more used to using it, you can even do this."
Agatha walked up to a large tree, placed one foot against the trunk, and then brought the other up as well. Defying the force dragging her downward, she walked along the trunk as if it were a road. It was almost magical to watch.
Agatha leapt down from the height she had climbed. It was a dangerous altitude, one that could easily have caused injury, but just before landing she used fine control to reduce her speed. She also showed that by sprinting forward and jumping, then shifting sideways or backward in midair. To Hilde, it seemed to completely deny the physical laws she knew.
"It's hard to keep yourself floating in the air all the time, but you can instantly redirect the gravity acting on you to the outside and use that to move faster, or to change direction in unusual ways. The technical term is Outer Gravity Shift. If you use it well, you can move as quickly as a swordsman empowered by mana, and even step freely in midair."
The possibilities were endless. If mastered, it could produce movement entirely unlike anything else, both in speed and in unpredictability.
"I want to learn right now. How do I do it? Let's start immediately!"
Hilde forgot all about the test two days away and looked up at Agatha with shining eyes. Unable to resist that level of cuteness, Agatha reached out and gently ruffled Hilde's hair.
"As I said before, it's not a technique you can learn in two days. I was originally going to teach you when you moved up to the advanced class. For now, I'll teach you slowly, so follow along carefully. First, the opening of divine power is step one."
At Agatha's words, Hilde released her divine power. A blue radiance shimmered in her eyes.
"Since your specialization is in the eyes, it'll be easier for you to learn. Spread your divine power evenly throughout your whole body."
Hilde, who had been practicing steadily all along, performed this perfectly. Agatha was impressed by how well she followed.
"You've already gone far beyond beginner-class level, Hilde. Now for the final step. Keep your body as it is, don't change the form of the divine power, and push it forward. If you can do that, you'll succeed."
And then three hours passed.
Even after hearing every tip, Hilde kept getting stuck at the final step. Agatha gave her no further hints, nor did she rush her. In truth, Outer Gravity Shift was the end point of all divine-power control. There were plenty of high-ranking holy knights who had trained for more than thirty years and still couldn't use it. It wasn't the sort of technique one could learn overnight.
Hilde felt the difficulty of moving divine power, which she had always treated like an extension of her own limbs, by a different method. Lost in thought, she realized that what Agatha was asking was not literally to release the divine power inside her body outward. Holy knights fought in close combat by activating the divine power within them, so if they let it out at the wrong moment in battle, they would lose strength and fall into grave danger. Then a realization pierced Hilde's mind.
The way priests release divine power is different. What matters is the will to send out divine power in the same shape as the body.
The phenomenon produced by trying to move the internal form of divine power outward while keeping it intact. The direction of the divine power, the very foundation of a holy knight's strength, shifted under heavy vibration, and that redirection of force was the essence of Outer Gravity Shift.
Having grasped the idea, Hilde bounced lightly in place. For the first time in three hours, she jumped straight up—and rose to 150 centimeters. The instant she reached the highest point, she forced the shape of the divine power to stay fixed and pushed it forward with all her strength. The divine power began to tremble faintly. Her body wasn't truly shaking, but Hilde had the distinct sensation that every inch of her was quivering. It didn't take long for her to fall back down from the apex and land again.
For a moment, Agatha's eyes trembled in disbelief. Even Agatha, who had lived through every conceivable hardship in her life, felt a shiver run through her body.
At a glance, it might have seemed as though Hilde had simply jumped in place. But anyone who looked closely would have understood. From the spot where she first jumped, Hilde had moved a total of ten centimeters through the air. Against all expectations, she had succeeded in Outer Gravity Shift on her very first try.
"Mother, did I succeed this time? I think I got the hang of it, but I'm not sure if I did it right."
Still uncertain, Hilde scratched her beautiful hair.