episode_0011

[Notice of 2nd quarter evaluation test results]

-Lethe Heresia (S)

-Evan Lane (S)

-Elijah Ruben (A)

-Kazan Casimir (A)

-Emma Sitley (A)

… … .

… … .

… … .

-Dorothy Cavensier (D)

-Yonner Clark (D)

“Hmm.”

After the evaluation exam for a quarter is over, a notice is always posted on the first floor of the main building.

And the evaluation rankings are revealed to the world… … This is quite a difficult thing for those who received the lowest scores.

There was a time when I, too, got bad grades because of a slump.

At that moment, the few guys around me whose faces were pale didn’t seem like other people’s business.

Of course, it was a shame, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Anyway, through this test, I was able to escape from a rather precarious position.

Just like the Lete guy, I also overcame my original weaknesses perfectly and took the evaluation test, getting the highest score.

When I showed off my performance by moving the sacred stones in a different way than Lethe, the complex gazes of the people around me at that time were amazing.

Everyone would have guessed to some extent through the previous examinations of the candidates for sainthood.

Because within this solar cult, there was only one young man who could provide Lethe with the divine qualities that were worthy of her name: Evan Lane.

By the same token, it was expected that I would move the sacred stone without hesitation.

I calmly accepted the gazes of those around me and thought to myself.

‘The position of a saint… … Honestly, I had no intention of aiming for it.’

If it had been a few years ago, I wouldn’t know, but as someone who had experienced a slump in divine power once, I had already given up halfway.

Unlike Lete, who had consistently achieved good results despite not knowing her limitations, I had long since given up on being a top candidate.

I raised my hand silently and created a red, divine power that seemed to be emanating heat from above it.

Things are a little different now.

In the past, I felt like I was just using a huge amount of divine power in an ignorant manner, but now I was able to handle this power more easily.

Yes, if you really make up your mind, you could seriously aim for the position of a saint.

“… … .”

I frowned for a moment, thinking, and then quickly lost my divine power.

It’s not that I’m not interested in the grand name of Son of the Goddess, but it’s not a position that’s all about profit.

There will be many things to take care of, and restrictions will be added one after another.

I guess the more you receive, the more you give. In any case, it was something that didn’t need to be decided right away.

After organizing my thoughts neatly, I turned my head at the sound of approaching people.

“Why are you standing there with such a serious expression?”

“Hmm.”

Just like the last time I saw her, her ivory hair was tied neatly, and her blue eyes somehow felt even more refreshing than before.

Lete Heresia, who was one of only two people to receive the highest score along with me in this evaluation, crossed her arms crookedly and glared at me.

“Because a stupid person is standing there seriously… … . He looks twice as stupid.”

“… … What?”

“Don’t ask me again. I think I’ll get angry without realizing it when I hear that voice.”

I instinctively frowned. What did this bitch eat wrong again? I don’t know why she came to me first and then suddenly started a fight.

“Yeah, you want to get punched in the face? I can make a big bump on your forehead.”

“Oh, you’re going to use it? Just touch it. I won’t stay still either.”

“Why are you acting like a jerk after you started talking shit, you fucking bitch.”

I struggled to drive my middle finger into Lethe’s forehead, and she groaned, holding my wrists with both hands.

“Aya!?”

In the end, I was able to take the lead and hit him on the clean forehead.

Lethe pouted her lips, as if she was really upset that she was pushed by me.

“This shameless… … . How can people be so savage? Is it okay to put your hands on a girl like that?”

“What is barbarism.”

In some ways, it could be seen as a valid argument, but I laughed it off without being shaken at all.

“It’s not me who’s really barbaric, but you who couldn’t tell right from wrong because you were drunk and barged into the man’s bedroom, you punk… …?!”

“… … Oh my, Evan. What’s wrong? Are you screaming all of a sudden? Are you in pain?”

In an instant, Lete came up to my chin and grabbed my wrist. Very roughly, almost to the point where I almost twisted it.

And then, from below, he gently lifts his foot and tramples my instep.

Knowing that ordinary brute force would be useless, he even summoned divine power.

A smile appeared on her lips, but… … her two eyes were glaring at me.

“… … Can’t you see there are a lot of people around you right now? Are you opening your mouth so indifferently because you really want to see my eyes roll?”

Lete whispered into my ear through clenched teeth. She spoke threateningly, but also blatantly watched my every move.

I frowned in slight pain, and at the same time looked down at her fiercely.

“… … .”

“… … .”

The brief eye contact ended. In the end, it was Lete who raised the white flag first.

“… … Evan. It seems a little noisy here. How about we go somewhere quieter and talk? I’ll buy you some food.”

She was urging me with a tone that was clearly more gentle than before.

It was a desperate voice, as if asking for cooperation. When combined with that unique, uplifting gaze, I simply couldn’t bring myself to resist.

“Okay… … . Let’s go, let’s go.”

“… … !”

I nodded with a low sigh, and only then did Lete smile brightly and take off the hand that had been holding me and the foot that had been trampling on me.

“Evan, is there anything you want to eat? I’ll buy you something especially expensive today.”

I gave a short answer to her as she spoke, taking the lead with an even more excited expression.

“Red Dragon Tomahawk.”

Lethe, who had been walking ahead at a fast pace, stopped for a moment, and I let the silence that had descended fall on me pass by indifferently.

She had her head down for a while and didn’t show her expression, then she muttered very quietly.

“… … again.”

“… … .”

“To another menu.”

“Tell me what you want to eat… … .”

“We do it at a reasonable price range.”

“Hey.”

*****

At Lete’s insistence, the lunch menu was unified as a plain noodle dish.

It didn’t matter since I hadn’t really asked for dragon cuisine anyway.

A dish of that quality isn’t something you can get just by spending a lot of money.

“Okay, here.”

“… … Oh, thank you.”

A bench in the central square inside the first parish. I offered Lete the coffee I had bought at a nearby shop, and she politely accepted the cup.

We sat side by side on the bench, sipping drinks and quietly killing time.

We didn’t say anything to each other, but it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. We’d been together for quite some time now, so it wasn’t too much to feel uncomfortable with silence.

‘Come to think of it, was it like this back then too?’

A memory suddenly came to mind and I thought back to a time a few years ago. Perhaps the moment when I first had a serious conversation with a woman named Lete Heresia.

-I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully, Evan Lane.

Even then, we would have been sitting on a bench nearby. Just like now, the two of us, side by side.

Until then, I had never really thought deeply about Lethe.

They always chat in a light atmosphere, bicker about trivial topics for a while, and then eventually laugh it off.

That was exactly the relationship between me and the guy Lete. Just plain bad friends. I couldn’t find any other expression that fit.

Until then, he had been able to easily maintain his position as the number one candidate.

“… … .”

In the fall of my nineteenth year, when the third quarter assessment exams were over, I had fallen to the middle ranks.

The sudden slump in divine power was not something I could do as I pleased.

Those who were already displeased with the fact that a commoner was nominated for sainthood began to bite him as if they had been waiting for it─.

In reality, it didn’t matter to me how much those bastards pounded the rice cakes.

My only concern was that as their attitude changed so dramatically, vague assumptions would multiply.

My only real human relationship, aside from Israfil, is my concern with Lethe.

It’s true that even though we’ve always been at odds with each other, I’ve always secretly considered her close to me.

I wonder if she will look down on me as my growth has slowed down. Will she look at me with contempt, like other nobles did?

I was afraid that she might apply a utilitarian aspect to our relationship.

I didn’t want to see her attitude change.

So I avoided her for a while. Now that I look back, it was a really ugly, pathetic, and embarrassing memory.

– Got it.

As a result, it is true that he was caught by Lethe and made to sit on a bench in this central square.

She just spoke to me with a look of genuine displeasure on her face.

-Listen carefully, Evan. Honestly, I don’t care if you avoid me or not… …even if you try to cut ties with me.

-Still, I’d like to correct one misconception.

-I don’t treat people the way you assume they do.

-If I was going to look down on you just because of a slump, I would have done so a long time ago. Come on, I’d rather ask you the question in return.

-What kind of woman have you thought of me as all this time?

As the saying goes, it was a long speech that made me, who had been harboring such foolish worries, look dumbfounded.

‘And I got hit in the cheek too. I think.’

I remember getting hit pretty hard to make me come to my senses. Even though I looked pretty bad at the time.

In fact, it is thanks to that that I was able to regain my confidence and return to the top ranks I am in now.

I rubbed my perfectly healthy cheek for no reason and then glanced at her from the side.

A cute girl slurping coffee with a straw in her small lips.

Did she just notice my gaze? She just turned her eyes and glared at me.

“… … What is it? Why are you looking at me so stickily?”

“… … .”

My eyebrows twitched involuntarily at the disgusting tone of voice that came out so quickly.

Anyway, he was a guy who I couldn’t bring myself to look at cutely.

I clicked my tongue and opened my mouth to speak.

“I’m asking just in case you forgot, you.”

“What?”

“Have you thought about what I said last time?”

Lete’s lips, which had been bluntly responding, were immediately shut tightly. At first glance, it seemed like she was just remaining silent as usual… … .

Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her throat twitched as if she was swallowing dry saliva.

The tension was evident in every way.

I stared at her intently and then immediately drove the wedge in.

“Do you still think well of me in the future?”

“… … Hic, ugh!?”

And Lete was shaking her whole body in place so much that she almost dropped the coffee she was holding.

She turned to me reflexively, her face flushed like a persimmon, her lips half-opened and then closed tightly again.

The appearance of not being able to utter the words out loud.

I still stared at Lete without changing my expression, and she lowered her face, which had turned bright red as if it was going to burst.

“Ah, uh, uh… … .”

“… … .”

“That’s it, that’s it.”

The words came out choppy and couldn’t form sentences, but I waited quietly.

It was something that couldn’t be forced anyway. All choices were ultimately hers.

How much longer could I have endured such silence?

Lete, who was lost in her own world and spinning her eyes around… … . Only at the very end did she glance at me.

“… … So, I. My answer is.”

The sight of me fumbling with my auburn bangs for no reason and delaying my answer.

I sighed softly, thinking that it wouldn’t end today.

Lethe’s shoulders trembled at that, but I paid no attention and turned around.

“Uh… … ?”

A pose where we face each other exactly. Lete let out an embarrassed voice, and I spoke while weakly holding her chin.

“If it’s acceptance, stay still. If it’s rejection, push away. Do you understand?”

“… … Huh?”

And it was a split second. I leaned toward Lethe, who was still unconscious, and my lips met hers.

“──!”

It felt like the world had stopped for a moment.

At least the time between me and Lete had stopped exactly. Her eyes twitched and her fingertips rested on my chest.

“… … Phhau.”

Even when the kiss was finally over, she didn’t push me away.

He just blinks his eyes dazedly and looks up at me helplessly.

Soon, I turned my body back to where I had been leaning, and Lethe just blankly rolled her eyes for a while before muttering to me.

“Key, kiss is… ….”

“… … .”

“Kissing is something that only happens between lovers… …? Isn’t this the kind of skinship that partners shouldn’t have? Evan.”

It was a fair point. In fact, the standards within this solar cult were so bizarre that they sought purity in kissing rather than sexual intercourse.

To be blunt, it meant that in sex for divine power, one does not kiss the other.

but.

I just laughed in response.

“You were the one who put it on first, weren’t you? That night, on my bed?”

“… … Ugh! That, that’s… … !”

Lete flailed her hands in thought, and I sat up, giggling.

“Just kidding, so what’s the answer? Is it yes after all?”

“… … ugh.”

Unlike her, I had already finished my drink. After throwing my empty cup into the trash can next to the bench, I leisurely looked back at her.

As I said before… … . In fact, I had been with her long enough to get along with her.

Now, I can read her expressions, her eyes, and all sorts of body language to infer to some extent what she’s thinking.

And at this moment, my intuition was telling me. Lete Heresia’s answer was─.

“… … .”

In the end, it was a yes. Lete nodded her head very slightly, and I glanced at the blush that rose on her cheeks and smiled silently.

“Okay, then. From now on, don’t kiss me and do whatever you want. I might rip your tongue off without you knowing.”

“Who the hell is going to say that now… … !”

At my groaning, she sat up and raised her voice. Her face turned red as if it would burst if I hit her, and I couldn’t be more satisfied.

“Don’t kiss me without permission… …?! I, I would think about having sex with you, but I have absolutely no intention of dating you!”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I feel the same way. So please don’t turn your eyes away and try to hit me.”

“Profit, this… … !”

Lete tried to say something more, but I had no intention of enduring her whining any longer.

As soon as I turned around, a loud scream erupted from behind me.

“This is… …! Where are you going! I’m not finished talking yet?!”

“Oh, okay. See you tomorrow.”

Lete was so happy that I waved my hand slowly. She was glaring at me as if she was going to kill me, but she couldn’t actually catch me.

She stood there as if nailed to the spot, waving her arms roughly.

And when we got a fair distance away, let’s turn our heads slightly─.

“… … was weak… … .”

“… … .”

Finally, with such a faint murmur, Lethe lifted her arm and carefully rubbed the corner of her mouth.