Arrogant Underclassmen
The church kept sending people even after that. The theology professors were nowhere to be found; instead, these young punks kept showing up and bothering me. Honestly, I’d been considering the whole saintess thing for a bit, but the more they pestered me like this, the more it made me want to tell them to fuck off.
But there was a hidden variable.
“It feels so refreshing, doesn’t it?”
It was Plene. That girl who followed me everywhere. I was seriously starting to worry about her social life if I was her only friend.
“What is it this time?”
These days, just hearing Plene open her mouth made me tense up.
“They’re saying the arrogant genius and hero of the commoners, Lady Olivia, has even brought the church to its knees!”
“Why the hell is the story going that way?”
It wasn’t like the pope had knelt before me. What knees? What the fuck?
“The Imperial Church is the largest in scale and is notorious for discriminating against commoners.”
“Why?”
Was there even a reason for that?
“More precisely, they’re bloated. The Imperial Church is basically something the nobles built from the ground up. Ah, on the other hand, the Kingdom or the Holy Kingdom—the actual headquarters of the faith—tend to show more generosity toward commoners.”
Come to think of it, the church in the Kingdom… hmm, was it actually functioning properly? No, now that I thought about it, could the Kingdom’s church that produced that hero party really be normal? Still, I’d never seen anyone from the Kingdom openly complain about their church.
“So in short, it’s rotten?”
“Yes. To commoners, the church is basically a place you go when you’re injured. They can easily heal minor wounds, after all.”
“Yeah, I know that much.”
The nuns in the church would heal you with miracles in exchange for a tiny donation. It was limited to external injuries, but for commoners who couldn’t afford a proper doctor, the church was basically a hospital.
“But they only focus on treating nobles. They demand quite a hefty sum from commoners. Plus, to expand their influence in the countryside, they apparently take children away early to train them in holy magic.”
Huh? Wait a second. Then what the hell were we learning in the theology department? They’d made it sound like you had to study theology to become a priest or nun.
“Um. So what we’re learning is…”
“Only a tiny fraction of it.”
“Ah, so it’s just for teaching nobles.”
The education systems for commoners and nobles were completely different. If the church had grown thanks to the nobles, they couldn’t exactly admit out loud that they’d squeezed commoners dry to build their power.
“Exactly. And they collect taxes on top of that. It’s not a huge amount, but for commoners who already struggle with the national taxes, it’s still burdensome.”
The Empire’s taxes weren’t that high, were they? I’d heard the Kingdom raised taxes heavily every time because of the wars against the Demon King. Ah, the Empire must be doing the same now that it’s on a wartime footing. They’re desperate for war funds.
“Ah. Because of the war, I suppose.”
“Yes. The Empire raised taxes to cover the war expenses against the Demon King.”
“That’s pure garbage.”
I could understand the Empire raising taxes because of the war.
“So, if the hero of the commoners—Lady Olivia—were to become a saintess, don’t you think things would change?”
In other words, she was asking me to become a saintess and reform the church. Plene was quite the opportunist herself. Too bad, but I still had no intention of becoming a saintess. What the fuck—normal women couldn’t become a saintess even after training their whole lives, yet here I was, a damn mage, achieving it.
“Sorry, but my personal maid is scheduled to contract an incurable disease tonight, so let’s talk about this later.”
It was good that the commoners supported me, but asking me to become a saintess was a whole different story.
“What do you mean, scheduled to contract?”
“With this much holy power, I can tell these things.”
So if she brought up the saintess thing one more time, I’d beat her ass.
Plene has been thoroughly intimidated.
“Hey! Lady Olivia!”
“Hmm? Croissant?”
Class had just ended and I was heading back to the dormitory when Croissant and her little gang appeared. They looked pretty out of it. Seems like she still couldn’t handle things alone and had to bring backup for firepower. How pathetic.
“To think you can’t even remember people’s names—your intelligence level is truly questionable! Did you think I wouldn’t know? You kicked us out like that, but you’re not much different yourself.”
This was annoying.
“What?”
“Have you forgotten noble etiquette as well?”
“What’s so strange about an upperclassman speaking casually to a lowerclassman?”
Did they still think they were second-years? Did they not understand the difference between first-years and second-years? Well, that was probably why they were told they had no chance of becoming a noble lady.
“As expected, her personality is just…”
“No wonder she bullied her own little sister.”
“It makes sense that His Highness the Crown Prince changed his mind.”
“Right? With a personality like that, of course she has no friends. She just torments her sister. Doesn’t it break your heart for the poor girl?”
Croissant and the other young noble ladies were busy badmouthing me. I could easily guess who was behind this.
“Hmph. That bitch really is playing dirty.”
Seems like since she couldn’t win with skill, Pector was trying to bury me at the academy by framing me as the villain. Did she really think that would affect me? Just Pector and these powerless little girls? Even if they were under some enchantment, it was ridiculous. Why the hell should I feel sorry for her?
Thinking about it, this part genuinely pissed me off.
—This is the first time I’ve used this on anyone other than you, sister.
In other words, she’d already used it on me before. But there was no way the current me—Olivia—would have fallen for it. That meant she must have used it on the previous Olivia.
Looking at the notes the previous Olivia had left behind, from a certain point onward her personality had grown increasingly twisted and her obsession with the crown prince had intensified. In other words, Pector was the root of all of it.
The previous Olivia hadn’t exactly had a good personality to begin with, but that was probably just the superiority complex that came from being part of the Ashtar family. It hadn’t reached the level of full-blown obsession. Looking at it more broadly, it ultimately meant—
She was the reason the first Olivia had killed herself.
Why the hell should I feel sorry for a girl like that?
“Why should I feel sorry for her?”
“What did you say?”
“I asked why I should feel sorry for her. When have any of you ever truly cared about my sister? Who exactly is the narrow-minded one here?”
If someone overheard this, they’d think these girls who used to be nasty and extravagant were actually kind-hearted women pitying a bastard child.
“W-what are you talking about?”
“Logically speaking, if I were cast off from the engagement, where would I have gone? The imperial family would have sought ties with a marquis household, right? No matter how much Lily became an Ashtar, she still carries half commoner blood. So why was Lily able to get engaged in the first place?”
Ah, that foolish and pitiful Lily. She must have gathered quite a few cards to send against me. Did she really think it would work? I wasn’t the previous Olivia.
“Huh?”
“My personality has always been terrible, so it makes sense I got rejected. But what about you all? How pathetic must you be that you weren’t even considered as candidates to connect with the imperial family?”
It really was quite pitiful.
“How dare you—”
“They say His Highness the Crown Prince loves Lily so much. Are you okay with the fact that a woman with such a pathetic figure and stupidity has more charm as a woman than you?”
“““!!”””
The noble ladies’ faces twisted horribly at my words.
“Just how unattractive must you be for the Crown Prince—a man in his prime—to ignore all the other women and choose someone as plain as Lily?”
I wasn’t saying anything wrong. If the engagement had been broken, there would be public scrutiny, and the Crown Prince should have chosen a fiancée from another prestigious family. There was no reason to specifically choose the powerful Ashtar family. After all, there were plenty of other distinguished houses in the Empire besides the Ashtars.
So why hadn’t those other families gotten the chance, and instead the imperial family had chosen to re-engage with the bastard daughter of the Ashtar family whose eldest daughter had been dumped? Of course, from the Crown Prince’s perspective it was love. But there must have been many young noble ladies who had been patiently waiting their turn.
And yet, in that situation, Lily—with her half-bloodline and an appearance that couldn’t even make a man’s heart flutter—had been chosen. To the young ladies currently insulting me, it must have felt like a nail being hammered into their hearts.
“How can you say something like that?!”
Croissant looked like she was about to foam at the mouth.
“And the way you all go around in a pack doing nothing but witch hunts is honestly hilarious. Ah! I wonder who the truly pitiful women are?”
I covered my mouth with my hand and laughed as much as I wanted. If not now, when would I ever get to laugh at them like this?
“You poor things who don’t even realize you’re being brainwashed.”
“What the hell is—”
Huh? Wait a minute. Why was I suddenly mocking these brainwashed girls? This felt a bit childish. I never acted like this back when I was in the hero party.
It seemed I was being influenced by the first Olivia. The sense that I was Olivia rather than Noah had grown stronger.
“No, I am Olivia.”
Noah had died, his body had vanished, and he had entered the corpse of the first Olivia. So it was only right to live as Olivia. There was no reason to desperately try to reclaim the past glories that had died with him.
On the other hand, the first Olivia’s consciousness should have completely disappeared, yet it seemed her influence remained. It looked like the mind followed the body. Hmm, yeah, thinking about it again, it really was childish. Even if I was living as Olivia, I didn’t need to copy her to this extent. I understood she had a lot of resentment built up, but I hadn’t expected it to affect me too.
“There’s no reason to act like this toward someone who doesn’t truly mean it.”
If they hated me, that was one thing. But at least they should mock me while in their right minds. Getting caught by Lily’s tricks? Pathetic. More importantly, was this okay? If they could handle a bit of magic, they should at least be able to resist a succubus. Just how incompetent were these nobles?
“What did you say? You—!”
Snap!
Before Croissant could finish, I snapped my fingers. The dazed girls’ eyes suddenly refocused. The enchantment had been broken. They stood there blankly for a moment before looking at me and frowning.
“What? Why are you here?”
“That’s what I should be asking. Underclassmen. This is the fourth floor—where the second-year classrooms are.”
If the enchantment was broken, there was no point saying anything more.
“Wait, what? Huh? It really is…”
“If you’re upset, go complain to Lily.”
“Why are you bringing up your sister?”
Had their memories been completely erased? How convenient—ruin someone’s mood and then just forget about it. Must be nice to have such an easy life.
“Just know that it’s like that.”
I couldn’t be bothered to deal with them anymore. Besides, when I glanced behind me, I saw holy knights, priests, and nuns from the church. They were lined up like a damn sausage string. I had no choice but to send Croissant and her scraps away and deal with these uninvited guests from the church.
I accepted the teacup Claire offered me, brought it to my lips, and spoke.
“So why do you keep coming here?”
“We beg you most earnestly! Please, become the saintess!”
They suddenly slammed their heads to the ground. Hmm, they must be pretty desperate. Well, a long-awaited saintess candidate had finally appeared, so I suppose it was only natural.