Chapter 43: Saintess!

“I tried contacting them… but no one’s picking up.”

“Is that so?”

Marcel spoke with an uneasy face, but I said it like it was no big deal.

They’re probably busy fighting. Hames and Glare are A-Rank Hunters, and Lilian, who’s alone, is close to S-Rank, so I don’t think they got taken down easily.

So what we need to focus on now is—

[ Kuoohhh! ]

—just that one lizard on the other side of the ice wall.

“Mr. Marcel, and Deneb.”

“Yes…”

“Huh?”

I put on a solemn expression and called the two of them.

“We need to save the other team.”

Of course, I didn’t think they were in trouble, but I said it on purpose.

“…Will they be okay?”

“Of course they will! They’ll be fine. You know Miss Lilian’s skills too, don’t you, Mr. Marcel?”

“That… that’s true, but if that dragon isn’t alone…”

“Then all the more reason to save them.”

I said firmly to Marcel, who was making a gloomy face.

“Mr. Marcel, you’re going to save the people who looked down on you with your own strength.”

“Is that… possible?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

When I spoke with a confident voice, Marcel’s eyes shifted slightly.

Honestly, I didn’t care what happened to the other team, but I needed a good reason to fight that dragon.

If I said I wanted to fight for no reason, Deneb might be fine, but Marcel would definitely get shaken.

Making someone fight when they have no will to fight breeds hesitation, and hesitation is a huge hindrance in battle.

But if I gave a reason like that?

Fighting with a goal is far more efficient than fighting for no reason at all.

What better, more satisfying way to get revenge than by saving the people who mocked you?

They’d never be able to laugh at Marcel again.

I waited for Marcel’s answer.

Marcel, who had been pondering with a cautious face, finally opened their mouth.

“Understood. Saving the other team is definitely something only we can do.”

‘Training’s going well.’

A smile slipped out at Marcel’s satisfactory attitude.

“First, don’t panic and listen. From now on, we’re going to subdue that dragon.”

“…!”

“…Hoo.”

I told them not to panic, but both of them showed their shock right on their faces.

Well, that’s a normal reaction.

“Can we… do it by ourselves?”

Deneb asked cautiously.

From Marcel beside her, I heard the sound of a gulp.

“What’s impossible about it? It’s just a lizard.”

“Just a lizard, you say…”

Marcel next to me let out a small, disbelieving laugh, but then—

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

—wiped off the smile and spoke to me with a serious face.

“Deneb, what about you?”

“Y-yes?”

“I don’t plan on dragging you along. But.”

I said bluntly to Deneb.

“If you give up, this is where we part ways.”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

The way she shouted with a scared face was cute, but at the same time, I felt a bit sorry for her.

After all, unlike Marcel or me, this kid was a real D-Rank Hunter.

The fact that she wasn’t running away was already worthy of praise.

But that wasn’t enough.

You said you wanted to be my disciple?

Then you’ve gotta roll with it.

“First, Deneb.”

“Y-yes…”

Still not fully calmed down, Deneb answered with a shaky voice.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Understood!”

As soon as I gave the order, Deneb ran off immediately.

Anyway, even in a situation like this, she’s good at following orders.

I turned my gaze toward the ice wall.

Through the transparent ice wall, I could see the Earth Dragon still ramming its head against it.

‘What a waste of effort.’

Bash it all you want, it won’t break.

Once the prep work is done, we’ll fight that dragon.

But in this fight, I can’t just go on a solo rampage.

The purpose of coming to this Gate wasn’t just for the payout—there was another reason.

I stared at Marcel, who was waiting for my orders.

The atmosphere around him was quite different from when we first met.

First of all, his eyes are alive. His stance has changed too. Proof that he’s gained confidence.

Looking at it this far, it seems like I’ve already raised a broken man back up, but it’s not enough yet.

Marcel is still one step away from truly standing back up.

That one step will be taken the moment he hunts that dragon.

If you ask why I, who usually avoids interacting with others, am being this devoted to Marcel… it’s probably devotion born from self-loathing.

Because I keep seeing things I don’t want to see in Marcel, who’s scared stiff.

“I’ll leave it to you too, Marcel.”

“Understood.”

My own past self, who quit being a Hunter and holed up in a room, refusing to come out.

* * *

“I’m done!”

“Good work.”

As Deneb, who had finished her task, approached me, I habitually placed my hand on her head.

“…Ah, sorry.”

Back when I was in my old body, I’d patted this kid’s head a few times, and that habit slipped out.

“No, it’s fine. Actually, I wish you’d do it more. Hehe.”

“Uh… yeah?”

I wish she wouldn’t say such embarrassing things.

“I’m done with my preparations too.”

Marcel also approached, apparently having finished the things I’d asked him to do.

But why is this guy slightly lowering his head?

“Me, um… aren’t you going to do it for me?”

The hell is he talking about?

I almost said that.

“Ah, yes…”

With a reluctant feeling, I reached out and patted Marcel’s head.

“Thank you… pfft.”

As soon as the patting was done, Marcel raised his head and, as if he couldn’t hold it in anymore, burst out laughing.

“…What is it?”

“Nothing. It’s just, I thought something like this might help me relax a bit.”

‘For a second there, I thought I was some crazy pedophile.’

That’s honestly what crossed my mind at first.

Well, anyway.

‘I guess he’s a bit more relaxed now.’

Just a moment ago, he was trembling at the thought of fighting the Earth Dragon, but now he seems to have a little bit of composure.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

“Yep!”

Marcel held out his sword, and Deneb held out her staff.

Normally, I could hunt that Earth Dragon alone, but if I did that, their dependence on me would become too high.

So I asked Deneb to create traps that she didn’t even need to make. I asked Marcel to prepare traps as well, and to support me in battle.

‘Alright, let’s get going then.’

This is the first joint hunt of our newly formed party.

The opponent is a bit more formidable than I’d imagined, but that doesn’t mean it can stop us.

* * *

‘How strange.’

Marcel stared intently at Verdi.

What Hunter wouldn’t be afraid at the sight of a dragon?

It’s a Demon Beast so powerful that even S-Rank Hunters would hesitate to face it alone.

Yet from Verdi, there was no trace of fear.

On the contrary, when she suggested fighting the dragon, she seemed overflowing with confidence.

Was he inspired by that sight? At some point, the hand gripping his sword no longer trembled.

The fear and hesitation that had plagued him since the Dark Moon incident were slowly fading away.

‘Was this wound something that could heal this quickly?’

For the past three years, no one had been able to convince Marcel.

Even when an S-Rank Hunter personally stepped in, Marcel couldn’t overcome his fear.

The one who raised that Marcel back up was none other than a D-Rank Hunter, a little girl.

When he first met her, he just thought she was a girl with a mysterious aura.

Wilhelm treated her specially, but he himself did not.

After all, cases of failed prodigies were common, and he thought this girl was just one of them.

But contrary to his expectations, the girl — Verdi — was truly a special person.

The words she said to him when she lost the duel.

And her attitude in facing the current situation.

That figure didn’t look like a young girl, but rather like a great Hunter who had overcome numerous crises.

Marcel had seen such Hunters fewer than five times in his life.

A prime example being the guild master of the Royal Knights, Lucius Wilhelm.

In this little girl, he saw the image of the former guild master and S-Rank Hunter overlapping.

‘Come to think of it…’

Marcel recalled Verdi’s figure from earlier, when she was facing the Earth Dragon.

‘Is there a Hunter who can use magic without incantation?’

It definitely wasn’t a mistake.

Verdi had activated magic without an incantation to restrain the Earth Dragon.

Verdi was also the one who created the massive ice wall now unfolding before their eyes.

And that wall, too, had been made without an incantation.

One impossible thing after another.

For starters, a D-Rank Hunter being able to use magic on that scale was absurd in itself.

Even if she was an S-Rank Hunter’s disciple, Verdi was at most in her mid-teens, around 10.

There was no way she could pull that off in such a short time.

If that was the case, then…

‘Could she be…’

Marcel’s gaze, fixed on Verdi, began to shift little by little.

‘A saint?’

If God existed in this world…

Maybe He had sent a saint down to earth to help people like him, who had fallen into despair, stand back up again.

The more he thought about it, the more it fit. For starters, her appearance alone gave off an extraordinary aura — there was no way she was an ordinary person!

She had overwhelmed him in their duel, spoken down to Moonlight, the world’s strongest Hunter, and shown enough confidence to face the Earth Dragon right in front of her.

Nothing short of something beyond human could explain it.

Yoschua Verdi was not human.

She was a saint!

‘God has sent down a saint, and the saint is protecting us. So we won’t die here.’

The moment he realized that, Marcel no longer felt any fear.

As long as this party had a saint, she would drive away death!

‘Forgive your foolish son who never believed in God until now, Mother.’

Marcel swore. From today onward, he would become a devout believer in Saint Verdi.

Just as Marcel closed his eyes and offered a brief prayer in his heart…

‘What the hell is this shitty feeling?’

Verdi felt a cold chill crawl up her spine.

She would probably never know that the chill came from her companion’s gaze.