“Everyone, calm down and run to the back door!”
In the chaos caused by the monster’s attack, the red-headed male student shouted.
His voice, which had some sort of compelling power, made one or two panicked students snap back to their senses and rush to the back door as instructed.
He then pulled out his sword and charged into the midst of the monster horde, beginning to fend them off.
Like the protagonist of a story. It was a brave sight, but unfortunately, it didn’t catch my eye.
“Iris. Are you okay?”
That was probably because of the friend I had just made right in front of me.
“Th…thank you…”
As I took Lily’s outstretched hand, I felt her warm energy flowing through me.
Once she confirmed that I was safe, she began to survey the situation around us with a cool gaze.
“Looks like a prank.”
“Huh?”
Lily let out a short sigh and pointed toward the platform where the chairman was.
Following her finger with my gaze, I saw…
“…Oh?”
Not only countless teachers but also the chairman himself were watching the students with hawk-like eyes, observing them closely.
“It’s a test. They’re probably trying to assess the students’ abilities.”
“…Then these monsters…”
“Are probably illusions.”
Looking around after hearing Lily’s words, I saw that despite the sudden appearance of threatening monsters, not a single student had actually been injured.
As Lily sat back down quietly, the red-headed male student and several noticeable students began to slowly clean up the monsters.
Not long after…
Clap-clap-clap
The sound of applause filled the space.
“This year is truly fantastic. I can’t believe they handled the situation so easily.”
“They said there were many promising candidates, and it’s really true. There’s no comparison to last year’s students.”
“Hehe, senior, you should be a bit nervous.”
I could hear the instructors chatting amongst themselves from the platform.
As the students were still bewildered by what was going on, the chairman stepped forward again to speak.
“To all new students, thank you for your hard work.”
With a wave of his hand, the monsters spread around us instantly turned to smoke and vanished into thin air.
Before long, students began realizing it was all an illusion, and some complained that it was a bit too much of a prank.
In that escalating atmosphere, the chairman calmly calmed them down.
“Everyone, why did you come to Regis Academy?”
At the chairman’s words, the students each displayed different reactions.
“Some may have come to cultivate their own strength, while others might be looking to succeed. There might even be students who were forced to come. It’s all very diverse.”
The chairman looked over the students’ reactions one by one.
“But at our academy, we have only one purpose.”
With a serious expression, he continued to speak.
“To help you grow correctly. That is the sole purpose.”
“To achieve this, the new students will experience various events while staying at the academy. These will all be stepping stones for your growth, so I hope you tackle them with strong will.”
“Once again, welcome to Regis Academy. That concludes my speech.”
After finishing his speech, he gracefully left the auditorium, which had fallen silent.
After some time, the students, having regained their senses, started to clap one by one with dazed expressions.
It was clearly a different situation from before when they were expressing their discontent.
“Wha…what was that? But it moved me…”
“Looking back, it doesn’t seem like such a bad experience…”
“This might be…exciting…!”
Amidst the warming atmosphere, I felt relieved that no one was hurt.
Come to think of it, Lily was the only one who had grasped the situation correctly.
“You’re amazing, Lily….”
I turned my head toward her direction, but the chair where she was sitting was emptily vacant.
I wondered where she had gone.
From the beginning, she had been a truly mysterious girl, figuring out that it was all an illusion.
Still, since we had become friends, we could talk often going forward, right?
I looked up at the sky with a faint smile.
“Goddess.”
It seems my academy life will be far more enjoyable than I expected.
*
Since that incident…
I’ve been living a whirlwind life at the academy, and time flew by quickly.
“It’s already been a month…”
I mumbled while rolling around on my bed.
Then, the girl with lovely brown hair, Ani, assigned to the same room, responded with a bright smile.
“Right? Time flies, doesn’t it?”
“What you said is right, Ani.”
A month.
A lot of things could be said to have happened in that time.
From the tremendous amount of training that began on the very first day post-class assignment,
to the sweaty and grueling practicals,
and the dreadful exams repeating every week—it was all a process that made me lose my cool.
My classmates all had dazed expressions, but I found it all enjoyable.
Well, of course.
After all, I had lived in a cathedral without a single real friend until now.
Everything at the academy was fascinating compared to that.
I apologize to the archbishop…
but honestly, the cathedral was too boring.
Meeting various people and engaging in activities was just so delightful.
While I reminisced about my past memories, Ani dashed over to my bed, lay down beside me, and started talking.
“Listen, Iris. These days, Robin hardly pays any attention to me!”
“Oh my.”
They say love stories are the most interesting, right?
I perked up my ears at Ani’s words.
I listened to her story until the end.
She mentioned that Robin was a childhood friend she had grown up with, and she had feelings for him.
Speaking of which, I had recently met him too.
With his striking red hair and calm demeanor.
I was taken aback the first time I met him.
I could feel the goddess’s power emanating from him.
After examining Robin out of curiosity, I discovered he had the same unique ability as I did.
I had heard rumors that a unique ability user would be enrolling at the academy, and that turned out to be Robin.
Unique ability.
A special power bestowed by the goddess.
As the goddess’s gift, anyone with divine power, like high priests or me, can determine what abilities he possesses just by being in contact with him.
As for me, my ability is healing magic.
I can heal any wound as long as the person doesn’t die.
Of course, the bigger the wound, the more energy it drains from me. But still, if I can save someone, I’m glad to do it, so it’s all good!
Robin’s power is indomitable will.
It allows him to summon the strength to fight without giving up, no matter the situation.
Honestly, I think it’s a power befitting a hero.
But there was a separate hero.
“…Lily.”
I whispered her name softly.
I was incredibly surprised when I first learned she was the hero.
She was the first friend I made after enrolling at the academy.
I always wanted to look at her and talk to her more.
Since then, I haven’t had many chances to get close to her, but every time I made eye contact with her, my heart would race with joy.
The emotions I feel are clearly different from those I feel for others.
…You see, I actually know what this feeling is.
I had known it for a long time.
I know what kind of person I am.
At first, I thought it was fate.
After all, Lily was the hero.
And it’s embarrassing, but… I’m a saintess.
A hero and a saintess. Our relationship is inseparable.
An absolute bond that cannot be severed when it comes to defeating the demon king.
I’ll be spending a lot of time with Lily going forward, right?
At first, it was just pure happiness.
But as time went on, I started to realize the truth.
I probably won’t ever reveal these feelings.
After all, these feelings would be a great betrayal to the goddess, the archbishop, and all the countless priests who believe in me.
Moreover, Lily wouldn’t likely accept these feelings kindly either.
She’s endlessly apart from regular people.
…Still, just being able to be beside her is something I can be satisfied with.
As I was soothing my bittersweet feelings, Ani, puffing her cheeks while looking at me, spoke up.
“Iris. Are you listening to me?”
“Ah? S-sorry, Ani… What were you talking about?”
“Iris, seriously… What are you thinking so deeply about?”
I wanted to cover it up, but being bad at lying, I couldn’t do anything but twist the truth and speak.
“I was thinking about the hero.”
“Oh, you mean Lily?”
Did Ani know about it?
Well, I guess so.
The hottest person at this academy would undeniably be Lily.
“Oh, that reminds me!”
As if something had come to her, Ani clapped her hands.
“What’s going on, Ani?”
With her eyes sparkling, she looked at me and said,
“Apparently Robin and Lily are going to have an official duel this weekend?!”
“…..Huh?”
What the heck does that even mean?
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