TWWSY 11

Chapter 11

Before anyone realized it, one of the assassins had regained his strength and was now holding a dagger to Mia’s neck. The silver blade gleamed menacingly, as if it would pierce her at any moment.

The color drained from Etienne’s face.

He had once said that one must learn how to fight with someone behind them. Yet in truth, he hadn’t been fully focused on this battle.

In fact, with enemies so easy to dispatch before him, he had become complacent. The fact that idle thoughts crept into his mind mid-battle was proof of that attitude.

Mia’s life was the price of that complacency.

But it was precisely in moments like this that he couldn’t afford to show urgency. In unbalanced negotiations like this, the more one revealed the hostage’s value, the more the situation tilted against them. Etienne forced himself to calm down, adjusted his grip on his sword, and pressed it deeper into the neck of the man he had pinned beneath him.

“Hey, try staying calm. You don’t want to lose your comrade by acting rashly.”

“Hah. You think I’m in the mood to negotiate when we’ve already decided to kill every last one of you?”

It was a clear suicide stance—kill or be killed.

The man grabbed Mia by the hair. A stifled gasp escaped her small lips. Judging by how desperately she clutched the arm choking her, it looked like she could barely breathe. Though the distance wasn’t far, Etienne couldn’t see her face clearly.

He was somewhat relieved—if he could see her expression, he felt he might completely lose his composure.

“Drop your sword and surrender now. Then I promise your lover will live.”

Even in the dark, Mia could be seen fiercely shaking her head. It was clear she meant: “Don’t do what they say.” Etienne, no stranger to combat, didn’t need to hear it to understand.

But seeing the blade graze her skin…

Suddenly, a mysterious red light flashed across his vision. It came so unexpectedly that Etienne couldn’t identify its source right away, so he kept his focus on the assassin. Once the man was dead, figuring out what had happened would be easier.

The smell of blood thickened in the air. With so much blood splattered everywhere, it was hard to tell if Mia had been wounded. Etienne’s muscles tensed as he prepared to lunge.

CRACK.

The red light he had seen moments ago once again overwhelmed his vision. This time, there was no mistaking its source.

It was coming from Mia’s hand.

The man who had been threatening her just seconds ago had already dissolved into a puddle of blood.

It all happened before Etienne could even register the shift in momentum.

It seemed the goddess had finally taken pity on Mia and granted her divine power.

In a daze, Mia looked down at her hand. A red orb, about the size of a coin, hovered above her palm, spinning in circles.

Can it get bigger?

As soon as she thought it, the orb grew to the size of an egg.

I wish it were even bigger.

The orb expanded again, now the size of a small book. Red light filled the room. As if it understood her intentions, the orb responded accordingly, making Mia smile. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she was genuinely thrilled.

Thinking back to what just happened, this could be quite useful for self-defense. I wonder if I can imbue it into a sword like Rochefort does…

It might be possible, but it would require practice to control it precisely. Unfortunately, she couldn’t swing a divinely powered sword freely in a cramped barrack—if she broke a wall, she’d be left without a place to sleep.

So instead, Mia wrapped the divine power around her fist. She had always heard divine power was difficult to control and required rigorous training, but the red energy obeyed her will surprisingly well.

Her fist grew hot. Maybe it was just her imagination, but… Was divine power supposed to emit heat, not just light? She started to wonder.

She threw a punch into the air. A red trail—just like the one she’d seen earlier—cut through the air with a sizzling sound.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she had felt so excited. Her whole body felt like it was burning with exhilaration.

Carried away by her excitement, Mia began imbuing everything in the room with divine power—pillows, bedding, drawers, medicine bottles, letters—everything floated in the air, glowing red.

Strangely, her body also felt lighter.

Or… was it really just a feeling?

She touched her cheek and was shocked by the searing heat rising from her skin. She had never heard of divine power having such side effects. What was going on?

And then—

THUD.

A loud impact from somewhere she couldn’t place, and she lost consciousness.

Two people were speaking behind a secluded barrack.

“…Your Excellency.”

The voice that called her name was much calmer than usual. Mia couldn’t quite tell what he was trying to say.

“……”

In a place untouched by moonlight, the man stood half-submerged in darkness, staring at her.

“The ability you just used…”

“Don’t drag it out. Did something go wrong?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

Mia’s voice was sharp. But who could blame her?

She had finally gotten powers of her own—something denied to her all her life—and now someone was trying to rain on her parade without even explaining why. It was hard not to be irritated.

“All divine powers emit white light when used.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. That’s why I thought we needed to confirm if Your Excellency’s ability is truly divine in nature… I’m sorry.”

Maybe it’s just a different color because the goddess chose you, Etienne added hurriedly, apologizing once more.

Receiving an apology and a bow from her subordinate, Mia turned away with a sour expression. Rather than argue over whether her mysterious new ability was divine or something unknown, she’d rather return to her room and test its limits.

“Mia.”

As she began to walk away, Etienne called out to her. She didn’t turn around, but she did stop, waiting for him to speak.

“That ability… I recommend you don’t use it for the time being.”

Etienne’s voice faded into the haze of her weakening consciousness.

“You’re awake.”

Was it a dream? A memory? Whatever it was, as she emerged from it, a familiar face greeted her. Though technically, it was a face she hadn’t seen in this life yet.

“…Deputy Commander Faver.”

The man looked startled at being addressed so directly.

“Your Excellency, I’m not the deputy commander. You must be mistaking me for someone else.”

“But…”

Xavier Faver. In her previous life, he had been the proud deputy commander of the 1st Holy Legion, serving directly under Legion Commander Rochefort.

He’d also acted as a strategic advisor—unlike Mia, whose suggestions were constantly dismissed, Faver had received nothing but accolades from the army.

In fact, it wasn’t rare for even Mia’s strategies to be credited to him instead. Over time, this had built up a quiet resentment in her.

And now you say you’re not the deputy commander?

As Mia stared blankly into the air, she recalled that he hadn’t been appointed deputy commander right away in her previous life either.

He had only been rapidly promoted after Leonard was executed for colluding with the enemy. Regrettably, in this timeline, Leonard was still completely innocent.

That meant Faver’s current rank was likely just a low-level officer—at best.

When Mia didn’t respond, Faver began to report on her condition.

“You had a very high fever. You also muttered a lot of things we couldn’t understand.”

“Did I?”

“Given that you don’t remember, it seems you were unconscious the entire time. That’s what I expected.”

“You confirmed that somehow?”

“I didn’t need to. It was obvious. For some reason, you kept calling for the commander.”

“…Please don’t say anything that could cause misunderstandings.”