Chapter 105 – The Descent of the Virgin (3)

“Shibaal——! “That bastard!!”

Behind the vacant lot of Privitity Hall, where no one is around.
A sign that reads [Doppelgänger’s Cemetery] Is stuck in a flower bed.
One of the famous places of Parenzia Academy.
There, Caroline nervously threw her Rubik’s Cube on the floor.

“Selling twice as much for only 50 gold!? “You crazy cheater!”

No, she didn’t throw that hard.
Because it was expensive.

Even thinking about it again made me angry.
She couldn’t imagine that her price had gone up just because of the word ‘uncle’, so she thought she had been stabbed in the back because she didn’t know the prices within the academy.

“Ha, for some reason, my eyes looked like shit from the moment I saw him on the podium…”

I wanted to go right away and ask him to give me the money, but I didn’t have time.
This was because this cube was essential for the ‘placement test’ for transfer students that would be held a little later.

Students at Parencia Academy roughly decide on their career paths when they reach their second year.
Students who show outstanding talent in swords and martial arts belong to the Knights Club, and those with aptitude for magic and academic research belong to the Magic Club.

Caroline was originally from the Blood Gate Brigade and her physical abilities were by far superior, but that is now a thing of the past.
Just by looking at her forearms and thighs, which have become completely soft, you can immediately see that her fighting power has plummeted.
Instead, her new ‘saint powers’ were the only means by which she could maintain her position within her order.

“Damn, I’m going to be late at this rate.”

She couldn’t help but sigh, as her espionage and assassination, even her qualities as a saint, had hit rock bottom.
Since when did life become this twisted?
The steps toward the exam center were heavy.

It certainly started when strange sunlight shone on an old hut that the brigade used as a secret base.
I later found out that Seogwang (瑞光), who followed her everywhere she went, was proof that she had been chosen as a saint.
A being loved by God.
But Caroline couldn’t understand why she was that way.

A saint is someone who is extremely good.
A servant of Greece who has a pure heart, does not go against doctrine, and puts faith into practice.
At least that’s what she was taught.
But the blood that Caroline had stained with her own hands could hardly be considered good, even from her general point of view.

“Has Greece fallen…? … ?”

To her, who did not hesitate to even make profane remarks, her faith was merely her plate containing the sacrament of survival.
From her childhood growing up in the back alleys of Solsvezi, she became an inquisitor, and she was chosen to be a saint. Until now, she has not even offered her prayers many times.

“Why did the church abandon me and her saint?”

Now that the Inquisitor has become a saint, I understand that she feels suspicious.
They might suspect that she secretly freed prisoners or saved the lives of those who should have been killed.
In fact, all lines within the brigade were immediately broken.

However, if you look at the denomination as a whole, isn’t the value of the saint going somewhere?
It was too much to throw her into Farencia without a proper envoy and even ask her former subordinate to take over her duties.

“Whoa…”

Arriving in front of her exam room, she lit a cigarette behind her wall.
Like white smoke blocking her eyes, she felt like there was something more she didn’t know.

***

Even looking at her demons, there were not many times when the relationship between the two countries was that good throughout their long history.
Simply put, it is due to differences in perspectives on handling magic.
Monarch mainly values ​​sacred magic, while Penheim has many types of magic, but the leading one has always been elemental magic.
There, the two ruling classes, the nobility and the clergy, who were difficult to coexist with, preached their own learning, and the war of nerves was incomparable to that on Earth.
Naturally, from the moment Caroline entered her exam room, her supervisor and all her students couldn’t help but pay attention to her.
The problem was that I was caught in it.

“Why did you call me?”
“Take this.”

The first test is to show off the magic suggested by the supervisor by guessing the magic cube within the time limit.
In an exam room filled with the sound of spinning cubes, Erzsebet gently placed something in my hand.
Did they think it was a choice that would attract less attention than meeting alone?
He seemed relieved on the inside.

“It’s a pendant?”
“Shh. Be quiet. “Don’t go somewhere and say I gave it to you, just wear it.”

She said without taking her eyes off Caroline, who was solving her Rubik’s Cube with a bored expression.

“Listen carefully, Louis. Saints have special powers. To explain it to you in an easy-to-understand way, it is a kind of unique magic. Depending on your talent, you can use up to seven types of magic.”
“12.”
“Yes?”

I answered her bluntly.

“Twelve. Maximum.”

Starlight, a mysterious power that only a saint has.
Terra said that the twelve unique demons implanted in my body were also modeled after that power.
Eris, who had the greatest talent among all saints of all time, used twelve sacred signs.
Erzsebet had given me the pendant to prepare for one of the most widely known of them all.

“12… Anyway, one of them is that the mouth of a saint always demands the truth. All saints of the past had the power to discern lies. “Her necklace will stop her from finding out you’re lying just three times.”
“But why are you giving this to me? “Just like a princess, you wear them.”
“If Caroline Magdalena had any ideas, how could she ask rude questions in front of me? Rather, I’m giving it to you because it seems like I’m more interested in you. And…”

Staring at me through his neat bangs, his bright amber eyes seemed to have melted the sun.

“You have a lot of secrets. Yes?”
“…”

Why do you know so much about the Holy Kingdom and the Holy Woman?
What secrets do you share with the royal family and what is your relationship with yourself?
You can feel the disappointment, bitterness, and helplessness of not being able to reach the truth in every word.
Still, I couldn’t bear to say anything to her as she silently handed me her necklace.

“Time is up! “Everyone, please submit your cubes to the front.”

After the supervisor finished speaking, the students placed the cube on the small floating board in front of them.
Then, scores were given based on the number of times the cube was correct.
Sharon Milbran, Deckard Carmel, Isol Dorenia… As the transfer students were listed, Caroline’s name was ranked quite high.

With the Blood Gate Brigade’s skills, matching a Magic Cube with built-in second-grade level magic would be like twisting a child’s wrist.
Now that Erzébet has entered the academy as a saint, she will inevitably suffer from fatigue even more.
In fact, looking at her background investigation on her throughout her vacation and the dispatch of knights from her royal family to her royal family, it was felt that her entire Fenheim was quite sharp.
I put on her necklace and held out her hand to Pie, who was on Hergé Bet’s shoulder.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. “Nothing will change just because you worry.”
“Yes?”

As her shoulders became lighter, she turned her head in surprise.

“This is Penheim. Farenciago. Because it is the best academy in the kingdom, watched by everyone, including the royal family, Ruhilen, and the reincarnator chairman. “No matter what your purpose is, you cannot act carelessly.”
“Now… Are you comforting me?”
“I received this, so I should at least give him a public death. While I’m at it, let me say one more thing…”

As for consolation, this is more of a duty.
When he rejected the king’s offer to give him his daughter if he defeated the devil, there was something he promised instead.
Especially if it is a matter related to the Holy Kingdom rather than Erzsebet’s personal problem.

“If you ever need my help, come to the canteen.”
“Louis? Sincerely… ? You’ve been hating me coming so much…”

I was leisurely stroking the goldenrod next to Erzsebet, who looked really embarrassed.
In times like these, having a cat would make the atmosphere more lively, but it’s a pity.

“That’s because they tried to steal the store. Oh, it’s not because of that, but you won’t give the princess a joint name, right? “There are already a lot of people aiming for that.”
“Go, go, common name!? Now, hold on a second, Louis. Not only that if I share a name with you, it would be overwhelmingly my loss… “What are you saying that I don’t understand?”

Is it that strange?
This means that the power of the royal family is not necessary to run the store.
Looking at him blushing and fanning himself with his hands, it seems he still lacks the cool-headedness of a leader.
Brunhart, a name that means ‘heart of steel,’ was a bit of a waste.

“Shh, I told you not to raise your voice. “There’s a saint right in front of you, so calm down.”
“Ji, do I look serious now? How dare you do something foolish to the princess of a country… !”
“Uh huh, I told you to stay still. Hey, your master, please do something.”
“Pee, ask Louis… Kyaaa!? Oh, don’t come, Pii!”

There’s still a long way to go.
I also left the exam room, leaving behind Erzsebet, who was running away after being chased by her familiar.

***

‘That guy…’

Caroline watched with eagle eyes the conman, or rather the stall owner, who was flirting with the princess.
Even though it is an academy that does not emphasize social status, the owner of the canteen does not look the slightest bit nervous next to Erzebet Brunhart.
The princess was so embarrassed that she couldn’t even open her mouth as her face turned red.
It was so far away that I couldn’t even hear the conversation, but it was enough to make me suspicious.

After confirming that Lewis had left the exam room, Caroline finished taking her remaining tests and was assigned to the Ministry of Magic.

Although she had come to the Parencia Academy without any connections of her own, not all her hopes had been lost.

Not all nobles in the kingdom are hostile to the Monarch.
In particular, Caroline’s presence was truly the ultimate treasure to the professor from the Alios Magic Tower and his associates who specialized in sacred magic.

Filled with the love of the goddess from her head to her toes, she is overflowing with divine power.
And although he is a Heresy Questioner, he is an executive of the church who has learned the essentials of sacred magic that only the Holy Kingdom possesses.
The courtship of the nobles who treated him like a benevolent angel was eye-opening, but the fact that he easily became entangled with them became an opportunity.

Next day.
Caroline subtly asked a noblewoman she had become friends with in her first class about the owner of her canteen.

“Oh, Sir Louis?”
“Kyung… ?”

As soon as his name was mentioned, she tried to hide her irritated expression in front of the daughter of the Canope family, who blushed immediately.

“Yes-. He has a nice face, is tall, and is a very kind person. Last summer, he accidentally bumped into me in front of the aquatic park, and he was so worried…”
“You’re a fraud…”
“Not only me, but other students also tend to talk when they are bored, right? Some people write letters and put them in the mailbox in front of the store. There is an eyewitness rumor going around that the Ruhilen family’s carriage passes by there in the early morning and secretly collects letters, but this is probably just a rumor. Oh, are you interested in him too?”
Haha! Yes… Should I call it interest or what should I say…”

Caroline raised the corners of her mouth pretentiously.
In fact, she doubted whether the person who sold her a Magic Cube for 100 gold was really the person.
Just when I felt the need to find out more about Luis, the daughter of the Canope family spoke.

“Then go see Miss Adela.”
“Adela?”
“Yes, Adela Sylvester from first year. “Of the Rochear family.”

When Caroline heard her name, Rosh Ar, a woman came to mind.
A student who seemed a bit lacking and gave off a particularly cool aura next to Lewis.

“She is probably the person who knows Sir Lewis best.”