Chapter 74

The Holy Nation, Aurelia.

This is the country regarded as the birthplace of the Aurian faith, a religion practiced across the entire continent. Its territory is no larger than a single city in the great empire of Luden, and it is chronically short on both population and military might.

Though it was easily reduced to a vassal state by Luden some thirty years ago, Aurelia has used its shrewd tourism and cultural strategies to solidify its position as an immovable religious superpower. If Jaderood is the nation of the arts, Aurelia is the nation of faith.

The country’s sophisticated ecclesiastical architecture, its exceptional literacy rates, and the printing technology refined through the publication of Bibles attract not only the devout but the general masses of the world.

At the heart of this nation, where the flow of tourists never ebbs throughout the year, the Aurelia National Academy was currently being engulfed by a particularly massive wave of excitement.

The grand, white-walled school buildings, the lecture halls, and the amphitheater were overflowing with people of diverse appearances and nationalities. In the vast gardens stretching from the school gates to the arena, prayer cloths praising God and banners displaying the prestige of the Church lined the paths endlessly. Alongside them, stalls crowded together to satisfy the hunger of the throngs.

It was, quite literally, a festival.

Spectators heading toward the stands with drinks in hand were already beginning to get tipsy, looking forward to the martial arts tournament that would unfold over the next three days.

Meanwhile, inside the arena—in the waiting rooms partitioned at equal intervals around the perimeter of the stage—a sharp, prickling tension hung in the air.

Those waiting for their turn in the cramped rooms were students clad in the white uniforms characteristic of the Aurian faith. They waited in groups of two or three, or in some cases, five to a room.

Some sat in chairs, staring fixedly into the void. Some paced restlessly around the waiting room. Others leaned over the partition walls to talk to students in the next room. While their ways of passing the time varied, they all had one thing in common: they were all students of the Aurelia National Academy.

And—they were all superior wielders of Holy Power who had won the right to participate in the Holy Chalice Cup, a tournament held once every thirty years.

“Hey, did you hear? Apparently, there are participants from outside Aurelia in this Holy Chalice Cup.”

In one of those waiting rooms, a group was currently engaged in hushed gossip. The one who brought it up was a boy with closely cropped black hair and impressively tanned skin. He spoke with a lingering downtown accent; his name was Gino.

From the way he lightly shouldered his large longsword, it was clear he was a candidate for the “Holy Swordsman” division of the tournament.

“Hmph.”

The one who answered him was a boy of aristocratic bearing, marked by cool silver hair and blue eyes. His name was Raoul Pavarini. He was the third son of a lower noble house in Aurelia, known within the Academy by the epithet “The Ice Holy Mage,” and rumored to possess Holy Power exceeding even that of the Cardinals. Naturally, he was a candidate for the “Holy Mage” division.

“That’s hardly unusual. If you win the Holy Chalice Cup and become one of the glorious ‘Holy Trinity,’ you’re set for life in the Church. Your family receives a bishopric title—albeit for one generation—and your hometown gets a massive reward and the honor of having a saint’s name added to its own. At this time of year, every country sends their children to our Academy like idiots, insisting they’re ‘international students’ just to produce a Trinitate from their own territory.”

But Gino cut off Raoul’s calm rebuttal.

“No, no, no! This is on a different level! Usually, those ‘international students’ are from tiny countries that just want to borrow the authority of a vassal state like ours, right? But this time, it’s Luden! That superpower and our sovereign state, Luden, has sent students with the aim of breaking into the Trinitate.”

“From Luden?” Raoul’s eyes widened in surprise, followed by a displeased twist of his lips.

“…Does the greedy Luden intend to seize even the symbol of the religious world?”

“That’s the gist of it. From what I’ve heard, the ones being sent are women. There are rumors that one is a former fisherman, or a genius surgeon, or a brilliant dancer, or a master aesthetician, or an angelic girl… the credibility regarding their backgrounds is zero, but it’s a sure thing that they’re women.”

Gino nodded with a knowing look, then glanced toward the back of the waiting room.

“…Which means they might be candidates for the Holy Maiden, right, Chloe?”

In the deepest corner of the cramped room, in a position cast in shadow and invisible from the stage, sat a single girl.

She had a small face and slender limbs. Her skin was translucently pale, and her shoulder-length hair was the color of flax, reminiscent of rich earth. Her eyes—so large they looked ready to spill from her youthful, well-featured face—were a deep forest green.

“Eh… ah, yes…”

The girl called Chloe spoke up timidly at the sudden mention of her name. She muttered with a lack of confidence, “If that’s the case… um, would that make her… my rival?”

“Don’t ask ‘would it,’ she’s definitely a rival!”

“Indeed. After all, you are the greatest user of Cultivation Arts of our generation—the top candidate for the Holy Maiden.”

“No…”

Gino and Raoul spoke in unison, but Chloe only made herself smaller. “That’s not true. Mine is simply a matter of being compatible with plants… You two, Gino and Raoul, are the ‘Holy Swordsman of Raging Fire’ and the ‘Ice Holy Mage’… don’t you already have epithets as if you’ve already joined the Trinitate?”

It was true. These three were the top-performing students of the Aurelia National Academy.

Founded with the purpose of cultivating the next generation of religious leaders, the Academy stakes its prestige on discovering and training students who can become the Holy Maiden, Holy Swordsman, and Holy Mage. Gender, age, and origin are irrelevant; as long as one has Holy Power, anyone—from a toddling peasant babe to a hobbling elder from the slums—is equally permitted to enroll. (Though, as the Academy also functions as a general educational institution, most students are naturally boys and girls between fifteen and eighteen.)

As a result of the Academy’s persistent recruitment, those who passed through its gates as special scholarship students were Chloe Contesti, who had lived a life of misfortune as the child of a merchant’s concubine; Gino Marge, who had survived a difficult life in the downtown slums; and Raoul Pavarini, who, as a third son with no hope of inheriting a title, was about to be sold off to another country.

Each was a lead candidate for Holy Maiden, Holy Swordsman, and Holy Mage, respectively.

The Trinitate is a narrow gate. Because it sits at the pinnacle of an Academy where anyone is allowed entry, everyone burns with an intense desire to join its ranks.

Naturally, the winds of resentment blew cold against the three scholarship students who were favored in various ways. As a result, Chloe and the others tended to stick together as a trio.

“I don’t feel like I have the kind of ability to successfully manifest arts on a stage like this… If we’re talking about rivals, wouldn’t the other students at this academy be paying more attention to that person than I am?”

“Setting aside your own low self-esteem, Chloe, you’re right—the guys at this academy definitely seem to have it out for them.”

“Indeed. Come to think of it, I saw several students sneaking in and out of the international student waiting rooms late at night… I wonder if they intended to play some pranks on this ‘Luden woman.’ There seemed to be several groups of intruders; she’s certainly popular, isn’t she?”

“Are you serious?”

Gino let out a low whistle at the unexpected news. He possessed a normal enough sense of justice, but it didn’t extend to a woman from the obnoxious sovereign state. As a citizen of Aurelia, he felt that their most prestigious and sublime seats should, after all, be occupied by their own countrymen.

Only Chloe, perhaps due to her gentle nature, lowered her eyes at the mention of the word “harassment.”

“…I hope it doesn’t turn into a truly ugly conflict.”

“You think? Why worry about some foreigner who barges into the Holy Chalice Cup without reading the room?”

“Exactly. Let’s just enjoy the show from our front-row seats while the status-hungry academy students and the overstepping Luden woman tear each other apart.”

Gino and Raoul reached that cold conclusion and turned their gaze toward the arena.

The Holy Chalice Cup, Day One.

It was essentially a pre-festival day meant only for the opening ceremony, but it was also the first opportunity for all candidates—including the “international students”—to gather in one place.

The rumored Luden woman was likely waiting for the ceremony in one of the waiting rooms in this very arena. Gino and his friends were searching for her, but they tilted their heads in confusion as they looked toward the international student area—the most secluded spot in the back.

“Huh? She’s not here yet?”

“No. She must be entering just now.”

Since the three of them were high achievers, they had been ushered to a spot near the arena entrance; in fact, students had been streaming past them one after another for a while now.

Most of them glared at the trio as they headed toward their own rooms, and even after settling in, they radiated a dangerous aura. Their rivalry was directed in all directions, so the later a person entered, the more the corridor in front of the waiting rooms would turn into a gauntlet of malice.

Out of pure curiosity, Gino scanned the perimeter of the stage—specifically the hallway in front of the waiting rooms.

“Whoa, look at that. The guys who got to their rooms first are totally ready to attack. Raw eggs, garbage, bugs… some are even prepping incantations. They’re all glaring at the entrance gate… I bet the target for all of that is the Luden student, right?”

“Paltry harassment.”

“Well, I can’t say I don’t understand the feeling.”

There was a hint of venom in Gino’s voice as he shrugged. Anyone coming here carrying the prestige of Luden must be of a certain social standing. As someone who was looked down upon daily for his slum upbringing—even in an academy that preached mercy—Gino found the idea of such a person insufferable.

Raoul was the exception he’d managed to befriend, but normally, a noble from the sovereign state was bound to be arrogant.

“Hah. I bet that student won’t even be able to make it into her room safely.”

“Perhaps. Though if Luden went through the trouble of sending her, she might have enough skill to dodge at least a little.”

“Skill, huh? What kind of ‘skill’ does a former fisherman/surgeon/dancer/aesthetician beauty boast?—Oh, found a blonde, cat-eyed maid just my style. I wonder if she’s the attendant for one of the candidates.”

Among the students were many children of nobles and millionaires, so servants were permitted within the academy. Today was a rare chance to check out all the servants who were usually cooped up in the dormitories.

Gino smiled and waved at the beautiful blonde maid, but when their eyes met, she stared back at him with such intense surprise that for a moment, Gino’s eyes sparkled, thinking, Is there a spark?

However, a second later, she quickly looked away, leaving Gino to slump his shoulders in disappointment.

He finished his sweep of the reachable servants, and when he was done, he let out a weary sigh.

“What gives? That Luden woman hasn’t passed in front of us at all.”

“At least the rumors of an ‘angelic beauty’ seem to be a lie.”

“—Um.”

It was then that Chloe spoke up hesitantly.

“This is just a guess, but… could it be… that she’s already entered that waiting room?”

“What?”

Following the direction of Chloe’s slender finger, the two boys widened their eyes.

The international student zone, which had certainly been vacant when they checked moments ago.

Inside that waiting room, a figure was now visible.

“When did she get there!?”

To get to that room, she would have had to pass through the hallway right in front of them. Gino and the others had certainly been watching that path the entire time.

“…!?”

The three of them exchanged glances of utter bewilderment.