Chapter 41
Chapter 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: 041. Apprentice Priest Leo - (Complete)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Secret rendezvous."
Sophia reached her conclusion and immediately moved to act. She placed her right hand on the hilt of the Ink Sword and took a step forward.
An obvious combat stance.
I had no desire to understand why Sophia was assuming a battle posture, or why holy power was gathering at Elise's fingertips.
"Let go of that hand."
"That might be difficult."
Elise deliberately stroked my hand as if to show off.
"Holy power relies on 'resonance,' so holding hands like this makes it most efficient. You have a talent for handling holy power, Priest, and I can supply more than enough. It's what they call a match made in heaven. A perfect combination."
She put heavy emphasis on the words "perfect combination."
Why was this saintess candidate pouring oil on the fire?
It was driving me mad.
"..."
Thud.
Sophia took another step forward.
It was hard to grasp what exactly was happening here.
But one thing was certain: I couldn't allow my only shelter, the chapel, to come crumbling down.
"W-wait a moment! Miss Sophia! Calm down. It's a misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding? This?"
Sophia glared at our interlocked hands.
I hurriedly pulled my hand free from Elise's grasp.
"This is just simple training."
"Training...?"
Fortunately, Sophia at least heard me out. As she tilted her head, I quickly continued.
"Do you remember the Twin Towers incident last time? I nearly died to the chimeras I couldn't escape from, so I decided I needed enough strength to at least protect myself. Life is precious, after all."
"...Master almost... died..."
"And since I'm a priest to boot... I simply asked the saintess candidate here for some instruction in holy magic."
At my explanation, Sophia's expression softened considerably as she looked toward Elise.
Elise shrugged and nodded.
"Yes. It was a holy magic lesson."
With Elise's agreement, Sophia removed her hand from the Ink Sword.
If I hadn't explained, would she really have drawn it?
I didn't know.
And that's what made it all the more terrifying.
"Master, then the time you asked me about swordsmanship..."
"Ah, yes. That was for the same reason. But no matter how I thought about it, direct physical combat didn't seem suited for me..."
Sophia looked visibly disappointed, while Elise slyly waved the handkerchief she held in her hand.
'Please, just stay quiet for once.'
A vein popped on Sophia's forehead at Elise's provocation, but that was the extent of it.
Sophia slowly approached me and plopped down right beside me.
She then gazed up at me at a slant, hands demurely clasped together like a puppy waiting for a snack.
"...Hmm."
It seemed like a silent demand for food.
"Would you prefer stew again?"
"Anything's fine!"
*
We had lunch like that.
But today's meal was such a bed of nails that I couldn't tell if the stew was going in through my mouth or my nose.
The cause was, of course, the two women seated on either side of me.
"*Chomp chomp*"
Sophia inhaled her stew voraciously without ever dropping her murderous glare, while Elise, in stark contrast, cocked her head with a beaming smile.
It was because their war of nerves had gone too far.
"Haha. You're eating so heartily."
Elise said with an eye smile.
The words were praise, but the nuance was anything but.
- 'Sucking down food so vulgarly, you beastly bitch.'
Something like that if you ran it through a translator.
Half exaggerated, anyway.
"..."
Sophia might be oblivious, but she had an uncanny knack for detecting malice. She instantly saw through Elise's intent and squinted one eye.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You smell musty."
"Me? I always keep myself clean. If anything, it's you who..."
"Musty smell."
"..."
Elise laughed.
Her lips twisted.
"Hmm... the offerings for today..."
I cautiously stood, pretending I had business to attend to. Of course, I didn't leave the building entirely. If those two actually started fighting, this rundown chapel wouldn't hold up. If that moment came, I planned to intervene desperately.
'Why on earth do they get along so poorly...'
In Throne of the Academy, Sword Saint Sophia and Saintess Elise weren't enemies like this.
Not as close as the friendly Isolde, but they still shared camaraderie.
At the very least, enough for Sophia to storm the grand cathedral, risking her life to rescue the kidnapped Elise in Act 3.
'...This is trouble.'
If they kept growling at each other like this, the main event of Act 3 itself would be ruined.
About two months from now, during the academy's summer break.
Archbishop Balua imprisons Elise as part of his plan for the God's return.
It wasn't Balua acting alone. He'd spent over a decade placing his own people in the academy's affiliated grand cathedral, pouring immense effort into making this plan succeed.
Unable to seek help from anyone, Elise sends a rescue signal to the outside via her maid, and Sophia and Isolde storm the cathedral upon receiving it—that's the core of Act 3.
In other words, Sophia and Elise needed to grow close for Act 3 to even happen.
Act 3 even had branching bad ends.
'Fallen Saintess Elise.'
It was the ending that appeared if you succeeded in stopping Balua's plan but failed to actually rescue Elise.
Elise, enveloped in the powers of Act 3's final boss, Archangel, fully turns into the villain. Its bleakness and brutality were on another level compared to other bad ends, so many players desperately refused to collect it.
I'd only seen it once myself—the kingdom turned into a hellscape, Elise's illustration with tentacles sprouting wildly from her back—and I force-quit the game on the spot.
"Ah, right."
As those thoughts ran through my mind, Elise clapped her hands and spoke to me.
"You skipped morning mass again today."
"...Ah, yeah..."
But whether this current addiction-to-deviance saintess candidate Elise would act according to the original plot branches...
That was still very much up in the air.
Things had twisted so far off course that considering the original progression felt pointless at this point.
But one thing was certain: Sophia and Elise couldn't afford to have a bad relationship like this.
"Priest, what do you think? Should I skip afternoon classes too and give you more holy magic lessons here...?"
Elise drew closer with a sly smile, and Sophia, who had been inhaling her stew, finally stopped tolerating it.
"M-Master!"
"Yes?"
"I-I skipped too! Afternoon training!"
"..."
"Some dungeon exploration practical... They said it was prep training for that, but I told them it was unnecessary!"
What was I supposed to do with this sword saint, boasting proudly about skipping training?
For some reason, Sophia seemed to feel competitive toward Elise.
No need to compete even in skipping class, though.
In the midst of those thoughts, I realized there was a strange term mixed into Sophia's words.
"...Wait. Miss Sophia, did you just say 'dungeon exploration practical'?"
"Yes! It's a Knight Faculty tradition. Seems totally meaningless, though!"
"..."
Dungeon exploration practical.
This was one of Act 3's sub-events as well.
One of the external activities the Knight Faculty held right as break began, where Sophia obtained a key spec-up item.
『Abyss Core』. An artifact that allowed her to control the Ink Sword far more adeptly. Its presence or absence drastically changed the game's difficulty, so every player without fail went through this event.
My greatest reliable asset right now was Sophia Aquilova. As such, she had to sweep up every single opportunity from the original story.
"Miss Sophia."
"Yes!"
"Skipping training isn't good."
"...Yes?"
Sophia stared blankly at my scolding.
Her cheeks trembled slightly, as if from an unexpected reaction.
It was the face of a small dog whose food bowl had been snatched away.
"It's training the Knight Faculty prepared with great ambition, isn't it? I want you to eat your fill and be happy, Miss Sophia. But at the same time, I want you to get along well with everyone in the Knight Faculty. Dedicating yourself to training is a student's natural duty."
"Ah, uh... th-that's..."
Sophia fidgeted with her lips in flustered panic. Naturally, her gaze drifted to Elise beside her.
"B-but... that white mutt... skips a ton..."
"The saintess candidate... well, what can I say. Being here right now is... a form of training. Isn't it?"
I looked at Elise. She tilted her head, then giggled at my desperate expression and shrugged.
"Yeees. It is. I have to... train you so you don't get hurt, Priest."
Sophia had clearly witnessed the holy magic lesson Elise and I were doing earlier. But understanding and acceptance were different things. Her lips pouted out.
"...Hmph."
She must have thought it was favoritism.
I pondered for a moment before approaching Sophia and saying,
"Sister, I have great expectations for you, Miss Sophia."
"E-expectations..."
Sophia gulped.
"You are my sword, Miss Sophia. So you must be honed sharper than anyone else. You understand what I mean, right?"
Sophia hugged the Ink Sword like a lover and nodded her head vigorously.
The foundation for persuasion was laid.
Now then...
"In return, if you participate diligently in training..., hmm."
As the saying goes, carrot and stick.
I offered the carrot.
"I'll grant one wish of yours, within my power to do so."
"...Huh? R-really?"
At the word "wish," Sophia looked up. An eerie gleam of pleasure flashed across her face.
"...A-anything?"
"Yes. Anything. Within what I can manage."
At those words, Sophia completely transformed.
"Training! I'll do it diligently!"
I always felt this, but...
Sophia was too easy.
*
The Swordsmanship Instructor Chiron had one problem that had been gnawing at him lately.
Sophia Veronica Aquilova.
The top of the faculty who had suddenly appeared at the start of the semester.
She'd been as quiet as a mouse during her first year, but now she'd climbed to the pinnacle of the Knight Faculty by defeating even the graduating students.
Chiron was intensely curious as to the reason. Was it because she'd awakened Aquilova's secret swordsmanship? Or perhaps that demon sword she supposedly obtained during the Full Moon Festival? Or was it the arrangements of her patron, First Princess Ciris Leisander?
"...This is maddening."
What was certain above all was that Sophia Aquilova was a monster beyond the control of the Knight Faculty instructors.
She ignored all demands for training.
Yet she dominated every quarterly evaluation.
This semester's end-term evaluation didn't even need grading. Chiron was certain she'd claimed top spot with flying colors.
Such a brilliant talent wouldn't even listen to the instructors with half an ear.
"Even the dean's command."
The dungeon exploration practical.
Graduating cadets from the Knight Faculty were deployed as vassals to territories. Naturally, periodic dungeon subjugations were necessary to protect those lands.
The practical held during break was entirely for that purpose. It even counted toward graduation requirements.
This one was especially important, personally ordered by Dean Cornelius himself.
Yet Sophia refused training because it was "annoying," leaving Chiron racking his brains over how to report to the dean.
Thud thud.
In the midst of that situation, Sophia appeared at the Knight Faculty building.
"...Aquilova?"
Chiron frowned.
Sophia gripped the Ink Sword and looked up at Chiron's face.
"Instructor, I'll train. What do I do first."
"..."
Instead of joy, Chiron felt suspicion.
What could possibly make this wolf-like swordsman—who could bolt anywhere—burn with such zeal?
"Aquilova, what's with the sudden change of heart?"
"...I wanna train. Wanna get along with everyone."
Her green eyes burned with ambition.
But Chiron didn't believe Sophia's words for a second.
'Get along with everyone? Hilarious.'
Over half the Knight Faculty had already been brutally defeated by this cadet named Sophia.
There was no getting along now.
She clearly had some other agenda.
"...Hmm."
Still, it was welcome that Sophia was cooperating for the moment.
"Follow me. There's a dedicated welcome training ground set up near the Magic Faculty building."
"Okay."
As Chiron led Sophia to the training ground, he checked her face.
Flushed cheeks. Twitching lips. Tightly gripped sheath.
'...Someone put wind in her sails.'
Probably that "master" person she mentioned.
Master.
To rein in such an uncontrollable genius, they had to be an overwhelming powerhouse.
'Was there someone like that at the academy?'
Chiron decided he needed to look into Sophia's so-called master before the practical.
```