Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: 8. McDullin Abbey (6)
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Helena's mind was a whirlwind amid the raging storm of events.
It started when Ian from the 1st Hero Party suddenly appeared and showed interest in her.
Then, out of nowhere, Abbey Head Miriam and the examiners gathered to advance the date of the public exam.
Protests flew thick and fast, but everyone fell silent at the sight of the gold coin in Miriam's hand.
The Apostle's gold coin.
No one serving the Holy Flame Church could defy it.
Miriam never revealed who the Apostle was.
She only said that the Apostle had issued a lockdown on the abbey and ordered the public exam to be held today.
And just like that, the exam proceeded in a haphazard rush.
And now.
"You said you wanted to be a Hero, right?"
"Y-Yes...?"
"Come with me."
"Y-Yes...?"
"I'll get you there. Right to the spot you want."
"......"
It felt like her face was submerged in water—the sounds around her faded, growing muffled and distant.
What was this?
Why was Ian making this offer to her?
Why was the former manager of the 1st Hero Party looking at her with such shining eyes?
In this time where reality felt thin, Helena's consciousness was sucked back into the past.
*
It had been quite some time since Helena became a superhuman.
This was back when the Empire's Hero training system didn't exist yet.
Helena recalled the starting point of her memories.
It wasn't the day she was born, but that day felt vividly like the very beginning of her life.
The day she failed to protect her family, despite being a superhuman.
The day she couldn't even watch her family die.
The sensations of cowering alone in a safe place were chillingly clear.
It wasn't Helena's fault.
At the time, she was a trainee at a church in the center of the village.
Her father was a shepherd, her mother a laundress.
Both worked on the village outskirts due to their jobs, and their home was there too.
So, for Helena, who was assisting with mass at the central church, rescuing her parents from a demon attack on the outskirts was physically impossible.
The attack ended anticlimactically.
Just a few mini-golems the size of humans—that was all.
The village youths could have beaten them with farm tools.
There were plenty of injuries, but few deaths.
The problem was that Helena's parents were among those few fatalities.
'They died because of me. No, I killed them...'
Guilt came regardless of logic.
Being the village's only superhuman only fueled her self-blame.
Directionless rage and emptiness took over her body, and Helena entrusted herself to a monastery.
She wanted to hone her faith for revenge.
Then the Empire officially introduced "Heroes," and Helena aspired to become one.
The problem was.
'Helena... this isn't the only way.'
Helena had no talent.
It was to the point where she wondered if she was really a superhuman.
Even her one strong suit, protection-type miracles, was a hindrance.
They were too large, getting in the way of her allies instead.
She'd heard endlessly that they'd obstruct archers or mages firing from behind.
Still, Helena couldn't hate that one advantage.
'I understand your feelings, but you should give up.'
She couldn't.
Her life had gained momentum.
She couldn't stop of her own will.
If she did, Helena knew her entire life would grind to a halt.
One day, she heard the story of "Aria," which became her driving force.
Aria's growth story was spun like a cheerful comedy.
The tale of lazy, indolent Aria and Philip coaxing and encouraging her.
It was one of the folktales that sprang up around Superbia, centered on the 1st Hero Party members.
Helena liked Aria's story the best.
It was lighthearted but carried the hopeful lesson that effort is rewarded.
And on some level, she selfishly hoped that, just as Philip came for Aria, someone might come for her and lead the way.
Around then, she transferred to McDullin Abbey and met Rachel.
That calm girl was as clumsy as Helena.
It sparked a sense of kinship.
Helping Rachel gave Helena joy in being useful and a renewed sense of her own value.
Rachel, once clumsy, learned quickly and soon surpassed Helena.
Helena didn't envy it.
She simply accepted her place.
Her life became one of vicarious satisfaction through Aria's tales.
Then she heard the public exam would be held at McDullin Abbey, and that's when Salome appeared.
Salome was an overwhelming talent, questionable if she was even the same kind of superhuman.
She had real combat experience, having prepared for temporary Hero trials elsewhere.
"What the hell? Putting me on the same level as these brats?"
Arrogant Salome lorded over the novice nuns, committing all sorts of outrages.
Her main target was Rachel.
The reason was simple.
Rachel didn't fawn over Salome, and she was ranked right below her at 2nd.
"Stop it!"
The day Helena stepped in front of Salome for Rachel.
Salome's reaction was colder than anything.
"...Who's this?"
As if she didn't even know who Helena was.
"Helena? Who's that? ...30th?"
Salome scowled like she was looking at a pathetic bug.
After that, the target shifted from Rachel to Helena.
Helena accepted it willingly.
It was an outlet for her guilt.
For punishing her past self who failed to protect her family—a forced sacrifice.
Salome relentlessly mocked Helena's one strong suit, protection-type miracles.
"Hey, Hel. I told you that's not how you do it. How many times do I have to explain? Or are you doing it on purpose to piss me off?"
If there was one thing lacking in the otherwise perfect Salome, it was protection output.
It was average for the abbey.
Not lacking, but overshadowed by her other stellar stats.
That's why she hated Helena, whose protection miracles were superior—freakishly so.
"From today, if anyone makes a bigger protection than me..."
She even went so far as to suppress the novice nuns' skills.
Helena was at the center.
Everyone hated Helena.
'If it weren't for you.'
Salome wouldn't have been so tyrannical.
Unable to hate Salome, they hated Helena instead.
She protested to Lydia, the exam overseer, but got only vague promises of action.
Fearing she'd drag down her only friend Rachel, she distanced herself.
Rachel couldn't withstand Salome's glares and Helena's avoidance, eventually ignoring her too.
Helena didn't blame or hate Rachel.
She just figured she'd taken Rachel's place.
Day by day, she isolated herself in the crowd.
Her one reliable skill torn to shreds as trash.
Even prayer to the divine felt pointless, her faith eroding—on one such day.
Helena snapped back to the present.
The visiting room, just the two of them.
Ian before her was calm as his sharp features suggested, but his eyes held sincere intensity.
"Come with me."
"I..."
Ian didn't give her a chance to speak.
"I watched today's exam and I'm convinced. Helena, you're exactly who I've been looking for."
"B-But..."
"Especially before the exam, when each of you showed your skills individually to the examiners. That's when I knew."
Separate from the exam, the 30 nuns each demonstrated three miracles before the examiners.
Officially to check condition before the surprise test.
In truth, it was for Ian's appraisal.
'The awkward tension pervading not just the novices but the whole abbey. If it's interpersonal issues, they'll show their true potential away from prying eyes.'
Indeed, their protection miracles had improved a level from what he'd seen last time.
Helena stood out overwhelmingly.
"I..."
"You said you admired Aria, right? Spot on?"
Ian kept denying her a word in edgewise.
Not to dismiss her.
'Obsessed with her 30th rank, deliberately pushing herself in a negative way. Can't give her time to think or speak.'
Those addicted to despair shun happiness or hope.
They choose to sink endlessly into self-loathing.
To Ian, Helena fit that mold.
Couldn't give her room for self-flagellation.
"Yes, that's right..."
"I'm someone who watched over that Aria for a long time. You said you knew me, right?"
"Yes... but..."
"You're wondering why someone who was with the Aria you admire now wants you. Hard to believe, right?"
He preempted her thoughts, stealing her words.
"It's, hmm... what feeling is this?"
To shake her thoughts, he said it short and intense.
"I'm hooked on you, Helena."
-Thud!
Helena jolted, slamming her knee into the desk.
"Wh-What? Y-You're saying, in the Holy Flame Church, r-romance is allowed, of course, b-but I'm still..."
He'd shaken her, but too much.
"...No, not like that. Remember I said I was looking for someone specialized in protection miracles?"
"I remember..."
"Right in front of me. And you're hung up on 30th place... Helena, even outside here, are you still 30th?"
"Yes...?"
"What are you outside? After becoming a temporary Hero? An official Hero?"
"......"
"30th doesn't define you. In other words, you're Helena with or without the rank."
Helena shut her mouth.
Her denial died unspoken.
Ian sensed her inner conflict.
This time, he gave her a moment to mull it over.
Suddenly, Ian recalled first meeting Aria.
Her absurd excuses of wanting to but not wanting to.
Compared to that rascal, convincing Helena was child's play.
"Follow me."
The degree differed, but same essence.
Like Vivian.
Someone who'd lost faith in herself.
Ian would rebuild it through himself.
Though his gut said she'd need more active pulling than Vivian.
Seeing Ian's outstretched hand, Helena took it as if entranced.
"Yes..."
Ian didn't miss a beat, tugging lightly.
"Let's do well from now on."
"Y-Yes... Please take care of me too..."
Helena's face flushed as she murmured in a crawling voice.
*
Helena lost all sense of how the day passed.
Blasphemous for a believer, but it felt like she'd been possessed.
She couldn't leave the abbey until results were announced, so she waited till next day.
Separate from Ian selecting her, Helena hadn't aced the exam.
"We will now announce the 15 passers of the McDullin Abbey public exam."
Miriam declared.
"15th, Unias. 14th..."
Reverse order from 15th to 1st.
Three names at a time.
"6th, Veronica. 5th, Naomi. 4th..."
Neither top-two Salome nor Rachel's names came up.
Helena had fallen outside top 15, so no surprise.
Last announcement left.
The public exam's top ranks.
Talents everyone here coveted.
Ones who might influence the Holy Flame Church's standing.
At Miriam's next call.
"3rd... Salome."
The room buzzed.
Everyone had predicted Salome for 1st.
Even in the sudden exam, she'd shown superb skill.
Yet Salome took 3rd.
Salome stepped forward, face stunned.
Miriam calmly announced next.
"2nd, Rachel."
The room murmured.
Rachel was excellent, but better than Salome?
No one was that sure.
"Uh...?"
Rachel awkwardly stood beside Salome.
Salome glared at her, scowling.
"Next. 1st."
In the stirring atmosphere, even Miriam hesitated slightly before calling.
"...Helena."
......
Silence.
An uncomfortable silence focused on Helena.
"...Huh?"
Helena snapped to, and the crowd buzzed again.
Way off predictions.
Ian was just as surprised.
'...What?'
He'd picked her himself, but honestly, Helena wasn't 1st material.
Her exam protection miracle surprised people yesterday, but that was it.
'What happened?'
"Th-This is creepy! What the hell! That's the Helena Ian said he'd take! Wow, is there something I can't see?!"
Marie, watching beside him, smacked his arm repeatedly.
Ian had pointed out promising nuns to Marie, including Helena and Rachel.
Of course, she'd promised not to poach his picks.
For reference, her top target now was Rachel.
"What did you do, Ian?!"
"How could I do that?"
He could if he tried.
But not this time.
Vivian, tagging along excitedly at the promise of new teammates, just grinned cluelessly.
The most shocked in this mess? Salome, who'd pegged herself for 1st, naturally.
"W-Wait! No way! Those bitches did better than me?!"
She swore outright in front of everyone, that shocked.
The crowd felt much the same.
"What the fuck did those sluts do behind the scenes..."
Salome advanced threateningly, Helena blocking Rachel.
"I don't care about me, but don't touch Rachel...!"
"Fuck! Hey, get a grip! You two above me at 1st and 2nd? Makes no sense! What did you do? Must've pulled some shit behind closed doors! Right?!"
Salome appealed to the crowd.
Subtle agreement rippled.
'Filthy-mouthed bitch...'
The Holy Flame Church's direct paladin order would arrive soon; he'd planned to let it slide, but harassing Helena this much was over the line.
"Bribed someone? Nah, trash like you wouldn't have the cash. What, got some pervs offering to buy your bodies? Yeah, that Apostle guy..."
"Enough!"
As Miriam intervened.
Ian stood—just as.
"That fucking potty-mouthed cunt."
Marie rose too.
Unaware of Ian, with a murderous glare vowing to chew through anyone in her way, Marie strode toward Salome.