The Intruders of the Ketel Monastery
The Abbot smiled kindly as he led Selma into the private study room.
“I’ll bring the ancient texts shortly. Please wait here.”
Although it was called a private study room, no such space was actually needed within the church. Instead, the monks had simply erected a temporary partition in a corner of the library.
Grateful for the considerate gesture that allowed her to examine the texts comfortably, Selma expressed her thanks.
“Thank you for taking such care of me, Abbot. I’m at a loss for words for your kindness.”
“It’s nothing at all. Everything is simply in accordance with Keslokea’s will. Ah, the texts have arrived.”
Unlike the ordinary books on the shelves, the rare ancient manuscripts were all retrieved from the vault. A wagon pulled by a priest carried a large cabinet that was carefully stopped.
Opening the cabinet revealed a towering pile of dust-covered ancient texts.
“As expected, the records from the Era of Silence are truly numerous.”
“Yes, because that was a period when religion was suppressed. The ancient scholars had their tongues sealed, so they wrote down the injustices in text form.”
“Writing down the truth was dangerous, yet without the scholars’ sacrifice we would never have obtained wisdom and history. It makes me bow my head in respect.”
When Selma praised the Ketel priests who had risked their lives to leave behind these records, the Abbot nodded with a proud expression.
“There are too many texts to examine, so I will assist you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”
“You need not go to such lengths, Abbot…”
“It’s fine. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people have shown interest in history. If it weren’t for you, Sister Selma, these records from the Era of Silence would still be gathering dust. One cannot call oneself a priest if one does not help those who carry faith.”
The Abbot’s praise had been far too excessive. Selma, who had not expected him to stay and help, was momentarily taken aback but nodded in agreement.
“Then I shall accept the honor of receiving your assistance.”
“Honor? Haha, I am not that great a person. Besides, I can finally read the texts in peace after a long time. I am quite pleased.”
With an utterly oblivious smile, the Abbot pulled out one text and sat down on a chair.
Seeing the Abbot’s pure, genuine smile, Selma returned a slightly stiff one and turned her attention to the text.
Although the situation was unexpected, she supposed it was fine. The Abbot would be extremely busy today.
While Selma relaxed, completely forgetting she was still in the library, the priests suddenly rushed in with urgency.
“Abbot! Keslokea has descended!”
“Eh?”
The Abbot’s face turned blank with the unimaginable words.
“No! The Saintess! The Saintess has arrived!”
“Countless believers have come looking for us!”
“A miracle! The gods have sent a miracle! We must pray!”
The priests’ statements were all different. To conclude they were mad, their eyes were all filled with such reverence that they had witnessed the gods’ miracle firsthand. The Abbot, bewildered, replied.
“Everyone, please speak calmly. Are you not embarrassing yourselves in front of the believers? Recognize that you serve the god of order and stillness.”
“Ah… I’m sorry, Abbot… But the sanctuary is now overflowing with holiness…”
“The sanctuary again…? What day is it today…?”
Watching the Abbot’s dejected expression, Selma smiled inwardly.
Yet her gaze remained gentle, not matching her inner amusement.
“It seems to have been a rather eventful day. I understand you need help, Abbot. Do not concern yourself with me.”
“I’m sorry for the mess. I’ll be back shortly.”
The Abbot bowed his head in apology and left the library, following the rambling priests.
Aria’s journey, which had begun slowly with dozens of followers, had now swelled to hundreds as she approached the Ketel Monastery.
Her seemingly leisurely steps halted at the entrance to the monastery gate, where the holy knights guarding the entrance stared blankly at Aria’s face instead of even noticing the crowd behind her.
“I have come to pray to Keslokea.”
Looking down slightly with her long eyelashes, Aria’s modest bow caused the holy knight to nod unconsciously.
After offering thanks to the knight, she entered, and the crowd behind her followed.
Normally they would have been stopped, but their orderly and reverent expressions left the knight unsure how to proceed.
Observing Aria’s slow steps as she advanced toward the sanctuary, a priest knelt.
“Keslokea… You have descended…”
“I am not a god. I am merely a vessel of that one.”
“Saintess!”
With that mistaken exclamation, Aria continued walking forward.
Like an army entering, the orderly fanatics flooded into the sanctuary, causing the startled priests to panic.
Reaching the very end of the rows of chairs, Aria knelt before the statue of Keslokea.
Following her slow kneel, the fanatics behind her all dropped to their knees in perfect unison, as if they had received formal training.
“I greet Keslokea, the one who governs order and stillness.”
“I greet Keslokea, the one who governs order and stillness!!”
Following Aria’s quiet words, the fanatics cried out loudly.
Since the sanctuary echoed well, their voices boomed across the entire monastery.
“Protect the wronged and grant true order.”
“Protect the wronged and grant true order!!”
Like soldiers chanting before battle, the tone was nothing like ordinary prayer. Yet the priests and knights who had come to the sanctuary felt a strange reverence and watched the kneeling Aria at the front.
Under the sunlight streaming through the tall windows, Aria’s body shone with a divine radiance.
So holy was her appearance that some priests fell to their knees and began shouting her words along with the fanatics.
This was the complete opposite of their usual calm, quiet prayers.
The Abbot, who had arrived late and come to investigate the scene, could only stare in bewilderment.
“Haaam~ Is there something happening up there?”
“Stop being tense, Calderk.”
Seeing Calderk’s lax attitude toward his duties, the Ketel holy knight Deloun frowned.
“But it’s so boring. What kind of idiot would even think of fighting the Ketel Church?”
“That’s exactly why the holy relic was stolen.”
“That’s because we exhibited it in a vulnerable sanctuary while trusting the believers. The greedy ones acted on impulse. If we’re guarding it properly, who would even show up? If someone comes now, they’d be starting a full war with the Ketel Church.”
Despite Deloun’s pointed remarks, Calderk’s attitude remained unchanged.
Especially today, when he could have sparred with the academy’s genius Diana Deschubella, he was stuck on guard duty, leaving him even more restless.
Although Deloun also wanted to spar with Diana, he understood Calderk’s feelings yet knew one had to separate duty from desire.
“We received orders to guard the vault and give our all.”
“Yes, yes. That’s why we’re guarding it. But honestly, we’ve laid down plenty of miracle detection arrays inside the monastery. You can relax a little. If there’s an intruder, we’ll detect them before anyone else.”
“That’s true.”
Right now the monastery had been detecting mana for the entire day.
All living beings possess mana, including holy knights, priests, and even ordinary villagers.
Anyone entering places other than the sanctuary triggers detection, and unauthorized intruders cause the alarm to ring immediately.
“I’m not speaking as a holy knight, but don’t place too much faith in miracles. Even if it’s a miracle invoking divine power, the one performing it is still human. There could be holes anywhere.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll keep your wise words deep in my heart.”
Calderk grumbled as he stared down the empty corridor.
“The greatest show on earth that surpasses human limits!!!! I will entertain you all with my~ roar~!!!”
Seset, standing in the square, raised her hand high and shouted loudly.
Among the magic scholars gathered for research, some furrowed their brows at Seset’s noisy performance like an event, but they were more excited to see the girl standing in the center of the magic circle who was about to demonstrate her mana.
She had cute light-green hair and a petite body.
Yet the power contained within that small frame was said to exceed human limits.
Anyone researching this mysterious phenomenon would be interested, and luckily the academy had announced it would demonstrate mana.
“The protective barrier is sturdy, so don’t be scared! Even if mana erupts, you won’t get hurt. There’s no better show anywhere—come quickly! Come and see! It’s an experience you can’t get for money!”
Thanks to Seset’s incredible showmanship, whether in front of the monastery or the town square, people stopped and gathered near her.
Though Mia’s face paled at the mention of mana explosion, she remembered Rai’s words urging her to do it for Zeroa’s sake and took a deep breath to steady herself.
At her feet lay a magic circle that amplified mana.
Even without the amplification, controlling her mana was difficult, so she worried whether she could actually handle the added surge.
“Then I’ll begin. Those who have questions, please wait until the demonstration ends to ask.”
Philia, walking among the magic scholars, spoke calmly before nodding at Mia.
“Huu…”
With a tense face, Mia breathed deeply and closed her eyes to concentrate.
- Vwoooooom
Accompanied by a ominous vibration, Mia’s academy coat fluttered in the wind.
Transparent, pale green winds rose from her feet into the sky.
- Kuwuuuung
“Kyyyaaaaargh!”
After the vibrations grew heavy, a sudden burst of mana erupted from Mia’s body.
“Oh! This is the first time pure mana has manifested like this!!”
“The meter? What happened to the readings?!”
Seeing Mia enveloped in a massive mana sphere, the magic scholars watched in shock, observing frantically.
“Hehe~ The holy knights must be freaking out.”
“You look happy.”
Seeing Seset grin maliciously, Philia asked.
“Of course I do. I can squash those using unreasonable miracles with magic. What greater joy could there be for a pure mage?”
Seset was smiling with a wicked grin.
“What?! What kind of mana reaction is this?!”
Without even needing to detect it, the tingling on his skin caused Deloun to startle and look in the direction where mana was felt.
“Whoa… The academy really does have monsters. Is this the mana test? I didn’t know they actually did tests like that. I didn’t expect this level.”
“Mana test?”
Deloun frowned at Calderk’s words.
“You didn’t know? The pure mages were shouting about it nonstop. Some student who can wield dragon mana or something. I don’t know if they’ve seen a dragon, but the mana feels so real it makes you wonder if they’re even human.”
Despite his calm tone, Deloun grew angry.
“You idiot! What does that even matter now? The mana reaction is too strong for the monastery’s detection arrays to function properly!”
“Eh… Really?”
“Stop the mana test right now and come out.”
“But… We’re doing it outside and already received market approval…”
Since all detection was focused on the huge mana reaction outside, no one could detect an intruder even if one appeared.
Deloun kicked Calderk in the shin, his expression stern.
“Since there was a theft case, we can order them to stop. And call more holy knights to the front. Exclude the duty rotation and essential staff; guard the entrance entirely.”
“Do we really have to go that far?”
“Move.”
With Deloun’s firm command, Calderk had no choice but to obey.
Ignoring the commotion outside, Selma had placed all the texts from the cabinet onto the table and suddenly sensed an approach, chuckling.
“The first undead to step foot inside the monastery. I’ll leave my mark in the history books.”
Smiling mockingly, Selma turned around. Agnes, riding the unicorn Tora, greeted her.
“It’s been a while. Sorry for causing you trouble last time.”
“Auntie, the people who got hit by you last time aren’t healed yet?”
“Neither are the ones who got hit by you.”
While holding Agnes’s hand, Rai chuckled and said something, causing Selma to frown and toss a book at him.
Easily catching the book, Rai handed it to Agnes and looked at the cabinet.
“If I force it, maybe it’ll squeeze in.”
“Phew— Is it really going to fit?”
“Stop giving up. You have no choice but to be dragged in.”
“But, but…”
Elin’s face looked as if she would cry as she looked for salvation from the others, but she finally gave up and wormed her way into the cabinet.
“Please hold on until the end, hey, move your legs. No no, the other way, the other way, damn it! If you stab your eye—”
“Uwaaa. Ears, my ears! My ears are getting twisted!”
The cabinet was large, but the two could barely fit. Rai was forced inside anyway.
Unable to bear the sight of the two idiotic figures, Selma closed the cabinet and handed the arranged texts to Agnes.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, Master Rai gave me a holy power-suppressing amulet, and this place doesn’t get much light, so I should be fine for now.”
Although she said so, Agnes’s expression showed she was pushing her limits.
To avoid the risk of annihilation if she waited too long, Selma quickly stacked all the texts onto Tora’s back.
“We meet an unfortunate child, and both of us suffer.”
“No. Zeroa is a wonderful person.”
The unfortunate child she meant was Rai, but to avoid correcting her, Selma simply nodded and sent Agnes off.
With a whoosh, Tora and Agnes carrying the texts vanished. Selma pushed the wagon and left the library.