Saint Yunia
This is the name used for the main heroine.
Is she actually a saint?
No.
There is a separate Saint designated by the Goddess Church.
The people who call her a saint are gamers playing Esdinas of Heaven.
– The Saint is smiling, even while the protagonist is out on a date with another heroine.
– The Saint is smiling, even while the protagonist is flirting with a new heroine.
– It’s okay. Once you have conquered the Saint, she will forgive everything.
Honestly, I don’t like that title.
It carries a hint of mockery towards Yunia’s existence.
‘There is a personal pure love route, but most players see her as a character who forms the basis of the harem route.’
If harem members are the ingredients for Korean sushi rolls, Yunia is the seaweed.
Although you can change the ingredients in various ways, you need to wrap them with seaweed to make a complete roll.
Yunia plays a role in coordinating the heroines when forming the harem and is one of the conditions for the harem route.
It is possible to have a harem without Yunia.
However, this requires a very tight schedule, similar to juggling two romantic relationships in real life. The heroines must have a good relationship, accepting each other or the harem without Yunia as a mediator.
Yunia is kind.
To put it bluntly, she is like a pushover.
She takes advantage of this nature.
However, the kindness I want to use from Yunia is not the kind where she simply laughs off the protagonist’s affairs with other women, telling herself, “It’s okay if I get hurt a little.”
“Miss Yunia, are you really okay? You might end up failing the entrance exam if you use too much mana.”
“I’m already on the roof of the train, what are you talking about?”
Yunia glares at me with a tense expression.
In her hand is a foldable compound bow, clearly marked with traces of magic engineering, and she has placed golden mana, the same color as her hair, on the arrow’s string.
“Saving people is the priority. Isn’t that why we came up here?”
“No.”
“What?”
Yunia looks surprised.
Her red eyes have a look of betrayal.
“I didn’t come up here to save other people; I came up to help you, Yunia.”
“What do you mean….”
“Look over there.”
I point to the people fleeing from the train.
“People who can fight but are running away without trying. Those who caused the accident and, realizing the danger, are abandoning the scene. Is there a need to save such people?”
“…Nevertheless.”
Yunia raises her bow toward the monsters gradually becoming visible on the horizon.
“Someone needs to help those people.”
“You might not receive thanks.”
“That’s okay. I’m doing it because I want to.”
The golden mana shapes into an arrow.
Yunia’s magic-engineered bow attaches the mana formed into an arrow precisely at the center of the bow.
“I can’t ignore the possibility of people dying right in front of me.”
Yunia answers seriously, her gaze fixed on the distant monsters running towards her.
“That’s just how it is.”
“Maybe it’s not so obvious to everyone.”
“Hey, Phoenix-nim…!”
“I like that attitude.”
“…What?”
Yunia looks at me, bewildered.
“I like that mindset. I knew I had picked the right person.”
“…”
Without deliberately looking at Yunia, I aim my staff forward. No matter what expression or thoughts Yunia has, I know all the lines and actions she might like.
‘Of course, Yunia might not appreciate such erratic behavior.’
I talk randomly.
I provoke the attackers.
I say something meaningful.
All of this is what I’m comfortable with.
Yunia’s taste is for serious men, not someone who acts rather frivolously.
However.
‘Isn’t it true that affection is something you just have to build up somehow?’
Regardless of Yunia’s preferences, heroines can increase their affection in various ways.
“Miss Yunia, do you know what the approaching enemies are?”
“I can’t see them yet. Once they get closer….”
“Mana Seeker. It’s a quadrupedal monster that seeks out mana, and it’s one of the most common sights on this continent.”
Shape-less monsters. They move in shadowy forms, but their movement, crawling on six legs, is reminiscent of ants.
“Also known as [Bloodsuckers].”
It moves quickly, like a Siberian Husky chasing a thrown ball, despite its crocodile-like motion, and its size is comparable to a thoroughbred horse.
“Blood Ant.”
It’s a monster-sized ant the size of a horse.
Its danger level is roughly D. With its strong jaws, it can easily crush steel armor.
As a single entity, it poses a danger level of C depending on the scale of the Bloodsucker.
“If such monsters appear in the entrance exam, how will you handle them, Miss Yunia?”
“…I’ve heard that their weak point is the forehead. If so.”
Yunia releases the string of her bow.
“If I hit their weak point with an arrow infused with mana…!”
Thwack.
The golden arrow strikes the forehead of the first Mana Seeker rushing toward us.
It freezes in place, then collapses sideways and crumbles into dust.
“Impressive.”
“It’s just the shooting assistance from the magic-engineered bow. My actual archery skills aren’t that great…”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s with a tool or not. What’s important is that the monster is defeated. Even without the tool, you would have hit the mark.”
I extend my staff forward.
“Fire.”
A red flame flares up.
I’m tempted to summon the [Azure Flame] and incinerate all the monsters, but there are two problems with that.
First, if I use [Azure Flame], an Angel will immediately appear.
The resulting chaos would be caused by the Angel Legion, not the monsters.
Second, [Azure Flame] burns away an opponent’s mana entirely.
Despite their amorphous, mist-like bodies, Mana Seekers clearly have a “core”, meaning they leave behind magic stones when they die.
In other words.
‘If I want to farm magic stones, I need to defeat them with standard methods.’
“Shoot.”
The red flame I shoot from my staff spreads out into a wide wall as soon as it touches the ground.
Screeeeech!
The Mana Seekers, startled by the sudden wall of fire, quickly scatter to the sides.
As they try to enter between the gaps in the wall—
Thwack!
Yunia’s arrow hits a Mana Seeker right between the walls, piercing its forehead.
Its body quickly shrivels, turning into dust and scattering.
“Whew.”
Yunia catches her breath and looks at me.
“Is that… by any chance…?”
“Yes. It’s not lethal.”
The wall of fire I created is just an illusion.
It appears to blaze, but anyone who approaches won’t actually be harmed by the flames.
“Illusionary flames. How about it?”
If anything passes through or brushes against it, the mana that forms the illusion will cling to their body like the ashes of a dying fire, setting up a situation that could lead to certain “effects” later—
“Don’t you have any attack magic?”
“If it’s basic firebolts, I can use them. But I find this to be more effective.”
There’s no need to use them right now, and I have more talent for illusion magic than for attack spells.
‘Was it not Regif’s talent?’
Regif’s three talents remain with me, even after the body was burned away—his aptitudes, knowledge, and skills.
‘It’s a kind of hypnosis.’
An illusion created by fire.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be fire, but all living creatures tend to tense up or feel fear when they see flames, even for a moment.
“Time…!”
“Miss Yunia, all we need to do is buy time.”
“But to let people escape, we need to defeat as many Mana Seekers as possible!”
“Yes, but what about that?”
I point ahead.
“Oh.”
Kishaaaaah!
A massive Mana Seeker, about 10 meters in size, emerges.
“A rare specimen.”
“Something that huge…!”
“It’s usually called a Giant. It seems to be the leader.”
The gigantic Blood Ant charges toward us.
Its danger level is at least C-rank, possibly even B-rank.
“In that case…!”
Yunia seems to make up her mind and reaches into her chest pocket.
“Miss Yunia.”
“Yes? Kyah?!”
I flick my fingers, igniting a small flame in front of her face, and Yunia stumbles back in surprise.
“W-What are you doing…!”
“It’s been quite a while since the train stopped, hasn’t it?”
Supporting Yunia by holding her shoulders from behind, I point in the direction the train was supposed to head.
“And even the engineers have been killed.”
“Yes, exactly…!”
“Silverstar may operate the railway, but the Esdinas Academy isn’t completely negligent. Even though the Academy might have deliberately allowed this situation to unfold, they’re not the kind of lunatics who would let people die or monsters attack the train without doing anything, right?”
“…!”
Yunia’s eyes widen as she realizes something.
“Reinforcements…!”
“Right. It would be strange if they weren’t coming.”
Unless something far more catastrophic had happened.
‘In a situation where a crater has formed and Angels are appearing all over the world, the fact that a magic train is being attacked by a B-rank leader monster and its horde might seem insignificant.’
They’re probably busy investigating the area around the crater right now.
The Church of the Goddess would be focused on the seed of the Apocalypse that fell from the sky, according to their prophecy.
The real apocalypse, though, is the Angels descending from Heaven, but the Church tends to label anything that doesn’t fit their doctrine as demonic or the work of Satan.
‘The logic is similar, but…’
The place where the immortal demon, the Phoenix, fell.
The Church of the Goddess likely set the threat level to at least S-rank—no, possibly SS-rank. If so, no one would spare a thought for the magic train.
“The Holy Celestial Knights… are coming?”
Yunia’s voice trembled.
The Holy Celestial Knights.
A militant force of the Church of the Goddess, outwardly known as protectors of justice and peace.
However, Yunia’s voice trembles slightly as she mentions them.
“It’d be nice if they showed up.”
As a mere extra in this scenario.
“But it seems someone else is coming this time.”
The Holy Celestial Knights and the servants of the Goddess aren’t coming.
“But the high-ranking officials of the Academy… they surely…!”
“Do you think the high-ranking officials of the Academy will take action?”
“…!”
“Even though people have died and others are at risk of dying?”
“That’s…!”
Yunia knows something.
While she might not be aware of the Phoenix, she seems to think that the Academy’s top brass wouldn’t bother responding to a “minor crisis” like this.
“It’s okay.”
I grip Yunia’s shoulders firmly.
“Even if a rotten, rigid organization doesn’t move because of its own interests…”
In the distance.
“…The individuals within that rotten organization might be different.”
Something is approaching along the magic railway tracks.
Ki-shi-shi!!
Faster than the Giant Blood Ant, the leader of the Mana Seekers.
“That’s…!”
A female swordsman with short white hair and a red coat billowing behind her.
“White Sword Saint Esta!!”
She’s riding a white horse, charging toward us.
“As expected… the [Maiden of Light]!”
I see it.
The moment Yunia shouts Esta’s title, Esta bites her lower lip.
‘It’s been a while.’
On the surface, nothing seems to have changed in the past ten years.
She’s still the White Sword Saint, the Maiden of Light.
Flash!
When Esta extends her hand to the side, a cyan Aura Blade, matching the color of her eyes, bursts forth.
Neigh!
The white horse leaps off the tracks, heading straight for the Mana Seekers.
Slice!
With a single strike, the 10-meter-tall monster is cleaved in two.
‘I never thought she’d make a contract with a unicorn.’
The white horse that Esta rode on.
It had a white horn jutting from its forehead.
