The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 36

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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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Magic Saint Seraphina
Chapter 36
Is she really coming after me?!
And bringing her colleagues with her?!
Look at that murderous expression!
“Seraphina! What do we do?!”
Dubu, who had been hiding inside my cloak to avoid detection, thumped my shoulder from within.
“What do we do!”
“What else?”
I turned back to look at Arden, who was walking straight toward the guards without so much as a word to the reporters crowding him with questions.
“We ditch Arden and steal what we came for.”
Time to show off my senior’s real skills.
“A truly magnificent collection, I must say…….”
“Had circumstances been different, I would have taken far more time to appreciate it properly, which I confess is a shame.”
“Should you afford me the opportunity next time…….”
“Ha ha ha!”
The small reception room of the Tram Baron’s Residence.
Beyond The Balancing Boy by Houghban—dismissed as a forgery, eyes covered and mouth agape—the room was crammed with treasures: a golden chest from the age of wars, a lark sculpture the first emperor was said to have cherished, and countless other valuables on display.
All but one door leading into this reception room was locked, and every window had been bolted shut from the inside.
Servants wielding cudgels and guards were stationed in every corridor, while Capital Guard officers had taken positions at all major passages and within the reception room itself.
“Your eye for art is truly remarkable, Baron, he he he.”
These were the very people now busy flattering the Tram Baron as they gazed upon the paintings covering every wall and the necklaces and trinkets in the display cases.
Arden’s expression hardened as he confirmed there were over ten Capital Guard officers in the reception room alone—all of them squad leaders or higher-ranked personnel.
When the Tram Baron—a man in his fifties who looked like Arden’s father—approached him to offer his hand in greeting, Arden ignored it and asked coldly.
“If it takes this many personnel just to guard a single painting, who is protecting the capital?”
“A single painting, you say!”
A nearby Capital Guard officer stiffened at once.
He spoke with exaggerated indignation, glancing at the Tram Baron for approval.
“This is the only painting of the dancer Edmond, who was the paramour of Henri III and was renowned as the greatest beauty of her age!”
Another guard officer rushed to chime in.
“Precisely, and considering it is also the artist’s final work, calling it merely a painting seems hardly appropriate….”
“But you said it was a forgery.”
……
……
“If it’s only a forgery, couldn’t you simply paint another?”
Unless it was a genuine work masquerading as a forgery. Everyone fell silent at Arden’s cold observation.
Arden surveyed the gathering with an icy gaze and openly mocked the Capital Guard officers in the reception room.
“I cannot tell if this is a prospective crime scene or a salon for social bonding.”
……
“Who authorized this? Which officer is responsible for dispatching so many guards to this residence?”
“The Capital Guard’s personnel allocation is not something a court knight should presume to question….”
“Should I then file an official report with the Crown Prince?”
‘So this is what Arden is like when he’s working.’
The way he lowered his voice saying “file an official report”—look at that.
“He seems different somehow.”
More like an adult man.
‘Though I’d die before I could say that in front of Arden.’
I watched him from where I stood with my back against the outer wall between the windows.
I’d dispelled my magic long ago since I couldn’t use it while in another form’s disguise.
Now, in this ancient, austere brown mansion, I was the only one dressed in the brilliant, flashy, heart-adorned, wing-equipped Magic Saint battle uniform.
‘At least there are sculptures on the outer walls too.’
I couldn’t move freely in this outfit, so I was hiding beneath the shadow of an angel blowing a trumpet. Without that, I would have been spotted long ago.
“There are so many people inside.”
Dubu, dangling from my shoulder, was trying to peer inside when he left pawprints on the polished windowsill.
“Seraphina. What’s the plan now?”
“Hmm?”
“There are this many people crowded into the reception room!”
Surely there’s some brilliant operation to break through there and slip out with just the painting?
“Now would be a good time to share that plan with me too!”
“Why do we need a plan?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve got strength.”
She pushed off from the window at her back and vaulted through the opening into the corridor that connected to the reception room.
How did she deal with the lock on the inside? She just tore the window out.
Besides, the brain is only for when the body’s feeling sluggish. ☆
She tucked the torn window under her arm, stepped into the corridor, and set it down carefully.
Lifting her head, she spotted a Capital Guard patrol heading her way.
“You!”
“What.”
Following Arden’s assessment—that this guard was shirking his duties in favor of socializing—she drove her fist down onto the crown of his head.
Crack.
“Oops.”
She caught him before he could fall, shoved him into the storage room beside her, fished through his pockets, and pulled out a key to the side door of the locked reception room.
For good measure, she lifted the full plate armor made of iron that had been standing in the corridor and moved it in front of the storage room.
“Seraphina, doesn’t that armor weigh over a hundred kilograms?”
“Sure does!”
She clapped the dust from her hands.
“Ready to go?”
“It is true that the Magic Saint has performed genuine good deeds. She is quite an admirable figure.”
“…”
“Truth be told, I’m a fan of Rosena. I’m so grateful to the Magic Saint for preventing Rosena’s retirement that, should we encounter her today, I’d love to persuade her kindly and let her go. Ha ha ha!”
“…”
“Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha… ha ha…”
Even among those gathered to network, there seemed to be at least one person utterly lacking in tact.
The Capital Guard who had laughed shriveled under the weight of everyone’s stares and fell silent.
“Ahem.”
Tram Baron made no effort to hide his displeasure, clearing his throat awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Arden, who had been conversing with a fellow knight, stepped toward the painting in question.
The Balancing Boy.
Arden’s brow furrowed as he gazed up at the brushstrokes, so delicate they seemed to pull him in.
‘What are you up to, Magic Saint?’
Why would she steal this painting?
Was she planning to have it appraised? To prove its authenticity?
Did she really believe Tram Baron would renegotiate a contract with the Goli Family if she did?
‘If so, that’s remarkably naïve.’
What in the world was her real scheme?
Then the lights in the entire reception room went out.
“!”
“What?!”
“What’s going on?!”
Among the guests stumbling about in confusion, Arden quickly lit a tall candle nearby.
The fact that it was a decorative candle with a silver stand was neither here nor there.
He held up the stand, its base embossed with grape clusters, and cast the light across the wall.
“ROARRR!”
The silhouette of a ferocious beast’s roar flickered across the wall in the candlelight.
“ROOAARRR!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Someone nearby stumbled backward and landed hard on their backside.
“What’s happening!”
“Is that lion the Magic Saint!”
“It couldn’t be the Magic Saint!”
“That’s right—it’s me!”
“What?!”
★★★★★
The crime of using her station to oppress the weak!
The crime of conscripting a hundred Capital Guards for private purposes when they should be protecting the empire’s citizens!
★★★★★
“In recompense, I’m taking The Balancing Boy!”
“Wha?!”
“Ahhh!”
At the same moment, a brilliant light flooded the reception room, blinding everyone present.
While people shielded their faces with their arms against the glare,
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
every window in the reception room burst open.
Flutter—
A flock of white doves poured through.
“Coo-coo-coo-coo!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“What the—!”
The doves pecked at people’s heads with precision, though they avoided the tall blond-haired royal knight standing in their midst—but in their panic, no one noticed this exception.
The knight himself hadn’t noticed either.
“Ugh!”
He was too busy dodging the flurry of feathers.
By the time the panicked crowd had regained some semblance of composure,
“It’s gone!”
“The painting is gone!”
“No, wait—it’s here!”
“The Magic Saint?!”
Standing on the window frame that had swung wide open was a young woman in a red dress, appearing to be barely twenty years old.
“Hello~”
The Magic Saint waved her hand playfully at those staring up at her, then vaulted away.
She soared toward the angled roof of the building visible from the reception room.
She ran across it, receding from view.
Or so it seemed.
“Wait!”
The blond knight, who had by now regained his senses, jumped after her in pursuit, white dove feathers still lodged in his hair—reaching for her ankle just moments too late.
“Wait!”
“Sir Arden!”
“Someone go after her!”
“No! I can’t climb onto roofs!”
Among all the people crowded in the reception room, only Arden possessed the physical capability to scale the roof and pursue the Magic Saint.
On the brown wall where the painting had hung, a message in brilliant gold lettering remained, left by the Magic Saint alone:
「If the Goli Family had truly been nobility with a title,
or if they had possessed even a fraction of my family’s power,
would I have unilaterally torn up the contract in this manner?
I hereby accuse you of the crime of trampling upon a powerless party without any means of resistance!
May this day be one where you learn to respect the weak.☆
–The Magic Saint Sena💫-」
“Wh-wh-what—!”
The flustered baron rushed to cover up the writing,
Click.
but a journalist who had slipped in during the chaos had already captured the photograph.

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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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