Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Ominous Energy

—Waaaaaaaaah!!!!!!

Following cheers so loud they seemed ready to burst my ears.

—Zeto! Zeto! Zeto!

The audience in the Colosseum chanted my name.

“I wonder if my fame value has risen a lot.”

Since there were many spectators, it would have a large effect on fame.

Due to the nature of open class, this incident would not be confined within the academy. Stories about me would rise and fall from the mouths of outsiders who had come to the academy.

Considering the traits I possessed, perhaps it would become more difficult to secretly act outside the academy. Still, if I moderately avoided people’s eyes, troublesome things should not happen.

If my fame rose, I thought there would be more things that would benefit me in the future.

Most of the important figures in those VIP seats right now had to be considered existences who could help me somehow.

In the sense of leaving a deep impression on them, it was not bad either.

“Whoa, he even toyed with a third-year.”

“Exactly. At first I wondered what was happening...”

“I believed in you! Zeto!”

“Zeto! Zeto! Zeto!”

...Aside from the fact that it was a little burdensome.

As I stood there awkwardly, listening to the cheers and chanting filling my ears, I heard the voice of the guy who had sparred with me from behind.

“Did you not agree to lose...?”

Kip Ocentia.

I knew his name, at least.

To be precise, I should say I remembered the surname attached to the end of his name.

When someone who should have no connection to me called me out, I wondered what was happening. As it turned out, he had proposed “match-fixing” to me.

“How about losing to me in this spar? Very naturally, at that. If you do, I promise you a great reward in the name of Kip Ocentia. Is it not an enticing offer for a mere commoner like you?”

Right before the spar began, he had whispered those words to me.

“...That sounds good.”

I smiled at him and nodded.

Well, this was the result afterward.

I simply dodged his attacks appropriately, and around the time I started getting bored, I aimed for his neck. Soon, his protective magic shattered into pieces, and his body rolled across the Colosseum floor.

“Ah, that is right. I forgot.”

When I made myself hateful by scratching my head, he looked at me with a fierce gaze.

Then he threatened me.

“Is it because you cannot see that you have nothing to fear? Do you think you will be safe after daring to do this to Ocentia? No... it seems you did not even know what Ocentia was, or who we were... That must be why you did such a thing.”

Unlike what he thought, I knew very well who his father was.

Terlos Ocentia.

He was the captain of the “Golden Lion Knights” belonging to the Kingdom of Therasia.

The reason I remembered Terlos was not because he was some great figure or a wicked villain.

Terlos was an extremely incompetent person.

He was no more than a scarecrow, and the real power in the knight order lay elsewhere.

“The problem is that the real power of a knight order that hunts demons is a demon...”

In any case, Terlos was a problem to be dealt with gradually, and the immediate problem was elsewhere.

“...”

I lightly ignored the guy sprawled on the floor and naturally turned my head, glancing toward the VIP seats where the important figures would be.

In the VIP seats, a white-haired woman who had not been visible before was staring fixedly at me.

It was the Saintess, Bernice.

It was not strange that she had come to the academy.

She should have come originally, and if anything, it was strange that she was late.

The problem was that she happened to arrive late.

Right before the spar, Sierra had approached the VIP seats.

Her purpose was probably to watch the Sword Saint.

However, Sierra, who had approached the VIP seats, had uttered some doubtful words.

“If she is the Saintess... did Daidros say she might be able to see souls...?”

With those words as the last, she had passed through the lower wall of the VIP seats and entered it, and even now she had not shown herself.

“She must have met eyes with the Saintess or something...”

I thought Sierra had handled it fairly well in her own way.

No, considering the situation, it might even be better than Sierra being discovered beside me.

First, it would be best to speak with Sierra.

After finishing my calculations, I immediately walked out of the Colosseum.

As I entered the passage, just as expected, Sierra popped out from the passage wall.

Bewilderment colored her eyes as she emerged through the wall.

[ D-Disciple! This is terrible! ]

Sierra threw herself into my arms and cried out.

“...I roughly understand the situation. The Saintess came, yes?”

I calmed her in a composed voice.

I could sense no presences near the passage.

[ Yes, our eyes met. She even heard my voice... ]

Sierra said that, then stopped and covered her own mouth.

It seemed she wondered whether the Saintess could perhaps hear this conversation too.

The sight of Sierra covering her mouth was cute in a way that did not match the spirit and dignity she had shown until now, so laughter slipped out.

“Haha, she cannot hear it now. If she could, the Saintess would have gone mad long ago. The voices of every dead person in the world would come to her all at once.”

[ I-I see... ]

Only then did Sierra seem to calm down, and she slipped out of my arms.

[ What should we do now... If the Saintess sees that I am with you... ]

In truth, the Saintess could not become a threat to Sierra.

Even if Sierra was a spiritual body, her soul was already sealed inside the cursed blade. Unless the cursed blade was broken and all of Sierra’s remnants were blown away, she should not be made to “pass on.”

However, even when I treated Antony’s daughter, I had not known I would be able to make contact with Sierra and speak with her like this. So for now, it seemed fine to hide Sierra’s existence.

If things had flowed as I intended, the Saintess should not be hostile to me.

In that sense, it was a seed I had sown in advance.

Order was important in matters like this.

There was a simple way to hide Sierra’s form.

“...Even if it is uncomfortable, how about entering the cursed blade for a while?”

I tapped the cursed blade at my waist and said this to Sierra, who could not hide her anxiety.

[ Yes, the cursed blade was there... What a relief. ]

Sierra muttered that, then slipped smoothly into the cursed blade.

I had expected to meet the Saintess somehow.

The gaze with which the Saintess had looked at me just now... was not ordinary.

The Saintess of Innocence, Bernice.

Her flawless, snow-white silhouette did call innocence to mind, but in another sense, she could also be said to symbolize “innocence.”

A Saintess or Saint, the Chief God’s sole Apostle, could handle nearly infinite divine power thanks to the Chief God’s love, but that was not all they possessed.

Each Saintess and Saint received one special ability called an authority.

The authority Bernice possessed as Saintess was “Eyes of Truth,” an ability close to a kind of lie detector.

Her eyes could distinguish whether the words someone uttered were truth or lies.

In exchange, even they could not use their authority without any risk.

The Apostle of the Chief God lived with a restriction related to their authority.

Because of the restriction of her authority, Bernice could never utter a lie.

That was also why she had gained the title Saintess of Innocence.

“In any case, it seems we are going to have our first meeting...”

I was hiding many things.

The “lies” I possessed could be considered overflowing.

If she was coming while knowing who I was, then thanks to Antony’s matter, the Saintess’s favorability toward me should already have risen, so there was no great concern.

So... unless she came determined to interrogate me, there were escape routes.

Bernice’s authority was simpler than expected, so there were many areas to dig into.

In the game as well, the Saintess’s influence was quite powerful.

If I could maintain a good relationship with her through this opportunity, future matters would become much smoother for me too.

“I hope the conversation ends well...”

Putting aside the authority, there were a few other things that bothered me.

...Well, the die had been cast, and as always, I would simply make the best choice.

“It is break time now, was it.”

I barely sorted out my complicated thoughts and walked forward again.

***

Since break time had begun just in time, I had hurriedly gone out in search of Zeto.

“Student Zeto just finished his battle, so I think he is probably near the waiting room.”

Eclin, who was following behind me, said this.

While watching Zeto’s spar, I spoke with Zeras and learned that he handled “acupuncture.”

Zeras Clementine.

He said that he too had seen Zeto for the first time during this open class, yet he possessed more information about Zeto than expected.

Though he said most of it was what he had heard from his daughter... Why would he, one of the four elemental families, be interested in Zeto?

In any case, the possibility was all but confirmed that the academy student named Zeto, with snow-white bandages around his eyes, was the “blind Acupuncturist” I had been looking for.

Now the remaining task was how to ask about it naturally.

“More importantly, what on earth was that Eastern woman I saw back then...”

Just what sort of grudge did she have, for her to wander the Colosseum?

Could there perhaps have been a fatal accident in the Colosseum?

...If it was Innocence Academy, said to be ruled purely by ability, perhaps such a thing was not impossible.

It was while I was heading near the waiting room with Eclin guiding me.

“Oh! There he is.”

Eclin shouted after discovering Zeto.

Zeto, visible over there, was walking down the path while stroking the handle of the sword at his waist.

Then Eclin called him to a stop.

“Student Zeto!”

“...”

At her call, Zeto’s legs stopped, and then he turned his head.

Soon, his head tilted.

“Is he puzzled because it is a voice he is hearing for the first time?”

Immediately, we slowly approached him.

With every step, we drew closer and closer.

At last.

At last, I was going to meet him.

Ever since hearing of his existence from Antony, he had remained in one corner of my heart and kept drawing my attention.

Just what sort of person was he?

How could he be kind enough to be called a “Saint,” even though the Saintess was alive and well?

How could he receive the evaluation of mysterious from a merchant who had met countless people?

Mystery.

I liked the peculiar tickle one could feel from that word.

I wanted to know more, to dig deeper.

Perhaps it was because, due to the “ability” the Chief God had given me, I had come to divide every person in the world cleanly into two kinds.

Those who spoke lies, and those who spoke truths.

Before me, there were not many people who could maintain mystery.

That was why I held very great expectations.

“What is this...?”

But the closer I approached him, the more an unknown doubt only grew.

Only when I had fully approached him could I realize the identity of that doubt.

From him, whom I had finally faced before my eyes...

...ominous energies could be felt.

Not only one or two of them, either.

They were faint enough that one would not notice without focusing, but they were absolutely not positive energy.

Without realizing it, I raised my arm and snapped my fingers.

—Clack.

Then a dazzling radiance, “holiness,” poured down over Zeto’s body.

“Saintess...?”

Beside me, Ines spoke in a voice filled with doubt.

“Ah...”

Because the energies I felt from him bothered me far too much, I had purified the surroundings out of habit.

Despite Ines’s question, I could not explain.

I could not lie.

Thus, if I opened my mouth and spoke, I would have to say, before the person himself, the rude words that I had felt ominous energy from him.

It had certainly happened from a good heart, in order to purify unpleasant energy, but...

...it was not something one should do on a first meeting, before even exchanging introductions.

Out of guilt, I thought I should apologize to him and was about to open my mouth.

However, even though I thought I had carried out sufficient purification.

“Why...?”

The negative energy I felt from him did not vanish.

I could not know exactly, but something he possessed was “interfering” with the divine power.