Muyoku no Seijo wa Okane ni Tokimeku

–Booooom!!!

“Ehhhhhhhhh!?”

Leo’s scream was m.u.f.fled by the loud sound of the water geyser that was created because of the magic crest. But that giant ma.s.s of water wasn’t falling on the floor, it was hovering above ground in a height of at least 4 meters. All of that water then took the shape of a snake, but it’s blue eyes were focusing on Leo, and the it tried to attack him.

Leo wasn’t a genius, but he knew it’d be bad if that giant snake hit him with it’s full power–

(Why the h.e.l.l is it targeting me!?)

–Although it didn’t stop him from closing his eyes, while he waited for the worst to happen–

“Leonora!!!”

–But then, a gentle pair of hands lifted him in a princess carry and saved his life. And when he opened his eyes, Leo noticed that the one holding him was Albert.

By the way, Oscar was right in front of them, casting a powerful Over-s.h.i.+eld Barrier.*

(*Tl/n: The real name of the spell is Light Over-s.h.i.+eld Barrier. But that’s too long, so I’ll just be using Over-s.h.i.+eld Barrier or Over-s.h.i.+eld)

The snake was attacking the Over-s.h.i.+eld, but that was Oscar’s most powerful spell, so it wouldn’t break that easily.

“Leonora, what kind of crest you drew on that piece of paper!?”

Albert was making a really serious face, so Leo understood that he was in serious trouble after they finished dealing with the snake.

“I-I drew, the water crest, the two circles, and the words, in Elandic!”

Leo pointed to the table, but when he turned his head to look at the crest, it had faded and the paper was wet.

“T-the crest, is not, on the paper…?”

“That’s normal! Ugh! The crest always vanishes after the spell’s activation!”

Oscar was right, the crest wasn’t there… but it didn’t vanish, the crest had faded because of the water, and you could see some blurred drawings on the paper.

(Ohhh! So that’s a new discovery then!?)

But contrary to Leo – who was excited about making a new discovery – Albert was a bit impatient. The new crest incorporated magic power and spirit power to activate the spell, so even Albert – who had a lot of magic power – found it hard to stop the snake.

Outside of normal means, magic power and spirit power are incompatible with each other, but Leo broke that boundary after completing the crest, so it was even harder to stop the snake than before. Although no one present knew of that fact.

(Well, I did manage to find something new about the magic crest… but how do we stop the snake?)

So far, no one was hurt… Rolf was under the table, Albert was holding Leo in a princess carry and Oscar was s.h.i.+elding them.

But what about the church’s furniture, the golden ornaments and the remaining paintings… all of those were expensive.

(That snake will… destroy… the golden ornaments…?)

Leo couldn’t let the snake damage the church, so he jumped out of Albert’s arms and dashed in the direction of the table.

“Leonora!?!?!?”

Albert was having a bad premonition of what was about to happen; he didn’t want to lose Leonora a second time, so he chased after her.

After reaching the table, Leo grabbed the wet piece paper and exited the Over-s.h.i.+eld.

“Ugh! Albert, you need to kill that thing, now!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!”

Albert reached for his sword that was leaning on his chair, but the snake had already focused it’s eyes on Leonora, because she wasn’t inside the barrier anymore.

However, no one believed what happened next–

“Stop!!!!!!”

–Leonora yelled at the snake with a murderous glare while holding the wet paper.

It wasn’t – by any means – a loud scream, but the snake stopped… -no, the snake didn’t just stop… it couldn’t move, the snake was too scared to do so.

For a brief moment, Leonora’s eyes shone with a golden color, and the snake saw what was inside those eyes…… it was something more powerful than a mere spirit.

The snake then started to pulsate, as if it was going to explode. But instead, it melted and became a giant puddle of water–

(Oh… it became a… giant puddle?)

–And from the center of the puddle, a small and transparent fish with blue scales emerged, it then nodded it’s small head towards Leo and vanished back into the water.

That fish was probably a water spirit, but spirits aren’t evil, and they don’t usually attack people…… so without a doubt, it was the crest’s fault for what happened to the spirit.

But before any of them could understand what really had happened–

“–You guys did this?”

“…S-sensei…?”

Gustav was standing at the entrance of the church with a very steep expression on his face while glaring at the four of them. But Leo noticed something weird on Gustav’s right hand… for a brief moment, a blue light flickered there.

Well, that blue light wasn’t the main problem right now, so Leo didn’t mention it to the other three.

“Hahaha∼, we’re really sorry Gustav-sensei∼” – Said Rolf, trying calm Gustav’s anger.

However, Gustav wasn’t paying attention to Rolf, he was looking at the wet paper on Leonora’s right hand.

“Leonora von Harkenberg, that thing on your hand—”

(Awawawawawa! T-that’s right, the snake destroyed most of the chairs! Maybe he’ll ask for compensation!? But I don’t have enough money! W-what am I supposed to do!?)

Gustav’s glare was scary, but a debt that kept s...o...b..lling because you didn’t have enough money was way scarier.

Leonora started to tremble, you could even see some tears in her eyes, but Gustav’s glare didn’t have anything to do with it—

“—I’m sorry, Gustav-sensei. We were testing a new magic crest that I made. But it went out of control… unfortunately.”

— However, it didn’t stop Albert from stepping in between the two.

Albert was trying to take the blame on himself and protect Leonora. But in reality, he just wanted to look cool in front of her–

(Waaaaa∼! Sorry for misjudging you, Albert∼! You’re actually a nice guy, aren’t you∼!)

–Well, he did manage to look cool in front of her, but not in the way he wanted to, since Leo thought that Albert would pay for the repairs in his stead.

Oscar and Rolf then joined Albert and tried to convince Gustav that it wasn’t Leonora’s fault.

Back in the Hannah Orphanage, Leo acted as a “Big Brother” for all the other orphans and he sometimes took the blame in their places too. But right now, Leo, who was being scolded by Gustav, was the “Little Sister,” and his big brothers were trying to protect him.

(…*Sob*…Somehow, being treated as a little kid isn’t bad, but…)

However, Gustav wouldn’t back down, bad children needed to be punished.

“Leonora von Harkenberg not only destroyed most of the main hall, but she also put all of your lives in danger, so I, as a teacher, won’t let that slip.”

“But that’s exactly what we’re trying to tell you—!”

“—You’re coming with me, Leonora von Harkenberg.”

Gustav grabbed Leonora’s right hand and started walking towards the back room on the other side of the confession room—

“Ugh!”

“Gustav!!!”

—But Gustav pulled her with too much strength, and it hurt her wrists.

“Shut up, I don’t care if you’re the Crown Prince or the King, bad children must be scolded.”

“Then you’ll have to punish me too—”

Leo appreciated Albert’s support, but he had to face his punishment on his own—

“—Since I’m the one who invented the new crest!”

—After all, Leo was (originally) a man.

(Gustav-sensei is right, Hannah always scolded me when I did something wrong… I know that you’re a good guy, Albert. But I can’t let you be punished because of me…)

A real man would always a.s.sume responsibility for his actions.

“Albert-sama, Gustav-sensei is right, I did, something bad–”

Everyone could see that Leonora’s shoulders were trembling, but she wasn’t crying… her eyes were serious.

“–Thank you, for worrying, about me, but I’m, alright.”

“…Leonora….”

Oscar, Rolf and Albert were at a loss for words.

Sure, Leonora did activate an “Incomplete” magic crest, but she was just trying to help the citizens of Richard.

In the end, they couldn’t do anything against her resolve, so the three just stood there, watching Gustav take Leonora to the back room.

After reaching the back room, Gustav pointed to an old chair and said–

“–You can sit there….”

Gustav then leaned on the wall and crossed his arms.

The room was small, but at least it had a window and a desk.

“Do you know what you almost did, Leonora von Harkenberg?”

Leo nodded, he knew the church could’ve been destroyed because of that water snake.

“If you want, I can, give you, the money, to repair, the church, Gustav-sensei….”

The damage wasn’t much, and the snake just destroyed some of the chairs, besides, they weren’t that expensive.

“You don’t have to give anything for the repairs.”

(Eh…? No way…… Really!?)

Leo’s surprise was genuine, but that happy face made Gustav even more irritated and frustrated, since his plan didn’t work. However, Gustav still needed to maintain the facade of a kind teacher.

“You’re too careless, you could’ve died because of that magic crest.”

A smile suddenly appeared on the little girl’s face. At first, Leo was afraid of Gustav, but the new Head Priest wasn’t that scary anymore… after all, one of his students was in danger, so it was normal for him to be angry.

“I won’t, do that, ever again. I’m sorry, Gustav-sensei….”

“It’s okay… but why were you guys researching THAT magic crest?”

“Huh…?”

“That” magic crest was something that Gustav had seen before, but the person who was researching it wasn’t here (in this world) anymore.

“Why do you care so much about those wells that Francis and his team are building?”

Well, Leo never gave a s**t about being called a saint. In fact, he probably was the most greedy person in existence, so that t.i.tle was unfit for him. But the reason why Leo joined Oscar and his brother in building those new wells, was something much more complex than earning some gold coins.

“You see, sensei… in Richard, there’s barely, any clean water, to drink, so I wanted, to help, everyone there–”

The reason why Leo and the other orphans knew how to knit, wasn’t because they had the spare time to learn it. If they didn’t create their own clothes and other things, they’d die from the cold, since Richard’s winter season was harsh.

And the same thing applied to collecting water from the main well; because they were orphans, Leo and the others had to go to the nearby river to wash their clothes and then bring some water back to the smaller kids who couldn’t leave the orphanage.

“–Hee∼, so that’s why the people are calling you a saint?”

“N-no, I just want, to see everyone, happily smiling! I’m not, a saint–!”

A saint is someone brings joy and happiness to other people, though that’s something Gustav would never tell Leonora.

“–and, uh, I want to, show everyone, how awesome, the spirits, really are!”

If the citizens of Richard knew their city was being helped by the spirits, then maybe their faith in the church could be restored. But that was just an excuse that Leo created on the spot.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something, Leonora von Harkenberg… I hate arrogant women like you.”

Leo remained silent for about three seconds–

“………Heh?”

–Before letting out that pitiful sound.

(So, Gustav-sensei hates arrogant women? But I’m not arrogant, and I’m not a woman…)

First of all, Leo couldn’t understand why Gustav was talking about arrogant women in a serious conversation.

Gustav then looked at the confused Leonora and said–

“–I don’t need your help, I can restore our faith to it’s former glory without you meddling with us.”

“T-then, you don’t, like (arrogant and meddling) w-women, sensei?”

“I never liked (arrogant women) them.”

Apparently, Gustav hated arrogant women so much that he stopped liking women in general.

“T-then! How about, someone just, a bit older, than me!?”

Leo wanted to at least make sure Natalia had a chance with him, but Gustav’s next words shocked Leo even more.

“No way! I would rather be surrounded by the entire Holy Knight Order all day long, than to be in a relations.h.i.+p with one of those arrogant n.o.ble ladies!”

“!!!!!!”

(Wow! So Gustav-sensei swings that way! Who would’ve thought!)

That day, Leo learned to never judge a book by it’s cover.