Even if it’s a world where the Paladins swing their holy swords at demons, the Goddess showers divine power to protect the clergy, and heroes brandish swords, sickles, and halberds, science and technology continue to steadily advance, and civilization learns to put it to use.
…Of course, due to the demon invasion that occurred about 500 years ago, technology stagnated for quite some time, so the science I knew doesn’t differ much from the modern era, but whatever.
So, all forms of transportation had become sufficiently civilized. It doesn’t take even a day to get to the battlefield.
The closest battlefield in the 21st District takes about two hours by car. There were about three other areas in between, and the straight-line distance was just under 200 km.
However, the ‘most urbanized’ area nearby was the 21st District, while the three areas heading towards the front lines were relatively underdeveloped compared to the 21st District, which was located in the center, meaning there were more mountainous areas as you approached the front lines. I hadn’t seen it myself, but that was the general setup. It was influenced by the geography of Korea, where I originally lived.
Well, to be honest, I didn’t really care how far it was; I was used to sitting in a car for hours, but the church was quite sensitive about it. After all, maintaining a battlefield requires consistent supply and personnel reinforcement, and the faster the transportation, the better.
At 7 AM, a car arrived in front of the cathedral, where the Priest and Mother Superior saw us off, and after about 30 minutes of driving, we arrived at a wide open space.
Since my usual living area only stretched between the cathedral and the academy, I had no idea that there was such a wide open space around.
And in the middle of that open space was a large white circle with an enormous H written in it.
And hovering above it was a massive transport helicopter with two large rotors.
If I were to describe it, it looked a bit like a Chinook that I would occasionally see in American war movies. Of course, in this world, “Chinook” was just an old name for a helicopter from 500 years ago. This couldn’t possibly be a Chinook.
…Speaking of which, I recall the Japanese anime that influenced the settings for the knight order. There was a scene where they departed using a helicopter just like that.
Well, if you were transporting a knight in full plate armor carrying something practically as big as themselves, you’d need a helicopter of this size to accommodate them.
Occasionally, enormous and incredibly durable demons would pop up in battle, so there was no helping our weapons getting bigger and prettier. Moreover, the strength of people in novels tends to be greater than that of real-life individuals.
We weren’t the only ones boarding the helicopter. Six people roughly a head or two taller than me were waiting in front of the helicopter, likely newly dispatched personnel or perhaps temporary returnees from outside the unit.
Two were dressed in multi-cam patterned military uniforms, and four wore priest robes. The military uniform ones were probably part of the government forces, while the robed ones were likely from the church knight order. I didn’t really have enough knowledge to determine which order they belonged to.
Different orders sometimes have slightly different styles of robes. For example, most of the churches in the 21st District were usually affiliated with the Order of Saint Barcenko, which is also where I belonged.
The Inquisition and Miracle Investigators were, of course, completely separate organizations—though it did consist of one investigator and one aide—but the convent where Linea and Aurora lived was part of the same church where I belonged to, and the nuns wore completely black one-piece dresses, typically seen in Japanese manga.
…Being a setting geek, I had written that some orders used robes that looked a bit like school uniforms. There’s probably something like that somewhere in this world, right?
The priests dressed in robes waiting in front of the helicopter wore a different style than the solemn robes used by the Order of Saint Barcenko. While they fundamentally wore black, they had thin red lines drawn on their sleeves and collars.
It wasn’t that I just had a vague notion about how attire varies by order; I had only depicted the Order of Saint Barcenko from the 21st District in the novel.
As the three of us alighted from the car, everyone gazed at us with a look of profound curiosity.
Seeing women in this world wasn’t particularly strange. Just looking at the gender ratio of the academy aiming to raise heroes showed a fairly even split. As evident from Linea’s case, the number of female knights was quite significant, and in the rear, there were also the combat nuns dispatched by the church.
However, chances of seeing a teenage nun were pretty slim.
“Well then, we’ll be going now,” I said.
Inside the car that dropped us off, Father Nguyen and the Mother Superior were also present.
“May the Goddess’s blessing be upon you… Of course, with the Anderson sisters, there’s no need for concern,” Father Nguyen said, seemingly sincere in his belief.
“The fence warden will come shortly to guide you. I pray for the safe return of both sisters,” he continued.
Hearing his words, Linea and Aurora both bowed in unison with me in respect to Father Nguyen.
“Thank you, Father.”
“I will pray for your safe return.”
The Mother Superior said this calmly.
Bowing to her as well, both of them calmly smiled and then boarded the van again. The car turned around to head back the way we came.
“So, where should we stand?” Aurora’s question snapped me back to reality as I watched the car disappear into the distance.
The people standing near the unoccupied helicopter had neatly lined up. Although there was about two steps of distance between the government forces and the church personnel, it didn’t seem to be due to any specific rule—it was more of a slightly awkward atmosphere among individuals from different organizations.
“Well… we should probably move over there and wait,” I suggested.
In agreement, Linea and Aurora nodded silently as we walked toward the group of people.
While walking toward them, I suddenly realized that all six individuals waiting had a similar-shaped and sized duffle bag placed beside their feet, in addition to their weapon cases. Given how bloated the bags looked, it was clear they were filled with personal items.
…Thinking about it, we only brought our respective weapons.
I had my shield and morningstar; Linea had her two-handed sword, and Aurora had her staff.
Of course, since they were pretty threatening looking, we did store them in special cases, but they were so uniquely designed that even in their cases, their shapes could easily be seen, and they were quite large.
At least they were all specialized ceremonial weapons officially used by the church, so perhaps common people might have seen similar forms on occasion. Compared to the cases that everyone else brought, ours weren’t particularly eye-catching.
“Don’t worry about the supplies. We’ll probably be resupplied once we arrive,” Linea said, as if she noticed where my gaze was directed.
Supplies from the expedition unit… It made me almost recall nightmares from a few years ago, so I quickly shifted my eyes away.
As we approached them, the soldiers and priests who had been chatting quietly fell silent entirely.
In that atmosphere, I had no courage to cheerfully shout “Hello!” so I merely gave a slight nod to the group. Fortunately, nobody ignored me; they all responded with slightly bewildered expressions.
“….”
And as the three of us stood two steps away from the clergy, perfect silence fell upon us.
“….”
Yes, it was complete silence.
Thinking about it, the priests lived more ascetically than the soldiers. While things like alcohol or cigarettes were often tolerated, they were in no position to deal with their sexual urges. Though I could only guess how they behaved in their own homes, officially, they had to avoid interactions with women as much as possible, including pornography or even self-pleasure.
It’s up to them if they want to stop, but if they did, they’d probably be excommunicated and would never return to the church. Nuns might be a different case.
From their perspective, it was beneficial to never speak to women whatsoever. While not Catholic, the “purity rule” originated from Protestant ideology to avoid falling into immorality during missions.
However, it seemed soldiers did not share that level of caution.
As the time dragged on with no sign of the officer, the long silence must have become tiresome, for one of the soldiers—whose position was closer to us, specifically next to the priests—leaned forward to peek at us.
“Um, sisters?” he spoke, breaking the atmosphere.
And the reaction was dramatic.
No, not towards us.
The priests standing next to us all shot the soldier deadly glares simultaneously.
Jealousy… probably not.
They seemed to sense a sort of camaraderie with us, even without speaking. Despite being priests, they looked quite young—definitely not more than mid-twenties.
The reason I deliberately avoided standing next to the soldiers was partly due to the feeling that the line began there, and partly because I felt more at ease being next to people from the same church.
Not exactly like “we’re from the same school,” but more like “we’re from the same neighborhood.”
Sure, nuns could quit anytime after becoming adults, but in principle, we were separate from the opposite sex. If they thought of it as something more, it could indeed be quite uncomfortable for the priests.
Yet, since I had already mixed with guys during school, particularly with Lee Ji-An, I kind of understood how they felt.
“Yeah?”
But it wasn’t me who answered; it was Aurora.
That’s right. I wasn’t the only one who made friends with guys while attending school.
Once they heard Aurora reply, the priests turned to us with astonished expressions.
“Eh?”
Aurora flinched slightly at their gaze, frozen for a moment. Ah, right. Aurora was much more carefree than Linea. There was only Matthew above her, and since he was also a guy, she would’ve had little hesitation in talking to the opposite gender.
“Uh, um, how old are you, sisters?” the soldier dared to ask.
Having relieved himself from Aurora’s reply, he continued his line of questioning while somewhat bowing down.
“Fifteen! Fifteen! Do you really want to throw compliments at a minor? Want to have us run around the training ground while strapped with gear throughout the workday?” a somewhat portly officer resembling a typical sergeant from the other side shouted while smacking the soldier on the back of the head with the file he was holding.
“No, no! I just thought you looked too young!” the soldier exclaimed.
“Don’t make excuses.”
The officer, who had smacked the soldier for speaking out of turn, turned to uncover the file and opened it up.
“Alright, Chris, Win, both are here,” he said.
He took out a pen from the pocket of his military uniform and checked something off on the opened file.
“Apprentice knights, could you please tell us your names and ages one by one?”
Ah, so they were apprentice knights. Well, Linea had been a seed, after all, so she hadn’t worn a separate outfit.
The priests introduced themselves in quick and alert voices. They were all very sharp, as if just back from training. Hmm, it felt like looking at myself when I was just assigned after boot camp…
…
“The apprentice knights are all assigned to different units. You’ve been informed where you’ll be going…” Good.
Having finished gathering responses, the officer checked off another item on his file.
“Well, moving on… Sisters.”
“Yes.”
“Yeees.”
“Yay!”
Each of us gave a distinctly individual response. Well, they might let this slip. Only Linea had actually been through proper military training.
…I had as well, but that was unofficial. The memories of my previous life were a whole different matter.
“Clara Anderson, Linea Vikander, Aurora Ranieri—three of you, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
This time, all three of us answered more or less in unison.
“Very well…”
I attempted to see who this officer was by looking at his insignia, but it looked far too different from what I learned in the military, so I couldn’t tell. Come to think of it, I had no specific setup regarding ranks either.
“Of course, it goes without saying that sisters will be stationed together. Even in the front lines, they can’t actually send minors into combat, so during your deployment, you’ll likely need to focus on support rather than fighting.”
“Huh? Aren’t we supposed to go to the area commanded by the church?”
The military personnel were a separate entity from the church’s forces. However, the government had the duty to keep society intact and maintain politics while the church utilized donations gathered to support the needy and run orphanages and convents, essentially playing a role akin to a welfare department.
When it came to military roles in a battle, the government typically led most fronts. However, when there were too many witches or beasts along the line, the church dispatched its forces to hold them off since the actual physical strength was overstretched.
Using holy powers to hold back the demons that unstoppable pushed through even amidst shells and bullets, thereby helping the government forces—that was the mission of the church’s military.
This meant that witches were most likely found near areas densely populated with church troops, and I applied there with that thought in mind…
“That’s certainly true, but there is always a rear area even in a fierce battlefield.”
While I could argue back against that, it was nothing short of fortunate at least that we’d be able to reach an area close to the battlefield. I could expect that if they realized we were useful personnel, we would slowly be sent forward.
“Alright then, that concludes the headcounts.”
The officer—no, the sergeant—checked off one last item in his file before closing it.
“Now, let’s get going. Everyone onboard the helicopter, please.”
As he said this, the sergeant signaled towards the cockpit of the helicopter.
The two rotors attached to the helicopter slowly began to whirl as the large door at the back began to open gradually.
“Now that everything is open, you may enter.”
Inside appeared smaller than it seemed. However, it was merely smaller in appearance; I felt it could comfortably fit thirty people if packed tightly.
While I had stood near the priests outside, it didn’t seem necessary to remain so close inside the helicopter.
The two soldiers who had accidentally spoken to us earlier sat in the same area, while the apprentice knights occupied different seats further away.
“I’m a bit nervous,” Aurora said quietly as she sat to my right.
“It’s my first time flying,” she added.
“Me too,” I replied.
Linea sounded incredibly calm as she said, “But there’s no reason to be scared.”
That’s true.
But this was my first time on an airplane. And it’s not even a commercial flight; this was a military helicopter! I had never even been near a helicopter in the military before.
[We will take off shortly.]
Maybe because it was military, there wasn’t any of the usual warnings like “Please fasten your seatbelts.”
The helicopter’s rotors began to spin.
The noise was much louder than I expected.
Thud thud thud, the helicopter vibrated slightly, and the scenery outside began to descend below.
The landscape kept sinking further until at one point, only the clear blue sky was visible from the opposite window.
[Today, due to favorable weather conditions, we should arrive at the destination in about 50 minutes. Have a pleasant flight.]
The pilot made a remark that blurred the line between joke and seriousness.
Fifty minutes. In just fifty minutes, we would be arriving at a place where people risk their lives fighting.
It was only now that I fully realized the meaning of that statement, having arrived here.
My heart began to race slightly faster.
Above, the distant clouds drifted away, and we headed toward our battlefield that day.
*
“Is this what witnessing a miracle feels like?”
Andrea murmured quietly.
The chair she was sitting in wasn’t her usual wooden one. No, it was more than that; she wasn’t even in the Central Church where she usually worked.
Boom, boom, faint cannon fire echoed from far away. The precariously hanging light on the tent ceiling shook slightly.
“I should have rather visited the academy than the battlefield,” Clara commented, having heard about Andrea being dispatched to the battlefield. She was told it was a revelation as well. The question of whether Andrea was heretical had yet to be concluded. Specifically, Andrea was delaying coming to a conclusion herself.
In fact, she should’ve already reached a valid conclusion by now.
“Confirmation of miracles. Even though that’s not my work, it seems I’ve become rather meddlesome in my old age.”
What she said would probably make anyone over thirty rub their necks in protest. In her late twenties, Andrea murmured to herself.
[…I witnessed the holy power that shields even devils while inflicting none upon them. It seems others failed to recognize it as a miracle.]
That was the report Linea had conveyed over the phone last night. Her voice was filled with hesitation and torment. She stammered as if torn between whether reporting this was genuinely the right thing to do.
Questions flooded her mind: Who was the devil? How did Clara manage to lead the devil to pray? If a devil really was present, why hadn’t she reported it? The report had missed all those points.
Yet Andrea could make assumptions.
…That was due to information she had received from the miracle investigator not too long ago.
Whether it was that she hadn’t noticed, or she had known and chose not to report, Andrea believed the latter. Perhaps she had become attached to Clara as a friend or had been persuaded.
Both were possibilities.
“The way things are going, we might lose someone valuable instead of saving another.”
It wasn’t a grim notion like being tried at the Inquisition. The Inquisition had no right to punish those who could use holy powers; the very act of wielding holy power meant the deities approved of their actions.
Still, she merely considered the fact that a person who was once beneath her might end up elevating into sainthood in the future.
Miracles, miracles indeed.
The saint who performs miracles.
Could a being like her, a mere sinner, merely intrude into the grand tapestry woven by a saint?
“Well, if she’s truly a saint, she’d have the generous heart to understand a thing or two,” Andrea murmured, a devout believer before being an inquisitor.
No matter who, each of them yearned for a miracle. They sought proof of the deity at their side, and even if the deity had made their presence known, humans always longed for an even brighter light.
Before being an Inquisitor, Andrea, as a believer, was no different.
Well, there were people already rushing forward to meddle.
I had heard that Miracle Investigator Matthew Turner had headed to the academy. He mentioned yesterday to his aide that he had received a report similar to mine, which was why he seemed intent on going to investigate personally. The reason Andrea wasn’t overly concerned about the news of the devil was likely linked to that.
“Good heavens,”
“Things have completely turned upside down.”
Seemingly indifferent, Andrea settled her legs on the desk like Matthew used to.
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