The Saintess Enrolls at Dairos Academy
As Arthur headed to the bathroom, her loose clothes doing their best to conceal her voluptuous figure that looked ready to burst at any moment, Yuri frowned as if she found it incredibly difficult to believe what she had just seen was real. Yet doubting the evidence of her own eyes was absurd. Besides, Kyle had remained remarkably calm, as if he had known all along.
“......What was that?”
“Um...... Rather than asking me, wouldn’t it be better to hear it straight from her?”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
Yuri clutched her head and rose from the bed. Her skull was still buzzing from having her mana drained by the dragon, but she realized this wasn’t the kind of conversation to have while lying down.
A short while later, Arthur emerged from the bathroom, now wearing baggy clothes that covered her chest and hips. She froze the moment she saw Yuri staring intently at her.
“Uh...... You’re awake?”
“Arthur, you’re a girl?”
“Eh, ehh?”
Arthur, who had not expected her to have witnessed the transformation, simply stared in a daze. But in this moment, she could not deny the truth. One only needed to come closer and touch her chest once to know for certain. There was no hiding it.
When Arthur gave a small nod, Yuri let out a deep sigh.
“To deceive everyone about your gender and enter the academy... You understand there’d be no excuse if you were expelled, right?”
“I know that much. And─ even if this fact comes out, I won’t be expelled.”
“......You really think you can keep attending after fooling the entire academy?”
“Even you, a 4-star mage, never realized I was a girl, right? The headmaster, a Master, was the same. How do you think I managed to deceive a Master-level mage?”
The only ones capable of fooling a Master-level mage like the headmaster would be mages of an even higher realm. When one considered that most Masters held status above ordinary nobles, it meant the power backing Arthur was beyond imagination. Even if Yuri exposed her identity, expulsion would never happen.
Reading her intentions, Yuri realized that revealing the truth had become a pointless move.
“Then, setting that aside, there’s still one huge problem left.”
“What is it...?”
“Why does Kyle know you’re a woman?”
That was right. The fact that she was female wasn’t all that important. Hiding such a thing was impressive, but the academy was full of people with similar secrets. No, the unforgivable part was that Kyle knew. Who could say what the two of them─with everyone believing Arthur was male─had done while alone together?
“I found out the last time we drank. That’s when.”
Fortunately, Kyle answered in her place.
At his reply, Yuri whipped her head toward him.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“You were there too. The fact that you don’t remember is what’s strange to me.”
“......I was drunk at the time.”
“I thought you’d seen it too. That’s why I kept quiet.”
Yuri pressed her lips tightly together. She truly didn’t remember. But it was true that the three of them had drunk together back then. If Arthur had revealed her secret while Yuri was drunk and her memories hazy, then the fault lay with her own blackout.
Admitting her own mistake was difficult and wounded her pride. Still, there was one thing she needed to confirm.
“Hiding the fact that you’re a woman─does it have something to do with the other secret you’re keeping?”
“Yes...... I can’t give you the details, but.”
“Then that’s enough. I’m not such a terrible bitch that I’d dig any deeper.”
A few things still felt unresolved, but Yuri stopped her interrogation there. She had realized that uncovering every last one of Arthur’s secrets would be politically unwise. Magic capable of concealing its user even from a Master. Given that the headmaster was a 5-star mage, the caster who had enchanted Arthur had to be at least 6-star. A powerhouse equal to her own father, the duke. With such a figure backing her, stirring up unnecessary trouble would be the worst possible move.
“─Still, acting as a man must come with plenty of inconveniences.”
“Well... yeah. I just have to endure it.”
“I heard all the male cadets in the Knight Department bathe together at the same time.”
Seeing Arthur flinch, Yuri became certain she had done something. When she shot a careful glare at Kyle, he awkwardly scratched his cheek. So he had seen. Realizing this, Yuri glared fiercely at Arthur. She herself hadn’t even seen it yet. How dare another woman lay eyes on her fiancé’s naked body first?
“Kyle, come with me.”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden......”
“I said come with me.”
Yuri immediately dragged Kyle into the bathroom. Loud noises soon echoed from inside, but Arthur forced a dry laugh and did her best to ignore them.
The academy’s opening ceremony was not held. It was as if such an event was unnecessary for elite students; instead, they immediately hammered the vacation-rusted bodies and minds with the full force of classes.
“Did you enjoy your break?”
At Gawain’s words, the Knight Department students answered with energy. Yet it was impossible to deny that their spirit was weaker than before vacation. Sensing this, Gawain clicked his tongue as he surveyed them.
“It’s a memory only teenagers can enjoy, a vacation that won’t come again in your lifetime. If you slacked off on training with all sorts of excuses─you’d better steel yourselves. The second semester will feature training more than twice as harsh as the first.”
Of course, vacation and rest were not completely useless. In fact, some students had recovered the muscles they overworked daily by actually resting during the break. However, there were certainly others who had completely ignored training under the guise of vacation, rendering everything they built in the first semester meaningless. The former group would achieve dazzling growth, while the latter would taste hell itself.
“Everyone, head to the training grounds and run. Execute!”
“Execute!”
At Gawain’s command, every student immediately rose and sprinted toward the training grounds. Kyle tried to follow, but Gawain blocked his path and stopped him.
“What is it, old man? I need to go run.”
“Shut your mouth. You little punk─did you cause trouble again?”
“What trouble?”
“Look at this.”
Gawain pulled a newspaper from inside his coat. Kyle, thinking so these things exist here too, accepted it and unfolded the pages. The face he had seen not long ago dominated the front page. It was the Saintess, Lagrisha.
“What about it?”
“Does it make any sense for the Saintess to suddenly show up at the academy? You must have caused some kind of incident, you bastard.”
“Come on, the clergy are already here for practical training, aren’t they? It’s probably that.”
“The Saintess needs training? Don’t make me laugh. You might as well claim a Master is learning swordsmanship at some neighborhood dojo.”
A cleric capable of shattering demon skulls single-handedly and blessing an entire city. A being who monopolized God’s love and wielded martial power comparable to a Master. What could such a Saintess possibly learn at the academy? In the first place, the clergy curriculum at Dairos Academy was thoroughly ordinary. It had nothing to teach a Master, nor even a priest who had only just earned their qualifications.
“There is something that changed the Saintess’s mind. And the culprit is you. That’s the conclusion I’ve reached.”
“Your reasoning is truly impressive, old man. You could quit knighthood and become a detective.”
“So what the hell happened?”
At Gawain’s demand, Kyle shrugged as if it were no big deal and explained the events. Madmen who had absorbed black magic appeared near his territory. When he went to deal with them, a demon emerged. After defeating it, the Saintess appeared and engraved a Stigma on his hand.
Gawain, who had listened quietly, wore an expression of pure disbelief before speaking in a low voice.
“Are you writing a damn novel? Why would a demon suddenly appear? And why the sudden Stigma?”
“How should I know? Go ask the person who gave it to me.”
“So you really are the culprit. ......The headmaster’s going to throw another fit.”
Gawain clicked his tongue and strode off. Kyle watched him leave before finally heading to the training grounds. By then the Knight Department students had already completed several laps and were still running, drenched in sweat. Kyle naturally slipped into their ranks. A few students shot him dirty looks, but he paid them no mind.
“Ta-da─!”
At lunchtime, Kyle let out a dry laugh the moment he saw Sera appear before him.
“......You. What the hell is that outfit?”
“Why? Doesn’t it look cool?”
Sera had shown up covered in bizarre accessories that looked like something indigenous tribes would wear. Layered over the academy uniform, the mismatch was painful to the eyes. Kyle covered his face with one hand and stared at the ground. This girl’s fashion sense was truly catastrophic. It was so bad that his own habit of simply wearing underarmor everywhere actually seemed superior.
“Just throw it away. All of it.”
“No way! Do you even know what these are!? This is─”
As Sera flailed to protect her accessories, the necklace around her neck suddenly began to vibrate violently.
Whoosh─!
Dragged forward by the necklace, Sera slammed her face directly between Kyle’s legs and clutched her nose.
“Ughhh...... What the hell did you put here......”
“......You do realize that’s sexual harassment, right?”
“Don’t talk nonsense! More importantly, why is this─”
Sera carefully opened her eyes and examined the necklace. A single vivid blue gem now sat embedded in the empty jewel setting. The Sea God’s Elixir she had brought just in case had fused into the necklace.