The sound of the shower filled the room. Steam fogged the air, carrying the fresh scent of soap. Lethe sat on the bed, her back turned, a sullen expression on her face.
’...Is it supposed to be this easy to hear everything?’
The bathroom walls were glass, and Simon was inside. Thankfully, the thick steam obscured everything but his silhouette. A few moments later, the water shut off, followed by the rustling of fresh clothes.
“That’s much better,” Simon said, stepping out of the bathroom and rubbing his wet hair with a towel. “The water pressure is great, and it’s nice and warm. It feels like the bathhouse back at Kizen.”
Lethe pressed a hand to her forehead. After a moment of trembling indecision, she shot to her feet with a cry.
“Aaargh!”
“L-Listen! If you try anything weird, I swear to the Goddess!”
“...I won’t.”
He couldn’t believe she still trusted him so little. Lethe glared at him one last time before snatching her clothes and a towel and darting into the bathroom.
The shower started again. As Simon dried his hair, he felt his mouth go dry. They were in the same room, separated only by a thin sheet of glass. It would be stranger ’not’ to feel tense.
“Don’t you dare look over here, you bastard!”
“...I’m not looking.”
He heard the soft slide of fabric as she bent over, the sound cutting through the rush of water. Through the hazy steam clinging to the glass, her silhouette began to take shape.
Simon sighed, finding himself contemplating the building’s absurd design. Why on earth was the bathroom made of glass? And why did the door just hang there, without a lock? The architect’s intentions were utterly beyond him.
’Vwoong!’
Suddenly, a Holy Shield materialized in front of the bathroom.
’Vwoong! Vwoong! Vwoong! Vwoong! Vwoong!’
In seconds, the entire glass enclosure was layered with shimmering shields.
“What the—?”
“I’d rather trust my own skills than your conscience!” she yelled from inside.
Only then, apparently feeling secure, did Lethe finally begin her shower.
’Haaaah.’
After her shower, dressed in a clean robe, Lethe sat on the sofa, her cheeks slightly flushed as she swirled a glass of wine. With practiced ease, she brought the glass to her lips, and the vibrant red liquid flowed past them.
“Nice...”
She stretched out, a contented look on her face, and sank deep into the sofa’s cushions with a weary sigh.
“You must have been exhausted.” Simon was nearby, hanging up the wet towels.
“You have no idea,” she murmured, her eyes closed, idly twirling the wine glass in her fingers. “The moment I became a Saintess, I was summoned everywhere, with so much to learn. Did you know they classify human smiles into twenty-five different types?”
“...Seriously?”
“They say you have to wear a smile appropriate for the situation. A servant would tell me, ‘Saintess, today is the Holy Supper, so you must only use smiles from the seventh to the fourteenth repertoire.’”
Simon prided himself on the strict etiquette Richard had drilled into him, but that sounded like pure torture.
“I don’t know much about the Holy Federation, so I can’t really say, but... is all that truly necessary?”
“Of course not!” Lethe shouted, suddenly agitated. “It’s all empty formalities! I bet the instructors can’t even tell the smiles apart. Honestly, don’t you think those old fossils who insist on this stuff are just thinking, ‘We had to suffer through this when we were young, so now it’s your turn’?”
“Haha, that seems a bit cynical.”
“It’s the only explanation that makes sense!”
A sip of wine after a refreshing shower had clearly improved her mood, and she chattered on. Remembering the morning’s events, Simon did his best to keep the conversation going.
“Alright, that’s enough fun for now.”
She rose from her seat and lightly tapped her forehead. With a touch of White Magic, she cleared the alcohol from her system, and the flush in her cheeks faded.
“Let’s begin.”
“Begin what?”
She turned and began rummaging through the bag on the table.
“What do you think? I’m not letting you sleep tonight.”
Heat flooded Simon’s face. His gaze lingered on her for a moment—her still-damp white hair, the robe clinging precariously to her body, and...
’Smack!’
A book flew through the air and hit him squarely in the face, sending him tumbling back onto the bed. Lethe was glaring at him, her eyes like ice.
“Hey, watch where you’re looking! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
Simon grunted, picking up the book that had fallen beside him.
“What’s this?”
“...A notebook. For teaching the children.”
He flipped through the pages. They were all blank.
“Remember,” she said, her tone all business. “Our pretext for visiting Eskyl isn’t to investigate some ‘evil.’ It’s to teach. We are meant to be teachers.”
“Right.”
“So we need to prepare. We have to appear skilled and professional to the villagers. It’s a closed-off community, so they’ll be wary of outsiders. One wrong move, and they’ll throw us out.”
She was right. Lethe began tossing various teaching supplies onto the bed.
“This is the bag Sir Israphel gave us. He really thought of everything.” She held up a coloring book and waved it.
Now genuinely interested, Simon began to examine the materials.
“Hmm, we’ll need a detailed curriculum. What we’ll teach, how we’ll structure the lessons...”
“Exactly! Have you ever taught children before? Or anyone, for that matter?”
When Simon shook his head, the hopeful look in Lethe’s eyes vanished, replaced by a pout.
“You’re useless. Utterly useless.”
“My apologies. And you? Have you taught kids?”
“Many times.” ’Thump.’ She placed a continental language textbook on the table. “I grew up in a church that raised orphans. We were always short-staffed, so as soon as I was old enough, I was put in charge of teaching and managing the younger ones.”
“...Oh.”
“Less talking, more preparing.”
The two quickly began to plan their lessons. Lethe would handle coloring and the continental alphabet.
“Have you decided what you’ll teach?” she asked.
“How about Divine Beastology?”
Lethe’s brow furrowed in disbelief.
“What kind of Divine Beastology can you teach kids who can’t even use divinity?”
“It’s training to increase their divine affinity. We’ll let them play with divine beasts that naturally generate divinity.”
“...Oh?”
The idea was apparently better than she’d expected, because her face brightened.
“Fine, but what about the beasts? It’s too dangerous to let Ran play with children.”
“I have divine beasts, too. Three of them...”
Just as Simon was about to explain his lesson plan—
’BOOOOOOM!’
A massive explosion rocked the building.
Simon and Lethe leaped to their feet.
’Boom! Boom!’
More explosions followed in rapid succession.
“What’s going on?”
Simon threw open the window and looked out. The city was in chaos. People were screaming, running for their lives.
“Run! Keep running!”
“Towards the town hall!”
The quiet city had erupted into pandemonium. Guards were swarming the streets, trying to evacuate the citizens.
“What’s happening?” Lethe shouted, bursting out of the inn.
“It’s an attack from the mountain monsters!” a guard yelled back, his face grim. “Some have already breached the defenses and entered the city!”
“Why would monsters that live peacefully in the mountains suddenly attack?”
The guard glanced at Lethe, and seeming to recognize her as someone of high status, answered readily. “Ah, they’re likely fleeing the extreme cold! It’s become so severe that even the mountain monsters can’t withstand it anymore...”
“That’s enough. Thank you.”
Lethe cut him off and spun around. Simon, reading the situation, was already preparing to move.
“Akallion!”
The bear-shaped divine beast, Akallion, burst forth from his divine subspace. Simon immediately infused it with divinity, causing it to swell in size, before leaping onto its back.
“Lethe!”
Without a word, she grabbed his outstretched hand and swung up behind him.
“Hold on tight! Go, Akallion!”
’Uwoooong!’
Akallion charged through the village alleys, its heavy paws thundering against the cobblestones. Fleeing citizens scrambled out of its path.
“Ah! So this is that divine beast,” Lethe commented, her arms wrapped around Simon’s waist as she sized up Akallion. “The one our Efnel student lost.”
Simon flinched, glancing back at her.
“...Do you know her?”
“We’re acquaintances,” Lethe replied dismissively. “And she’s too embarrassed to talk about it. Can you imagine? Her own divine beast abandoned her for a necromancer. If the Efnel higher-ups found out, she’d be expelled on the spot.”
“...Ahem. Well, if you see her, tell her I’m sorry.”
Lethe scowled. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. A divine beast’s choice is its own. It’s more ridiculous for her to be so impatient, trying to command a beast that didn’t choose her.”
By then, Akallion had reached the front line. The village militia was locked in a desperate battle with White Goblins—creatures with snow-white fur and unsettling brown eyes.
“Th-They’re breaking through!”
“Block the breach with your bodies if you have to!”
The militiamen were defending a collapsed section of the fence, but the goblin assault was overwhelming.
“Get out of the way!” Simon roared.
“Wh-Who—?!”
The militiamen scattered in fright as Akallion charged, its massive body slamming into the horde of monsters. With a deafening ’crash’, goblins were sent flying in every direction. Akallion snorted, letting out a triumphant roar.
“A-A bear?”
“It’s a divine beast! A priest is here to help!”
Ignoring the militia’s cheers, Lethe tapped Simon’s shoulder and slid off Akallion.
“I’ll leave the offense to you.”
“Count on it.”
Lethe sprinted toward the fence while Simon spurred Akallion forward, plunging into the fray.
’Shing!’
He summoned a longsword from his subspace, infused it with divinity, and began to carve through the goblins. Each time the glowing white blade swung, monsters fell, spraying blood across the snow.
’A shame I can only use divinity!’
In the Holy Federation, his jet-black was sealed, and chaos required too much preparation.
Simon quickly scribbled a magic circle onto the flat of his blade, gripped the hilt with both hands, and swung with all his might.
’Vwoooosh!’
A fan-shaped wave of divine energy shot forward, scything through five goblins at once. Cheers erupted from the beleaguered militiamen.
Meanwhile, Lethe had reached the crumbling fence and immediately set to work.
’Holy Enchant.’
’Faaaaaaat!’
A brilliant white light washed over every fence in the city.
’Kegege!’
The monsters’ assault, which had been on the verge of shattering the barricades, was instantly halted. Thwarted, they began to try and climb over, but Lethe simply raised an arm, a look of contempt on her face.
’Great Wall.’
’Ruuuuuumble!’
A towering wall of pure divinity erupted from the ground, centered on the fence line. The eyes of the militiamen went wide with shock.
“Am I seeing things?”
In the blink of an eye, the shabby wooden fence had been transformed into a magnificent fortress wall, encircling and protecting the entire city.
With Simon and Lethe’s arrival, the tide of battle turned dramatically. Lethe’s support abilities, in particular, were nothing short of dazzling.
’Mass Heal.’
Waves of white light washed over the battlefield, flickering over the bodies of the wounded. In the blink of an eye, grievous injuries knitted themselves shut.
“M-My wound... it’s gone!”
“Let’s go!”
With wide-area healing and powerful blessings, Lethe transformed the militia from a desperate mob into an effective fighting force, healing and strengthening them before sending them back into the fray. The men, thrilled by their newfound strength and speed, fought with renewed vigor. With every swing, monsters fell.
“Push them back!”
The momentum had shifted. Just as Lethe was repositioning, Simon appeared on Akallion at the perfect moment.
“Grab on!”
She caught his hand, and he pulled her up with a powerful tug. She swung gracefully into the seat behind him.
“This section is secure! Let’s move along the wall and cut off the monsters as they come in!”
“Got it.”
They moved like a whirlwind across the battlefield. The city was large, with many points to defend. However, the next section they reached was teeming with even more monsters than the first. The defense line had already collapsed, and monsters were pouring over the fence. The surviving militiamen were engaged in a losing street fight, on the verge of being wiped out.
“We’ll never finish them off one by one,” Lethe said, her voice tight. “We need to take them all out at once.”
She raised her arm, opening her divine subspace. Simon’s eyes lit up.
’Is she finally summoning the white dragon, Ran?’
He was eager to see how much it had grown.

Comments

Loading...