Chapter 105. Saintess Escort (2)
Whoosh!
A sharp tearing sound ripped through the air.
However, in a fraction of a second, I had already sensed the attack coming from the side.
Because I had momentarily caught the line of Mana drawn in the air. I only moved my eyes to glance to the side.
“...”
It was a magic that was heavy for testing an opponent's capability, but far too obviously slow for an attack magic.
A small wedge-shaped projectile condensed from Mana.
‘Then, what should I do?’
Simply avoiding and counterattacking wouldn't be difficult.
In fact, there would have been enough time to launch a counterattack if I had intended to subdue the opponent who had unleashed such a ridiculous spell.
But this kind of playful attack was merely the surface. I had to understand the opponent's true intention hidden beneath.
I had no intention of drawing my sword in a place like this, and above all, there was one crucial fact.
「Combat within the Holy Residence is strictly prohibited.」
Having made a quick judgment, I immediately decided on my action. The answer was already determined.
I looked back at the incoming magic with cold eyes, stood firm, and did nothing.
Swish!
The wedge-shaped projectile constructed of Mana rushed towards my dark blue eyes. The light approaching moment by moment reflected and spread across my expressionless eyes.
However, the projectile that had sliced through the air with a heavy tearing sound suddenly stopped right before my eyes.
And then, the projectile silently turned into small particles of light from its tip, gradually scattering into the air.
Tap.
I reached out and grabbed the vanishing projectile. Its smooth surface touched my hand.
Magic that condensed Mana to create a physical entity on short notice.
I had seen this magic a few times before, but it was quite surprising that it could be caught by hand before it naturally dissipated.
“Well, this is impressive.”
Just then. From the other end of the corridor, a familiar man's voice rang out. Steps and a voice approached from beyond the dimly shadowed passage.
Soon after, a man with sharp, narrow eyes and a nervous impression. Antenor walked out from beyond the corridor.
“That attack just now. Did you judge in that brief moment that I wouldn't actually attack? From the feel of it, it seemed you had sensed and reacted.”
He brushed off the uniform symbolizing the Saintess's escort officers and dispersed the faint light of Mana wrapped around his bare hands.
“I was surprised in many ways. I am deeply sorry for the rudeness. Sir Enoch Elsyde.”
Naturally, it wasn't a sincere apology. His tone still carried sarcasm.
I tossed the dissipating Mana projectile in my hand a couple of times, as if gauging its weight.
“Your eyes don't seem very apologetic.”
“Ah. Please pay no mind to that. This is just how my eyes are, so I receive quite a lot of misunderstandings because of it.”
He smiled with narrowed eyes.
“However, to be frank, I felt the need to test your skills even at the risk of being impolite. Thus.”
I watched him calmly.
“After all, Sir Enoch, you have never undertaken an escort mission before, have you?”
Antenor shrugged his shoulders.
“Well. To put it more explicitly, it's like this. If Sir Enoch were to fail the escort mission...”
His voice instantly dropped.
“...It would all become our responsibility.”
Along with his words, I felt a presence and glanced around.
From the shadows of the white pillars lining the corridor of the Holy Residence, the escort officers he commanded silently appeared. It seemed they had all been here already.
“You lot. You said you were dispatched from The Order's higher authorities?”
“Though it's late, let me state our proper affiliation. We are the escort officers who protect the Pontiff, the supreme leader of The Order. We merely faithfully follow their commands, according to the will of the Goddess.”
Antenor added, spreading his arms low.
“And the Pontiff has designated our escort mission to be the Saintess's escort. As such, even if you are a Direct Lineage member of the Elsyde Main House. We cannot blindly entrust our duty to you.”
I glanced at the Mana projectile in my hand, which was still half-broken and dissipating.
“So, you pulled a stunt like this?”
“With regret.”
Immediately, I came to a clear conclusion.
“This is messed up.”
It seemed the Saintess's escort officers, contrary to their affiliation, were far from diligent, sincere, or exemplary in their conduct.
“First, let's stop with the pleasantries.”
His talk of testing my skills was an obvious lie. One doesn't need to look far. As someone invited to the Holy Residence, a Direct Lineage of Elsyde,
And also the requester of the Saintess's Designated Mission.
If he truly wanted to test me, there would have been many other ways.
“Get to the point.”
“Of course, I will.”
As if he had been waiting. Antenor raised his head and said in a low voice.
“Sir Enoch. It's not too late yet. If it's a mission you cannot handle, how about giving up on escorting the Saintess? To be frank, we are in a position where we must undertake this escort.”
He took out a document from inside his uniform and held it up.
“This is the mission abandonment document. Just say the word, and we'll handle it. The Saintess's escort as well.”
Mission abandonment. It was a demand so transparent it was practically blunt. At this point, the situation itself felt quite comical.
What if I had blocked or counterattacked the attack just now?
There was a possibility that they would immediately try to frame me for causing a fight within the Holy Residence.
At least this was a secluded corridor. After the noise of combat occurred and people gathered, all they would believe would be the consistent testimonies of the escort officers.
It was possible that they might have raised objections to my qualifications for the escort mission.
“You talk as if you are serious about the Saintess's escort.”
I said with a faint cold sneer.
“Yet, you don't seem to have much credibility with the very important person you're escorting.”
The Saintess summoning me for a Designated Mission ultimately meant that for some reason, she didn't trust the current escort officers.
As expected, perhaps having been hit where it hurt, the guy's smiling narrow eyes finally twisted slightly for a moment.
“The, the Saintess is still a young lady in her prime!”
“What does that matter?”
“Perhaps when she has external schedules, according to The Order's recent policy, we are always by her side as escorts. Surely, she must have found that burdensome...”
I calmly cut off his nonsense.
“You're making it sound like the Saintess is an idiot.”
It wasn't empty words. Saintess Amelia wasn't foolish enough to replace her escorts for such a reason.
Even though I didn't know everything about her, as there wasn't a proper point of contact in reality yet, I knew her 'personality' quite well.
I didn't know the reason why Amelia distrusted the escort officers yet. But it certainly wouldn't be the childish reason they suggested.
Of course, ignoring this little farce would have been fine.
But I had at least gained some clues about their affiliation and the unanswered questions about the Designated Mission. It was a more satisfying conversation than I had expected.
I opened my mouth with indifferent eyes.
“Then, I will return the favor.”
And then, in the next moment, I quickly threw the fragment of Mana I held in my hand just as it was.
Whoosh!
“─!”
Antenor flinched at the sensation of something brushing past his cheek for a moment.
And a little late, he realized that the fragment of Mana that had brushed past his cheek and flew by had pierced the mission abandonment document he was holding up beside his eye.
The almost completely dissipated fragment of Mana, having pierced the mission abandonment document exactly, shattered upwards into the sky.
“Ugh.”
Antenor momentarily looked back at it with an expression mixed with humiliation and hatred.
“I will undertake the escort mission as planned.”
I walked past him, and as if returning the words he had used earlier, I stated.
“I apologize for being rude.”
My dark blue eyes, passing by him, glanced at Antenor and narrowed slightly.
“Then, I hope we have a good cooperation.”
Guard Foreman Antenor's narrow eyes opened a little. And then, with agitated small eyes, he glanced back at me as I passed him.
For just a moment, he was overwhelmed by the boy's aura. Realizing that fact, a surge of humiliation and anger seemed to rise within him.
Just as our gazes crossed and were about to move away. I suddenly stopped.
And then I turned my head for a moment.
“Oh, right.”
“Wh-What is it?”
When Antenor stammered without realizing it at my action. The next words spoken by the black-haired boy echoed emptily in the corridor.
“I haven't found the exit yet. Please guide me.”
“...”
***
When Enoch returned to his room after coming back from the Holy Residence. The sun was already setting.
The sunset had grown cold, and the landscape outside the window, bathed in blue light, showed the lights of facilities throughout the great fortress and the streetlights of the city surrounded by its walls turning on one by one.
It was a familiar sight now.
A sense of relief somehow settled into the atmosphere of the room.
‘Maybe it's becoming routine.’
Perhaps because I had been highly on edge in the Holy Residence, a sense of fatigue returned to my body.
Thinking about it, not much time had passed, but had I completely adapted? I shook my head to dismiss the strange sentiment that was beginning to surface.
And I leaned my arm on the bed and sat down.
But for some reason, I felt a strangely soft texture on the mattress where I had placed my arm to sit. I looked at it for a moment and silently lifted the blanket.
Then, Sirocco, who had been lying inside, appeared. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, then glanced at me with a saucy gaze.
“Hm. What, you. You could at least say something when you arrived.”
“Didn't you go to your room because there's only one bed here?”
“Huh?”
Sirocco looked at me for a moment, tilting her head slightly, then pricked her ears as if it were obvious.
“Ah. That? I did go to see the place called my room during the day. But the door was locked again.”
For a moment. I felt like I could predict the next words.
I asked, just in case.
“Surely, you didn't break it open with a kick because it wouldn't open, and then get kicked out because of the repairs?”
“...”
Instead of answering, Sirocco subtly turned her head away. Only her luxuriant, glossy tail, turned away, swung back and forth as if something was nagging at her.
I sighed lightly and shook my head.
“So you just came back here then.”
“Yeah. And here and here, the bed is better.”
“And why is that?”
“Your bed here smells good.”
Sirocco glanced at me, hugged the pillow, and smiled, showing her small canines.
Whatever it was, it seemed she liked this bed.
Given her personality, which was beyond free-spirited and bordered on uncontrollable in the original work, it was actually more reassuring to have her here, but.
“Alright. Just get plenty of rest for now.”
“Why?”
“Because we have a mission tomorrow. It's your turn to step up.”
At those words, Sirocco's ears twitched once.
“Hm, alright. I've been looking forward to it. It's been quite boring, you know.”
I leaned the cloth bag against the wall and got up from my seat. Just then, the room door opened quietly, and a presence was felt there.
“I heard about the Designated Mission.”
In the faint darkness of the room at dusk, the silver-haired maid was looking at me.
I held my breath for a moment at her appearance. Her silver-blue eyes, reflecting the cold setting sun, shone captivatingly.
“It seems it's a mission to escort the Saintess.”
“That's right.”
“Then. As I said last time, I'll go with you too.”
Lien quietly approached me.
And then, she whispered as if into my ear.
“I can't let you get hurt any more like this.”
Her chillingly cold silver-blue eyes shone faintly in the darkness.
“I would appreciate that.”
I quietly nodded.
There was no factor prohibiting her accompanying me on this mission anyway. Furthermore, I didn't know what might happen.
Escorting someone was certainly something I had no experience in. It wasn't a bad thing to make full preparations to deal with sudden situations.
Especially if it were just Sirocco and I, the means and methods to respond if something happened during this Saintess escort mission would be more limited.
‘I've been running around quite a bit lately.’
Ultimately, the most important task came back to this.
Investigating the events that would occur in the original work, and bringing in enough talented individuals as Follower Family members to prepare for it.
I slowly smiled faintly.
For the first time in quite a while,
It was the beginning of a mission to recruit a Tier 1 character, after Sirocco.