Monster Subjugation (1)
“As expected, Lady Levia really must become the Saintess.”
When I tried using body reinforcement and protection magic without prayers—right after healing and blessing—Bowt suddenly dropped that line on me!
“Don’t say such horrible things.”
This old man was going to get himself in serious trouble! Was he crazy?!
“Horrible? What do you mean? In all my years, I’ve never seen anyone cast holy arts without prayers the way you do, Lady Levia. Who else but someone with such exceptional talent could possibly become the Saintess?”
“Someone better than me will do it.”
“Lady Levia. Excessive humility can sometimes make the people watching you extremely annoyed.”
“Just say I’m annoying.”
“Honestly, it is a little annoying. Hahaha.”
Our goat-bearded uncle was refreshingly honest. So honest I kind of wanted to smack him.
“But why haven’t you seen it before? There’s someone close by who does something similar.”
“Pardon? Who?”
“Archbishop Carlo.”
It was probably true that holy arts normally required prayers, but there were always exceptions, right? Like Archbishop Carlo. That old man radiated divine power from every pore. When his emotions ran high, holy energy even flickered in his eyes. My finely tuned sensor had screamed at me not to mess with that guy unless absolutely necessary.
“...Lady Levia. I’m giving you serious advice here—do not use holy arts the way that crazy old coot does. Actually, what he does isn’t even holy arts. Please don’t even think about it.”
“If it’s not holy arts, then what is it?”
“That insane old man is…”
“Who are you calling an insane old man?”
“Uwaaaaaagh?!?!”
Carlo’s voice suddenly rang out, Bowt jumped in terror, and I just stared at the whole ridiculous scene in disbelief.
“What the hell are you doing there, you damned old geezer!”
Let me say it again—my room was on the third floor. There was one window. And right now, Archbishop Carlo was hanging from that window, only his face poking inside.
What exactly are you doing up there, Archbishop Grandpa?
“What do you mean ‘what’? I was curious whether our Saintess candidate was taking her lessons properly, so I came to watch.”
“Did you really need to hang from the window to do that?”
“Why are you asking something so obvious? If I were inside the room, I might disturb the lesson. That’s why I’m out here.”
Was I seriously the only normal person in this diocese? It felt like a new crazy person showed up every week.
“I heard you’d be back around evening. You’re early?”
It was still too early for evening. The sun was still high in the sky. And seriously, stop hanging there and come inside already.
“Hup… cha! This old man missed his Saintess candidate so much he rushed through everything and came straight here! Khehehehehet!”
Archbishop Carlo lightly sprang up, landed gracefully inside the room, and let out a booming laugh.
“Are the members who went with you… still alive…?”
“Eh? Why are you looking at me like that? Today those brats were the ones who rushed this old man along.”
“Pardon?”
“Suddenly some guy got a communication, then started screaming ‘Me too! I want to see the Saintess candidate too!!! Uwooo!’ and ran around like a berserker. The others heard the message and did exactly the same thing.”
“Ah.”
“...”
“Did something happen to those greenhorns while I was gone?”
Bowt let out a sound of amazement while I stayed silent. Just what had turned them all into lunatics?
“So, what exactly was our Saintess candidate learning?”
Um… should I call it learning? Or more like confirming what I could already do? A review session? Well, I did gain some theoretical knowledge, so I guess it counted as learning.
“I can’t teach her anything when it comes to holy arts. That’s beyond my ability.”
“Oh?”
“Lady Levia probably won’t need prayers for any holy arts except the highest-tier ones.”
“Hohoho! As expected of our Saintess candidate! This old man knew from the very first moment that she was different! She will definitely become the Saintess!”
I told you not to say such horrifying things!
“Then there’s nothing more for today’s lesson?”
“It seems the Cardinal will have to teach her the holy arts… I’ll need to think of something else.”
“Then let’s end here for today. If we push the Saintess candidate too hard from the very first day, she’ll get exhausted.”
Oh? The words “free time” that followed were quite pleasant to hear. But honestly, I would rather keep having lessons. I had nothing else to do. I hated being bored.
Should I go for a walk around the diocese? There were still many places I hadn’t properly seen. It would be nice if there were books worth reading. I should ask Archbishop Carlo later to buy me some. Prayer books were off-limits, though. I’d only open those when I couldn’t sleep. Reading just two pages would probably send me straight to dreamland on an express train.
“You, go select the people we’ll be taking.”
“How many do you need?”
“Half of them. The number is a bit large.”
From the sound of their conversation, it seemed to be about the monster invasion they had mentioned before. Monsters… monsters, huh… I kind of wanted to try catching one.
“Didn’t we clean up the surroundings with you right before the Cardinal left? And they’ve already invaded again?”
I wanted to follow them, but I didn’t ask to be taken along because I might just become a burden. I was confident I could beat them up, but in real combat you never knew what variables might appear. If a child was in the middle of a battlefield, the paladins would be distracted worrying about me and wouldn’t be able to focus fully on the fight. What a shame. Maybe I should sneak out later and hunt some myself?
“It’s the Burnpallos.”
“I see… If it’s those things, it makes sense. They hadn’t been seen for a while because they were breeding.”
“Put ninety in the vanguard. All the ones that can use magic go in the rear.”
“You don’t have to tell me things I already know. But isn’t the vanguard a bit small? Is there a reason?”
Burnpallos. Just from the name, they sounded like they might look like water buffaloes.
“The rest are escorts.”
“Escorts? For who?”
“Obviously for the Saintess candidate.”
Did I hear that right? They needed escorts for me on a monster subjugation mission? That meant… that meant!!!!!!
“Are you… saying this with a sound mind?”
“Yes. For this monster subjugation, the Saintess candidate will be accompanying us.”
“Hell yeah!!!!!!”
“...”
“...”
All eyes turned toward my shout. But I didn’t care. They were taking me with them! Monsters! Fighting in another world!
“Thank you, Archbishop!!”
Yessssss!!
“I didn’t expect you to be this happy. Hehehe… If you’re truly that grateful, would you call me Grandfather just once?”
I could provide that much service!
“Thank you, Grandpa Carlo!”
“Looks like I win, Cardinal. Khehehehe…”
He seemed really pleased. What did he mean by “win”? Was he competing with Benedict or something?
“By the way, Saintess candidate.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you only speak formally to me? I may not be higher in rank than the Cardinal, but…”
Umm… No matter how much I played the concept of speaking casually, using informal speech toward someone who had lived more than twice as long as my combined previous and current life felt a bit…
“That’s…”
“Do you dislike this old man? It makes me feel a little sad that you only speak politely to me.”
“It’s not that…”
“Then there’s no problem, is there? Come on, quickly.”
When I hesitated, Archbishop Carlo drove the nail in.
“You don’t want to go on the monster subjugation, do you?”
What a petty threat.
“From now on, always.”
“...”
Sneaking out might work, but there were limits. I needed at least some safety measures. There was no guarantee I wouldn’t get assassinated like last time if I slipped away secretly. My desire to join the monster subjugation wasn’t just out of curiosity—I also wanted to become stronger. Strong enough that no one could kill me.
The Clown had said we would meet again. It meant he could come find me anytime. The sooner and the more prepared I was, the better. I didn’t want to throw away this opportunity over something so trivial.
“...I’ll do it. I’ll do it, okay.”
Being young really was a sin. You had to be a certain age before you could do whatever you wanted. It wasn’t like I had a tantrum-throwing personality either. Wait, wasn’t this usually the opposite? Since when did people complain about not being spoken to casually? Was this an internet forum or something?
“...Very good. Hehehe. Rest well and I’ll see you tomorrow. This old man will take his leave now.”
Archbishop Carlo made a satisfied face, announced he was leaving, and then jumped straight out the window. Hey, there’s a perfectly good door right there—why the window?
“Please understand, Lady Levia.”
“Understand what?”
“Just… let it be. And please continue treating that old coot comfortably like you just did.”
“Was there some reason he wanted me to speak casually to him?”
He wanted to be called Grandfather, and earlier he had been “Knife Grandpa” or something? He had asked me to call him that too.
“Later, when the time is right, I’ll tell you. For now… just know that everyone who comes here has their own story. And among them, the Archbishop’s story is… particularly deep.”
That old man came here of his own free will, you know.
After saying that, Bowt told me he would prepare for tomorrow’s departure and left the room.
Instead of “later,” why not just tell me now? It’s going to bother me now.
But what should I do now? It was still daytime. We were leaving tomorrow, and I didn’t really have anything to prepare. Maybe I should read a prayer book?
So I opened the prayer book… and right after barely finishing the first page and turning to the second, I immediately fell asleep.