Theology (2)
The body that had undergone Mana Fusion could freely alter the properties of various attributes. Since the body itself was essentially made of mana, I could change its properties at will to maximize the effects of any elemental magic I’d learned. The same applied to light.
A fun idea suddenly came to mind. At this point, there was no turning back anyway. If I was going to play the role of an arrogant, insolent villainess, I might as well blow up the theology department too. Besides, if I didn’t show off some kind of divine power here, I risked losing the “arrogant genius” title I’d built up so far.
“Hmm.”
To think that all that practice I did just to avoid being treated like a mage would end up being used to build the villainess’s reputation. Life really was unpredictable.
First, I altered the properties of the mana circuits inside my body to pure light. Then I walked over to the crystal orb and carefully infused it with light mana.
WHOOOOSH—!
Divine Light Emission
A massive burst of light slammed into the crystal orb and overflowed violently. I hadn’t controlled my strength properly. If this was what I could manage after holding back in this body, it meant my power was already on par with what Noah could do.
In an instant, the orb exploded with radiant light.
“!!”
“Is this sufficient?”
I asked with the classic villainess expression—an arrogant, mocking sneer. The woman’s eyes were sparkling like she’d just witnessed a miracle. Was she okay?
“Ooooh.”
Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her skull.
“Excuse me. Professor?”
“Ah. Y-yes! At this level… Y-you will become an exceptional Saintess! A truly outstanding Saintess!”
Why the sudden attitude change?
“An outstanding Saintess? What are you even—”
“Hmm?”
“Ooooh! Both daughters of House Ashtar are so incredibly talented! This must be the Goddess’s blessing!”
She was now staring at the ceiling and putting on a whole theatrical performance. Apparently she’d already forgotten how I’d provoked her earlier. Did she have the brain of an orc? Even orcs could remember things for more than three minutes.
“Wait, is that really what’s important right now?”
“Oh, Lady Olivia. You are destined to become the Empire’s great Saintess.”
Huh? What did I just hear?
“Pardon?”
The Empire wasn’t even allowed to have a Saintess. The right to choose the Hero and the Saintess belonged exclusively to the Kingdom. Even though the Empire was the greatest nation on the continent, the Kingdom’s longer history and greater legitimacy meant they held sole authority over that particular matter. That was why, even during the Empire’s wars of conquest, the Kingdom had been left untouched.
“I will contact you separately regarding this matter. That will be all for today!”
The professor said only what she wanted to say, arbitrarily ended the class, and disappeared.
“Hey, wait—fuck.”
So the theology class had blown up too, but the real problem came afterward. The rumor spread immediately.
Olivia Lapa Ashtar denied the Church in front of the theology professor and unleashed such powerful mana that even the professor fled in terror.
My original goal had been achieved, but somehow I ended up registered as an Imperial Saintess candidate.
“God damn it.”
“Congratulations!”
Plene was absolutely no help at all. Seriously, zero help. Why did this girl keep sticking to my side?
“This isn’t something to congratulate me for.”
That annoying mess was definitely not something worthy of respect.
“We had no idea! As expected, Lady Olivia truly is the hero of us commoner students!”
“What the—seriously, what the hell—”
The commoners, who had apparently been squeezed dry by the Church all this time, came flooding in after hearing the rumor. They begged for handshakes and applause in droves. Every curse word imaginable flew out of my mouth.
This wasn’t going to work. There was only one thing left to do.
“Sister, you’ve already taken so much from me. Are you really going to steal this from me too?”
The pink-haired girl spouted some nonsense that sounded like it came straight out of a tragic heroine novel. She was the one who had stolen the original Olivia’s place—what the hell was she talking about? And was it normal to want both the position of the Crown Prince’s fiancée and the title of Saintess on top of that?
Looking at Cyria, the Saintess position seemed easy and comfortable, but in reality it required rigorous training and was quite a difficult role. It wasn’t something a pink-haired idiot like her could handle.
“Get a grip. Do you really think you can hold both the Saintess position and the Crown Prince’s fiancée title at the same time?”
“And why couldn’t I?!”
“You think the Crown Prince would just sit back and watch?”
This was honestly ridiculous.
“So you really are after His Highness the Crown Prince!”
“I’d rather have a sincere debate about continental peace with a goblin than talk to you.”
Yeah, that would be far more constructive.
“Are there even goblins that intelligent?”
“Probably smarter than you.”
Logically speaking, goblins couldn’t possibly have better heads than this girl.
“I’m going to tell His Highness everything!”
“Go ahead.”
Let the Crown Prince or whoever come. This time it was going to be pretty tough for him. By now, Aslan was probably getting thoroughly chewed out. The noble students had believed in him, after all. And it wasn’t just the ones who had been held back. The third-years and even the first-year nobles who had connections to the imperial family might be starting to lose faith in him.
The Crown Prince who couldn’t protect the nobles from the villainess. Who would support or side with such a prince? The student council executives? If they were anything like those pathetic first-years, I could just force them to drop out and crush them all at once.
“Hic… J-just you wait! I will become the Saintess no matter what!”
The pink-haired girl said her piece and then stormed off, grumbling to herself. The Saintess position wasn’t even that important. But why was she so obsessed with stealing everything that belonged to her sister? Maybe I should look into it a bit more.
The diary definitely mentioned Lily, but there hadn’t been any particularly suspicious statements. Or maybe I had just overlooked them. No, why would anyone like a girl who didn’t even seem that smart? If they were serious, they all deserved to just kill themselves.
“I should find that diary first.”
There might be something I had missed. Since the theology professor had arbitrarily ended class, there was no reason for me to stay at the academy any longer. That pink-haired girl felt strangely off. Who knows—she might even be connected to the demons.
#
“Where the hell did it go?”
Back at the dormitory, I was searching for the notebook the previous Olivia had written in. I had thrown it aside, but I was sure I had left it somewhere visible. So where was it?
Maybe the uninvited guest lurking in the corner of the room had it. Sure enough, after searching for a while, the intruder approached me.
“Are you looking for this?”
Just as I suspected.
“Ah, yeah. That’s the one.”
I casually took the diary from her. But who was this woman? Ah, it was the maid who had looked at me with cold, contemptuous eyes when we first met. I had been too out of it back then to remember her face clearly, but this was definitely her.
“You seem to have quite the talent for writing.”
“Hmm. Do I?”
She was definitely mocking me.
“I am merely a maid. You, on the other hand, are the eldest daughter of House Ashtar, so—”
“You want me to speak casually? Fine.”
Even though I dropped the formal speech so easily, the maid’s expression didn’t change at all. But the way she was left speechless told me she was genuinely taken aback.
“If I may ask, Lady Olivia… why were you writing such things?”
“Such things?”
“I happened to pick it up while cleaning. It contained… passionate declarations of love and courtship directed at His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Ah, that’s not my story.”
It really wasn’t. It belonged to the original, bored Olivia. Not me.
“But the handwriting clearly—”
“Didn’t you say I had talent for writing? Are you really mocking the eldest daughter of House Ashtar?”
This maid was seriously going to get herself killed one day.
“That couldn’t possibly be the case. As the eldest daughter of House Ashtar, I was merely curious as one of the family’s servants.”
“Worried it might tarnish the family’s reputation?”
She remained completely expressionless. So that was it.
“That’s not incorrect. However, the mistress—”
“You mean my mother?”
The so-called mistress was apparently the former head of the Empire’s assassination guild. That was the information I’d picked up from various thugs. In truth, the assassination guild’s identity hadn’t been revealed that long ago. It only came to light after my mother, Katarina, married my father.
“Yes. She is quite concerned. Especially after the wrist-slitting incident last time.”
Yeah, that really was something the original Olivia had done out of sheer stupidity. Thanks to that, though, I was able to take over this body.
“That was simply an appropriate measure.”
“Pardon?”
“My acting skills are just as good as my writing. And I didn’t write that. The previous me did.”
That wasn’t exactly a lie, was it?
“The previous you… I see. So that’s how it is.”
“How about turning this diary into a novel? A thoughtless young lady who only pushes her own affection, only to lose her fiancé to her illegitimate half-sister. It might actually sell like crazy.”
It could be a huge hit. If I published it myself, people might call it petty, so using a pen name or a proxy wouldn’t be a bad idea. Should I really do it? Plene was right here. Maybe she could handle both library work and writing. After all, just selling magic-enchanted items would bring in decent money.
“Are you alright?”
“With what?”
“It seemed like you truly loved him.”
Was this maid someone who had known the original Olivia? Maybe she had been a close attendant?
“Me? Love someone like that? If I had any lingering feelings, I wouldn’t have driven out all those nobles.”
“I see.”
“More importantly, who are you?”
Let’s hear the name of this insolent maid.
“I am Claire, the personal maid assigned directly by the mistress. We met once before, didn’t we?”
“Your impression was so cold that I didn’t remember clearly.”
“From now on, I will be serving you, my lady.”
“No, that’s really not necessary.”
Weren’t you from the assassination guild? I hated that kind of thing. The people from the assassination guild all gave me a bad feeling. Especially since Noah had gotten tangled up with the Empire’s assassination guild once before. Even though it had been a misunderstanding caused by the lower ranks, it still left a bad taste in my mouth.
“It’s fine. If there’s anything bothersome, I will take care of it all.”
“Like what?”
“Clothing, meals, bathing, and so on.”
That was definitely not okay.
“No, I’m really fine. I don’t even understand what you mean by that. Did my mother order you to monitor me or something?”
“Mmm. Something like that.”
“At least you’re honest. That’s not bad.”
“After this incident, the nobles may hold a grudge. There’s a chance they might target you. That’s one of the reasons I’m here to protect you.”
Target me? That would actually be welcome. I could crush them with overwhelming force using the straightforward method.
“Let them come. It’ll be fun.”
“Pardon?”
“I can just beat them down instead.”
When I smiled coldly, the maid let out a sigh. What was with that sigh? How rude.
“Still, I have received orders from the mistress.”
“Do as you like.”
It was annoying, but if it was Mother’s command, there was nothing I could do.
“By the way, I happened to hear something.”
“What is it?”
“In the theology class, you denied the Church and unleashed a massive burst of light from the crystal orb.”
She had already found out about that. Her information network was impressive. As expected of the Empire’s top assassination guild—their reach was on another level compared to mine, which relied on neighborhood thugs.
“I was just messing around a little.”
“I see. However, if you end up becoming the Saintess because of it…”
“Saintess? Can just anyone become a Saintess?”
Even I wasn’t completely ignorant about that field.
“Claire. Even if you are Mother’s confidant, since you are serving me, does that mean you will prioritize my orders when Mother is not present?”
“If you have any commands…”
“I want a detailed investigation on Lily.”
That pink-haired girl really needed to be looked into. No, I had a strong gut feeling about this. No matter which way you looked—left, right, front, back—there was no sign of any growth potential. A completely flat figure, absurdly low intelligence, and a childish personality. Honestly, what was there even to like about her?