Although I didn’t mention it when I was talking with Sirius, I vaguely suspected that the root cause of my blindness was a “blessing”—specifically, a blessing from the Spirit Lord. I thought this because the spirits had been teaching me how to control and use my power, and I was secretly casting heals on my knights and ladies-in-waiting. I knew exactly how to cure my eyes, but the spell never worked on them.
In other words, a force way stronger than my magic was sealing my eyes shut. Since I was a member of the Náv royal family, I had the Spirit Lord’s blood in me. There was no way he would curse his own descendants, which meant that my blindness only seemed unfortunate at first glance. It was actually a blessing from the Spirit Lord himself in disguise. I learned to sense the young spirits because of my blindness, and thanks to that, I also learned to speak their language.
Once, when I told a physician about my “unseen blessings,” he said, “Any part of you will wither if you have no use for it. Your ears are the same. For example, the Arteagian language has many sounds that don’t exist in our language, so an adult who hears their language for the first time won’t be able to pick up on those unique sounds very well. That is because our language has no need for them, and so over a long period of time, they become impossible to hear. I suspect that you are able to hear these ‘unseen blessings’ because you are young, Princess Serafina.”
The Spirit Lord had connected my world to that of the spirits. As the warmth of gratitude gushed through my heart, I opened my eyes for the first time and took in the world…
“Serafina?!” Sirius cried out in surprise when he saw me.
His reaction made sense since large tears from my newly opened eyes were streaming down my face…
“Sirius, the world is so pretty…” After everything that had happened, that was all I could say.
The only world I had known was one of darkness and occasional spots of white light. But the world was actually full of light, with blue skies and lush green trees. And the people were all unique, from their body types to their sparkling different hair colors. I’d never known that the world could be so beautiful, so diverse.
“I… I want to protect this beautiful world. Oh, now that I know how beautiful it is, I…”
I snapped my eyes wide open so that they could take in all the sights around me. I stood here as a saint, sworn to protect this beautiful world.
I gazed at Sirius with sorrow. My vision showed me all the knights who were injured because I acted too late.
“Sirius, I am a saint.”
“Yes, you are.” Sirius agreed without hesitation. He couldn’t understand me when I spoke in the spirit language, so he must have thought that I cured my eyes by myself.
“Please let me help, Sirius,” I begged him. “I know I’m in the way because I’ve never fought before, but I want to protect the knights.”
Sirius’s eyes widened at my dead serious expression before nodding firmly.
“Okay. Thank you, Serafina.”
He was probably able to say this because of his great strength. He could defeat every monster here by himself—just at the cost of many injured allies.
Wanting to repay his kindness, I opened my eyes even further and carefully looked around the scene. It felt strange taking in a bunch of information just by opening my eyes—like how many opponents were present, how many people were on my side, and how strong they all were. I understood it all instinctively.
As I scrambled to sort all of this information in my mind, I looked at Sirius. Even suffering with a paralysis affliction, the brave knight was incredibly strong. He could cut down every foe who came his way. Because he was strong enough to protect me—all of us, rather—he took on more of the burden, more of the wounds. In his kindness, he even prioritized my wish.
Sirius knew the battlefield far, far better than I did. A saint at her first battle was practically a useless baby. And yet he let me do as I wanted without even a frown—because he respected my desire to move forward.
Oh, my knight. My kind and thoughtful knight.
I so desperately wanted to protect him.
I stood behind all the knights so that I wouldn’t drag them down. Since I’d never fought with them before, I didn’t know how they did things. I wouldn’t want to get in their way, but I didn’t want to get separated from them either, so I made sure not to stand too far back.
Sirius sighed in relief when he saw where I had positioned myself. He wanted a first-timer like me to be in a secure place where he could protect me. That only made sense, of course. He didn’t know that I had a pact with a spirit, so he had no way of figuring out how strong I was as a saint. He was treating me the same way he would any saint on her first mission.
“I’ll help you out, Fi.”
Seven’s voice rang out as he appeared in front of me.
“Oh, Seven.”
It was my first time actually seeing my contracted spirit. He was a boy with mottled green hair who looked about the same age as me. He gave me a cute smile and waved both his hands casually, likely knowing that this was the first time I had laid eyes on him.
Looking at him took me back to the days we spent together in training. Day after day he was at my side, teaching me what it meant to be a saint. Healing the wounded. Reviving the fallen. Curing the sick. Making potions for light injuries. I thought that this was everything a saint did, but Seven and the other spirits taught me otherwise.
A saint…
Could remove status ailments like paralysis and charm. Cast buffs to increase speed and attack power. Wield defensive spells to ward against physical or magical attacks.
That was the true might of a saint.
I could use those spells because the spirits had taught them to me over the years. By drawing upon Seven’s strength for them, my powers could reach every corner of the battlefield.
“Hi there, Seven!” I called out to him in the spirit language.
This made Seven grin in delight. As he twirled high in the sky, I channeled his power into my spell. As if in response, the pact sigil on the back of my hands lit up—it was bright red, the same color as my hair.
When I was sure that the spirit’s power had been completely absorbed into my spell, I pointed a hand straight up at the air and unleashed the magic at every knight I could see.
“Heal!”
I uttered a single word—but it said everything.
As my voice cried out, a sparkling red light burst out from my hand and fell over the knights. Every wound closed up and completely disappeared before they could even blink.
“What?!”
“Huh?!”
The knights’ eyes widened in shock, which was a natural reaction to what just happened. Their wounds had been no laughing matter; some had broken arms or legs, while others lost chunks of their bodies or had holes in their stomachs. Each and every one of them was well past the point where a simple healing spell would work. At least, it was way beyond what they thought I could achieve without a spirit pact.
I turned to the dumbfounded knights and chanted another spell.
“Shatter the chains that bind and ensnare the knights’ bodies—Paralysis Cure!”
At my words, an explosion of sound rang out across the scene, and the chains around the knights’ bodies fell away. With that, it dawned on the knights that their status affliction was cured, and they blinked in confusion.
“Wha… Whaaaat?!”
The knights looked like they didn’t have the foggiest idea what had just happened. They patted themselves all over, swung their arms around, and stared in puzzlement at their healed bodies. Slowly but surely, they turned to me with questioning eyes.
But I didn’t have the time to answer them—I still hadn’t finished casting all the spells they needed. I held my hands over the knights to give them protection.
“Bequeath impenetrable armor upon these knights’ bodies—Paralysis Defense: +30%!”
The knights gazed at their bodies in shocked silence.
And finally, just to top things off, I chanted one more spell.
“Invigorate! Attack ×2; Speed ×2!”
Every knight’s jaw dropped, including Sirius’s, and they stared at me in utter confusion. Since they were all reacting in the same way, I was worried that I might have done something wrong. I had no experience fighting as a saint, so I must have made a rookie mistake if I was surprising all those veteran knights. Clenching my dress, I furrowed my brow and gloomily gazed back at them.
Sirius was the first to return to his senses. “Serafina, what did you do?!” he demanded sharply.
“Er, um, I used a saint’s supporting magic!” I insisted. I wanted them to know that, even if the outcome wasn’t what they expected, I had tried to do what I could in my role.
For some reason, everyone frowned very deeply. A profound silence filled the battlefield.
Then the knights around Sirius started scratching their heads in disbelief. “No, Serafina, you’re mistaken!” they roared. “This isn’t saint magic!”
“Paralysis Cure?! Paralysis Defense?! Invigorate?! None of those are saint spells! Those spells have never existed before! Nobody’s ever heard of them!”
“Princess Serafina, have you gotten saints mixed up with almighty goddesses?!”
At that last knight’s words, the commotion ground to a halt. “Oh, right! This is all a misunderstanding!” they agreed.
Then one of the knights bowed his head very low and shouted, “Princess Serafina, we are ever so grateful for your miraculous defense! I still don’t understand what’s happening, but I do know that I’m a new man! My body is patched up, and I feel so strong I can hardly recognize myself! We are definitely going to win now! O Mighty Saint of Crimson Hair, I vow to bring you victory!”
The other knights spoke similarly. “We shall bring victory to the Crimson Saint!”
With a bold declaration so loud the leaves trembled, the knights threw themselves onto the monsters with surprising vigor. Yes, I knew I had cast a buff on them, but the difference was so big it was like they were a completely new team. After a series of slashes and stabs, the monsters fell one after another. It was all so one-sided—not a single one of the knights even suffered a scratch.
“W-wow! You’re so strong! No wonder you’re knights of the kingdom!”
The knights cleaned up all the enemies as I watched on in wide-eyed wonder. Within practically seconds, the knights and I were the only ones left standing.