༺ The Lord Is With Us (13) ༻
Senior Delphine was successfully persuaded.
She silently implored with pitifully trembling eyes, but I firmly shook my head.
My heart passionately overflowed with the desire to help her improve her character by her side, but I fully respected her choice and wasn’t going to force her to accompany on the practicum since it was potentially a life-threatening event.
Instead, I simply asked her repeatedly until she gave a clear affirmation. In the end, Senior Delphine finally agreed with tears streaming down her face.
“Hik… I’ll go… I… Hik… I just have to go, right……!”
To think she was so overco with the desire to change herself that she even started crying… I felt her sincerity that matched my own. As such, it was within human nature to offer a helping hand to those who were genuinely trying to improve themselves.
Worried that her heart would falter, I asked her over and over again, but her answer remained firm. Once she swore upon the Yurdina na, I felt reassured that there was no chance of her reneging on her decision.
Once that was done, I left the room, leaving her to wallow in her emotions.
As I moved through the chilly halls of the marble temple, I also felt my head cooling down. At that mont, a sense of incongruity hit .
‘Was Senior Delphine genuinely crying out of joy?’
However, it didn’t matter now. It was water under the bridge at this point, and it was only beneficial to that I could recruit a strong force.
It was routine to form a group of 4 for practicums. If I could, I wanted to form the sa group as from the Hunting Festival, but unfortunately, there was a problem that dissuaded from doing so.
Both Celine and Seria were still in their second year.
As a rule, sophomores were prohibited from participating in practicum assignnts. Although exceptions could be made with their advisors’ approval, I decided against taking them during their finals week since the practicum couldn’t replace their grades on the finals.
It was obvious that taking them along would only hurt their grades.
Celine had a duty to revive the fallen Haster, and Seria carried the responsibility of protecting her top spot in the second-year Knight Division.
I couldn’t stand in their way — They were my two favorite juniors at the Academy.
Of course, that being said, Senior Delphine would also have to work to maintain her position as the top student of the fourth-year Knight Division, but that was none of my concern.
Given her extraordinary abilities, I could only think that she had so tricks up her sleeve. Honestly, my relationship with her was still ambiguous.
We did see each other often, but our relationship wasn’t amicable since we faced off as enemies every ti.
Frankly, it was sowhat impulsive of to invite her to join my practicum. I only wanted to find out what had happened between her and ‘Ian’, but in the end, I didn’t get to hear about that at all.
Fortunately, there would be many opportunities. Throughout the two-week practicum, we would inevitably have to talk to each other, whether we liked it or not.
As I collected my thoughts and continued to go on my way, my vision was suddenly flooded with light.
Noble, silver hair and pale pink eyes that out as though they were ticulously drawn on a canvas.
It was the Saintess.
With wide eyes, I stared at her, and in turn, she cast suspicious glances between and the hospital room.
“……Why are you here? I heard Sister Delphine was refusing all visitors.”
Clearing my throat, I averted my gaze.
She still seed cranky, indicating that our misunderstanding wasn’t fully resolved. To be honest, I found her a little difficult to face, and I felt a little uneasy even though she was only standing in front of .
“That… I have my reasons… Also, are you still suspicious of ?”
“……Ha, of course.”
The Saintess snorted incredulously.
“You must have sohow deceived Yuren, but not . Priests from the Church possess sothing known as the ‘spirit eye’ which allows them to see the colors of souls, and as the Saintess, mine is fairly accurate.”
I montarily fell silent. This information sounded familiar, but my lack of interest indicated that it wasn’t of much significance.
After sifting through my mories, I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Doesn’t that ‘spirit eye’ struggle to even properly distinguish demonic humans apart from normal people? I heard it doesn’t do much.”
Yes, I would have paid more attention to it if it had been that useful, but the fact was that it wasn’t particularly useful.
The color of the soul was little more than a muddled collection of hues, and only a few people were capable of reading them accurately.
But most of all, the color of the souls appeared differently for each spirit eye. Therefore, even if they looked at the sa soul, oftentis, the colors were perceived differently
It would have been a different story if a thod of differentiating between the souls was developed and passed around, but there were no such techniques for the spirit eye.
I did hear that there was specialized personnel within the Holy Nation’s Inquisition who were trained from a young age to discern the colors of the soul. However, apart from them, the spirit eye was pretty much useless.
It was to the point they couldn’t properly single out demonic humans. The souls of humans who had contracted with the Evil God beca tainted, but because the souls of normal humans were already marred from original sin, it was difficult to tell the difference.
However, in the face of my doubt, the Saintess remained calm. She puffed out her chest with pride, accentuating her imposing breasts.
Such sinful flesh. ntally, I drew the holy cross, repenting to the Heavenly God on behalf of her erotic body.
“My spirit eye is a little clearer. Of course, I’m not able to make out the all the details, but the colors are clear enough to tell apart their identities.”
“So, the from before and the standing in front of you now are the sa?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The Saintess answered confidently.
And she was likely to be correct. After all, according to Leto’s theory, that was the ‘’ from the future.
Though it still felt surreal, I trusted Leto. He was my closest friend and one of the most intelligent people I knew.
The Saintess’ claim also further supported his theory.
Even then, I shook my head.
“Don’t put too much faith in that ‘sight’ of yours. One day, you may co to regret it. Humans are beings that can’t be ascertained with just a single look. They have so many sides that even if you see them nurous tis, they might still have a hidden aspect you don’t know about.”
“Hmph. Why should I care about what you say?.”
To my dismay, the Saintess disregarded my heartfelt advice. In fact, she even mockingly stuck out her tongue.
“Blehhhhh”
I entertained the thought of pulling her tongue but decided to restrain myself.
Considering we were at the temple, I couldn’t afford to be punished for touching the Heavenly God’s most beloved maiden. Taking a deep breath, I cald myself.
Then, the Saintess’ eyes suddenly widened and she tapped on her chin with her finger as if she ca to a realization.
“But wait. What do you an you had business with Sister Delphine? There’s no way your hostile relations from the Hunting Festival could have turned for the better… Could it be… Was it you who injured her like that?”
Then, she burst out laughing as if she couldn’t believe the words coming out of her very mouth.
“Haha, what am I saying? Not even you would go that far. That was more of a one-sided torture than a battle – Subduing her before rcilessly inflicting pain and fear upon her. It’s an awfully… cruel…..?”
However, the longer I remained silent, the more the Saintess’ face stiffened. I said nothing, rely avoiding her gaze.
The Saintess’ expression crumpled.
“……No way.”
A sigh escaped my lips. I knew she wouldn’t believe , but I raised my hands in surrender, just in case.
“I don’t know if you’ll believe , but I wasn’t in a normal state of mind.”
The Saintess’ expression didn’t soften in the slightest.
She glared at , her eyes filled with contempt,
“…You’re despicable.”
She walked away, her final words dripping with disgust.
I heaved a sigh before continuing on my way.
‘Social relations sure are complex.’
I had a long list of places to visit today.
**
It was pure coincidence that I was running into familiar faces today.
It had been a while since I last saw Emma, and I was on my way to see her as I wanted to ask her how she was doing and to learn more about the stars symbolizing the seven deadly sins.
Emma had ntioned that it wasn’t impossible to travel back in ti if you had the power of those seven stars.
It was just that no one had ever succeeded in doing so. Conversely, it ant that it was possible with their power.
At the mont, it was the most probable explanation as there weren’t any other options that could make it happen.
While I was lost in my thoughts, I abruptly halted in my tracks at the sight of the two familiar figures in the distance.
Celine and Seria.
For once, they were walking side by side, albeit while averting their gazes and facing opposite directions.
I didn’t know why they were walking together while emitting a chilling atmosphere, but whatever the reason was, I was glad to see two of my favorite people simultaneously.
As I waved to them in excitent.
“Celine, Seria!”
Both won turned their gazes towards in surprise, but their faces soon lit up as they quickly approached .
“Ian-oppa! This is great, I was just looking for you.”
“Senior Ian… I-I missed you.”
Celine’s cheerful voice and Seria’s shy voice intertwined in the air.
I stared at the two won, stunned that they were both looking for .
Then, the two girls proudly held out a docunt to .
Practicum Dispatch Authorization Form
After reading it, I turned to blankly stare at them.
“You’re going, right? I thought you might need us, so I convinced the advisor to let us go!”
“T-That… Senior Iahn! Uugh…I just wanted to be of so help to senior…….”
I smiled faintly at Celine, who was as energetic as always, and Seria, who bit her tongue as usual.
I was grateful that my juniors prepared the docunts in case I needed them.
Still, I couldn’t accept their goodwill. I slowly shook my head.
“Sorry, but I don’t need your help.”
“…….huh?”
In turn, their brown and blue eyes simultaneously opened wide as they looked at dumbly.
I flashed them a smile.
“I’ve already gathered them. My teammates.”
Gradually, the expressions on the two won’s faces hardened. Thinking they were worried, I quickly explained to assuage their worries.
“Senior Delphine agreed to co. You guys are aware of it too, right? That although her personality is pretty shitty, her skills are the best. That’s why there’s no need for you two to co as well.”
Silence filled the air.
A pair of hazel eyes gained a cold glint, while the pair of aquamarine eyes seed to lose their sparkle, almost as if they were descending into the depths of the ocean.
The atmosphere quickly grew frigid.
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