Dignity Can Be Beaten Into the Head
Every gaze in the hall locked onto the two of them.
Though, truth be told, there were only four people present to begin with: me, Helena, Bloomrein who had just delivered the slap, and Aiden who had taken it.
"Th-This...! What is the meaning of this!"
"This is blasphemy!!"
Aiden, cheek still stinging, glared at Bloomrein as he spoke, but Bloomrein stood right in front of him and shouted back just as fiercely, refusing to yield an inch.
As for the status of a Saintess, there was no need to belabor the point.
She stood equal to the Pope himself, the very pinnacle of the Church.
Measured against that stature, the social gathering being held today was, by any standard, a modest affair.
Whatever Archbishop Mordian might be thinking, Erina was still only a student for the time being...
When a better moment arrived later, they could always stage a far grander enthronement ceremony then.
"Your words went too far, Professor Aiden. I won't take issue with you criticizing me, but to slander an innocent student—and the Saintess at that—over something you never even witnessed..."
"Went too far, did I? And what exactly do you intend to do about it? Why, planning to challenge me to a duel?"
"Let's do that."
"P-Professor Kyle?!"
Bloomrein turned to me with a startled tone.
It wasn't an unreadable reaction.
Aiden Crawford belonged to the magic side of things.
On top of that, though he had been serving at this academy for several years now, before coming here he had been a mage working directly under the Imperial Palace.
And while the difference was slight, Professor Aiden was a little older than me and possessed a little more experience.
Sword versus magic.
The conventional wisdom held that a mage, who needed time to cast, was at a disadvantage—but as with everything else in the world, things did not always unfold according to theory.
Besides, he was no amateur, and with longer years under his belt he surely had his own hard-won tricks.
So Bloomrein's wariness over a duel between me and Aiden in this situation was only natural.
Well, it might not be an easy fight...
But if I simply backed down here, what would become of the dignity of the Saintess who had just been insulted?
I needed to call him out at least once and teach him a lesson.
It looked like he had blurted it out in a fit of temper, yet that was no reason to pretend I hadn't heard a word and let the whole thing slide.
It wasn't as though the Church and the Imperial Family were at each other's throats, either.
Besides, both Aiden and I had already retired from our respective sides.
It shouldn't matter.
"Let's do it this way."
Aiden was the first to speak again.
"What do you mean?"
"We'll make a wager."
"A wager, is it."
"Yes. A wager." Saying so, Aiden forced his small, perpetually half-closed eyes open a fraction wider and continued.
"If I lose, I'll apologize for the rude remarks I made just now."
"And if you win, Professor Aiden?"
"If I win—yes. From that moment on, every relationship Professor Kyle has with a woman. Or rather—I'll seal off any physical relations with women at the root. With mutual consent I can make that possible through a magical contract."
"That's absurd!"
Physical relations with women. In other words, a complete ban on sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.
I had no idea why Bloomrein was the one shouting in my place.
No—being the kind-hearted person she was, maybe it was only natural.
"I'll take it."
"Professor Kyle?!"
At my ready agreement, not only Bloomrein but Aiden and Helena as well stared at me with widened eyes.
They must have me pegged as some sex-crazed lunatic—
They've got me completely wrong.
"The duel will take place three days after this social gathering ends. There's no need to make a scene on a day like today."
"Understood. I like how clean that is."
"However, Professor Aiden. The risk when I lose seems far greater than when you lose, so you'd best brace yourself properly if you fall."
"What...?"
"It won't end with a simple apology. You'll have to consider reforming as well. Not only your attitude toward students, but how you treat Helena too."
Of course, even with those additions I doubted they could compare to the lifelong sex ban Aiden had proposed.
But then again, if I win, that's the end of it.
If I win, the sex ban never happens, and on top of that I secure a retraction of the Saintess-slander and an overhaul of his attitude toward students—so it's actually a net gain, isn't it?
The appointed hour for the social gathering arrived.
The music shifted, and at the entrance of the grand banquet hall Erina's entrance began.
A milky dress that held the pure white of freshly fallen snow. Or rather, perhaps it should be called a robe.
It followed the cut of the robes worn by female priests and clergy, so at first glance it could have looked a touch plain.
But it was a ceremonial garment custom-made exclusively for today's gathering.
Without tipping into gaudiness, it was finished with only the barest gold-thread embroidery and gold ornaments, which caught the light with a soft, understated gleam.
"Ohh..."
"So that is her..."
Quiet voices of admiration rose in real time throughout the hall.
Hmm. Worth all the hard drilling I put her through this past week.
I mean, how many times had she practiced that atmospheric entrance?
Beyond that, poise, the bearing a Saintess ought to display before nobles, etiquette—I had crammed all of it into her on an accelerated schedule.
Fortunately Erina had soaked everything up like a sponge and was now fully reproducing the dignity and presence of a Saintess before the public without the slightest shortfall.
Even though these were things normally not taught until later years and I had pulled them forward—I was genuinely proud of her.
Bloomrein, who had stayed longer at Erina's side as a fellow woman and done much of the teaching, must have worked hard as well.
In the middle of the entrance, the lights in the hall suddenly all went out.
As darkness settled over the room, Erina—as if she had been waiting for exactly that moment—gently cast a blessing. Clusters of light close to bright starlight shot upward.
The light that soared to the ceiling then filled the entire banquet hall, scattering to bestow blessings upon every guest present.
It was light that truly carried a warm color and temperature.
"It feels like being shielded from disaster..."
Exactly as that person said.
Simply receiving the light clusters Erina had diffused was enough to make every scrap of fatigue and heaviness that had piled up throughout the day vanish in a single sweep.
As a bonus, even the heart felt lighter and more at ease.
Then the lights returned to the hall.
In the re-lit room, without anyone needing to take the lead, every person present was already kneeling on one knee in respect to the Saintess.
After that, before the hundreds of people gathered in the banquet hall, Archbishop Mordian's ceremony formally recognizing the Saintess proceeded in a simplified form.
The schedule advanced smoothly, and at last, after everyone raised their glasses in a toast of celebration, the main banquet began in earnest.
A social gathering held to celebrate the birth of the Saintess.
That said, it was a modest affair without any particularly grand flourishes.
Of course it would be—this entire gathering had been thrown together in the space of a single week.
They could have taken more time and prepared carefully for a proper banquet.
Still, even though it had been assembled on such a rushed schedule, the guests and nobles who had come to grace the occasion were already gathered in their own circles, conversing and letting the flower of socializing bloom.
A little apart from the nobles' main social space, a seat had been prepared for the Saintess Erina.
The influential figures attending the gathering enjoyed their socializing while taking turns approaching to offer their greetings to her.
Among them was Count Conrad Albrecht, Linea's father.
"I heard my daughter has been in the Saintess's debt. As a father with an inadequate daughter, I feel nothing but apologetic."
"Apologetic...? Linea is one of my truly precious friends."
"I am grateful that you would say so. However..."
Imperial Count Albrecht trailed off and shifted his gaze to me standing beside Erina as he continued.
"Sir Kyle Edelrein is here as well."
"Ah, yes. Someone is needed to guard the Saintess's side, after all. But please don't mind the two of us at all; nothing will leak outside, so you may treat me as if I am not here."
Truthfully, considering my reputation, standing next to Erina like this on a day like today felt as though it might be a burden in more ways than one...
A burden? If someone of Professor Kyle's skill isn't standing by Student Erina's side here, is there even anyone who could replace him?
Well, that's true, but...
Besides... who knows? Standing by the Saintess's side might recover Professor Kyle's reputation even a little.
Headmaster. Don't tell me you're doing this for my sake— mmp.
The moment I got that far, the Headmaster raised her index finger and pressed it against my lips.
For our academy's sake. If the professor's standing rises, even one more person will come to our academy to learn.
She wasn't wrong.
Even if this was the empire's finest academy, the presence of a war hero who was supposedly woman-crazy was bound to drag the image down.
"Haha. Treat you as if you are not here. How could I ignore a personage like Sir Kyle?"
"Haha... A personage like me?"
A personage like me. What on earth was he referring to?
"So about that, Sir Kyle—do you happen to have anyone already decided regarding marriage?"
"Pardon? Of course not. I'm still too busy just finding my own way to live. Marriage? That's out of the question."
I was only twenty-five.
On top of that, I had only recently left the Church and taken up the academy professor post.
Thinking about marriage already felt a bit... too early, didn't it?
But Conrad Albrecht seemed to see things differently.
"In that case, what about my daughter, Linea?"