Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 65
In the Holy Empire, Saints are treated with utmost reverence.
They are the finest offering one can make to God.
Evangeline had been chosen as a Saint.
If I tried to save her here, everyone in the Chapel would come at me all at once.
Nearly a thousand of them. Even I couldn’t face a thousand at the same time.
The efficiency wouldn’t be good either.
I couldn’t save Evangeline right now. But if I left her as she was, she’d become Weldenjalin.
There was one way.
To challenge Evangeline’s qualification as a Saint.
Verifying a Saint’s qualifications was a right a Priest could naturally exercise.
I first pushed my Holy Power to its absolute limit.
Applying the amplification principle of Black Magic, pure white light unfolded brilliantly and scattered behind my back like wings.
In the Holy Empire, Holy Power was strength, authority, and status all at once.
The Holy Power I displayed was that of a High Priest or above.
It was only natural that everyone around me looked shocked.
Their attention snapped to me instantly.
I pointed at Evangeline and spoke.
“That Saint is a fraud.”
Evangeline’s eyes went wide. Her face filled with betrayal.
“She’s not a Saint?”
“How dare she impersonate a Saint!”
A fierce reaction erupted, as expected.
The fanatics shot to their feet. Fury filled the Chapel.
“W-wait! Surprise~!”
Evangeline let out an awkward laugh and shouted, but it had the opposite effect.
Just as the fanatics were about to rush at Evangeline, the man in the golden mask stepped forward.
When the man raised his hand, the loud crowd fell silent. He seemed to be their leader.
The Golden Mask looked at me.
“She was chosen through a Divine Revelation. Are you now saying that Divine Revelation was false?”
At the mention of Divine Revelation, a fierce outcry erupted.
“How blasphemous!”
The Holy Knights now looked at me and fidgeted. Simple-minded fools, all of them.
‘So they really do use Divine Revelations.’
Unlike other foreign gods, the foreign god of the Holy Empire actually manipulates Divine Revelations directly.
To them, Divine Revelation was absolute. Even doubting it was a grave sin.
Still, this was expected.
“No, Divine Revelation couldn’t possibly be wrong.”
“But didn’t you just say the Saint is a fraud?”
“That doesn’t mean the Divine Revelation was wrong.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“The Divine Revelation wasn’t wrong—the fool who heard it just misunderstood it because he’s an idiot.”
“……I heard the Divine Revelation directly myself.”
“Tsk, so you were the fool.”
I clicked my tongue openly, and the Golden Mask wavered.
“How dare—”
The Golden Mask unleashed Holy Power. Brilliant white light surged across his body.
It was fairly impressive Holy Power, but it was only at the level between upper-rank and high-rank Priest.
Below me.
“Maybe the Guide Priest misheard?”
“……That’s possible, isn’t it?”
A natural atmosphere of doubt formed around him.
By then, he too looked flustered.
“Does that really look like a Saint to you?”
I pointed at Evangeline as I spoke. All eyes naturally turned to her.
Right now, Evangeline had taken off her glasses, her bare face exposed. The moment everyone’s attention suddenly focused on her—
“Kyiii-eek! Keh-heck!”
She made a grotesque sound and twisted her face. The man who saw her panicked.
“But the Divine Revelation clearly pointed to this woman. Pink hair. There’s no one else with pink hair in this castle.”
“It’s dyed. She dyed it to become a Saint.”
“It’s not dyed though?!”
Evangeline let out a sharp shriek.
It was vulgar behavior, but it actually helped. Everyone looked like she’d screamed because she was caught red-handed.
The atmosphere grew even more serious.
Of course, I couldn’t actually strip Evangeline of her Saint status here.
Saint Impersonation Crime carried the death penalty.
“A Saint is the most precious gift we can offer to Him. I’ll verify her qualifications directly.”
I walked boldly toward Evangeline. No one stopped me.
Evangeline puffed out her cheeks and glared at me, making her sulking obvious.
It was truly vulgar behavior, but her appearance was deceptively beautiful.
A fragment of the foreign god stirred roughly inside me. I ignored it and looked down at Evangeline.
“It’s really not dyed!”
Was that what mattered right now?
I gripped Evangeline’s shoulders firmly.
“Why are you—why are you like this? It’s really not dyed!”
“What does the Quest Window say?”
“……What?”
Every Crack has a core entity—a dungeon boss concept. You have to defeat that core entity to collapse the Crack.
That’s why breaking Cracks was such a nightmare.
Except Evangeline was an exception.
When Evangeline enters a Crack, a Quest Window appears.
“What does the translucent window say?”
“B-Bancent.”
“Ba-Bancent?”
“No! Bancent! Bancent is a Holy Knight! He’s the youngest of three siblings—”
“Never mind that. Where is Bancent? Is it that guy?”
I jerked my chin toward the Golden Mask in the back.
Given that he was called the Guide Priest, it was quite likely him.
“No! I don’t feel it!”
“Then where does the feeling come from?”
Evangeline looked around the Chapel slowly with nervous eyes. Soon her face contorted in bewilderment as she spoke.
“There are too many!”
“Too many?”
“Yes! I can’t find them!”
The Chapel had over a thousand people in it. If Evangeline were skilled, she’d pinpoint the exact one, but now she couldn’t.
I didn’t really expect her to anyway.
What mattered was one thing.
“Is it somewhere in here?”
“Yes! Definitely!”
“Good, that’s all I need.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
Then the Golden Mask approached from behind.
“What is the verdict?”
“I was mistaken. She is indeed a Saint.”
I answered readily.
Then Evangeline’s lips turned upward in a smile. She seemed pleased to be recognized.
Stupid as ever.
“I’ll oversee the Offering.”
“But I am the Guide Priest.”
“I see. Do you have an objection?”
I drew up my Holy Power. The resplendent light fluttered like unfurled wings.
But the Golden Mask didn’t back down.
“The Offering is under the Guide Priest’s jurisdiction.”
He showed no intention of yielding.
I nodded lightly.
“Very well. You may proceed. But I’ll assist.”
“You’ll assist, you say?”
“Yes.”
The Golden Mask visibly trembled with excitement.
To him, I was a High Priest. Being assisted by a High Priest was an immense honor. He couldn’t possibly refuse.
“Thank you so much!”
Just as I predicted, the Golden Mask lowered his head deeply in gratitude.
“What’s an Offering?” Evangeline asked, tilting her head.
“It’s offering a Saint to God.”
“What? I’m not food. How can you offer me?”
“By burning you.”
“……What?”
Evangeline stared at me with a hardened expression.
I looked into those blue eyes and whispered.
“Very thoroughly.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“……Joking?”
I glanced away slightly.
Unable to bear the boredom any longer, a fanatic nearby had already set himself on fire. He burned like dry kindling. The others around him clapped and praised him, calling it glorious.
Witnessing such horrific madness, Evangeline’s face went pale.
“……Wait! I’m not a Saint!”
“Saint Impersonation Crime is Flogging Execution.”
“What’s Flogging Execution?”
“Beating someone to death.”
“I am a Saint! No, I’m not! Ugh!”
Evangeline began making bizarre sounds like a broken machine.
I ignored her and stepped back, questioning the Golden Mask.
“When does the Offering begin?”
“Once the service concludes.”
“I have something to prepare. Don’t begin the Offering until I return.”
“Yes, understood.”
The Golden Mask nodded readily. His eyes toward me were full of goodwill, perhaps because of the assistance I’d mentioned.
‘Evangeline can’t identify which entity is the core.’
This was a rather critical variable.
But one thing was certain.
The core entity exists somewhere in this Chapel.
So—
‘I’ll just blow up the Chapel.’
The problem was that the Chapel was quite large.
Even if my magic excelled at area attacks, bringing down a structure this size wasn’t easy.
But now, thanks to my luck, my magic stat had risen minutely.
The numerical increase was truly minute, but to me—stuck at the boundary of a high-rank mage—it was enormous.
‘At this rate, I might even be able to cast High-Tier Magic.’
To use High-Tier Magic, I needed two things, broadly speaking.
First, a massive quantity of Mana Stones. High-Tier Magic consumed enormous amounts of them.
I had plenty of Mana Stones from the twin witches. This would be tight, but sufficient.
The second thing I needed was a genius to calculate the spell formula.
The higher the magic’s rank, the more complex its formula becomes.
I could calculate it myself, but it would take too long. Becoming Weldenjalin would be faster.
I needed a scientific calculator, but—
Fortunately, I had Andy instead of a calculator.
Andy was a genius who would become an Archmage.
Of course, Andy couldn’t currently deploy High-Tier Magic on his own.
I planned to adjust the spell down to his level.
“Where’s the Prayer Room?”
I grabbed a passing person and asked.
“Glooooory!”
The man loudly shouted and guided me to the Prayer Room.
* * *
‘Evangeline is a Saint?’
Out of everything Andy had witnessed in his entire life, this was the most shocking.
Could anything be more shocking than this?
“Evangeline will be roasted alive soon.”
……Actually, yes?
Andy couldn’t hide his horror.
Despite the shocking words, Grave remained as indifferent as always. Or rather, he seemed almost excited.
“We have to save Evangeline.”
“Y-yes!”
“I’ll cast Hellfire Rain.”
Hellfire Rain—
A magic he knew well. It was a famous High-Tier Magic that rained down fireballs endlessly from the sky.
Hellfire Rain. Andy’s eyes sparkled.
“Where will you cast it?”
“There.”
Grave pointed at the Chapel they’d just left.
“……But Evangeline is in there, isn’t she?”
“She is. That way it won’t spread and will stay concentrated.”
“If you cast Hellfire Rain, then Evangeline will—”
“It’ll be fine. The eye of the storm is always calm, after all.”
Hellfire Rain isn’t a storm, is it? Andy swallowed his question.
“So then, shall we start right away? We need to finish before Evangeline becomes Weldenjalin.”
“Y-yes! What should I do first!”
“Draw a Magic Circle.”
“Huh?”
“Draw the Magic Circle.”
“H-how am I supposed to draw a Hellfire Rain Magic Circle! I’m still an intermediate mage!”
“I’ll sketch the outline.”
Before Grave finished explaining, he began drawing on the ground with his Guard Staff.
The higher a magic’s rank, the exponentially more complex its circle becomes.
Drawing a High-Tier Magic Circle, even a high-rank mage typically needed at least several hours.
It should have taken that long—
‘Why is he drawing it so easily?’
Grave drew the Magic Circle without the slightest hesitation. It looked like he was doodling carelessly. As if he’d memorized the Magic Circle—
‘……No way.’
Andy shook his head vigorously in denial.
A Magic Circle is meant to enhance the calculation efficiency of a spell.
If you memorized the Magic Circle, you could extract extreme efficiency, but that only existed in theory.
The formula changes drastically depending on situation and environment. How could anyone memorize all of that?
Logically, memorizing it was absolutely impossible.
“Wow! Boss! You’re drawing it so easily! Did you memorize it?”
Andy asked as a joke.
Then Grave answered in his monotone voice.
“I memorized it.”
It was clearly a joke.
The problem was that Grave’s Guard Staff didn’t stop moving.
Even while looking at Andy.
‘……He really memorized it?!’
Andy’s mouth fell open.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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