In addition to introductions, today was supposed to be a conference to discuss our strategy for taking down the One-Armed Giant. After greeting everyone in the dining room of the nobleman’s house, we all took our seats.
The princess was to my right, and Irislaevi—the holy woman of Drizzle whom I had just met—was to my left. Calling her “ma’am” seemed to have pleased her greatly. Seeing that Irislaevi had taken the seat next to me, Bronze’s holy knight, Serrulata, looked upset for a moment, then reluctantly sat in a different chair.
“I’d like to start eating already. Has anyone seen Scorching Sun?” asked Drizzle’s holy knight, the fox-eyed Lycoris.
Then, the dining room’s door slammed open. “Sorry I’m late!” A woman with bright-red hair with a slight yellow tint entered the room. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail on her right side. She had amber eyes, healthy skin, and toned muscles. Although her uniform was that of a holy woman, the skirt was extremely short and her chest looked like it might spill out at any moment. Not only that, but her makeup was perfectly done and her nails were vibrantly colored. She seemed to be around twenty.
Her appearance struck me as a little odd, but things had probably changed over the last three centuries—or so I thought, until I saw the princess looking wide-eyed. At the very least, it wasn’t a kind of fashion popular among noblewomen.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Lady Campsis.” Nemophila of Blizzard greeted her with an emotionless smile.
“C’mon, Nemo! I told you before, that’s not cute! Call me ‘Sis’!”
“Pardon me, Lady Sis.”
“That’s not what— Well, whatever! I’m Sis! For the new faces, nice to meetcha!” Campsis said, looking over the table.
“My name is Glenn. My apologies for our late arrival. Our carriage ran into some monsters on the way here.” Oh, I had totally forgotten. There was a tall, good-looking blond guy in his midtwenties standing next to Campsis. I had been so unenthused about his presence that I’d neglected to even make a mental image of him. Oh well. No part of his slicked-back hair, blazing red eyes, or large sword at his hip caught my interest.
The only thing the two members of Scorching Sun had in common was the crest representing a brilliant sun on their uniforms. I smiled at Campsis and the others exchanged greetings with her.
“Huh?! You and Al are first-years, Tia? Like, you only just recently enrolled at the academy?”
The princess responded to Campsis’s surprise with an awkward smile. “Y-Yes, that’s correct.”
“Wow, and you’re already Colors! You must be really strong too, huh, Al?”
“I guess,” I replied.
“How honest!” Campsis seemed to find my response funny and giggled.
“Campsis, take a seat. We can save the chatting for later.” Glenn, or Greg, or whatever his name was, urged her to sit down.
“You’re no fun, Glenn.”
After giving thanks for our meal, it was finally time to eat. After taking our time eating the slightly cold food, we got down to business.
“Once again, I would like to give an overview of the One-Armed Giant.” Since she and her family had devised this mission, Nemophila took the lead. “The giant is the member of the Twelve Corpses that calls the Forbidden City Trislimigante home. It’s active throughout the entire city and uses its unique ability, Tracking Field, to detect and eliminate intruders.”
I was familiar with Trislimigante. At the time it was built, it had rested near the border of an enemy country. There was a large fortress nearby that had been used to repel invasions, or so I’d heard.
“Supposedly, the giant was once an excellent soldier who protected Fort Gigareno.” That jogged my memory. The giant had once been known as “The Giant of Trislimigante.” Maybe that was why it attacked any who posed a threat to the curions in Trislimigante. Even in death, it still considered them under its protection. And saints coming through the barrier were enemies threatening the peace. Three hundred years later, it was still trying to protect its country.
It held a deep love for its country. If we could just communicate with it, we could convince it that we weren’t enemies. No, probably not. The people of Trislimigante who have obtained eternal life are gonna try to kill us, and we’re gonna have to fight back. There’s no way to avoid the giant seeing us as hostile.
“When it detects any trespassers, it lets out a shout and the citizens evacuate to the center of the city. Then the giant begins eliminating the intruders.” Instead of going around and killing other curions like I had, the giant protected them and as such was recognized as an ally. It was different from me, who had sought to slaughter all the undead as a holy knight, and Hector the guardian dragon, who had killed undead that approached the church to keep his promise to his friend. The giant was trusted by the curions in its city.
“Thus far, two pairs of previous Twelve Saints and hundreds of ordinary saint pairs have lost their lives to the giant.” That meant it was strong enough to kill people chosen as the Twelve Saints—people on our level. “We must bring the giant salvation so that their sacrifices aren’t in vain.” Nemophila’s emotionless words echoed futilely through the dining room.
After that, we all verified each other’s abilities and shifted to the actual strategy meeting. Naturally, I didn’t mention my Bone Sword Generation or Pestilent Fire. The blue-haired asshole hid his Tremor Transmission but passed Golden Garden off as the ability to create and control vines stored in their Heavenly Sword. Given that he and Nemophila were members of the Twelve Saints, it was a believable lie to allow him to use his powers out in the open.
“Ordinarily, we would have the Twelve Saints fight the giant with the Colors offering support,” said Scorching Sun’s holy knight, G-something-or-other. He was probably thinking that young holy women shouldn’t be on the front lines, no matter how outstanding they might be. It was the adult stance to take. Many adults would have been happy to send their underlings on a suicide mission, so he seemed like a decent person. However, I particularly despised handsome men, so my opinion of him wasn’t going to improve.
“Hey, can I ask a question?” I raised my hand.
“Go ahead.” Nemophila nodded.
“The giant won’t attack its citizens, right?”
“That’s correct, Sir Albert,” Nemophila replied with a smile.
“Then why don’t we sever their limbs and take them hostage? That way the giant won’t be able to attack us.” I immediately got the impression that most people in the room were repulsed by the idea. Only the princess’s sister, Orlaya, and Drizzle’s holy woman, Irislaevi, seemed to seriously consider it. Nemophila remained smiling.
“Heh heh heh, a logical proposal. I think it’d be an effective strategy,” said Irislaevi. “It’s worth trying.”
“By adopting this strategy, the holy knights wouldn’t be required to protect their holy women to the same extent and would be granted a greater degree of freedom,” Orlaya added. The two of them understood the advantages.
“Curions are victims of the witch’s curse. Their lives have already been irreversibly warped—causing them unnecessary suffering and using them as shields is unacceptable.”
“Now, now, Glenn. Exchanging ideas is important.” Campsis tried to calm her holy knight.