Sera asked Iria again, thinking she might have heard wrong.
“That… What do you mean by extorting money?”
“It means threatening or intimidating someone and demanding money.”
“I see.”
Unlike the talk of having a relationship, this time, the meaning Sera was thinking of was correct.
Then Sera asks.
“Then how do you know that?”
If you extort money from Clana, you can duel her. How does Iria know such a fact?
Saying she heard it through rumors doesn’t make sense, as Iria is very ignorant of rumors.
She has sharp ears but is not very interested in the world. She ignores most things and only listens to the information she wants to hear.
So she was curious.
As if she didn’t need to think, Iria immediately gave an answer.
“I did it myself.”
“Y-you extorted money yourself? From the Saint??”
“Every day for a week. But for some reason, she keeps following me now.”
Clana, who became strange after receiving etiquette education from Iria, immediately started looking for Iria to repay the favor.
After Amelia, Iria thought she wouldn’t receive any more duel requests, but Clana chased her like crazy and requested a duel.
Of course, Iria didn’t accept. She was uncompatible with Clana, who used holy powers.
And above all, she already had a set opponent to fight.
“Sera, you should try it too.”
Iria casually told Sera about what happened before.
And,
“……”
Sera’s eyes looking at Iria became strange.
The act of extorting money was very unethical and violent in Sera’s eyes.
The cute junior she knew turned out to be a thug who stole other people’s money. Shocked by that fact, Sera couldn’t speak for a while.
Only after quite a long silence was Sera able to utter a word.
“Do you usually do that kind of thing?”
She asked the worst criminal currently wanted by the Empire, the Back Alley Monster.
It’s a bit abrupt now, but Iria didn’t deny Sera’s question.
“I don’t do it often.”
“Uh, um…… You’re more honest than I thought.”
“I’m not good at lying.”
“But that’s still a bad thing to do. Don’t do that from now on, okay?”
Iria nodded her head. She didn’t steal the money because she urgently needed it anyway.
Today, she received an admonition from Sera, who is notorious in the academy for her habitual duel requests.
***
There are many scary things in the world.
Like someone’s untainted pure madness or something with absolute power.
But the scariest thing is when something with absolute power harbors pure madness.
“Hehehe……”
Clana’s rampage and antics continued after that.
If Iria at the beginning of the semester were the male students’ fantasy, Clana was a walking time bomb.
Students were busy running away, looking at her whose actions were strange. The power of a Saint was not something ordinary students could handle.
But still, there are students who block Clana’s way.
There are always one or two foolish people everywhere who have unfounded confidence without understanding the skill difference between themselves and their opponents.
“Hey, you should tone down your rampage. This is the Imperial Academy. Do the students of the continent’s top educational institution look funny to you?”
“Yeah, you’re just a priest who can’t do anything in a head-on fight anyway.”
So what happened to those people?
“Clana Headbutt!!”
“Kuh-huk!”
“Kraak!”
They were hit by Clana’s body slam and fell out of the arena before even taking a step.
Clana’s specialties are holy arts and healing arts. Still, if they are ordinary students, she can crush them with her bare hands–or head–without using divine power.
She boasts a near-invincible defense even just standing still. The number of students who can penetrate her defense in the academy can be counted on one hand.
If you convert the weight of the blessings floating around Clana, it’s heavier than the combined weight of a hundred adult men.
And weight translates to impact.
If you collide head-on with the rushing Clana, a tremendous physical force will strike your whole body.
Eventually, Clana walks with light steps towards those she had injured.
“Ah! Y-you’re hurt…… I’ll heal you right away.”
Even though she was instilled with bad ideas by someone, a saint is still a saint.
She never forgets her duty to heal the injured. She took out the holy water she made herself from her bosom.
“E-even though I look like this, I’m good at healing. It’s something I’m quite confident in.”
“Uh, ugh……”
As she said, the injury wasn’t that serious.
Perhaps it’s because students at the continent’s top educational institution are not ordinary. For this level of injury, there was no need to use the miracle of healing.
One bottle of holy water is more than enough.
“Hehe…… Just a moment?”
Saint Clana showed a benevolent smile in front of the patient.
The eyes inside the wall emitted a faint light.
With a clicking sound, the lid of the bottle containing the holy water opens.
Clana slowly started pouring it on the patient’s head.
“I-it’s warm, right? The bottle that holds the holy water is specially treated, so it has a heat retention effect…… I made it myself.”
The slowly falling water slowly soaks the patient’s head and clothes.
Until Clana poured all the holy water in the bottle, a considerably long time passed in terms of how it felt.
It was when the warmth of the water falling on the head enveloped the whole body.
The wounds on the patient’s body healed cleanly. The body’s condition improved dramatically; it felt very light and even better than before being hit by Clana.
The patient examines Clana looking down at him and his own body that has become unnecessarily healthy.
“It-it’s amazing, but…… I feel a bit.”
The effect of the holy water was surprisingly great. But I couldn’t shake off the odd feeling.
The blue gaze looking down from above and the saintly benevolent smile. The warm liquid soaked the whole body, starting from the head.
Apart from becoming healthy, something……
Something felt strange.
The patient thought he should quickly leave the place. He felt that he shouldn’t get involved with the crazy saint in front of his eyes right now.
But Clana grabs his ankle with her hand.
“Wh-where are you going so quickly……? I healed your wounds. Are you grateful? Ah, no, you should be grateful. Don’t you know there’s nothing free in this world?”
“Ye-yes?”
“D-do you know that? The holy water I personally make is sold at a very high price on the market. Since you received such a thing, you also have to pay me a mo-monetary price.”
For Clana, as long as she has a bottle to store it, she can make as much as she wants, but the water containing a saint’s miracle is very valuable on the market.
It’s not for nothing that the Central Church raised her preciously. She could rake in as much money as she wanted if she wanted to.
Clana reaches out her hand to the one who was a patient until a moment ago.
“Huhuhu, you’ll have to hand over your wallet to me……”
It was a scene of forced sale of holy water.
**
There were people who watched Clana’s antics today from beginning to end.
Iria, the mastermind who made the saint strange, and Sera, who was preparing to request a duel with that saint.
Sera showed a dumbfounded expression while watching the situation a moment ago with her eyes. It’s a reaction of being unable to believe it even after seeing it with her own eyes.
“Wha-what the, what is that? Did she originally have that kind of personality?”
It was understandable.
It has been over a week since Sera entered closed-door training, and Clana started becoming strange yesterday.
From the perspective of her who doesn’t know the circumstances, it was confusing enough.
Iria brought up the topic, breaking into that gap.
“You saw it, right? That saint extorted money from another student first. So wouldn’t it be self-defense if you extort money from her?”
“Is… that so? No, that’s not right! It’s equally a bad thing to do!”
“……”
Sera, who was about to be tricked by Iria’s temptation for a moment, shouted.
Although Sera is a battle maniac, she has a relatively kind heart. Perhaps it’s because she resembles Ariel, who has a righteous personality.
Anyway, Sera couldn’t follow Iria’s words.
Sera couldn’t put into practice such an unethical act of stealing other people’s money. It went against her beliefs.
Looking at Sera, Iria kept silent for a moment and then spoke.
“Then, how about we steal the money the saint stole and return it to the original owner? Then we could have a justification for a duel, and wouldn’t it be a righteous thing to do?”
“Hmm……”
Sera’s concern was deep after hearing Iria’s words.
Iria usually says so many bizarre things that Sera takes time to think if her words are correct.
The silence continued.
“……”
“……”
Sera blinked as if weighing the good and evil of the action.
And so,
“I think it’s a good idea. Let’s do it right away.”
Sera decided to extort money from Clana.
Translator’s Corner
Sorry for taking so long.
-Ruminas