Chapter 34 - Apostle of Love - 3

The moment Terisa entered the meeting room, she sensed the awkward atmosphere and looked at Renée and Bera. They were sitting identically upright, staring straight ahead.

Naturally, a question slipped out.

“What are you two doing?”

Renée and Bera both turned toward Terisa at once. Bera bowed his head slightly in greeting, while Renée startled, her shoulders jumping.

Chuckling at their contrasting reactions, Terisa slowly walked over and sat opposite them.

“My apologies. It’s been so long since my last visit that we had a few things to discuss.”

“O-oh, no!”

Renée answered loudly, then shrank back as she realized her mistake.

Feeling another laugh escape her at the sight, Terisa looked from one to the other.

“Hmm...”

Bera was watching the shrinking Renée with concern, while Renée had her eyes squeezed shut and her cheeks flushed.

Terisa could see pink energy bubbling up from Renée.

'An unrequited love, then.'

She could tell at a glance.

Terisa’s divine powers allowed her to see emotions as colors. The less refined an emotion was, the more clearly she could see it.

A young girl’s awkward first love did not know how to hide itself, so even this brief look made it plain.

For some reason, Terisa felt delight welling up within her. She addressed Renée.

“Saintess, I hear Trebo has been teaching you the sacred arts. Is that right?”

“Oh, yes!”

“For the next month, I’ll teach you in his place. I’m a better teacher than that rascal Trebo.”

At the sudden declaration, Renée tilted her head, a worry occurring to her.

“Um... Is that all right? What if Master Trebo feels hurt...?”

Trebo had always treated her so warmly that she could not help worrying. Terisa listened, then nodded with a chuckle.

“Of course. Don’t you worry. That fellow will be delighted to have more free time.”

A shrewd assessment, Bera thought.

In truth, anyone who knew Trebo could have reached that conclusion. Everyone who visited the Grand Temple knew that the madman shut himself away, absorbed in his research.

Renée’s ignorance was solely the result of Bera’s ‘education.’ Trebo had never shown that obsessive side of himself in front of her, so she still knew nothing of his true disposition.

Terisa watched Bera nod slightly, then looked at the flustered Renée and added in a voice brimming with amusement,

“Put any lingering worries aside. I’ve known that rascal Trebo since he was knee-high, so I know him well. And there’s nothing I’m more confident in than teaching. What more need I say? I raised Bargo myself.”

Bera’s eyes widened at her words.

The person who had taught Bargo.

Now he understood why Bargo had been so respectful toward Terisa, and why she was so confident.

And with that understanding came a desire of his own.

“Might I ask to study alongside her?”

“Hmm?”

As Terisa turned her gaze toward him, Bera continued.

“I was just beginning to feel I’d reached the limits of studying the sacred arts on my own.”

It was not an empty excuse. Self-study had its limits. He had long since passed the point where instinct alone would suffice; it was time to delve into theory.

She had arrived at exactly the right moment. Bera waited for her answer with that thought in mind, only to flinch at what came next.

“Not you.”

A refusal.

“... May I ask why?”

“The lessons are for the Saintess alone. You’re to go elsewhere while I teach her.”

The words made no sense to him. Bera’s expression stiffened, and dismay spread across Renée’s face.

She would have to be apart from Bera.

That was what dismayed her. For some reason, she felt anxious, and her face grew increasingly restless.

Watching her expression, Terisa hummed thoughtfully, then settled the matter.

“You’ll interfere with my divine powers.”

Her divine powers. She would use them to teach. That must have been what she meant.

Bera wanted to retort, but he knew so little about the divine powers of love that arguing would only leave him worse off. He nodded his acceptance.

“... Understood.”

“Good. I hear you do quite well on your own anyway. What’s got you so impatient?”

“My apologies.”

“No need for apologies.”

Terisa chuckled.

“Now, how about we begin the lessons the day after tomorrow?”

“Oh, yes!”

The question came so swiftly that Renée answered before she could think.

Feeling, for some reason, that things were taking a strange turn, she nodded.

* * *

Two days later, in the clearing outside the hut.

Bera wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and surveyed his surroundings.

“Uuugh...”

“Uuurgh...”

The figures sprawled all around him, groaning miserably, were the twins and Rohan.

He had summoned them for the ‘education’ he had once decided to conduct regularly. Since he now had a reason to spend time apart from Renée, he had taken the opportunity to call them over and ‘educate’ them.

“Get up now. We haven’t finished sparring.”

Sprawled on the ground, Rohan flinched at his words and glared at Bera.

'Sparring, my ass!'

Wasn’t he just blowing off steam? Rohan had seen it clearly. Bera smiling as he swung his wooden sword at him! Bera whistling as he beat the twins!

It was unfair. So very, very unfair, but...

'He’s so goddamn strong...!'

There was no one here who would listen to the grievances of the weak.

Trembling with mounting indignation, Rohan turned toward Trebo, who was hiding behind a distant tree, and narrowed his eyes.

“Hey, kid. Isn’t Trebo going to ‘spar’?”

“No.”

“Why not?!”

He abruptly sat up as he snapped the question.

Bera considered him for a moment before answering.

“He’s no fun to hi—no, I felt there was no point in sparring with him, so I exempted him.”

No fun to hit. He had definitely been about to say that.

At his answer, Rohan glared at Trebo.

It was terribly unfair as far as Rohan was concerned, but that was how Bera saw it. Nothing came of beating Trebo. Not only did he lack even the minimum physical ability needed to spar, he was no fun to beat up, either.

A useless reject whose only asset was his madness, with no presence, no physical ability, and no satisfaction to be had in hitting him.

That was Trebo to Bera.

Bera looked at Trebo, grinning behind the distant tree, then turned away and spoke.

“Now, you’ve rested enough. We’re starting again. Twins, get up too.”

The twins flinched.

They had been lying still in an attempt to play dead, but Bera was merciless.

Pouting, Krek and Marek voiced their complaints.

“Bera is only nice to the Saintess. This is sex discrimination.”

“Rohan was right. Bera is a simp.”

“Hey!”

Rohan shouted. At Marek’s words, his whole body jolted, and he broke into a cold sweat, stealing glances at Bera’s face.

His gloomy eyes had sunk still deeper, looking like those of a dead man. His eyebrows lifted slightly, and a hollow little laugh escaped him.

“Did Rohan say that?”

He was asking the twins. They nodded repeatedly and elaborated.

“Rohan said it. Bera goes crazy whenever he sees a woman.”

“That’s right. Rohan said women would be Bera’s downfall.”

“No! No! No! I never said that!”

Rohan shrieked, desperately trying to salvage the situation, but even as he did, he knew.

'I’m fucked!'

There was no way out.

THUD.

Bera’s footstep rang in Rohan’s ears.

Rohan raised his head stiffly, and the wooden sword held high overhead filled his vision.

He closed his eyes and prayed that he would wake up before the day was out. That he would still be able to go out for a drink that night.

What followed was—

WHACK!

—a satisfyingly crisp impact.

* * *

While Bera was busy tussling with the other apostles, Renée sat facing Terisa, who had come to her quarters, and laughed awkwardly.

“Um... Sh-shall we begin, then?”

“Certainly. First, would you show me how much you’ve learned, Saintess?”

“Oh, yes!”

Renée nodded vigorously at Terisa’s request and brought both hands together before her chest to demonstrate the elemental arts she had been practicing.

Since this was her first demonstration for Terisa, she chose the one she was most confident in.

WHOOSH.

A campfire appeared above Renée’s hands.

Then came the worry.

'... Did it turn out right?'

It arose naturally, since she could not see the result herself.

Normally, Bera would look at what she had made and offer his comments, so she had no reason to be anxious. But now, without him beside her, her unease surged.

What if she had made a complete mess of it?

Growing restless with anxiety, Renée recalled Bera’s praise to dispel her unease. But then the incident from two days ago suddenly came back to her as well, and her cheeks reddened.

Inevitably, her composure faltered. The campfire she had made crumbled with a crackle, and she jumped at the sound.

Terisa watched the blushing, flustered Renée and shook her head.

'... She’s got it bad.'

Still, she understood. Hadn’t she herself lived immersed in those feelings at that age?

The sweetness of first love did not fade, even after all these years.

“I’m sorry. I lost my concentration...”

“What is there to apologize for? You’ve only been learning for a month or two. It would be stranger if you were already accomplished.”

“But still...”

“You’re doing well, Saintess. Hmm, did I mention it? Do you know where I’m currently stationed?”

Renée tilted her head at the question, then shook it and answered.

“Um, no. I haven’t heard yet.”

“At an academy. Telon Academy, up in the northeast.”

“Oh! I know that place too!”

Telon Academy. Even Renée knew of it.

Indeed, she could hardly not know. It was the most famous academy on the continent, where talented people from across the land gathered. Even someone who had lived in a remote country village like Renée knew its name.

A little awed by the thought, Renée continued.

“That’s impressive. I’ve heard even the professors there are quite distinguished.”

“There are people who awaken to divine energy wherever you go. The Holy Empire received a request for assistance, so I went. Oh, but not as an apostle, of course. I joined as an ordinary priest.”

“Oh...”

“The reason I mention this is that I wanted to tell you how quickly you’re learning, Saintess. Those students don’t reach your level even after spending an entire semester on it.”

Terisa delivered the answer with a chuckle. Feeling bashful, Renée scratched her cheek and lowered her head.

“Y-you’re embarrassing me...”

“Have confidence. You’re quite talented, Saintess.”

“Yes.”

Watching Renée answer with a bright smile, Terisa chuckled again, then reached out and took her hands.

Renée’s hands twitched in surprise, but once she realized the hands holding hers were Terisa’s, she composed herself.

“Now, I’ll be teaching you through my divine powers.”

“Your divine powers...?”

“The divine powers of love. They connect us to one another.”

A month was a short time. Terisa intended to teach Renée as efficiently as possible, so that she could make tremendous progress in that brief span.

“I’ll use my divine powers to link our divine energy. When I perform the sacred arts in that state, you’ll be able to feel how the energy moves. Remember that sensation, then reproduce it once my demonstration is over. Do you understand?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Don’t worry about failing when you try it yourself. I’ll correct anything you get wrong.”

She spoke in a soothing tone.

For some reason, her words put Renée at ease, and she nodded.

“Now, let’s begin.”

HUMMM.

Along with a low vibration, Renée felt something ticklish reach deep inside her.

A sensation with a certain warmth to it.

Then Terisa’s sacred arts manifested.