Ch.100100. Land of Artists

Thwack!

Two heads rolling on the floor. A clean strike so perfect it seemed strange they were alive just moments ago.

“Ah, Student Aria!”

Erika, standing behind, cried out in surprise, but Aria paid no attention and approached their corpses.

Erika couldn’t just stand by watching her. She hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Aria’s shoulder.

“What?”

An utterly indifferent voice.

Despite clearly recognizing that she had just killed people, she showed not even a hint of hesitation.

This girl would repeat exactly the same actions a hundred times out of a hundred if such a situation arose again.

Her response was so brazen that Erika was the one left speechless.

Like a canvas already stained, she was certain that no matter what was done to the girl, that demeanor would never change.

“Just stay still. This is all for Professor Deus’s benefit.”

“Do you really think he would be happy about this?”

“It would be nice if he were happy. But even if he’s not, I don’t particularly care.”

There was firm conviction in Aria’s cold declaration. But the root of that conviction was anxiety and trauma.

“Professor Deus needs to become stronger. Strong enough that no one, absolutely no one, would dare approach him.”

It wasn’t enough for Aria alone to become stronger. Even she couldn’t always protect Deus.

And he wouldn’t want that either.

So Deus Verdi must become stronger.

Strong enough to protect himself even in situations where Aria couldn’t protect him.

Strong enough that no one would even imagine targeting him.

“For that purpose, I don’t mind if the professor frowns upon this briefly.”

“Briefly? Do you think this is something that can be overlooked so easily?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Aria answers with a cunning smile.

“The professor won’t abandon me. He can’t.”

Though she didn’t know why.

The devotion Deus Verdi showed toward Aria in the first cycle wasn’t because she had done anything special.

From the beginning, Deus cherished Aria.

Unlimited consideration, teaching, and patience without asking for anything in return. Someone who could see through her at any time.

Aria always remembered this, engraved it in her heart, and would never forget it.

“It means he won’t hate me even if I take a few corpses like these.”

Thinking of him, Aria smiled again. As she reached for the corpse with a contented smile—

Thwack!

The severed face suddenly opened its mouth wide and bit down on her hand.

A sudden ambush.

The face was making crunching sounds as it violently moved its teeth, trying to tear off Aria’s fingers.

“Ha!”

Aria dropped her sword and grabbed the face’s teeth with her other hand, forcing its mouth open.

Crrrack!

The face split in half as Aria’s mana-infused strength tore its mouth apart.

It crashed to the floor in pieces, but the headless man’s body had already stood up.

The body began to twitch.

Then dozens of snake heads started pouring out from around the neck area toward the two of them.

“Oh no!”

Aria hurriedly picked up her sword and swung it. She belatedly remembered she needed to protect Professor Erika beside her, but—

The professor was already protecting herself quite swiftly using light magic.

“It’s a monster summoner! I heard there were a few in Dante, but I never thought one of them would be here!”

“Monster summoner?!”

Erika exclaimed at the unfamiliar term. But her palm already held a yellow sphere ready to be fired at the enemy.

Erika swung her hand wide like throwing a ball toward the pouring snakes.

The sphere melted through the snakes as it burrowed deep inside, then exploded with brilliant light in front of the enemy’s main body.

As the explosion’s smoke spread, Aria charged in with her greatsword raised.

Though she wasn’t entirely pleased with the combat style that required coordination with Erika—

Learning that the opponent was a monster summoner made Aria’s lips curl upward.

It was certainly a formidable opponent.

A rare existence, far beyond comparison with necromancers or corpse manipulators.

A realm that required talent beyond talent.

Therefore.

“Not just any tonic, but well-aged wild ginseng?”

Aria couldn’t suppress the twisted smile forming on her face.

The more formidable the opponent, the more helpful it would be for Deus, who could manipulate the dead.

“Since I can’t tell where the main body is, I’ll have to take both the body and the neck!”

Her sword swung mercilessly, driven by the emotion of love.

* * *

“It’s alright. God will understand your feelings perfectly.”

The white-haired nun in her habit gives a small smile. The guard blocking the way grins broadly with delight.

Even among the countless people the guard had seen passing through here, the nun’s beauty ranked within the top five.

“You think so?”

“Yes, so don’t worry.”

Her gentle smile was different from her usual image yet not awkward, which made me snort in disbelief.

“Pfft.”

Illuania, who was driving the carriage, couldn’t hold back and covered her mouth with both hands, lowering her head.

Judging by her trembling shoulders, she seemed quite amused.

It was commendable of Findenai to give the pregnant woman something to laugh about, making her bury her face in her thighs to avoid getting caught.

“Now, shall we pray for a moment?”

Yes.

That’s Findenai.

Findenai joined her hands with the guard and began praying with closed eyes.

She was wearing a nun’s habit received from the Elia Convent because her usual revealing maid outfit had gotten dirty.

“Goddess Hertia, who oversees hearth and fire, is watching over us today.”

[She’s quite good at this, isn’t she?]

“I heard that in the Republic of Clark, resistance members must disguise themselves to hide their identities.”

[So that’s why! It’s amazing how completely she transforms.]

The Dark Spiritmaster nodded with folded arms, watching with fascination.

I glanced briefly out the carriage window before turning my attention back to my book.

When we were stopped at the checkpoint, she suddenly insisted on handling it herself with much fuss, and it seems she had reason to be confident.

Actually, there was no need to deceive them. If I revealed myself as a spiritmaster, the gates would naturally open, and the mayor would come to greet me.

But there was still a possibility that assassins sent by bishops and nobles were looking for me.

Dealing with them wouldn’t be difficult, but there was no need to attract unnecessary attention.

In that sense, Findenai’s actions were somewhat helpful, but—

‘She probably just wanted to do it.’

Findenai would actually prefer if assassins came, so her stepping up now was likely just because she wanted to try acting as a nun.

“The goddess will protect you. Fire to your sword, passion to your heart, and peace to your mind.”

The prayer seemed to be over, as the guard thanked Findenai and prepared to let the carriage through.

Guards typically don’t search nuns’ belongings thoroughly.

This is due to the belief that the gods might be displeased and the conviction that nuns wouldn’t possess illegal items.

Of course, a nameplate proving one’s status as a nun was required, but Findenai had explained her lack of one by offering a prayer instead.

“And brother.”

“Y-yes?!”

Just when he thought it was over, Findenai added another comment.

The guard answered brightly with forced enthusiasm, which was almost pitiful.

“You’re a smoker, aren’t you? I can smell tobacco strongly on you.”

“Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

As the guard began frantically dusting off his armor in embarrassment, Findenai continued with a small smile.

“God hasn’t forbidden smoking, but it’s a harmful thing. I worry it might strain your body.”

[You really do have an extraordinary maid, don’t you?]

“She’s certainly enjoying herself.”

I wondered where she learned to lie so shamelessly.

Just five minutes ago, she was whining about wanting to smoke and asking us to stop the carriage.

Now she was pretending to be a nun and preaching about how tobacco is harmful to the body.

“Give it to me. I’ll take responsibility for disposing of it.”

“But… it’s premium quality…”

“Would you truly make me sad?”

At the slightly tearful voice, I instinctively turned my head to look out the window again.

I wondered if this woman was actually going to cry.

But of course, not a single tear fell from those blood-red eyes. She was merely contorting her face to feign sadness.

“Ah, I understand. You’re right, Sister. It is harmful.”

“You’re wise.”

“If I keep it, I’ll end up using it again. I trust you’ll dispose of it properly.”

“Goddess Hertia will be pleased.”

After receiving the tobacco, Findenai turned around. I heard footsteps, and as she climbed back into the carriage, it began moving again.

Still in her nun’s habit, Findenai immediately grinned and proudly held out the tobacco.

“Master, look at this! Sweet! Nuns get free tobacco!”

“…”

“Mmm! Look at this! It must be really expensive! It smells so good!”

She immediately brought the tobacco to her nostrils, closing her eyes and savoring it in a rather impressive display.

“Ah, I want to taste this free tobacco. Wonder where I can smoke it.”

She licked her lips and tucked the tobacco into the inner pocket where nuns keep their rosaries.

[If that guard saw this, he’d cry. His illusions shattered. He might even curse the gods.]

The Dark Spiritmaster shook her head in disbelief.

Enough.

I decided to just accept Findenai as she is, since trying to understand her was proving more difficult than expected.

It wasn’t for nothing that she was fighting as a leader against the mad country called the Republic of Clark.

The name of the city we arrived at after passing through the gates was Claren.

It was a city developed to a similar extent as Robern where the Academy is located, but the buildings themselves were somewhat older.

A land of artists focused on traditional culture and tourism, always filled with music, dance, painting, and sculpture.

In my experience, artists often have connections with evil spirits or monsters.

Whether it’s because they shut themselves in rooms or talk to themselves a lot, I don’t know.

If not for Lucia’s letter, my first destination would have been this place rather than the Elia Convent.

[Um, Deus?]

The Dark Spiritmaster cautiously called to me as I was focusing on my book, thinking that city scenery was all the same anyway.

“Hmm?”

When I glanced at her to see what was wrong, her trembling finger pointed right behind the carriage.

“Huh.”

The scene behind the carriage was chaotic enough to make me exhale in surprise.

Like stray cats prowling the streets—

Bizarre monsters of all shapes and sizes were following the carriage, drooling like beasts rushing toward prey.