Sepakai (GXG) (GIRLXGIRL) (GL)

48

Chapter 6
Section 12: Rank
Carol stretched out her fingers into the holy water filled silver cup. A number of ripples spread out across the water’s calm surface, hitting the edges of the cup and bouncing back.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“Give it a second. And are you trying to get in the way? Just stand back and watch quietly.”

I stood up and pulled on Saluena’s sleeve as she leaned forward to get as good of a look inside as she could. Why do I suddenly feel like a mother who has to tell off their nosy kid? Saluena probably thought so too as an indescribable expression floated across her face.

“Hm? The color of the water has started to change.”

“Yep. Like I said before, the holy water reacts to the person’s life force. The stronger a person’s life force is, the darker the water’s color will become.”

I received an explanation about ranks a few years ago during my first rite. They said the color of the water will go from white and change in order of green, yellow, orange, red, blue, and finally purple¹. The current king of Osnell, Oliva-sama, was a blue-level adventurer before he took the throne. As for his son……er, daughter Ashel-sama, she is supposed to be even more valorous than him having attained a red rank at only seventeen years old.

As you can guess there aren’t many blue adventurers in the country of Osnell. As a matter of fact you could probably count the number of blue adventurers across the entire Van Delucia continent on two hands. By the time you’ve become the highest tier of a purple ranked adventurer, you’ve officially become a living legend. I don’t know of a single living adventurer who currently holds the rank.

“Hoh, the fiery color of a sunset. How beautiful.”

“Eh?”

Saluena let our her honest feelings as she watched the color of the water change even as I still held onto her sleeve. Her words caused me to raise my face, and as the full meaning of what she said fully sank in, I immediately followed her gaze.

“Wha-, oi…….Carol. Your water is looking a little reddish to me?”

“…….what a strange coincidence. I see it too.”

There was no mistake, the color of the holy water Carol had touched turned a vivid orange. Toslin, Rose-san, and Aronda-san all had the same surprised look on their faces. I was just as surprised as them, but the actual person involved Carol had moved past surprise as a bitter smile crept forward.

“So there was a mistake in the rite?”

Ordinarily a statement like this would be unthinkable blasphemy. This is a miracle brought forward by the Goddess, so doubting it is the same as doubting the very Goddess herself. But there isn’t anyone here who feels like reproaching her. Because what’s happening right now in front of everyone’s eyes is so unbelievable I’m sure the same thought had crossed everyone else’s minds as well.

“N-No…..that……cannot be. I knew you were coming, so I polished the silver a few days ago and procured some specially purified water this morning.”

The insides of the cup were shining with a fire like the setting sun. However over time the water began to change as the color of the water dripped upwards as if someone were somehow spilling paint in reverse. The orange color converged on the waters surface around where Carol’s fingers had made contact with the water, and it……grew upwards.

As the line of color defied gravity and rose into the air, reddish leaves began to spread, continuing to push outwards. The leaves spread further and further out until eventually a small bud began to form.