Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Saint's Inner Thoughts Are Audible
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The nature of Divine Power, which enables the use of high-level holy magic, has long been a subject of intense debate.
Some scholars claim it is tied to one's faith. They argue that is why devout clergy and Saints can wield high-level holy magic.
Others say it is a gift bestowed upon humanity by the gods. A workaround used by the gods—or celestial beings, as they are sometimes called—who normally cannot directly influence this world.
"Hm? Are you curious about why I can use high-level holy magic?"
I, too, had been curious about this point, so I once asked Victoria, the Saint. Why is it that only Saints and high-ranking clergy can use divine magic that is inaccessible to ordinary people?
"To be honest, I do not particularly like the gods. To be precise, it's closer to hatred."
I will never forget the expression and tone she used at that moment; she radiated a displeasure that was the complete opposite of her reputation as a devout Saint.
"You see, I lived a rather desperate life in the past. To the point where I thought my own life was worthless, forced to sacrifice myself."
That was the first time Victoria spoke about her past. She usually avoided such topics, but it seemed that after spending so much time together, a sense of trust had developed.
The countless flowers blooming on her body visually demonstrated just how many miracles she had performed for others.
"So how can you say I can use holy magic and am filled with Divine Power? Hehe, you can be quite naive at times."
Covering her mouth with a hand while showing her wrist, Victoria spoke as if she found my question amusing.
"Lord Astal, this is what I like about you. Unlike others, you are not blinded by miracles; you look at me purely as the woman I am, not just as a Saint."
While making a comment that could have easily been misunderstood if heard out of context, Victoria hinted at the reason she could use holy magic.
"A secret about me that others don't know is that I live each day thinking it would be fine if I died at any moment. That's why I can maintain a demeanor so pure and devout."
Victoria introduced herself as a woman destined to die someday, subtly revealing that her time was limited.
I should have realized it then. It seems my lack of perceptiveness is something that will never be fixed.
"However, if there were an option for me not to be a Saint…"
Placing a finger on her chin and looking up at the sky in deep thought, Victoria eventually said something else.
"...This world would have become a more unfortunate and bleak place, wouldn't it? So I believe there was meaning in my sacrifices, at least for someone."
Victoria's eyes held a mix of resignation and sorrow, and I could read her expression as she forced a smile to brush it off.
"Hm? You promise that someday you will remove all the flowers blooming on my body and let me live an ordinary life?"
That's why I once made such a stubborn promise to Victoria.
Perhaps it was sheer stubbornness, born from my hatred of seeing someone die or be sacrificed before my eyes.
"What a delightful thing to say. To have the continent's mightiest mage make such a heartfelt promise leaves me at a loss for words…"
Stroking her platinum-blonde hair, Victoria giggled. Perhaps it was from that day onward that she secretly began to like me.
The Victoria who always showed me only devout and proper behavior began to play pranks and provoke me more and more after that day.
The twisted way of love from a Saint afraid of being abandoned.
"...The Flower Saint, Victoria Everhart. I shall joyfully await the day you save me."
Had I not been able to hear Victoria's inner thoughts, I might never have known her true feelings in a lifetime.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Confronting Victoria in the underground forbidden archive of the Holy Kingdom suddenly brought those past memories flooding back.
To go this far just to save her... Anyone who didn't know the situation could easily misunderstand that I have feelings for Victoria.
"Brother! Leave the small fry to me! Hurry and defeat that lich with your girlfriend!"
Paladin Wilhelm was a prime example. Wearing a satisfied smile as if he'd seen something good, the young boy pointed his sword at the skeletons.
"Hehe, he just called us lovers. That boy really does have a knack for reading the mood, you know."
"......"
Imagining how many months Victoria would tease me about this incident made my vision darken.
"...What we need right now is Divine Power strong enough to burn even the Lich's Life Vessel to ashes."
Lacking even the energy to refute, I placed a hand on my forehead and told Victoria what was needed.
Since the natural enemy of dark mages has always been clergy, she was the one who could turn this unfavorable situation around.
"Then wouldn't it be enough to use a miracle? One prayer to the Heavenly God and skeletons like those would..."
"I told you not to use miracles."
"...Understood. If it's my boyfriend's word, I shall gladly obey. No matter how coercive the command may be."
Victoria said this with a seemingly pleased expression. I didn't like the way her lips twitched strangely.
"If it's now, even if you tell me to wear a collar, crawl on all fours, and bark like a bitch, I'll do it...♡" Victoria's inner thoughts were becoming increasingly heavy and intense, to a degree I could hardly accept. I have no idea how deeply infatuated she's become over this incident.
'That's just being a pervert...'
I was growing more afraid of revealing to Victoria that I could hear her inner thoughts. She might scream for me to take out a hammer and erase her memories right then and there.
At that moment,
"The Saint of this generation, I see. If I recall correctly, the last one was a mute...?"
Leozark looked at Victoria with scorn and once again waved his staff in the air. He seemed to be preparing to mix dark magic and holy magic.
Mentioning the previous Saint suggested he had accessed information within the forbidden archive.
"Did you think I, a Lich, would not prepare for Divine Power? You underestimate me to an absurd degree."
Following Leozark's statement, a dark magic circle and a pure white one merged into one, giving birth to yet another new spell.
"...Sacred Hunger. That thing is a glutton that devours Divine Power. Originally, it was a monster that fed on magical power, but it's been modified."
The creature that emerged resembled a zombie. It dragged its long tongue across the floor, drooling greedily as if craving something to consume.
"No matter how you try to combine magic and holy magic, you cannot harm me as long as that creature exists."
Leozark spoke with confidence, clicking his jawbone, but someone watching him rolled their neck with bravado.
"Thank you so much for revealing that weakness."
Thud—!
Victoria immediately grabbed a hammer and leaped forward. With each step she took, the ground shook and the very axis of the earth seemed to tilt.
"Wh-what...? Surely a Saint is not someone who engages in combat; they're supposed to be figures who stay in the rear, casting miracles or holy magic...!"
"I am different from other Saints. I am the lover of the famous Harmless Mage, Astal Caisaros... Shouldn't I have something special about me?"
"Thorns in the side that interfere with Lord Astal and my love must be eliminated quickly. That's the correct answer." Victoria spat out a chilling statement inwardly toward her opponent.
Piercing through the dust-filled whirlwind, she closed in on the Glutton at a speed that gave the opponent no time to cast another spell.
This battle currently favored Victoria. As a dragon hybrid, her raw strength was incomparably powerful.
This was precisely the blind spot Leozark, still stuck in antiquated thinking, had failed to anticipate.
"Astal, you said earlier we needed holy magic powerful enough to purify this area at once, correct?"
With a dull thud, the Glutton's head flew off, and Victoria signaled to me as she always did.
"We just need to imbue that with Divine Power?"
"Exactly."
While Victoria and Wilhelm had been buying time, I had been creating a massive block of ice in the air.
'Using a simplified version of the Supernova I saw last time, Meteor Strike, to condense magical power and create mass...'
Then, we just needed to overlay Victoria's holy magic on top of it.
If we did that, the surrounding area would be swept away by a massive explosion of Divine Power, and only the resurrected corpse, the Lich, would be severely injured or destroyed.
Including, of course, the nameless demon Leozark was summoning. The entity making low groans and glaring with massive eyes through the crack in the doorframe.
To eliminate a demon that seemed dangerous no matter how you looked at it if it entered the real world, I had to proceed without hesitation.
"Hold my hand for a moment. It's probably better if our magical circuits are connected..."
"Ah, yes. Understood. Of course. After all, I am your lover, no matter what anyone says."
The moment I took Victoria's hand, it became slick with sweat and began to grow slightly warm. She hadn't been like this even during the intense battle earlier.
"Kyaa, now I can really act like your lover as much as I want...! It hasn't even been a week, but if it's already like this, later we might really cross the line..." Victoria's inner thoughts were cheering, and I prayed for this moment to pass quickly as we began the incantation together.
"Our mother who bestowed the primordial light." "Now, as your servant earnestly pleads..." "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." ⟨ Light Fall ⟩
To make it easier for me to control the magical and Divine Power, Victoria synchronized our breathing and even managed the incredible feat of speaking the words at exactly the same timing.
It was something only Victoria and I, who had faced life and death together countless times, could do. Something no one else could.
Click, clack—!
"Bestow upon this impious one the hammer of light, the miracle that returns malevolent beings to their primordial form."
As the magic circles interlocked with a crisp sound, I even began to hallucinate that my heartbeat and Victoria's had merged into one.
A realization began to bloom deep within my chest: to combine different powers within a magic circle, our hearts had to be connected like this.
"Amen."
"Amen...!"
Thus, Victoria and I finished the prayer to the Heavenly God together, and the pre-formed ice meteor began to shimmer, imbued with light.
The magic born from merging Meteor Strike—a spell that condenses magical power to create and drop a meteor—with Light Saber—a holy magic that emits beams of light.
"...Light Fall."
Light Fall swept over the spot where Leozark stood, and an immense light erupted, beginning to dye my vision pure white.