Chapter 7
Translator: True Detective
[Let's Educate the Saintess - 06]
"Depending on the person, they sometimes awaken 'eyes' that can read mana."
After the lesson ended, I decided to tell her about the sparring match as promised.
One might think, 'If I tell her, won't I be unable to beat her now?', but since this was actually a matter of 'general common sense,' even if I didn't tell her, she could easily understand it just by reading a few books in the library if she had the mind to know.
She doesn't have the desire to learn anything on her own, and even if she did, she doesn't wish for anything herself.
Because from the start, even such desires are faint, and she doesn't feel it's worth doing that much.
Her power was already strong enough, everyone she met was beneath her, and they weren't even a match for her.
Mostly, people probably didn't even try to fight her properly because of her position as the Saintess, but even if they did try to fight properly, there surprisingly wouldn't be many who could win against that overwhelming talent.
Furthermore, even if someone did beat the Saintess, that would become a problem in itself.
Unless they had the Pope watching their back like I did, they wouldn't be able to avoid punishment.
"A rare constitution, the Awakening of the Five Senses."
"Awakening of the Five Senses?"
"It refers to a constitution that senses mana through the five senses. Originally, if an opponent hides their mana, it is very difficult to notice."
It might be different normally or during a fight, but if an opponent blatantly intends to hide their mana, finding it is near impossible.
Of course, there are possible methods, but in cases where those methods aren't available, if they disappear from sight and hide, it is correct to consider them lost.
"You can sense mana through sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, and even if the mana is hidden, it is possible to detect it. However, fitting the name of a rare constitution, there aren't that many of them."
In particular, setting others aside, people who can find it through taste are hard to utilize except in special situations.
Food tasters, simply put, it is said they are often used by people with high authority or many enemies to eat their food comfortably. It's also because they are cheaper than other Awakened of the Five Senses.
"Hmm, are you also that rare constitution?"
"Yes, I am 'sight'. I can see mana with my eyes. I'm lucky."
"Why?"
"Among the Awakened of the Five Senses, 'sight' is the most utilized in combat, making it the most effective and versatile. For example, it is possible to read the flow of mana. Once that becomes possible, riding that flow to temporarily dismantle a spell isn't impossible either."
"……!"
The Saintess looked at me with a slightly surprised face.
She was probably recalling the memories of the sparring match.
At that time, I used this power to see the flow of the Saintess's mana and easily moved along the flow to temporarily dismantle her magic.
"That's the strongest."
"No. Absolutely not."
"Why? You can just tear it apart as you see it."
"It would be nice if it were that simple, but sight being used a lot in combat means it has been countered the most. They've fought a lot, seen a lot, and a lot of history has piled up. Naturally, corresponding countermeasures are prepared."
"Countermeasures?"
"Intentionally disrupting the flow of mana. When this happens, the flow of mana that should go in a straight line swirls around, making it difficult to follow and difficult to cope with. Saintess, you haven't tried such complex mana manipulation yet, right?"
"No."
I suppose so.
Overwhelming firepower.
If she can just crush everything with that, why would she bother using techniques like cheap tricks?
She has never needed it until now, and she probably won't need it as she lives her life going forward.
I made mana waver over my hand.
"Changing the flow of mana is practically basic education now. The better you are at this, the higher you are evaluated for having excellent mana control abilities."
"Hmm."
Mana wavered over the Saintess's hand. It seemed to waver very slightly, but it didn't seem to work properly.
"Hmm, it definitely doesn't work well."
'No, it's already strange that it worked even a little bit.'
I said inwardly while maintaining a smile on the outside.
Honestly speaking, I was a little surprised.
No, I was very surprised.
I expected her to try it as soon as I told her, but she instantaneously disrupted the flow of mana.
It was fundamentally a technique reached after proper education and training, but she was reaching that technique merely by listening to my rough explanation here and imagining it.
'Truly, a child with a terrifying future.'
Even if I don't teach her anything here, she will get stronger on her own, and that strength will reach a realm unattainable by humans.
Monster—I didn't know if calling her that was the correct expression, but it wouldn't be strange if she looked that way to the eyes of the majority of people at least.
It's a power that would be concerning even if she were just a good or ordinary person, but the problem was that the person possessing that power was a deficient being who couldn't understand the value of life or emotions, and couldn't empathize.
"And moving on, light magic requires a lot of concentration, especially among magics. Saintess, you were born with a powerful talent, but you lack experience. Your ability to cope with unexpected situations is weak."
In other words, if the Saintess had abundant combat experience, regardless of whether I had those eyes or not, I would have been struck by the light magic and died right there.
If she had just had the experience, even if she didn't know how to disrupt mana, if she hadn't panicked in that situation and just crushed me with firepower, there was nothing I could have done.
At that moment, the Saintess saw her attack being nullified and panicked, causing her concentration to break.
If there was a cause of defeat, it was that.
"After that, I suddenly approached and choked you, right? Breathing is something important to humans. When breathing suddenly becomes impossible, a person easily falls into a state of confusion."
Furthermore, if it's not something they can do anything about themselves, the confusion accelerates even more, and there was no way the Saintess could concentrate in that situation.
As I said, if she had such training or experience, she definitely might have been able to handle it.
In reality, there were also Holy Knights who used light magic.
The sight of them advancing while blocking all sorts of attacks at the front lines was unparalleled in bravery.
"You are quite strong."
"I have the time I've spent training and the time I've spent fighting, so I won't deliberately feign humility and say I am weak."
"But you live such a bothersome life."
"Because humans cannot live alone. Of course, since you are amazing, Saintess, it might be possible for you to live alone. But, well. Is there really a need to walk that path?"
"Why?"
"Because being alone is lonely."
"……."
The Saintess fell silent.
She probably couldn't accept it.
"Under the name of lessons, you only give me education on morals and ethics. That life is precious, that I shouldn't use violence without a thought just to handle annoying things, and that I should know how to show courtesy."
"Yes, I might repeat it until you come of age."
"To me, I don't get it."
"You don't need to get it."
"……"
The Saintess looked up at me with a slightly surprised face.
If she had been just a normal child, I might have taken a different method, but even if I asked the Saintess a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times to empathize, the Saintess lacked the ability to do so.
She was decisively deficient, and even if the ant she crushed on the side of the road was actually a human, she wouldn't feel anything.
She would just accept it as information, thinking, 'Oh, really?'
I placed the books I had prepared in advance on the Saintess's desk.
They were nothing special, just fairy tale books fitting for the Saintess.
They were somewhat dreamlike, but they were books that definitely provided moral education, and I purposefully picked out only those kinds of books for her.
The Saintess, who had more days to live than days she had lived so far, could change plenty in the future.
Even if her fundamental core didn't change one bit and her roots remained the same, people would evaluate the Saintess by looking at the newly changed stems and flowers on top of those roots.
Saying she has changed.
"You don't need to feel it, so you just have to understand it. People get angry in this situation, feel sad in this situation, suffer in this situation, and smile in this situation."
I spoke while gently pressing my temples.
"You just have to 'understand' that. You don't have to try to empathize. We should start by understanding that 'other people are like that.'"
"……I've heard that before. You say those words every time."
"Yes, I will say it until you are sick of it."
To her, who was still young.
I wanted to make this path more familiar.
I had worries like, 'What if I fail?', but unfortunately, I wasn't a tactful enough person to know a better method than this.
There might be a better, more suitable person than me, and there might be someone like a saint who is good at teaching.
Someone who could make this Saintess into a truly kind person, not just someone who knows how to pretend to be kind.
Unfortunately.
Because I was not such a person, the only thing I could teach her was how to pretend to be such a person.
Changing her daily life so that she considers it beneficial, good, ordinary, and natural for her.
That was the best I could do.
"……."
The Saintess still looked at me quietly.
And then she spoke softly.
"Yeah, just a tiny bit."
"Pardon?"
"I've gotten a tiny bit interested in you."
"That is a glad thing."
"Those words are interesting, too."
In the eyes of the Saintess saying that, it looked as though a tiny bit of light was wavering.