When Sarko, defeated by the Ogre Mutation, opens her eyes——she finds a blazing sunset sky spread above her.
“……Ugh, mm……oh! The magic beasts——!”
She literally springs to her feet, draws her rapier in a flash, and sweeps the area.
But there is not a magic beast in sight.
“Where……am I……?”
As Sarko struggles to make sense of it, a gentle, sunlit voice reaches her ears.
“This is the goal point on the other side of the Miasma Forest. The magic beasts are gone now, Sarko-san.”
She turns around——and there is Luna, sitting cross-legged on the grass.
“L-Luna……!”
“Ow, th-that’s tight……!”
“Thank goodness, you’re safe……!”
Sarko pulls Luna into a tight embrace, eyes glistening with tears at the corners.
The terror of facing death for the first time. The self-reproach of having failed to protect her partner. The relief of the two of them making it back alive. Every kind of feeling tangled up together, beyond her control.
A little while later, Sarko lets out a slow breath.
“I do beg your pardon. I quite lost myself.”
“Not at all, please don’t worry about it.”
Luna says this and gives a light wave of her hand——and all of a sudden Sarko jolts with a “wait!” as if she’s remembered something, and starts patting herself all over.
“Is something the matter?”
“Why is it……I can’t find any of the wounds from the magic beast attack.”
“Oh, I treated those.”
“You mean——with a potion?”
Stared at intently, Luna——
“Y-yes! My potions work wonderfully even when applied directly to wounds!”
——smiles awkwardly and tells a small lie.
The truth is that back then——the wounds Sarko had taken from the magic beast had been far deeper than expected.
Shattered sternum and ribs, and multiple ruptured vital organs. Her condition had been one where every second counted.
Luna hadn’t realized this until after she had dispatched the attacking magic beasts in three seconds.
Having assumed Sarko had simply “taken a hit to the stomach and passed out,” Luna had panicked, and decided not to even spare the time to make an Elixir, using a high-tier healing spell immediately.
Of course she couldn’t very well explain that as it was, so she lied and said she had treated it with a potion.
Sarko, for her part, doesn’t look entirely convinced.
(……Injuries that severe, healed by a Low-Grade Potion……?)
As the one who had taken the magic beast’s blow directly, she understood her own condition better than anyone.
The horrible sensation of a vital organ she must never damage having been destroyed. The despair of something like her ‘life’ smoothly draining from deep in her body. That had undeniably been a fatal wound.
A sprained ankle is one thing——but a potion that restores damage to vital organs completely? That exceeds the realm of a Low-Grade Potion entirely.
Having thought it through that far, a bolt of lightning strikes Sarko’s mind.
(……I have no doubt. So Luna really is……)
With conviction, Sarko grasps Luna’s shoulders.
“Luna!”
“Y-yes, what is it?”
“So it really is true——”
“……!”
Even Luna, for once, felt her spine go cold.
However——
“So it really is true that you have an extraordinary talent for potion-making!”
“……What?”
As it turns out, Sarko is every bit as hopeless as our Saint in her own way.
“With skill like that, you could open a shop any time you liked. That talent of yours is something wonderful, capable of making many people happy!”
“Th-thank you……”
Luna, who had genuinely braced herself for Saint Exposure, clutches her chest in relief.
Anyway——now that Sarko has fully settled down, the two get to the heart of things.
“Luna, would you tell me what happened ‘after’? The fact that I’m here means you must have carried me, yes?”
“Yes.”
“But in the face of that terrifyingly powerful magic beast——the Ogre Mutation——how did you manage to……?”
Which was a perfectly natural question.
Whether she defeated it or fled——either way, the fact that Luna had somehow dealt with that magic beast doesn’t change.
Luna returns the answer she had prepared in advance.
“Why, naturally——I ran and lost it.”
“You ran and lost it!?”
“Yes. The beast apparently had poor stamina, and if I just ran for all I was worth, I was able to get away.”
“While carrying me on your back……?”
“W-well, I did say so at the start, didn’t I? I said I have confidence in my stamina!”
Luna says this and thumps her chest.
“I see……. Then how did you climb that sheer cliff face while carrying me? Did you use some special magic——”
“——No, I went barehanded.”
“What?”
The unexpected answer made Sarko’s brain freeze.
“Barehanded……you mean, like a rock climber……?”
“Yes. I gave it everything I had, mind over matter.”
“My goodness, what incredible stamina……. I think I may have underestimated you a little.”
Sarko, pure at heart, swallows Luna’s small lie——and expresses her gratitude.
“You saved my life, Luna. Truly, thank you.”
“Not at all, I should be the one thanking you. If you hadn’t saved me back there, I’d be a red stain at the bottom of the Valley of Death by now.”
Saying this with a half-joking lilt——Luna straightens up and gives a small bow.
“And, well……I’m sorry, Sarko-san. It’s because of me that you ended up being expelled too……”
Yes——Luna hadn’t made it in time.
She had gotten as far as climbing back up the cliff with Sarko on her back——but from there, she had gotten lost.
Luna, with her poor sense for subtle things like air currents, was unable to read them the way Sarko could, and wandered round and round and round through the labyrinthine Miasma Forest.
By the time she had somehow found the exit, it was already past the time limit.
Receiving Luna’s sincere apology, Sarko blinks in surprise and gives a small smile.
“Heh, I couldn’t care less about something so trivial. Being a saint is a matter of one’s heart. Even if I am expelled from the Saint Academy——the fact that I, Sarl Ko Layton, am the Saint doesn’t change in the slightest!”
Saying this, she gives a resounding “Oh-ho-ho-ho!”——and then softens into a quiet smile.
“And above all……I’ve found a good friend.”
“Huh?”
At Luna’s puzzled tilt of the head, Sarko flushes and clears her throat.
“S-somehow, um……saying something like this to someone’s face is terribly embarrassing, but……. Luna, if you’d be willing, would you be my friend?”
“Yes, of course!”
The refreshingly immediate answer brings Sarko’s face to a gentle ease.
“Thank you. ……The truth is, I have very few friends, so I am truly delighted.”
“Oh. Didn’t Sarko-san have lots of friends?”
She has a point——Sarko always had multiple follower-like students around her.
“Those people……are not real friends. They are all simply attached to me in accordance with their respective family’s policy.”
“Their family’s policy……?”
Luna couldn’t quite grasp what those words meant.
“House Layton holds the rank of marquess, which makes us upper nobility. On its own that isn’t particularly unusual——but my father is a well-known businessman with exceptional commercial instincts. Through his remarkable foresight and rare divine gift, he has amassed an enormous fortune. I don’t know the full details, but apparently he has strong connections to key figures in the government as well, so our house wields a special influence that goes beyond what a marquessate typically holds.”
“Oh, what an impressive father you have.”
Luna’s response is entirely unbothered.
Going by this, she doesn’t quite grasp how much power Sarko’s father actually holds.
She is probably just thinking “wow, what a great dad” exactly as the words suggest.
“All of my followers are people hoping to benefit from House Layton’s overflow. So not a single one of them is a ‘real friend’……”
“Sarko-san……”
“But——Luna was different. She wasn’t looking at anything to do with my family. You looked straight at me. That made me very happy.”
Luna, not long into her reincarnation, knows nothing whatsoever about House Layton.
Which is why she had been looking at Sarl Ko Layton simply as she was, through completely unfiltered eyes.
And that had made Sarko genuinely happy.
“You really are a mysterious person, Luna. Without putting on any airs at all, there’s something strangely compelling about you that I can’t look away from.”
“And Sarko-san herself is so very ‘herself’——I find that extremely charming.”
“My, is that perhaps a backhanded compliment?”
“Heh, who knows?”
“Well, you do have some nerve!”
Just as Luna and Sarko are laughing warmly together——Principal Badam Rosenheim comes plodding up.
The result tallying and cross-referencing of the Saint Aptitude Test has just been completed.
“——Students, first I would like to offer words of praise for your efforts. Not a single one of you was lost; well done for making it through the Miasma Forest. Truly splendid, magnificent work.”
Badam claps twice, and a round of applause goes up from the teaching staff.
“Now then, I will deliver the overall assessment of the test. When I had the teachers compile this year’s results——82 out of 100 pairs passed. Considering the historical average pass rate of approximately 50%, this is a remarkable figure; one could call it exceptional. Such is the three-hundredth-year generation in which the Saint is said to reincarnate. Truly admirable.”
Badam smiles with evident pleasure——but the next instant, shakes his head with a pained expression.
“And yet, it is all the more a shame because of that. Most deeply regrettable.”
He heaves a heavy sigh and speaks in a grave tone.
“I will now announce——a ‘penalty.'”
“A p-penalty……?”
“What does that mean……?”
As the waiting students stir with murmuring——
“——Karen Ascot. Elaine Nostario. Please stand.”
“[Both]: Y-yes.”
Both called out by name rise slowly to their feet.
They manage to keep up the appearance of calm, but inside, their hearts are pounding thunderously.
“These two deliberately pushed the pair of Sarl Ko Layton and Luna Spedio into the Valley of Death. Therefore: failed——and expelled.”
The students receive a jolt of shock at that.
“They pushed them into the Valley of Death……!?”
“N-no way……that’s practically attempted murder……!”
“Horrible……I can’t believe it.”
While the wave of dismay spreads, the normally gentle-faced Badam takes on a look of cold fury.
“You are disqualified from being saints——no, from being human! Have you no shame!”
“[Both]: ……!”
Receiving this harsh rebuke, Karen and Elaine fired back, contesting the ruling.
“W-we are friends with Sarl-san and Luna-san! There is no way we would do something like that……!”
“Principal, if you’re going to make an accusation like that, surely you have ‘concrete evidence’!?”
Faced with the two of them still trying to wriggle out of it at this point, Badam felt something beyond anger——closer to pity.
“Hahhh……. Jurall-sensei, if you would.”
“Of course.”
Receiving the request from Badam, Jurall traces letters in the air and activates a spell.
“——“
is a magic that commands living creatures with less magical energy than oneself.
He had used it to control small animals living in the Miasma Forest, monitoring the students’ actions through their eyes and ears——staying on standby to dispatch Holy Knights the instant any danger arose.
“Hmm……good, you’ve gathered.”
Before Jurall, a long line of small creatures assembles: sparrows, squirrels, owls, moles, snakes, and more.
He looks carefully at each face one by one——searching for the individual that holds a particular memory.
“……Yes, you.”
The striped squirrel fixed with Jurall’s gaze scampers up onto his shoulder.
“I apologize, but I’ll be sharing your memory with the students here——“
Through , everything the squirrel saw and heard is shared with everyone present.
[——Oh, pardon me. The silhouette was so unappealing, I mistook you for a magic beast and accidentally attacked.]
[‘An accident,’ she says. Such a transparent lie……. If you have a problem with us, why not simply say so?]
[I really, really hate ‘deluded girls’ like you.]
[Drop dead.]
[Bye-byeee.]
[Luna——!]
The squirrel’s memory holds the entire incident set off by Karen and Elaine, recorded with more clarity than anyone could have wished.
“I simply cannot believe it……!”
“People who aspire to be the Saint, committing something so inhuman……!”
“……Despicable. I hold you both in the deepest contempt.”
Piercing gazes full of revulsion converge on Karen and Elaine.
And——with ‘concrete evidence’ beyond argument laid before them, the two still did not back down.
“P-please wait, Principal……!”
“There are——there are circumstances behind this you don’t understand……!”
They rack their brains for any excuse to escape this predicament——but self-serving rationalizations are not enough to get past Badam.
“I no longer have any use for a single word either of you might say. ——Holy Knights, if you would.”
“[Knights]: Understood.”
The Holy Knights standing by for contingencies move in to restrain Karen and Elaine.
“Get your hands off me! Do you know who you’re dealing with——a member of House Ascot!?”
“Please, let go……! I’ll tell my father about this!”
The two struggle and writhe as hard as they can——but.
“Enough whining, stop squirming.”
“We will of course notify your families ourselves.”
“Ugh——”
“——Ow!”
They are forcibly pinned and cuffed behind the back.
With Karen and Elaine restrained, the principal clears his throat to draw attention.
“Now——finally, I will announce the ‘special passes.'”
“[Students]: Special passes……?”
As the students tilt their heads in puzzlement, Badam opens his mouth with a somewhat proud expression.
“First, Sarl Ko Layton. Without a thought to the cost to herself, leaping into the Valley of Death to save a friend——that act is nothing less than the Saint’s own conduct. A magnificent display of courage.”
He claps twice——
“To jump into the Valley of Death for a partner’s sake……what incredible bravery!”
“Her body must have moved before she even thought about it. I wonder whether I could have done the same in her position……”
“It’s a little galling to admit, but there’s no other word for it than admirable.”
——and praise and admiring looks pour in from the students.
“And, Luna Spedio. The fortitude to refuse to abandon an injured friend, and climb out of the Valley of Death barehanded——that too is the spirit of the Saint. Remarkable tenacity.”
Badam claps again——
“Barehanded……she climbed out……?”
“Hold on……she climbed that sheer cliff face with no magic, using her bare hands!?”
“That is an absolutely unreasonable amount of grit!?”
——and looks of astonishment and awe pour in from the students.
“Now, a minor pair of contaminants had slipped in——but this year was a truly bountiful harvest, and the results were magnificent. I pray that the Saint’s reincarnation is among you. And with that——this concludes this year’s Saint Aptitude Test.”
The moment Badam finishes, warm applause goes up from the teaching staff toward the students.
Meanwhile——
“Stop that pointless struggling and get moving.”
“We have no desire to be rough with you. Please follow instructions.”
——Karen and Elaine, being escorted to the Holy Knights’ station——
“It’s their fault……! All of this is those two’s fault……!”
“This is completely wrong. Why are we the ones……! When those two are the ones who are really to blame……!”
——fix hate-filled stares on Luna and Sarko——but.
(As much as they glare at me……I really can only say ‘you brought this on yourselves’……)
Luna watches with a weary, somewhat exasperated smile.
Going back almost three hours before Luna and Sarko passed the Saint Aptitude Test——
Two Holy Knights, responding to an emergency dispatch request from Jurall, are racing through the Miasma Forest.
“Sheesh……falling into the Valley of Death, honestly. Sounds like this year’s students have got some hopeless clowns in the mix.”
“According to Jurall-dono’s message, one of them is apparently the daughter of Marquess Layton himself. If anything happens to her……our heads will roll.”
“H-hey, that’s got nothing to do with us, does it!?”
“It’s well known that Marquess Layton dotes on his daughter. If we fail to rescue her……there’s no telling what sparks might fly our way. It might mean our heads rolling in the quite literal sense.”
“I don’t even want to think about that……!”
While talking, they reach the center of the forest.
“……Here it is. According to the information, the two students fell somewhere around this area.”
“Man, it’s as deep as ever……can’t see the bottom at all. We’re actually doing this? If they fell from up here, they’ve gotta be dead for sure.”
“Even if that is the case, we must return their remains to their families. Stop grumbling and let’s go——”
“Sheesh, no choice I guess——”
Gently rising into the air, the two begin their descent at a measured pace.
Before long, they touch down at the bottom of the Valley——and fall speechless.
“Wh-whoa……what in the world is this……!?”
“What kind of fight would leave things looking like……!?”
What remains is the pitiful wreckage of magic beasts.
Some missing their heads. Some with holes blown clean through their chests. Some no longer recognizable in any form——it is a world that looks like nothing but hell.
“This is an absolutely insane splatter scene……!”
“What on earth happened here……”
The two of them say this and begin surveying the area.
“Hey, look at this——all three of these are ‘Mutation class,’ aren’t they? Even a Swordmaster might have trouble with that……”
“Hmm……no residual magical energy on the remains. It seems all the magic beasts here were killed physically.”
“……What? What are you saying, you’re not telling me they all ‘got beaten to death,’ are you?”
“Don’t snap at me. I’m simply stating the facts in front of us.”
An indescribable silence settles between the two.
“You’re not actually saying the students who fell down here did this……right?”
“Inconceivable. As I said, there’s no residual magical energy on the remains. If a student had done this, it would mean they accomplished it with their bare hands. No creature alive is capable of that kind of absurd feat——not even the Kong species known for brute strength. Not even a Greater King Kong.”
“You know……the Saint Academy might just be keeping a truly terrifying gorilla woman on their premises.”
“That’s not a funny joke.”
The two Holy Knights are wearing difficult expressions at the incomprehensible scene before them——when a bird’s sharp cry sounds from far above.
Almost simultaneously, they look up——and a single scroll comes falling from the open sky.
“Oh, this is……from the Saint Academy.”
“What does it say?”
“Let’s see, let me see……”
To the Holy Knights,
Thank you very much for responding to our sudden dispatch request.
However, I have just confirmed that the two students who fell into the Valley of Death have made it safely back up the cliff.
We would therefore ask that you return to the test headquarters at your earliest convenience.
Jurall Serpent
“Tch, what a wasted trip.”
“Don’t say that——we get the dispatch allowance. And above all, the students are safe. That’s what matters.”
Released from their emergency assignment, the two face the ‘greatest remaining mystery.’
“So……how do we write this up for the report?”
“……Good question.”
In the end, the badly mutilated remains discovered in the Valley of Death were processed as a case of ‘magic beasts preying on each other.’
Arc Three: Saint Aptitude Test, Complete.