Weakling Contempt ON
In short, SaintessHero was fundamentally an RPG game set against the backdrop of an academy, with growth and training elements mixed in.
Being an RPG, of course, there were forces hostile to the player. They split largely into two groups.
One was the academy faculty of Stella Academy, who endlessly harassed the player and the students.
The other was the Demons currently sprawled out right before my eyes.
The Demons—a race that had revealed itself on the continent alongside the Demon King’s appearance a thousand years ago.
After the First Hero’s exploits led to the Demon King’s defeat, they were said to have vanished from the continent. In truth, they continued to scheme in the shadows, constantly eyeing the Demon King’s resurrection and the world’s destruction.
In a word, the main villain faction of SaintessHero’s main story.
But why have these bastards already shown up?
From what I remembered, the Demons never appeared while the player was still a first-year.
For one thing, the player never left Stella Academy during the first year—remaining under Rustiel’s protection the whole time. On top of that, the Demons themselves were still recovering their strength according to the setting.
Yet here they were, popping up in the first year—before midterms, no less?
And inside Stella Academy itself, the place Rustiel personally managed?
This wasn’t a decision even the Demons would make lightly.
A force of their caliber would have a solid grasp of Rustiel’s power.
They would know exactly how dangerous it was to touch her territory—the academy.
The fact that they had still gone through with this meant there was something here worth risking their lives for.
And that was probably…
The thought had barely formed when—
RUMBLE-!!
From the direction of the rendezvous point we were heading toward, a massive shockwave of mana surged outward, accompanied by a thunderous roar that shook the entire ruins.
This mana… it was the young lady’s!
I don’t know what’s going on, but first things first—secure the young lady!
“Senior!”
“Y-Yes?!”
“Can you use spatial transfer right now?”
“Ah, w-well… there’s still a lot of the principal’s mana lingering here, so fixing the coordinates is…”
I asked Dorothea—still reeling from the sudden appearance of the Demons—whether spatial transfer was possible. The answer that came back was negative.
No choice, then. It’s a shame, but the young lady’s safety comes first.
With Demons already appearing, the game’s scenario had to be considered thoroughly broken.
In a situation like this, with no way of knowing what dangers might be waiting, getting to the young lady was absolute priority number one!
“Senior. Hold on tight.”
“Huh? Kyaaaaaaah-!!”
There was no time to wait for a reply. I scooped Dorothea up by the waist—she had been sitting on the floor examining the Demon corpses—and hoisted her into my arms.
Then I detonated the mana in my heart far beyond anything I had used against the enemies earlier and kicked off the ground.
BOOM-!
The floor where I had been standing shattered like a spiderweb, fragments flying in every direction.
I ran so fast the scenery around us blurred into mush. The air resistance was tremendous, but my superhuman physique didn’t so much as flinch.
Dorothea, on the other hand, was thrashing about in my grip like a balloon in a gale thanks to that same air resistance. An unavoidable sacrifice.
Sorry, Senior! Once this is over, I’ll even let you touch my cheek!
Using her sacrifice as a stepping stone, I sprinted toward the young lady at top speed.
Young lady, Gladia is on her way!
Let’s rewind the clock a little.
Right after the groups had split up and begun exploring the ruins, Aiolet and Kruse had a rough time from the very start.
“Ugh… it’s a lot darker and damper inside than I expected.”
“Hey, quack. Light up the surroundings a bit. That’s your specialty, isn’t it?”
“I’m not a quack! Haa… you’re really awful.”
Even as she pouted, Kruse obediently conjured a small golden orb of light at her fingertips and floated it upward.
Yet even with her holy power illuminating the area, the two of them made no progress whatsoever in their exploration.
First reason: the zone they had chosen was relatively sunless compared to the area Gladia and Dorothea had picked—dark and gloomy at a glance.
Second reason: the two of them were completely unused to this kind of exploration!
In short, a sheer lack of experience.
Kruse had been an ordinary country girl before becoming the Saintess, and even after that she had mostly just trailed after the nuns of the Church.
Aiolet was a shut-in who barely left her room without Gladia around.
From the beginning, this pairing should never have been allowed to form.
“Damn it, these paths are so complicated it’s pissing me off. Can’t we just smash through all these walls and go in a straight line?”
“You can’t! What if the ruins collapse?!”
“Then you try finding the way properly. I’ve had the feeling we’ve been going in circles for a while now.”
“Whaaat?! I’ve been following you this whole time, Lady Aiolet!”
“Huh? I’ve been following you…”
Only then did Kruse and Aiolet realize they had been following each other the entire time and come to a halt.
“….”
“….”
A suffocating silence settled over the dark corridor of the ruins.
“…Hey.”
“Yeees…”
“You’re the Saintess and you can’t even find a path?”
“You’re one to talk, Lady Aiolet! Without Gladia around you can’t do a single thing right either!”
Bicker, bicker.
In the middle of the pitch-black ruins, the two of them continued their completely unproductive argument.
“Ah, seriously… I miss Dia.”
“M-Me too… things would be so much easier if Gladia were here.”
“Hey, why are you missing someone else’s maid?”
“Wh-Why not! I’m friends with Gladia too!”
“Ha, unbelievable. She’s mine, you know? Why are you acting all buddy-buddy…”
They kept squabbling like that as they slowly made their way deeper into the ruins with sluggish steps.
Of course, they gained nothing in the process.
Aiolet had no interest in the First Hero, so she couldn’t tell what was valuable, and Kruse simply didn’t know.
A complete trash-tier duo…!
“…Hey, quack.”
“Yeees… and I’m not a quack.”
“Let’s just head back. There’s no point going any farther with just the two of us.”
“….”
Aiolet reached a swift conclusion through rapid self-objectification. Deep down, Kruse agreed.
Having quickly accepted that they were trash, the two of them abandoned the exploration without a shred of regret.
Rather than wandering aimlessly through the hot, humid ruins, they figured they would just go to the agreed rendezvous point first and wait.
“Augh… my legs hurt… and my chest is aching from all that running earlier.”
“That’s what you get for lugging around those useless heavy lumps of fat.”
“Y-You’re so mean! They grew naturally, okay? Do you have any idea how much I suffer because of these?!”
As Kruse casually flexed like that, Aiolet’s hands trembled with rage.
What does Dia even see in those fat sacks…!
Aiolet already knew Gladia paid subtle attention to Kruse’s chest. The Saintess’s innocent flexing made her seriously consider smacking that chest again.
But she knew full well Kruse would just go whining to Gladia afterward, so she clenched her trembling fists and forced herself to endure.
“…It’s noisy, so shut up and walk. We’re almost there.”
She roughly scolded the pouting Kruse and took the lead. At last they neared the spacious clearing that was the promised rendezvous point.
“…Huh?”
Aiolet, walking ahead, was the first to sense something wrong.
Uninvited guests had already occupied the clearing where they were supposed to meet Gladia.
A group wrapped in unmistakably suspicious robes had taken over the open space and were frantically digging up the ground, searching for something.
If they had merely looked suspicious, Aiolet would have driven them off and waited for Gladia. But…
…What the hell are those things? Every single one of them has dark-attribute mana.
Her senses—abnormally attuned to the dark attribute to a degree that surpassed even Gladia—picked up the writhing dark mana wavelengths pulsing from the hearts of the group in the clearing.
Dark-attribute mana users were extremely rare among humans. And there were this many of them?
“Hey, hold up.”
Aiolet stopped dead and yanked Kruse by the shoulder, pulling her behind a half-collapsed massive stone pillar.
“Ah, why are you— mmpf!”
“Shh. Shut your mouth.”
Aiolet clamped a hand over Kruse’s mouth and carefully peeked toward the clearing.
“Hurry! Dig more around here!”
“We’re out of time! We have to find it before that red bitch comes back!”
Fortunately, the uninvited guests didn’t seem to have noticed Aiolet and Kruse’s presence.
“Quack, look over there.”
“…!”
Only then did Kruse suck in a sharp breath as she spotted the suspicious group in the clearing.
The Saintess’s holy power was instinctively rejecting them, blaring a warning.
A group they absolutely should not get involved with!
“W-What do we do, Lady Aiolet? They look way too shady…”
Even at Kruse’s urgent question, Aiolet didn’t answer right away. She narrowed her eyes instead.
From behind the pillar she carefully scanned their mana levels.
Judging by the mana she could sense, every last one of them was below Aiolet.
Conclusion: those bastards were all weaker than her.
At the same time, one of Gladia’s teachings flashed through her mind.
—The most important thing in a fight is the first strike, young lady! It’s not cowardly! The one who smashes the other guy’s head first has already won half the battle!
“A-Ah, Lady Aiolet, we should meet up with Gladia first and…!? What are you trying to do right now…!”
“Hey, quack. I’m counting to three.”
“Y-Yes?!”
“You hit them too, right away!”
There was no time to stop her. Shadows gathered at Aiolet’s fingertips and began condensing with a tremendous roar.
By now the robed group had sensed Aiolet’s mana and whipped their heads toward the pillar in shock—but it was far too late.
Aiolet curled her lips into a mocking smile and shouted.
“First strike wins, you idiots!”
BOOOOOOM-!!