Ch.24Saint Candidate – 5

It had been about five days since Rosaria Leone de Michaela, the only and promising candidate for sainthood in the Starlight Order, had settled down at Bellium Academy.

During that time, Rosaria had faithfully followed my advice while carrying out her official duty of monitoring the Bellium Forest once a day.

In truth, my advice wasn’t anything special. Just two simple rules: always respond with a smile when someone greets you first, and occasionally initiate greetings with people you’ve become somewhat familiar with.

As I had predicted, the students were so moved by Rosaria simply returning their greetings or occasionally greeting them first that they already seemed to pay no attention to past rumors about her.

“Don’t you find it tiring to smile all day?”

“Not at all. I’m actually smiling because I’m genuinely happy. This is much better than being locked up in a bloody torture chamber torturing nuns all day.”

Rosaria answered my question decisively. It seemed that she naturally found herself smiling when people approached her with smiles, without having to force it.

It made sense, considering that when she first had to imitate what the original Rosaria had done, she had such a fragile personality that she vomited profusely as soon as she regained control.

“Well, there are some who look at me strangely… but that can’t be helped. To completely hide this, I’d need to be wrapped up so thickly I could barely roll around.”

However, her attire remained unchanged from the black sweater she had initially created. To keep holding the Thread of Starlight, she had to maintain the excuse she had given when bringing it here.

Since the sacred relic supposedly turned any clothes that touched it to dust, covering her body with an outer garment was impossible. As a result, Rosaria had no choice but to remain in her one-piece sweater.

That outfit that ridiculously emphasized her chest.

“I can understand the chest situation, but what’s with the thighs?”

The lower part was equally concerning. Even when standing still, if she bent forward just slightly, the sweater was so short that the flesh below her buttocks would be exposed.

“…I didn’t have enough holy power, so it couldn’t be helped.”

“Holy power?”

According to Rosaria, she lacked the holy power to make it any longer. If she tried to extend it even a little more, the entire garment would revert to thread.

It seemed she had clear limitations in handling sacred relics, perhaps because she was destined never to attain sainthood. Rosaria smiled with resignation, saying she was trying to block as many gazes as possible by surrounding herself with nuns.

“Even though this is a practical combat lecture, as a professor, I should teach you something,” said Professor Jake, resting an enormous greatsword on his shoulder.

He had just been grumbling loudly about how the schedule changes due to the Bellium Forest closure meant practical combat classes would be held twice for the time being, increasing his workload.

“What do you think should be my number one emphasis to you all?”

“Bigger muscles, sir!”

“You idiot! Did all your nutrients go to your muscles instead of your brain? Not that! You should answer what you can achieve with bigger muscles!”

The male student whose entire body was bulging with muscles laughed happily despite being called an idiot and sat down. Jake also continued with a pleased smile.

“More precisely, it’s strength. Unless your body enhancement efficiency vastly surpasses your opponent’s, when strength supports you, everything else naturally follows.”

Jake lightly gripped his greatsword and swung it around with one hand. The massive chunk of solid steel made a chilling sound as it cut through the air.

“But the vast majority of you won’t be able to build a body like this, and even if you did, maintaining it would be even more difficult. That’s why we use mana for body enhancement.”

A faint blue light enveloped his body covered in scars and muscles. The speed at which he swung the sword visibly increased. The sound of the wind became even more spine-chilling.

“What I want to emphasize is not just enhancing your body with mana, but doing so in a balanced way throughout your entire body. If the balance is disrupted, it puts strain on your muscles and joints, resulting in fatigue or increased risk of injury. Watch carefully.”

Jake’s upper arm glowed blue, while his forearm below the elbow was tinged with a lighter blue. He swung the greatsword forcefully in that state.

—Crack!

With the sound of twisting bone, his elbow joint shattered and bent at an angle it shouldn’t. Some students flinched and froze at the sight, but the man whose elbow had just been destroyed remained impassive.

“This is what can happen if you’re not careful. I enhanced my upper arm and forearm to different degrees, and the joint couldn’t withstand the disparity in force. What do you think would happen in a real battle if this occurred?”

Jake ended with a rhetorical question as he lightly dusted off his elbow joint, which was already healing in real-time. Then he turned to the side and slightly bowed his head.

“Thank you, Saint Candidate.”

“It’s nothing.”

This was something Rosaria had recently started doing—attending lectures with injury risks to provide holy healing. Thanks to this, her reputation had been soaring lately.

Once his elbow was completely healed, Jake slowly looked around at the half-frozen students and said:

“Don’t worry, what just happened was an extreme example. I’ve never seen such a situation in actual combat. It’s something you’d have to deliberately attempt, like I just did.”

The frozen atmosphere thawed somewhat at the words of this veteran of veterans who had been on the front lines for over a decade.

“But even if it doesn’t escalate to this point, the fact remains that improper enhancement puts strain on your body. It might not matter in short battles, but inevitably, you’ll face unwanted consecutive or prolonged battles at some point. Consider this practice for those times.”

Boom! Jake slammed his greatsword into the ground.

“As always, but especially today, work hard! Saint Candidate Rosaria Leone de Michaela has specially agreed to assist with our combat practice!”

Thunderous applause erupted. Rosaria, standing among the nuns surrounding her like guards, smiled and nodded. Aria and Brunhild were also clapping enthusiastically.

I pretended to join in appropriately.

‘I’d say the plan is succeeding so far.’

Even if Aria were chosen as the saint, she wouldn’t be dragged to the Papal State while being pointed at by students in misery, as in the original story.

As Jake had boasted, we moved to the dueling arena less than 30 minutes after the lecture began, and everyone swarmed around the professor like bees to determine the order.

Perhaps because the saint was present, everyone seemed much more enthusiastic than usual.

“Hey, want to do it right now? I can’t wait any longer. Hmm?”

Brunhild, one of the three not part of that swarm, poked me while flashing her eyes provocatively.

“Didn’t I tell you to be precise with your expressions? What exactly do you want to do, and what can’t you wait for?”

“Do we really need words between us?”

Brunhild snickered. Judging by her expression, it was 100% intentional. She knew exactly what she was doing. Perhaps I shouldn’t have reacted the first time she did this.

“Nobody else is going to challenge either of us anyway. Why not just come along quietly?”

That was true. After I indulged her persistent requests a few times, people stopped challenging either Brunhild or me.

As a result, we were practically excluded from half the lectures. Even Professor Jake had hinted that he was giving us perfect scores regardless, which said it all.

“Next up is… Aria April?”

“Yes, Professor.”

While Brunhild and I were bickering about whether to duel or not, Aria, who had been called next, stepped forward. As she climbed onto the dueling platform, she didn’t forget to cutely cheer us on.

A male student I hadn’t seen before climbed up as her opponent. In truth, the only people whose names I remembered from this class were Brunhild, Aria, and Diana.

Aria gave a slight bow and drew her sword with elegant movements. Soon, the blue mana separating the two disappeared.

The male student moved first. Although Aria was on the defensive, she ultimately emerged victorious. She didn’t take a single hit, yet stopped just short of striking her opponent several times.

The male student returned to his seat with a dejected expression, his pride clearly wounded. Jake looked at Aria with an astonished expression and clicked his tongue.

“You too, Aria April. I don’t think I have anything to teach you. How are there three such students in one year? And first-years at that?”

His eyes moved from Brunhild to me, then to Aria. Aria returned to sit beside me under the professor’s disgruntled gaze.

“Since Rosaria is here, you could have just stabbed him. Why did you stop?”

“Even if it can be healed, getting hurt still hurts, you know.”

“……”

It was an awkward response to agree with. I forcibly changed the subject.

“Where did you learn swordsmanship? It seems like you’ve been training for quite a while.”

“She says she taught herself by reading books.”

“B-Brunhild!”

Brunhild beat me to it. Aria, startled, playfully hit Brunhild. Her fists contained no strength at all.

“…Is that even possible?”

“Well, it worked when I tried? I checked the postures from books, held a sword, and went ‘Hyah!'”

When I asked again, Aria paused from hitting Brunhild and cutely swung her arm. It made me realize anew that this is what people mean by “genius.”

‘Well, she is the protagonist after all.’

In a way, it made sense. While Rosaria could barely create a precariously short sweater with the Thread of Starlight, Aria would eventually use it to protect entire armies.

If she was going to become a saint later, awaken her holy power, and stand proudly beside the hero to fight the Demon King, she would need that level of talent.

“She’s been like that since she was little. Everything came naturally to her.”

“N-not everything! Some things took me a long time!”

“If you could memorize most books at a glance, then taking a whole day counts as ‘a long time,’ right?”

“When you put it that way, it makes me sound weird…!”

While Aria and Brunhild were playfully bickering, Rosaria quietly approached.

“They seem close.”

“As they should be. Do you know who they are?”

They were none other than the protagonist of the original novel and the hero. Unless there was a specific conflict plot, it was natural for them to always get along well.

“Why are you suddenly here? There are many eyes watching. Just tell me what you need.”

Someone with Brunhild’s specs could probably hear even if we lowered our voices at this distance. But Rosaria pressed her lips close to my ear as if she absolutely had to convey this message now.

“I received a message from the Papal State.”

“What did they say?”

“They told me to stop putting on this hypocritical act.”

“……”

“They said if I don’t stop immediately, they’ll come here and take me away themselves.”