Chapter 88

Chapter 88

You Are Beautiful

“You mean to ask Student Zeto to introduce you to the academy?! Was an instructor not supposed to introduce you?”

Eclin’s voice was booming from early morning.

Well, had there ever been a time when Eclin was not like that?

“Did Eclin not say this? That men like it when women approach them actively.”

I answered her, who had her eyes wide, in a dry voice.

At this, Ines, who had her arms crossed, glared at Eclin and growled.

“Eclin, what nonsense did you tell the Saintess...”

“No... that is, well... the Saintess kept asking, so... I squeezed my brain as much as I could and answered.”

“Ines, you are too much too. I asked because I was curious, but you did not tell me anything, did you?”

I cut off their conversation and straightened my hair.

“It was not that. I simply have no particular connection with men... However, I understand that Eclin’s words were absurd.”

“That is enough. In any case, that means Ines does not know a method either... so we have no choice but to follow the vice-captain’s words.”

I said that and smiled brightly at Ines, whose eyes had narrowed.

Ines pressed a hand to her brow.

Then Eclin, who had lowered her head and was fidgeting with her fingers, seemed to remember something and snapped her head up.

“But how is Student Zeto supposed to introduce the academy to you? He is... his eyes are impaired, are they not...?”

“...That is true. No matter what, I think it may be asking something difficult of Student Zeto.”

After Eclin, Ines supported her opinion.

Was everyone doing this because they disliked Zeto?

Or was the method of “approaching him” truly so greatly mistaken?

“Student Zeto seemed to move around the academy quite well without any particular difficulty, but what Ines says makes sense too.”

At my low answer inside the room, Ines and Eclin let out sighs of relief.

“We can ask him directly.”

““Saintess?””

At my next answer, they cried out in unison.

From my perspective, it was not as if I was curious about the academy or had anything specific I wanted to see.

I simply wanted to walk with Zeto.

Surely that much would not be too difficult a request for him.

It would hurt a little if I were rejected, but it did not seem bad to gather my courage.

More than anything...

Last night, while I was praying to the Chief God, the Chief God bestowed one “revelation” upon me.

“Continue chasing what you were chasing. If you miss it, the time will be too late.”

It was a shorter revelation than usual.

The Chief God would sometimes point out in advance which path I should take.

The first thought I had after receiving the revelation was whether there was anything I had been chasing.

Soon, that question reached Zeto.

And so, after that, I kept thinking.

Why had the Chief God told me not to miss Zeto?

The answer was... simpler than expected.

Zeto had caught a demon.

I was trying to recruit him into the knight order.

If Zeto entered the knight order, did that not imply he would be of strength to the Chief God as well?

“That means he has influence at least equal to Ines...”

Until now, the only talent I had recruited through the Chief God’s revelation was Ines.

She was an extremely excellent holy knight.

Her influence was so great that the Silver Wings Knights without Ines could hardly be imagined.

Moreover, she had helped me greatly in establishing myself as Saintess.

“...Then shall we go find Student Zeto?”

Ines and Eclin could not stop me as I rose from my seat like that.

***

Zeto accepted the Saintess’s request.

He smiled and said confidently, “If it is only an introduction, I can do it as much as you like.”

From Ines and Eclin’s perspective, they stared at the bandages around his eyes and wondered if this was really right, but since the Saintess said she would do it, they had no choice either.

After that, Saintess Bernice said she wanted to look around alone with Zeto and suggested that Eclin and Ines take a day of rest.

“Saintess!”

Ines immediately tried to stop Bernice, but.

“That sounds like a good idea!”

Eclin simply raised her hand at the word rest and shouted in an excited voice.

In the end, Eclin could not take a rest.

However, Ines could not follow Bernice either.

Ines and Eclin were sitting in a cafe.

Across from them, Bernice and Zeto could be seen touring the academy.

Ines sat still, staring blankly at them, and recalled what Bernice had said to her.

“Ines... In any case, we are inside the academy, so nothing dangerous should happen, and even if something does happen, Student Zeto is beside me, is he not?”

Ines could not refute Bernice’s persuasion.

In the first place, it was also an order.

Even so, as captain of the Silver Wings Knights, she could not give up guarding the Saintess, and thus she had ended up secretly watching like this.

“Captain... Is it really all right for us to do this? If the Saintess learns of this later...”

Eclin, sipping coffee beside her, asked Ines, who was staring into space.

“This is... guard duty.”

At Ines’s serious voice, Eclin nodded.

Bernice and Zeto, visible across from them, seemed to have entered a dining hall and were waiting for food, perhaps about to have a meal.

Just then, Bernice, who had been speaking with Zeto, laughed brightly.

Watching this, Eclin murmured.

“Maybe the day will come when we can see the Saintess’s wedding...?”

“Wedding...?”

Ines narrowed her eyes and glared at Eclin.

It meant, what nonsense are you suddenly saying?

Soon, Eclin opened her mouth.

“Captain, have you ever seen the Saintess laugh so innocently like that?”

“...Not particularly.”

“Exactly...! She suddenly asked how to become close to a man, too... It feels like something is going on.”

“Still, I think marriage is going far too far ahead.”

Saintesses and Saints, who were Apostles of the Chief God, could marry as much as they wished.

No, rather, the Holy Kingdom actively encouraged it.

Their weddings were a kind of grand festival in the Holy Kingdom.

There was a reason for this.

Saintesses and Saints had to be considered beings who received the Chief God’s blessing and love in abundance.

If such people bore fruit through love and a child was born, the Chief God’s blessing would also descend upon that child.

Every child of a Saint or Saintess was born possessing mighty divine power.

Thus, the Holy Kingdom had no choice but to welcome marriage.

However, there was exactly one thing that had to be upheld.

True love.

This fact became known long ago because some foolish incident occurred in which someone tried to use this characteristic of a Saintess and force her to bear a child.

After that, it was said something truly horrific happened.

Even in history books, there was no detailed description.

“The Chief God was greatly angered.”

With that one short sentence, roughly thirty years of records had vanished from the history books.

Thus, interfering with the marriage of a Saint or Saintess, that is, with their love, had long been taboo.

“I heard the last wedding happened before I was born. Captain, do you perhaps remember it? They say it was a Saint that time.”

“That was probably around the same time I was born. I was young, so I do not remember either...”

The Saintess before Bernice had lost her life in the war, so she had had no chance to marry, and before her, a Saint had married.

“Saint...”

Ines murmured that and touched her chin.

There was one strange point.

What happened after the marriage of the Saint Eclin had just mentioned was veiled in secrecy.

Ines too did not know what had happened then.

Even now that she had become captain of the Saintess’s knight order, information on that matter alone still could not be accessed.

As Eclin and Ines were deep in conversation about marriage...

A strange sound came from the seat beside Eclin.

—Craaaack.

It was the sound of something hard being ground away.

When Eclin turned her head to look beside her, she saw a platinum-blonde girl.

“Student Eisel...?”

Eisel, who had to be considered one of the stars of this open class together with Zeto, was sitting there.

Eisel was glaring out the window.

On the table before her was one glass of cold ice water.

“I wondered what that sound was, but it was the sound of chewing ice.”

Eclin guessed that and turned her head back toward Zeto and Bernice.

She was not acquainted with Eisel, so she could not think of anything to say to her.

There was also the fact that Eisel’s expression as she looked out the window seemed extremely displeased.

Meanwhile, Bernice was having a meal with Zeto.

From far away, Bernice looked rather happy.

In Eclin’s eyes, if not Ines’s, the smile Bernice wore while looking at Zeto did not feel ordinary.

“Maybe I really will get to see it...”

Watching the Saintess’s wedding had been one of Eclin’s small wishes since childhood.

***

Time flowed without me even realizing it.

At some point, the sun had set, and moonlight was already falling over the academy.

Although it was late, quite a few people were still walking around the academy’s main building.

Most seemed to be students and their families.

I asked Zeto about that too.

If he had family, he ought to spend time with them.

He said this in a calm voice.

There was no family who would come.

It was probably natural, but it was true.

At times like this, having an “authority” felt a little burdensome.

In any case... just as Zeto had said so confidently, he diligently introduced the academy to me.

As I followed him around, I asked how he remembered the paths so well.

Zeto explained that it felt as though a map of the entire city was drawn inside his head.

It was fascinating.

Watching Zeto from beside him, it seemed that senses other than sight were extremely developed.

According to him, he could even hear the heartbeats of passing people...

...I thought he was joking, but this too was true.

“How was it?”

Zeto, walking beside me, asked.

“It was truly good.”

I answered while looking down at the floor.

In truth, I did not have much interest in the academy.

Even so, I had not spoken a lie.

It was simply that the time I spent with him was good.

While being with him, I was able to feel emotions I had rarely been able to feel after becoming Saintess.

Comfort, enjoyment, freshness, and so on.

Ah, even small happiness.

“Kraken leg...? That was truly delicious.”

“That is a relief. I thought you would like it.”

Well, even these useless words were true.

Perhaps he was someone filled with truth in a different sense from Ines.

“Was actively ‘approaching’ him the right answer after all?”

I was able to become close to Zeto very quickly.

It matched me so well that I wondered whether he had already grasped what I disliked and what I liked in advance.

As I became close to him, the distance shortened.

Eventually, I was able to grasp the ominous energy that I had faintly felt.

Only its location, but... that location was the problem.

The places from which the negative energy was flowing were the sword at his waist and the area near his chest.

The sword was... one thing, but why was such energy lurking near his chest?

If handled poorly, it might even be a matter that endangered his life.

But I could not ask.

While being with Zeto, the thought that I wanted to “have him” was growing stronger.

Because if I asked recklessly without even properly grasping what it was, and he ended up avoiding me, then not only recruitment but everything could come to nothing.

For now, he did not seem critically ill or in danger. He was in an extremely healthy state.

So right now... perhaps it was better to leave things as they were.

“...It seems the hour has grown late, so I should go now.”

I stopped walking and said this while staring steadily at Zeto.

“Is that so?”

“Thanks to you, I had fun.”

“No, I had a pleasant time as well.”

Around the time I was smiling faintly at the “truth” he uttered once again...

—Rumble...!!

Suddenly, a tremendous roar came from over there, and the lights illuminating our surroundings vanished in an instant.

In a single moment, my sight went pitch-black, and I could see nothing.

Looking around, the entire city had been dyed in darkness.

Zeto, barely visible in the dark, seemed to be tilting his head. Since he could not know whether the surroundings had grown dark or bright, that made sense.

“What?”

“The lights went out all of a sudden!”

“Child, where are you?”

Then the murmuring of others inside the main building could be heard.

“...It seems the magical power supply for the entire city was cut off all at once.”

“Would you hold on to me, if you do not mind? I am unaffected.”

At my explanation, Zeto answered that way and tapped my hand.

For now, I held Zeto’s hand.

Then from over in the corridor, I heard a familiar voice calling me.

“Saintess...? Where are you?”

It was Ines.

Judging by the sound of running footsteps, Eclin seemed to be with her too.

I had clearly told them to rest, yet it seemed they had been secretly following me until now.

“...How about we hide for a moment?”

When I thought about how they must have watched Zeto and me all this time, I somehow felt displeased and decided to play a very small prank.

“I do not think that is a very good idea...?”

Despite Zeto’s reluctant answer, I smiled and led the hand of Zeto I was holding toward some corner whose location I did not know.

Zeto followed me without any particular resistance.

After moving a little to the side, there was a door, so I opened it and entered.

—Clack.

“Whew...”

I quietly closed the door and let out a sigh of relief.

Then Zeto, standing before me, opened his mouth.

“...Is this really all right?”

“Mm... Who knows. Still, we should go out before anything serious happens, yes? Let us say this is a small punishment for them not listening to my order. Huhu.”

“Well, if it is only for a moment...”

Zeto also seemed to accept it.

It might simply be that he could not say anything because I was the Saintess.

Like that, I leaned against the door and stared blankly at Zeto before me.

Even though the lights had vanished, once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see faintly.

“By the way... It feels as if we have spent all day seeing only what I wanted to see... Is there nothing you are curious about regarding me, Student Zeto?”

It was because I suddenly thought I had not really been asked any questions.

At my question, Zeto tilted his head.

“Hmm... Something I am curious about...”

Was this a question serious enough to make him hum in thought?

To think there was so little he was curious about regarding me that he had to think that hard... I was a little, just a little, disappointed.

“They said men like it when women approach them actively.”

Having reached that thought, I immediately seized his hand.

Then I brought his hand to my face.

“For example... what Bernice, the Saintess of Innocence, looks like...”

“...”

“I thought that if we do this, Student Zeto might also be able to know what I look like...”

Then I held his hand and guided it over my face, explaining as I went.

“This is... my nose. My nose looks like this.”

He quietly followed my hand as it traced my face.

“And... my lips...”

As I looked at his face, dimly visible in the darkness, I thought through what else on my face I should explain.

“Mm... The eyes... You cannot touch the eyes, so perhaps it would be better to touch the eyelids.”

After that, my eyebrows, my cheeks... I went through everything that could be traced on my face.

In the end, the sudden “present my face to Zeto” session ended.

Having a man touch my face... may have been more embarrassing than I had thought.

It was even more embarrassing because Zeto touched my face without saying a single word.

“How was it...? The Saintess’s face...”

I asked Zeto in a voice that had grown needlessly careful.

Pretending to be composed, I smiled and quietly waited for his answer.

Because I had my “authority,” I could not help distinguishing between sincere praise and empty flattery, so I was not expecting much.

As expected, perhaps it would be difficult to describe anything from only this much.

It was when I had such a thought, even though I had been the one to do it.

Soon, a faint smile settled on Zeto’s lips.

“Saintess... you are very beautiful.”

Zeto’s gentle voice seeped into my ears.

At his answer, a small sound slipped from my mouth before I realized it.

“...Ah.”

Zeto’s softly spoken answer was.

A very clear “truth,” one that could not possibly be more distinct.