Harvest Festival (3)

1.

Elia, who woke up early in the morning for the first time in a while, decided to do some light exercise before the maids came to help with preparing breakfast.

She took Extermia, the sword that absorbs Magical power, and went into the forest.

The cold morning air clung to her skin.

Summer was approaching, but it was still a bit chilly.

Elia unwound the bandage wrapped around the sword’s hilt.

The bandage fell to the ground like a coiled snake.

As if it had been waiting for this moment, the sword pulled at her hand.

The sword hilt was made of Parasi Tree, a parasitic plant that only grows in the Demon Realm.

Elia gripped the sword.

It stuck to her palm as if taking root.

“Huuu…”

Magical power was being sucked away.

It ate so voraciously.

She had no intention of giving up her Magical power willingly.

If it pulled from the other side like a tug-of-war, she would pull from this side as well.

She stopped the flow of Magical power as tautly as possible.

Still, Magical power leaked out little by little, like water seeping through cracks in a rock.

Now it was bearable.

She couldn’t use it perfectly yet, but…

She could now train for about 30 minutes.

Elia slowly began to swing the sword.

A heavy sensation of thickly cutting through the air.

If she misjudged her strength, her body would be dragged by the sword.

If the sword were to be compared to a living thing, Extermia was like a wild horse that was difficult to tame.

She had been training for quite some time when…

She felt someone approaching at a rapid pace.

She hadn’t sensed anyone nearby.

Had they been perfectly concealing their presence?

Elia turned around.

A man was flapping his cloak as he approached right in front of her.

A thick hand tried to twist Elia’s right arm.

Elia released the sword and pulled her right arm back.

At the same time, she caught the falling sword with her left hand and swung it greatly from top to bottom.

The man immediately distanced himself.

“Oh?”

With just the movement of dodging the attack a moment ago, she knew that the man was not an ordinary person.

Elia scanned the man up and down.

The insignia on his cloak.

Judging by the shape, he belonged to the Imperial Knights.

Three stars shaped like octagons.

A 3-Star Knight Commander.

Judging by the green gem embedded in it, he was the Vice Commander.

Who was he?

A face she had never seen before.

Times had changed, it seemed.

Elia grinned.

How long had it been since she had seen a proper opponent?

The academy students had talent, but to the Sword Saint, they were all just puppies.

“Put that sword down.”

The vast Magical power felt from the sword.

It was faint, but there was also a bit of Demonic energy mixed in.

She was no ordinary girl.

A face that seemed familiar from the newspaper, but…

It must have been her imagination.

“I’m warning you one last time. Put it down.”

However.

Elia’s choice was the opposite.

“Hmph…!”

She leaped up with light steps and spun around.

She drew a circle.

The area where the sword’s blade passed was distorted and crumbled.

Gale, the Vice Commander of the 11th Imperial Knights, was surprised.

How strong must the Magical power pressure be for space to be distorted?

Gale drew his sword.

Sword Aura soared up with a flash of light.

-Kwaang!!

An explosion occurred.

It wasn’t the sound of swords colliding.

The attack was heavy.

The vibration of the sword was transmitted to Gale’s wrist.

What on earth was this girl?

Slender arms.

A delicate frame.

No matter how you looked at her, she seemed fragile.

But Gale was being pushed back.

If this girl was a Demon Lord Army, wouldn’t she be a Legion Commander-level? But there was no Demonic energy felt from the girl herself.

Elia lowered her stance.

She extended the sword backward.

Red eyes flashed through her scattering golden hair.

Dangerous.

Gale’s intuition rang alarm bells.

If he didn’t block this with all his might, he might lose his life.

Elia kicked the ground.

-Kwack!!

The ground cracked in a radial pattern.

Elia’s sword blade was dyed golden like the morning sun.

The light made the sword look as large as a greatsword.

Gale raised his sword above his head to defend.

The attack wasn’t fast.

But it was uncertain whether he could block it.

If that Magical power exploded all at once…?

He gritted his teeth.

He concentrated all his Magical power in his arms and legs.

Just before the swords collided.

Suddenly.

Elia’s sword stopped.

“Hmm… shall we end the greetings here?”

Elia sheathed her sword because she knew how big of an explosion would occur if she made this attack.

“Hmph.”

Elia threw the sword on the ground and shook her hands.

Using it in actual combat sucked out her Magical power very quickly.

Her fingertips were tingling.

“For someone who’s the Vice Commander of the Imperial Knights, ambushing someone like that… don’t they teach etiquette in the Knights these days?”

Elia clicked her tongue, saying “Tsk tsk.”

She was making old man noises that didn’t suit her appearance.

Shaking her head, Elia untied her hair tie.

Her long hair flowed down.

“O-Oh?!”

As she let her hair down, Gale finally recognized who this girl was.

“S-Saintess…?”

He didn’t recognize her because she was wearing pajamas and had her hair tied up.

As an Imperial citizen with the Celestial God Church as the state religion, how could he not know the Saintess?

You might think that, but it hadn’t even been a year since Elia became the Saintess, and she had entered the academy before her face became widely known, so it was understandable that he didn’t recognize her.

“Ah… right.”

She had momentarily forgotten that she was the Saintess.

But what could she do?

They attacked her first, so she couldn’t just stand still.

But whatever now.

She decided not to worry about such things.

It wasn’t like she was going to deliberately reveal her abilities, but she would live leisurely as she was discovered.

Of course, she would uphold what she needed to as the Saintess.

Elia sighed, “Hoo.”

“That’s right. I am the Saintess.”

Elia smiled gently.

The monster from a moment ago had disappeared, and an angel was in front of him.

2.

“So… that sword was made of Parasi Tree, so it had Demonic energy mixed in.”

Elia nodded.

“That’s right. It’s amazing, though. I didn’t even know I had any Demonic energy left.”

Not just anyone could sense Demonic energy.

Not even priests.

But Elia had been in many battles in the Demon Realm, so she could sense Demonic energy.

“I’m just sensitive to Demonic energy.”

“Ah.”

“Um… I heard that the Saintess was in a convent before becoming the Saintess…”

Gale asked cautiously.

“Your swordsmanship is quite impressive. I’m not a knight to be trifled with either…”

A 3-Star Knight Commander.

The Vice Commander of a Knights.

Definitely not someone with skills to be trifled with.

But he was completely overwhelmed by the Saintess.

All Gale could do was retreat and defend.

He tried to find an opening to attack, but there was no opening at all.

Even though she wasn’t even defending.

“I had a special connection.”

“I see.”

He wished there was an additional explanation, but Elia didn’t have a reason to say anything, so he stopped there.

“But what is someone who’s the Vice Commander doing at the academy?”

“I was dispatched for the Harvest festival security.”

“I see.”

There was a Knights that protected the academy separately, but considering the recent incidents, it was not strange for the Imperial Knights to be dispatched.

“Was the Demon incident resolved well?”

Elia was the one who brought up the Demon story first.

Even though she wasn’t paying attention.

She was thinking about the possibility that there might be another subversive movement inside the academy.

“It’s still under investigation.”

Even the Saintess couldn’t be told the Knights’ information carelessly.

Of course, there wasn’t much information to tell in detail.

The Imperial Knights also only had possibilities.

That the culprit was still inside the academy.

“But how long do I have to do this?”

Gale was fanning Elia with his cloak.

As punishment for attacking her out of the blue, he was cooling her sweat.

“Why? Do you want to stop?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“I’m glad it was me, but what would you have done if it was someone else?”

“I was only planning to subdue them.”

“Starting with subduing someone out of the blue…”

Ah, wasn’t that something she shouldn’t say?

That’s what Elia was thinking.

Elia also used to subdue people first when she was on the battlefield because there was a possibility that someone showing suspicious movements was a traitor. This wasn’t a battlefield, though.

“And what if I reported today’s incident to the Empire?”

An Imperial Knight attacked the Saintess.

It would be a good snack for the Cardinals who liked political games.

“I won’t report it, though.”

“Thank you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m forgiving you.”

“Yes? Then…?”

“While you’re staying at the academy, join me every morning.”

A suitable sparring doll she had found after a long time.

There was no way she could just let this go.

“Every morning?”

“Do you dislike it?”

“I also have my own work…”

“So you dislike it?”

Elia’s blood-red eyes stared at Gale.

They were really pretty eyes.

But apart from that, her gaze seemed to be threatening him.

“…I understand.”

“And one more thing.”

“There’s one more thing?”

“You’re not going to go around telling other people about today’s incident, are you?”

She decided to live freely as appropriate, but she didn’t particularly want to be known.

It would be annoying.

“What would happen if I told them?”

“Who knows what might happen?”

“…It doesn’t feel like a joke.”

Elia just smiled brightly.

“Ah, that’s right. Now that I think about it, I didn’t hear your name.”

“I am Gale, the Vice Commander of the 11th Imperial Knights.”

“The 11th, so that’s the newly formed Knights.”

“It’s been more than 10 years since it was founded.”

“Ah… my mistake. I was mistaken.”

From Elia’s point of view, it was the newly formed Knights, but the 11th Knights, with the Hero as the Knights Commander, had been around for a long time.

“Wait a minute… Gale?”

It was a name she had heard before.

Where had she heard it…?

She had definitely heard it somewhere…

“Ah! Could it be that brat who followed Louis around?!”

She remembered.

In the past, when she taught the Hero Louis.

There was a boy he brought with him every weekend.

They said they were going to do Knights training together, doing such childish training.

She never dreamed that the brat from back then would become a proper Vice Commander.

“How did you…?”

“Ah…!”

She was so surprised that the words popped out of her mouth.

She couldn’t swallow them back.

“T-This… I heard it because I had a special connection. Something like that happened. Blah blah blah.”

Elia jumped up from her seat.

“I have morning worship now. Haha, ahaha.”

Before she could be asked any more questions, Elia grabbed her sword and quickly returned to the dormitory.

“What on earth…”

Gale blinked his eyes.

The Saintess was full of questions.