What looked like a light bulb floated between us, shining upon Stella’s face. By the time her mouth opened wide in shock, the bulb had disappeared.
“Did you see that?”
“Yep. I did.”
“I cast a miracle...! Wow, that was my first time! I actually cast a miracle!”
Stella began celebrating with a sparkling smile. She lifted me up and spun in circles.
Not bad, spirits. A tsundere’s smile is the greatest miracle of all, isn’t it? I will acknowledge you as my compatriots.
“I did it! Thanks to you, I finally cast a miracle and...” Stella suddenly clamped her mouth shut. Her bright smile morphed into a prickly frown.
“What’s wrong? Keep on celebrating. I love the prickly attitude of tsunderes, but I adore their lovey-dovey smiles most of all.”
“Nobody asked for your opinion! I-I was just thinking I can’t let myself be satisfied over something so small,” she said. Apparently celebrating like that had left her embarrassed. She placed hands on her flushed cheeks. “That ball of light was like a bean at best. If that’s the best you can do, you really are a bottom-tier spirit.”
“I’m not a spirit to begin with, but yeah.”
“I’m grateful you let me cast a miracle, but you’re not the spirit for me, Otaku. After all, I’m aiming for the Opti Baculus.”
“Opti-what?”
“The top saint squadron of the military: the Opti Baculus, also known as the Staves of the Goddess. They’re an elite, tight-knit group known to be the strongest in the kingdom, and only the most skilled of saints can pass their brutal entry tests. I need a Grand Spirit, not a weak one like you,” Stella said.
If she had such a Grand Spirit, the other students would surely stop avoiding her. Meet the Goddess, become a human, and get Stella a Grand Spirit—we had a clear plan.
Lights began to pop up, one after another, back in the plaza. Stella glanced back, turning her head. “Looks like the festival is coming to a close. At the end of the Descension Ceremony, everyone uses miracles to bring light to the darkness and pray to the Goddess,” she explained. The lights filled the sky in the blink of an eye. It felt like I was seeing a sports arena get turned on.
“Should we form a light too?”
“What’s the point when your light can’t even last for more than a few moments? Don’t push yourself; just enjoy the sights.”
Fair enough. I decided to follow her lead.
Light engulfed the nighttime plaza. I was enraptured by the profile of the girl gazing upon it all. Her silver hair glittered under the light, and her long eyelashes left shadows across her face. She was prettier now than I had ever seen her.
A strong wind blew, and Stella grasped at her hair to hold it down; at the same time, cheers erupted at the plaza. The stage area seemed the loudest.
“This wind... Could Captain Hamiel be here as a guest?!”
“What, is that someone important?”
“Only the captain of the Opti Baculus! She’s said to be one of—if not the—strongest saint there is. After all, she has a Grand Spirit of Wind in her staff!” Stella exclaimed, excitement exuding from her. She must have really admired this woman.
“This ceremony has guests, then?”
“Captain Hamiel is a graduate of Antohsa. She visits sometimes when there’s a big event.”
“Want to go see?” I asked.
“No,” Stella replied with a shake of her head, then looked up. “I can see the Grand Spirit from here.”
I looked up too. The night sky was dotted with twinkling stars; after a moment of looking, white clouds suddenly formed from nothing and began to gather.
This is...
The clouds flew with immense speed and formed an obvious shape in the sky: a wide torso, large scales, sharp claws and fangs... A massive dragon that spanned the sky formed.
I felt my heart thump. The intensity was enough for me to be left speechless. The dragon was flying at such a low altitude it felt like I could reach out and touch it. It circled the plaza with all its infinite lights. The wind roared, and Stella’s robe loudly flapped behind her.
“Normally, you can’t see spirits, but high-ranking ones can give themselves forms like that. This is just a performance for the event, but if the kingdom were ever in danger, these winds would blow away all of its enemies,” Stella said, gazing upon the dragon blissfully.
So this is a Grand Spirit, huh...? No wonder Stella wants one for herself.
Clouds taking the form of a giant dragon and a constant tempest... That fireball the villainess shot out earlier seemed like child’s play now.
The soaring dragon ultimately curled around the statue of the Goddess to protect it, then disappeared.
Deafening applause filled the plaza. Stella ended up clapping too.
And that meant we were in go-mode.
Stella and I went over the plan one last time in the shrubbery.
“Listen up. Our time limit is the moment the date changes. Once the clock tower’s bell rings, the ceremony’s over. The Goddess will leave the statue. We have to touch it before then.”
I followed Stella’s eyes to the clock tower. If the clocks in this world were read the same as those I was familiar with, it was 11:30 right now.
“We just have to touch it for an instant, right?”
“Uh-huh. That will ascend you to the Goddess’s heavenly seat.”
Stella poked her head out to look at the plaza. Every last stand and table had been taken away. There was just the massive statue and about ten soldiers guarding it.
The soldiers seemed a bit relaxed, maybe since their duty was almost over. Some were yawning, some were eating a late-night kebab; none seemed overly tense.
The Grand Spirit of Wind’s performance had marked the end of the ceremony.
The students and staff-runners were urged out of the plaza, and Stella obeyed. We returned to her room, prepared for a bit, then stealthily returned to the plaza.
Stella was now wrapped in a black robe that reached all the way down to her ankles. She had covered her head with a large hood, hidden her silver hair in a ponytail under it, and even covered her mouth with a cloth.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Stella burst into the plaza with me on her back. It was otherwise empty, so the soldiers immediately noticed the mysterious robed figure.
“Who goes there?!” came the sharp shout. Since this was an all girls’ school, the soldiers who had been sent were all women too. They all had on plate armor and wielded staves.