Althea: The Legendary Saintess [Shoujo]

"It was delicious, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it sure was. So, what should we do now? Is there anywhere you want to go—"

As they left the shop and walked while chatting, Althea’s expression suddenly grew tense in the middle of their conversation.

"What's wrong, Althea?"

"Brother Sieg, I’m sorry, but could you come with me?"

From her expression, Siegfried understood that something bad was happening. He nodded silently, and upon confirming this, Althea began running towards the port.

The place they arrived at was the port, the only gateway to the principality. Upon reaching the port, they heard the voice of a middle-aged man scolding a young man. It seemed the young man had damaged some of the goods he was transporting.

Maybe he messed up at work. If that's the case, it doesn't feel right to intervene... The ominous feeling from before... it's gone now, so it should be fine... I guess.

Just as Althea decided to quietly leave the scene, her back tingled with a sudden chill.

At the same moment, Siegfried, who should have been beside her, shouted, "Watch out!"

When she turned around at his voice, she saw the young man who had been getting scolded earlier now thrusting a knife towards the middle-aged man.

Althea froze in shock at the sudden scene, while Siegfried, already running, called out to her.

"Althea, provide treatment!"

He then tackled the young man, who was about to strike with the knife again.

Althea, snapping back to reality, hurried over to the injured man to check his wound. The injury was deeper than she expected, and he was bleeding heavily.

...What should I do? The only magic I can use right now is stamina recovery magic... It’s better than doing nothing, but it won’t solve the problem fundamentally. If only I could go to town and call for help... But I can’t leave him here alone. He might run out of strength while I’m gone. What should I do...?

As Althea followed her training to press the wound and stop the bleeding, thinking through her options, the world around her suddenly darkened. When she looked up, a man with blue hair was standing in front of her, smiling.

"Need help, Althea?"

Seeing her blood-covered hands from pressing the wound, he continued with a slight grimace.

"...Shall I heal this?"

"Wh...?"

Surprised by his unexpected words, Althea watched as the blue-haired man started chanting an incantation she had never heard or read before.

As he chanted, a warm light spread from the wound she was pressing, and before she knew it, both the man’s wound and her blood-stained hands were clean.

Althea, shocked by the sudden turn of events, looked back and forth between the healed wound and her hands. When she finally looked up to thank him, the blue-haired man was gone.

...What just happened...? Who was that blue-haired person...?

The wounded man, who should have been hurt, groaned softly. Though his wound was healed, he hadn’t yet regained consciousness from the shock of being stabbed.

Relieved for the moment, Althea looked around for Siegfried, who had tackled the young man. She found him fighting in the port’s plaza. When she looked closely at his opponent, she saw that the young man who had stabbed the middle-aged man no longer had a human face.

He had definitely been a "young man" earlier.

But now, the one fighting Sieg was a bipedal beast with bleeding eyes, a split mouth, and exposed fangs.

Despite Siegfried landing blow after blow, enchanted with magic, the beast did not fall.

Wanting to help but unable to leave the unconscious man, Althea watched the battle intently.

"Are you here, Ciel?"

In response to her call, the blue-haired man who had healed the wound appeared before her.

"What is it?"

Expecting the usual small fairy form, Althea was surprised to see a human-sized figure.

"Ciel? Is that you?"

"Yes?"

"Were you here earlier?"

"Yes, I healed him."

Pointing to the middle-aged man on the ground, Ciel confirmed.

"Why are you in human form...? Never mind, there’s no time for that now. Could you watch over him? I need to go to Brother Sieg."

"Well, alright, since it’s your request, Althea. I’ll watch over him."

"Thank you."

Althea thanked Ciel and stealthily approached the plaza where Sieg was fighting.

Though I was surprised, I need to focus on stopping the fight between Brother Sieg and that young man. But why isn’t he using his magic sword?

Even without his usual sword, Siegfried could summon his magical sword, "Ifrit," used in exploration competitions. However, he only attacked with his magic-enchanted fists.

As she got closer, she could see the expressions on the fighters' faces. The beast, occasionally grimacing in pain, attacked repeatedly, while Siegfried punched back with a pained expression each time.

Maybe he isn’t using his magic sword because he doesn’t want to kill that young man?

Althea recalled something Siegfried had once told her.

The power of his magic sword was immense, enough to incinerate lower-tier monsters completely. Despite being monsters, they had much stronger bodies than regular people. A human couldn’t possibly withstand such power.

If Siegfried was avoiding using his magic sword to protect the young man, it made sense why he fought only with his fists.

I need to find a way to break through... If I can distract the beast’s attention...

She took one of her concealed weapons, held it in both hands, and chanted a wind magic spell. Then, she threw the weapon at the beast and shouted,

"Brother Sieg, duck!"

At Althea’s voice, Siegfried quickly ducked. The weapon flew towards the beast, but it dodged at the last moment, and upon seeing where the weapon had come from, it shoved Siegfried aside and charged at Althea.

"Althea!"

Siegfried, who had been shoved aside, quickly regained his balance and pursued the beastly young man.

At that moment, something whizzed right past Siegfried's right cheek.

It was a throwing weapon.

The moment Siegfried saw the weapon fly past, he shouted with certainty.

"Right shoulder! It's in the right shoulder!"

Hearing Siegfried's words, Althea murmured, "Right shoulder..." and the weapon reacted, embedding itself in the right shoulder of the beastly young man from behind.

The beastly young man, who had closed in on Althea, was now just seconds away from clawing her.

"Graaaah!"

With a blood-curdling scream, the beastly young man collapsed. From the weapon lodged in his right shoulder, a black mist burst forth.

"Fireball!"

Siegfried cast a spell at the black mist, engulfing it in flames until it eventually vanished along with the flames.

Althea, witnessing the young man collapse and the black mist disappear in flames, sank to the ground.

"Althea!"

Siegfried hurried to the fallen Althea and embraced her suddenly.

"I'm sorry... because I hesitated... I almost lost you..."

His hands trembled slightly as he held her.

Though startled by the embrace and the tension, Althea gradually calmed down upon seeing Siegfried's trembling form. She gently placed her hand on his back, responding softly.

"I'm safe. There's no need to apologize. I believe your decision not to harm a life was the right one. I'm glad that you care so much about life."

As she lightly patted his back to reassure him, Siegfried's trembling subsided, and he began to calm down.

At that moment, a rustling sound approached from behind, and Althea quickly pushed Siegfried away.

"Oh, well..."

The person who appeared was the Pope of the Illumi Church.

"I seem to have intruded. My apologies."

Feeling apologetic, the Pope offered his apologies, and Althea quickly turned to greet him.

"No intrusion at all. It's been a while, Your Holiness."

Siegfried, momentarily shocked by Althea's sudden rejection, quickly understood the reason and straightened up to greet the Pope as well.

"It is a pleasure to meet you officially for the first time. I am Siegried, the first prince of the Royal Grand Central Kingdom. It is an honor to meet you, Your Holiness."

"Hehe, no need for formalities in such an informal setting. But thank you for the courteous greetings. As the head  of a protectorate state. now, what has happened here?"

The Pope glanced at the middle-aged man lying on the ground and the young man who had fallen nearby.

The two of them exchanged glances and briefly explained the situation to the Pope.

"I see, I understand now."

After hearing their explanation, the Pope smiled warmly. Sensing something in the Pope's demeanor, Siegfried responded with a slightly suspicious tone.

"Thank you. By the way, why are you here, Your Holiness?"

Perhaps finding the timing too perfect, Siegfried's question carried an underlying suspicion. The Pope responded.

"I was on my way to the RGC."

"Yet you have no escort. For someone of your stature to travel alone..."

"It does seem suspicious, doesn't it? But, you two are also in a similar situation, aren't you?"

Despite the smile, it was hard to read the Pope's emotions. Continuing with the same expression, the Pope explained.

"There were escorts with me. However, sensing something amiss, I came ahead on my own. They should be arriving soon."

As the Pope looked up, a distant voice called out, "Your Holiness!"

Hearing the voice, Siegfried exhaled in relief and bowed his head.

"Please forgive my rudeness."

"No problem at all. I'm just glad my innocence has been proven. By the way... why are you two here?"

Althea answered his question.

"Well... I can't explain it well, but I had a bad feeling... so we came here."

"I see. I'm glad you're safe."

The Pope's response was surprisingly simple and direct.

Though the simplicity of his response was somewhat curious, Althea chose not to press further, attributing it to the arrival of the Pope's entourage.

The followers who had hurried over were expressing their grievances, saying things like "Your Holiness, please don't disappear so suddenly," and "We were searching everywhere for you." The Pope, seemingly unaffected by their complaints, instructed them to tend to the young man and the older man who had collapsed. Then, approaching Siegfried, he whispered something before speaking aloud for Althea to hear.

"Leave this to us. You two can head back now."

Considering whether it was appropriate to leave this matter to the Pope on his way to the great kingdom, they decided to accept his offer and returned to the town.