The forest near the city where our hero party is staying.
I found a spot where sunlight poured through the dense leaves and sat up straight.
Maybe it was because I had experienced the harsh cold in the Four Heavenly Kings Raiaride’s dimension. The sunlight wrapping around me felt particularly warm and gracious.
This was what true ‘good fortune’ meant.
“Isn’t this nice?”
Feeling unnecessarily cheerful, I asked my companion with a bright smile.
“It’s not bad.”
The ‘Great Warrior’, Ivar, who volunteered to escort me, replied in a calm tone. It was the usual bland response.
At first, I used to get annoyed by his dry replies to anything I said, but not anymore.
Our great warrior, too, seemed to have grown accustomed to my interest over time.
Ivar plopped down next to me and chuckled softly.
“You like sunny spots no matter where, don’t you?”
“You know me well.”
“Yeah, it’s about time you knew.”
“True.”
We had been on the same hero party for over a year, and if we didn’t know each other well by now, that would be weirder.
But the reckless hero had actually managed to make that weirder reality happen.
He had no sense of camaraderie whatsoever and didn’t want to engage in conversation.
Sometimes, when we exchanged words, it inevitably turned into an argument.
In fact, just the other day, he had a real brawl with ‘Guardian’ Logan.
Of course, Liam was the one who instigated. He was a natural talent in ruining the atmosphere.
‘…How can I see him as a man?’
Even I thought the situation was ridiculous.
The reckless hero was increasingly getting on my nerves and feeling different from before. If the past me had known, I would have been shocked.
But there was no helping it now. My heart had begun to be swept away by strange feelings.
“Why are you thinking about something else when you should be training?”
I snapped out of my reverie at Ivar’s sudden remark and straightened my cluttered thoughts.
Forget Liam for now; let’s just focus on what I need to do. There was a reason I dragged my sore body all the way out here.
I relaxed my body and placed my hands on my knees.
“Ivar, watch over me.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not like this is the first or second time.”
What I was about to do was a kind of meditation.
Training in the manipulation of Sacred Power.
For me, the ‘Weakest Saint’, this was infinitely more important than any romantic issues.
With my already feeble body and pitiful Sacred Power control, I trained every day like this. If I didn’t make an effort, I would only be a burden.
“Haah….”
After exhaling lightly, I closed my eyes and started to move the Sacred Power gathered in my heart.
There wasn’t much left due to the effects of the last battle. Combined, it was about the size of my head.
Compared to the ample amounts I was used to, like water in a lake, this was utterly meager. Still, it was enough for training.
‘Let’s give it a shot.’
The training process was simple.
First, I spread the Sacred Power throughout my body, then gathered it back into one spot. The process couldn’t be too fast or too slow.
Next, I would release it and shape it into certain forms. Starting with a simple sphere and eventually creating more complex shapes, like a person.
This process was detailed in the Sacred Power manuals I read at the convent.
At first glance, it seemed easy and straightforward, but…
This was not as easy as it looked. Specifically, it was quite challenging for a talentless dud like me.
Originally, this training could be easily done by novices who had just joined the convent, yet it was exceedingly arduous for me.
My talent was at a hopelessly low level. Every time I trained, I hit the colossal wall that was my grim reality.
That was how it had been until the last time I trained.
‘…What the?’
Why was this?
Suddenly, the manipulation of Sacred Power was going well. I almost jolted in surprise.
The once tedious spreading and gathering of Sacred Power now felt as easy as child’s play.
I was even managing to easily practice forming shapes outside of my body, which had stagnated for the past year.
How?
“I-Ivar! Look at this!”
I pointed urgently at the glowing mass of Sacred Power before me.
I couldn’t help but feel excited, and honestly, who could blame me?
Unlike last time when I could barely create a sphere, I had formed a small baby bird this time.
“A bird?”
Ivar muttered quietly, then quickly turned to look at me with interest.
“Last time, didn’t you barely make a withered twig?”
“…That was a worm.”
“Anyway. You’ve suddenly improved immensely.”
As he said, my ability to manipulate Sacred Power, which had always lagged, had seen tremendous growth.
Rather than feeling happy, I was bewildered. It was something I had always longed for, but achieving such a sudden leap was surreal.
Could this be an illusion? Or maybe a dream?
“Clitia, it’s not an illusion. It’s not a dream either.”
“Oh.”
So it was real, then.
In that case.
“Sun, grant me flames to burn my enemies.”
After reciting the incantation, I made the gathered Sacred Power swirl like fire in my hand. I then reached out and released it.
With a sense of disbelief, I attempted the attack spell ‘Sunlight Ember’ that I had only learned theoretically.
The result was astounding.
Whoosh!
A small fireball shot up toward the sky, flickering brightly.
The ‘Sunlight Ember’ rose vertically at a rapid pace until it vanished from sight. Watching the fire dissipate, I raised my arms in triumph.
“I did it!”
At last.
I could use a new Sacred Spell. This was a remarkable achievement for the ‘Weakest Saint’, who had only been able to use a single spell until now.
“Hah…”
Even Ivar, who was usually indifferent, was now wide-eyed. That meant it was truly an extraordinary event.
“I can now use two Sacred Spells!”
“Yeah, congratulations.”
“Yay!”
I reveled in my achievement for a while.
However, my joy didn’t last long.
“But something feels off.”
Ivar, who had quietly watched my happiness, suddenly spoke up.
“You’ve grown too suddenly. Don’t you think?”
“…Hey, shut up.”
Did he really have to pour cold water on such a sunny moment?
This guy had such a lack of empathy. He could just congratulate me, and that would be enough.
I glared at him out of annoyance, but Ivar continued unperturbed.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s a reasonable suspicion.”
“Your head is unreasonable, so how can I not glare? Seriously…”
“Is there any chance you’ve experienced a change of heart lately?”
“……”
I couldn’t respond as my words caught in my throat.
His incisive question took me by surprise, and I found myself at a loss for words.
Knowing I’d struggle to answer, the great warrior nodded with understanding.
“I remember hearing this when I was training back at my family’s home. They said that if body and mind are out of sync, it’s hard to handle Sacred Power.”
“What? I’ve never heard that before!”
“Well, that’s obvious. Ordinary people don’t have their minds and bodies misaligned.”
Ivar observed me closely and tapped his forehead with his finger.
“Generally, a person’s body and mind are interconnected through the soul, binding them strongly. You wouldn’t even need to imagine a scenario where they’re not connected properly.”
“……”
“It seems you fit into a rare exception. That’s why you struggled with controlling Sacred Power.”
I was left without a rebuttal.
I couldn’t even argue against him. His explanation neatly clarified my situation and its changes.
‘So that’s what it was?’
Until now, I had lived as Park Si-woo and Clitia Eluke. I had taken that for granted and thought it had to be that way.
That was the root of all my problems.
A disconnect between the one body and two hearts.
Having coexisted without discarding either, my mind and body had been fundamentally unconnected from others.
But something changed yesterday.
As soon as I acknowledged that I was conscious of Liam, the weight of Clitia Eluke in my heart increased dramatically.
If it was 70 to 30 before, now it was more like 20 to 80? Thanks to that, my mind and body were now blending together more naturally than before.
That was why my ability to manipulate Sacred Power had improved.
‘What a mess.’
To be frank, I felt empty.
All my previous efforts, all the suffering and mental anguish I had endured felt futile.
And I was bewildered. According to Ivar, I had to make a choice.
“Ivar, if I want to keep progressing…”
“You need to bring your body and mind into alignment.”
Park Si-woo and Clitia Eluke.
I had to choose one of the two. That was the only way to plan for the future.
There was no third option. To rise above the label of the Weakest Saint, I had to discard one of the “me”s and stand shoulder to shoulder with my companions.
“I’m really losing it.”
As I muttered my frustrating thoughts, Ivar chuckled.
“I won’t ask what’s going on. Just hang in there.”
“Yeah…”
I didn’t feel reassured at all, but I nodded obediently. Being petty wouldn’t be any different than being that reckless hero.
“Then shall we head back for today? You shouldn’t push yourself too hard while you’re feeling unwell.”
“I wanted to go back anyway.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
With that, we started back towards the city along the forest path between the trees.
The refreshing forest, imbued with a peaceful atmosphere. As I enjoyed the calming silence while walking, Ivar suddenly spoke up.
“Clitia, did you know that the hero seems to be acting differently lately?”
When Liam came up, I involuntarily paused for a moment but was relieved that Ivar was focusing on the scenery.
I struggled to maintain my expression as I replied.
“Yeah. I heard from Erin. She said he’s been acting strange?”
“That guy has suddenly become docile. His speech is the same, but he swears less, and his actions have become pretty ordinary compared to before.”
“Maybe he got his head messed up from all that trouble he went through.”
I tried to brush it off casually, but before I could switch the topic, Ivar’s thick, deep voice interjected.
“No, I think the hero might be feeling a change of heart too.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He asked the Guardian how to become a gentleman and kind man.”
“…Really?”
This time, I couldn’t help but be shocked enough that I lost control of my expression. After all, Liam, the hero, and Logan, the Guardian, were hardly on friendly terms.
Their relationship was practically the worst case.
Liam had always been distant from his companions, but with Logan, it was especially frigid.
They were constantly in disputes, arguing, and giving each other glares. Recently, they had reached the point of outright animosity.
But now, Liam had put his pride aside to seek advice from Logan, who was like a sworn enemy to him.
Given his usual reckless attitude, that was an incredible decision on his part.
It was a moving situation, but I couldn’t feel purely happy about it. It only complicated my thoughts.
“I’m really curious about who could mend the hero’s troubled heart. Right?”
“…Are you teasing me?”
“Quick on the uptake.”
I smacked Ivar’s solid arm in irritation.
No matter how hard I hit, my restless mind wouldn’t settle.
As I fell deeper into the pit of worry, the thought crossed my mind.
‘Why is he choosing this moment to change like this….’
His effort to change for me was somewhat admirable.
Which only made my head hurt even more.
*
Ivar and I walked slowly to the inn where we were staying these days.
But there was someone waiting for us at the door.
“You’re here.”
“…Liam.”
“Good job. You must have worked hard, huh?”
Liam offered me a beer with a smile that was rare for him.
Inside the glass was a shimmering black beer brewed from orc ingredients, my all-time favorite drink.
“Logan said you really like orc black beer, right? I made it cold with magic. Drink up.”
“Oh dear. Are you telling a saint to drink outside?”
Ivar chimed in from the side, but unlike usual, Liam didn’t get mad, just scratched his head.
“Ah, maybe that’s a bit much? Sorry. I put you in a tough spot again.”
He didn’t even hesitate to acknowledge his mistake and apologize.
The same Liam, who never bent his back, no matter what trouble he caused.
The reckless hero, who had never once thanked me for handling all his issues.
“…Why.”
Rather than feeling moved, my head and heart became chaotic, prompting me to speak up unexpectedly.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Why are you going this far…?”
Why isn’t he pushing ahead with his usual reckless attitude?
Why is he making an effort to change by even asking someone he detests?
Why…
“Why do you ask?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Liam answered.
“Because I like you. Is there any other reason needed?”
“……”
Unlike me, who was unable to respond right away, Liam answered without pause.
I could only smile awkwardly, hesitating before accepting the black beer and stepping into the inn.
“Drink well.”
Ignoring the warm voice from behind, I headed straight to my room.
I ascended the stairs, trying hard not to look back.
“Ugh…”
Otherwise, I feared my flushed face would be exposed.
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Oh…. That how i meet your mom