Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Saintess Clarice

“Shut up. I'm not betting with you.”

I coldly rejected Elysia's proposal.

If I let myself get started, I'd clearly be dragged into an endless gambling hell.

It was important to cut her off firmly from the beginning.

“Tch, what a shame.”

“Don't be disappointed. I wasn't going to do it anyway.”

“Then how about that handsome guy I've never seen before?”

The moment I refused, Elysia switched targets.

Her eyes landed on Cassian.

Apparently her instincts had identified easy prey.

No, more importantly, you're already an old hag by any reasonable standard.

How shameless do you have to be to call a young guy ‘big brother’?

“Hey, Elysia. Stop bothering people from our Order and go back to your own carriage.”

“My? Are you jealous? Is this handsome man Trixie's boyfriend?”

“Want to die? Stop talking shit.”

What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this bastard spouting?

Even if heaven and earth flipped upside down, I'd never date a guy like him.

“Hmmm? But Trixie, you...”

Elysia trailed off while giving me a meaningful look.

“Your atmosphere changed a little?”

“What?”

“Hmm... It's hard to explain. Something about you... Eh, I don't know.”

“...If you're just going to spout nonsense, could you please disappear already? Can't you see the Nike knights freaking out over there?”

“Ah! That's it. I know now. Our Trixie feels a lot fresher. How did the wild tomboy turn into such a girly little thing?”

Goddammit, this crazy pointy-eared bitch.

Still doesn't listen to a single word anyone says.

Trying to talk to her felt like speaking to a wall.

Actually, if I talked to a wall, it wouldn't respond with something irritating enough to make my blood pressure spike.

Maybe talking to the wall would be better.

“Hm? What's wrong? Normally you'd already be cursing me or charging in with Astra by now.”

I already cursed you.

You just didn't listen.

And if I weren't injured right now, Astra would've gone through you ages ago.

Seriously.

How do I get rid of her?

Running into this gambling-addicted lunatic before we'd even properly entered the capital gave me an ominous feeling that this Council of the Seven Holy Seats was going to be more headache-inducing than any previous one.

...Ah, fuck.

Why does this have to happen when I'm injured?

“Hey. Get down.”

I forced away the bad feeling and spoke coldly.

“Aww, mean.”

“Acting cute isn't going to work. Get down.”

“Tch. So prickly.”

Elysia pretended to climb down, then took advantage of the moment I relaxed and squeezed into the seat beside me.

“...Hey! What are you doing?!”

Unlike usual, I didn't have enough strength to resist and got shoved aside.

That itself was annoying, but manageable.

The real problem was that the driver's bench was made for two people.

Three was obviously too cramped.

Being pushed sideways naturally forced me against Cassian.

A shudder of disgust ran through me, and I recoiled as though some revolting insect had touched me.

Cassian looked strangely hurt by my reaction, but well...

You can afford to be hurt a little, man.

“Hm? This seat is cramped. Why did you come in such a shabby carriage?”

“Don't insult the carriage. The people of Luminous gave it to us.”

“Trixie, want to sit in big sis's lap?”

Please.

Could you listen to what I'm saying instead of just talking about whatever you want?

There was no point wasting energy.

She'd keep saying whatever she wanted anyway.

So I let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground and shook my head.

“No. Fuck off. I'm going inside the carriage.”

If that's how you're going to act, then I'll say whatever I want too.

I'll just go inside and rest.

With that thought, I started standing up.

But...

“Ugh...!”

Something wrapped around my waist, and my body suddenly got yanked backward.

By the time I realized what happened, I was sitting in Elysia's lap with her arms around me.

My face instantly heated from the humiliation of looking like some favorite doll being hugged by a child.

“Hey! Let go!”

“Hmmm... What's this, Trixie? Why did you get so cute while I wasn't looking? Want to be big sis's little sister?”

“No! Let go!”

I struggled to escape, but unfortunately, Elysia was much stronger than me, so I couldn't break free.

Elysia was the only other Saintess besides me who fought on the very front lines.

And unlike me, who was only around the mid-160s in height, Elysia was somewhere in the high 170s.

She was tall enough not to lose out to most adult men.

The difference in strength from our builds wasn't something I could ignore.

...I'm honestly jealous.

She's tall.

Unlike me, who has trouble building muscle no matter how much I exercise, she's nicely muscular.

And her chest is smaller than mine too, so it gets in the way less when she moves.

...Hm?

Wait.

“...Trixie? Why are you making such an unpleasant face?”

“Hmph. I'm not.”

What is this?

Having a large chest is nothing but inconvenient.

Why am I feeling this bizarre sense of victory right now?

I wondered about it, yet couldn't stop the smug little smile leaking onto my face.

“You're making the face of someone thinking bad thoughts, Trixie!”

“No I'm not.”

“As punishment, big sis is going to give you a biiig hug.”

“Hey! Wait!”

Elysia's words snapped me back to my senses like a bucket of cold water.

No.

If this absurdly strong woman hugged me right now, I'd die.

“W-Wait... I'm injured...!”

But before I could finish, Elysia squeezed me tightly.

“Ghuuugh...!”

Pain flashed through my vision, bringing tears to my eyes.

The crazy bitch had squeezed my waist hard enough to aggravate the wound.

If nobody touched it, I could tolerate the injury.

But having someone press directly into it was an entirely different matter.

It wasn't as bad as being whipped by Selenia, but maybe about a quarter of that pain crashed into me.

“Ghk...! KYAAAAH!”

“Hm? What's wrong? You're even making cute screams that don't suit you.”

“Let... go! Let go, you crazy bitch...!”

“Aww~ So cute. Want to play and bet with big sis?”

“I'm injured, you damn bitch!”

I screamed desperately through the pain.

Only then did Elysia's arms finally loosen around my waist.

“Huh? You're hurt?”

“Huaa... huaa... haa...”

...I-I'm alive.

Having genuinely felt my life was in danger for a moment, I gasped for breath and glared at Elysia through tear-filled eyes.

“Ah! Big sis is sorry. But how did you get hurt?”

“I'm not telling you. If you really want to know, listen during the Council.”

“Aww, so prickly. Did getting hurt make you this cute?”

Elysia giggled.

She looked so irritating that I sprang upright and slammed the top of my head into her chin as hard as I could.

BAM-

“Gah!”

Pain shot through the top of my head, and I rubbed it with my hand.

Ow.

Why the hell is she so hard?

I suppose there's a reason she's a tank.

Contrary to my intentions, Elysia was perfectly fine while the top of my head hurt enough to swell.

“Hey, seriously... Just wait until I'm better.”

She was infuriating, but unfortunately all I could do in my current condition was growl a warning.

“You know the saying that people who say ‘just wait’ aren't scary?”

“Shut up.”

“Hehe. I'll look forward to it.”

“Yeah, good. Look forward to it all you want!”

“I'd better get going. If I stay any longer, I'm probably going to get lectured.”

Elysia gently set me back down on the driver's bench, then hopped off.

Finally.

She's leaving.

Ignoring Elysia as she waved goodbye, I sighed.

But then she stopped halfway back to her own carriage, turned around, and came toward us again.

Damn it.

Why is she coming back?

“Want to bet with big sis on whether I get lectured?”

“...”

“I bet I will.”

“Enough already! Fuck off, you crazy bitch!”

In the end, I had no choice but to shout.

After the commotion finally passed, I slumped against the driver's bench and groaned.

I'd worked myself up so badly that the injured area had started throbbing again.

...God, I'm exhausted.

At least judging from what Elysia said, none of the other Orders besides Justitia and Nike had arrived yet.

I needed Clarice to heal me before the rest of those crazy women reached Septimoa.

At this rate, the stress might make my wounds flare up and kill me first.

“Hey, Cassian.”

I let out a deep sigh and poked Cassian in the side.

“Yes, Saintess.”

“You saw that, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“That the Nike Saintess is fucking insane.”

“...”

Cassian pressed his lips together, apparently unable to answer.

Yeah.

I understand.

Agreeing while I insult another Order's Saintess would be difficult.

But he must've realized it too.

Saintesses are all insane.

Except me.

And Clarice.

Clarice too.

“That one's mild. Some of them are worse.”

“I... see.”

Why does this bastard sound so unconvinced?

I wasn't satisfied, but well...

He'd probably understood the danger well enough.

We passed through Septimoa's outermost wall and headed inward.

“I expected a city built on a mountain to have a lot of stairs, but I suppose that's not the case?”

Cassian looked around and offered his impression.

“I heard they carved the mountain down like crazy to build it. Apparently the dwarves suffered quite a bit during construction.”

I'd heard dwarves deserved most of the credit for this city.

They carved into the rugged mountain to establish the city, erected enormous walls, built a bridge spanning the cliffs, and even perfectly designed the sewer and irrigation systems.

Looking at things like this, it was easy to understand why people said nobody could match dwarves when it came to craftsmanship.

“The dwarves must have suffered.”

“Why are you sympathizing with them? Those guys would rise from their graves if someone told them there was something to build.”

If someone told them they were constructing a city this enormous and magnificent, they would've competed with each other while shouting, ‘I'll do it!’

Personally, I couldn't understand people who actually enjoyed that kind of brutal manual labor.

“Huh. Another wall?”

“Right. What we just passed was the Third Ward, and this is the Second Ward. Most citizens of Septimoa live in the Third Ward. The Second Ward contains temples and clergy, and deeper still is Septimoa's central citadel.”

Cassian kept asking questions with visible curiosity.

I answered absentmindedly until I started feeling like some kind of tour guide.

Wait.

Why am I even satisfying this bastard's curiosity?

The thought suddenly occurred to me.

“And...”

“Hey, stop asking questions. I'm tired too.”

I cut Cassian off as he started asking something else.

The bastard looked dejected.

That might work if you were an incredibly beautiful woman, but it doesn't do anything when you're a man.

The carriage passed through the wards and finally entered the inner citadel.

As soon as we arrived, the old man left to report to the Council chairman.

Normally I would've gone with him, but my condition was poor enough that I skipped it.

The details could be discussed during the Council itself anyway.

Now all I had to do was unpack in my assigned room, lie down and rest for a while, then find Clarice and ask her to heal me.

...Unfortunately, my plan to rest went wrong from the very beginning.

Clarice was standing directly in front of my assigned room inside the citadel.

“Big Sis Trixie!”

“Hm? Clarice. Long time no see. Have you been well?”

The moment she spotted me, she ran over.

Normally she would've thrown herself into my arms affectionately, but apparently she'd already heard that I was injured.

Instead, Clarice examined me with a worried expression.

“I heard you were badly hurt.”

“Yeah, but it's nothing serious, so don't worry. Honestly, the old man's making too much of a fuss. I could probably recover just fine without treatment from you.”

Clarice's expression suddenly stiffened slightly.

An inexplicable pressure made me flinch and instinctively step back.

“Nothing serious?”

Ah.

Right.

Clarice hated it when patients pretended their injuries weren't serious.

Understandably so.

If someone hid an injury out of pride, something easy to treat could worsen, or even become fatal.

“...Uh-huh.”

“So despite it being nothing serious, Archbishop Bartolomew urgently sent a carrier pigeon begging for my help?”

...Okay, no.

It's not exactly a minor injury.

If we're being specific, it's definitely on the serious side.

But I can't exactly say, ‘I'm dying of pain, please heal me right now.’

That would look pathetic.

“I heard the injury was caused by demonic energy. Every moment matters, so you're coming with me to the healing room right now. Understood?”

“Okay...”

Clarice spoke again in her usual gentle, soft voice.

...But if I kept resisting, I was clearly going to get seriously scolded.

So I obediently nodded.

In the end, Clarice grabbed my wrist and dragged me all the way to the healing room.