“Hey! I’m still here!”
The purple-haired loli interrupted the two with displeasure.
“Ahem… let’s put that aside for now—”
Fenn quickly regained his usual composed expression.
“Since today is Elena’s first day as a disciple…”
“How about we go out to eat to celebrate?”
“The restaurant we usually go to in the city center?”
Elena nodded, indicating no problem.
“R… really? You’re treating?”
Kelly eyed the black-haired man suspiciously, as if she didn’t believe he could be that generous.
“It’s not like you have any money right now…”
“If you don’t want to come, you can go home and keep tinkering with your instruments…”
“Hey! Don’t be like that—I was just kidding.”
…
As they walked through the city center, the square was already packed with people.
“The Holy Capital seems especially lively today… even though it’s not the weekend…”
Elena tilted her head in confusion.
“So many people gathered together… what’s going on…”
The three of them edged closer to the crowd.
A huge wave of people surrounded the podium at the center of the square.
On both sides of the podium stood blue and green flags.
The blue griffin flag of House Aurelian, and the green dove flag of House Valsir.
Sure enough, the person currently speaking was also an acquaintance—Elian’s younger sister, Lila.
The girl was wearing the nun’s habit of the Church, her blue hair not tied up, but falling naturally.
“If I am elected Saint, I will naturally defend the glory of the Church and live up to the name of the successive Saints of Eseriel…”
“I will care for the people’s livelihood… unite the populace, and bring the whole nation together…”
“I will strive to reduce the workload of the Church’s members… and pursue internal reform.”
Her hands rested naturally in front of her abdomen.
In public, Lila’s tone was very calm, with no trace of the little girl who clung to her brother and acted spoiled.
“Oh—it looks like it’s an event jointly hosted by the Aurelian and Valsir families.”
Kelly pushed up her glasses in sudden realization.
“For the candidate they jointly recommended for the Saintess Selection, to give a speech in front of the public.”
“The Saintess Selection?”
It sounded vaguely familiar.
Had she heard about it in the game?
“That’s right—half a year has passed since the last Saint left office… so it’s about time for a new Saint to be selected.”
“Each region of the Papal State appoints a candidate, and after the Church’s examination… those who are qualified become the next Saint.”
“The one on the podium… must be the candidate from the Holy Capital.”
‘…’
‘Lila’s dream has always been to become a Saint…’
‘She’s been preparing to become a Saint, Elena knew that.’
‘Time really flies…’
‘Without realizing it, Lila has been getting closer to her dream.’
‘But in Elena’s memory, she was still that little girl who called her “big brother” and followed her around…’
‘Will she… really succeed in the fiercely competitive Saintess Selection?’
…
“As for the Church… the internal affairs of the Church… I… um—”
The girl’s voice on stage seemed to tremble slightly.
“?”
What was that sound?
Was it… an illusion?
Whose breath was that just now?
After listening carefully for a while, the three gradually noticed something off.
“That’s strange… why is her pitch getting higher and higher?”
“And her face is getting redder and redder…”
“Could it be… she’s sick?”
The Great Magician was the first to guess.
‘Wait… wait? The Saintess Selection speech?’
Fenn finally realized why the term sounded so familiar…
In the game… there was a CG for this scene!
“Really…”
The silver-haired girl paused, swept with her Spiritual Sense, and seemed to discover something.
“Master! And on Lila… why can I sense such a strong trace of Wind Element gathering? Lila’s body… s… seems to be vibrating?”
“R… really! Is there some principle to casting Wind Magic on oneself?”
Kelly asked in confusion, first analyzing with a magician’s professionalism.
“I don’t recall any Wind Element spell that strengthens the body… that fits this situation… It’s unheard of…”
The loli also let out a curious sound.
Elena was one thing… but Kelly… having lived so many years, didn’t she know this either?
Based on the CG in the game, Fenn carefully analyzed the current situation—
Lila was probably carrying a Magic Stone.
No need to guess—it was definitely that blond bastard Voss’s perverse hobby…
He must have remotely… applied Wind Element magic to the Magic Stone, right?
Everyone knew from elementary magic textbooks that a Magic Stone would vibrate due to Wind Element Resonance.
And as for the result…
Lila’s expression on stage was also quite something…
It seemed the battle with the restless Magic Stone was fierce!
What was Lila desperately trying to hide?
She was working hard to prevent the public from discovering that…
the serious, earnest candidate was actually so…
That guy Voss was just too perverse.
“Does resonating there… help with the speech?”
Hey hey, don’t just guess randomly!
How could such a strange thing possibly have that kind of use!
Hearing the silver-haired girl’s dazed, puzzled tone, Fenn couldn’t bear to tell them the truth.
“But anyway… all this is just a formality… this girl… barring any surprises… will be the next Saint.”
Kelly waved her hand.
“Huh? Why?”
Elena and Fenn said in unison.
“Hmph—you inexperienced young ones—”
Kelly looked sympathetically at the “siblings.”
The loli put on an elder’s lecturing attitude again.
‘And she calls us inexperienced… there’s a lot you don’t know either…’
All-Knowing Miss Great Magician didn’t realize that her own reaction had just exposed her as a novice in certain areas too.
What was the difference between her reaction and Elena’s?
Fenn silently complained in his mind.
Fenn glanced at Lila on stage again.
Her flushed face could no longer be maintained, and her tone had obvious fluctuations…
And at the end of her sentences, she occasionally added filler words like “um” and “ah” to enrich the emotional color of the speech…
“Why does that girl love using so many filler words at the end of her sentences…”
Kelly quietly added.
“I know rich emotions are important for a speech… but this is already overdoing it for a speech…”
“Uh… actually, those aren’t filler words for the speech…”
As the one who understood everything, Fenn knew that this seemingly smooth speech was already unbearable to watch.
“L… let’s get back to the main topic—Kelly! Why are you so sure she’ll be the next Saint?”
“Hey… you don’t think… the Church’s Saint is elected by the people, one person one vote, do you?”
Kelly looked at the two political idiots.
“Isn’t… isn’t it?”
That caught them both off guard.
They had only heard of the Saintess Selection and knew it existed; they didn’t actually know how Saints were chosen.
“The Saint candidates first go through a preliminary exam—comparing talent, devotion of faith, magic aptitude, and so on. Only those who pass can enter the final stage.”
“Finally, the nation’s representatives vote among the remaining candidates to select the Saint of the era.”
“H… how do you know so much?”
Fenn looked at the unserious loli with newfound respect.
“Hey! Don’t judge by appearances! I’m one of the final judges!”
Fenn’s gaze annoyed her.
“What kind of look is that? You’re practically suspecting I’m a liar! I’m the Great Magician! As the representative of the Magic Association, of course I’m one of the judges!”
“The final stage is full of all kinds of hidden struggles! Every candidate has it hard! They’re restrained by various interest groups!”
Kelly’s face suddenly darkened, as if she was recounting some terrifying political struggle scenario.
“Th… then why do successive Saint candidates still hold so many speeches in front of the public…”
The silver-haired girl finally spoke. Her expression was a bit strained, as if some filter had shattered.
So things were quite different from what she had imagined…
There was so much entanglement of power and redistribution…
Elena had always thought that as the nation’s representative and symbol… things like the Saintess Selection should be pure and devout.
“Oh dear… Little Elena…”
Kelly looked at the naive girl.
“These speeches in front of the public… are really just to make your face known to the people… so they know you exist…”
“Throughout history, there have been many nuns… deeply loved by the people… who still couldn’t become the Saint…”
“To put it bluntly… this selection… has nothing to do with how popular you are. Even if you have the most passionate talent and dreams, if you don’t win over some power groups… your ambitions will come to nothing…”
So that’s how it is…
Lila is so innocent… even a bit slow… can she really find balance among all those interest groups?
Lila is so naive… can she really lead this country well?
These were things Elena had never thought about carefully before.
She only knew that her little sister wanted to be a Saint, and as her older brother, she should unconditionally support her.
After learning the inside story of the selection, the girl’s face, which had been filled with worry for her sister, cleared.
She looked seriously, appraisingly at the girl, listened to her speech, and recalled the images of past Saints from history books in her mind.
She was comparing… she was measuring how far her sister was from becoming a Saint.
Or rather… whether she was qualified to be a Saint at all.