Chapter 14 : Another Beginning (6)

Chapter 14: Another Beginning (6)

“Holy power, simply put, is like bread dough.”

Sister Roberta brought her hands together in the air as if lifting a large ball.

“Let me explain a bit more. You need bread dough to make things like bread, cookies, pies, tarts, and pasta. And if the dough is poor in quality, the process of making anything will go awry, and the end result will inevitably be unsatisfactory.”

Between her hands, a faint glimmer began to gather until a small sphere of light floated there.

“The quality and outcome of the dough depend on things like the ratio of ingredients, how it was kneaded, and how long it was allowed to rest. And depending on what you intend to make, you have to be mindful from the dough stage itself, making adjustments and variations as needed.”

Every time Sister Roberta moved her fingers, the sphere of light transformed into different shapes.

I could tell it wasn’t just a change in form.

Seeing my reaction, she gave a small, satisfied nod.

“You’ve noticed already, haven’t you? That’s right, Lian. Holy power is often said to be like mana. Just as mages use mana as their raw material to cast all kinds of magic, we too can perform countless miracles through holy power.”

Gazing at the sphere she had created, Sister Roberta murmured in a whisper.

“Among them, the Miracle of Healing, the Miracle of Purification, the Miracle of Protection, and the Miracle of Blessing—these four are the most basic, and yet you could say they encompass everything.”

Healing, Purification, Protection, Blessing.

As Sister Roberta said, if you were to name the most widely used miracles, these four would undoubtedly be the ones.

And there was another reason she described them as both the foundation and the whole—

It was because by combining them, you could manifest far more varied and powerful forces.

“For example, if you perform the Miracles of Healing and Blessing together…”

She reached over and picked up a brick lying nearby.

With a light breath and a touch of force, the brick crumbled into pieces.

“In this way, you can manifest the Miracle of Vitality, which strengthens the body. Alongside the four core miracles, this one is also used very often.”

Dusting off her hands, she spoke quietly as if in passing.

“There are also other kinds of miracles, like the Miracle of Abundance or the Miracle of Transformation, which differ from the ones I just described… but for now, the urgent priority is to master these four first. And by ‘master,’ I don’t mean merely being able to use them.”

She bent down, picked up one of the many clubs lying at her feet, and tossed it at me.

“I mean to be able to use them as naturally as breathing, in any situation, without conscious thought.”

Thud. Thud.

Gripping another club, she adjusted her hold with a satisfied look.

“Right. I did say ‘until you defeat me,’ didn’t I, Lian Gwendil?”

Roberta.

Once famed across the entire continent as both a battle nun and a Holy Knight, she looked at me with a smiling face.

“To do that, you’ll have to work hard, and then harder still.”

So… shall we make the lesson a bit harsher?

With those words, something swung toward my head without the slightest warning.

I ducked instinctively.

Along with the sensation of something grazing the tips of my hair, a strong gust of wind rushed past my back.

Crash!

A loud sound rang out behind me, as if something had been smashed apart.

“…Huh?”

When I turned around, I saw that the club had half-shattered a tree.

“You’re still a long way off.”

You mustn’t get distracted.

Still smiling lightly, Sister Roberta picked up another club.

And then…

“…Hey. Lian.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

As I opened my eyes to the sensation of someone shaking me, Allen withdrew his hand from my shoulder.

…Allen?

Where was Sister Roberta?

Blinking slowly, I saw him looking at me with a worried expression.

“Are you alright? You seemed to be having a nightmare, so I woke you.”

“Ah… I’m fine. Thanks for waking me.”

I nodded absentmindedly, expressing my gratitude.

Looking around slowly, I noticed most of the students were either leaning back in their chairs or sprawled over their desks.

My mind caught up a moment late.

I then recalled that this was the fourth class period, meaning we were in Crooks’ common lecture.

And that Sister Roberta I’d just been facing was actually a memory from a few days ago.

“Ugh.”

Stretching my stiff body carefully, I realized aches were spreading through me.

Even though I had healed myself with holy power, I had still been pushed to my limits for several days straight.

‘Still feeling groggy…’

It was too awkwardly timed to go back to sleep, so I just loosened my body while glancing around.

Sleeping students, others zoning out like me, a few jotting down notes in review—the great hall, usually lively, was eerily quiet.

And in the center of the hall, Rahma stood as always with a gentle smile, reading a small book.

‘…Tch.’

That face always made me feel sick.

I clicked my tongue quietly and turned my head away.

I no longer cared what he had been thinking when he committed those acts.

The only thing that mattered to me was stopping him.

‘Come to think of it, a week’s gone by in a flash.’

It had been nearly a week since the first class at the academy began, and since I had started receiving personal lessons from Sister Roberta.

In that time, I had realized a few things.

That Sister Roberta’s fame as a battle nun and Holy Knight was no exaggeration.

That even with healing through holy power, constant beatings could still leave you with phantom pains.

And lastly, just how weak I had been—both in my previous life and in this one.

‘I already knew, but…’

One of my greatest shortcomings was my fundamentals.

Embarrassing as it was to admit, in my previous life I had not been diligent in attending lessons.

My grades barely hovered above average.

Nor did I possess any skill or talent worth boasting about.

The fact that I survived for years back then was nothing more than a product of overlapping luck and coincidence, and no one knew that better than I did.

That was why the past few days had been nothing short of invaluable.

…Even if I had been beaten nearly to death under the name of “training.”

‘I should keep up my training with her.’

To be honest, her guidance had exceeded my expectations.

It had only been a few days, but my improvement was already noticeable.

‘I’ll have to treat Lancia to dinner when I see her later.’

Tapping my fingers lightly on the desk, I calmly organized my thoughts.

‘Let’s see.’

To stop Rahma, I had to prepare in several ways.

Above all, the most important was the power to directly restrain him—

In other words, securing the support of someone with overwhelming strength and combat ability.

‘It’s not like there’s no one around me with that kind of power…’

Professor Windy May.

Lancia Jintia.

Sister Roberta.

Yuran.

Allen Amiel.

Ras Sink Shagas.

…And Second Imperial Princess Velita.

I slowly recalled and listed the names I knew.

If I could get all of them—or even just half—to help me, that would be ideal.

But knowing that such a thing was nothing more than wishful thinking, I gave a small shake of my head.

‘It’s unrealistic to try to pull the professors in.’

The most likely option was Yuran, with whom I had already formed a friendly connection.

If I stretched further, maybe Lancia as well.

Honestly, just those two would be more than enough, but the real challenge was figuring out how to win them over.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I’ve talked to either of them.’

Yuran had been too busy acting as Professor Shagas’ assistant, but as for Lancia, I didn’t even know where she was or what she was doing right now.

I hadn’t had much contact with Cecilia either since our conversation in the library.

Just as I was thinking that it would be good to meet with them again—

Daaang! Daaang! Daaang!

“Hmm, that’s all for today’s class.”

The heavy chime announcing the end of class rang out.

Rahma, watching the gradually awakening students, spoke in his usual leisurely voice.

“Now that I think about it, there’s a dungeon field class scheduled for the end of this month.”

He paused deliberately, waiting for all eyes to turn to him.

“It’s the first field class, and while some of you may already be preparing, sometimes being too tense can cause your body to stiffen and ruin your performance. So it’s important to stay relaxed as well.”

He chuckled heartily under the curious gazes questioning why he was suddenly bringing this up now.

“The truth is, I’ve been given a rather important role in this upcoming dungeon class. That’s why, even though there’s still plenty of time, I ended up blurting this out—hahaha. I just couldn’t hold my tongue.”

A few students laughed along with him, and he watched them with a pleased smile before strolling out of the great hall.

“This time, is Professor Rahma in charge?”

“Then won’t it mostly be undead-type monsters? Priests and Holy Knights would have the most advantage against those.”

“Come on, it’s not going to be that predictable. That’d be too biased.”

“Still, it’s worth keeping in mind. The terrain’s probably going to be something like an abandoned house or a deserted mine…”

The great hall quickly filled with chatter and excitement.

For the students, their first dungeon field class was bound to be a huge deal.

And for me—knowing that this first dungeon class would turn into an unthinkable disaster—my mood soured instantly.

By the time talk of going to the Cathedral to sound out Professor Rahma and recruiting Crooks students with high holy power started floating around—

“Lian.”

Allen, sitting beside me, suddenly spoke.

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“The dungeon class that was just mentioned.”

“Well… at the very least, I doubt undead will just pop up randomly. For freshmen, undead are honestly too difficult an opponent.”

“I see.”

“Yeah, anyone with sense wouldn’t do something like that. And besides, Professor Rahma is known for being thorough in his work.”

Over the past few days, Allen and I had grown comfortable enough to talk casually.

Maybe that was why he occasionally made sharp remarks out of nowhere.

“Unexpected.”

“What is?”

“I didn’t think you’d address Professor Rahma with an honorific.”

Yeah, like that.

After a brief silence, I asked him cautiously—

“…Was it that obvious?”

“No.”

Allen shrugged.

“Not to brag, but I’ve grown up reading the room since I was a kid. So I just guessed. That, and I’ve been hanging around you a lot.”

He yawned lightly as he spoke.

“From your reaction, it must be true then. Is it a personal grudge?”

“It’s nothing like that.”

Allen gave a slow nod and didn’t press further.

Feeling a strange frustration, I pushed myself up from the desk.

“I’m going to get some air.”

“Don’t be too long.”

He called after me jokingly as I stood.

“The next class is with that strict Professor Shagas, you know.”

Outside, I saw a number of students strolling around, probably with the same thought in mind.

The cold breeze helped clear my tangled thoughts a little.

“Phew.”

After wandering for a bit, I sat down on a shaded bench.

‘Yuran, Lancia Jintia, and Cecilia Everglenn.’

Only about three weeks remained until the dungeon collapse incident.

To handle it without issue, securing these three was the top priority.

Of course, the ideal would be to stop Rahma from pulling anything in the first place…

‘No matter how I think about it, I can’t come up with a good method.’

A cultist of the Evil God who had risen to the rank of archbishop, and a man who had spent five years teaching at the academy without any trouble.

Even if I tried to raise suspicion about him, it would go nowhere, and more importantly, there was no way he would leave sloppy evidence.

In fact, despite investigating from several angles just in case, I had found nothing.

‘Professor Windy May… probably wouldn’t even pretend to listen, and I doubt Sister Roberta would take my side either.’

The other professors or the academy administration were equally unlikely to hear me out.

That meant my priority still had to be securing those three.

I had just reached that same, fruitless conclusion again when—

“Ahem, ahem.”

“Whoa!”

At some point, someone standing behind me breathed against the back of my neck.

No—rather than breathing, it would be more accurate to say they sniffed me.

Startled, I practically jumped away from the spot, only to find an unexpected person standing there.

“Yuran?”

“Greetings, Lian Gwendil.”

Wearing her usual peculiar mask on her head, Yuran greeted me with calm composure.

I managed to steady my pounding heart and returned the greeting.

“Ah, yes. Good to see you, Yuran.”

“You look strong. Good. Very glad.”

Seeing her smile faintly, I cautiously asked about what had just happened.

“By the way, Yuran, was that just now… um, a Garusol greeting?”

“Hm?”

Tilting her head, she replied with a look that said she had no idea what I was talking about.

“We have no such greeting.”

Shaking her head, she blinked and spoke to me.

“Lian Gwendil. Benefactor. You smell of Sky Guide. Much stronger than last time. I worried, so I checked.”

“Sky Guide?”

I expressed my confusion at the unfamiliar term—

“It’s a simple way of saying shaman.”

Tap.

A heavy thump of a staff rang out.

“Though for someone who wields holy power like you, it’s probably not the most welcome thing to hear.”

Ras Sink Shagas had appeared without me noticing and answered in her stead, looking straight at me.

“You’re Lian Gwendil, yes?”

The hero of the Plains War—

And also the future demon hunter—spoke slowly.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to spare a little time after this class.”