Chapter 85: Ominous Energy
-Aaaaaaaaah!!!!!!
Followed by an ear-piercing cheer.
– Zetto! Zetto! Zetto! Zetto!
The crowd in the Colosseum chants my name.
‘My reputation must be rising.’
A large crowd has a big impact on your reputation and as a public class, this will not only be talked about within the Academy, but also by outsiders who come to the Academy.
Given my characteristics, it’s probably harder to operate undercover outside of the Academy, but if I keep a low profile, I shouldn’t have any problems.
I think fame can only be a good thing for my future endeavors.
I had to look at most of the key people present as people who could help me in some way so it doesn’t hurt to impress them.
“Wow, he’s fighting with a third grader.”
“I was counting on you, Zetto!”
“Zetto! Zetto! Zetto! Zetto!”
…except that it’s a little overwhelming.
As I stood there, shaking from the deafening cheers and chants, I heard the voice of the guy I’d been dueling behind me.
“I believe you are supposed to lose…?”
Keefe Okentia, I knew his name. More accurately, I remembered the last name.
When I realized he was calling me, I asked what was going on, and he offered me a “fix”.
‘Why don’t you lose this duel to me, quite naturally? I promise you a great reward in the name of Keefe Okentia, a tempting proposition for you, a mere commoner.
He whispered those words to me just before the duel began.
‘…Sounds good.’
I smiled at him and nodded. Well, he’s always been like this.
I dodged his attacks as long as I could, and when I got tired of that, I went for his throat, and soon enough, his protective magic shattered and his body rolled across the coliseum floor.
“Oh, yes, I forgot.”
I scratch my head, trying to belittle him and he glares murderously at me and threatens me.
“You have nothing to fear because you can’t see me, but do you think you can do this to Okentia and get away with it? No, you don’t…You don’t even know what or who Okentia is…that’s why you did this.”
Despite what he thought, I knew very well who his father was.
Terlos Okentia, the leader of the Knights of the Golden Lion, an order of the Kingdom of Teracia.
The reason I remembered Terlos is not because he was a great man or a terrible villain.
Terlos is an incompetent character. He was a puppet, and the real power behind the Order was someone else.
‘The problem is that the real leader of the Order is a demon…’
In any case, Terlos was a problem that would have to be dealt with later, and there were other matters at hand.
“…”
I casually ignored the man on the ground and turned my head to glance at the room where the important figures would be.
There, a woman with snow-white hair that I hadn’t seen before was staring at me intently. It was Saint Bernice.
I wasn’t surprised she’d come to the Academy.
She should have come, but it was strange that she was late.
Her late arrival was the problem because Sierra approached the seats of honor, presumably to watch the Sword Saint but as she approached, she uttered a suspicious phrase.
‘Saint… Didn’t Deidros say she could see spirits…?’
With those words, she disappeared through the lower wall of the audience chamber.
‘She must have made eye contact with the Saint…’
I think Sierra handled herself well. In fact, given the circumstances, it would have been better for her to be found next to me.
Maybe I should talk to Sierra for now.
I finished my calculations and headed out of the Colosseum but as I entered the passageway, Sierra popped out of the wall, just as I expected.
[My, my student! I’m in trouble!]
Sierra exclaims as she is hugged by me.
“…I think I know what’s going on, the Saint is here, right?”
I soothed her with a calm voice.
[Yes, we made eye contact, and I even heard her voice…]
Sierra stopped herself from speaking and wondered if the Saint could hear our conversation.
Sierra’s closing of her mouth was so cute that it didn’t seem to fit in with her spirited demeanor, so a laugh escaped me.
“Haha, she won’t hear it now, otherwise the Saint would have gone mad long ago, because the voices of all the dead in the world would be heard at once.”
[I see…]
Sierra slips out of my arms, apparently having calmed down.
[Now, what if… what if the Saint sees me with you…?]
In truth, the Saint is no threat to Sierra.
Even though Sierra is a spirit body, her soul is already sealed in the Spectral Sword, so she cannot be “purified” unless the Spectral Sword is broken and all its remains are destroyed.
However, at the time I was treating Anthony’s daughter, I had no idea this would happen so it seemed like a good idea to keep Sierra hidden for now.
If all went according to plan, the Saint wouldn’t turn against me.
In that sense, I had already sown the seeds.
Order is important in life and there was a simple way to hide Sierra’s appearance.
“…Even if it’s uncomfortable, why don’t you go into the sword for a while?”
I said to Sierra, who was unable to hide her anxiety as I patted the sword on my waist.
[Yes, I have the sword…thank goodness.]
Sierra muttered something like that, and then entered the sword.
Somehow, I thought, I was going to meet the Saint since the way she looked at me a moment ago was uncharacteristic.
Bernice, the Saint of Innocence, with her flawless white silhouette may conjure up images of innocence, but she also symbolizes “innocence” in another sense.
A saint or saintess, the one and only apostle of the Lord, is loved by the Lord and can wield near-infinite divine power, but that’s not all they are.
Saints are each endowed with one special ability, called Power.
Bernice’s power as a saint is the Eye of Truth, a sort of lie detector.
Her eyes could tell if someone was telling the truth or a lie. However, they could not use their powers without risk.
God’s apostles live with the constraints associated with their powers and Bernice can never tell a lie because of the constraints of her power.
That’s why she’s known as the Saint of Innocence.
‘It looks like we’re going to have our first meeting anyway…’
I had a lot to hide since I was full of lies.
If she knew who I was, I wouldn’t have to worry too much, since her favorability rating had already been raised by Anthony.
So…there’s a way out, unless she’s trying to interrogate me.
Bernice’s powers are pretty simple, so there’s a lot to dig into.
The Saint’s influence in the game was quite strong so taking this opportunity to establish a good relationship with her would make things easier for me in the future.
‘I hope this conversation ends well…’
Powers aside, there were some other things that bothered me.
…Well, the dice has been rolled, and I can only make the best of it, as I always do.
‘Time for a break.’
I walked down the street again, barely able to organize my muddled thoughts.
***
The break came at just the right time, and Bernice hurried to find Zetto.
“Cadet Zetto just finished a battle, so he’s probably near the waiting room.”
Echlin, who was following me from behind, said.
As I watched Zetto fight, I struck up a conversation with Jeras and learned that he practiced “acupuncture.”
Jeras Clementine, he, too, had seen Zetto for the first time at this public class, but he had a lot more information about Zetto than I expected.
Most of it, he said, he’d heard from his daughter…I wondered why he, a member of a four-element family, would be interested in him.
In any case, it was becoming almost certain that the Academy cadet with the white bandage over his eye was the “blind acupuncturist” I was looking for.
Now it was just a matter of how to casually ask about it.
‘By the way, what was that woman from the East that I saw…?’
What kind of grudge did she have that she was wandering around the Colosseum?
Has there ever been a fatal accident in the Colosseum?
…I thought it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Innocence Academy, which was said to be extremely meritocratic.
With that, I was guided by Ecline to the waiting room.
“Oh! There he is!”
Ecline exclaimed as she spotted Zetto.
There he was, walking down the street, fiddling with the handle of the sword at his waist.
Ecline called out to him.
“Cadet Zetto!”
“…”
Zetto’s legs stop at her call, and he turns, then his head tilts.
I wonder if he’s surprised to hear a voice he’s never heard before.
Immediately, a few of us slowly approach him.
Ever since Anthony told me about him, he’s been in the back of my mind, nagging at me.
What kind of person was he?
How could he be called a saint, even though a Saint is already alive, and yet he is so kind, and so mysterious to a merchant who has met so many people.
~Mysterious~ I loved the tickle of the word.
I wanted to know more and to dig deeper.
Maybe it’s because of my God-given ability to categorize everyone in the world into two distinct categories: those who tell lies and those who tell the truth.
Not many people could maintain their mystery in front of me so I had very high expectations.
‘What is it…?’
But the closer I got to him, the more mysterious my doubts became and it wasn’t until I was completely in front of him that I realized what it was.
When I was finally face to face with him, I realized that……I could feel an ominous energy coming from him.
There were even more of them.
They were faint enough that I didn’t notice them if I wasn’t paying attention, but they were definitely not positive.
I raised my arm and snapped my fingers as a dazzling radiance, a ‘holy’ radiance, poured over Zetto’s body.
“Holy…?”
Ines, who was beside me, said in a questioning voice.
“Ah…”
His aura bothered me so much that I cleansed my surroundings out of habit.
I couldn’t answer Ines’ question since I couldn’t tell a lie.
If I opened my mouth to speak, I’d have to blurt out the rude truth that I’d sensed an ominous energy from Zetto.
I’m sure it was done out of the goodness of my heart to cleanse the air of bad vibes, but……it wasn’t the best thing to do before we’d even introduced ourselves.
I opened my mouth to apologize to him, feeling sorry for my actions.
But even though I thought I had cleansed him enough.
‘Why…?’
I couldn’t get rid of the negative energy I was feeling from him.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about him was ‘interfering’ with the divine power.