Chapter 41
A pillar of light stretched into the sky.
From it, an angel with the face of a bear, clad in armor and a helmet, slowly descended with white wings spread wide.
"A-a bear?"
"No, is it an angel?"
"An angel bear?"
"I've never seen an angel before, but... is this what they look like?"
The thugs and Eric raised confused voices.
While the hearts of the men—who should have been enemies—somehow became united, the angel raised both hands under their bewildered gazes.
'Kuma―'
In the bear angel's right hand was a silver-white sword, and in the left was a scale.
"Divine judgment upon the fools who would violate a woman."
As Reina glared sharply at the men and declared this, a dazzling lightning bolt was fired from the sword of the angel holding the scale.
'Judgment'
That was an offensive magic Reina learned in the latter half of the game Beyond the Rainbow Gleam.
It summoned an angel to protect her and rained lightning down upon the enemies of God... in other words, monsters.
It had the drawback of being ineffective against anything that wasn't an enemy of God, so for example, it dealt weak damage to human enemy characters in duel events.
""""Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!""""
That said... it seemed to be highly effective against the thugs who tried to defile the Saint using drugs.
Bathed in the rain of lightning dropped by the bear angel, the men were charred black.
"Phew... Just as Lord Clael taught me, I did it well."
Reina nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the many craters behind the school building and the men, now blackened and smoking.
'Listen carefully. If someone tries to hurt you, strike back without mercy. Humans can sometimes be far crueler than monsters. Just because they're human doesn't mean you need to show them compassion! Don't hesitate even if you have to take them down!'
That was one of the teachings Clael gave her during five years of training.
In this game, there were many scenarios where villains appeared as enemies, and there were scenes where Reina struggled with hurting them.
She would get injured because she hesitated to defeat a human, or cause harm to innocent people by trying to avoid a fight.
To prevent Reina in this world from getting hurt in the same way, Clael had deliberately taught her such things.
"Ugh..."
"It hurts..."
Though they had taken the angel's lightning, the men... somehow, were still breathing.
Divine punishment is fair. Considering the thugs' crimes were only attempted, it seemed their lives were spared.
'Kuma―'
Incidentally, the angel holding the scale and sword... didn't have a bear's head in the game, of course.
The reason this angel had the face of a bear was because it reflected Reina's current image.
It was likely influenced by something Clael had taught her in childhood: 'Plushies are guardians of children.'
"Ugh... uh... What happened to me...?"
"Ah, so you were here. Prince Eric."
Reina spotted Eric lying among the thugs and looked awkward.
She had taken him out along with the other men in the heat of the moment.
Although Eric wasn't a direct assailant, he had known of the men's plan beforehand and didn't try to stop it until the last moment, so he ended up as a target of the angel's attack.
Fortunately, the damage was light.
Unlike the other men, he wasn't charred black—only his hair had turned into a frizzy afro.
"U-uh... This has gotten pretty bad, hasn't it, Your Highness! I'll go get someone right away, so please wait here!"
Reina said this evasively and quickly left the scene.
She brushed off the fact that she had accidentally attacked the crown prince and ran off behind the school building.
"Reina..."
Eric clutched his chest as he watched Reina walk away.
His heart wouldn't stop pounding.
He had always felt a tightness in his chest when thinking about Reina... but now, a completely different kind of emotion was welling up inside him.
"It's like I was struck by lightning... Is this true love...?"
He had literally been struck by lightning... but with his memory hazy, Eric didn't even realize why his hair had turned into an afro.
And so, Reina was able to repel the thugs who had targeted her chastity... but in exchange, the crown prince sank even deeper into the swamp of love.