Academy of Turmoil (2)
As for Croissant of the Logran family, it wasn't as though she'd hated me because of Lily.
She'd simply picked a fight with me, pure and simple.
So there was no real need to stay tangled up in bad blood forever.
It was just a pain for me, that was all.
"Is that really any of my business?"
"P-please. I beg of you. Things are rather…"
Watching Croissant plead so desperately, it was clear she was in a hurry.
With something like this, you were supposed to play hard to get and drag it out.
That was how you got more out of the deal.
"And what exactly do I get out of it?"
"Whatever you desire, I will help you to the best of my ability."
Help to the best of a Logran young lady's ability, was it.
Then maybe I would toy with her a little.
"The Logran family is well-versed in magic, isn't it?"
I was sure she'd said as much last time.
Not that it had been of any use.
"Yes, Saintess."
"Well, first of all, from now on we'll standardize your name as Croissant."
"I have an actual name! Why would you—!"
When the Saintess said jump, you jumped.
"You don't like it? We're close enough that I want to call you by a nickname."
"Khh…"
A name didn't matter.
Looking at her appearance alone, she was a croissant and nothing else.
Anyway, I could put on a bit of a performance if I needed to.
"For now, what I want is this. What comes out of the Logran family's territory? Specialties, I mean."
"Excellent coffee beans."
I'd heard the Logran lands had deep ties to bread and coffee beans, which was why their desserts were so developed.
I could give them that much credit.
"So it's a place with good coffee, then. Bread and coffee—not a bad pairing."
"Then if I give you some beans, will you at least pretend we're on friendly terms?"
Please. What did she take me for? Treating me like some cheap bargain was not going to fly.
"Before that, lend me the oldest ancient text the Lograns possess."
"Yes. And… is there anything else?"
"Lick the top of my foot."
I crossed my legs and idly swung my right foot, smiling as if she were utterly beneath me.
Croissant's face twisted most satisfyingly.
"Lick your foot? That is a bit…"
"My, my. So a family whose shoestring has already snapped thinks it can stand on equal footing with me—an Ashtar princess, the Saintess, the Taesa, and a decorated veteran of the expedition?"
Could some random Attelina student possibly measure up to me? Of course not.
"Even so…"
"Even so? From my position, a Logran young lady is nothing more than something under my feet. Nothing about her could ever share the same seat as me."
I would throw my weight around a little, the way a villainess and a Saintess ought to.
No—as the Taesa. Even if it was only formal, I was the Emperor's teacher.
In other words, as the Emperor's teacher, I could throw a little power around.
"No, I mean… haah."
"Lick it."
I swung my foot alluringly.
Teasing her, provocatively, making a show of it.
Go on and lick it, Croissant.
"Do I look that easy to you?"
"Yes."
A magic family that took forever just to finish a single chant was bound to look easy. Wasn't that right?
If someone of her level wanted to speak with me, she ought to know how to lower herself first.
"Khhhh…! You're so annoying!"
"If you don't like it, you know what to do. Or would you rather have me, the Saintess, walk all that way on my own two feet? Then those feet deserve to know how to be licked."
In the end, Croissant of the Logran family licked the top of my foot.
Utterly wretchedly. Pitifully.
It was hilarious, watching her throw away a young lady's pride while her whole body trembled so pathetically.
"Then I'll drop by for a visit sometime."
"Thank you."
Of course I'd said "sometime." I never said when.
If it got too bothersome, I might not go at all.
"Well then. I never expected Croissant would take a culture class this seriously."
"Well… I'm of an age where I ought to start preparing for an engagement."
"Ah."
Fair enough. At her age, young ladies were normally supposed to be arranging engagements and preparing for marriage.
My situation was simply the exception.
"And for the moment, there's a policy that noble young ladies must set an example for the commoners."
"Noble young ladies?"
"Yes. Young ladies of named houses are expected to personally lead the commoner girls."
Leading the commoner girls now, of all times?
Was this also a policy for rooting out anti-imperialists?
Perhaps Croissant was about to become rather important.
"You're going to have a hard time ahead of you."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Just that a fairly rough life seems to be waiting for you."
From a noble young lady's standpoint, she would have to lead the commoners, after all. And among them, Croissant of a magic house would have to put in real work.
"Hearing that from you is a little frightening."
Of course it was. That was the point of saying it.
It still wasn't the stage to tell Croissant anything. Carelessly speaking up would only give the anti-imperialists room to hide, and that would be a problem.
"Perhaps we really will end up getting along."
If I was going to handle this side of things, cooperation would probably be necessary in the end.
Empire Church
When Attelina let out for the day, Bernoa entered the church dressed in Olivia's Saintess robes.
Thinking about it, it had been a very long time since Bernoa last set foot in a church.
"Damn it. That wretched bitch."
She had abandoned the Goddess long ago. Even if this was the Empire's rootless church, how could anyone send a demonkin into a church?
For all that she claimed to be That Person's granddaughter, she was vicious to the bone.
Running away even now seemed like a good idea, and yet for some reason defying Olivia was not easy.
"O-oh. S-Saintess. Y-you've finally come."
"Eek? Wh-what are you? Are you the P-Pope?"
Something that looked half like an undead had appeared.
"Yes. I am the Pope. Why do you look as if you've never seen me before?"
She really was seeing him for the first time, but if she was going to pretend to be that damned Olivia, she had to act like she knew him.
They hadn't been particularly close, and she was told they hadn't met often, so she probably didn't need to try that hard.
"So, Saintess. I've been thinking of abolishing the Goddess and founding a new religion."
"What kind of insane nonsense is that? There is only one Goddess!"
Even if she herself had betrayed the Goddess, she knew one thing for certain.
In this world there was only one Goddess.
There were only two divinities: the god slain by the Godslayers, and the Goddess said to have created the world.
Of those, the god killed by the Godslayers was treated as a demon god in some regions, so ordinarily only the Goddess was revered as a true deity.
"Didn't you once tell me to make a new one?"
Tell him to make a new one? What on earth was Olivia thinking?
Then again, dumping a Four Heavenly King here in the first place already meant she wasn't of sound mind.
"Ah… a-ah, yes. I did. But circumstances have changed."
"No, this time the angle is perfect."
"Angle?"
"Lately, every time I dream, a goddess appears and bestows trials upon me."
A goddess who bestowed trials?
On a man who looked as if he would never believe in holy power or gods to begin with?
"A goddess who bestows trials?"
"Indeed."
"What kind of goddess, exactly?"
What kind of goddess was this?
"She strips me naked and flogs me. I'd never experienced a trial like that in my life."
"…?"
An ordinary goddess would never do such a thing.
Even a goddess of a cult wouldn't go that far.
And even if something like that actually happened, it would be far closer to a demonkin's work.
"She told me I must look only upon her. If I don't, a greater trial awaits."
Look only upon her and it would be fine? Otherwise a greater trial?
She had never even heard of a god like that.
"She said if you believe only in that god, everything will be all right?"
"Yes. The poor will be saved, and only happiness and pleasure will remain."
No, that… that sounds exactly like a succubus, doesn't it?
She could see it now.
Something was hiding behind the Pope, quietly draining the man's vitality.
"Eeeek?"
Look at that nun staring at her in shock.
That wasn't a nun—it was a succubus. That damned Lord's granddaughter had actually put a succubus in the church.
She'd half suspected, but it was true.
It left her speechless.
The only madwoman in the world who would plant a succubus as a nun in a church was that granddaughter.
"Your Holiness. That nun over there…"
She pointed at the woman behind the Pope.
"Ah. My personal nun. Didn't you assign her to me?"
She had held out a last shred of hope, but Olivia really had done it.
In that case, there was nothing more to say.
"Is that so? Then please step aside. I have something to discuss with that girl."
"Ah. Y-yes, of course."
"Haa. I thought maybe, but there really is a succubus here."
That Olivia, for a Saintess, was remarkably skilled at blasphemy.
And this succubus hadn't even repented—she was openly tormenting the Pope in his dreams.
So Berna dragged the succubus out into the church's rear courtyard.
"B-Ber… Berna-nim?"
Yes. At least someone still recognized her.
"So you still know me."
She was dressed up like Olivia, and yet this one could tell.
All her subordinates in the Demon King's territory had died, and she had been dragged all the way to this far-off land. Meeting someone she knew was almost welcome.
"Of course. Our legion commander served under Berna-nim."
"Right. Olivia mentioned it, but I never thought there would actually be a succubus here."
"How did you even get here? Did you come to rescue me?"
Rescue her? What kind of nonsense was that.
"No. I got caught too."
"Ah."
What had this idiot been hoping for?
"In the first place I didn't even know you were locked up here. And even if I had, would there have been any reason to come save you?"
"That's true enough."
"Olivia is ridiculously strong."
"Now that you mention it, Berna-nim and the Saintess do look rather alike."
Ah. Hearing that put her in a strangely complicated mood.
"Anyway. What is all this nonsense? If you're not careful, the Empire's Church is going to turn into some bizarre religion that worships a succubus as a god."
"Oh. That doesn't sound so bad?"
What a lunatic.
True, if it stuck it to the Empire, that wouldn't be so bad either.
But that was only possible when Olivia wasn't around.
"And if Olivia gets angry later, can you handle it?"
"Ah… that's also true."
"Anyway. Tone it down from now on. Got it? I'll handle the matter of the Goddess myself."
"Yes, ma'am."
Yes. This was how it should have been from the start. Maybe it was even fortunate that Olivia had dragged her here.
At least now she could still put things back the way they were.
And yet…
Even if a fallen woman like her restored the Empire's Goddess Church, would it mean anything?
Ah, to hell with it. Still better than worshipping a succubus as a god.