Chapter 188

If the difference in skill was that clear, they should stop the growth or whatever instead of giving the heretic room to grow.

After all, if they grew up and became leaders of heresy, they would have to come capture them again.

‘This is why villains lose to the protagonist.’

Well, since he didn’t think he would be the one coming to capture them anyway, Roan decided to just not say anything.

…Come to think of it, this side wasn’t the villain either.

Meanwhile, Els decided to cast the most powerful attack holy magic she could use.

“Judgment of Divine Blood!”

Rumble—!

Els’s holy power began to squirm unusually.

At the same time, a red energy gathered in her holy power.

Roan watched the scene as if it were unexpected.

‘She is already using Judgment of Divine Blood? There was a reason for Jelsroin’s confidence.’

Judgment of Divine Blood was a Divine Blood holy magic at the end of the beginner level, and though it still took quite a while to cast and was a bit clumsy, that alone was impressive enough.

Especially in a situation where even one arm to be used for casting could not be moved properly due to injury.

So, it would be fatal to Sion if she were hit directly.

‘If she were hit directly, that is.’

Sion also already felt that Els’s current attack was her ultimate move.

‘A-As expected, the arrows earlier were just a probe!’

Indeed, if it was a proper attack from a heretic, it wouldn’t have been blocked so futilely by a wall that Demona had almost pierced.

However, Sion felt a strange anger here.

‘So, did I look ridiculous enough to be taken by a probe?’

Clench—

Sion clenched her fists tightly.

Although she was usually pushed back by Roan, Sion was also a certified genius recognized as the Empire’s Saintess Candidate.

Her pride was actually immense, and Els had firmly touched that sore spot.

…Setting aside that Els had no intention of touching her sore spot.

Rumble—

Judgment of Divine Blood was a holy magic in which blood-red lightning from the sky attacked a certain area.

Before long, an ominous blood-red dark cloud was generated over Sion’s head.

Yet at the sight of Sion staring blankly up at the sky without any countermeasures, Els wore a triumphant smile.

‘How is it? It must be a holy magic that the precious Saintess Candidate could never have imagined.’

Since she must have never faced such a wide-area holy magic, she would be completely helpless.

Crash—

And the moment the blood-red lightning finally struck down,

Flash—

— Uh?

— Wh-What is that defensive holy magic?

— Did she really block the Judgment of Divine Blood with Saint’s Patience?

A brilliant golden shield blocked the fall of that bloody lightning head-on.

The lightning flowed only around it without causing any damage to the shield.

Saint’s Patience was a beginner-level holy magic, just like Judgment of Divine Blood.

It was accepted wisdom that to protect against a wide-area attack so perfectly with a holy magic of the same level, the defender had to be several levels higher than the attacker.

Sion had proved the difference in level between herself and Els with just a single defensive holy magic.

Furthermore,

‘Wh-Where did she go?’

Sion, who should have been right under the shield, was nowhere to be seen.

Els looked around in surprise.

The Jelsroin followers were surprised once again.

— She even learned stealth holy magic?

— Those Akerandir fellows, what on earth are they teaching that young girl!

To hide her appearance so naturally, it could only be stealth holy magic.

In fact, a few of the high-ranking Jelsroin followers vaguely knew Sion’s whereabouts, but they couldn’t tell her in a duel.

Glare—!

— H-Hieek!

— We were just so surprised…

Actually, just saying it was stealth holy magic earned them deadly glares from Tirmy and Espard.

Els then tried to deploy her holy power to locate Sion, but

‘I don’t have much power left after using Judgment of Divine Blood…!’

Since she had already used a holy magic close to an ultimate move, she didn’t have enough spare to use for search.

Els bit her lip while holding her arm where the bleeding still hadn’t stopped.

She sensed defeat.

And at that moment,

Slide—

“!!!!”

In the hands of Sion, who appeared behind Els like a ghost,

Thwack—!

the Shepherd’s Club was held before she knew it.

A club swung utilizing the offensive techniques she had learned during Gulba’s class!

Els, hit on the back of her head, fainted without even having time to be properly surprised.

Then, the Judgment of Divine Blood she had cast disappeared, and the surroundings returned to a peaceful empty lot just as it originally had been.

“…Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

Although she swung harder than expected because she was angry, Sion had no intention of making her faint, and apologized in shock upon realizing her actions belatedly.

Of course, the unconscious Els was in no position to hear the apology.

Seeing that, the Jelsroin followers whispered.

— Look at that…

— She knocks her out and then apologizes?

— Even hitting her directly with a club rather than holy magic…

— Did you see her attack even the pulse with holy power? The Saintess Candidate is quite brutal.

Sion, who heard all of their words, blushed bright red.

‘W-What if Darc thinks like that too?’

It was a situation where she thought of herself as nothing short of a psychopath, so Roan would be even worse.

“First duel, Sion’s victory.”

Tirmy calmly declared the outcome of the duel.

— Els, wake up!

— You fought wonderfully! I’m really proud!

A few Jelsroin followers rushed out and took Els to start treating her.

— Saintess Candidate! Incredible!

— It would have been better if you stabbed her with a Pilgrim’s Blade or a Priest’s Dagger instead of the Shepherd’s Club!

— Of course, we would have kept it a secret! Honorable Saintess Candidate!

Sion returned with quick steps, receiving cheers that somehow made her embarrassed.

She then excused herself to Roan in a voice that was almost a whisper.

“I-I-I really didn’t mean to do that on purpose…”

“You did well.”

“…? Yes?”

But because Roan’s words were quite unexpected, Sion tilted her head without realizing it.

Roan added with a faint smile,

“You are utilizing what you learned well. You fully deserved to win, Saintess Candidate Sion.”

“Ah…”

Fully deserved to win.

At Roan’s words, Sion almost lost her sense of reality.

Had I ever won with my own power before?

Sion’s life had always been lived as if pushed by someone.

Now, Sion could believe in her own power in earnest.

Yusina also smiled brightly and nodded her head hard.

“Right, Sion! You were truly amazing! Aren’t you talented in dueling?”

“T-Thank you…”

Espard also raised his thumb toward Sion.

At the unexpected compliments from the people around her, Sion’s face flushed red in a different sense than before.

Myaaa— Flutter—!

“Noeul, Pallangi…”

In addition, her two divine spirit beasts also sincerely rejoiced at their master’s victory.

Especially Noeul seemed to have viewed Sion’s stealth holy magic very impressively.

Since divine beasts and spirit beasts tended to have higher affinity when their master used a technique similar to theirs.

‘Actually, it seemed like the opponent Els was unexpectedly weak…’

Sion couldn’t bring herself to say words that would dampen the mood under such an atmosphere.

‘But if she is weaker than Demona, isn’t she really weak?’

I really don’t think it’s worth making such a fuss about having won, though.

……Sion, who came to have a slightly skewed misunderstanding!

Of course, the dueling went on without knowing such thoughts of Sion at all.

“Second duel, prepare.”

At Tirmy’s words, Yusina on the Akerandir side and Duga on the Jelsroin side stepped onto the empty lot.

Duga possessed a build robust enough to be compared to Hector or Galland.

— Iron Fist Duga!

— Since Saintess Yusina is a Blessing holy magic major, a one-on-one is well worth a shot!

— But you shouldn’t hit her too hard!

Duga received enthusiastic cheers from the followers.

‘Well, the Jelsroin guys do have quite a lot of Yusina fans.’

Because of that, events involving the Jelsroin cult occasionally occurred for Yusina.

Apart from that, however, Roan stared at the followers’ cheers in bewilderment.

Naturally, since it was a duel with overseers, he shouldn’t rush in with the intent to kill his opponent.

But aren’t they looking down too much on her when the opponent is a Saintess?

He didn’t know how strong the novice priest Duga was, but Roan grasped the current Yusina almost perfectly.

…Perhaps even better than Yusina herself.

At any rate, unless Yusina deliberately tried to lose, this duel would end here.

— Saintess Yusina, fighting!

— Teach a lesson to that guy who acts up relying only on his size!

Porororong—!

Yusina also received thunderous cheers from the Paladin Merchant Guild members and the Moonlight Watchdog Roque.

Yusina asked Roan, who maintained a cold expression.

“Roan, aren’t you going to cheer for me?”

“Is cheering necessary in a fight that will obviously be won?”

“Heh, is that so…?”

Yusina smiled slyly, went out to the empty lot, and stood facing Duga.

Tirmy confirmed that both sides had taken their positions and declared,

“Second duel, start.”

At the same time,

“Uwoooo!!!!”

Duga let out a roar and charged toward Yusina like a gorilla.

— It’s out! Duga’s Furious Charge!

— He even beat an adult Rock Ape with that!

‘…Why does a clergyman fight and beat a spirit beast with brute force?’

Of course, beating a Rock Ape with strength was an impressive feat, but it wasn’t particularly a virtue required of a novice priest.

Duga leaped right in front of Yusina and struck the ground with both fists.

Boom—!

The ground split like a spider web.

At that level, it was certainly considerable muscular strength for his age group.

It was a level that even surprised the Paladin Merchant Guild members.

— How dare that Rock Ape-like fellow target the Saintess!

— Don’t fight with strength cowardly!

Naturally, Yusina

“Wow, you are really strong~”

had already leisurely left her position with spatial holy magic and occupied the space behind Duga.

“Hup!”

Swish—!

Duga was startled and swung his fist toward the direction the voice came from.

Flexibility and speed that did not suit his bulk.

It was a scene where Yusina’s slender body would be sent flying by Duga’s fist at any moment, but

Flash— flash—!

Yusina, again using short-range spatial holy magic, departed the position and bestowed a blessing on her own body.

Then,

“Hiyah~!”

she lightly pushed Duga’s opening, which was created from swinging his fist so widely.

Of course, it was only light in appearance; the force reinforced by a substantial blessing would be far from light.

“Ugh!”

Duga ultimately failed to maintain his posture and fell unsightly.

This was the battle of Saintess Yusina.

‘Although it looks light, it’s an absurd operation of techniques.’

Even just short-range spatial holy magic, those who used it so freely among the entire fourth year, or even the teaching assistants, could be counted on one hand.

Needless to say, her major Blessing, and even her eye for accurately stabbing openings.

‘Come to think of it, she can’t ride a spatial holy magic carriage but does short-range movements just fine.’

“Ugh…”

Duga, collapsed on the ground, stood up again, panting as if filled with anger, and Yusina merely looked at him with a grin.

“Uwooo!”

Duga charged toward Yusina once more.