Noble Birth
What Hilde saw after taking the gate was deeply unfamiliar.
Agatha and the Hero Party, who had always stood on her side and fought at her back, were facing her tensely, their every nerve fixed on her.
The garden’s carefully tended plants had been sliced and uprooted in every direction, a clear sign of just how frantic the battle had been. A mountain so enormous it looked as though a giant had swallowed it whole had been gouged open, too.
Watching the magic power surging through her own body, Hilde more or less pieced together what had happened. The demonic energy she had absorbed in Makyeong had melted into her body and gone dormant, and Kamiel, briefly possessing her, must have used it to unleash that overwhelming display of power.
That Kamiel, an angel, could handle demonic energy was not strange at all. It, too, was an efficient source of power. Unlike mana, which had to be cultivated through mental discipline or physical training before it could truly be assimilated, demonic energy came from a natural source of its own, so it was hardly surprising that Kamiel, with her keen insight, had mastered it so easily.
The Hero Party had been thrown into a brief lull after the terrifying force Hilde had shown suddenly stopped. One blow had been enough to promise the party’s complete annihilation, leaving their limbs numb and cold with dread. The worst part was that the energy she gave off didn’t seem to have diminished at all. It was utterly hopeless.
As they strained their attention, unable to know when the next attack might come, the saintess met Hilde’s eyes. Seeing the changed light in them, she grasped at hope and asked,
“...Hilde? You’re back to your senses?”
Even now, the saintess wasn’t certain. The Hilde she knew from everyday life felt different somehow, and that unease remained. Even if she couldn’t distinguish the Hero, Lee Yu-seong, or the mage, Edan, by subtle changes in expression while they traveled together as the Hero Party, she knew Hilde well.
Agatha and Irene, who had spent long years beside Hilde and shared a bond deep enough to understand her, knew her even better. She usually wore a sullen expression, but whenever she looked at them, warmth always lived in her gaze. Yet now, though that terrifying look that had attacked them with deep hatred was gone, it still felt as if something distinctly human had vanished from her.
The black wings and the ominous halo still hovering above her head only reinforced the Hero Party’s fear. She looked like some unknown existence that human strength could never hope to resist.
Seeing their faces, Hilde lowered her brows slightly and gave them an apologetic look.
“Mm... I’m sorry I put everyone through that. I got carried away and shouldn’t have gone to the duke like that on my own.”
At Hilde’s self-mocking tone, everyone finally relaxed. Lee Yu-seong groaned and flopped over, while Edan canceled the spell he had been preparing. Though not much time had passed, he felt as though he’d been awake for two straight days.
The saintess ran to Hilde. Now that she saw her properly up close, she knew it was the Hilde she remembered. She hugged her tightly and buried her face against her chest.
“I’m glad you’re back. But honestly, I was really scared.”
Her voice trembled a little.
“What scared me most was the thought that you might never come back.”
Even at the instant death had been aimed at her throat, the saintess had been more worried about Hilde than herself. Even if Hilde had come to her senses after killing her, the guilt she would have to carry would have hurt like a knife in the saintess’s heart.
Hilde looked over the people gathered here. Though they must have struggled desperately against an angel, not a single one of them seemed to have a serious injury.
“Luckily, everyone’s fine. Sir Agatha arrived just in time and protected you all.”
The Hero Party had been stunned by Agatha’s strength. Her speed and technique, almost equal to Hilde’s, were nothing short of astonishing. Agatha had noticed Hilde’s position during the battle, rushed over in one breath, and diverted the demonic sword by a hair. She would have been more than worthy of joining the Hero Party herself.
“Still, I’m glad everyone’s safe. What happened with the duke?”
Agatha calmly slid her sword back into its scabbard. Yet relief had clearly softened her expression.
Hilde felt a little embarrassed that she had so easily fallen for such a scheme. No matter how strong one’s personal power might be, one had to remain vigilant at all times.
So she explained everything to them, step by step.
How she had separated from the others for a moment, left the banquet hall, gone underground, and then drunk the tea the duke had prepared and collapsed.
As she explained how her mind had grown hazy from the tea, and how she had come to be fitted with Souls’ Cry, the mythic item, even Agatha, who rarely showed emotion, clenched her fist so hard that a vein throbbed at her temple.
“The duke has lost his mind. To think he would dare commit such a thing.”
Edan shook his head. Using Souls’ Cry on a person was a grave crime punishable by the harshest sentence under international law. If Hilde had not been able to resist the mythic item, she would have spent the rest of her life as the duke’s puppet.
Watching the others worry over her made Hilde feel strangely good. Then she idly fingered the transparent Souls’ Cry around her neck. In response, its gray, restraint-like shape revealed itself. The saintess’s eyes went wide, and she reached out, trying with all her strength to pry apart the seam.
“Ugh, this horrible thing. Something this sinister should just disappear. Why won’t it come off?”
Even with force, Souls’ Cry would not budge. From what Hilde had said, the duke must already have been buried underground, so the item had likely exhausted its power as well.
As everyone fretted, Hilde told them the little she knew.
“Don’t worry. I think it’ll come off easily once I remove it.”
“Then take it off right now. Why are you still wearing it?”
“Even if I didn’t do it on purpose, that doesn’t change the fact that I caused a disturbance in the middle of the capital. I should at least keep some evidence to explain myself.”
At Hilde’s words, they nodded. If the royal family ever investigated this incident, leaving evidence like this behind would be a tremendous help. Even if she claimed that an angel had possessed her body and fought for her, it would be difficult to expect anyone to believe that.
“But why are Hilde-nim’s wings still attached?”
Lee Yu-seong, who had been lying quietly and resting after losing his strength, barely managed to prop up his upper body. Just looking at those wings still brimming with power felt ominous.
“Ah, that... you’ll understand if you see it later.”
Hilde smiled mischievously. At that expression, Lee Yu-seong’s face reddened for reasons utterly out of step with the situation.
Drawing in her power wasn’t difficult. But forming the wings again—those vessels that allowed her to amplify that power once more—was still beyond her. For now, the situation itself had to be stabilized first.
Hilde pointed toward the sky with her index finger. Everyone looked up in confusion. It was an ordinary night sky, calm and black and strewn with stars.
But a moment later, when they noticed the object in the heavens, everyone’s eyes went wide.
“Huh! What is that? Is an asteroid falling right now?”
The saintess gasped in shock, and Edan’s face went white as he answered.
“That’s... a meteor fall. It’s a grand spell so powerful that even a gathering of archmages can only cast it about once a year.”
“If it’s you, Edan, you can stop it, right? You’re a mage.”
Edan solemnly shook his head. It was not the kind of thing that could be blocked with spatial distortion or a barrier. A spell that summoned an asteroid from as near as outer space and smashed it down was amplified by gravity and mass, making it far more powerful than the mana required to cast it would suggest. The countless soldiers who had advanced to stop Hilde had looked up at the sky and screamed. The nobles and commoners in the capital who noticed it turned equally pale, trembling with fear.
No one had ever experienced it, but everyone knew the truth. It was a catastrophe of gigantic proportions.
“The kingdom of Marinella itself could vanish, not just us. The royal family has made a huge decision for the sake of the continent. It seems the kingdom doesn’t trust us.”
When Edan spoke quietly, everyone was left adrift. If Edan, who could use teleportation, abandoned them and fled alone, he might barely escape—but he didn’t. It wasn’t only because he thought there was no point in surviving alone. There was another reason.
To stop that, we’d need either the great magic array of the Scotty Mage Tower or the ancient magic array used by the Empire. But...
Edan looked at Hilde. Suddenly, laughter burst out of him. The thought that came to him was absurd.
“Heh. I suppose Hilde-nim can deal with this situation, then?”
As the asteroid drew closer, it became clearly visible to the naked eye. Everyone looked at Hilde, and she nodded. If they dragged this out any longer, the friction between the atmosphere and the asteroid might cause enormous damage even before impact. Watching the asteroid cut through the sky as though it were tearing the air apart, Hilde dredged up and revived the clearest memory she had ever dreamed within the deep world.
The goddess of old had moved the stars and stirred up meteor showers. It was a work created by the mind of the goddess, spread wide across the cosmos. She could not yet reach that level, but if she adapted it and amplified her power with the wings Kamiel had created, she could control the orbit of an asteroid within her range of sight. She had learned the trick from the technique Agatha taught her, the one that used divine power to create a form of external gravity.
Hilde extended two fingers, turned her palm upward, and slowly lifted her hand. The meteor, which had been charging forward at ferocious speed, began to slow, and then, against all reason, rose upward instead. Scorched by friction in the atmosphere so that it looked like a lump of lava, the asteroid defied gravity and climbed higher and higher, until at last it vanished beyond sight.
The power that could have destroyed a nation was returned, almost absurdly, to nothing.
“Hilde... you’re really incredible.”
At the saintess’s murmur, the others, still dazed, agreed. What sort of human could possibly command such a phenomenon? Even if that tremendous angel had blocked the meteor, she would have had to destroy it by directly unleashing her power—but to turn the meteor aside instead, to make it return, was an unknown force that no being should be able to handle.
“We’re really going to live now. I don’t think I’ll be surprised by anything else, no matter what shows up.”
Lee Yu-seong said with relief. The savage asteroid had vanished from the night sky, and the chaotic uproar people had made had also begun to subside. Some even thought the whole thing had been an event arranged to celebrate a military triumph.
Suddenly, Agatha recalled the contents of an ancient text she had once glimpsed as a saintess candidate while watching the asteroid being turned back. It said that the goddess who had existed in ancient times could move not only asteroids but distant stars, and could even summon day and night at will.
Seeing the abilities of the daughter she had raised, Agatha felt a faint, ominous unease. A vague sense that Hilde was becoming a little distant from her. It was a sad feeling.
But that feeling vanished at once.
Hilde, having withdrawn her wings and halo, was lifted up and caught in Agatha’s arms.
“Thank you, Mother. If you hadn’t come, I really would have made a terrible mistake. I keep getting help from you, and I’m always the one causing trouble.”
While she had been in the deep world, Hilde had vaguely sensed Agatha’s presence. Thanks to that, with her mind awakened just enough, she had been able to realize the moment Kamiel tried to seize control of her body and kill Irene. She had managed to seize a sliver of control herself and open a tiny gap. Hilde was deeply grateful to her mother for using that gap to rescue the saintess.
Agatha looked at her daughter, the corners of her eyes folding as she smiled. That fleeting, unclean feeling she had experienced a moment ago vanished without a trace. No matter what anyone said, Hilde was her daughter.
“It’s only natural for a mother to help her child.”
Even though her body had grown, in Agatha’s eyes Hilde still overlapped with the newborn baby she had first held in her arms.