The next day, Mil was back in the library.
The spell took almost two hours to learn, probably because she’d only just barely reached the required stat. There was daylight when she started, but it had faded while she’d been busy. The evening sky visible through the library’s skylights was growing dark.
Mil had large-scale elimination magic at her disposal in the form of Extinction Gate, and she was eager to give it a whirl.
“What can I use...? What can I use...? Oh, I know.”
She remembered the straw training dummies. They’d be ideal for testing the spell’s power.
Mil quickly returned the book to the shelf and hurried toward the training hall.
She opened the training hall’s door to find the orcs resting, having just finished for the day.
The large orc captain noticed her. “Oh, Princess. You’re back again?”
After seeing the orcs almost every day, Mil was beginning to recognize the slight differences in their faces.
“Yes! I wanna try something out.”
The orc trembled. “Uh... Th-Thing is, we’re already done training for today. Sorry.” After taking so many beatings from Mil, he automatically assumed she was about to try some new attack on him.
Mil felt a little bad. “No, I wanna use a training dummy.”
“A dummy? All right, but what for?”
“I’m gonna practice a spell I’ve just learned.”
The orc looked relieved. “Oh, then go for it. The dummies are all yours.”
“Yay! Thanks!”
She went and stood facing a dummy near the edge of the training hall.
The other resting orcs began to notice her.
“Oh, it’s our saint.”
“Hey, heal me up after.”
“What’re you doing, saint?”
Soon there was a gathering around Mil and the training dummy, with her as the center of attention. The orcs had gotten quite fond of her after she’d healed their wounds so many times.
“Now I’m getting nervous...” Mil cleared her throat as she tried to relax, and then she held out her hands. She held an image in her head of a black hole opening up before her. “Extinction Gate!”
A small bead appeared at the center of the dummy’s chest. It was blacker than pitch, as if not even light could escape it. A strange sound followed, like a steel blade twisting and snapping, as the dark bead grew to completely subsume the dummy and then some.
“Whoa! What is that?!”
“Is that magic?!”
Some of the orcs sounded scared.
A moment later, the bead shrank to about the size of a fingertip and then vanished completely. Where the dummy had once stood there was nothing left but a circular crater. It was as if the whole region of space had been deleted.
This was the power of Extinction Gate. Even Mil herself didn’t know where the dummy had gone.
“Eek...”
“Uh... Wuh...”
Every orc was too stunned to speak. Terror was clear on the faces of everyone in the training hall. This was some strange form of magic that struck fear into the heart of anyone who witnessed it.
“Th-That was...” Mil’s hands were shaking.
She’d stumbled upon magic that could erase anyone and anything, with no regard for their magic resistances. If she used it on a living thing...the consequences didn’t bear thinking about.
The orc captain saw Mil’s reaction and grew concerned. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “I see you’ve learned some fearsome magic, Princess. But it’ll be your choices that decide whether it’s a power for good or for evil. You needn’t fret. Take it slow, and with practice—”
“This is awesome! It’s perfect for getting rid of big pieces of trash! Garbage is a solved problem!”
“Uh...?”
There wasn’t a hint of fear or caution in Mil’s mind. Her dominating thought was, This is super useful!
“Aren’t you scared, Princess?”
“Huh? Well, I’m sure concerned about how much mana it uses up, but that aside, I can do all kinds of stuff with this! Teh heh heh. I’ve learned the most useful spell ever.” An angelic smile graced Mil’s face.
“Sh-She’s smiling.”
The smiles of the orcs around her, however, were more like grimaces.
“I’m starting to think she’s the devil.”
“If she’s okay with it, then everything’s fine...I guess?”
Mil turned to the captain. “Thanks, Mr. Orc! I’ll be back if I want to test anything else!” Then she waved goodbye and dashed out of the training hall.
Speaking in unison, all the orcs solemnly agreed, “We’ve raised our saint into a monster...”
Mil had grown far stronger than any of them.
✧✧✧
“I’m back, Mr. Treasure Vault.”
She’d returned to the same room she’d visited many times before. She slowly opened the old wooden door and stepped inside. Next, she opened the door to the secret room and headed farther in.
“Yep, yep. All still here.”
The magic sword, Ragnarok, was still on the wall where she’d left it.
Mil picked it up and drew it from its scabbard.
It wasn’t heavy anymore. What had once felt like a lead weight was now light as a feather. Even an ordinary longsword would have had more heft.
“I wonder if there’s anything else in here I should take—I mean, borrow.”
She’d been so fixated on this sword that she hadn’t examined the other enchanted items in the room. She decided to take a quick look around for anything that might prove useful.
“Hm? What’s this thing?”
There was a bag on the wall designed to be worn over one shoulder. It looked like a perfectly ordinary cloth bag, but if it was hanging up in this treasure vault, it had to be special somehow.
She examined it with Goddess Eye.
Accessory: Dimensional Bag
Required Stats: none
Description: Contains a subspace within that drastically increases capacity.
Although it looked like a small shoulder bag, Mil could see plenty of empty space inside.
“I had no idea there were items like this.”
With this bag, she’d be able to pick up all the enchanted items she wanted.
“Maybe I can take everything in here.”
The glass case beside her was filled with bracelets, anklets, and broaches, but her bag was big enough to hold them all
“Hm? How does this case open?”
There was a keyhole, but she couldn’t see any keys. She tried searching for it among the swords on the wall and behind a suit of armor, and then...
“Oops!”
Crash!
She’d accidentally knocked over the armor, smashing open the glass case.
“Well, if it’s broken, I might as well empty it.”
Anyone watching her stuff all the items into the bag might have mistaken her for a thief.
“And then for armor...this should do it.”
Besides the fallen suit of armor, there was also a black set of light armor. It was lightweight and would let her move freely.
This was the best choice for someone with a long journey ahead. She certainly didn’t want to travel in anything heavy. She’d get tired.
She put the armor in the bag with the rest. A set of armor wouldn’t normally have fit, but the bag held it no problem, with plenty of room to spare.
Once she was done collecting enchanted items and equipment she sighed. “Whew. I think that does it.”
She’d raised her level, gained a weapon, and learned forbidden magic. She was all set for her adventure.
✧✧✧
The next morning, Mil was supposed to head for the throne room and help demonkin by examining them with Goddess Eye and awakening their skills with Blessings of the Goddess. But she had other plans.
She’d chosen clothes that made for easy movement along with a short skirt. She was carrying Ragnarok at her waist, slung the bag over her shoulder, and wearing the light armor she’d taken from the treasure vault. She was ready to head out.
Mil closed the door to her room, turned to face it, and put her hands together in prayer. “Thank you for looking after me, but it’s time for me to leave the castle.”
She hadn’t told anyone that she was planning to leave. She knew they’d object.