She wanted to extract a bit of information about Saint Michael from Lyudmila.
After all, this immaculate Saintess before her — so delicate she seemed almost defiled by a mere touch — could be said to be the person closest to Saint Michael in Su Yuzu's circle.
"Student Lyudmila~~~"
"Mira-kouhai~" Su Yuzu waved her hand lightly toward Lyudmila.
Lyudmila still wore an expression dazed almost to the point of being entirely out of it, as though she hadn't heard a single word Su Yuzu had spoken.
Saotome Yukina looked at her roommate with some confusion.
Student Lyudmila... what's wrong with you?
The little rabbit's snow-white ahoge atop her brow swayed back and forth as she stretched out her hand and gave a light tug on Lyudmila's arm — the one holding her schoolbag.
"Yiii——" Suddenly, both Saotome Yukina and Su Yuzu caught it — that nearly piteous, weak whimpering moan from the girl.
The corners of Su Yuzu's lips curled up in something distinctly mischievous.
And as for the little rabbit... the ahoge atop her brow that had been swaying to and fro suddenly stopped its motion, the girl's eyes went wide, and the well-seasoned Saotome Yukina instantly understood what had just transpired.
It was that unknown deity's blessing.
[Damn it...]
[Today, Student Lyudmila actually got the blessing a step ahead of me!]
Saotome Yukina clenched her little fists tight.
Of course——
It was just a joke.
The little rabbit knew it well — her roommate Lyudmila, who as a Saintess of the Holy Royal Court took an almost rebellious attitude in the face of that kind of blessing.
The one Lyudmila served was the deity in her own heart.
Every time that blessing came down, it was the unknown deity's harshest trial set before Lyudmila.
And the result, every single time... ended with her own roommate being thoroughly, devastatingly routed.
The little rabbit had once, out of curiosity, tried to imitate Lyudmila and resist a blessing from that unknown deity — the deity with the unmistakable flavor of Yuzu-senpai.
As for the aftermath... Saotome Yukina could only say it was painfully invigorating.
The next day, never mind going to class as usual — she didn't even have it in her to get out of bed and eat breakfast.
Her toes had been curled for so long they were nearly cramping.
That unknown deity also seemed especially fond of picking on her roommate.
Last time... just as Lyudmila had, with great difficulty, felt that she could finally see the dawn of victory — that she could grit her teeth and tough the blessing out——
Lady Fate's Blessing had suddenly leveled up.
The little rabbit had quietly gone and asked Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi and Mihou Sakai about it.
And received the news that their shares of the blessing had been upgraded right along with it.
Ever since the blessing had leveled up, the little rabbit had never once attempted to resist again.
But... she had already come to understand the situation her own roommate was in.
Saotome Yukina supported Lyudmila as inconspicuously as she could manage; even so, the Saintess's shoulders trembled along with the girl's touch.
"Mira..."
"Senpai seems to have something to discuss with you, you know." Saotome Yukina informed the Saintess in a soft, quiet whisper, dispelling the awkwardness — and the floral fragrance — that hung in the air.
That sweet, lingering scent was like clusters of white locust flowers hanging down in a floral arcade — simple, elegant, and richly perfumed.
Lyudmila lifted her piteous, weak brows and eyes to gaze at Su Yuzu, and within those dazed golden eyes, the steadfastness of a Holy Royal Court martyr seemed to be all but worn away.
"Yu..."
"Lady Yuzu..."
"Was there something you needed from me?"
Lyudmila kept feeling like, any second now, she'd lose control of her body, and a great outpouring of Holy Light would light up the open space in front of the Healing-type academic building.
"There's something I wanted to ask Student Lyudmila about." Su Yuzu didn't tease Lyudmila any further — she simply spoke as low and as softly as she could, easing the taut strings of Lyudmila's heart.
"Student Lyudmila..."
"Do you know of Saint Michael?"
Lyudmila gave her lower lip a light bite, as though she couldn't quite understand why Su Yuzu would ask a question like that.
The girl nodded. "Of course I do."
"She is the Saintess of the 「Holy Royal Court」, and also... the Saintess of the Inquisition."
Su Yuzu's expression suddenly took on a faintly peculiar quality.
You see... in Su Yuzu's eyes, the Saintess of the 「Holy Royal Court」's Inquisition had by now become a fairly strange sort of symbolic emblem.
First and foremost among them being this current generation's Saintess, Lyudmila.
In Su Yuzu's Material Inventory, well over a dozen full rows of assorted instruments of torture — every last one of them was a Favorability Gift obtained from Lyudmila.
If these Favorability Gifts hadn't simply appeared out of thin air, but had been transferred from somewhere into her Material Inventory——
Then the warehouse of the 「Holy Royal Court」's Inquisition was probably well on its way to being unconsciously emptied out by Lyudmila herself.
And there was one more very crucial point... judging from the Twist Thorned Crown Su Yuzu had presented her with last time——
She... probably really, truly liked it?
"So then... does Student Lyudmila still remember what Saint Michael looked like?" Su Yuzu put forward a question that, from Lyudmila's vantage point, felt rather odd indeed.
"How could I possibly not remember..." Lyudmila answered almost reflexively — and then her expression suddenly went stiff and blank.
[I can't recall it...]
"Why is it that I can't recall it..."
In her memories, she could seem to make out the figure of a slender, white-robed Lady Saintess — gentle, approachable. But why... why was it that whenever she tried to fix the impression in her memory upon the Lady Saintess's face, beneath the cloak — apart from a sharp chin, a slender neck, and a pair of thin, soft pink lips — there seemed to be nothing at all that she could see.
Lyudmila suddenly began to grow flustered.
She had begun to question whether the faith in her own heart was steadfast or not.
To her way of thinking... it had to be because that unknown deity, the one hovering around Su Yuzu, was dismantling her faith — dismantling everything she was.
The one she had forgotten just now was Lord Michael... and then... after that, what else might she go on to forget?
Would she end up just like Kujou Iruka — broken into someone who would stop at nothing for the sake of a Blessing?
Su Yuzu watched Lyudmila's mood gauge inside [Operator Development] swing wildly back and forth — watched the maiden in front of her, mental state clearly on the verge of collapse.
She stepped forward and gently took hold of Lyudmila's hand.
"Is Student Lyudmila starting to doubt her own faith?"
"There's no need to fluster yourself like that.
"Apart from Student Lyudmila — every person I've asked, every record I've looked up online — none of them have been able to turn up Lady Saint Michael's likeness."
"Apart from that passage about Saint Michael snapping her own wings and her 「Word of Command」 to intercept Kujou Iruka, I can't find any information whatsoever about Saint Michael."
"It's as though her existence has been deleted."
"The world plainly remembers her merits, and yet the world seems already to have forgotten her."
"It's some sort of rule-like power — and it has nothing to do with Student Lyudmila."
"Is... is that so?" Lyudmila stared blankly at Su Yuzu.
Su Yuzu's voice, to her ears, was like the voice of a demon.
This demonic voice bewitched the voice of her heart — seemingly steadying her faith, when in truth... it was eroding Lyudmila's heart from within.
Lyudmila knew perfectly well that Su Yuzu was the mouthpiece of that unknown deity — that not a single word of whatever Su Yuzu spoke should she place her trust in.
But... in this moment when her faith was on the very verge of collapse, she could not help but admit it: Su Yuzu and her deity had won.
This was an open scheme laid bare on the table; this was arsenic dressed up as honey — like drinking poisoned wine to quench one's thirst.
And yet... she had no other choice.
The pure, holy maiden silently wept within her heart.
[Ding——]
[Bewitching Evil Words: Lyudmila's Favorability -1.]
[Ding——]
[Chaotic Faith: Lyudmila's Favorability +2.]
Still the same yo-yoing Favorability of the masochistic Saintess that Su Yuzu had grown so familiar with.
But this time...
[Lyudmila's Favorability 59 (Favor) → 71 (Attachment).]
[Favorability Promotion Reward Obtained——]
[Holy Light "Inferior" → Holy Light.]
[Ding——]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new achievement: Corrupted Saintess.]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new achievement: Taming Grandmaster.]
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