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C160: ASCENT OF THE ANGEL
Today’s another beautiful day.
It’s been a while since I helped Letasreit with her field.
“Geez! You’re late, Saint!”
As a former princess of the Human Kingdom, Letasreit is a pampered girl who doesn’t know patience, so she gets angry from waiting.
“I want to grow new crops right away! But I can’t start anything without you!”
Well, that’s true.
Planting seeds on my farm is done by “The Hand of Supremacy,” my gift, so they can’t start without me.
And Letasreit’s field is no exception to this.
“I told you, I’m sorry. I’ve got my hands full with welcoming the demon merchant and making natto lately!”
“It’s only natural that you should prioritize me, the princess of the human race, over such things… Whoops. If I start acting pompously again, who knows when that demonic mermaid princess will show up and throw another punch to my gut!”
She’s finally learned her lesson.
That’s right; if you’re scared of Platy, you should stop acting all high and mighty about your bloodline.
Anyway, let’s get those seeds planted.
I still have got a lot of other work to do myself.
“What do you want to grow next, Letasreit?”
“Fava beans!”
“Fava beans again…”
She sure loves her fava beans.
But I don’t recommend growing the same thing all the time because of soil damage from repeated cultivation.
Oh, well… It shouldn’t be that risky at this point.
Just once more…
I was about to touch the soil with “The Hand of Supremacy” when something happened.
The ground shook with a loud rumble…
“Kyaa! What’s going on?!”
“Is it an earthquake?!”
I can’t think of any other cause for the ground to have shaken.
We’ve never had any earthquakes since I came to this farm, so I thought it wasn’t the kind of area prone to natural disasters!
But they say that the more rarely earthquakes occur, the more intense and dangerous they are…
Or so I was thinking, but then…
Boom! A huge hole opened up in the ground!
“Nooooooooooooo! My field!!!”
Of all places, the hole opened up smack right in the middle of Letasreit’s field.
It was so huge you could almost call it a cave-in, leaving no traces of the field.
I wonder what caused this earthquake?
Was it perhaps done by…
“A mole?”
“Huh? What do you mean, Saint?”
A mole is a kind of vermin despised by farmers.
They dig tunnels underground, which damages the roots of crops, makes the ground brittle, and destroys the fields.
“So, you’re saying this hole is dug by a mole?”
“Isn’t this too big to be a mole hole?!”
It’s a hole so big that a single person could easily get in and out of it.
Still, this is a fantasy world.
There are some things I can’t assume based on the knowledge I have from my previous world.
We cannot rule out the possibility of a mole as large as a human being existing here!
Just as I was thinking this, something shot out from that very hole!
It was about the size of a human being.
But it was so fast that I could only see its afterimage.
“Gyaaaa! What is it this time?”
“Calm down! It must have been the mole!”
The culprit who dug this hole!
Maybe moles in this world can fly; who knows?
Then whatever flew out from that hole hovered in the air, revealing its entirety to us.
“…A girl?”
And quite the beauty, too.
Shining blond hair and skin as translucent as white porcelain.
Her entire body is clad in battle armor, shining like a jewel.
But what caught our attention the most was the pair of wings spreading out from her back.
“I-Is that the mole, Saint? Looks entirely different from what I know, though…”
“We can’t be sure just yet!”
It’s a fantasy world, after all.
There could be moles disguised as pretty ladies!
Indifferent towards our confusion, the beautiful girl seems to have no idea what she’s looking at.
“…Mana gauge anomalous startup confirmed. Angel identification No. 06, Horkosfon. Initiating reboot…”
What is she muttering to herself?
“Situational battle space synchronization initiated. Systems chronograph reports unit dormancy duration: 3,827 years. Detecting multiple subsystem deterioration and malfunction. Indeterminate data corruption in memory systems, attempting reconstruction… 99.2% unrecoverable. Identifying mission parameters… insufficient data. Identifying mobilization criteria… insufficient data. Perpetual-motion engine mana supply below operational minimums. Unable to maintain activation. Power saving mode initiated: suspending Wings of Icarus tactical functionality.”
“What? Huh? What happened?!”
After all her mumbling, the beautiful girl stops hovering and suddenly falls to the ground.
I’m at a complete loss about what is going on, but we still rush to her.
When I picked her up, she was unconscious, and her eyes were closed. Her body temperature was low, and she was breathing weakly.
Wait, she’s not breathing!
“Hey, she looks terrible! Is she sick? Injured?”
“I don’t know! She might have gotten sick from being exposed directly to the sun since she’s a mole!”
I keep convincing myself to abandon the mole theory, but first, we need to deal with this girl’s condition.
“Let’s bring her to the house! Call Garra Rufa! S-Someone, lend us a hand!!!”
“I don’t know either,” says Garra Rufa hopelessly as she examines the girl.
She’s a doctor who originally belonged to the Mermaid Medical Association and the only expert we have on our farm, but even she doesn’t know anything.
“The symptoms she’s showing don’t fall under any of the diseases I know of. Besides, I don’t know what kind of race she’s from. She’s no human, demon, or mermaid, nor do her characteristics match any derived subspecies of the three.”
…So, does this mean we can’t do anything to help her?
And since we know nothing about her, we don’t know how to cure her if she has a disease specific to her race.
“But giving lots of nutrition to increase her strength is a must. That’s the only thing I can think of. I’m sorry I’m not much help!”
“No, don’t be! You were helpful!”
In that case, we should feed her something nutritious right away.
Fortunately, my farm has loads of it!
“My Lord! Please use this!” says Gobukichi.
He’s one of the onlookers who came after hearing the commotion.
“I’ve brought some natto with me! It’s highly nourishing! It’s the ideal food to cure diseases!” he further says as he gives me a small bowl of natto.
Gobukichi… You’ve become quite the natto fanatic ever since the first time you tasted it.
Natto is indeed nutritious, and it might even make her feel better. But if she’s in this condition, it’d be better to give her something easy to chew and swallow…
“Eh, to heck with it!!!”
This isn’t the time to be hesitating.
I fed the girl a spoonful of natto which had already been stirred by Gobukichi beforehand.
This should patch her up!
Rumble…
The girl stands up, giving off a terribly overwhelming vibe.
What is this menacing aura?!
The girl seemingly on the verge of death has made a complete recovery!
“Functionality of power systems fully restored. Auto-diagnostics initiated… Mana supply to all subsystems: nominal. Self-regeneration systems: nominal. Sensor telemetry: nominal. Combat-mode power: 70% max output available. Tactical condition level: green. Systems operations confirm optimal functionality.”
“U-Um…”
“Initiating memory recovery procedures… fail. Launching secondary data source identification… initiating mobilization parameter synthesis. Populate operational interface customization variables… engage.”
The girl’s gaze shifts towards me, who is absolutely dumbfounded.
Then, she immediately kneels.
“I assume you are the one who restored me from my malfunctional state. I am the blade created by the will of the heavens, Angel Horkosfon. Due to the loss of my previous Master’s information, I will now register you as my new Master.”
“Whaaaaaat?!”
An angel?!
Did she just say she’s an angel?!
Speaking of angels… They’re divine messengers with wings. And she does have them!
“Please give me your orders. I will serve as Master’s blade and destroy all of Master’s enemies.”