Chapter 5: The Delinquent – 1

“Huff… huff…”

“Brother Ace, you’re working hard again this morning.”

“Ah, yes I am, seniors.”

A few days after becoming the Saintess’s personal holy knight.

Since personal holy knights were given free time while the Saintess was asleep, I spent those hours training, only sleeping for four hours until Ariana woke up.

Thankfully, the Grand Cathedral had a large training ground, and seeing me train without missing a single day gave the people here a good impression of me.

Now they even start conversations with me first.

Maybe because the unworthy ones had all been filtered out, most of the cathedral’s holy knights were like me—out training every day—so I spoke with them freely.

“Senior Leroy, may I ask for your help again today?”

“Of course, Brother.”

As usual, I went through my personal training, sparring, prayer, and finally washed up before checking the time.

Three minutes to six.

‘Time to go.’

Fully armored, even with my helmet on, I headed toward Ariana’s room.

Oh, and just to be clear—I wasn’t going there to wake her up…

Though personal holy knights are allowed rest while the Saintess sleeps and other knights stand watch, we’re still required to return by 6 o’clock sharp.

And so, when I arrived in front of Ariana’s room at exactly 6 a.m.

“O Holy Mother…”

I could hear Ariana praying from inside.

I never know when she gets up, but she’s always praying by the time I arrive.

About ten minutes later, Ariana’s door opened.

“Ace, shall we begin another radiant day?”

“Yes, Saintess.”

Since she needed to bathe first, we immediately headed to the bathhouse.

“You mustn’t do this here…”

“The Saintess isn’t ready yet…”

“P-Please, Your Holiness Liv, do something about this…”

For some reason, the floor below was noisier than usual.

“What could be going on?”

“Not sure, but one thing’s certain—it doesn’t sound good. I can hear the priests struggling even from here.”

Prepared for anything, I heightened my alertness more than usual as I headed downstairs.

The further I descended the steps, the clearer the situation below became.

“Hmm, looks like some troublemaker’s shown up.”

From a glance, I could see the priests struggling awkwardly to deal with some nuisance.

“I’ll escort the Saintess first, then I’ll try handling it.”

“Phew… Please do—huh?”

Ariana had been about to ask me for help when she suddenly froze.

Watching her expression sour in real time was something to behold. At the end of her gaze, the one troubling the priests was.

“Why is the Hero…”

“Excuse me?”

Wait, did she say Hero?

I nearly stumbled from the shock, barely keeping my balance as I hurried to get a better look at him.

Obsidian-black hair and blood-red eyes.

A man with an appearance you could practically call “plot armor.”

And currently throwing a fit at the priests—a real piece of work.

‘I’m screwed.’

It was the protagonist.

I was ready to tolerate him to some extent, thinking it couldn’t be that bad if even Ariana disliked him—but I didn’t expect him to be this much of a menace, especially toward regular priests.

‘First, let’s get Ariana out of here.’

If that guy really is the Hero, then he’s probably making a scene because he wants Ariana brought to him.

So if I quietly get her.

“Ah! Ariana!”

Ah, crap.

I guess he saw her.

The so-called Hero began striding toward us.

Hero, wait, hold.

He shoved aside the priest trying to stop him.

That priest—judging by the robes, he was probably a High Priest—and this guy just pushed him like that?

So what, being the Hero gives him a free pass for everything?

The Hero didn’t even glance back at the High Priest now sprawled on the floor.

With a smile, he quickly closed the distance to Ariana.

“I missed you!”

And just as his hand was about to touch Ariana.

–Thud.

My hand grabbed his wrist first.

“…Who the hell are you?”

“So you’re finally looking at me. I’m Ace Adonis, newly appointed as the Saintess’s personal holy knight.”

I had been by Ariana’s side from the very beginning.

You just didn’t notice because you couldn’t take your eyes off her.

I looked at the Hero with that implication in my gaze, and he scowled deeply, pointing at me with his other hand.

“You! So you’re the bastard who’s been sticking around our Ariana!”

“As her personal holy knight, I’ve remained by the Saintess’s side solely for her protection.”

“Shut up! That’s just your excuse so you can ogle her secretly, isn’t it?!”

“As her guard, I must watch over the Saintess—”

“You’re probably leering at her with greedy eyes! Don’t think I don’t know, you bastard!”

Yeah, this guy’s not someone I can reason with.

While I had admired Ariana’s beauty, I could swear before the Goddess that I had never looked at her with lust.

Besides, I was wearing a helmet. He probably couldn’t even see my eyes.

What’s he even talking about?

“The Saintess is on her way to the bath now, so please wait a moment. We can talk more afterward.”

Since Ariana’s hygiene came first, I released the Hero’s wrist and turned to leave.

But of course, the guy reached out again.

–Thud.

“What do you think you’re doing? I just told you she’s heading to the bath.”

I snatched his wrist again and spoke sharply, and whether it was rage or shame, he exploded.

“F**k! Isn’t the Saintess mine?! I’m the Hero! So what’s wrong with me bathing with her, huh?!”

“What?! F**k, I’m right, aren’t I?!”

I stared at him silently with utter disgust, and somehow he got mad at me—like I was the one in the wrong.

This… is going to take serious effort to fix.

Looks like I need to start working on it now.

“Hero.”

“What?!”

“The Saintess is not an object. She’s a person. You shouldn’t go around calling people ‘yours’ like they’re possessions.”

“A mere holy knight thinks he can lecture me?”

I’d done my best to stay calm and speak politely, but unfortunately, the Hero didn’t even pretend to listen.

“You bastard, I’ve been holding back—but looks like I can’t anymore! I’ll show you the Hero’s power!”

Finally, the Hero summoned divine power throughout his entire body and looked at me with a grin full of hostility.

“I’ll leave you half-crippled at least!”

–Wham!

With a burst of strength, the Hero broke free from my grip.

Maybe it was because we were still early in the story, but his divine power didn’t feel overwhelmingly powerful yet. Still, it wasn’t something to ignore.

“The Goddess chose me! God did! I’m the child of the divine!”

The Hero’s fist, cloaked in divine light, came flying at me in an instant—and I…

–Boom!

Countered it.

My fist, glowing gold just like his, met his punch head-on.

“What?!”

My fist blocked his perfectly, and judging by his face, he was genuinely stunned.

That should be enough.

I pulled back my right hand and asked with a slight edge in my voice.

“Would you like to continue?”

“This can’t be…”

The Hero, flustered, stepped back and then clenched his teeth, saying.

“…Fine. I guess it’s a little early to be bathing with Ariana already. I’ll let it slide once.”

“Haha, as expected of the Hero—so generous. Well then, Saintess? Since the Hero has agreed to wait, shall we go?”

“Ah, yes!”

And so, leaving the Hero behind, we headed toward the bath.

After arriving at the changing room, I turned around and stood guard in front of it.

Ariana gave me a concerned glance, then quietly stepped inside.

–Clack.

Once the door closed…

I leaned against the wall and sank to the floor.

Then, I carefully removed the gauntlet from my right hand.

Revealing my shattered, completely broken hand.

‘It hurts like hell.’

I didn’t show it when our fists collided earlier, but honestly, it was an indescribable kind of pain.

His actions might be that of a bratty, immature child, but physically, he was still the Hero.

The title of “Hero” came with the kind of strength that could easily break even someone like me—someone who trained diligently every single day.

‘I need to get this treated while Ariana is bathing.’

Unfortunately, I went down the holy knight skill path, which meant I couldn’t heal injuries this severe.

The best I could do was patch up scrapes and minor wounds.

But as her personal holy knight, I couldn’t leave my post—so all I could do was wait and hope a priest passed by.

‘Can’t one of them just come this way already?’

For now, I used my divine technique to do a temporary fix, then covered it back up with my gauntlet.

Ariana couldn’t find out about this.

She still blamed herself for the lives lost during the monster Wave.

If she learned that I broke my hand protecting her, she’d surely take it hard.

Just as I stood up again and resumed my guard position.

“B-Brother Ace!”

“Hmm? And you are…?”

In the distance, I saw a man in High Priest robes hurrying toward me.

If I remembered correctly, his name was… Liv.

As soon as he reached me, he bowed deeply and began expressing his gratitude over and over.

“Thank you! If you hadn’t been there, the Saintess might’ve faced a very troubling situation! I tried everything to calm the Hero, but… he just wouldn’t listen to reason…”

“Haha… It’s nothing, really. I think I now understand a bit of what you’ve been going through, Your Holiness.”

My hand was shattered after one encounter with that guy, and this man had been dealing with him for days?

Honestly, I was surprised he was even alive.

“It’s comforting to finally have someone who understands. Oh—by the way, your hand… oh dear… I’ve been hit a few times myself, and I know those impacts aren’t light.”

“Or wait—could it be that as a personal knight, you’re built tougher? Maybe your body’s just naturally stronger?”

Ah, perfect timing.

I actually needed a priest right about now—how fortunate.

“If it’s not too much trouble… would you mind treating my hand? Haha…”

I removed my gauntlet and revealed my right hand to High Priest Liv.

“Gasp! I-I’ll heal it immediately! This is more serious than I thought!”

Well, I had only just become a personal holy knight…

Thankfully, before Ariana came out, my right hand had been fully restored to normal.