Chapter 1 - Saintess Candidate Number 116
Saintess Candidate Number 116
Translator : Elizabeth
When he opened his eyes, he was no longer he.
He was she.
The first time he realized that things had ended up this way.
It was when he was receiving the Ritual of Light in front of a priest at the cathedral church.
The priest announced to her:
“Saintess Candidate, Number 116. Louise.”
Named just like that, as if it were a prisoner number.
Louise was immediately sent to a special convent.
Young women dressed in nun’s habits.
Every girl here was a Saintess Candidate, just like Louise.
Opened eyes, became a Saintess.
And not just any Saintess, but Candidate Number 116.
It was the very last number.
On top of that, the fact that she had emitted the most intense light during the ritual had long since spread as a rumor throughout the convent.
“Don’t you think it’s undeserved for a mere commoner to receive such a blessing?”
“For a Number 116 who came in last, that is.”
“Why don’t you say something? Number 116.”
Originally, faith and blessings were laws belonging to those noble from birth.
However, because Louise, of commoner origin, emitted a light more brilliant than any other Saintess Candidate.
And it wasn’t just the light she harbored; her appearance, too, was the most brilliant of all.
And so,
Just as the shadows are cast deeper when the light is strong,
“Now that pretty face has finally found its proper place.”
“Since it became messy because of you. Hm?”
“While you’re tidying up, you clean the bathroom too. Understand?”
Especially in a convent where only women were gathered, the intensity of it was bound to be stronger.
The reason for the bullying was jealousy.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
“And it really feels gross when you mutter strange words to yourself.”
“Do you think pretending to speak in tongues like that will get you chosen? Hmph.”
“Weird kid. Gross.”
Louise.
The last Saintess Candidate.
Her number, 116.
In the convent.
No.
In this world.
She was like a heretic.
—Creeaaaak.
“What is it, you’re only coming in now? Louise, I’m telling you, even if we are roommates, there is a limit to constantly deceiving the Director about the curfew like this…… W-Whoa?! W-What is with that state!”
“Hm? Ah, it’s fine. It’s fine. I merely entered a state of being wet with water.”
Louise had a face that said there was truly no problem at all.
“Considering this degree of dry humidity, my calculations concluded long ago that even in this small dormitory, saturation will not be reached and I will dry sufficiently. Fufu♬”
“I mean, why do you have to say the day is sunny in such an incomprehensible…… Ugh, the smell! Did you get done in by them again?!”
“Them? Excluding you and me, there are 114 applicable individuals, you know?”
“I know very well without you having to say it that you are hated by every other candidate, okay?!”
“Ahaha, that’s right♬ It was like that during my school days too. I’m used to it.”
“School days……? Ah, I don’t know anymore, seriously. It has nothing to do with me, and more importantly, you smell like mop water so hurry up and change and wash…… Wait, why are you sitting at your desk like that?!”
However, it was too late for the roommate to point it out to Louise.
She knew this as well.
—Scritch, scratch!
Because once Louise sat down, she would never stop until that calculation or whatever it was finished, no matter who came or what they said.
Eventually, when the angry Convent Director snatched her paper and tore it up,
She simply continued writing recklessly on the desk, on the floor, on the wallpaper,
And even on her own body, causing her to suffer great humiliation.
And when even her pen was taken away,
Louise suddenly borrowed the power of light and began writing unrecognizable language in the air.
In the end, it was only a few weeks ago that the convent was in an uproar, wondering if she had awakened as a Saintess of Light.
“Really, seriously…… I’m not some nanny, why do I have to clean up after you…… Stop for a second and lift both arms, let me take your clothes off.”
Louise gave no answer to her roommate’s words, but she familiarly lifted her left hand nonetheless.
With a sigh, the roommate skillfully stripped the clothes from that one hand.
“Okay, next.”
Following that, she was able to strip the right hand as well.
Even while her clothes were being stripped like that, Louise alternated between her left and right hands, continuing to write down those 『Calculations』.
As the roommate wiped down Louise, who was now in her sleeveless underwear, starting from her armpits, she spoke.
“Really…… Every single day, alone, writing strange languages recklessly…… Are you really possessed by a demon or something?”
“……”
“That’s why you’re always getting bullied by Alice and her group. She’s the third daughter of the Luminous family, who are deeply religious even without this, so I told you to at least stay quiet and still in front of her.”
“…….”
—Scritch, scritch scratch!
Louise remained silent.
According to her, this was the so-called 『Concentration』 mode.
She said that once she enters concentration mode, she blocks out all unnecessary information except for calculation and derivation, and goes all-in on her computational domain…….
Even hearing such incomprehensible sounds had become all too familiar now.
“Haa…….”
Eventually, just like any other time, today the roommate wiped away all the mop water that had stained Louise.
Just with that alone, that unique baby-like scent of hers began to rise again; it certainly made one think—ah, Louise really is loved by God.
—Scritch! Scritch scratch!
However, these 『Calculations』 she was writing right now were a language that did not appear in any bible.
Let alone the bible, characters that wouldn’t be found even if one searched the whole world, characters that only a demon would know.
Especially with recognizable numbers appearing here and there in between, it made one’s head hurt more than a merchant’s ledger.
Since merchants usually possess the habit of chasing only money and numbers, perhaps they have some aspects similar to demons.
Of course, even so, even if you brought the greatest wealthy merchant here,
There would be no one who could understand the sentences Louise was writing right now.
A fellow nun who had shown an expression of disgust, saying she hadn’t seen it herself but it resembled those who research dark magic, suddenly came to mind.
In other words,
Even though she had seen it every day and should be sick of it by now.
Things had gone round and round until it reached the moment where she was genuinely curious about what that was.
“……So, Louise.”
“…….”
—Scritch, scritch scratch.
“Asking now is weird, and honestly wanting to know now is also weird, I guess.”
“……”
—Scritch, scritch scratch.
“So that 『Calculation』 thing, what are you calculating?”
—Scritch scratch…….
—Tap.
Louise’s hand, which had been moving the quill pen busily, suddenly stopped dead.
Immediately after, whish! Louise’s head spun around to the back.
“Finally, Mary, you too have started to take an interest in physics, in the principles of nature and all creation!!”
“H-Hiek.”
At the transformation that was far too sudden, the roommate was startled and flinched slightly.
But that was only for a moment.
“I. Said!! I’ve told you so many times, I’m not Mary, I’m Mary!!” (Note: In Korean, the distinction is often between "Ma-ri" and "Me-eo-ri". The translation reflects the intent below).
“But, but! Mary and Marie are just slightly different in pronunciation! Besides, 'Mary Curie' sounds weird, doesn't it? 'Marie Curie' sounds much better to hear!”
“So just what family is this Curie from……?! I’m from commoner stock just like you!”
“Aha, if you ask who Marie Curie is, she was a pioneer in radioactivity research and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but she loved radioactivity so much she slept with it by her bedside and eventually got cancer and died…… Ah, right! This isn’t it. Anyway, the important thing is that Mary has taken an interest in my research! Yeah!”
“W-Wait. You definitely said she died to me? Huh? You said she died of what……!”
“Anyway, listen. What I have been calculating all this time, ever since I, no, was possessed…… err, ever since I received the Ritual of Light~! The framework is Quantum Electrodynamics, a theory that integrates electromagnetism and quantum mechanics! In other words, it is based on QED but……!”
Louise snorted a rough hmph! from her small nostrils and rattled on, filled with excitement.
One couldn't understand a single thing she was saying.
It wasn’t for nothing that Alice’s gang poured purification water—which was actually mop water—on her every time, claiming it was certain she was possessed by a demon.
Just as she was in the middle of regretting asking for no reason.
At that moment,
“……Furthermore!! It is a calculation that is deriving by newly adding something called 『Mana』 to the basic axioms of that electromagnetism!!”
For the first time, a word that even her roommate Mary could understand came out.
“Adding…… Mana to calculate anew……?”
“Yeah!!”
Louise added, her two eyes twinkling like starlight.
“If this calculation and derivation are correct, ungh, it’s definitely correct though! Anyway! If that happens, by changing the energy level of mana—”
Louise declared as if filled with conviction.
“—I can emit light at will!!”
At the completely nonsensical words, Mary grumbled without realizing it.
“What?”
Using mana to emit light at will.
“Using mana…… Then without a blessing or doctrine?”
“Yeah!! As long as there is mana!”
In other words, if there is mana, one can use Light Magic.
“Ha…… I wondered what you were saying…….”
It was nonsensical talk.
It wasn't for nothing that Mary had grumbled.
“That makes no sense. If you could use Light Magic at will just because there’s mana, why would the Church exist and why would this convent exist?”
Light Magic was significantly different in attribute from other magic.
Of course, since Light Magic is also magic, it naturally uses mana, the flow from the source of the world.
She had no intention of refuting that statement.
However,
“Right. Why does it exist?”
“W-What……? No, you remember the Doctrine of Light, right?”
“Doctrine? Ah, axioms?”
“…….”
She couldn't possibly leave this kid Louise alone, tilting her head like a squirrel with that innocent face pretending she was hearing this for the complete first time.
“……Haa, listen well. Louise.”
Mary decided to pick up her imaginary glasses with a deep sigh.
“Light Magic, The First Doctrine.”
Soon, supporting one elbow with the back of her hand, Mary continued speaking in an explanatory tone as if she had become an Academy professor.
“Light is the grace of God, and Light Magic is a handful of miracles where the Goddess has deemed thee precious. So, receive the blessing with that faith.”
If we were to roughly interpret this in the usual tone of the kid Louise,
—If you want to use freaking awesome Light Magic, you have to prove your faith at the Church first!!
It was like this.
It was exactly as said.
Magic that can only be used when one receives a blessing under the presence of the Church that serves the Creator God and His Goddess of Humans.
That was precisely Light Magic.
It was in a different orbit from other attribute magic that one essentially becomes able to use naturally just by possessing the aptitude and attribute.
That is why Light Magic is called a type of miracle.
Nuns who are recognized for their blessings to some extent wield healing magic impossible in other attributes.
And when it comes to a Saintess who will awaken later, it is said they recover even severed and lost limbs like a lie.
If it reaches that level, it is no different from a miracle that has already transcended healing and magic.
That is why this convent was created, and why they scraped together as many as 116 Saintess Candidates from all over the country, regardless of whether they were nobles or commoners, wasn’t it?
Of course,
“Although you are the latest as Number 116, I acknowledge that you are more blessed by the Light, by the Goddess, than other senior candidates.”
It is true that she, Louise, is tacitly spoken of as having received the most blessings from the Goddess among those 116.
“But what you just said went too far. Even if your healing magic and protection magic are a bit more outstanding than other candidates, and even if you are loved by the Light enough to have recklessly written letters with light last time…… No matter what, mana is merely one of the offerings dedicated to the Goddess; just because you have mana doesn’t mean you can do as you please without ritual or prayer—”
—Flash!
“Done!”
Light erupted.
“Look!!”
Louise, not even realizing it was blinding, stared directly at the brilliant sphere of light at the tip of her index finger, her two eyes shining even brighter than the light itself.
“It’s a success!! Continuous light emission caused by the spontaneous emission of mana!!”
She hadn't seen it wrong.
Louise, a sphere of light was emitting light atop her index finger.
“Aha! Ahaha~!”
Brilliantly.
In all directions.