Stella sprinted without deigning to respond; as per our plans, she cut through the plaza without approaching the statue.
“You there, robed person! Stop! We’ll shoot!”
Stella froze, and shot one glance at the soldiers. The guards relaxed just a bit thanks to her following their orders.
“It’s past curfew for the dormitory. Take off that hood and state the name of your class.”
This time, Stella didn’t obey. She stood in silence, hood still covering her eyes.
The soldiers frowned. “I will repeat—take off your hood and identify yourself. Otherwise, we’ll have to detain you.”
Several of the soldiers approached. Once they were close enough, that was my mark to yell. “Tch! I’m not gonna get caught now, of all times!”
A shudder ran through the soldiers—my voice was far too deep to be a girl’s.
“It’s a man?!”
Stella’s face was hidden by cloth. The hood hid her long hair and slender neck, and with the robe hiding her figure, one couldn’t tell her gender for sure. (Though Stella had stamped her feet in an angry tantrum when I’d pointed that out back in her room.)
“A male has infiltrated Antohsa... Unthinkable!”
“Catch him at once!”
A palpable murderous intent radiated off the knights—just as Stella had predicted earlier. The older gentlemen running the stands had been let in for the festival, but under normal circumstances, men would get the soldiers charging right for them. Securing a male infiltrator came before anything. The knights did indeed charge right for us, their armor clinking.
Stella had already resumed sprinting to the exit.
“Halt! Terararia Sei— Gah!”
Stella threw a pouch of flour onto the chanting soldier’s face, inciting a coughing fit that left her unable to chant any miracles.
“Aha ha ha! That’s what you deserve!” I cackled. My role here was to provide my voice. I’d bait them so hard they’d forget all about guarding the statue. “Catch me if you can, small fries!”
“You...!”
Stella threw pouch after pouch while I was taunting the soldiers, thereby keeping them unable to chant. She resumed running once they were totally covered in flour.
“You villain! We won’t let you get away!”
The soldiers wiped the flour off and swung their staves.
“O Spirits of Light, Luxsaria Sein!”
“O Spirits of Earth, Terararia Sein!”
“O Spirits of Fire, Ignaria Sein!”
It was a flurry of miracles. Despite it being near midnight, Stella was lit up like a spotlight, and balls of fire and earth shot toward her like bullets.
“Stella!”
“I know.”
I was getting nervous, but Stella remained completely calm. She jumped into some bushes; the fireballs and earth chunks hit the trunk of the shrubs. She lowered her head and kept running while using the shrubs as shields. The armored knights failed to catch up to Stella and couldn’t land even a single blow.
Whew. I did a bit of a mental victory pose in relief.
Everything was going according to plan. I had thought the same during the trout fight, but Stella had incredibly honed fighting instincts. She held her own against saints without any miracles of her own. This was likely how Stella had survived all the difficulties in her life up until now using only her own body.
The soldiers ended up infuriated.
“Ngh, one trick after another...!”
“He’ll make it out at this rate. Close the plaza!”
A soldier gripped a staff and slammed it against the cobblestone ground. They gripped it with both hands and began to chant.
“Yet the miracle-made castle walls never faltered, not even before thousands upon thousands of magibeasts. Terararia Sein!”
Suddenly, a wall resembling that of a castle’s suddenly appeared in front of Stella. That blocked the plaza’s exit, and left Stella without a path forward.
So this is the power of miracles...!
I could only look up in a daze at the wall looming before us. Stella stopped too, as if unsure of what to do next.
“Now you have no chance of escape. We’ve caught you, rogue.”
The knights were closing in the distance from behind.
What do we do? Come on, me, think of something...!
Our plan would fail if Stella couldn’t escape from the plaza. And just as I began to panic...her breath tickled what would’ve been my ear.
“Chant in a loud voice,” she whispered, her lips almost touching me.
I obeyed at once.
“...May the third seal be broken!” I roared. The knights froze in shock. “She who kills is a calamity! She who steals is a calamity! She who violates is a calamity! The heavens punish those who aid witches. Those who seek magic will be burned in the hottest of hells. Eternal torment descends upon those who seek to overthrow the gods...!”
“Not this chant...!”
“A flood is coming. Protect the slips!”
Apparently the chant Stella taught me was for an incredibly powerful chant. The soldiers shored up their defenses with miracles. In the blink of an eye, a wall had formed between Stella and the soldiers.
I continued my chant, feeling as if I were a true miracle user. “The sea of blood that fell from the heavens sank the seven continents, washing the witch away. Aquaria Sein!”
My chant ended...but there was only silence. Far from a flood, there wasn’t even a drop of water.
The confused soldiers poked their heads around the wall.
“Gah?!”
What they saw was Stella climbing over the plaza’s wall. While the soldiers had been hiding, Stella had used her knife to climb—something only possible due to her physical strength.
“Adios!” I called triumphantly, and Stella landed on the other end.
“Ngh! We were tricked!”
“Chase him, now!”
The soldiers made their walls disappear and chased after us, but they were too slow. Stella had escaped the plaza.
She immediately turned a corner and removed her hood. She tossed the cloth around her mouth into some shrubs and undid the ponytail binding her wealth of silver hair.
Now she was obviously a girl.
Some clambering footsteps came, and the soldiers turned the corner with such speed they nearly bumped into Stella.
“Eek!”
“Got you!”
Stella fell back onto her rear. The soldiers all instantly thrust their staves into her face. A light orb floating in the air lit her up.
“Hm? A girl...?”
The soldiers frowned. The person on the ground in front of them was a girl with long silver hair. She was wearing a robe, but who didn’t in this world?
“What are you doing out at this hour?”
“S-Sorry. I dropped a really important hairpin, and I can’t find it...” Stella replied in her high, girly voice; anyone could tell she was no man.