Chapter 152
Chapter 152
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: The Spear Saintess
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A woman with pink hair tied tightly back gazed at the vast flower field.
Flowers dyed a red like roses, but a softer shade of pink.
The saintess's eyes upon them were calmly settled.
“Those who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot speak......”
The saintess looked at the garden underground where Laktus's Tears were planted.
And at the statues positioned between the garden beds, radiating holy power.
The saintess's eyes took them in.
Gazing at those who had themselves become spirit stones, the saintess waited for a man approaching her.
Eyes gouged out.
Ears torn off.
Tongue severed, holding a spear.
The Laktus Garden.
The sole guardian of that place.
The guardian protected the warehouse of holy water.
No matter who approached—even the emperor himself—he would block the door with his spear.
“Even if they cannot see, cannot hear, cannot speak, you must know who I am.”
He would even aim his spear at the emperor.
That was the guardian of the holy water.
With no choice, the saintess drew her spear.
The saintess's holy spear.
Raphael.
Boom!
A single thrust.
The guardian blocked it but fell.
His hand gripping the spear trembled.
The saintess gazed mournfully at the fallen guardian, then turned to the garden.
There, people were diligently fumbling about, tending and cultivating the flowers.
They were slaves without eyes, with ears severed, tongues pulled out.
These slaves who toiled like that had once been valiant heroes charging across battlefields, guardians roaming the forests.
But now, they crawled on the ground, caressing the flowers with their few remaining fingers, plucking the blossoms.
‘It's only natural for the sake of the Empire.’
Words the emperor had spoken.
For the Empire. For Laktus.
It was only logical to turn defeated soldiers into slaves and use them.
Even the emperor didn't wish to sacrifice his own citizens, after all.
“Every time I see it, it just feels so wrong.”
Wearing an expression that said it was hard to watch, the saintess took a few vials from among the hundreds of holy waters stacked in the warehouse.
The holy waters vanished into the air between her delicate jade hands.
It was a phenomenon like magic, but no one nearby could see it.
“Then, keep up the good work.”
Though no one could hear her.
The saintess said that and vanished.
* * *
Boltan's Colosseum.
A place where countless slaves gathered to fight dozens, hundreds of battles a day.
Their statuses varied from slaves to mercenaries to fallen nobles, but those in the Colosseum had one job.
“Die!!”
To kill the opponent before them.
To drench the ground in the opponent's blood.
-Roaaaaar!!
That excited and thrilled the spectators.
“The saintess herself came to this Colosseum a few years back and defeated every strong fighter, they say.”
“Yeah, I've heard that story too. It was famous once. Pretty impressive, right?”
Watching the Colosseum fights, Aldu and Philo recalled the famous anecdote as they observed the gladiators spilling blood.
The Spear Saintess.
The story of her birth.
One day, a pink-haired woman appeared out of nowhere and stood tall with a single spear.
Vicious criminals, retired soldiers, defeated remnants, knights who had lost hands. And more.
She defeated enemies her woman's body shouldn't have been able to handle.
As she marched on undefeated and became famous, the Empire's Spear took interest and appeared before her.
And she produced a result no one could have predicted.
‘Empire's Spear, Defeated.’
It caused such a stir across the entire Empire that newspapers blared the headline.
Thus, she became a knight, then the Empire's Spear, and ultimately a saintess.
In a short time, she left behind numerous legendary feats, growing stronger with each one.
Someone even said,
‘She is accumulating dignity.’
Her growth showed no limits.
Rumors abounded that the saintess was still
“getting stronger.”
A man who had read the bestseller detailing her anecdotes, a column on the Spear Saintess, tilted his head.
A man in a pure white robe with a hood.
Blended among the spectators, lost in thought, he couldn't hide his bewilderment as he recalled her story.
“Was there a route like this?”
He was the Sword of Carpe.
To some, the Ashen Knight.
A new transcendent: Kallias von Jervan.
‘The saintess.’
The more he learned of her tales, the stranger it seemed.
Like a being growing stronger by breaking the balance, perhaps.
Of course, there was some exaggeration, but even accounting for that, her growth and feats were astonishingly impressive.
‘Five years.’
Feats one person could achieve in a mere five years.
Moreover, that pale pink hair.
Kallias felt even stronger doubt about the hair color.
Human hair couldn't be pale pink.
There were diverse races here, but he'd never heard of pure human hair being that color.
‘And I never set it that way.’
Of course.
Unless she wasn't human.
“Oh, there he is. I bet on him. He looks super strong, right?”
“What are you talking about? All muscle, no finesse. I bet on that guy.”
The fighter Aldu pointed to looked like a slightly lean warrior.
He uniquely wielded a staff.
‘A staff?’
The staff that man held.
It looked familiar.
‘Where have I seen it?’
As he pondered briefly.
Rooooar!
Cheers erupted from the stands.
“Ooh! Yes!”
Aldu rejoiced, while Philo despaired.
The staff-wielding fighter had knocked his opponent out in a single exchange.
‘Why is that person there?’
Kallias called over someone arranging nearby bets and wagered half his fortune on the staff-wielding fighter.
She was the woman who had been the 61st Layer Lord.
Ovarna.
“Now that I think about it, Ovarna had a fate of getting caught in needless incidents. Was it a trait? Something like that.”
Perhaps that's why.
High chance she'd unintentionally become a Colosseum fighter.
Her trait was like that, and her personality easily swept up in the atmosphere, so it wasn't strange for her to appear anywhere.
Of course, he hadn't dreamed she'd show up here.
‘Not my concern.’
He didn't know why she was in the Empire or playing gladiator, but it was a chance to make a fortune.
Moments later.
Within his hood, his eyes turned violet, his senses sharpening further.
With that, sensing the unprecedented holy power emanating from underground the Colosseum, he gained strong conviction.
The more blood was spilled.
The subtler the holy power rising from below grew stronger.
So subtle an ordinary person wouldn't notice.
Even a human-transcending master probably couldn't sense it easily.
Like the faint aroma from a corked wine bottle.
Only a fairy possessed senses this keen.
But fairies had no interest in holy power and never appeared in the human world, so only one could sense this aura.
A human with both fairy power and holy power.
In this world, only Kallias.
“It's the same.”
The Laktus Garden was underground.
Beneath this Colosseum.
So the issue was one.
‘I need to find the entrance.’
The past month.
He had slipped quietly into the Empire.
Easier than expected.
His senses were even keener than before becoming a master, and concealing his presence was as easy as closing his eyes.
Plus, with the Iron Lord at his command, diverting the military's attention was simple.
Thus.
He reached Boltan swiftly and safely, disguising himself as a spectator to infiltrate the Colosseum.
Honestly, up to here, everything went as planned.
Piece of cake.
But the problem started now.
‘Find the entrance......’
Kallias didn't even know where the entrance was. It would take considerable time to locate.
Of course, a more aggressive approach could solve it.
For example.
“Should I just smash it all?”
He knew it was underground the Colosseum.
So if he demolished everything? Smooth sailing.
‘Of course, can't do that.’
No matter how strong he'd become, this was Boltan.
Forget the tight security—there were many hidden experts.
If the saintess happened to be here, it'd be a headache, naturally.
Better to take time and find the entrance safely, he thought just then.
-Hey! No. 193! Allows the first attack of the day!!
The Colosseum's hype man shouted dramatically.
No. 193.
The staff-wielding master Kallias had bet on.
Ovarna's leather armor was half torn.
Before her stood a gladiator.
Oddly, the opponent also looked familiar.
Aqua hair sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.
Skin like white jade, pink lips curled up in delight.
Kallias unwittingly shot to his feet, frowning.
“Why are you coming out there?”
Ovarna's opponent was none other than Carpe's saintess candidate.
No, by now, solidifying her position enough to be called a saintess.
The Sword Saintess.
Esther Sol Sillyard.
“Someone you know?”
“......”
Kallias held his tongue at Philo's question. Sensing the dragonkin's intuition, Philo bet his entire remaining fortune.
She seemed familiar, and she wielded a sword, so likely someone Kallias knew.
A swordsman Kallias knew?
Obviously a powerhouse!!
“Six thousand gold on the aqua hair!”
The so-called reverse bet.
Philo promptly wagered all his remaining money.
With Ovarna on a winning streak, it was natural to go for Esther's higher odds, who had just entered.
Following Philo's bold move, Kallias handed over half his fortune too.
No matter who won, Kallias had no intention of losing money on the bet.
And Kallias soon sensed it.
‘As expected, you're a saintess too.’
The aura from Esther.
The subtle energy only those who had broken through walls possessed proved she was a master.
Kallias's lips curled up.
“This is gonna be fun.”