The day after the Saint Academy entrance examination——
“Ughhh, mmmph……”
Luna is rolling around on her bed——or rather, fidgeting restlessly.
“……I can’t seem to settle down.”
It isn’t that she’s desperate to get into the Saint Academy at any cost.
She just couldn’t stand the way her pass or fail was dangling in the air unresolved.
“At times like this——change of scenery!”
Luna springs up with energy and heads to her father Carlo’s study.
“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”
“What is it, Luna, something you need?”
“Actually, I was hoping to borrow the key to the basement storeroom……”
“Ah, of course. Here, take it.”
Carlo pulls the key from his desk drawer and hands it over.
“Thank you!”
“There are some dangerous things stored down there, so be careful not to hurt yourself, alright?”
“Sure!”
Luna trots off to the Spedio family’s basement storeroom.
“Let’s see, it should be somewhere around here……there it is!”
What her eyes land on is a large iron suit of full-body armor called a ‘plate armor,’ standing roughly two meters tall.
The very item she had spotted when she helped clean out the storeroom the other day.
She had already gotten permission that anything stored here was hers to use freely, so she carries it without hesitation to her room and lays it gently in the center of the floor.
“Yes……just as I suspected, this should work nicely!”
Luna wanted to live her second life freely and happily.
Pulling off Villainess Moves, traveling the outside world as an adventurer on her own terms, firing off great magic spells to blow off steam——she wanted to do all the things she couldn’t do in her first life, all the things she’d held herself back from, all the things she’d given up on, to her heart’s content.
But standing in the way of that is the enormous risk she’s come to think of as ‘Saint Exposure.’
(If anyone finds out I’m the Saint, I’ll never be able to live quietly again. Either I retreat to some remote mountain far from civilization, or I accept a life as the Saint——either way, my ideal villainess life vanishes into the far distance……)
As things stand, the vessel of Luna Spedio alone places heavy restrictions on what she can do.
This plate armor is the solution to that problem.
Once she puts it on, not a single patch of skin is exposed from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.
Wearing this armor and operating as an adventurer, she can move freely through the outside world without worrying about Saint Exposure.
The villainess route as Luna Spedio, the free-world route as an adventurer——Luna’s plan is to forge ahead on both fronts at once.
“First I need to get the dust off, . Then fix the damaged spots, . And then……I’ll adjust the design a little to make it look more current, .”
After tidying up the exterior, Luna gives the breastplate a light knock——and gets back a thin clank clank of rather unreassuring quality.
“The durability might be a bit worrying like this……”
The plate metal used in the armor is thin; it isn’t hard to imagine it’s a cheap piece.
“I’ll give it some basic reinforcements for now. ——”
Every enhancement she can think of, applied on the spot.
“That should be at least a little better, I think?”
With the reinforcement done, the time has come to actually wear it——but at a hundred and fifty-eight centimeters tall, a two-meter plate armor is somewhat too large for her.
Which is why she incorporates one small trick here.
“—— · “
Luna herself hovers inside the armor with , and uses to sync her movements with the armor.
“Yah, ho, hah!”
Trying out various poses in front of the standing mirror, the armor moves right along with her.
The sync is perfect——this way she can move freely while wearing the armor.
“The remaining problem is……’my voice,’ I suppose.”
A woman’s high voice coming out of a plate armor over two meters tall would be deeply incongruous.
“Since I’ll be an adventurer, going with a male setting feels more natural.”
Having reached that conclusion, Luna practices speaking in a lower voice, putting effort into her throat.
“I am……ahem, I am……”
After some tuning——
“I am an adventurer……yes, I think that will do!”
Low voice, plus the ‘calm, masculine tone’ Luna has in mind——complete.
And so, having secured a vessel to move freely through the outside world——
“To the ‘Adventurers’ Guild’——let’s go!”
——she heads straight for the guild, wasting no time.
Out on the streets of the capital, Luna walks the lively main avenue with a map from the library in hand.
“H-hey, look at that……”
“Hm……? Whoa, what the——!?”
“It’s huge……that’s got to be two meters. Some famous adventurer?”
A plate armor over two meters tall clanking along draws an extraordinary amount of stares from passersby——but……
(Wow, the view is so high up! So this is what it’s like for tall men……!)
Luna, heart pounding at this entirely new experience, has gone completely into her own world.
After walking through the city for some time——she arrives at the Adventurers’ Guild and pushes open the door to go inside.
“Brings back memories……”
This is far from Luna’s first time in an Adventurers’ Guild.
Three hundred years ago, when she was active with the saint’s party working toward defeating the Demon King, she had visited more than a few of them.
(This is my first time at the Elgia Kingdom guild, but……yes, they’re all more or less the same)
A tavern open in the middle of the afternoon. A busy reception counter. A quest board with posted requests. The basic layout was the same in every country’s guild.
(Let me see, first I need to register as an adventurer, so……ah, there it is)
Scanning the guild interior, she spots a sign reading ‘Adventurer Registration Window.’
But for some reason, at that window……
“Hff, hff, hff……”
A huge bald man in black sunglasses is sharpening a dagger, beads of sweat on his forehead.
(Hmm, is he an assassin?)
Even for a saint. Even for someone who has brushed past the line between life and death more times than she can count. The basic instincts of a teenage girl are still very much present.
To put it plainly: she was a little afraid to approach that person.
(Are there any other counters……oh, a woman who looks nice)
Luna decides to try her luck at the regular reception window first, just in case.
“Excuse me, I’d like to register as an adventurer……”
“Yes, for adventurer registration, please go over there.”
She is pointed to the window where the assassin waits.
“……I had a feeling……”
Dealt this merciless guidance, Luna lets her shoulders droop.
(……I have no choice, do I)
Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she makes her way to the bald man with resolve.
“U-um, I’d like to register as an adventurer……”
“……Yeah?”
The huge bald man rises to his feet and fixes Luna with bloodshot eyes.
“……(So scary……)”
She nearly made an undignified sound, but held it back at the last moment.
“……Hm, not spooked by my pressure. Seems you’ve got a decent set of nerves on you.”
He puts away the dagger in his hand and clears his throat with a cough.
“I’m Berg, the guild master. You’re looking to register as an adventurer?”
“Y-yes.”
Luna gives a small nod, and Berg pulls a sheet of parchment from the small shelf’s drawer.
“Alright then, start by filling in the required information here.”
“Understood.”
Luna takes the provided quill and begins writing her information in a flowing hand.
As she fills in the name, age, and sex fields and other entries with the ‘adventurer persona’ she had decided on in advance, one problem comes up.
“Excuse me, for the address……”
A false name or gender is fine, but the address is a different matter.
If something needed to be mailed, it would cause complications.
“Ah, you can leave that blank. The address field is just a formality. And your name doesn’t have to be your real one either. Some adventurers want to keep their identities hidden.”
“I see……”
Shortly after, having finished filling out the required fields, Luna submits the parchment to Berg.
“——Done.”
“Let’s have a look. Name is……Silver Glorious=El=Bloodfallenheart?”
“Yes!”
Luna answers with a confident puff of her chest.
This name, it must be said, is the ‘supreme masterwork’ she had pondered and pondered over.
“Too long. Silver will do.”
Berg says this and crosses out ‘Glorious=El=Bloodfallenheart’ with two diagonal lines.
“Huh!?”
While Luna trembles in muted outrage, Berg moves on to the next step.
“Right, so next up is the ‘test.'”
“……A test?”
“Adventuring is brutal work where death is always around the corner. There’s a test upon registration to see if you’ll be able to handle it. On our end, we’d lose sleep over new recruits dropping dead left and right.”
“That makes sense.”
Luna nods in understanding at Berg’s explanation.
“The content of the test varies based on each adventurer’s ‘class’……. So Silver, what are you? I can’t imagine you’re a mage dressed like that, but you don’t seem to have any other weapons either. How do you fight?”
“Uh, ah, um……”
Luna is at a loss for words.
She hadn’t pinned down Silver the adventurer’s ‘build’——what kind of weapon she would use to fight.
“Um……well. For today, I’ll go with my fists.”
“Fists? You’re telling me you’re a brawler in that getup?”
“W-well, more or less.”
“Huh, strange fellow……. Alright then, let me just get a brawler’s test ready——”
Just as Berg starts to prepare, the Adventurers’ Guild door flies open.
“——I’m back, everyone!”
The one bounding in with energy is a young white-haired swordsman with a large leather sack over one shoulder.
“Sheesh, the noisy one’s back again……”
“Who is that?”
“What, you don’t know him? The divine gift swordmaster——Owl Rastia. The strongest swordsman in our guild.”
Owl Rastia, fifteen years old.
Height one hundred and sixty-five centimeters, a relatively slight build for a swordsman.
White hair at medium length, large amber eyes, an open and friendly face, wearing adventurer’s gear.
“Divine gift swordmaster……the strongest swordsman……”
Those titles struck a chord somewhere in Luna.
(A title, huh. ……Yeah, that’s a little cool, actually. I’d love a nice one of my own sometime)
While she’s thinking that, Owl comes strolling over to Berg with a light step.
“Berg-san, I properly cleared that S-rank quest you asked me about. Here’s the proof-of-subjugation part——the Boldcuss’s gem.”
Saying this, Owl pulls a softly glowing orb from the leather sack over his shoulder.
“Nice, as expected.”
“Oh and also——here you go, local brew from Liars! You liked it, right?”
“Oh!? Where did this come from, you’re awfully considerate today!”
“You always do so much for me, figured I’d return the favor sometime——”
While Berg nuzzles the bottle of liquor, Owl turns his eyes toward Luna.
“You are big, mister! What on earth do you eat to get like that!?”
“Uh, ah, well……yes, just normal food.”
The actual body is only a hundred and fifty-eight centimeters——not something she could possibly say, so Luna gives an awkward reply.
Then——
“Hmm……?”
Owl keeps staring at Luna’s face, tilting his head in puzzlement.
“Um……is there something on my face?”
“Huh, that’s strange……. Mister, you’re not showing up on Boku’s divine gift 【Magical Detection】.”
“M-maybe it’s malfunctioning……?”
Luna says this and looks away in a completely different direction.
In reality it’s the spell she’d put on the plate armor doing its job, but……saying that would make things complicated, so she decides to brush it off vaguely.
“Hmm, malfunctioning, is it……”
Owl mutters skeptically and turns to look at Berg.
“Berg-san’s handling them, so that means this person came to register as an adventurer, right?”
“Yeah. This is Silver, just about to take the test.”
“Got it, got it. Then——this might be fate, us meeting here like this, so let me test Silver!”
Owl proposes this outrageous thing with a friendly grin.
“Hey, what kind of nonsense are you talking about. There’s no way a complete greenhorn who doesn’t know the first thing about adventuring could pass your test.”
“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine, I won’t be that strict! Besides, isn’t this guild’s creed ‘don’t let adventurers die’? If Boku looks with these eyes and judges that someone ‘has what it takes,’ then that person will absolutely be fine……am I wrong?”
“Well, I mean, that’s true……”
“And besides……weak adventurers, we don’t need any more of those. A dud is a dud no matter how far they go. They’re not just useless, they become a liability.”
The Owl who said this so coldly had dark and clouded eyes.
“——So! Boku will be taking charge of this test!”
“I, I see……”
“The test content is super simple! Land even one hit on Boku, and you pass right then and there!”
“Oh, that easy is it?”
“Easy, he says……. Heh, I love it! That kind of freshness, Boku likes that!”
Owl’s inner fighting spirit is stoked by what could easily be taken as a taunt from Luna.
“Time limit is three minutes. The location……let’s use the training hall in the basement of the guild. ——Alright with you, Berg-san?”
“Sheesh, do whatever you want.”
And having secured the guild master’s approval, Owl——
“Then, let’s go!”
——walks off with a bright and cheerful step. Luna and Berg follow behind.
On the way to the training hall, Owl glances sideways at Luna’s manner of moving.
(This feeling……a miss, probably)
He lets out a silent sigh in his mind.
(The divine gift 【Magical Detection】 didn’t react, so I thought maybe this was someone hiding their real ability……but this is no good. Completely amateur walk, full of openings, not a shred of fighting spirit……. At Boku’s best, you’ve already died more than ten times by now, you know that, Silver?)
They go down the stairs to the basement, through a dim corridor, and emerge into——an open space yawning before them.
“Oh, there’s a space like this under the guild……”
While Luna looks around wide-eyed, Berg adds an explanation from the side.
“This training hall was dug out by the previous guild master. It’s open to the general membership for developing adventurer skills. ……Actually, why did you lot follow us down here?”
He turns around, and behind him is a long line of adventurers, drinks in hand.
“Heh, what’s the harm? Just think of us as part of the furniture.”
“The divine gift swordmaster, running a test on a newbie……that’s not exactly a common event, is it!”
“Right, it’s perfect drinking entertainment!”
The ones who had been drinking at the tavern upstairs had been drawn in by the unusual spectacle.
“Hahhh, hopeless bunch……”
Berg scratches his head and glances at Luna.
“Hey Silver, what do you want to do? I can throw all of them out if you like.”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“Is that so? Well, if you’re fine with it, I’ve got no objections, but……”
While the two of them are talking, Owl claps his hands together.
“Now, let’s start the test! Before our fired-up audience loses interest!”
Luna and Owl face each other, taking about five meters of distance between them.
“Oh, probably goes without saying, but of course Boku will be dodging Silver’s attacks, alright? Standing there like a post wouldn’t make much of a test.”
“Yes, of course.”
“And one last thing——this is advice. ……Probably, I think you’ll need to come at Boku with the intent to kill? (Though even if you do, it’ll just be a waste of effort)”
“Yes, understood.”
Luna nods, and then falls briefly into thought.
(This person seemed like some kind of impressive figure, a ‘swordmaster’ or something……so they’re probably quite strong, right?)
She was extremely poor at reading an opponent’s magical energy or capability.
Whether it was simply that she was oblivious, or that her sensing ability was just low——either way, she was terribly bad at gauging how strong someone was.
Well, hitting each other should sort it out soon enough.
That kind of through-and-through brute-force approach is the true path of the Saint.
(Berg-san the guild master introduced this person as ‘the strongest swordsman,’ so I’m sure they’re strong……. Though there was also that weird self-proclaimed strongest mage before, so……)
Luna, not long into her reincarnation, is still struggling to get a sense of the ‘standard for strength’ in this world.
(Just in case something unexpected happens……well, the time limit is three whole minutes, and I’ll start light and gradually speed up)
With her thinking settled, Owl gives her a carefree grin.
“All done strategizing?”
“Yes, perfectly.”
“Good to hear.”
Owl wears a look that’s just barely on the condescending side of a smile and spreads both arms out flat to his sides.
“Come on then, whenever you’re ready——”
His plan was to handle it casually and declare her failed.
That thinking collapses in an instant.
“Then——here I come.”
The instant Luna takes a light step forward, Owl’s divine gift 〈Omen of Death〉 activates.
(……What?)
What plays out in his mind is a future a fraction of a second away.
Taking Luna’s right straight to the face, and dying in a pitiful state——himself.
(A malfunction in the divine gift? No, that’s never happened even once before. What on earth was that premonition……?)
Before his thoughts can come together, the armor in front of him starts to move.
From a stance that might as well be a beginner’s, it draws the right arm lightly back and steps forward.
“……What?”
In an instant, what fills Owl’s field of vision——is an iron fist.
A catastrophic blow that means instant death if it connects.
(Wait, when did the distance close!? Right fist, fast, the wind pressure is intense, this is bad……I’m going to die——!)
(This should be fine, right?)
As Luna’s lightly thrown punch bears down on him, Owl makes the highest and fastest decision of his life.
(【Agility Enhancement】·【Strength Amplification】·【Godspeed Reflex】·【First Strike Dodge】·【Goddess of Fortune】……!)
One divine gift per person. The man who overturned that common wisdom is Owl Rastia, the divine gift swordmaster.
Born with over a hundred divine gifts, Owl commands power beyond human limits, and climbed to the seat of swordmaster at the youngest age in recorded history.
That exceptional genius, throwing every last divine gift into the effort, and the result——
“Hyebuh!?”
Luna’s right straight explodes into Owl’s face.
A sound like a bursting water balloon rings out, and he flies horizontally through the air to embed himself deep in the guild wall.
“[Everyone]: ……What?”
Every adventurer watching doubts their own eyes.
“You’re……kidding……”
“That divine gift swordmaster, with just one hit……”
“H-hey, is he……not dead……?”
Owl, lodged in the wall, doesn’t twitch so much as a muscle.
(Wh-what……did I go too far……?)
Inside the armor, Luna’s eyes are spinning and her face has gone white as a sheet.