Information restricted

Returning to Melby with the injured Tom still on Dan's back, the trio of adventurers only made it as far as the city gate before they were stopped. Not stopped by the guards, however, but something far more terrifying than that.

"... Shit."

"Huh, what's wrong Tom?"

Spotting a cloaked figure standing at the gate, Tom felt a chill run down his spine as the figure moved in front of the trio to block their path, something Aura reacted rather poorly to.

"Hey, move out of the way h-"

"It is so great to see you again Lizzy, what is going on!?"

Purposely interrupting Aura's curt response and saving her life, Tom put on a somewhat strained smile as he came face to face with his instructor after quite a while.

"Yo kiddo, I've heard you're doing quite good for yourself lately so I thought I would check up on your progress."

Wearing a cold expression on her face, Lizzy sized up Tom's companions with subtle traces of bloodlust leaking from her. Clearly, Lizzy wasn't pleased to find her precious disciple had gotten hurt, moreover, she didn't like Aura's attitude one bit.

"Dan, Aura, this is my instructor Lizzy, she's been taking care of me for a while and was the one that taught me to use mana and later magic."

Sensing that malice leaking from Lizzy, Tom attempted to pour water on the smouldering fire.

"That's great but you're hurt so let's go to the church as soon as possible, move out of the way lady."

Only for Aura to pour oil on said fire right after Tom had attempted to smoulder. Although Lizzy was clearly annoyed by Aura's attitude, she didn't appear to take those remarks to heart.

"Then let's go to the church immediately kiddos, I'll lead the way."

Appear being the keyword, in the few days Tom hadn't been around Lizzy he quickly forgot how petty she was and it was clear to Tom that she was planning to scare the pair away by revealing Tom was a [saint].

(Well I guess they would figure out one way or another eventually, if Dan and Aura distance themselves from me because of something like this then I guess they wouldn't be trustworthy teammates in the long run…)

Surrendering to the current situation, Tom watched casually as Lizzy and Aura bickered all the way to the church, it was only when a high ranking bishop hastily greeted Tom along with a swarm of nuns that the bickering finally died down and was replaced with confusion.

"Please come this way, we have the finest private suite prepared."

That confusion seemed to only grow by the second as Aura, Dan, Lizzy and Tom were led into a way-too-fancy room with a luxurious bed in the centre.

"... What the hell is going on here?"

After putting Tom down on the sickbed which seemed like it was fit for a king, Dan only managed to utter those words after looking around the overly luxurious room.

"... This has to be some sort of scam."

Likewise, Aura seemed to have tapped out from reality. This, of course, greatly amused Lizzy who sat down in a chair next to Tom's sickbed as she fished out her cigarettes and lit up a smoke.

"So? What the fuck did you do to hurt yourself this time kiddo?"

"I think I put too much mana into my legs when using [strengthening], as for why that led to this amount of pain I have no idea."

Kicking her legs up for a few seconds as she stared at the ceiling and played with her hair, Lizzy breathed out a large cloud of smoke filled with ice crystals.

"So you either overloaded your nerves or your mana circuits… Well, let's hope it is just your nerves otherwise you're looking at quite a long recovery."

Before Lizzy could say anymore a mass of nuns and priests rushed into the room and quickly surrounded Tom as they started rapidly diagnosing and then treating him, sparing no expense along the way. After a surprisingly quick and effective diagnosis and treatment, it turned out that it was 'just' Tom's nerves that were the issue and it would be fine for him to move around after a day or so's rest.

"So what exactly is going on here?"

The first one to speak up when the storm had passed was Dan, although he didn't want to press Tom on his secrets or personal circumstances he had a hard time not doing so after witnessing recent events.

"Is this all your doing?"

Meanwhile, Aura just assumed that this treatment was due to Tom's instructor, seeing her as the source of her current problems simplified the situation for Aura who had never really liked having anything to do with the church.

"Nah, this is all due to how great of a student this kid is. Do you want to tell them or should I?"

Having gotten her fun out of the current situation, Lizzy took another puff of smoke before turning slightly more serious as she turned to Tom.

"Yeah, yeah I get it already."

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Tom turned to Dan and Aura.

"After being subjected to a frankly horrible trial, I was anointed as a [saint], that's why the church treats me like this."

"... A what?"

While Dan responded with disbelief, Aura seemed to have tapped out of the conversation entirely, judging by how blank her eyes were she had entirely stopped thinking.

"A [saint], I've been blessed by two goddesses and acquired some [skills] from them."

"A saint? Like those high ranking bishops?"

"I guess, although I've never really been that pious or a fan of the church, to begin with. I was usually discriminated against by the overly religious so going from that to reverence is more than just a little jarring."

"Well, it is to be expected that they treat you with reverence all of a sudden, a [saint] isn't even trailed that often, and it is even rarer than a person actually passes the said trial."

Interjecting with her own comment, Lizzy managed to steer the conversation in a different direction for the moment.

"A trail to become a saint? I've never heard of that before."

"Well, that's because the church doesn't want everyone to know that the gods are the types to pit a single student against a ground dragon without warning."

"Don't remind me, I seriously believed I was going to die when that massive monster appeared in front of me…"

Talking for a bit longer, Dan and Aura decided it was best for Tom to get some rest and left, decidedly without talking about when to meet up again.

"Don't worry about it too much, I'm pretty sure they just need some time to think over everything. More importantly, I came to find you because I've stuff we need to talk about."

Finally turning serious and explaining her reason for coming to find Tom, Lizzy lit another cigarette before she continued talking.

"First there's an upcoming tournament you'll have to compete and perform in for your separation from your 'family' to be something the headmaster is willing to back."

Breathing out a puff of ice-filled smoke, Lizzy didn't take no for an answer, and Tom knew that already. Sure, Tom could separate from the Laplace family using his newly found title as a [saint], but doing so would compromise or even outright eliminate his current separation and freedom from the church as it was highly unlikely the church would antagonize the Laplace family without something in return.

"Sure, where and when?"

Not even bothering to ask about any further details, Tom's immediate and concrete answer put a smile on Lizzy's lips as she took in another puff of smoke.

"The academy, midday in a week. You're free to bring your friends if you still have some then. Secondly, I want to know exactly why you got yourself this hurt."

"That one is a bit more complicated…-"

Explaining how himself, Aura and Dan had run into then defeated an unknown group of monsters which had then summoned other monsters which almost overwhelmed them, Tom quickly noticed how Lizzy's earlier smile entirely faded.

"... You said that one of them used magic with several primitive [catalysts], and acted as the leader of the group too?"

Evidently, Lizzy's downturn in mood wasn't because of how reckless her precious student had acted.

For the moment, that matter was entirely separate and even trivial compared to more pressing issues.

"Yeah it was definitely leading the others and the monsters even moved in a formation, other than that I took this off of what was left of the corpse."

Handing Lizzy one of the amulets he had looted off of the monster's corpse, Tom correctly judged that this would spell trouble for his further plans to explore the nearby dungeon either solo or with Dan and Aura.

"... Don't tell anyone about this, and make sure your friends do the same. Also, no more exploring for now."

"... Yes ma'am."

Once more it was clear to Tom that Lizzy wouldn't take no for an answer, but this time it seemed out of genuine worry for her dear disciple.

"You're free to return to the academy, hell you could even bring your friends back to the academy for a free stay. That or continue hunting monsters until the tournament, but stay far, far away from that area."

Getting back on her feet as she put out her cigarette with ice magic, Lizzy tossed the butt away as she left with a quick wave.

It was clear as day to Tom that whatever the appearance of a monster that led its kin or was able to use a [catalyst] was extremely bad news.

"... [Status]."

With nothing else to do for the moment other than rest, Tom decided to check out his [status] for the first time in a little while

Tom Laplace

Title: [Saint]

Race: Human

Age: 19

Vitality: 30/199 (UP)

Strength: 66/66

Dexterity: 129/129

Agility: 3/59 (UP)

Intelligence: 165/165

Luck: 18

Mana: 25.956/25.956 (UP)

Seeing only minor improvements to his attributes, Tom's attention was quickly stolen by something further down the list.

Skills:

[Cooking 4/10] [Housework 4/10] [Memorization 2/10] [Pain resistance 4/10] [Etiquette 1/10] [Mana control 3/10] [Fine motor control 3/10] [Strengthening 5/10] [Combat awareness 4/10] (UP) [Sense potential 10/10] [Saint 1/3]

Magic affinity: Gravity

Conditions:

[Overloaded nerves (Legs) -/-] [Contact with a follower of the **** *** **'**** 1/10]

Immediately focusing his attention on the second of his two current conditions, Tom was only more confused by the information which flowed into his head via his [saint] title the next second.

[CONTACT WITH A FOLLOWER OF THE **** *** **'****, INFORMATION RESTRICTED, INCREASES SAINTS GROWTH IN ORDER TO COMBAT THREAT EFFECTIVELY.]

While the condition had positive effects which Tom welcomed, the indication of the condition didn't exactly thrill him either.

(So information can be restricted to me even if I'm a saint? That must have something to do with the skill level part of it… I guess this is why Lizzy reacted so seriously, I should head back to the academy as soon as possible to ask about this.)

Not wanting to trust the church with this information in case Lizzy didn't, Tom made the decision to head back to the academy as soon as he was physically able to. Without knowing it, this decision would have major implications for not only Tom but even the survival of his country.