Wherever he goes, he sets off a great pile of upheaval and destruction. This is what is meant by protagonist physique.
That phrase 【Equal Rights Front】 that had leapt out of the panicked words around her pulled Miss Angel somewhat out of the scene.
Was an organization of that sort really something that turned up in a magical-fantasy worldview like this?
In her original world, although enormous differences arose between one person and another because of the circumstances they were born into, there was one point that was fair and impartial towards anybody at all—
However beautiful the face, however clever the mind, however great the power and the wealth, all of it counted for nothing before the fury of an ordinary man who could spill blood within five paces.
So in the world of her previous life, something like "all people are equal" was needed, a saying to make everyone restrain the impulse towards 【blood within five paces】.
But in this world it meant nothing.
The wings beneath the cloak spread slightly, Miss Angel's clean white feathers showing a little from under it, and she floated up into the air.
The power of flight that humans in her previous life had longed for across ten million years was, to her, simply an ability she had been born with.
"Miss Seraphia! What's the situation?"
Shu, below her, was using a tone unlike his usual one. He still used polite forms, but the note of urgency in it was unmistakable.
"A very large building has exploded. It looks like a workshop of some kind...?"
At a moment like this, Seraphia rather hated how extremely good her eyesight was. She could see clearly, in the area near the explosion, people who had gone down on the ground coughing up blood and fragments of viscera because the blast wave had ruptured their organs, and people burning from head to foot, thrashing on the ground as though they had fallen into hell.
She felt her own blood begin to run faster, and her heart begin to beat more quickly.
People.
People had died.
Actual human beings had died.
And they had died in this extremely 【real and reasonable】 way.
That perfect eyesight had taken in the last moments of their lives perfectly.
And then, in the next instant, the halo above her head flared violently—
A tsunami.
A tsunami of emotion.
Pain, despair, hatred, rage, longing, hope.
Human emotion surged in like a tidal wave, lashing at Seraphia's nerves.
Her golden pupils lost focus slightly, and her mind fell into a state of arrested thought.
Had she lived out her previous life in that safe and peaceful country, she might never have seen a scene like this in her whole life.
Under the impact on her spirit, an expression of pain welled up on her face, and amid a ringing in her ears her thoughts were scattered and churned to pieces.
"Miss Seraphia! Miss Seraphia! Miss Seraphia!"
What pulled her back to reality and to what was in front of her was Shu's shouting, and the pure emotion pouring endlessly off him.
It was a pure emotion the Seraphia of this moment could not describe. She only knew that in her perception of emotion, he was releasing 【radiance】 like the sun.
"Miss Seraphia! Can you hear me?!"
"Mm... I hear you."
"My legs are too slow. I need you to carry me to the site, Miss Seraphia. As quickly as you can, please. The sooner we get there, the better the chance of saving some of them."
Right. People had to be saved.
The unfocused golden pupils found their focus again, and she dove towards the ground, put out both arms and swept Shu into them, spread her wings fully, and shot towards the centre of the explosion.
In that state of full acceleration, Shu, carried up into the sky by Seraphia, expected to be torn to pieces by the gale at such speed. Instead, to his surprise, held in Miss Angel's arms, he could not feel the slightest current of air passing him.
It was as though she did not exist within reality. For all that she was flying at a very great speed, she was entirely unaffected by any factor of the real world.
【Come to think of it, when I saw her fly up earlier, her wings weren't moving at all either. So an angel's power of flight seems to be a special kind of innate magic as well...】
Just as Shu was thinking the question over, Miss Angel's voice came to him clearly.
"We're here."
The rapidly changing scenery in front of him stopped in an instant, and as he came down out of Seraphia's arms he landed steadily on the ground. At the same time, the searing heat outside the fire began slowly to reach him.
Angel Airlines. A surprisingly good ride.
Shu had no time to think about that sort of thing, however. The instant both feet touched the ground, he set off and charged into the fire.
There was not the slightest hesitation in his movement, and not the slightest hesitation in his emotions either.
"Wait..."
Seraphia had no time to call him back. He had made no protective preparations whatsoever, and simply charged straight in.
【Never mind... a fire of this scale...】
Miss Angel walked into the workshop, now turned into a stretch of purgatory, close behind him.
She caught up with Shu quickly, and then used her own emotion-sensing ability to point out the way for him.
"That's a huge help!"
Following the direction she indicated, Shu quickly found the barely breathing wounded. From the small pack he carried he produced a glass bottle holding a pale red liquid, the classic-feeling healing potion, gave the injured a simple dose of it, and then looked over at her gravely.
"You're faster than I am, Miss Seraphia. Please help me move the wounded outside. I've fed them some potion, so they should hold out until rescue arrives!"
Before their departure, when the duties between Hero Candidate and Holy Wing were being explained, that Bishop had mentioned that a Holy Wing's actual duty was chiefly to oversee the state of the Hero Candidate: on the one hand to keep the candidate from dying, and on the other to assess the person's character and morals.
Although only one true Hero appears in each generation, most Hero Candidates also have the potential to become powerful, so the Church chooses to entrust these candidates with heavy responsibilities, which makes 【political vetting】 important as well.
By the Church's standards of judgement, this soft-hearted-sap protagonist personality was probably UR grade.
Her mind might have been wandering, but in the space of an instant Seraphia had already carried the man outside.
Then she went back into the fire again. The broad robe covering her had been smoked and scorched into rags, exposing her original appearance, and those people, while their consciousness was unclear, were hauled out of a fire by someone shaped like an angel and converted on the spot, in their own minds, into believers of the Church of the Holy Name—
This whole picture was a walking advertisement for the Church of the Holy Name!
While saving people, Seraphia grumbled to herself inwardly, resolving that the next time she went back she would make those old geezers at the church drop a few more gold coins so she could live well for a few days.
On what must have been an uncountable return into the fire, she could hear Shu coughing from a long way off. His physical constitution was a little stronger than an ordinary person's, but it had not reached Seraphia's monstrous tier, and so he was nearly at his limit.
The strong sources of emotion within the fire were growing fewer as well, though. Most of the people had not, in the end, pulled through.
And it was just then that Seraphia noticed an anomalous emotion inside the fire.
This person's emotions were extremely contradictory too, so contradictory that Seraphia could not make out what this person was thinking.
Out of curiosity, she moved slowly closer to that person.
And when she had passed through a corridor wrapped in flame and reached an area that looked like offices, a sense of crisis struck her instantly.
Instinct moved a step ahead of her thoughts. A spear formed of pure ivory-white energy appeared in her hand and blocked a red blade coming for her throat.
"Ho. A church-model wingfolk. What are you looking for in here?" With flamboyant red hair and dark gold eyes, a girl dressed like a night-roving swordsman looked Seraphia over with a faintly cynical tone. "A weapon formed directly out of pure mana? Your innate magic, by the look of it. That kind of innate magic is quite enviable."
"Who are you?"
"And what are you, then?"
She laughed lightly and swung the weapon in her hand again, launching a swift, violent attack at Miss Angel aimed straight for a vital point.
Without any need for thought, Seraphia's body automatically adopted watertight defensive measures in response to the attack.
The energy spear whirled in both hands and blocked the attack. The strike that came in from a tricky angle, which the spear could not defend perfectly, was barely turned aside by it, and the red blade slid along the shaft, going straight for her wrist.
Then the spear of light vanished in an instant, replaced by a dueling sword with a hand guard, and as the guard knocked the blade away, she drove forward in a long stride and thrust at the red-haired girl's shoulder.
Akane dodged aside, hopped back a little to open the distance, and said with a light laugh:
"Quick reactions, too. And... that innate magic of yours really is quite practical for a fighter... huh?"
What interrupted her were several throwing knives Seraphia had condensed between her fingers, though they failed to do any effective damage. The knives of light were flicked away by her long red blade and buried themselves in the burning wall, dissolving into countless small points of light.
In the next instant, what appeared in Seraphia's hand was an enormous bow of light, an arrow as large as a thrown javelin nocked to it, the arrow's tip pointed straight at the girl's face.
"Whoa. Now that really is..."