Chapter: 82
83. The Alliance of Fools (1)
A day after returning to the mansion.
I sat on my bed, lost in thought.
What kind of person was I in the eyes of others?
I already knew it was a pointless worry. But given the circumstances, I couldn’t help it.
‘Why isn’t anyone surprised?’
Wings suddenly sprouted from my back!
I expected there to be all sorts of chaos over that!
Yet, reality turned out to be different from what I imagined.
—“Ah, I knew it would be like this!”
The kids were actually praising me for being the leader.
They looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
Not to mention, they shone with a sparkle that was surprisingly burdensome.
Not a single child was freaking out over my wings.
They all just started talking nonsense like it was totally normal.
—“Wow!”
Riien seemed a little surprised—at least she genuinely admired it.
It was the kind of reaction you’d expect when someone’s wearing a new outfit that looks great.
When I asked if she was really not surprised by such a sudden event, Riien clumsily complimented me instead.
She must’ve thought I wanted her to praise my appearance.
—“So who’s this newcomer you’ve brought in?”
To top it all off, Siel showed more interest in the new recruit, Lucy, than in my wings.
Somehow, a whole bunch of potential recruits from the Black Fangs were temporarily under my protection.
For some reason, they were really into their training, and amidst them were Siel and Riien.
Siel asked if I could send Lucy here when she had time—she wanted to meet her directly.
It seemed like she needed to check something.
I asked her if she wasn’t worried about me having wings, and Siel calmly replied.
—“No matter how you change, you’re still you. That’s all that matters to me.”
No matter how I looked, her attitude towards me wouldn’t change.
It was sweet, but was that really what she should say at a time like this? With that, Siel ended the video call.
In the end, the only one shocked by my transformation was Lucy.
Considering how dramatic she usually was, that made it clear most people brushed off this sudden change as if it was nothing.
So if I wasn’t fazed, it’d be even weirder.
What kind of image did they have of me if I could sprout wings overnight without raising eyebrows?
I just couldn’t understand…
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, memories began to flash through my mind.
Naturally, the question settled in me.
I did have a conscience to some degree.
After everything I had done, I felt it’d be odd to plead for better treatment.
In fact, I could see myself belonging to that category where it wouldn’t be strange to sprout wings overnight.
‘…Moreover, I guess it’s easier this way.’
After waking up, Ruby had been praying to me for an unseemly long time, apologizing with tears streaming down her face.
With someone showing up out of the blue with wings, wouldn’t that spark normal reactions?
If everyone had reacted that way, it’d have been a hassle trying to explain things.
Convincing Ruby to treat me normally was challenging enough.
Thinking about it, maybe things turned out for the best.
Coming to that conclusion, I once again assessed my physical condition.
Two pairs of wings.
They emanated a gentle light, making their presence known.
And curiously, there was a new pattern etched on my left arm.
The stigma.
The stigma that had appeared in the previous work.
But this wasn’t just any ordinary stigma.
This was a level of stigma that could only be gained near the very end of the game.
One that possessed healing powers strong enough to save anyone who wasn’t dead, yet could not be used on oneself.
It was effectively like a cheat code dropped right into my lap.
The benefits were incomprehensible.
It was beneficial, but…
‘Why on earth did this appear?’
There was no coherence to it.
I hadn’t cleared a hidden dungeon or emerged victorious from a life-and-death battle that brought me enlightenment.
It just happened.
I genuinely sprouted wings out of nowhere. As I checked around my body, I discovered this stigma.
‘Even calling it an opportunity feels a bit off…’
Opportunities typically came with effort.
Usually, when gaining something like a spiritual elixir, there was a process involved, and one had to struggle to completely absorb it afterward.
But this so-called opportunity had no process.
‘Could it be related to my royal qualities’ transformation? Or perhaps tied to the God of Light?’
I brainstormed various hypotheses, but in the end, nothing changed.
That was to be expected.
No matter how plausible the hypothesis, without a way to verify it, it meant nothing.
Muttering “status window” yielded nothing but useless screens.
Familiar broken letters greeted me.
Normally, when you grow or gain a new power, checking the status window for organization would be standard.
But it didn’t list my status or attributes in any coherent way.
A status window that provided no info about me.
How ironic was that?
Ultimately, the situation of having no way to pinpoint the cause of this sudden change felt overwhelming. A resigned sigh escaped my lips.
For sure, it had benefited me, after all. Perhaps I was just being spoiled and greedy.
Still, feeling nagged about it was unavoidable.
So, what should I do about this?
I pondered for a while and ultimately decided to get up.
It’s not like I could just sit here doing nothing because finding the cause proved impossible.
What I could do was try something out.
In other words, it was time to test my power.
*
The training ground next to Ruby’s mansion.
A place set up for the kids’ training.
I swung open the door.
‘It feels bigger than before.’
Maybe it was because I’d only ever seen it crowded with kids, but the empty training ground seemed surprisingly spacious.
That could be good for me right now.
If I was going to test something out, it was better to do it where no one would get dragged into it.
‘…Is this a bit over the top?’
I’m not Riien after all.
There was no chance of nearby people being involved just because I wanted to test my strength.
Though I built it upon potions, it was ambiguous whether I could call it strong or weak.
When separated from my companions, my strength was mediocre, not on the level of a munchkin but not weak either.
That was my strength from an objective viewpoint.
‘It certainly seems like there’s been a change this time.’
I couldn’t definitively say that it led to an enhancement in combat power.
To begin with, divine power specialized in healing and exorcism.
The reason the Holy Knights were strong was that they could individually use divine power and magic together.
It would make sense that, all else being equal, the one with regenerative abilities would be considerably stronger.
‘It’s best not to expect much.’
Having expectations only led to disappointment. If you didn’t expect anything, you wouldn’t suffer betrayal.
I etched that adage in my mind while retrieving a wooden doll from the storage room.
A training tool for practical exercises.
Digging around maybe I’d find something stronger, but summoning a security golem for something this light felt like overkill. I decided this should do it.
I set the wooden doll against the wall.
With a clattering sound, the doll assumed a stance.
Once it registered my attack, it would start its own assault.
‘For now, I’ll just do what I usually do to start.’
The aim of this test was to see how far my wings could take me and how I could harness that in combat.
Though divine power was specialized for healing, the wings were a separate matter.
Increased speed would naturally amplify attack power as well.
This could turn out to be a much bigger help than I anticipated.
I decided to face it without using my wings first, and then I’d fight using them to feel the difference firsthand.
I settled into position while pondering.
Someone among the kids had scribbled on the doll with doodles—a cute cat face.
I launched the first strike at it.
Riien’s one-on-one training must have helped. That punch landed perfectly.
My fist connected with the doll’s torso, instantly creating a large hole in it.
…Something felt off though.
The doll should’ve broken apart like a cookie, yet somehow it was still going strong.
A massive crack echoed through the air.
The sound cut through the atmosphere sharply.
And, with foreboding, an unsettling intuition washed over me.
I knew this was a training ground.
A space explicitly created for honing martial arts.
I recalled that its durability was beyond that of any building. I remembered there were over thirty defensive spells cast upon it.
Yet, that uneasy feeling didn’t leave. And when it came down to my instincts, they never missed the mark.
As soon as my fist made contact with the wall, cracks erupted across it.
It spread rapidly, and the collapse began before I could even react.
—Boom!
A deafening roar filled the air.
…The training ground was crumbling.
