episode_0129

Serafina and Brianna were looking around the underground armory that was the central headquarters of the Slaves.

It was difficult to find any intact areas on the floor or walls of the armory, as if there had been a fierce battle. The most notable thing among them was the sword mark that cut diagonally across half of the armory.

The knight’s skill in handling the giant spirit soldier was excellent, and there were no cracks in the sword marks. It was clear that it would be difficult for anyone to make such clean sword marks with just one stroke of the sword.

Seraphina just laughed without looking at the sword marks. It is difficult to make such a sword mark with a giant sword, but the huge sword mark in front of me was made by a man, not a giant sword.

“Master. I just can’t understand it with your military logic. Is this really a mark that a level 5 knight could make?”

“Usually not possible.”

“I guess so. It would be impossible…”

Serafina thought of the person who left this trace, her priest. Until now, he had done many things that would surprise her, but this time he finally surprised her.

The night when the operation to annihilate the Slaves took place.

When she heard that they were in possession of an old Colossus, she hurriedly contacted Brianna and led the knights to this underground armory.

On the way to the armory, Seraphina scolded herself. I blamed myself for being overconfident that I had assumed all the variables.

I never thought that the Slaves would have a giant god soldier. It wasn’t that he looked down on them, but considering the size of their central headquarters, he quickly concluded that there was little chance of them having giant god soldiers.

However, these clever bastards had prepared the old giant god soldiers at the central headquarters. It was aimed at the fact that its size is smaller than that of the current generation’s Giant God Soldiers, and was prepared for an emergency.

In that brief moment heading to the armory, Seraphina remembered the time when that bastard escaped the siege. The thought that on the day when a suddenly appeared giant god-demon causes terrorism, not only that the prestige of the empire will fall to the ground, but also that countless innocent subjects will not escape death, did not leave my mind.

She arrived at the armory with all her worries and was at a loss for words when she saw the situation in front of her.

Gilbert holding a sword with his left hand with his back straight, sword marks dividing the armory, and even a giant soldier broken in two.

She couldn’t believe what she saw with her own eyes.

However, she soon came to her senses and hurriedly ordered first aid to Gilbert and immediately transported him.

Although Gilbert was standing on his own two feet, he was unconscious and had no sound on his body. He was so covered in blood that his academy cadet uniform was soaked, so it was a good thing he didn’t die.

Was it worth it to hurry up?

Fortunately, there was no life-threatening injury.

I was worried that he hadn’t woken up yet, but I had no doubt that Gilbert would wake up soon.

Meanwhile, Brianna looked at the sword marks with different eyes than Serafina.

This trace was made by the winter sword’s secret weapon, the winter sky splitting. It was also a perfect sword that was skillfully used and did not waste any power.

I thought it was still too much for Gilbert to use Oui perfectly, but it seemed like she had underestimated his skills. He had already reached the stage of maturity.

Gil, it’s only you.

Brianna smiled faintly.

Her thoughts were not mistaken.

Looking at these near-perfect sword marks, Brianna was convinced that she was not wrong.

As she thought, the only companion she could walk the path of the sword with was Gilbert.

“Master. I think it would be best to keep it a secret that the priest killed the Giant God Soldier.”

“I agree. Even if you are a level 5 knight, if it becomes known that you cut down a giant god soldier, you will get caught up in all kinds of trouble.”

“Okay. Especially, Yeo’s brothers and sisters won’t leave her alone. That’s something you don’t want.”

Serafina and Brianna decided to make this an unwritten rule. If it was revealed that a level 5 knight had cut the giant soldier in two, it was as obvious as seeing fire that many people would try to reach out to Gilbert.

As he was already steadily leaving his mark on the empire, there were countless nobles trying to attract him to their faction.

There was no way that Seraphina, who was trying to make Gilbert hers, or Brianna, who was trying to make Gilbert a companion to walk the path of the sword with, would be happy about it.

They decided to quietly cover up this incident, not knowing that the other party was the biggest threat to their goals.

***

Gilbert came to his senses, feeling a crushing pain.

As he tried to get up, his eyes started spinning and he felt a strong sense of dizziness, so he gave up the idea of getting up.

Blinking his barely open eyes a few times and examining the situation, he looked at the pure white ceiling and realized that he had been taken to the hospital.

Looks like you did it somehow.

His memory ended with the winter sky splitting in half.

I thought I had done it even when I fainted because I had thrown the best sword that I could not have done twice, but seeing as I was taken to the hospital, it seemed like I had definitely succeeded.

As he was staring at the ceiling, his dizziness subsided and he struggled to get up.

The muscles of my entire body were tight, and the stiffness did not go away.

Although he had awakened his super regeneration, his super regeneration was running smoothly just by treating the aftereffects of breaking the limit. Originally, it was normal to suffer permanent damage, so this was something that could be tolerated.

It seemed like the period would be much shorter thanks to healing with divine power, but it seemed better to avoid doing too much for the time being.

Gilbert sat down on the bed and opened the mission window.

The main scenario, Slave Trader, was marked as cleared.

While he was unconscious, it seemed that Seraphina had captured all the remnants of the Slaves. With this, several incidents that could have occurred in the latter half of the main scenario were concluded before they even began.

The sudden kidnapping of colleagues and large-scale disappearances all disappeared into another world line. Thanks to this, we were able to prevent people from corrupting in the future in advance, so it was hard to estimate how much of a benefit it was.

Then take a break for a while.

Gilbert stretched and slid down to lie down on the bed.

My life has been very busy since the break. He promised himself that he would rest and do nothing until the next main scenario.

Working hard is important, but more important than that is proper rest.

-Squeak

“You’re awake.”

“Hmm?”

The door to the hospital room opened and Gilbert slowly stood up when he saw the person coming in.

Then he slightly brought his eyebrows together.

It was a person he knew very well.

“Are you a saint?”

Saint.

A sacred being called the daughter of the main god and the absolute power next to the Pope of the Holy Empire.

Now before his eyes was the product of a legend that had continued from the ancient times, when warriors and demon kings still existed, to the present.

Originally, it was common for saints to be born through revelation from the main god, but the current era was a peaceful world where the devil had disappeared.

More than a thousand years have passed since the Hero and the Demon King disappeared, and it has long since become a position that simply represents the tradition and symbolism of the Holy Empire. Most of the current wars are not wars of survival for the survival of humanity, but situations in which humans fight for their own interests.

In a situation like this, is there any reason for the main priest, who looks after humans, to make a revelation and select a saint?

Of course there wasn’t.

The election of a saint by the main priest has become something that only appears in history books.

However, in order to maintain tradition and symbolism, the Holy Empire began to directly select saints based on strict selection criteria.

They needed the title of child of the main god, and used the saint as propaganda for that purpose.

In this way, the title of saint was passed down to future generations, and the same was true for the saint who is currently in front of Gilbert.

An artificial saint created through strict screening.

Saint Veronica was now standing in front of Gilbert.

“Oh my. You seem to recognize me? It’s time to be thankful like this.”

Although he was smiling as brightly as a blooming flower, Gilbert did not let his guard down.

He still remembered her appearance in Tactical Combat.

“Huh? Why is Mr. Gilbert so nervous? Are you still feeling unwell?”

“It’s not like that. I was just wondering why a saint suddenly appeared in a place like this.”

“I guess you didn’t like me coming here. I came simply to heal Mr. Gilbert at the princess’ earnest request.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Gilbert looked at the brightly smiling saintess with complicated feelings.

Even for Gilbert, it was unexpected to meet Veronica now, who can only be encountered in the mid to late game.

Even if we were to use the standards of reality rather than a game, it was incomprehensible that she was here now.

Even if the princess of the empire requested it, the saintess never moved herself.

This was easy to understand considering the symbolism of the saint in the Holy Empire.

Therefore, there was no one who could move her intentionally. Unless there was a revelation from the main god, only she could choose her actions.

In other words, it was clear that he came here at his own discretion rather than at someone’s request.

But who would believe that the saint herself moved to heal a fifth-grade knight of the empire?

Even for Gilbert, that was surprising.

I searched through the memories of the original ‘Gilbert’, but this was the first time I met Saint Veronica. There was no reason for a high-ranking saint of the Holy Empire to come to see him.

“I guess Mr. Gilbert is curious about why I came here?”

“To be honest, yes. There was no need for the saint to come in person to treat me. Is this an earnest request from Her Highness the Princess? That doesn’t even work.”

In fact, Serafina had requested a priest from the church in Byzantium, but it was not a request to send a princess from the Holy Empire. There was no way Serafina, who had great political insight, would not know what it meant to call the saint directly.

“That’s right. I came here because I wanted to.”

As I looked at her smiling face, I couldn’t understand her thoughts more and more.

I couldn’t even guess whether it was because he was a person who was always good at hiding his true feelings.

“I will ask you directly. Why did the saint of the Holy Kingdom come to visit me?”

“Huh? A saint is just a shepherd who takes care of the Lord’s lambs. Do you need a reason to go to someone in need?”

“You don’t want to tell me.”

“I told you. I came here because I wanted to come. It just so happened that Gilbert needed help, and I just came because I wanted to help.”

Gilbert gave up trying to figure out Vernica’s intentions. It seemed like she had no intention of revealing her true feelings to him.

“Well, since I saw that you’re awake, I guess I’ll have to head back now. I hope we can talk more calmly next time.”

“Okay. Next time, let’s talk properly.”

Veronica left the hospital room with a smile on her face until the end.

Gilbert, who had been tense until then, let out a long sigh and let go of the tension.

I felt so tired as soon as I woke up.