Teaching (1)

Come to think of it, this might be the first time.

Fighting together with Titan, that is. During the Lilia incident, Titan got knocked out early from a surprise attack, and when he got back up, I was the one who got knocked out.

Other than that, I mostly operated beneath the surface while putting him at the forefront.

In other words, this is our first time sharing the same stage.

Still, I know well what kind of person Titan is.

Coordination is actually impossible. I’m the one who needs to adapt.

Which means I’ll be playing a supporting role, as befits a priest.

Well, it’s not bad. It’s still a bit early to publicly announce my status as a saint anyway.

I revealed it to Edge Forys because I judged he would figure it out eventually. Isn’t he the type to write all sorts of stories from just a tiny piece of information?

It wouldn’t take him even a day to trace my actions backward and figure out what happened in Rubia.

Better to reveal it first than get caught hiding it – it makes a better impression too.

“Just do what you usually do. I’ll support you accordingly.”

“I was going to do that anyway. If you do well… I might coordinate a little.”

“How generous of you.”

I put tobacco in my mouth.

Smoking before work is like a ritual for me. It helps calm my mind and body…

“Let’s begin.”

Thud!

I’d just lit it, and Titan charges forward.

The golem that had been standing by also seemed to take that as the signal to start and began moving.

“This damn bastard, seriously.”

I knew he wouldn’t coordinate, but this is too much even so.

I don’t even care anymore.

I’ll do my own thing.

“Phew…”

While Titan charges at the golem and climbs its body to strike with his hammer,

I decided to keep smoking my tobacco.

I just lit it, so I should at least take one puff, right?

Crash!

I see Titan’s hammer strike down hard on the golem’s elbow.

Though the golem’s surface cracked all over, it didn’t break.

Setting aside how tough it is, it’s just too big.

At this rate, it’ll be a battle of attrition.

Boom!

The golem’s massive arms strike the ground. The earth overturns and fierce vibrations spread, scattering rocks and stones.

Fortunately, there was no damage to the audience. Well, this is a dueling ground built by magicians, scholars, and experts from various fields putting their heads together.

They would naturally have taken such precautions.

But because of that, the vibrations that spread couldn’t extend outward and started resonating within.

This actually works out well.

Because it caused thick dust to settle on the ground.

The golem is ultimately Edge Forys’s puppet.

A grand mage with various supplementary magic would be fearsome, but there’s no need to fear when he’s just pulling puppet strings for entertainment.

“Now then.”

I walk naturally with the unfinished tobacco in my mouth.

I approach the site of the intense battle without any interference and aim my revolver.

The dust covers me.

Though Titan and the golem are blowing away dust with enough force to clear it in real-time, that’s not a problem.

The dust isn’t disappearing, just getting blown away. So it’s being pushed to the edges due to the barrier protecting the audience.

If anything, this is advantageous. I can act while hiding in the safest position like this.

Bang!

I aim and fire the revolver.

The gunshot is drowned out by the sounds of Titan and the golem’s battle. The bullet I fired only manages to pierce the golem’s surface slightly without causing much damage.

The spot I hit was the right shoulder area. Given the battle situation, it’s a spot Edge Forys can’t see.

I keep walking. Hiding in the shadow of these two monsters’ magnificent battle.

“…Seems nothing’s really changed from usual after all.”

I hide my presence behind Titan’s magnificent battle.

Edge Forys probably noticed I’ve slipped in, but he can’t take his eyes off Titan to look for me.

Titan could completely shatter an arm in that time. Even if he found me then, it would already be too late.

“Well, it’s just entertainment anyway.”

Bang!

Moving along the edge of the dueling ground as if circling around, I embed another bullet in the opposite shoulder this time.

Bang!

I make a few more rounds like that.

The battle between Titan and the golem was growing more intense. The power struggle between these two monsters, carried out with agility unimaginable for their massive builds, was quite a spectacle indeed.

The golem roughly swings its upper body to push Titan away.

Titan grabs the end of a spear shaft mid-flight and stabs it into the ground to make an emergency stop.

It’s amazing that such a thing is even possible.

“Hup!”

He’d already lost his hammer earlier.

It must be buried somewhere in the pile of rocks.

Using the elasticity of the bent spear shaft that seemed about to break, Titan flies back to the golem’s face and throws a punch.

Crash!

The golem’s face shatters.

Blood drips from Titan’s fist. He put everything into that punch without holding back. What a tough guy.

The golem staggers.

Titan slowly descends after using all his strength in midair.

Is it because the battle got intense?

Titan made a mistake he wouldn’t normally make. No, it would be more accurate to say he probably didn’t know.

Creak-

The headless golem reaches for the descending Titan.

“It still moves even with its head destroyed?”

Titan had already fought mechanical devices in Nidavellir that didn’t die even when their heads were destroyed.

Yet he ended up in a defenseless state, focused on the idea of destroying the golem’s head.

It’s not that he didn’t think it through.

In this case, his half-knowledge became poison.

The golem Edge Forys raised and the golem Titan destroyed earlier are structurally different after all.

Titan had just fought an autonomous golem (Friendly) right before this battle. And autonomous golems stop when their heads are destroyed. That’s where their behavior patterns are recorded.

But the golem he’s facing now should be called something completely different despite looking similar.

Unlike autonomous golems that judge and move on their own, the golem Edge Forys raised needs direct control.

In other words, it never needed a head to begin with.

“Damn it.”

Titan bites his lip as he belatedly realizes this fact.

A rare expression of frustration.

Probably because this crisis came from carelessness rather than his own inadequacy.

He keeps moving his limbs trying to resist the massive hand approaching him, but it’s meaningless.

He can’t fly, can’t handle mana, and can’t even take a stance to throw a punch.

If he allows even one attack, Titan will lose.

“Phew…”

I stamp out the tobacco I’d been smoking. This should be enough.

I grip the revolver with both hands and aim. Unlike earlier when it was fine if I missed by a lot, this time the bullet needs to follow a precise trajectory for the picture I’m envisioning.

“Match my timing.”

You loser.

Bang!

A clear beam of holy power forms a straight line. The bullet that passed right by Titan’s descending thigh embeds itself straight into the golem’s body.

If 1st circle learns to manipulate mana and 2nd circle can use elemental magic, 3rd circle enables linking two elemental magics. Then what about 4th circle?

One of the representative 4th circle techniques is a magic called Transition.

It’s magic that enables remote control of already discharged magic.

Of course, there are restrictions. It needs to consume the same or less mana than the original spell, and you can’t convert it to magic of a different element.

Meaning if you used magic to create fire, you can only change it to magic of the same fire element.

But even that has exceptions.

All magic is fundamentally a technique that converts mana.

Then, if it’s magic utilizing pure mana like Magic Missile rather than elemental magic from the start, you can change it to any magic mid-way.

What I’m trying to do now follows the same principle.

A bullet filled with pure holy power, not the authority of any god.

I fire it to embed in the opponent’s body and convert it remotely.

The pure white light that passed by Titan transforms into chains for a moment.

“Grab it.”

“…I’ll match it. I’m already as good as defeated anyway. But!”

At the same time, the holy power bullets I had embedded earlier also transform into pure white chains and bind the golem’s body.

Titan, who had been descending, barely manages to grab the chains and hang in midair.

Once, twice. Titan moves his hands while holding onto the chains and quickly climbs on top of them.

Amazing sense of balance. Just like a green monkey.

Thud!

After climbing onto the chains and taking a few more steps forward, Titan launches his body up again.

An even higher jump than before.

An attack from that height would surely produce tremendous power.

But it’s also a position that carries risk due to the large motion.

“I can’t end it like this.”

“Oh? So you’re not satisfied being just a supporting role?”

Then I’ll have to play along.

I place my palm dripping with blood on the chains connected to the gun barrel. The red blood dyes the pure white chains and blooms new holiness.

This time I’ll borrow the water flow of Hebo, the river god.

The water flow traveling along the chains touches the golem’s body directly.

The water flow that touched its body spreads like a spider web and reaches the other chains I had embedded and transformed earlier.

“Now, finish it.”

Crack!

The water flow that devoured the chains’ holiness grows like an overflowing river and freezes solid under Hebo’s authority.

Another name for Hebo, the river god, is Bingyi (Ice Barbarian). Though a celestial god like Jupiter, his power is quite different.

It means lightning isn’t the only thing that pours down from the sky.

What falls onto the frozen golem is a green meteor.

His fist drives into the golem’s body as if not caring what will happen to it afterward.

Crash!

Scattering stone fragments. Shattering ice shards. Small ice particles densely embedded among the dust create a strange scene.

“Refreshing.”

Both the air cooled by the massive ice, and my mood.

*     *     *

“Chains… so it’s chains.”

Edge Forys had been verifying the truth of Lost’s words.

That’s why he prompted this duel. Though such a crazy thing might happen, it could also be a lie.

He was the type to keep all possibilities open.

He was somewhat disappointed when Lost hid in the dust to pull tricks midway, but it was a splendid performance.

After all, he systematically revealed the information Edge Forys wanted.

“Very fitting.”

The authority Lost gained upon becoming an apostle of the gods was chains. Edge Forys smiled with narrowed eyes.

“You received power perfectly fitting for a snake like you.”

Chains that bind and subdue sinners. That form symbolizing justice appeared to his eyes like a snake born from Lost’s cunning tongue.

Though that might be because his judgment was quite twisted, he trusted his eyes.

That is a snake.

“Perfect for someone who’s all talk.”

“…Duke, no matter what, he’s a real saint.”

“Did I say anything wrong?”

Edge Forys looked at Allen Wise, who was criticizing him, with languid eyes.

Allen Wise’s eyes are like knotholes. It seemed there was still a long way to go before he could function properly as a person.

“The gods are his backing and the common people are his comrades?”

Edge Forys snorted while fiddling with his staff.

“Yet he doesn’t seem to know much about his real companions. If this isn’t just empty words, then what is it? Isn’t that right, Linea Spirin?”

At Edge Forys’s call, Allen Wise finally noticed Linea’s figure in the distance.

She wore a somewhat dazed expression.

Even Allen Wise, who didn’t know much about Linea, could tell the shadow on her face was worry.

“May I… excuse myself first, Duke?”

“Of course. What reason would I have to stop you? Do as you please. Sometimes one needs time alone.”

Edge Forys raised his staff to stop Lilia who was trying to follow after Linea.

He’s an adult too.

He can at least be considerate toward a young lady still in the midst of learning.

“What? Move!”

“What an ill-mannered young lady. Get back.”

“Lilia, sit down. There’s some chicken skewers left, would you like some?”

“Yes!”

“…Who knows where he picked up such a strange one, tsk tsk.”

Edge Forys clicked his tongue at Lilia who showed not even a fragment of refinement.

Just lacking refinement? She has no sense either.

“But, you’re a bit late?”

“Old man. I won.”

“Watch your words. You and Prince Titan won together.”

“Either way, I trust you haven’t forgotten our promise.”

“Come to the eastern district later. I’ll prepare and wait. As for where exactly… well, you’ll know when you see it.”

He needs to make at least minimal preparations to contact the <Wanderer> too.

Lost had enough sense to know that as well, so he decided to quietly withdraw.

“Ah, and.”

Edge Forys quietly added before turning around after rising with his staff.

“You should follow her. It seems to be because of you.”

“Pardon?”

“…”

Edge Forys silently pointed to an empty seat.

The seat where Linea had been.

“…I suppose I should.”

Just from that, Lost realized something had happened with Linea and immediately began moving.

“2,000 gold baby!!”

“…”

In the place where the duel’s protagonists had left, a princess was cheering roughly.

*     *     *

Linea left her seat.

Normally I would have thought nothing of it, but if Edge Forys specifically mentioned it, something must have definitely happened.

What could it be? I’m not sure what triggered her.

I know she’s been hiding something from me.

Could it be related to my position as a Pantheon Temple heresy inquisitor?

No, that’s going too far.

When she decided to accompany me, I had only shown my priestly side.

There are two possibilities.

Either she wanted connections with the Pantheon Temple,

Or my being an apostle is the problem.

The former aside, is my being a saint the issue?

I don’t understand why that would be a problem. Unless she’s a criminal who committed some unforgivable sin, there’s no reason for her to feel upset.

First I need to find Linea. Find her and talk.

“Oh my?”

As I was searching for Linea while pushing through the crowd after leaving the dueling ground.

A woman suddenly blocked my path.

“What…”

Today I met Edge Forys. That was a possible meeting.

He’s Allen’s guardian and Allen needs to attend the upcoming master qualification ceremony.

While at it, if he had business in Arcanum, he might stop by to handle it.

He’s a magician after all.

So meeting Edge Forys was entirely possible.

But not the person before me now.

“It’s been a while.”

Black hair and black eyes.

A woman with a gentle atmosphere wearing scholarly clothes.

“Teacher…?”

“Yes, my student. What a coincidence meeting you in a place like this?”

That person was my ‘teacher’ who taught me how to live in this world.