TILPO 08

Chapter 08

The controllers and holy knights exchanged awkward greetings before immediately beginning their training.

“I haven’t manifested many abilities.”

“Me neither.”

Will and Rina muttered nervously.

Gabriel smiled reassuringly at them.

“You don’t need to worry too much. As I mentioned before, a controller’s abilities work much more powerfully on monsters than on humans.”

Only then did Will and Rina nod in relief, their expressions relaxing.

“Today, we’ll practice determining the effects that occur when a controller recites a prayer to a holy knight and then develop defensive strategies accordingly.”

As Gabriel spoke, he looked at Noah.

Noah instinctively hunched her shoulders.

“Holy knights, please focus on Priest Noah.”

Every holy knight’s gaze turned toward Noah.

Not knowing where to look, Noah simply stared at the ground.

“Noah, please create a barrier.”

“Yes.”

With everyone’s attention on her, Noah squeezed her eyes shut, raised her hands toward the sky, and quietly recited the embarrassing prayer.

“Ta-da…”

“Noah, please recite the prayer one more time.”

Noah opened her eyes at Gabriel’s words.

Had it only manifested yesterday because she had been lucky?

Wondering if it wasn’t working today and that was why he wanted her to try again, she looked up and saw a beautiful, glowing circular barrier floating above her.

“This time, please make it larger, and create a dome-shaped barrier capable of covering everyone.”

Gabriel demonstrated the shape of a dome with his hands.

Noah quietly answered, “Yes,” and recited the prayer again.

‘Dome shape, dome shape…’

Then something unbelievable happened right before Noah’s eyes.

The barrier actually changed shape, transforming into a dome that covered everyone.

“Noah, we’d like to test the barrier you created today.”

“Yes.”

“From now on, the holy knights will strike the barrier. If you feel any pain, tell us immediately. If you’re fine, we’d like to see how durable it is.”

“Yes? Yes.”

At first, Darren merely drew his sword and lightly tapped the barrier.

“Are you all right, Priest?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Gabriel added from beside her,

“You need to keep thinking about blocking the attacks, Noah.”

“Yes.”

Darren swung his sword with force.

Bang!

The barrier held firm.

Aside from Noah flinching at the loud sound, she seemed perfectly fine, so another holy knight drew his sword.

Bang! Bang!

Every time the sound rang out, Noah jumped.

Eventually, she squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Just think about defending… Defense. Blocking. Blocking…’

For a long while, the sound of swords striking the barrier continued before finally stopping.

“Noah, deactivate it.”

“Pardon? Oh…”

Noah’s face had gone deathly pale, and she stood there blankly until Rina approached her.

“The deactivation prayer is ‘Poof.’ Poof.”

“Ah, right. Poof.”

The barrier quietly disappeared without a trace.

“I heard a rumor that you’re a Saint, Noah. You’re truly amazing.”

Noah was startled by Darren’s words.

‘A Saint? Who? Me? Since when?’

“Priest Noah is uncomfortable with being called a Saint. The church hasn’t announced anything yet out of consideration for her, so please be discreet.”

At Gabriel’s words, Darren nodded.

‘The church hasn’t announced it because they’re considering me? What does that mean?’

“That certainly makes me feel reassured. With such a capable Saint accompanying us, there’s nothing to worry about during the Urbas subjugation.”

Holy Knight Heron said with a smile.

Several other holy knights were also looking at Noah when Ran Alkarai suddenly walked slowly toward her and knelt before her.

‘Huh?’

“Um? Wh-why…”

His status as a prince of another country was already overwhelming enough for Noah.

But contrary to his stern first impression, Ran did something that left Noah horrified.

He kissed the top of her shoe.

“I greet the Saint.”

There was dirt all over Noah’s shoe, but Ran didn’t seem to care.

Noah’s face went pale.

‘Please don’t do this. Why are you doing this to me? You’re a prince—p-prince of another country! Why are you doing this to me?!’

Flustered, Noah nervously patted Ran’s shoulder.

Or rather, she barely managed to touch it.

“P-please don’t do this… I’m just an ordinary person. Please stand up.”

But Ran’s eyes as he looked up at Noah were already filled with reverence.

“Sir Alkarai, I know of your loyalty to the faith and the church. However, Noah wishes to serve from a humble position, so please refrain from showing her excessive respect.”

Ran slowly stood at Gabriel’s words.

Then he looked down at Noah.

Noah stood there trembling.

“I apologize. I am guilty of looking down upon the Saint because of my excessively tall stature.”

Noah waved her hands.

There was no reason for His Highness to apologize to her over something so trivial.

“I-I actually like looking up. I look up at the sky all the time, and I’m good at looking up at people too!”

Feeling overwhelmed by Ran’s excessive behavior, Noah blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Noah, over here…”

Rina pulled Noah away from the uncomfortable atmosphere.

She pressed close to Noah and whispered,

“Lord Ran is a handsome fanatic. I didn’t know because that wasn’t mentioned in the articles. I thought it would be better to keep some distance, so I deliberately came over.”

“Thank you.”

Noah felt an overwhelming wave of gratitude toward Rina.

She stayed close to Rina so that Ran wouldn’t notice her again.

Fortunately, the fanatic holy knight didn’t look at Noah. Instead, he was earnestly discussing something with Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Anas, Will, and Rina continued practicing, muttering the prayers to themselves.

Noah watched them while occasionally glancing toward the holy knights.

Then she happened to meet Gabriel’s eyes, and he smiled, his eyes crinkling warmly.

‘Gabriel is a good person. Even after realizing my pathetic intentions yesterday, he still smiles at me so kindly.’

Noah gave him an awkward smile.

Perhaps their eyes hadn’t met by chance, because Gabriel called out to Noah.

All the holy knights looked at Noah with warm eyes, but Noah, having lived in a cold region, felt that this warmth was closer to ‘Ah! It’s hot!’ than anything comforting.

Noah flinched and reluctantly walked toward Gabriel.

“Noah, your holy power is so exceptional that I think you should be careful not to travel alone.”

“Pardon? But it’s perfectly safe here.”

“It is here, but once we set out for the Urbas subjugation, things won’t be quite so safe.”

Noah clasped her trembling hands together.

As expected, she really didn’t want to go fight a dragon.

She bit her lip. Her clasped hands were trembling without her realizing it.

“I, Ran Alkarai, would like to serve as the Saint’s escort.”

Ran suddenly stepped forward.

Noah’s face went pale at the fanatic’s expressionless yet crazed gaze.

“Wait. When deciding Noah’s escort, Noah’s opinion is the most important. Noah, shall we talk for a moment?”

“…Yes.”

Gabriel gently placed a hand around Noah’s shoulder and led her away.

As they walked, he asked,

“I didn’t mean to frighten you. People tend to gather around those with exceptional talent. Besides, having lived as a priest all this time, you probably don’t know much about the darker side of the world.”

“Yes…”

“I worry that someone with malicious intentions might approach you. So I think it would be better for you to have an escort.”

Noah calmed down somewhat as she walked beside Gabriel.

Perhaps because his arm was around her shoulder, she somehow felt at ease.

Since losing her parents, Noah hadn’t had many opportunities for physical contact with other people.

Even Noah herself didn’t realize it, but she tended to feel comforted when she was in contact with someone.

The reassurance of not being alone.

Of course, Gabriel hadn’t put Noah’s feelings into such consideration when he placed his arm around her shoulder.

“You don’t need to worry too much.”

“I know, but… I’m afraid of dragons.”

“During this subjugation, I and the holy knights will deal with the dragon. You only need to faithfully fulfill your role as the church’s representative, so don’t feel too pressured.”

A lie.

Her abilities kept pouring out effortlessly every time she recited a prayer. There was no way they would bring her along simply to serve as the church’s representative.

“Does having an escort make you uncomfortable?”

“No! Since I’m scared, I think it would be good to have someone with me. It’s just… now that it’s becoming real that I’m actually going to the Urbas subjugation…”

“Noah, during this subjugation, the thing you need to worry about isn’t the dragon, but people. Your only experience in society has been working as a teacher at an education center. If you encounter someone who deliberately tries to deceive you, you won’t be able to handle them.”

“Oh…”

“There are many evil people in this world. I keep saying it, but this is truly the biggest reason.”

Gabriel grasped Noah by both arms and spoke while looking into her eyes.

“Your abilities are already powerful enough that Urbas won’t be able to do anything against you.”

Noah gave him a distrustful look at those words, but Gabriel merely smiled.

“As I said, holy power is weak against people but incredibly powerful against monsters.”

“Th-then, I would rather have Sir Darren Gould escort me than Sir Alkarai.”

Noah subtly changed the subject.

“Sir Alkarai abandoned his status after becoming a holy knight. So you should address him as Sir, not His Highness. He prefers it that way as well.”

“Oh, yes. I-I just… feel a little uncomfortable with Sir Alkarai…”

A fanatic’s gaze was something she could do without. She really did need an escort, but Ran made her uncomfortable.

“He can’t become your escort simply because he wants to. Besides, Sir Alkarai is currently in marriage negotiations with Princess Kyria, so it would be better to avoid creating an unnecessarily awkward situation.”

“Pardon?”