The Fragment of the Holy Sword (1)
“Hero-nim, I brought a way to find you!!”
Kruse boldly stepped in front of Aiolet and Gladia.
Her face shone with an unhidden smugness.
She had endured every kind of bullying from Aiolet all day yesterday, yet in truth even she felt wronged.
She had only come to Stella Academy following the goddess’s oracle to approach Aiolet!
Wasn’t she treated like a quack, wasn’t her money snatched away!
The very first treatment she had received since becoming Saintess!
‘Even if they’re gentle ones, they should be furious!’
But today, the item Kruse had brought would surely make them think differently.
‘It was a long time of humiliation and persecution. Thank you, Holy Knights!’
…Well, the fact that the Holy Knights assigned to Kruse had stayed up all night to obtain this from the church was unimportant.
Anyway!
Kruse straightened her chest, closed her eyes, and waited for Aiolet and Gladia’s reaction.
They were probably dying of curiosity, right?
“…?”
No matter how long she waited, the reaction she had hoped for never came.
When she cautiously opened her eyes, not a trace of the Dunaris siblings was in her sight.
The only sight around was students staring at the Saintess boldly thrusting her presence right in the middle of the street.
Students’ whispers reached Kruse’s ears.
“…What is the Saintess doing right in the middle of the path?”
“…I don’t know, don’t make eye contact.”
“…Wow, her chest is huge.”
Kruse’s face flushed with shame.
She quickly lifted her head and scanned her surroundings.
Far away, she saw Aiolet and Gladia walking.
That was it.
The moment Kruse had blocked their path in front of the two with her chest thrust forward, Aiolet and Gladia had simply continued walking without stopping!
Kruse was no match to block their way.
“Dia, what shall we eat for breakfast?”
“How about that café we went to last time? It seemed like they serve morning menus too.”
“Then let’s go there?”
The two chatted casually while slowly drifting away, and Kruse chased after them at full speed.
“W-wait, I’ll come with you!!”
…Of course, they had not waited for her.
***
The place the three arrived at was Aiolet and Gladia’s favorite café.
Besides regular seats, the café had private rooms, allowing quiet conversation without bumping into others—a popular spot praised for its pleasant atmosphere.
“Leave me alone!!”
Kruse shook her overwhelming presence and got angry.
Of course, Aiolet and Gladia had not heard a thing, not even through the corner of their ears.
What could Kruse possibly do even if she got angry?
Honestly, to be blunt, the two did not particularly need to find the Hero.
Whether demon king or whatever, with Gladia by Aiolet’s side, it didn’t matter, and Gladia, who had defeated the demon king dozens of times over in games, felt no excitement.
Instead, Aiolet found Kruse’s behavior incomprehensible.
If it were her, she would have run away even if treated like trash.
So why did the pink-headed monster keep following her around?
‘Is the goddess’s oracle that important?’
Aiolet, who did not hesitate to show deep respect just hearing the church’s priests speak, still restrained herself from saying it out loud—that was her final shred of patience.
Be that as it may, Kruse poured out her grievances.
“I! Uh! I strongly argued with the church! I found a way to locate Hero-nim!”
Whether she agreed or not, Aiolet and Gladia continued eating.
“Miss, try this too. The hotcake is really delicious.”
“Really? Where, where… Wow! It’s so soft!”
Noticing that Kruse had realized they were ignoring her, she sighed once, sat down, and started eating.
For some reason, Aiolet, who had shown no interest in Kruse, suddenly spoke first.
“But why are you eating naturally?”
“Y-yes?! Why, why?!”
“No, since last time we eat every time I sneakily join in.”
“I-I could….”
Aiol et’s innocent words stabbed Kruse like a dagger.
In truth, Kruse did not need to eat with Aiolet and Gladia at all.
The goddess’s oracle had only told her to receive help from Dunaris, not to be friendly.
Yet why did Kruse keep approaching them…
‘B-because I have no friends, I can’t say it even if I die…!’
That was right. Kruse had no friends!
Before becoming Saintess, she had no friends due to jealousy from the village women, and after, it was difficult to make friends because of her Saintess position.
So in that sense, Aiolet and Gladia were friends who treated her equally—friends she had never met before in her life…!
…They had treated her so equally that she was robbed of money, but.
Anyway.
Even if it was a relationship based on money, friends were still friends, weren’t they?
Kruse, who had always idolized the word “friend,” had persisted in eating with them.
Of course, Aiolet had no idea about her inner thoughts.
To Aiolet’s eyes, Kruse was just an inexplicably clingy woman who seemed to enjoy being ignored and bullied by her.
Such incomprehensible behavior from Kruse only deepened Aiolet’s suspicion.
‘…It’s suspicious. It’s definitely suspicious!’
Even Aiolet herself thought she was not the type of person who wanted to be friendly with anyone!
Then if someone was sticking to her with an ulterior motive….
Aiolet’s thoughts turned to the most valuable thing she possessed.
‘Are you aiming for my Dia!?’
Aiolet’s eyes sparkled as if she had just figured it out.
‘Yes, yes. Ever since last time, her deliberately shaking her chest was obvious.’
Of course, it was just a natural phenomenon, not deliberate.
‘Dia seems to be soft on her too.’
Of course, Gladia was just familiar because Kruse was the original protagonist, and the huge presence was merely surprising.
But the chain of suspicions filled Aiolet’s mind completely.
In her head, a picture had formed of Kruse using that enormous chest to seduce and take Gladia away.
‘I’ll take your maid, meow meow~!’
…Of course, Kruse had never said such things or laughed “meow meow~.”
If Kruse had heard that, she would have sued for defamation without a word.
Aiolet’s delusion was interrupted by Gladia.
“Come on, miss. Don’t force it too much. Try this. Ah~”
Gladia fed the hotcake from her fork to Aiolet’s mouth.
Aiolet’s cheek puffed out like a squirrel as she chewed the fork Gladia had extended.
Squish squish.
The sweet and soft hotcake melted in her mouth, and Aiolet’s previous boiling jealousy and dark thoughts toward Kruse dissolved like snow under the sun.
Gladia, who had confirmed Aiolet’s expression softening through , smiled inwardly in relief.
‘As expected, our miss is easy to handle.’
Gladia had been the fastest to catch the moment Aiolet’s mood turned dangerous.
Had she forgotten that she herself had once had similar delusions?
What a brazen maid she was.
Gladia gently wiped the syrup on Aiolet’s lips with a napkin.
Watching the two of them, Kruse remained silent.
‘Friends can do that kind of intimacy…!’
Kruse, who had acquired some wrong information, was probably planting the seed of open(?) romance that Gladia had worried about.
In any case, the three finished their morning meal in peaceful harmony.
After the meal was roughly over and Aiolet, whose mood had improved thanks to the sweet hotcake, elegantly wiped her lips with a napkin and spoke.
“So.”
Aiolet’s leisurely gaze met Kruse across the table.
“What exactly is this way to find the Hero?”
“Ah!”
When Aiolet asked, Kruse dropped the fork she was holding and shot up from her seat.
Moved by eating with friends and acquiring their bizarre(?) friendship, she had completely forgotten her original purpose for coming here!
“Yes! That’s why I wanted to show it!”
Kruse’s face burned with mission drive as she brought both hands to the front of her pure white priestly robes.
Then, without hesitation, she plunged her hand into the depths of her cleavage.
“!?”
Even Aiolet could not hide her shock at Kruse’s impulsive action.
Meanwhile, Gladia felt the wondrous sensation transmitted through and thought.
‘Wow… with a size like that, my hand can slide right in…’
Whether she agreed or not, Kruse pulled out something from the very bottom of her cleavage as if reeling in a big catch like a fisherman.
Flash!
As soon as her hand came out, a sacred light softly filled the surroundings.
On Kruse’s palm rested a transparent spherical necklace enclosed in an antique metal frame. Inside the bead swirled a mysterious light.
Thud.
flowing through Gladia’s veins surged violently, as if reunited with a lost sibling.
‘That’s…’
Gladia could vaguely intuit what was in Kruse’s hand right now, though she could not see it.
“Ta-da!”
Whether she agreed or not, Kruse shook the bead and proudly declared.
“This is the only trace left by the First Hero that I barely managed to obtain by pulling strings at the church!”
At that moment, Kruse’s words and Gladia’s thoughts overlapped perfectly.
‘Fragment of the Holy Sword!’
“Fragment of the Holy Sword!”