Sin Archbishop From a Common Place To World's Strongest

Arc 2 "Prologue"

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Start of Arc 2

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Prologue.

Aiko Hatayama, 25 years old. A high school teacher.

For her, being a teacher wasn't just about teaching a subject to her students and making sure they kept their grades and their appearances up. Of course, those things were important as well, but what Aiko valued more than anything was being there for the students. More concretely, that meant she wanted to be someone outside of their family that her students could rely on whenever they were in trouble.

This resolve had first formed back during a certain incident in her own high school days, but that was a tale for another time. Regardless, it was both her creed and her pride to be someone other than their parents that the students could rely on. If she couldn't uphold that simple principle, then she felt she had no right to call herself a teacher.

Hence why the current situation was one Aiko was extremely displeased with. Not only had they suddenly been thrust into a different world, while she was still reeling from the shock of such an incomprehensible event, it was her student that had calmed everyone down. Then before she knew it, her precious students had begun preparing for a war despite their tender age.

No matter how she tried to persuade them, the students had already been swept up by the current created from their own determination. Her pleas fell on deaf ears, so they marched off to battle despite her protests.

If I can't stop them, then I'll at least be there to fight by their side! But even that hope of hers had been crushed when she discovered her job was useless in combat. Instead, because of how rare and valuable her skills were, she was ordered to go to various towns to improve their farming conditions and create new plots of arable land. She tried to argue back, but both her precious students and this world's priests urged her to go. And because she couldn't deny the fact that she was the only one capable of doing the job, she ended up reluctantly agreeing.

She spent her days fretting over her students, knowing she was powerless to help. Escorted by the church's templar knights and the Heiligh Kingdom's

imperial guard, she traveled to various towns and undeveloped areas to improve their soil or create new tracts of farmland. Then, when she was finally able to return, she learned that one of her students had died in battle.

Aiko blamed herself for not insisting that she tag along. She had gone on about her lofty ideals for what a teacher should aspire to, but in the end hadn't she just let herself get swept up by the flow?

Though, even if Aiko had been there, it was doubtful the end result would have changed. However, whether she could have helped or not, the incident served to open her eyes to reality.

She saw how some of the students had become too traumatized to continue fighting, and that many of the nobles and priests were trying to cajole them back onto the battlefield anyway. She swore to herself that she wouldn't ever let herself get swept up by the flow again, and stood up to the nobles and priests. She used her unique position as a bargaining chip, which served her well as both a sword and a shield when it came to negotiating, and demanded that the kingdom stop pestering her students to fight.

In the end, she was successful. The priests and nobles stopped pressuring the students to return to battle.

Ironically, however, her desperate struggle for their sake only endeared her to the students even more. And while none of them would ever return to the Great Orcus Labyrinth again, a good deal of them decided to gather their courage once more and at least guard Aiko while she ran around the country fixing its land.

It wasn't just for her sake, though. They also wanted to honor the sacrifice of the classmate who'd died protecting them, and they felt guilty being the only ones to remain safe in the castle while their classmates fought on in the labyrinth. More than anything, though, they wanted to shake off the shackles of fear that had chained them down for so long, so it wasn't solely because Aiko had fought on their behalf.

Aiko understood this as well, and she was at least glad that some of the students were beginning to overcome their fear and step out of the palace once more.

But at the same time, she didn't want to let them put themselves in danger, which was why she tried to stop them from coming along with arguments like "You shouldn't have to fight," and "It's okay, the knights will protect me," among others. However, her protests only served to fire up the

students even more, and they all exclaimed "We'll be the ones to protect you, Ai-chan," in unison.

In the end, she was overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, so she ended up getting dragged into their pace once more.

End of Chapter

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Next Time: "The inn and the Peeping Tom"

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[17/09/21]