The Saint's Bizarre Training Method (3)
I had to keep an eye on them. Make sure they were actually training properly. After all, these were the girls I’d taken responsibility for. In the worst case, I had to prepare for the possibility that they might really get killed by those goblins.
“Still, since we just joined, wouldn’t this be a waste of the Saint’s time? Even if it’s necessary training for us?”
“I may not look it, but I’m a Saint who’s pretty damn good with magic. This much is no problem.”
Snap! I flicked my fingers, and a massive hourglass materialized in midair, dropping down with a heavy thud.
Hourglass of Habel
📍 Effect: Creates a time-dilated space
🎁 Inside: 24 hours pass while 0 seconds pass outside
“What is that?”
“That hourglass runs for twenty-four hours. Once all the sand falls, time outside starts moving again.”
In this limited space, twenty-four hours would pass while not a single second ticked by in the outside world. Of course, no one outside would have any idea what we’d been doing in here.
“So it’s time magic?”
“It’s time magic left behind by the ancient mage Habel.”
It consumed a ridiculous amount of mana to maintain, but my body could handle it. That was actually one of the reasons I couldn’t leave this place. This body still had too many variables compared to Noah’s original one. I had to handle magic as stably as possible.
“The Saint is amazing! It’s like…”
“Yeah. I am.”
“You’re a magic Saint! I want to use magic too!”
All good, but did she have to say it in that squeaky voice? I wasn’t asking her to become an archmage or anything. Just… at least try to be a little more like Noah.
I carefully flipped the hourglass over. The fine purple sand inside began trickling from top to bottom.
“You look like you’ll be swinging a mace for the rest of your life.”
Yeah. I’d make sure she spent her whole life making a name for herself with that mace.
Duke Ashtar received regular reports about Olivia from his wife, Katarina. On the surface it looked purely businesslike, but lately Olivia’s actions had become critically important to the family.
“Hmm. Olivia’s behavior is rather strange.”
Her recent moves looked far too dangerous. She was openly raising private troops inside the Church. Even if the Empire’s Goddess Church lacked deep roots, it was still a legitimate religious order that worshipped the Goddess. How on earth had she come up with the idea of training nuns right in front of the Goddess statue? And did she really need to raise nuns in the first place? She could have just built her own faction outright. Wasn’t this all a bit too hasty?
More than anything, he still had no clear grasp of exactly how capable Olivia was.
Her wife’s voice came through the communication magic tool. The magic that summoned hundreds of birds at once was no ordinary spell. It even required continuous mana expenditure.
“At this rate, it feels like a waste to leave her as a Saint.”
From Katarina’s perspective, Olivia was overflowing with talent. Especially the way she used magic to compensate for her shortcomings—it was excessive.
“Well, if that counts as ability, then it’s ability. Are you certain Lily and her mother are succubi?”
“Good grief, what foolish mother and daughter. Especially Lily.”
Not only had she survived the Planon River, she’d gone to find her mother and turned her into a succubus as well. The newspapers had greatly exaggerated the story of Lily and her mother to create sympathy for House Ashtar. In the first place, Lily had toyed with Ashtar and approached him with calculated intent from the start—this much leniency was already generous.
Katarina voiced her dissatisfaction. Their daughter had done a fine job, but that was about reshaping the landscape of noble society. From a national perspective, it could spark internal turmoil. Although the local nobles’ advance into the capital had somewhat calmed things, there was no telling how neighboring countries would view the Empire now.
“Still, thanks to that, all the rotten nobles were purged. You know it too. The Emperor moved the court ladies.”
It was something they had only learned recently. The nobles who had slapped the Emperor and rebelled had all died overnight.
“In the end, the rotten central nobility was overturned thanks to Lily and Olivia. For now, let Olivia do as she wishes.”
The sparrows in the Church were all birds released by the assassination guild. Since their daughter was involved, they wanted to check for any suspicious movements within the Church.
“Who cares about a few birds? More importantly, how is His Majesty?”
There was only one thing he was curious about regarding the current Emperor.
“With things as they are, we can’t tie ourselves to Aslan anymore. Olivia refused, and she’s a Saint now. Isn’t it time for a princess to rise?”
The next heir might very well be the princess. If so, her becoming Crown Princess was all but certain.
“Power ultimately comes from the council anyway. As long as she doesn’t flip the Empire’s political board, it doesn’t matter if she’s a spoiled brat or whatever.”
The princess might resemble the Emperor in her wild behavior, but power still flowed from the council. Many of the Imperial Capital Defense Force officers were from House Ashtar. No matter what the princess did, they could rein her in.
But Katarina’s thoughts differed. The relationship between the Imperial family and House Ashtar had a long history. While there hadn’t been generations of marriage alliances, this generation had seen Olivia’s broken engagement and the Lily incident one after another. No one could predict how the relationship between Ashtar and the Imperial family would turn out.
Rockton and the princess were close in age and already acquainted. It didn’t seem like a bad match.
“Now is the time to lie low. The Emperor’s mind is impossible to read. If we act rashly, we might all die. For now, it’s fortunate that Olivia is a Saint and that Rockton is handling the duties of the next head of the family quite well. So keep a close eye on Olivia for the time being.”
The capital was like a sheet of thin ice. So far Olivia had been doing well, but what would happen if she failed to seize control of the Church? Preparing for the next move wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“If anything happens, bring her back to the territory. The capital is a gateway one must pass through to blend into noble society, which inevitably means attending Atelina. But wouldn’t our own educational institutions be better?”
Without going through Atelina, nobles found it difficult to integrate into high society. Olivia had already become a Saint, and this incident had settled her ranking among the nobility. Since she prioritized commoners, her relationship with the central nobles was beyond repair. According to the reports, Atelina’s education had essentially lost all meaning for Olivia. It might be better to graduate her early and send her to House Ashtar’s knight order or magic tower.
Katarina had a point. Watching Olivia through the birds implanted with magic tools, she saw her daughter ruthlessly driving the nuns. Still, this wasn’t a decision to be made hastily. Handing over the assassination guild meant naturally gaining control over the Empire’s shadows. They needed to lie low for a while.
“For now, we’ll just watch.”
Duke Ashtar muttered to himself and turned his gaze out the window. The communication tool naturally switched off. There was no need to rush things right now. With the central nobles collapsing, House Ashtar needed to maintain the status quo.
By the time roughly one-sixth of the sand in the Hourglass of Habel had fallen, the goblins were defeated.
“Hek… hek… We finally did it.”
“Mm. Not bad at all. Goblins are basically the level of adult male adventurers anyway. Even if it was just physical ability, you fought pretty well.”
It was a huge improvement. It had taken about four hours. Girls who couldn’t do anything had fought and beaten goblins. To be honest, those goblins—whatever else they were—were built incredibly tough. Their vitality was as stubborn as undead. Otherwise there was no way goblins, meant to be tailored opponents for adult adventurers, would have held out that long.
“Um, then… can we rest now?”
“Rest? We still have twenty-four hours to go.”
That’s why the hourglass was a twenty-four-hour one.
“Ah.”
Why did she look so shocked? They didn’t know when the Pope might show up. I hadn’t been able to put together a curriculum with much breathing room for these kids, but wasn’t this level of intensity basically standard?
“So next up, you’ll be facing goblins wielding clubs.”
“W-wait a minute. Isn’t this dangerous for us?”
“Yeah. We’re already physically exhausted…”
Come on. I wasn’t that much of a demon. I could at least cast healing for them.
“Heal.”
The light of healing spread from my hand and instantly restored all three of them.
“Eh?”
“Alright, now fight.”
I didn’t particularly want to push them this hard. But there was no helping it. This kind of thing had to be done while momentum was building. When the Kingdom’s army was pushed like this, they eventually started smiling as they slaughtered demons. So there was no reason the Empire’s women couldn’t do the same.
Every time they got injured, they could receive healing and fight again in peak condition. With the hourglass in effect, and since my healing activated by drawing out accumulated mana in the body, the difference in experiential growth their bodies would gain should be enormous.
“W-wait—”
“Goblins don’t wait.”
I summoned the next batch of goblins. This time they were armed with clubs.
“Kikiiik!”
The club-wielding goblins stood menacingly before the nuns. The girls were momentarily overwhelmed by the aura. It was a natural reaction for ordinary young girls.
“Hiiik!”
Yeah, go ahead and scream. But don’t worry. I’m not supervising you for nothing. These are the kids I’m teaching. There’s no way I’d just watch them get beaten half to death.
“Don’t worry. Every time you get hit, I’ll restore your stamina.”
“Even so, this is a bit much…”
Already making deathbed noises? There was a method for times like this. In the end, it always came down to money.
“Every time you slack off like this, money disappears, you know?”
“What?”
“Did you think I was giving you all that huge sum for no reason?”
It was all an investment for the future. The Hero Party still didn’t have the strength to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings. The Kingdom had been used as cannon fodder so much it was about to rot. So the Empire had to do things properly.
“Well, I didn’t think it was for nothing, but…”
If they could just get over this hurdle. Once they passed this most difficult period of their lives, they could become strong nuns.
“Let’s just get through this one hurdle. You girls can do it, right?”
In the end, the trio charged toward the club-wielding goblins. As expected, the nuns—who lacked proper combat technique—got hit by the clubs. But the difference from before was clear. Their bodies, which had accumulated experience from being beaten by goblin violence, had developed enough reflexes through mana activation to dodge the club attacks.
And so the nuns continued to take hits, block, dodge, and receive periodic healing from me until they were completely exhausted.
About two hours passed like that.
“We did it!”
The goblin, its head smashed to the point its eyeballs were popping out, finally collapsed. The nuns looked stunned.
“Huh? It feels like we caught it easier than before.”
“Of course. That’s because your skills improved.”
When they succeeded, it was good to give praise so they wouldn’t overthink it. That way they’d train even harder, right?
“Oh, is that so?”
“But still, can skills really improve this suddenly?”
It wasn’t impossible at all.
“It’s because I heal you every time you collapse.”
“I think that’s separate from defeating them.”
Exactly. The first martial-arts goblins had only drained their strength but were as hard to kill as zombies. This time, although they added clubs, I’d reduced the zombie-like traits a bit.
“What’s there that you can’t do? I keep telling you, you girls have talent. You can be prouder. And your potential is limitless.”
It wasn’t a lie. After getting hit so much, the nuns had naturally developed the ability to dodge monster attacks among themselves. Since their bodies were activated with mana, it was only natural. Their bodies, which had already been trained through being hit and had successfully recognized the act of defeating enemies, were experiencing explosive growth in physical ability through mana activation.
So let me say it again.
I’m not a demon, okay? If anything, I’m just feeding promising kids some performance-enhancing drugs and raising them.