The Villainess in the Romance Fantasy Is Strange

25. Accidents always happen unexpectedly. She belatedly realized that something was wrong, but it was too late.

What? What are you giving me? Who will give the kiss of oath to whom?

I wonder if this goddess was in a hurry. She’s trying to convince Leah, and she’s making ridiculous irrational moves.

Hmm, how do I fix this?

It’s a lot late, but I have to say that her words came out wrong. She is thinking about one thing that should be said even now. Leah hesitated for a while before she muttered, rubbing the back of her hand on her reddened cheek.

“Ka, Cain? I haven’t decided to become a saint yet…… ?”

“…… Ah.”

Yes, it was. Lia hadn’t yet given her definite answer that she would play the saint of Venus.

That is, as long as Lia does not test her qualifications as a saint. It means that the kiss of the oath and all that was said will be nullified.

So, I put some hope on that side.

“…… Yes yes? Now? If you promise now, Key, kiss?”

Lia, who seemed to have been talking to Venus without my knowledge, turned her cheeks red. She looked down at me, calm and graceful, clearing her voice, as if she hadn’t been tinkering.

“Umm…… ! That, yes My escort knight, Cain Reinhardt. As a saint, I will allow you to kiss me with an oath.”

“… ….”

No matter how you look at it, it’s not the way Lia usually speaks. Could it be that Lia, like me, is following Venus’ message exactly?

Such a suspicion popped up, but Lia, who held her hand with me, blatantly hmmm-. She cleared her throat.

Blinking big eyes and looking at me with eyes full of anticipation, even without words, it seems like he means to kiss me with an oath.

…… Well, since I spit it out, I have to do it. If it’s a kiss of oath, where should we kiss?

Maybe it’s not mouse to mouse. Just like Leah did to me when I was young, can I do it on the cheek?

── The kiss of oath that the saintess’s escort knight gives her saintess is to the ring finger of her right hand wearing her ring.

Ah, it should have been done on the ring finger of the right hand, not on the cheek.

I made eye contact with Lia, then she gently moved her right hand towards her ring finger and lightly kissed her lips.

Now then.

– Pounding.

Suddenly, my heart beat very loudly. And I realized. That this young mother’s big pulsation didn’t come from the excitement between the opposite s*x or love feelings.

Involuntarily, I raised my head. Lia must have felt the same way as I did, but she looked at me with her big eyes like a surprised rabbit.

This strange feeling is as if something transcendent beyond my comprehension has been stretched out from my heart like a thread. And that skein of thread goes to Lia, who is facing me, and becomes entangled with each other.

It gave me a strange illusion that it seemed that Lia and I’s fate had been firmly connected…….

“… ….”

A sense of déjà vu awakened my spirit.

This feeling is not unfamiliar for some reason.

…… Why?

The moment I tried to calm my pounding heart and think about this phenomenon.

“Ka, Cain…… !”

Lea pulled my right hand. Returning to reality, I answered sparsely.

“Oh, yes. Lia.”

“Bar, what was that? That strange feeling, isn’t it just me?!”

“Yes, I heard it too… ….”

Maybe it’s because it’s such a strange sensation, to be honest, I’m still a bit dazed. Give me a word in advance that this will happen if we kiss the oath.

“…… Oh wait. Now this is not important. Hey, Venus! Could it be that the kiss of oath you mentioned was on your finger?”

The time when we were about to complain to Venus, who must be watching us. Lia suddenly tapped the ring and murmured.

Perhaps he was talking directly to the goddess Venus, but he shouted, ‘I heard it was a kiss, kiss!’ Doesn’t seem to have gone

“…… Really? If I officially become a saint of Venus, will you really help me?”

Then she seemed to have come to a dramatic agreement, and Leah, who had vented her exasperation, sighed and nodded her head.

“Okay. So instead, if I’m really recognized as a saint, should I keep everything you said? If you lie like this time, I’m really not going to stay still.”

As I was watching her skit, I wished I had waited this long. She tried talking to Venus.

“Venus.”

──Whew… …. Aww, Cain. What’s happen?

“Well, it seems that the work has been completed well. Could you please tell me what good things you said?”

I tried to wait patiently. Do you think you can actually see the famous holy sword Caliburn? My heart kept getting hotter and I couldn’t stand it.

So, with anticipation, I focused on Venus’ voice in order to clearly remember the clue to the location of the holy sword Caliburn.

──It’s a good thing, you’ve already experienced that, haven’t you?

“Yes? Have you already experienced it?”

──Yes, a little while ago. Didn’t you offer the kiss of oath to the future saint?

In my head, I heard a sound I couldn’t believe.

…… I hope, I wish Didn’t Venus really think that ‘providing a kiss of oath to the future saint’ was a good thing?

Ah, no. Still, her name is Goddess, so there’s no way she’s like that. That’s it, a joke only for the goddesses.

Didn’t the noble and holy goddess show off her classy jokes at the eye level of ignorant humans?

Since I thought so, I calmed down and asked again.

“Venus, that was a funny joke. So now, slowly, I would appreciate it if you could tell me what a good thing was.”

──Uh… …. Cain, as a knight of the saintess’ escort, being able to kiss the oath before anyone else. Isn’t that good enough…… ?

“Lia-sama.”

“Eh, why?”

“Please make the kiss I just gave you a thing that never happened.”

“…… Uh huh? You want to do something that didn’t happen?”

──Ka, Cain…… ?

I pretended not to hear the question of the two, who seemed to have similar voices, and waved my right hand.

“Yes, I don’t want to be an escort knight for that saint. So sorry, find someone else. Lord Venus.”

──That, what do you mean by that? Cain? I’m not going to be an escort knight. Gee, are you serious? Everyone but you, there’s no other suitable person. Cain, Cain…… ?

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t. I will not.”

──Ah, ah… ! Now wait! Cain, the ring. Ring! You can’t take off the ring, eh…… !

* * *

Like that, after Venus and I had a scuffle that wasn’t a scuffle.

The saintess’s escort accident and after a while saying that she wouldn’t do anything, it was the end. I was able to calm down after hearing Venus’ confirmation that ‘If Lia officially becomes a saint, she will give me, the escort knight, a clue to the location of the holy sword, Caliburn.’

“This is true. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but thank you. Lord Venus.”

──Yeah, that’s right. It’s good that you feel relieved, Cain…….

Venus’s voice sounds somewhat muffled, but that must be because of my mood. Venus, who is said to have a broad and warm heart, won’t be intimidated just because of me.

Anyway, I guess I got a clue about the holy sword Caliburn. Lia and I got out of the cave wall where the altar of Venus was. Then, as described in the original, the collapsed wall returns to its original form. It was neatly restored as if it had never collapsed in the first place.

This incomprehensible phenomenon is probably the power of restoration that Venus possesses.

Although it rapidly enhances the body’s natural regenerative power, it eventually cuts down on the lifespan of cells. It is a concept that is one level higher than the power of healing, which is tantamount to paying for one’s lifespan.

In other words, the power of restoration that turns back the target’s time and treats it as if it never happened. It is such a tremendous power that it can restore even a half-destroyed wall to its original state.

And the power of restoration. Lia, who will soon become a saint of Venus, can also use it. Thinking that way made her realize that she had done a great job.

According to the flow of the original work, Stella and Edwin must use the power of Venus to overcome the hardships and adversities that will come. However, the power of restoration is going to be Lia’s. The holy sword Caliburn will probably be mine.

“…… Are you okay?”

I wondered if this was okay. Actually, as I said many times, the original work had already changed by the time Lia and I took the top spot. Stella and Edwin are talented people.

So, just because you don’t have that kind of authority and holy sword doesn’t mean you can’t do what you’re supposed to do.

Anyway, what kind of people are those two? Aren’t they the couple of the century who saved the world twice by being single?

“Huh? What’s okay?”

“Ah…. Time. It looks like we spent quite a bit of time at Venus-sama’s altar, so I was wondering if there might be a pair that can catch up with our score.”

──12 Noon, the exam ends! All pairs return to the base camp from which they started!

I was waiting for a suitable excuse, but I heard a terrifying sound. It belongs to Hugo, the instructor in charge of this training. He must have raised his voice with a magic tool that acts as a loudspeaker.

“Sure. It was delayed longer than expected…. Well, maybe you’ll find out if you check it?”

“Umm, that’s right. Go check it out and you’ll find out.”

From my experience, I was able to defeat monsters non-stop for about an hour. We also faced the rock golem that gave us the most points, so we should be number one.

When I returned to the base camp with Leah, many pairs had already arrived and were waiting for the results to be announced.

Among them were the pair Bern and Stella, the pair I had my eye on before departure. For some reason, the two of them were standing side by side, glancing in my direction, whispering.

-Bern, Cain’s swordsmanship seems a little unusual. The law of destruction….

-Ah, Cain is probably the Reinhard family’s arcane swordsmanship….

“…… Are you two friends already?”

I can’t hear what you’re saying because it’s so far away. Seeing them cling to each other so tightly, the airflow seems unusual.

Since Vern is the sub-male protagonist of the original work, he thought that he would become close with Stella someday. I can’t believe that’s already happening.

In the original work, Stella and Vern, who joined the student council side by side, only made a statement when they received their first student council job, maybe because the original story was changed. Those two seemed to have gotten along well enough to chat already.

Well, it’s not as good as Edwin, but Bern is also a guy who does his own thing. It will be of great help to Stella in the future.

As I waited leisurely, thinking about such idle thoughts, Hugo climbed onto a simple podium and looked around the audience.

“Twenty-nine, thirty…. Well, it seems everyone has gathered.”

Taktak, Hugo clapped his hands and drew everyone’s attention.

“Good. Everyone seems to be fine, so I’ll start by announcing the results of this training. The pair that earned the most points and defeated the strongest monsters was the honorable pair—”

With a glance, Hugo came out and looked at the place where Lia was standing.

“Right there, Cain Reinhardt and Leah von Eleves Fair. The two of them subdued a total of 32 individuals, among which are C-class dangerous species that they assume will never be able to subdue at the level of you. A rock golem was also included. Now, applause to the top and bottom pairs for outstanding performance!”

-Wow, thirty-two? It looks like it was really full for 2 hours.

-The competition on the field was fierce. Where did you go around?

-Looking at it earlier, I was just running somewhere. Didn’t you find the place where the monsters were gathered?

-What, then you were the only one licking the honey?

-It’s not like you subdued a C-class dangerous species.

Mixed with jealous words and handclaps, the base camp quickly turned into an uproar.

Hugo stood by for a while so that the students could share their opinions, but after about 20 seconds, he drew attention again.

“The final score for the Cain and Lia pair is 131 points! There is a difference of 74 points from the 57 points scored by the second-place Bern and Stella pairs. Let’s think carefully about what this means.”

“…… Because if you deal with weak monsters, you can never be number one. If you want to aim for the top ranks, you should target strong monsters, right, Cain?

“Yes, that’s right. You got it right.”

As Lia whispered, all the students who finished this training must have realized. The fact that the scores assigned to the strong monsters exceeded our expectations.

So, if you’re aiming for the top rank, not the proper rank. I will have to follow Lia Fair’s strategy of dealing with strong monsters rather than weak ones.

Some of the quick-witted class A students must have already realized that fact, and started glancing at Lia and me with a sorry look on their faces.

“Yes, Cain Reinhardt.”

“Yes, Instructor.”

“The scene where you and Lia von Eleves form a pair to deal with the rock golem was watched by all the instructors through the surveillance magic tools. It’s a very strategic move, so which one of you suggested forming such a formation?”

“This is Leah.”

“Um, sure.”

What does “Also,” Mean? Whether it was a compliment or a swear word, it was ambiguous, so I tilted my head, but Hugo continued.

“Okay, everyone pay attention. The tactics Cain Reinhardt and Leah von Eleves showed when dealing with the rock golem can be said to be the standard tactics that can be used when a swordsman and a wizard form a pair. So, for this afternoon’s theory class, let’s listen to Lia von Eleves’ thoughts on why she made that decision.”

Chuck, Hugo gestured to Leah. Lia stepped onto the podium with her nervous face and began a one-on-one Q&A with Hugo. I was quietly watching Leah’s wonderful figure as she answered without interruption.

“You look like you have a lot of thoughts.”

Tuk, someone put a hand on my shoulder.

I knew it because I had a history of committing a crime against Bern, but I let it go.

“…… Good evening, Student President.”

Edwin von Edward, the first prince of the empire, who will later hold true absolute power.

He pretends to rub my shoulders and smiles kindly.

“Yes, Cain Reinhardt. Hello Kim.”

“…… ?”

“Would you like to talk with me for a while?”

“… ….”

If it sounds like there is no right to veto, maybe I’m mistaken?

I secretly sighed and nodded.

“Yes, please go.”