Chapter 90
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The one who sent Siesta to Ryūgūin this time is one of the cardinals of the Crater Church, which has its headquarters in the Arcana Kingdom.
Even the church is an organization. Of course, power struggles exist, but because the upper echelons are filled with those who boast overwhelming ability and reputation, the current balance of power in the church is stable.
Given this, it’s not surprising that many church executives who had doubts about the Hero’s actions so far would agree.
Sending Siesta this time was also the consensus of the church.
The mission given to Siesta was to determine what kind of person the Hero is – the Hero whom Saint Mika is infatuated with – from her perspective, as someone respected by colleagues and superiors alike and known for her integrity.
Of course, the Crater Church, with its enormous power and excellent personnel, was not unaware of the Hero’s scandals.
Therefore, with this in mind, they gave Siesta the order to spend time directly with the Hero and assess him, and sent her to him.
In other words, her judgment this time would greatly influence the church’s future actions.
Essentially, Siesta was the arbitrator for the Hero.
There isn’t much time left before she has to contact the cardinal, and she doesn’t have much time left to make her final decision.
Reflecting on the past week, her report on the Hero and her judgment are mostly settled in her mind.
However, she has doubts. They are small, but like ink splattered on white cloth, they cannot be ignored.
She just can’t pretend not to notice.
What’s hindering her final judgment is her memories of him from before.
Siesta realizes that before contacting the cardinal, she needs to take one more look at herself.
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Siesta is a clergy member, and of course she’s known for her integrity. She’s always smiling, never gets angry, and is tolerant of everyone, which is why she’s sometimes described as a model clergy member.
But she’s human too, and of course she has emotions like anger and sadness.
Around the time the Hero was summoned, Siesta was comparing her power with Saint Mika’s and feeling crushed by her own powerlessness.
Being someone who doesn’t know jealousy, she kept blaming herself, thinking that the responsibility for her powerlessness lay with her alone.
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Being from another world, he not only couldn’t use magic but had never even held a sword before.
He said he had never even taken the life of a living creature. He confessed that he was even uncomfortable touching small animals like mice or insects.
He was polite, and his conversation showed the clear intelligence of a learned person. But at the same time, I sensed a slight unreliability.
I felt guilty about summoning him to this world, but separately, I still strongly doubted whether a boy like him could really conquer the undefeated dungeon that had swallowed up numerous strong warriors and renowned mages.
However, it soon became clear that this worry was unfounded.
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Siesta, along with Saint Mika, was assigned the leadership role for the recovery team for the boys. That’s why they were the ones who witnessed their training most closely and for the longest time.
The first day of training was basic.
They started from the very basics, from how to grip a sword to how to practice swinging.
At the beginning, many people felt that 「this is no different from normal rookie training to be teaching the summoned ones.」
But that thought was wrong.
It’s easy to forget, but they were amateurs to begin with.
Even a wooden sword was heavy for them, and if they swung it a hundred times, their arms would be swollen.
After fifteen minutes of practice swings, his grip strength was gone, and it became difficult for him to even hold the wooden sword.
By that time, the other boy who had been summoned with him had disappeared from the training ground, and they never saw him again after that. On the other hand, in the eyes of the boy who remained, you could see a strong will that he had to accomplish this.
After that, he agreed to some suggestion that must have come from someone, and he continued training endlessly, without using healing magic to heal injuries or recover from training fatigue.
As a result, Saint Mika, Siesta, and the other recovery sisters gathered from the church had to work at full capacity.
He trained until he couldn’t move, recovered, then trained again until he couldn’t move, recovered – repeating this cycle many times, resulting in over ten hours of continuous training on the first day.
Having continued this astonishing effort, he was able to move on to practical training after just a few days.
From then on, the sight of his training became even more gruesome, making one want to cover their eyes.
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Of course, the knights training him must have held back.
However, it was clear as day that this would happen to a boy who didn’t even know how to hold a sword just a few days ago.
In front of Siesta’s eyes was a boy who had collapsed like a rag doll from fatigue, bruises, and wounds. The maids peeking into the training hall out of curiosity let out shrill screams at the terrible sight.
However, as soon as healing magic was applied to him, he sprang up energetically, shouting, 「I can still go on!!」
For some reason, Siesta found herself following him with her eyes, and somehow she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
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As time passed, the training became increasingly harsh, and naturally, Siesta and Saint Mika’s turns came more frequently.
The boy who didn’t even know how to hold a sword was able to exchange wooden sword blows with a certain knight after just a few days. Then, after being thoroughly beaten by that knight when he got serious, the boy rolled around like a ragged bag, causing a novice sister to faint at the sight, foaming at the mouth.
The next morning, he managed to hold his own against the aforementioned knight for five minutes, and by noon, he had defeated this knight.
It was truly an indomitable spirit.
By steadily and literally continuously completing the harsh daily training without rest, the boy’s opponents gradually became higher-ranked, and eventually, the Knight Commander himself became his opponent.
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The repeated healings required an enormous amount of mana, and when Siesta and Saint Mika were resting, multiple sisters had to cover for each other, making it a grueling duty.
Although they were clergy, when the boy’s training began, some of the sisters showed listless expressions due to the harsh work.
Also, the sisters were young and enjoyed gossip as one of their few entertainments. As long as it didn’t critically slander others, both Saint Mika and Siesta turned a blind eye to it.
On the first day of training, there were many skeptical voices about the boy, such as 「Are they really going to be okay?」, 「Can someone so frail who can’t even swing a sword straight really become able to defeat vicious monsters?」, and 「By the way, where did the other person go?」
Siesta had to remind them several times, 「Be modest.」
But as days passed, gradually, some sisters began to cheer for him behind the scenes.
They said things like 「His never-giving-up attitude is admirable,」
「When I applied healing, he smiled and said ‘Thank you,’ and my cheeks got hot,」
and 「I want to talk to him more.」
Their gossip became mostly favorable towards him, and now many volunteer for the duty of accompanying his training.
Of course, Saint Mika and Siesta, who is in charge of the sisters residing in the royal capital, always accompanied him, but she didn’t feel this duty was a burden at all.
Before she knew it, Siesta, like the sisters cheering around during the boy’s training, found herself inwardly rejoicing at each of his accomplishments, even while thinking 「Isn’t this improper?」
And then, one day.
A decisive moment arrived.
「Not bad.」
Says the Knight Commander.
The boy’s sword touches his neck precisely.
It was the moment when he defeated Gladius, the Knight Commander known as the strongest swordsman in the kingdom.
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