Chapter 53: Night in the Capital
When I woke up next, Victor was sitting on a sturdy-looking chair next to the bed, leaning his upper body on the bed and sleeping.
(He looks uncomfortable. I should let him sleep on the bed in my place.) As I reached out my arm while still lying down, intending to tap Victor’s shoulder, something caught my eye.
Intricate patterns engraved on my arm. It was a delicate and beautiful plant pattern drawn with thin white lines, like a henna tattoo. What kind of enchantment is this? I gently rubbed it with my finger, but it wouldn’t disappear. Eek.
Just as I was flustered by myself, Victor woke up.
“Haru. Are you awake? Is there anywhere that hurts?”
“Nowhere hurts, but there’s some kind of pattern engraved. What is this?”
“That, it’s the symbol of the saint. It appeared after that magic passed through your body. It wasn’t drawn by anyone. Haru, you really are the saint.”
“Eh? This is the reward for my hard work? It’s a bit much, isn’t it? And I’m not even married yet.”
At that moment, Victor gently stroked my head and chuckled.
“I don’t mind. In fact, I like it. Don’t worry, you can become my bride without any concerns.”
“Oh, yes. Then, if the need arises, I’ll rely on your words. Thank you.”
As we blushed and felt embarrassed, we heard a cough. Startled, we turned towards the sound and saw Lord Conrad standing by the open door. Why was Conrad-san here? I wondered, but I was surprised when I heard the explanation.
“Haru, news of your achievements in Heartfield has spread like wildfire. It’s causing a commotion even within my territory, with people saying, ‘A saint has appeared in our kingdom after two hundred years!’ So, I consulted with the Lord of Sumner’s territory and brought this. You don’t have to use it now, but it might come in handy someday.”
Saying that, he handed me something wrapped in cloth. I opened the cloth and looked inside, and both Victor and I nodded in agreement. “Ah… I see.”
“By the way, I heard earlier that there will be two more lightning strikes of magic power in two days.”
“Lightning strikes of magic power? Was that the name given while I was asleep?”
“Yes, it seems the people who witnessed it called it that. That’s what it’s called.”
“Haru can rest, it’s fine. This time it will be in the square and the market, and if any holes appear, His Majesty has decided that they can be fixed.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I will guide it to a place where it’s okay if it strikes.”
“You’re truly a genius! You’re so cool.”
“Stop teasing me.”
At that moment, no one could have imagined that it wouldn’t be so easy.
Night.
The residents of the capital city formed multiple layers of crowds and watched the square from a distance. Above the square, there was a rotating golden cloud. It was a beautiful cloud, like a collection of tens of thousands or millions of fireworks.
While Victor chanted a spell and raised both hands, a huge magic circle appeared and illuminated the surroundings with white light. A low murmur of “Ohh” arose from the many spectators.
The magic circle, just like before, stopped right below the cloud. Then, a spot slightly to the right of the center of the cloud became intensely bright.
With a “Ka!” it shone, and the familiar smell of burning and the scent of familiar soil spread. Looking down, I saw a large, deep mortar-like hole in the ground.
And a low rumbling sound, like a vibration or an earthquake, continued.
“What’s that sound? It didn’t make that noise last time, did it?”
I asked Pauline-san, and she pointed with a flustered face. I looked where her finger was pointing and saw cracks forming in the ground from the edge of the hole, extending towards the direction of the royal castle along with the vibrations.
“Huh? What does this mean? Could it be that it will. . .”
As I thought, the unexpected happened. The cracks that extended from the hole reached the front of the royal castle gate. Then, the sturdy stone wall began to collapse. With a clattering sound, it collapsed one after another like dominoes, falling towards the direction where the crowd was. It was a high stone wall, so it was a dangerous situation.
People dressed in robes, presumably palace wizards, ran towards that direction.
The collapse of the wall progressed towards the spectators, and chaos quickly ensued. Screams filled the air. However, the palace wizards managed to stop the collapse of the wall. What kind of magic was that? It was amazing. It seemed that there were no casualties, but if one step had been wrong, it would have been a disaster.
I still think that it would have been better if I had been the lightning rod and prevented accidents and injuries. I conveyed this to Prince Eldred.
“I see. I’m sorry to ask you even though you’re tired, but I would like to rely on you for this.”
The prince accepted my request.
Victor had a stern expression, but when I strongly pleaded, “That’s why you summoned me from the other world, right?” he agreed. I’m also happy to be able to help someone in this world. The two of us headed towards the market, the location of the next lightning strike of magic power.
For some reason, the crowd followed us from a distance. It felt like we were performing street entertainment, and I started to sweat in a strange way.
The cloud had moved slightly, and now it was directly above the market.
Once again, Victor floated the magic circle, and I stood right below the center of the magic circle. Murmurs of “Huh?” arose from various places, and fear appeared on the faces of the spectators. Well, that’s understandable. They had just witnessed such a tremendous disaster.
Soon, light descended from the cloud again. With a “Ka!” it shone and was absorbed into the hole in the magic circle, falling towards me.
I opened my eyes and watched as the light pierced through my body. There was a shock as if a hard stake had been driven into me. But there was no pain. It was a strange sensation. The ground around my feet shone brightly in a golden light, spreading in concentric circles like ripples, and finally disappeared around the spectators who were watching.
Perhaps because I had released magic power multiple times, the golden cloud was visibly shrinking. If we repeated this, it would eventually disappear, right?
I widened my eyes in surprise and waved my hand to the spectators, who were frozen in fear and tension. It was a gesture to reassure them, to say, “It’s okay, I’m alive, don’t be afraid.” Then, a wave of cheers surged forward. Many soldiers prevented the spectators from rushing towards me.
Everyone was shouting, “Saint-sama!” That’s right, after seeing something like that, it’s natural to think that way. Being called Saint-sama is a bit embarrassing, and I feel like scratching my head.
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