That day, shockwaves ran through the world.
“——Extra! Extra!”
The war between the Martial Nation of Godba and the Magic Nation of Kasorla.
It was, in the end, a squabble between minor nations——nothing to draw the world’s attention.
“H-hey, are you serious……!?”
Whichever of the two won, the Albas Empire would simply reap the spoils.
A predetermined outcome.
A cart rolling down rails already laid.
And yet——
“……You’re joking……?”
——that cold-eyed assessment the world had taken was overturned entirely by the Saint faction’s intervention.
BREAKING: Holy Kingdom absorbs Martial Nation and Magic Nation! Will it now declare itself a great power!?
Silver stepped in to mediate and, with his overwhelming force of presence, ended the war and brought both nations under his control.
The Holy Kingdom had, through this, obtained an enormous power.
The Martial Nation’s fertile lands, mineral resources, and traditional martial arts.
The Magic Nation’s abundant magestones, magestone research, and magical instrument rights.
The populations, economies, and territories of both nations——all of it, seized.
“That fox of a woman……. Making a blunder would have been bad enough, but this is a headache I did not need……!”
The ruler hailed as the greatest in history burns with fury, while——
“Ha, haha, hahahaha! That man is simply built different! Not content with a mere ‘alliance’——he subjugated them! Both nations at the same time! My instincts were right all along! There is no room for doubt now——the sovereign of the next era is the Holy Kingdom!”
——the head of a financial conglomerate spanning the world is captivated by Silver’s masterful hand.
Facing a major upheaval that redraws the entire map of power, the movers and shakers of the present day——royals, nobles, and magnates——erupted into a frenzy like a hornet’s nest that had been poked.
“‘The Hidden Hero,’ Silver Glorious=El=Bloodfallenheart……. This man might be able to put an end to our nation’s chaos……”
“Send a letter to Silver-dono at once! We must forge ties with the Saint faction by any means!”
“The Holy Kingdom is a sure thing! Get over there and get trading rights right now! You absolutely cannot let this blue ocean slip away!”
And so the Saint-sama who had shaken the entire world was——as she is today, as she was yesterday——indulging in her beloved imaginary villainess roleplay.
What’s more, today’s session apparently involves more elaborate preparation than usual.
In a dimly lit room.
Luna stands with a solemn expression, tunes her throat with a soft “ahem,” concocts a suitably thuggish gravelly voice, and performs the role of ‘Villain Mook A Who Has Been Trapped by the Villainess.’
“Y-you……just how many moves ahead did you see this coming!?”
After that, she pitter-patters up onto the bed, drapes the black robe she had prepared in advance over herself, and wears an evil gaze and cold smile.
“——Everything, of course.”
Having brought her ‘villainess-style one-woman play’ to its completion, she flops backward onto the bed.
“Mmheheh, heheh, hehehehehe……! (The recent trend is the ‘clever, scheming villainess’……. Yes, this is good too! For a cool beauty like me, maybe this direction suits me better……!)”
She buries her face in the pillow, kicks her legs up in a decidedly unladylike way, and sinks into pleasant daydreaming.
However, the very next moment——
“——Luna-sama, are you quite well?”
A voice chilled to the bone, Ro’s voice, descended from above her head.
“Eek!?”
Luna shoots up like a frog startled from a pond and snaps into a combat-ready stance.
“Ro……did you, knock?”
“Yes. However, as usual, there was no answer, and I heard a disturbing sound coming from inside, so I took the liberty of entering.”
“Oh, I……well, that can’t be helped then.”
Today is a school holiday——the final day of a five-day break given to allow recovery from the joint retreat with Grandize Holy Nation’s Saint Academy that was recently held.
While the Saint Academy students spend their relaxation break enjoying themselves, Luna has been run off her feet with the Godba and Kasorla business.
She wanted to spend at least the last day quietly and leisurely.
With that in mind she had holed up in her room, immersed herself completely in her beloved novels, and——every so often——performed her imaginary villainess roleplay, basking in private contentment.
However——
(……Luna-sama’s behavior is strange. Should I take her to a doctor somewhere……)
Her master’s eccentricities grow worse by the day, and the weight on the handmaiden’s mind only keeps building.
“Luna-sama, are you truly all right?”
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“Since you started reading that strange novel, something has seemed off. So……your head. Is it all right?”
“Hmph.”
Ro’s blunt delivery lands, and Luna twists her mouth into a displeased look.
Not because her head was worried about——no.
It was having her beloved novel called a ‘strange book’ that grated on her nerves.
“This book——’Villainess Arche’——is incredibly interesting! It has been wildly popular since way back in the—— ahem, it has been wildly popular for a very long time and no matter how many times you reread it, it moves your heart! A timeless masterpiece!”
“Hm……is that so.”
An utterly absent, textbook non-answer.
“You don’t believe me at all, do you!? Anyway——here! Read it yourself, Ro! You will definitely get hooked!”
Luna practically forces the first volume on her, and Ro takes it with a face that makes ‘tremendous reluctance’ look understated.
“Hmm……all right. I will try reading it when I feel like it sometime.”
She mutters with an exasperated air, says “good night,” and takes her leave.
“Honestly, this is why amateurs……yawwwn……”
A yawn escapes Luna naturally.
She glances at the clock: already past midnight.
“That late already……”
She quickly gets ready for bed and climbs in.
“Tama! Come here! Let’s sleep together!”
“Woof!”
Tama, who had been gnawing her chew toy in the corner of the room, responds to her beloved master’s voice and leaps energetically onto the bed.
“Hah, hah, hah……!”
“Ahaha, come on, that tickles……!”
Tama licks Luna’s face all over, then curls up into a ball under the covers.
“Heh, Tama is so warm……”
“Wafuu……”
Luna gently strokes her throat, and Tama lets out a melting little sound, then drifts off to sleep just like that.
Pressing her face into the fluffy fur, she thinks vaguely about tomorrow.
“It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve gone to school. I wonder how Sarko-san and Wendy-san are doing……”
She holds her dear friends in her thoughts as she sinks down into deep, gentle sleep.
The next morning.
The time is seven o’clock. A knock sounds at Luna’s door and it opens with a click.
“Luna-sama, good morning.”
“Yawwwn……good morning, Ro……oh, wait?”
“Is something the matter?”
“You have shadows under your eyes.”
“……I simply had some trouble falling asleep.”
Unusually hesitant, she casts her eyes around the room.
“Something wrong?”
“No, it’s just……the continuation, just a bit……”
“‘The continuation’?”
“……Where is the second volume of the novel……?”
Ro asks with a slight fidgeting of her fingers in her hair, something like bashfulness about her, and——
“……!”
——Luna, whose instincts are uselessly sharp precisely in moments like this, raises her signature cowlick with a delighted look.
“You read it, didn’t you.”
“I did, as it was your instruction to do so……”
“Is it interesting? Was it interesting? It was interesting, wasn’t it? Was it? Was it? Was it?”
“……Ngh.”
The smugness of the Saint-sama in full flow is something that truly defies description.
Hit with the triple-form offensive of ‘Is it interesting?,’ Ro turns away with a look of faint irritation.
“W-well……it was a reasonably engaging story, I suppose. For the purpose of facilitating smooth communication with my employer, one might say it is worth reading once.”
Like master, like servant.
Neither of them was straightforward.
“Honestly, what am I going to do with you……”
Luna shrugs with a ‘good grief’ air and pulls the second volume of Villainess Arche from the bookshelf.
“Here you are.”
“Ah, thank you very much!”
Ro’s eyes light up like a child’s as she clutches the borrowed volume protectively to her chest.
By the looks of it, she will be starting it this very evening.
After that, the two finish getting ready and head to the Saint Academy, sliding open the classroom door.
“——Ah, you’re here.”
“Luna-san, Ro-san, good morning.”
The ones who greeted them are Sarko and Wendy, already in their seats.
“Good morning, Sarko-san, Wendy-san.”
“Mornin’.”
Luna greets them politely, and Ro waves with her characteristic easy manner.
“Oh, Luna, where did you go over the break? I was planning a tea party for everyone and came to invite you several times but……”
“You were away from your room for a while, weren’t you?”
During this five-day break, Sarko had organized a tea party and had gone to the dormitories to invite Luna, Ro, and Wendy in turn.
But by bad timing, Luna happened to be out each time, and the tea party had no choice but to be postponed.
“Oh, ah, s-sorry, I had some unavoidable business……”
There is no way she could say ‘I just went and stopped a war,’ so she softened it to the vague excuse of ‘unavoidable business.’
After that, the four friends chat about what happened during the break.
Luna talks about how adorable Tama is and how she sleeps better with her there.
Ro talks about how she has started running to relieve stress.
Sarko talks about a delicious cake shop she has discovered.
Wendy talks about a novel featuring a clever villainess that has been popular lately.
Good friends gathering together, livening up over small talk that amounts to nothing much.
The kind of ordinary everyday life you can find anywhere.
But for Luna——for someone who had spent a grey adolescence three hundred years ago——this ordinary everyday life was, simply and helplessly, fun.
After a little while, the classroom’s front door slides open and the Class 1-C teacher, Jurall Serpent, walks in.
He takes his place at the lectern, gives a cough, and draws the students’ attention.
“——Good morning, everyone. Getting straight to it, there will be an emergency year assembly. Please move to the grand hall first.”
Following Jurall’s instruction, the Class C students begin to make their way out in a casual stream.
“This is……that thing, isn’t it.”
“Yes, the timing makes it virtually certain.”
“Oh no……what am I going to do, it’s finally here……!”
The students around them seem to have a good idea of what the assembly is about, and there is a restless, excited energy in the air.
(This feeling……. Is some kind of test starting again, like the Saint Aptitude Test?)
Luna recalls the Saint Aptitude Test as she moves with the flow of people——arriving at the grand hall.
Under Jurall’s instructions they line up in attendance-number order and wait quietly for about three minutes.
A portly elderly man takes the stage at the center.
“Ahem——hem hem. Good day to you all, students. I am Badam Rosenheim, headmaster of the Saint Academy. The reason I have had you gather here today is none other than——the ‘Battle Tournament’ draws near.”
At Badam’s words, the hall immediately grows restless.
“As I thought, it’s come……!”
“Ugh, my stomach is starting to hurt……”
“I haven’t stood out much up to now, so I need to put in a good result somehow……!”
Tension crackles through the room, and amid it, one student who understands none of it.
“……Battle Tournament……?”
Luna tilts her head, and Ro swiftly leans over to whisper in her ear.
“The Battle Tournament is one of the Saint Academy’s annual events for discovering the reincarnated form of the Saint-sama.”
“I see, so similar to the aptitude test from before.”
“Yes, that understanding is fine.”
While the two exchange quiet whispers, Badam presses on.
“The Battle Tournament takes place one week from now at the special arena within the Saint Academy, over five days. Well, I expect you all already know, but let me briefly explain the rules.”
He says this and gives a small cough.
“The Battle Tournament is a martial festival in which you first-year students are the stars. You form a ‘Saint’s party’ of five——two from the Saint Division, one from the Support Division, two from the Holy Knight Academy——and compete in a tournament format. Those who win this are seen as the leading Saint candidates of the current generation, and are invited afterward to a banquet hosted by His Majesty the King. It is a great honor, and your parents are sure to be delighted.”
The honor of winning the Battle Tournament is bestowed not only on the students but on their family names.
Naturally the expectations placed on them by their families are immense……and it is not at all uncommon to buckle under the pressure and be unable to perform on the day.
“As for the Saint’s party itself——this afternoon after school, a social gathering will be held here in the grand hall between the Saint Academy and the Holy Knight Academy. You would do well to scout promising Holy Knights there.”
With the explanation complete, Badam lets out a small breath.
“I have talked about quite a few things now, but participation in the Battle Tournament is not compulsory. On the day, many citizens will likely come to watch and catch a glimpse of your gallant figures. Those who lack confidence in their abilities need not force themselves to enter. However……students of the Saint Academy are ‘humanity’s hope.’ I would ask those who believe they may be the Saint-sama’s reincarnation to participate actively and meet the expectations of the people——that is all.”
Badam finishes his words, and the year assembly ends.
The students return to their respective classrooms and attend lessons as usual.
And so lunchtime arrives.
Ro, Sarko, and Wendy each bring their boxed lunches and gather around Luna’s desk.
“Let’s form our ‘Saint’s party’ right away!”
Sarko announces this the very first thing, her eyes gleaming with ambition.
“First, for the Support Division slot——Luna!”
“Huh, me……?”
The Saint, mouth opened wide to stuff in a slice of tamagoyaki, blinks blankly at the sudden nomination.
“The hidden strength Luna possesses is something I know better than anyone——I was her partner for the aptitude test! The powerful leg strength to shake off a fearsome magical beast! The remarkable stamina to run around with me on her back! The absurd arm strength to climb out of the valley of death! You are the strongest in the Support Division! You were the first person I intended to scout!”
She is not merely the strongest in the Support Division but quite possibly the strongest living thing across the entire world——but of course, Sarko has no way of knowing that.
“N-no no, I wouldn’t be any use to anyone……!?”
“That is incorrect, Luna’s strength is absolutely essential to winning the difficult Battle Tournament. Won’t you please join my party?”
The Luna who spends most of her time holed up in her room and rarely goes out——extraordinarily susceptible to being pushed.
The Sarko who has survived the harsh social heights of Mt. Maunt——extraordinarily capable of doing the pushing.
And above all, this is a request from a dear friend.
Luna has no choice but to give a reluctant nod.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be much of a fighting force, but if you insist on saying all of that……(I don’t quite understand what you actually do in the Battle Tournament……but it’s probably fine, right?)”
“That’s the Luna I know, thank you!”
The moment Luna’s entry into the Battle Tournament is decided, no small amount of murmuring runs through the classroom.
“Damn, she got her……!”
“As expected of the Leyton heir——she has her father’s eye for talent……!”
“On to the next, on to the next!”
Luna herself has no idea——but after the Saint Aptitude Test, her reputation had risen considerably.
In fact, it seems several other parties had also been thinking of approaching her, and disappointed voices could be heard from around the room.
As the other students redirect their attention to new targets, Sarko presses forward to further strengthen her lineup.
“For the ‘Holy Knight slots,’ we’ll look at the social gathering after school……. The remaining Saint Division slot, excluding myself, is one more person.”
Her gaze lands on Ro and Wendy.
(These two are both top-tier abilities in the Saint Division. This is a genuinely difficult decision……)
As Sarko furrows her brow in thought, Ro gives a languid wave of her hand.
“Ah——pass, too much trouble.”
She had been ordered by Carlo and Trebas to protect Luna, and was disinclined to draw unnecessary attention to herself.
“Well, very Ro of you. ——Then, Wendy, I apologize for it coming down to a process of elimination, but would you lend us your strength?”
“Yes, I would be happy to, if I am who you want.”
Wendy says this and wears the soft, gentle smile befitting the main heroine she is.
“Then it is settled——the three of us: myself, Luna, and Wendy! The Battle Tournament is one week away! Victory is the only goal! Let’s go, everyone, with everything we have!”
“Yeah!”
Luna and Wendy thrust their fists up energetically, while——
“Good luck.”
——Ro cheers them on in her usual light, easy tone.
After school.
While the Saint Academy and Holy Knight Academy students attend the social gathering, a single student is standing alone on the rooftop of the special wing, gazing into the distance.
His name is Raios Reinhardt——captain of the Third Holy Knight Platoon, and the eldest son of a distinguished family that has produced Holy Knights for generations.
“……”
What Raios has his eyes lowered toward is the memoir left by the first Reinhardt. Passed down through the Reinhardt family across the generations, it is presented by the head of the household directly to the eldest son when he turns ten.
He quietly turns the pages and lets his thoughts drift to the records of three hundred years ago.
‘The Saint-sama smells like sunshine. She is truly the sun of humanity——when she smiles, flowers bloom; when she weeps, rain falls. In the long span of history, there has surely been no finer person than her.’
‘……Occasionally, the Saint-sama makes errors one would not believe possible. But that too is part of her charm. People are more likeable for having some flaw somewhere.’
‘……The Saint-sama misjudged her own strength, and the large farmlands in the kingdom’s north vanished along with a demon army. Fortunately there were no injuries, but restoration is expected to take more than ten years. Retracting the above, a flaw that large is better corrected.’
The first Reinhardt apparently had a connection with the Saint, and the memoir is sprinkled with episodes from that time.
And within them, there was one entry that caught his attention greatly.
“……’Smells like sunshine’……”
Raios had recently fought a demon named Wise Budarhorn and narrowly lost.
Even his trump card, Gift: 【Limit Break】, had not been enough to finish him off——and just as he faced a desperate crisis with no way out, the one who appeared was the Saint’s representative, Silver Glorious=El=Bloodfallenheart.
Protected by that broad back, he had clearly smelled something like sunshine.
(That in itself is not strange.)
Silver is the Saint’s representative, and the two are in close communication.
He had actually witnessed the two of them <Transmitting> during the Leonard Theocracy excursion.
With that level of frequent contact, sharing the same scent would not be surprising.
(But I have smelled this exact thing before, somewhere, at some other time……)
The Saint-sama’s sunshine scent.
Silver’s sunshine scent.
And……a sunshine scent drifting from someone else entirely.
(When, where, from whom……?)
Raios had been turning this over in his mind constantly of late.
But no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he could not remember.
“……Damn it……”
He runs his fingers roughly through his hair——and from a distance, a voice calls out “hey.”
He glances over to find a man who looks frivolous at first glance, brown-haired and easy-going——Curse Merev.
“Where’d you get off to, I thought. Had to be here, right. The Saint Academy social, it started ages ago, you know?”
“……Yeah, I’m going.”
Raios puts the first-generation memoir into <Dimensional Storage> and heads to the grand hall with Curse.
The Saint Academy’s grand hall was already packed with first-year students.
“Excuse me, would you consider joining our party?”
“I mean, not to blow my own horn, but I’m pretty confident in my swordsmanship!”
“Looking for people with magic skills——anyone welcome!”
Those throwing themselves into recruiting, those pitching their own abilities, those searching for the talent they need——a fierce bidding war in full swing.
“Man, this is something else.”
Curse murmurs, impressed, while——
“Hmph. Pathetic.”
——Raios snorts with undisguised distaste.
Just then, a female student comes over.
“Um, Raios-kun, if you would like, could you possibly join our party……?”
Raios is one of the most capable students at the Holy Knight Academy, and getting him into a party would be a major step toward winning the Battle Tournament.
More than a few Saint Academy students had been thinking along exactly those lines.
But——
“……”
Raios, addressed with a party invitation, only turns a sharp, appraising gaze on her without a word.
“Uh, um, I, well……I am sorry, excuse me……!”
The female student who had worked up the courage to approach him runs off as if fleeing.
After that, several more Saint’s parties moved to recruit Raios——but.
“Raios-sama, won’t you join our party——”
“……”
“Raios-kun, please lend us your strength——”
“……”
“Raios-san, if we could just talk——”
“……”
——hit by the silent pressure he radiates, everyone backs off meekly.
“Wh-why is no one coming up to me……?”
Curse stands bewildered as Raios exhales a deep sigh.
(Every last one of them, pathetic. Unable to withstand even this level of pressure……nothing more than Saint impostors. There is no reincarnated form of the Saint-sama among this lot.)
Amid all of this——
“——My, you’re here.”
A student with the steel of spirit to brush off Raios’s pressure without flinching appears.
“Raios, how about joining my party?”
“……Sarl Ko Leyton.”
Sarl Ko Leyton.
The eldest child of the Leyton family, known as a leading Saint candidate, and an expert in wind magic.
“As the eldest child of the Reinhardt family yourself, you must have strong feelings about the Battle Tournament too. Joining my Saint’s party, victory would be as good as in hand. Not a bad deal for either of us, is it?”
The Reinhardt family is one of the kingdom’s most distinguished noble houses.
Most of its heads throughout history won the Battle Tournament in their youth, graduated at the top of the Holy Knight Academy——and were awarded the title of Sword Saint.
And Raios is the next head of the Reinhardt family.
The expectations placed on him by those around him are enormous, and he is counted on to retrace the path of his great ancestors.
(Sarl is loud, but she has a certain level of competence. As a partner to form a party with……well, not bad.)
Raios grants Sarko a measured degree of credit.
“……Who else is in the party?”
“Saint Division is myself and Wendy, and from Support Division——Luna! The three strongest together!”
When Sarko says this with great confidence, Raios lets his discerning eye sharpen.
(Wendy Triard——an elite transferred from the imperial Saint Academy. Said to possess wide-ranging knowledge across fields, her ability reportedly gives Holy Knights a run for their money……)
Wendy’s reputation had crossed over from the Saint Academy and reached the Holy Knight Academy next door.
(Sarl and Wendy are not bad……. The issue is this one.)
The Saint impostor making a dopey face right in front of him——Luna Spedio.
The detestable woman who had made him look like a fool in the past.
(I hear Luna is a particularly incompetent student even within the Support Division. However……there is something strange about her. I have no idea what trick she used, but she snapped my Demon Slaying Sword Rogrea using an off-the-shelf rapier. Most likely……she is hiding some kind of 【Gift】.)
Raios thinks deeply and tallies up the team’s strength.
Sarl Ko Leyton——capable.
Wendy Triard——capable.
Luna Spedio——unknown.
“Well……neither good nor bad, I would say.”
Hearing Raios’s blunt assessment——
“……Excuse me?”
A vein throbs at Sarko’s temple.
Her ‘strongest Saint’s party’ that she had assembled with such thought, dismissed as ‘neither good nor bad.’
That was what had struck against her pride.
“Well, if you insist, I suppose I might consider joining. However, don’t get the wrong idea. A ‘Saint’s party’ is a Saint’s party because the Saint leads it——what you lot have is a ‘Saint-impostor party.'”
Raios’s unfiltered declaration hits Sarko and snaps her last thread of patience.
“My, how freely you speak your mind when no one stops you……!”
Her prize golden curls spiral outward, and the ‘Queen of the Gala Switch’ flips on.
At the same moment, Luna rushes in to mediate.
“N-now now……Sarko-san, please calm down a little……!”
And then, the next moment, a fresh and gentle fragrance tickles Raios’s nose.
(……Th-this is……!?)
Impossible.
He gives a small shake of his head and firmly denies ‘a certain possibility.’
(But that scent just now……!)
Subduing his wavering thoughts with sheer force of will, he snaps his face up.
“Luna……!”
“Y-yes!”
The Saint, addressed in a suddenly loud voice, blinks in confusion.
Raios strides toward her.
“Stay where you are.”
“Huh……wait, wha——!?“
Without ceremony, Raios takes hold of a strand of Luna’s hair and begins sniffing it.
In that instant, lightning runs through his brain.
“……It, it smells like sunshine……!”
The man Raios, who suddenly smells a female student’s hair and delivers his impressions with eloquence.
As the surrounding area freezes, a ferocious sparking takes place in his mind.
(The first generation’s memoir, the smell of sunshine, the Saint’s representative Silver……)
The dots connect into a single line, and he arrives at a single ‘conclusion.’
“Luna, could you possibly be——”
When Raios surfaces from the sea of his thoughts, there is absolute-zero staring waiting for him.
“P-pervert……!”
Luna cups both hands in front of her chest and shakes her head left and right——
“Absolute……worst……”
Ro looks at him like garbage and delivers her contempt——
“To think you would smell a lady’s hair……laughable beyond words! Get down on your knees!”
Sarko unleashes a reprimand with hair-raising fury——
“Raios-san, I hold you in utter contempt.”
Wendy stabs him repeatedly with the knife of her words——
“Raios, man, you can’t do that……you’ve clearly crossed the line.”
Even Curse takes it upon himself to lecture him.
Snapping back to himself and grasping what he has done, Raios makes his desperate case.
“N-no……! It is a misunderstanding! I absolutely did not engage in any perverted behavior!”
However——he had abruptly grabbed a female student’s hair and commented on it like a wine sommelier.
This immovable fact will not change for as long as the universe exists.
In this moment, he is a thoroughly first-rate pervert fit to be displayed anywhere.
“……”
Subjected to gazes of Arctic cold, Raios——
“Ngh, you utter fools……!”
——mutters irritably and cuts to his trump card.
“I will ask you plainly. ——Luna, could it be that you are the Saint-sama!?”
“……Huh……!?”