Chapter 197: Second Saintess (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 197: Second Saintess (5)
I was prepared, I really was.
But then these bastards—who were less "Dark Mages with swords" and more like "half-demons"—showed up right under my nose.
And it wasn't just one; there were several.
I stopped blaming the original author, who couldn't hear me anyway, a long time ago. I’d also long since given up on blaming the incompetent Goddess, who couldn't even strike me with divine punishment when I flipped her the bird.
…To be more precise, I was already cursing her out every single day, so there wasn't really any "blame" left to give.
Regardless, my rage toward the Goddess never truly lost its way.
Because there was a very clear target for it right in front of me.
"Uncle Aeryun, I’m deeply disappointed in you."
"I’ve been wronged, I tell you."
"What did I say the last time I told you that?"
"I know, I know. I’m saying this because I know."
Well, it was the same back then, too. Since we were both destined to hear the same things over and over, I decided to just let it go.
"First of all, fifty guys similar to the one that came for you went on a rampage," Aeryun said.
"That’s quite a lot."
"Yeah. Enough to drain our entire strength. They weren't strong enough to be unstoppable, but they were so damn hard to kill that we had no choice but to deal with them."
"It was the same on my end."
"For someone saying that, you didn't even leave a corpse behind."
"Divine power is quite formidable, you know."
"If divine power were that powerful across the board, Dark Mages and the Demon Tribe would’ve gone extinct by now. Why do you think they keep crawling back out every day?"
"The frequent appearance of Dark Mages—is the Empire not at fault?"
"You little…!"
It sounded like a clickbait headline from my past life, but this time, I was being serious.
"For real, though, don't they seem to be focusing exclusively on the Empire?"
By now, even the Academy students—especially the first-years who used to tremble in fear at the sight of a Dark Mage—had reached the point where they could size one up on sight. They either ran away or squared up to fight.
Next year, they’ll probably be just like us, dealing with Dark Mages like it’s a chore and lecturing the new first-years for being scared.
I know. We’re the weird ones. Out in the real world, a Dark Mage is still a rare sight. But when they do appear, they’re terrifying beings that cause massive incidents.
And yet, here they were, appearing constantly and consistently.
"……"
To someone who didn't know this was just "RoFan development," it would definitely look like the Empire had a serious problem.
Seeing Uncle Aeryun fall silent, I let out a small sigh.
"Anyway, please do better from now on."
"I’m sorry."
"I don't want an apology; I want to hear that it won't happen again."
"I’ll be sorry next time, too."
"Is this man for real?"
"You’re only saying that because you know they’ll break through again anyway! Even if I say it won't happen, you’re just going to say, 'I knew you’d say that and let them through again'!"
"Well, I was going to!"
Anyway, the incident was wrapped up like that.
The elite half-demons targeting Daisy were held off thanks to the tearful sacrifice of Magic Sword No. 17. Even those moving in the diversionary tactic were reportedly annihilated by Imperial agents, the Fire Spammers, and the RoFan Male Leads who were secretly watching over the RoFan Female Lead.
Just as things were about to end with the usual vibe…
"It was a diversion."
"We already know that."
"No, not that!"
One of Uncle Aeryun’s subordinates rushed in, blabbing something completely unexpected.
"Saintess Daisy wasn't their only target. They were also after the student Violet, who was recently rumored to have performed a miracle!"
It seemed our Boradori’s class had risen to the same level as Daisy’s in the eyes of the Demon Tribe.
Well, I did hear the explanation about the "collapse of probability due to sorcery." Even if he was sealed, she had summoned the true power of the Goddess to annihilate a Great Demon Tribe member who couldn't do a single thing against it.
According to Boradori, it was a miracle upon miracles, a fluke of flukes. She said the probability of succeeding again in the same environment was slim to none.
But conversely, that meant if a miracle occurred, the power of the Goddess could be summoned again. To the Demon Tribe, who find divine power to be literal poison, she must have been perceived as an existence that absolutely could not be left alive.
But I believed in Boradori. Our Boradori wouldn't have died without even receiving her year-end bonus.
…Come to think of it, she had so many cash advances that dying might not have been that much of a loss for her, but still.
She had her trump card, sorcery. No, wait, she used all of that during the Great Demon incident!
"Is she dead…?"
Just as I was starting to feel like it would be weirder if she hadn't died…
"Student Violet survived. Thanks to the child who was with her."
"What are you talking about?"
Uncle Aeryun frowned at the sudden mention of a "child," but I could pretty much guess what happened. The only child who would be next to the prickly Boradori was Delmoa.
And Delmoa’s original setting was the Saintess of the Evil God. In other words, she had a natural talent for receiving the power of a god.
Unlike now, she had talent comparable to the original Daisy—the pure supporter, the Saintess.
"The child used divine power. And it was… divine power on par with the Saintess herself."
And if it was our Wicked Goddess of Light, she wasn't the type of person—no, god—to leave someone like Delmoa alone.
*
Violet - This isn't what I planned.
I almost died.
I didn't even die during this period in the original work.
For a moment at the end, I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I really thought I was a goner.
My parents from my past life, my parents from this life, Daisy, the RoFan Male Leads, and even my boss…
Just as I was thinking that the faces toward the end weren't exactly people I wanted to see…
A light flashed.
Then, the Demon-kin I had barely managed to take down by scraping together sorcery and using expensive materials was finished off.
"Divine power?"
Demon-kin: corrupted humans who had accepted a part of the Demon Tribe into themselves.
They weren't something an ordinary demon could create; they were beings that could only be made by what you’d call "high-ranking" demons.
Because of that, they usually appeared as mid-bosses toward the end of the Academy arc to signal the danger of the Demon Tribe. After graduation, they became victims of power creep, treated like trash mobs similar to the current Dark Mages.
Because they had accepted the power of demons, they were incredibly hard to kill with universal forces like mana, but they were weak as hell against divine power.
Of course, that didn't mean they’d just drop dead from a passing priest’s attack. They were a plot device meant to make the RoFan Female Lead, Daisy, look good; if they just popped from any old divine power, how would the RoFan Female Lead make a living?
Naturally, it wasn't that divine power had no effect, but it was usually used in a supportive role to buff knights or mages. They weren't supposed to die from the divine power itself like that.
"……"
But what the hell?
He’s not getting back up.
I think he died instantly.
For a moment, I wondered if Daisy had sensed I was in danger and come to save me like a RoFan Male Lead.
"……"
But there was no RoFan Male Lead there, nor was there a RoFan Female Lead appearing like one.
Instead, there was a small child with an expressionless face.
However, having watched her for a long time, I was the only one who could tell that Delmoa was scowling in anger as she gathered light in her dainty hands.
"……?"
And she was firing it off quite naturally.
Seriously, what the fuck?
Did she awaken as the Saintess of the Evil God?
But if she were the Saintess of the Evil God, wasn't she described as using a wicked, purplish divine power that was almost black? I even remember seeing an illustration of Daisy, who uses brilliant light, fighting Delmoa, who fires purple lightning darker than the abyss.
So why was Delmoa firing light just like Daisy?
And why did Delmoa look more and more annoyed every time she used it, her scowl deepening?
"Delmoa!"
But that wasn't what was important right now. The moment the enemies realized Delmoa could deal them a fatal blow, their priorities shifted.
As if deciding to kill the small child first, eight Demon-kin began to rush toward her.
"Oh, come on!"
At that, I grabbed mana, magic materials, and sorcery components all in one hand.
With this, my bankruptcy for the year is confirmed.
I just hope the year-end bonus is huge… praying that Leon shows the grand generosity befitting a great nation, I used my original technique—a mix of magic and sorcery.
Its name: Time Acceleration.
It was a countermeasure I developed while researching my sword-maniac boss, designed for when I had to face a swordsman of his caliber.
First, I reinforce my body with sorcery. Even if I use sacrificial offerings, using sorcery directly on the body carries a risk of severe backlash, but I’d already seen my life flash before my eyes.
Better to suffer for a month or two than to die.
After reinforcing my body, I use magic and sorcery to distort the time around me.
Of course, I’m not actually distorting it. I’m just accelerating myself and using a curse to slow down the opponent, creating a sense of cognitive dissonance as if time itself were being manipulated.
To truly manipulate time, I’d need to accumulate sorcery for at least several years and use all sorts of high-grade sacrifices while putting my own life on the line.
It was a cheap trick.
But I had no choice; this damn Academy never gave me time to accumulate sorcery.
The vow I placed on myself—that the power of my sorcery is amplified by the amount of stored sorcery—meant that if I had no stored sorcery, the power would actually be lower as a debuff.
And as the price for spamming sorcery just to stay alive, the state of my sorcery power was already worse than my overdrawn bank account.
Damn this RoFan world.
My face is decent enough, so I don't see any future other than snagging a rich husband, but…
Grit.
I bit my lip, sucking hard on the flowing blood. Using sorcery and magic fueled by blood, I reinforced myself once more.
With this, it was confirmed that not only my lower body but also my upper body—and even my internal organs—would be twisted in pain later…
Well, I figured it would be fine as long as Daisy gave me a good heal. In that instant, I outran the swordsmen—Demon-kin who had presumably received power from the Sword Demon Clan—and managed to get behind Delmoa.
I picked up the startled Delmoa, who was about to fire divine power at me, and shouted with my eyes squeezed shut.
"Unleash your dreams, Delmoa!"
It was nonsense, but the time we spent together wasn't for nothing. Delmoa understood exactly what I wanted with uncanny precision and exploded her divine power, spraying it everywhere.
If Delmoa was a gun—specifically a magic machine gun capable of firing hundreds of rounds per second—then I was the gunner… or rather, more like a machine gun mount. I moved Delmoa around as she spun and fired beams of light.
As a result, the Demon-kin couldn't even get close before being brutally slaughtered.
"……Did we get them?"
Just in case, I cast a resurrection spell, but they were in such a state—riddled with holes from divine power bullets—that they wouldn't be coming back.
"Urgh…"
"……!"
Wait, no. Is it the time-honored tradition of the resurrection spell after all?
I was startled to see a Demon-kin, who was clearly a corpse, coughing up blood while still clinging to life.
"As expected… of the Goddess’s Proxy… Violet."
"……?"
But that wasn't as shocking as what the Demon-kin said next.
Holy shit, who is proxying for whom?
"To think that just by being near you… you could create another Saintess."
"No, wait…"
She was always a Saintess. She was your Saintess, not ours.
I had unintentionally pulled off a "Your Saintess is awesome" move, but anyway, her calling was always being a Saintess.
So.
"Accursed Proxy of the Goddess… He will soon step forth to kill you."
"No…!"
It’s not me! And who is "He"?!
Dammit, there are so many candidates I can't even guess who it is!
I tried to move urgently, but she must have misunderstood my movement.
"……"
With an even deeper scowl, Delmoa fired a beam of light, and the only Demon-kin who could have told me which bastard "He" was turned into ash the moment the wave of light hit him.
"……"
Fuck.
My life is ruined.