Celia
"S... Serea, Your Highness, are you alright?"
The girl spoke weakly, and upon hearing that, Serea kindly reminded her,
"Um... I think you should be more concerned about yourself."
As Serea said this, the girl automatically interpreted it as Serea worrying about her, which made her expression turn determined.
"Your Highness, please do not worry about me. Celia will definitely defeat these monsters and escort you to safety."
Drawing the silver cross-shaped longsword, the red-haired girl named Celia stared vigilantly at the encroaching undead warriors, paying particular attention to Little Black, who made her especially fearful.
But the thought of Her Highness Serea being in grave danger instantly wiped all fear from Celia's face—she had to defeat these monsters and protect her!
With this in mind, Celia gripped her cross-shaped sword tightly, ready to meet the enemy.
Serea realized Celia seemed to have misunderstood something, so she explained,
"No, you're mistaken. When I said 'you should be more concerned about yourself', I meant it literally."
"As a royal guard, my personal safety is of no importance."
"Uh..."
As Serea wondered how best to explain it further, Little Black couldn't help but interject.
"Lowly living being, release Her Majesty the Queen!"
Little Black raised its bone blade, but, due to the despicable living being using their queen as a shield, it didn't dare act rashly.
"Can you all stop making such a fuss?!"
Serea couldn't help but complain, but whether Celia was just too deep into the act or for some other reason, she immediately retorted.
"Hmph! Filthy undead, I will never hand Her Highness over to you!"
"I think it would be better if you let me go first,"
Serea muttered helplessly, but Celia responded,
"Your Highness, in a moment, I'll hold off these monsters. Please use the opportunity to escape."
"I..."
"Now's the time!"
With that, Celia gave Serea a strong shove backwards, then rushed alone toward Little Black.
Serea, propelled backward by the girl's great strength, crashed headlong into the lead wagon.
Bang!
With a dull crash, everything went black for Serea, and when she came to, Celia was already engaged in battle against Little Black.
Clang!
The girl's silver cross sword blocked Little Black's attack. Though the girl was very weak now, the burst of holy light from the sword made things tricky for Little Black. As such, the two were evenly matched in the first round.
Seeing this, Serea couldn't help but focus on the girl, and a stat window appeared.
Character: Celia (Apprentice Paladin, hero)
Level: 23
Status: Weakened, injured
Spirit: A
Strength: B
Agility: B+
Endurance: B
Constitution: A
Charisma: S+
Luck: S
Skills: Holy Light (Tier 1), Healing (Tier 1), Eye of Truth (Tier 2), Divine Grace (Tier 3), Holy Healing (Tier 3), Holy Sword Judgment (Tier 4)
Description: Candidate Bishop of the Judgement Cross Church—a natural nemesis to the undead!
Note: The Judgement Cross Church is only marginally related to the Holy Light Church. Please distinguish between the two.
Damn!
What insane stats! Not a single attribute below B, and "Hero" status just sounds so badass, doesn't it?
Although Serea already knew from her own memories that this royal guard was quite something, she hadn't expected her to be THIS impressive!
Regarding this girl, Serea's original body also held plenty of memories.
Celia, daughter of the Otto Kingdom's Minister of War, was stripped of both her surname and noble status when her father attempted a coup.
By rights, as the daughter of a traitor, she ought to have been executed like her father, but as she was still an infant, the compassionate Queen of Otto adopted her, later entrusting her care to Serea's own mother.
So, she was Serea's adoptive younger sister, and the two had grown up together as childhood companions.
At age five, she displayed exceptionally high affinity for light—so much so that the Judgement Cross Church's bishop, passing through, took her away.
Back at the church, her astonishing talent garnered immense attention, and over eight years of study, Celia achieved remarkable accomplishments.
But when she rose to be candidate bishop of the Holy Light Church, Celia ignored every bishop's plea and insisted on returning to the Otto Kingdom to become Serea's royal bodyguard.
Both the King of Otto and the church tried repeatedly to dissuade her, but she paid them no mind. In the end, the church had no choice but to relent, agreeing to let her leave for three years—though who knows if she'd ever return.
As for why Celia gave up the distinguished position of candidate bishop at the Judgement Cross Church, it all came down to her relationship with Serea.
Ahem... That indescribable relationship led Celia to give up her noble name, her candidate bishop's seat, and willingly become Serea's bodyguard.
She'd even volunteered to escort Serea for this marriage alliance, bringing along one of the church's Five Sacred Artifacts:
The Judgement Cross Holy Sword!
It possessed a special property: each generation's wielder could use it to kill one person without facing punishment under any country's law.
As for why such an overpowered privilege existed...
The Judgement Cross Church just said so!
And as for who Celia brought the sword to use it on, Serea had no idea—surely, a divine artifact wouldn't be needed for mere bandits.
But at that moment, her personal bodyguard—Celia—was battling head-to-head with her top subordinate—Little Black, which made Serea's head spin.
"Stop! You guys, stop fighting!"
Seeing some Skeleton Warriors also preparing to join the fray, Serea hurriedly ordered them to stop, fearing Celia might be hurt.
Her command worked wonders. All the skeletons—even Little Black—froze in place after hearing the order. However, since Celia was already weak, Little Black's last blow still sent her flying.
The girl on the ground tried to counterattack, but when she struggled upright, she saw the skeletons standing motionless.
She looked at Serea in shock, confused by Serea's now unfamiliar aura.
The two locked eyes. Serea didn't know what to say—stricly speaking, she was no longer the Serea Celia wished to protect.
An awkward silence...
After opening her mouth and being at a loss for words, Serea finally blurted out,
"Uh...hello?"
Noticing Serea greeted her, Celia's eyes narrowed, and a golden light shone in them.
Eye of Truth!
Under that gaze, Serea felt completely seen through, uncomfortable beneath such scrutiny. After a while, Celia's confusion turned to anger. Then she drew her cross sword, pointed it at Serea, and shouted,
"Monster! Give Serea back to me!"
Faced with the girl's sudden fury, Serea was startled.
But after a moment, she realized: using holy magic, Celia had seen through to the soul beneath Serea's flesh. Thus, Serea no longer intended to hide.
(To be continued...)