"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lyn Blitz and I'm the Saintess of Light—"

She then paused for a moment, presumably to build up suspense.

"—ning!"

Looking at Lyn puffing her chest out as if she wanted to be praised, I sighed in relief.

'Good... I almost thought for a second there that she was the Saintess of Light'

After all, the Saintess of Light was a very different person, the polar opposite of Lyn I would say.

'I should have taken the hint as soon as I saw her turn into a literal bolt of Lightning...'

Putting my thoughts aside, I focused on Lyn again.

"Oh... cool"

"What's with that lukewarm reaction?", she pouted.

"That...", I scratched the back of my head. "I kind of already know too many Saintesses and Heroes"

That wasn't a lie, as knowing both the Saintess of Life and the Hero of Light at the same time was already too much for me.

'Marie will also be a Saintess in the future... and Evelyn... and Lucy...'

Keeping myself from shuddering in fright at how many powerful women Arthur would have surrounding him, I once again turned my attention towards Lyn, who was looking at me with her eyes narrowed.

"Sure... I'm not one to judge your fantasies"

I didn't even want to retort her.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"A- Anyways", I broke the awkward silence. "What branch of the church of Lightning are you associated with?"

Although I already had an inkling as to what God she served, but I still wanted to confirm it for sure.

Lyn, hearing my question, puffed her chest in pride. "I serve the mighty Zeus!"

"...I see"

'Good thing Lyra isn't here...'

Lyra absolutely hated Zeus, so much so that she spent hours everyday spreading propaganda about how Zeus was bad to me - her one and only Champion.

'Well, that explains why Lyn seemed familiar...'

Lyra also told me all of Zeus' apostles' physical descriptions, Lyn included. And she also told me to never trust them, as they were all sly snakes.

Though, looking at the innocent senior that acted disturbingly similar to Krista before me, I couldn't help but to shake my head.

'You're wrong on this one, Lyra'

Snapping me out of my thoughts once more was Lyn's energetic voice. "So what branch are you under? Surely, with your <Perfect> Lightning affinity and that much divine energy in you, you'd be a Paladin, an Inquisitor, or even the Hero of a branch!"

Ignoring her question, I asked with a cold glint in my eyes. "How did you know about my affinity grade?"

With her yellow eyes still shinning with eagerness and awe, she answered. "I can feel how high people's Lightning affinities are as soon as I see them. It's some sort of power Zeus gave me. But that's not the main reason why I know it—"

She then flashed me a wider smile. "—Black hair, black sunglasses, and an edgy way of talking. You're definitely Theodore Gray of 1-1, the only student in the first-years to have <perfect> Lightning affinity. MORE IMPORTANTLY—"

She clutched her hands and jumped up and down in excitement. "—YOU CAN USE RANGED LIGHTNING SPELLS EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT RAINING!"

Not letting me say anything, she continued. "I'm a huge fan! I still can't believe I shook hand with the Theodore Gray!"

She looked at her left hand, which she used to shake my hand, with ragged breath. "I'm not washing this hand ever again!"

She then pinched her own cheeks so hard that I could see a small tear forming in the corner of her eye. "Awh! Thwis is nwot a dwream!"

In contrast to her... excitement, I was absolutely terrified.

'I- Is this what Arthur has to go through everyday?'

Well, multiply that by 1000 and we got the true Arthur experience.

I was starting to get a bit more sympathetic towards him. Just a little bit though.

Luckily for me, Lyn's display of fangirling was cut short by—

"L- Let go of me, Ethan! I still haven't gotten his autograph!"

—Senior Ethan, who had just grabbed Lyn by the back of her neck like how he would a cat.

"Go back to our side, Lyn", Ethan said with an annoyed tone. "And don't interact with those Sharpshooters"

Lyn looked at me with round eyes, wanting me to do something about Ethan. However, I just feigned ignorance to her pleading looks.

'Serves you right!'

That's what she gets for annoying me after all.

As I was thinking that, however, senior Gwen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and similarly grabbed the back of my neck.

"Hey, w—"

As I was about to voice out my annoyance, I saw—

GULP—!

—Senior Gwen's face, which was full of rage.

'Ethan must have just made fun of her again...'

Not wanting to be on the other side of her outburst like Emily often was, I decided to stay silent.

Although I had to admit, I was even more annoyed when I saw Lyn desperately trying to hold back her laughter while I was getting dragged back.

"LISTEN UP!", Gwen shouted as soon as we got back to the Sharpshooters. "That bastard Ethan just raised the stakes again. So instead of practice targets, you will be shooting the Archers to your heart's content!"

Not waiting for anyone to voice their opposition, Gwen rushed out into the rain while sprouting profanities.

'She would fit in the Alchemy elective well...'

With that thought, I glanced over the members, who were similarly looking at each other with confused gazes.

Eventually, someone spoke up, and it was Emily Ulvet.

"Let's just follow her", Emily paused for a second before closing her eyes to recall a painful memory. "We never know who senior Gwen will take out her anger on..."

GULP—!

Collective gulps could be heard as everyone scurried into the rain to follow Gwen.

At this sight, I shook my head bitterly and followed them suit.
...

When we arrived, we were met with the unsurprising scene of senior Gwen sprouting curses at Ethan.

"FUCK YOU!"

-OI FUCK YOU TOO!

They were standing extremely far away from each other. However, their shout was somehow loud enough to be heard clearly, even from all the way over here.

After a few minutes of voicing her apparently hatred for Ethan, senior Gwen turned her attention to us and spoke, albeit with a much smaller voice than usual.

'Her throat must have hurt after screaming so much...'

"I will explain the rule I and that fucker Ethan agreed on. We will be standing on this hill here, shooting at the Archers. Whichever team that wipe their opponent out first will win"

"...What about safety?", Emily spoke up.

Scowling for a bit, Gwen eventually answered with utmost confident. "You need not to worry about your own safety or your opponent's. Just bastard Ethan and I being here are enough to ensure safety"

However, the small mutter that Gwen lets out after saying that conveyed anything but confidence. "...probably"

Luckily, no one but me and Emily heard her mutter, so there wasn't that much of a ruckus.

Though, it did very little to ease Emily's terrified face.

Seeing that everyone was fiddling with their weapons, preparing for the battle, I sighed and reached into my [Alternate storage].

'Let's see... the distance is about 1km'

The weather was extremely windy and rainy. As such, the best weapon for this kind of thing was a sniper rifle.

'Even then... my bullets would barely reach their targets...'

And with that, I could only shake my head in defeat. The Archers definitely had too much of a advantage over us, seeing how they could keep their arrow's trajectories unaffected by infusing mana into it.

I glanced over the Sharpshooters to see how they were faring.

'...As expected'

The Sharpshooters' faces were crunched up in despair and defeat, which was understandable. After all, there was no way they were going to hit anything from here when all they used were weapons like... boomerangs, or... yo-yos?

'I get why we are so looked down upon now'

In contrast to the Sharpshooters, however, senior Gwen was full of confidence, seeing how she was screaming at Ethan.

"YOU SEE THIS ETHAN? BE PREPARED TO LOSE!"
...

Checking her watch, senior Gwen shouted. "15 second left!"

Hearing this, all of the Sharpshooters stood up and gazed towards the hill on the other side with uncertainty.

In contrast to everyone, I was... full of confidence. At least more so than the wolfkin who was standing besides me.

"You sure this will work?", Emily asked skeptically.

In response, I flashed her a smile while smacking the top of her Artillery. "It will work as long as you take credit for everything that is going to happen"

"I'm still not sure i—"

"Hey", I cut her off. "You know that Gwen will most likely take her anger out on you if we lose right?"

GULP—!

Seemingly not wanting whatever that was playing inside her head to actually happen, Emily gulped a mouth of saliva and nodded her head fervently.

"T- Then I'll leave it to you"
...

"And... START! GO SHOOT THOSE BASTARD ARCHERS DOWN!"

As soon as they heard Gwen's shout, the Sharpshooters readied their weapons and opened fire.

Well, it went about how you'd expected it to go.

-Ah!!! Why won't my boomerang go far!?"

-Goddammit! I knew this is unwinnable.

It was then that sound of arrows splitting through the air could be heard.

FWOOOOOOSH—!

WOOOOOSH—!

"TAKE COVER!", Gwen shouted.

But atlas, she was too late, as more than half of the Sharpshooters were wiped out.

"Emily! It's time!", I patted the shoulder of the wolfkin who was besides me.

Shuddering, she infused her pale-white Lightning mana at the tip of the mini-artillery.

Seeing this, I smirked and very discreetly infused my own Lightning mana into it.

<[Railcannon]>

The mini-artillery crackled with Lightning, before a shell was shot out of it with great speed.

WOOOOOSH—!

A pale white trail followed the trajectory of the shell. And in no time, it arrived before the Archers.

BOOOOOOOOOM—!

A huge explosion of red and white Lightning occurred where the shell struck, wiping out multiple Archers at a time.

Grinning widely at this sight, senior Gwen ran up to Emily.

"Hehahahahaha! Emily, good job! I know I can always count on you"

"Haha... You praise me too much..."

Shaking my head at their conversation, I loaded another shell into the artillery.

<[Railcannon]>

WOOOOOSH—!

Another shell was shot towards the Archer with great speed. However—

FWOOOOOOSH—!

BOOOOOOM—!

—An arrow infused with bright green Mana shot the shell down while it was still in the air.

Squinting my eyes in the direction of the arrow, I frowned when I saw Marie grinning at us.

"That fucking tree hugger!", I cursed out loud.

Thanks to Lyn bugging me, I completely forgot about the fact that Marie was in this competition.

"W- What should we do?", Emily asked with anxiety as she sneaked a glance at senior Gwen.

At Emily's question, I fell into thoughts.

'What to do... Ah!'

After coming up with the most brilliant plan I've ever thought of, I accessed [Alternate storage] and pulled out some tapes, water-proof paper, and a pen.

"Senior Gwen!", I shouted.

Gwen, who was already observing what we were doing, answered almost immediately. "What?"

"You're in the Art elective too, right?"

"Yes...?"

"Great!", I grinned. "Then, I will need you to draw a certain pushover..."
...

<[Railcannon]>

WOOOOOOOSH—!

A shell was shot towards Marie.

In response, she merely snorted at our attempt of taking her out.

Then, she calmly nocked an arrow on her bow, and aimed to intercept the shell like she did before.

However, she froze on the spot upon realizing something.

"THEODORE GRAY YOU DIPSHI—"

BOOOOOOOM—!

Not letting Marie finish her sentence, the shell exploded on her face.

Seeing this, I laughed like a 3rd-rate villain. "Pfffft! Muahahahahahahahahah!"

Ignoring the weird stares everyone but Emily and Gwen were giving me, I continued laughing. "HEHAHAHAHAH!"

How couldn't I? After all, it only took a crude drawing of Arthur's face on the shell to render Marie completely useless.

Wiping the tear in the corner of my eyes, I once again focused on the competition.

"Let's continue, shall we?"
...

Not even a minute had passed since then, and we had stopped attacking the Archers.

No, it wasn't because the Archers were all wiped out. Instead—

"Why did you bring so few shells?"

—It was because we had ran out of artillery shells.

In response to my question, Emily merely kept her head down in shame.

Sighing, I was about to inform senior Gwen of the bad news when—

BZZZZZT—! BOOOOOOOM—!

—The sound of thunder rumbling, followed by a loud explosion rang out.

Startled, I snapped my head towards the source of the sound, only to be met with the sight of a yellow bolt of Lightning quickly making its way towards me.

Before I could even react properly, the Lightning bolt had already closed up on me. However, it disappeared just inches away from me. And in its place was—

"Hi!"

—Lyn Blitz, who was waving at me nonchalantly.

Not giving me time to say anything, she hurriedly put her hands up and spoke. "I'm just here to talk!"

Sighing, I gestured for her to continue.

"Those Artillery shells earlier were so cool! Although faint, I could still sense your Lightning ma— mphhhhhh?"

I quickly covered Lyn's mouth with my hand before she could reveal the fact that I was the one responsible for the [Railcannon], not Emily, to literally fucking everyone.

Thankfully, all of the Sharpshooters seemed to not have heard what Lyn had said, as they were now looking at us weirdly instead.

Sighing in relief, I turned my gaze back to Lyn, who were now... drooling on my hand.

"Ugh!", I crunched my face in disgust as I quickly removed my hand and wiped it on the ground.

Laughing uncontrollably at me, Lyn finally calmed down and whispered. "I see... you want to hide your strength, don't you?"

I nodded slowly.

"I understand!", she then placed her index finger on her lips. "[Under the watch of Lightning God Zeus, your secret is safe with me!]"

It's common knowledge that you should trust the promises Saints and Saintesses made under the name of their Gods, since as soon as they break those promises, they will instantly die.

As such, I was left bewildered, not really knowing how to respond to her doing such a thing. And even if I did, I wouldn't have been able to, as senior Gwen was already marching towards us.

"Aren't you Ethan's little sister? What are you doing here?", she asked with a gentle tone, one that really didn't fit her.

It seemed that all of the Sharpshooters agreed with me, as their expressions were also full of disbelief and shock.

Blissfully unaware of our perception of her, Gwen looked at Lyn expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Still smiling playfully, Lyn replied. "I'm here to meet Theodore Gray!"

Looking at her confusedly, Gwen pointed at me. "This edgy little twat?"

'You don't have to phrase it like that!'

Unconcerned with my thoughts, Lyn nodded her head. "Mhm! Just look at his sunglasses! He's so cool! I almost wanted to convert to another God when Zeus told me to not get involved with him!"

Hearing this, Gwen alternated her gaze between me and Lyn. She then lets out a creepy smile as she formulated a very sinister plan in her head, one that would definitely make Ethan suffer at the cost of my and Lyn's dignity.

'Well, maybe only my dignity, since Lyn would probably enjoy it...'

Thus, I quickly shot down Gwen's obviously disturbing plan. "No! Whatever you're thinking of, I'm not doing it"

"Tch!", Gwen clicked her tongue. "Are you a mind reader or something?"

Having seemingly fulfilled her purpose for coming here, Lyn waved at me and Gwen. "Bye! I'll go back now!"

'Wait... maybe I could use her...'

<[Lightning rampag—]>

"LYN!", I shouted.

Quickly turning her head back as if she was expecting me to call out to her, Lyn smiled. "Yes?"

"Actually, can you...", I scratched the back of my head. "...Join our side?"

Still keeping an innocent smile, Lyn spoke. "Maybeeeeeeeeee... But what's in it for me?"

"I'll... shake your other hand if you do so"

'Please work!'

My prayers were answered, as Lyn immediately grabbed my hands with her right hand and shook them fervently. "Hehahahaha!"

After giving a creepy giggle that sent chills down my spine, she broke contact with my hands, much to my relief, and turned her gaze towards the Archers.

Bzzzzzzt—!

Yellow electricity crackled around her as a bow made of Lightning formed on her hands.

Pointing the bow towards the sky and nocking an arrow made of a bolt of Lightning, she chanted.

<[Lighting—]>

WOOOOOSH—!

The Lightning bolt split the air apart and disappeared into the clouds.

Throwing the bow to the ground, Lyn took a step forwards and looked back at me, as if asking for my permission.

"Uhh... Go ahead, I guess...?"

Hearing this, Lyn grinned widely and finished her chant.

<[—strikes]>

RUMBLE—! 

With a loud roar of thunder, torrents of yellow Lightning fell down from the clouds, splitting through the air and raining onto the Archers.

However, the Lightnings stopped mid-air, just mere meters away from hitting their targets.

'What a frightening control of Mana...', I gulped a mouthful of saliva as I looked at Lyn, who was performing such an incredible feat without even breaking a sweat.

-AHHH! WHAT IS THAT!?

-Wait! I- Is that Lyn?

-Why the fuck is she there!?

Ignoring the loud screams coming form the Archers, Lyn looked back towards me and smiled. "Look closely! This is the power of your biggest fan!"

Bzzzzzt—! BOOOOOOM—! BOOOOOOM—! BOOOOOOM—!...

With a wave of her hand, the Lightnings resumed falling, striking each and every of the remaining Archers.

After a while, the Lightings stopped raining down on the poor Archers. And—

-W- What? We won?

-WE ACTUALLY WON?

-WOOOOOOOOO! GWEN WON'T PUNISH US NOW!!!

—It was very obvious the Sharpshooters had won.

Amidst the cheers of victory, Lyn turned towards me with a gaze as if asking to be praised.

Recalling her frightening display of power earlier, I gave her a strained smile. "G- Good job, Lyn. A- As expected of my fan!"
...

After a while, we regrouped with the Archers, who all wore bitter expressions.

As for Marie, well, her face contorted into that of pure rage as she laid eyes on me.

I feigned ignorance to such gazes and observed the situation more.

Lyn was being reprimanded by Ethan for apparently switching teams in the middle of the competition.

Ethan then walked up to Gwen and questioned her about the validity of the win. Gwen, in response, just laughed at him and called him a sour loser.

They argued for a while before Ethan finally gave in and announced that the Sharpshooting elective won the competition.

Eventually, it was time for the member who contributed the most to make a speech.

"Emily!", Gwen shouted. "You're up!"

Just before Emily had gone up to the stage though, I stopped her and gave her a piece of paper.

"You remember our deal, right?", I whispered.

"Y- Yes!"

With that out of the way, I sat back and enjoyed the show.

"Ehem!", Emily tested the mic. "Firstly, I'd like to thank all of the members of the Sharpshooting elective for participating despite knowing that our chances of winning were very small"

Seeing the smile the Sharpshooters all had on their faces, Emily reluctantly continued.

"However, we could never win this competition if it wasn't for the divine intervention of... God Vihar...!"

Instantly, everyone fell into confusion. Well, everyone but me, as I was grinning widely at her.

'Yes! Show these peasants the divine truth!'

"God Vihar is benevolent, all-knowing, and..."
...

After the closing speech that was more like a preaching, I passed by the cafeteria to buy dinner.

"Huh? Minotaur meat is on the menu today?", I asked the lunchlady.

In response, she nodded and pointed towards the slab of meat that was kept in a transparent freezer. "Yes. The meat was given to us by a 3rd-year student that had just returned from a Gold-ranked mission. So it will probably be a while before something of this quality is sold here again"

GULP—!

Gulping my saliva, I quickly gave her a gold coin in exchange for the meal.

Grinning, she took the coin and packed the meat up for me. "Thanks for your patronage!"

"Oh, and by the way", she said as I was about to turn around and leave. "The meat will go bad in an hour. You know, monster meat and all that. So you'd better eat it quickly!"

I gave her my thanks and rushed back to my dorm.
...

CLANK—!

Upon entering my dorm room, I was met with the sight of Lyra, in her human form, glaring at me like a wife who had just caught her husband cheating.

"Uh... Lyra...?"

Ignoring my question, Lyra stomped up to me, clearly in frustration. Her eyes that glowed and colored like molten lava stared at my body, specifically my hands.

She then bent down, grabbed my hands and sniffed them.

Sniff—!

After a long sniff, her frown deepened as she glared questioningly at me. "What did you do?"

"Um... What?"

"Don't act innocent!", she shouted. "You reeks of Zeus!"

'Oh... it's just that...', I sighed in relief.

Before I could explain myself, however, Lyra's eyes turned sad, and voice trembled as she mustered up her courage to ask me.

"Have you forgotten our promise to heal Vihar already? Am I... not good enough for you...?"

"Lyra, I—"

"I knew it", she laughed self-deprecatingly as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I really messed up in the dungeon, huh? It only makes sense for you to move on to another more competent Celestial and serve under another God..."

Before she could come to her own, worse conclusions and cry for any longer, I patted her shoulders reassuringly.

"Lyra... you know I'd never do that"

Still sobbing, she stuttered. "B- But how else do you explain the thick smell of Zeus on you!?"

"That?", I shrugged my shoulders. "I just met the Saintess of Lightning, that's all"

Lyra's face brightened up a bit as she sighed in relief.

"R- Really? You just met the Saintess and didn't... make a bond with Zeus' Celestials or anything, right?"

"Yes", I reassured her. "And I beat the shit out of that sly snake too!"

Of course, that wasn't the case, as I'd be the one getting beaten to death had I actually challenged Lyn to a fight, but Lyra didn't need to know that.

Giggling, Lyra pinched my nose. "You're such a liar, you know?"

Seeing my confused face, she elaborated. "The Saintess is at rank <C->, and I didn't sense you use [S - Monarch of the Storms]. So it was very obvious that you were the one getting beaten up instead of her, if you even challenged her to a fight at all"

In response, I scratched the back of my head in shame. "W- Well, the part where I met the Saintess is the truth though..."

"I trust you on that", she laughed, but then her turned sad. "And... sorry for overreacting"

"It's okay. I don't really mind"

I have already knew about Lyra's insecurities towards other Celestials and Lightning Gods after all, so I wasn't that surprised by her reaction.

Looking at me with gratefulness, she patted my head. "Thank you... for putting up with me until now"

"I should be the one saying that", I chuckled.
...

After watching Lyra... go back to sleep and snoring again, I sighed and checked my phone for any messages.

'Huh? Ria texted me?'

===

Ria: Come to my dorm now. Someone wants to meet you

===

The message was sent... a few hours ago, right as I decided to go to the Sharpshooting competition.

'Well, being late for a few more minutes can't be that bad...'

Pausing my thoughts there, I quickly moved towards the kitchen.

'Hehahaha! I haven't had this in a while!', I thought as I recalled back to my 15th birthday.

Viscount Nightshade, listening to Krista's unusual advice, ordered a birthday cake made of... Minotaur meat.

Although it was definitely weird seeing the meat stuffed in the form of a cake, it was still delicious regardless.

Just remembering the scene of me and Krista fighting over the last slice of the meat-cake made me chuckle in nostalgia.

'Well, enough reminiscing!'

And with that thought, I stepped into the kitchen and prepared to savor the heavenly taste that was Minotaur meat.

However—

"Huh? What's this?"

—I was surprised to see that there was already food on the table, along with a handwritten note.

Frowning, I picked the note up and inspected its contents.

===

Sorry, I can't have dinner with you today because you came back quite late. To compensate, I've made your favorite food! Don't worry about them going cold, I've already casted heat preservation magic on them. Enjoy your dinner! :D

---Sylvia---

===

Putting the note down, I looked at the so-called 'dinner', which was the same food that Sylvia had first made for me. You know, the black stuff that looked and tasted just like charcoal.

"..."

"..."

"..."

I walked towards the trash can and threw the bag I was holding into it.

"It'll go bad in an hour anyways..."

THUD—!

A loud thud could be heard as I pulled the chair in and plopped down onto it.

Plit—! Plat—!...

Closing my eyes and listening to the sound of rain hitting against the window, I eventually opened them again and picked up a fork.

Crunch—!

"Heh... it's still as horrible as I remembered it to be"

Crunch—!

"Oooh! The texture of this part is exactly like charcoal!"

Crunch—!

"Haha... How does she even make food that tastes like t- this..."

Crunch—! Plit—! Plat—!...

The distinct sound of water hitting against a hard surface could be heard again. However, it wasn't the sound of rain hitting the window this time. Instead, it was— 

"H- Huh? I'm... c- crying...?"

—The sound of my tears dropping down to the table below.

Feeling the wet tears on my cheeks, I lets out a hollow laughter. "Hahaha! Syl, your food is so bad that it made me c- cry..."

With hot tears still flowing down my cheeks, I shakily picked up my fork again.

"...I- I'll finish up the meal"

After all,

"I- It would be bad if I w- wasted food t- that I will n- never be able to e- eat again..."