Chapter 4: Cross necklace

The Holy Maiden was assigned to the same class as me.

There must have been several reasons for that, but the biggest reason was, of course, that the Hero was in this class.

The higher-ups at the Academy and the Holy Order seemed to want the Hero and the Holy Maiden to build a friendship, but I wondered how much being in the same class would matter in an Academy where most lessons were electives and mobile classes anyway.

Already, the classroom was abuzz with talk about the Holy Maiden.

“Did you hear the news? They say the Holy Maiden is coming to our class?”

“Why? Surely not because of the Hero?”

“I heard it somewhere, you know? They supposedly put the Hero and the Holy Maiden in the same class on purpose…”

‘…I don’t know who they heard it from, but the Academy seems to need to pay a little more attention to information security.’

A little more time passed, and it was almost time for the professor to arrive, but the classroom was still noisy.

The reason was that there were people asking the Hero about her relationship with the Holy Maiden.

The Hero answered quite sincerely, but since the Hero and the Holy Maiden had never met in the past, there wouldn’t be much to gain by asking her.

In previous timelines, the Hero and the Holy Maiden didn’t seem particularly close.

I didn’t know the detailed reason, but surprisingly, they didn’t seem to think well of each other.

Perhaps due to the Regressor’s intervention, I had never seen them truly fight… but the way they looked at each other wasn’t good.

Still, in the end, they entrusted their backs to each other and fought against destruction.

Perhaps making them get along was only possible when they were pushed to extreme situations.

“Fufu…”

Suddenly, a strange laugh came from behind.

Since, as far as I remembered, there was only one person in the Academy who would come all the way to the back of the classroom to do such a thing, I lightly pretended to be surprised, giving her the reaction she wanted.

“Gasp! You startled me, who are you?”

“Hmm? You’re an interesting person.”

“Ah, are you perhaps the Holy Maiden…?”

“Fufu, nice to meet you.”

She… no, the Holy Maiden said that with a peculiar expression, then passed me and went to the front of the classroom.

Following behind her was the Holy Maiden’s escort… Who was it again?

Anyway, the escort slightly bowed her head to me as if apologizing.

Students at the front, recognizing the Holy Maiden, couldn’t hide their surprise and gasped.

Still, unlike the students from earlier who couldn’t even meet her gaze, normal reactions were emerging.

‘Is it because her divine power has significantly decreased?’

It seemed the Holy Maiden was being considerate, restraining the immense divine power from overflowing.

Finally, the Holy Maiden, standing at the podium, opened her mouth.

“My name is Arie, and I’ll be with you all starting today. Please take care of me.”

“I am Yulia, who has come along as the Holy Maiden’s escort. If you have any business with the Holy Maiden, please come to me first.”

‘Ah, right.’

‘Yulia, that was her name.’

‘I remember Yulia usually cleaned up most of the messes the troublemaking Holy Maiden made.’

‘She’ll have a tough time ahead, so hang in there.’

The Holy Maiden waved with a warm smile, and the students clapped as if enchanted.

I clapped along and glanced at the Hero.

She was also clapping as if welcoming the Holy Maiden, but she didn’t seem to have much interest yet.

At this point, I was a little curious.

‘They don’t seem interested in each other yet… When did their relationship go sour?’

‘This time, I’ll have to observe carefully.’

Soon after, the homeroom professor entered, briefly introduced Arie and Yulia, and began the class.

I took out my book and subtly glanced at the Holy Maiden.

Arie and Yulia sat side-by-side a little behind the middle.

I couldn’t tell with Yulia’s expressionless face, but Arie was already beaming, seemingly amused by something.

‘Right. The Holy Maiden won’t fall from grace in the future, so…’

‘I hope both she and Yulia always wear such expressions.’

****

Before I knew it, the sun began to set.

Arie and Yulia, who had a busier day than other students, finished all their duties and headed to the dormitory.

Yulia, the younger sister, thought her older sister Arie, who had been well-behaved all day, was commendable.

“Fufu, Yulia? Is there anything you’d like to snack on?”

“Holy Maiden, surely not…?”

“Of course not~! Me, a Holy Maiden, stealing… There’s no way I’d do something so sordid, right?”

“……I didn’t say anything, though?”

“Fufu~.”

“……”

Arie seemed to be in a better mood than usual.

‘Right, well… when it’s just the two of them, she can tolerate this kind of light banter.’

And since it was also true that she was a bit hungry, as Arie had said, Yulia bought some suitable snacks ‘at a fair price.’

While putting the snacks they bought into their mouths bit by bit and continuing idle chatter with Arie, who suggested they take a short walk before returning since the weather was nice.

Arie suddenly brought up a story to Yulia, as if it had just occurred to her.

“If you’re asking about ways to skip class without the professors noticing, I naturally wouldn’t know. And even if I found out, I would never teach you.”

“Fufu, I am curious about that, of course… but do you remember the person sitting in the very back before I greeted the class?”

“You mean when you purposely entered through the back door, even though it wasn’t during class, saying it’s best to surprise people by appearing suddenly? Who are you referring to?”

“Oh, come on. You know, the one who exclaimed, ‘Gasp! You startled me!’ I even saw Yulia bow her head, saying she was sorry.”

“Hmm…”

Yulia pondered for a moment, then, with an “Ah!” opened her mouth as if she had just remembered.

[Come to think of it, there was such a person.]

“Oh?”

“Aren’t you talking about that person with black hair and black eyes?”

“……That’s right. When we quietly opened the back door and entered, didn’t that person glance at us for a moment?”

“Oh, was that so?”

“And when we arrived at the Academy via teleportation, I think that person was also among the crowd…”

“Was that so? I don’t quite remember…”

“Didn’t you clearly tell me you remembered all the faces of the people who were there then?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Arie slightly furrowed her brows.

Her younger sister, who was always intelligent and sharp-witted, seemed a little strange today.

Because if it was the Yulia she knew, she would have memorized all the names of her classmates even before arriving at the Academy.

“Yulia, do you remember the name of the student sitting in front of me?”

“Are you referring to Pascal Myers? I’ve heard that the head of the Myers family passed down the family’s ancestral dagger to him. And…”

“That’s enough.”

Arie interrupted Yulia and sat down on a park bench for a moment.

She fell into thought, looking at Yulia, who sat down beside her.

As expected, there was nothing wrong with Yulia.

Nor did Arie think there was anything wrong with herself.

‘Then, it’s not them, but…’

“Fufu, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Holy Maiden…?”

‘That intelligent Yulia couldn’t remember properly, and pretended to be startled as if seeing the Holy Maiden for the first time, even though it was the second time…’

‘Who could that person be whose face I can’t even picture in my mind?’

Arie glanced at Yulia.

She was chewing on something, perhaps a salt bread, complaining, “How is this different from regular bread?”

Arie smiled mischievously.

‘Perhaps, she might gain the best subordinate to prank this cute younger sister with.’

****

The sun had completely set, and the night sky was dark, with not even the moon visible.

Someone in a black robe was looking down at the Holy Order’s dormitory from a building rooftop.

Even for an Academy full of eccentric people, such suspicious attire would not be strange for a report to be filed…

That suspicious person was me.

I am now observing from this vantage point, waiting for an opportunity.

I am waiting for the Holy Maiden… no, to be precise, her escort Yulia, to fall asleep.

The ‘Black Cross Necklace,’ which the Holy Maiden believes to be a holy artifact, is naturally kept in the closest place to her: her own room.

And Yulia, the escort, stays in the room right next door, separated by just one wall.

If I were to infiltrate the Holy Maiden’s room and Yulia suddenly burst in… and if she were to try to launch a pincer attack with the Holy Maiden…

From that point on, it would become a situation where I would have no choice but to subdue them by force, regardless of who gets hurt.

So, I plan to move as safely as possible, once Yulia falls asleep.

The reason I’m not considering the Holy Maiden falling asleep here is that she was always awake whenever I infiltrated.

Even if the lights were off, she was always awake when I entered.

Honestly, the first time I made eye contact with her in the Holy Maiden’s room during the second timeline, I was so startled I almost screamed.

At the time, I thought I was just unlucky to enter when she was awake, but seeing her consistently awake in subsequent timelines, I now just think, ‘Oh, this is a night she doesn’t sleep…’

Nevertheless, I don’t postpone the theft to another day because I’ve never failed or been caught by anyone other than the Holy Maiden so far.

If I were to change it to another day and fail, it was obvious that security would be strengthened, making it even more difficult.

More importantly, it’s better to retrieve that ominous necklace quickly.

The ‘Black Cross Necklace’ is an artifact from the Tomb.

The Tomb refers to a dangerous land that has encroached upon half of this world, a place teeming with all sorts of monstrous creatures, virtually a demonic realm, to the extent that it’s said to be the origin of all monsters swarming the continent.

Sometimes, unidentified objects are found in the Tomb, and the Holy Maiden’s Black Cross Necklace is one such item.

Items from the Tomb are generally difficult to even ascertain their abilities, but many of them possess truly powerful capabilities.

That’s why the continent’s most renowned strong individuals search for them with burning eyes.

In fact, a few years ago, there was a case where those called ‘Great Pioneers’ succeeded in bringing back a large quantity of treasures from the Tomb.

The items brought back then were quite decent as well…

Well, in truth, the Tomb is as vast as the entire continent humanity currently inhabits combined, so the place reached by those ‘Great Pioneers’ was merely like the rind of a watermelon.

Anyway, to talk a bit more about the Holy Maiden’s Black Cross Necklace, it is an item from the Tomb, but more precisely, it’s an item from the Tomb infused with power by an ‘Outer God.’

It’s understandable to mistake it for divine power since the Outer God’s power has entered it.

I don’t know the exact path by which the Outer God’s power imbued it, but one can surmise that an apostle of the Outer God first discovered the necklace, imbued it with the Outer God’s power, and then handed it to the Holy Maiden.

If my thoughts are correct, there’s clearly a traitor within the Holy Order who gave her that necklace…

That’s a problem for the Holy Maiden or Yulia to solve later, so I’ll ignore it for now.

For now, I only need to focus on the necklace.

Finally, the light in Yulia’s room disappeared.

She must be going to bed now.

‘Shall I start moving?’

Currently, the Holy Order’s dormitory has heightened security due to the Holy Maiden’s presence.

A significant number of the Holy Order’s elite soldiers are guarding the dormitory’s perimeter, and I must breach all of them and reach the Holy Maiden’s room without anyone knowing.

At first glance, it seems impossible, but I possess an ability that makes all of this possible.

First, the barrier.

To make it seem as if someone from outside had infiltrated and stolen the Holy Maiden’s item, I will create a hole in the barrier covering the entire Academy.

[Perception.]

[A massive fissure appears in the barrier.]

[Cognition.]

[Someone has infiltrated through the fissure.]

[Perception.]

[The intruder’s entire body is shrouded in darkness, making their identity difficult to ascertain.]

[Cognition.]

[The intruder’s presence is subtle; even their footsteps cannot be heard.]

My authority is to manipulate [Perception] and [Cognition].

It is the ability to deceive and fool the world.