'How am I supposed to undo that.'
The Saint's condition was more serious than I'd thought.
The cause of the holy power being stopped up was divine power. Divine power was wedged with exquisite precision into the paths along which holy power flows.
Divine power and holy power have a clear hierarchy between them.
Divine power is a god's power itself. Holy power is that power put through one round of processing by the god and granted to humans.
Strictly speaking, holy power is a degraded edition of divine power. Its energy suppressed to exactly the amount a human can withstand.
Which is why holy power alone cannot extract the divine power wedged into the Saint's body and blocking the flow. Meaning an ordinary human absolutely cannot move it.
'But I can.'
I turned my gaze to Elly and she was still staring at the Saint with her mouth hanging open.
Ahem. Ahem, ahem.
Anyway, I can.
'Elly, Elly. Stop looking at the Saint's face and say something.'
-Oh, right. What, what.
Twitch.
'You were the one telling me I was the best-looking, and now you can't take your eyes off him.'
-Our Lian is celestial tier too. But if Lian is archangel tier, that one is, what, god tier!
'Oh, forget it. Stop looking at his face and look at some other things. Isn't it a wonder he hasn't burst?'
-Hm? You're right?
Only then, seeming to notice the finely embedded divine power, Elly's eyes went round.
'Is there no way to pull that out?'
Elly's brow narrowed.
-Pulling it out is possible. It won't be easy, though.
'It isn't easy after all?'
-A vast quantity of holy power, plugged up with little needles of divine power. What does that tell you? That the concentration is enormous.
'It mustn't go off. You can do it, right?'
-I can! And I absolutely have to!
Elly swallowed with a slurping sound.
-I can absorb that!
Huh?
'You can absorb divine power?'
-Yeah!
Ah, well then, that's a different story.
More to the point, how do I get near him? I have to be close to undo it.
-If you keep taking first place, won't there be an occasion to run into him?
Right. I'd better bet on that first.
“Whoaaaa...”
“Incredible.”
“How is this going to go?”
But hold on, what is this. The mood around me is strange.
I looked up and my name and Corin Dalopes's were hanging side by side on the aerial panel.
'He and I are both in Group 13?'
While my attention was elsewhere. I'd ended up in the same group as Corin, who came dead last.
The group assignments had been made by the Saint drawing lots personally.
Once it was confirmed that Lian and Corin had been assigned to one team, the crowd was ablaze with excitement.
“Wow. First place and last place in one group. Is this right?”
“Damn it. I was rooting for Lian.”
“Group assignment is down to luck, what can you do.”
The combination of first and last was more than enough to set the crowd properly alight.
Some people cackled that it was entertaining, some got angry and asked whether this was right.
But there was one thing everyone thought in common.
“This Baptism Rite is going in a genuinely fun direction!”
That it was entertaining.
“If it's like this, doesn't first place go to Lionel Rondoa anyway?”
“Who knows. Lian might grab him by the collar and take first again.”
“Come on, man. Taking first again while carrying last place is hard!”
Opinions about Lian Ludersk, who had recorded first place in the Sacred Flame hunt, split every which way.
The majority opinion was negative. Most guessed he would not take first this time.
“I think Lian Ludersk can take first place this time as well.”
But one man in that crowd. A man with a bright blue handkerchief, the symbol color of House Ludersk, wrapped around his head, spoke in an adamant voice.
“Ha, the arm bends inward, they say. You're a Ludersk territory native, so you're a die-hard Ludersk fan!”
The one who countered him had a deep navy handkerchief around his head. Deep navy was House Rondoa's symbol color.
“No. It isn't simply because I'm a fan. I heard a rumor.”
“What rumor?”
“The rumor that when Lian Ludersk was an infant who couldn't even crawl, he beat down a demon with an extraordinary power.”
“Ludersk or not, does that make any sense?”
“It's information with fairly high credibility. And he's the child of Lady Ludersk, who was famous in her active days. The talent is abundant.”
“Ha, I don't believe it. I think Lionel Rondoa is the one who reclaims first place this time.”
“Care to bet?”
“Gladly!”
Bets were struck all over the place. The very picture of a Baptism Rite in full swing!
'This year's Baptism Rite is a success!'
Bishop Daniel checked the crowd's reaction and smiled with satisfaction.
Because the rise and fall of the Baptism Rite connects directly to his own career.
'Young Lian! Please make a showing this time too...!!'
He gripped the microphone, praying with genuine desperation.
***
'Oh. Pretty sick, right?'
I was quite pleased with my group's roster.
<Group 13>
Lian Ludersk
Lumiel Ludersk
Adrian Berche
Corin Dalopes
Because I'd ended up on a team with the two I had my eye on.
“Argh! Why am I in a group with you?”
Lumiel, coming over fuming with his face screwed up.
Spirits drifted in around him and tugged at his hair a strand or two at a time.
-This kid is the mean one!
-Should we get in his way again?
“Hm? What is this, it's itchy.”
Lumiel got irritated, then raised a hand and roughly shook out his hair.
'Don't bully him too much.'
-Yes sir.
-Yessir.
It rather looks like Lumiel has become the spirits' toy.
The spirits circled round and round him, sticking on and peeling off, cackling with laughter.
“H-hello? Nice to meet you...”
Next came the one I was most curious about, Corin Dalopes.
Perhaps because of the Sacred Flame hunt earlier, he offered his greeting in a thoroughly shrunken state.
“Hello? You're Corin Dalopes, right?”
“Hm? You know my name?”
When I said his name, he opened his already round eyes rounder still.
But it wasn't me who answered Corin's question.
“How could anyone not know sixty-second place? Your face was plastered across the screen, huge.”
“Ah! Ahh...”
At Lumiel's curt reply, Corin shrinks.
'That's not because he came last, though, that's because Corin let out a shriek.'
Corin must have recalled the earlier situation too, because his face blazes up all at once.
Mm. Still, killing his confidence too thoroughly would be a problem, so should I tell him to stop.
I was sizing up the angle to cut in when more words followed.
“Honestly. Don't you worry. This Lord Lumiel is going to make you part of the first-place team on this mission.”
“...Huh?”
“I don't care whether you're sixty-second or whatever. My only rival is that guy over there anyway.”
Lumiel glared at me out of the corner of a prim eye as he spoke.
“Me?”
“Obviously. Is there anyone else besides you?”
“For a rival, there's a wall of seven whole places between our results.”
This time Lumiel's face turns into a tomato.
“Th-that's because my cage suddenly opened and I lost a Sacred Flame!”
-Kekeke. We did that!
-We're the ones who did it!
The Sacred Flames he lost that time numbered exactly one.
I considered telling him more but decided to stop here. Because I'm an adult.
By the time the conversation ended, Corin's expression had loosened considerably.
Lumiel doesn't seem to have deliberately meant to encourage Corin. Well, if the result was comfort, that's a good thing.
“Ah, am I the last to arrive? Hello? I'm Adrian Berche.”
The last teammate to approach was a child I truly had never seen before.
'How did I miss him?'
His presence was far too enormous to have overlooked.
This is... five?
'He looks about ten in build.'
Short hair, gently drooping eye corners. His face is all mildness but he's built like a fortress wall.
With Corin, who ranks among the smaller of the sixty-two, standing next to Adrian, who is plainly the largest, the sense of perspective warped.
“Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Lian Ludersk.”
“Yeah! Of course I know! I'm honored to be in a group with first place!”
He took my hand with an affable grin and swung it up and down.
Ow. What is happening with that grip.
“Ha, he took first once by chance and you're building him up enormously.”
“Hm? You're Lumiel, eighth place, right? Nice to meet you!”
“Huh? Huhhh?”
“Corin, I saw you on the panel too! Ahaha! Your voice was really loud, wasn't it?”
“Hnngh? N-no it wasn't... Uwaah?”
Adrian was very sociable.
“Wow! Our group is nothing but famous people except me! I'm so excited for this mission!”
Despite his enormous build, his personality was extremely easygoing.
Thanks to which Lumiel's prickly complaints slid smoothly past and Corin had no chance to shrink.
'A good mood-maker.'
A good tank too. His mental fortitude is probably solid as well.
Lumiel's personality is strong and Corin is so fragile that I was worried, but it was a relief that Adrian looked able to smooth things out between them.
That's enough greetings with the teammates.
'Shall I get on with my own job.'
The sixty-two candidates were organized into fifteen groups of four to five.
We were Group 13 among them.
Following MC Bishop's guidance we were handed a Sacred Flame, and beginning with Group 1 they started entering the labyrinth in turn.
'Elly. I'm counting on you.'
-Okie dokie, just leave it to me!
I'm aiming for first place this time too!
The instant Group 1 entered through the labyrinth gate, which looked like a portal, Elly slipped in after them.
-Me too! I want to go too!
-Looks fun.
And the spirits went trailing in along with her.
'Mm. It'll be fine, right?'
It'll be fine.
All that's left now is to wait for Elly and the spirits to get a good look at the contents of the trial and come back out.
'Grasping the trends in past exam papers is important.'
After a short wait, we were able to receive the Sacred Flame, the most important item in the Sacred Flame Carry through the Labyrinth. One per team.
“Apart from being white, it looks like an ordinary candle flame.”
“Mm-hm... It looks exactly the same.”
The Sacred Flame currently held in Lumiel's hands.
At MC Bishop's instruction that a representative of the group should carry it, Lumiel's forceful assertion of his opinion transferred the Sacred Flame into his hands.
'To put it accurately, he insisted that he, with the highest stats, would carry it.'
In the process, a tactless Adrian said 'But Lian is first place?' and caused a whole commotion.
'If he wants to carry it thaaat badly, the adult should yield.'
-Lian is five too.
Ah, true. Anyway.
The Sacred Flame we were given was completely different from the majestic scale I'd seen at the Naming Rite.
Transferred onto a small candle, the Sacred Flame was, apart from being white, just a small and insignificant candle flame.
No shield or cover either, only a single candlestick stuck on to make it easier to carry.
“What do we do if it goes out while we're carrying it?”
“Hey, you don't actually think it's a real candle flame just because it looks like one? This is a Sacred Flame. A Sacred Flame.”
Lumiel scolds at Adrian's concern.
“Still, it's so small. It won't go out even if the wind blows, right?”
Whoooo—
Adrian tries blowing on the candle flame.
“Hey, hey! Don't!”
Lumiel smacked Adrian's forearm over and over to stop him.
“Ow, ow. It didn't go out though. What a relief.”
“Relief my foot! Did you have to blow on it to find out?”
I flinched too.
'So it doesn't go out from simple wind, at least?'
Obvious enough, if you think about it. Instead, there must be something inside the labyrinth capable of putting the Sacred Flame out.
-Lian, I'm back.
A little later Elly returned, bringing the spirits with her.
-I have returned!
-Ta-daaa! I'm here!
The fire spirits came back in high spirits and circle around the Sacred Flame.
'Fire spirits after all, so of course they love the Sacred Flame.'
-Right. It'd be fine to have them watch the Sacred Flame's condition. They'll probably react sensitively?
'Ooh. Nice. So what are the trial contents? And the difficulty?'
While we'd been waiting, the seventh group had finished entering and the eighth was going in now.
-Overall it didn't look hard. There's a maze and you work your way through it. There are obstacles too.
'Obstacles?'
-Mm. Demons constructed out of holy power came out?
...? What is that.
'Surely we don't have to fight?'
I only have a fountain pen.
-It's not like that. It's set up so they're cleared by answering a quiz or solving a puzzle.
'...? A quiz demon?'
-There was a sphinx too?
Pfft, what is that.
Then again. The candidates here are chicks who haven't even been baptized. There's no way they'd put combat in the trial.
The reason the Baptism Rite matters is the 'holy power crystal,' and the ceremony that creates that crystal is the baptism itself.
You know how in fantasy, mages build mana circles and dragons have dragon hearts and in martial arts they pile inner energy in the dantian?
For the clerics of the Elion Holy Empire, that is the holy power crystal.
'It felt like an infinite engine.'
That was exactly my impression after looking into it later. The sense of a new holy organ that generates, stores and discharges holy power?
Attribute conversion of holy power itself was impossible without a crystal in the first place.
'I couldn't have done it either without Elly.'
Only with a holy power crystal does it become easy to condense and circulate the holy power scattered through the body. Which is to say the efficiency of holy power use goes up!
So there was no way they would demand combat from trainees who hadn't even been baptized.
But.
I drew out the fountain pen tucked into my robes and looked at it. The letters shimmered faintly and the nib was sharp.
'I think I can, though?'
If I'm going to take first place this time too.
I grinned and looked at Elly.
'Looks like I've got an opponent to test the new weapon on.'