Chapter 22: Something Surprising

"...Nio, are you ready? For the first time, I’m going to present you to our people. Word has already started spreading that there’s a new saint, and now I need to introduce you to the people in a ceremony," Stelaria says to Nio, who is putting on appropriate attire.

It’s been a few days since Stelaria began preparing this and checking the communication device she got the "recipe" for from Nio, and now that Nio has plenty of suitable clothes and has learned part of the proper etiquette, she can appear before the public.

"I’m ready," Nio says, more interested in testing something. She knows an event like this will gather many people, so she thought of a way to test who in the audience is strong and whether anyone of a very high level is present, which is why she’s excited to take part in this.

"Perfect. Then wait here. I’m going to give a speech to the population and I’ll call you shortly." Stelaria exits through a door and heads to an area suited for making announcements to the people.

Nio, meanwhile, tries to sense the presence and scent of threats. Though she feels nothing, she remains cautious.

"Stelaria will probably start producing the communication relic and selling it, as expected. After this coronation, I can cast a teleportation spell to mark this place."

"And I can leave my copy acting as me in this kingdom while I explore other kingdoms, and I can also keep switching and swapping places..." Nio doesn’t want to leave this kingdom, but she also wants to find out about the other kingdoms.

So she’s thinking of leaving her copy in the theocracy while she explores and ventures through the world, returning to the theocracy daily through teleportation markers and magic.

"..." Nio waits for a few minutes, listening to many voices cheering loudly. It seems a lot of people showed up for this, and when Stelaria comes to get her and leads her to the venue, she sees a few thousand people.

’Wow... there are more than I expected... there are tens of thousands, easily over 40,000 people... the theocracy seems large, but I didn’t expect so many people to come see such a... boring event.’ Stelaria uses an object to make her voice echo everywhere as she presents Nio, who secretly finds the event dull.

"..." While Stelaria is speaking, Nio begins murmuring a spell that will let her see if there’s anyone truly strong in the area.

"[Time Magic: Parallax] Let the world become a little slower. Between a single point, become one of four and be as one at my command." Nio murmurs the spell’s incantation, and then time begins to decelerate extremely fast.

Everyone’s movement becomes extremely slow until it stops completely. Nio used this to see who took the longest to stop moving and who could still move at all, but to her disappointment, no one moves.

"Parallax is a time-category spell, a Temporal Magic that works by slowing down time extremely fast until it stops completely... in the game, time magic was only useful against people 30 levels below the user..."

"From what I can see, no one here is level 70, and they’re not even close to that... how disappointing..." Nio honestly hoped someone would move, not because she wants to be attacked, but because it would help confirm the world’s strength.

"Haa..." Dissatisfied, she just uses the [Faceless] spell and creates her copy, leaving the copy in her place and using invisibility accessories to wander through the city. Time resumes its flow, and no one even notices that time had stopped moving.

’In the game, every player always learned everything needed to counter time magic... I see that in this world, that doesn’t happen. There aren’t even accessories to prevent time magic, which in the game was almost garbage since all strong players were immune...’ But as Nio wanders among the people, gently distancing herself from this whole tedious affair, someone grabs her shoulder.

"..." Nio looks back and sees a girl in almost too casual clothing, an outfit very different from the more medieval clothes she sees on the people. It doesn’t necessarily look modern, but it’s a simple, light dress in shades of black and gold with a few cross details.

’Wait... I was seen? I’m invisible...’ Nio goes on alert as she looks at the girl.

"Who might you be?"

"Head Paladin. You can call me Ryu, ’new saint.’ And why aren’t you in your place?" The girl who introduces herself as Ryu speaks to Nio in a very sharp tone.

Nio analyzes the girl, taking in her long, dark red hair and deep black eyes, a very unusual appearance that stands out from the people nearby.

"You have enormous tits, almost like a cow. Your chest is bigger than my head, and what wide hips. You’d have many children without difficulty." What Nio says catches Ryu off guard, leaving her in shock at the insult.

But Nio isn’t insulting her; she’s making an assessment. Ryu’s entire physique resembles a High Elf, who, ironically, are either exaggeratedly voluptuous or look like they’re starving to death from being so thin. This is based more on the bizarre genetics of a High Elf, where being thin favors them in magic and archery, and being voluptuous favors them in combat, hand-to-hand fighting, and explosive power, whether magical or physical.

The appearance itself has nothing to do with capability; rather, those capabilities force the user’s body to take on those appearances.

’Her scent reminds me of the grass I sensed not long ago... indeed, a High Elf... what is she doing here? She’s the Head Paladin? But she’s not even human...’ Nio doesn’t care about the pointy ears. Many elves have them, but some end up not having them from mixing with humans and having children, or they just hide them with magic.

"Funny to hear that from such a small dragon," Ryu says angrily to Nio, who realizes she’s been found out.

"What would your level be?" she asks, curious to know the level of the person who saw through her disguise spell.

"...68." When the girl reveals her level, Nio grows confused.

’68? She noticed the invisibility — that much is fine since a level 40 could do that... but she didn’t notice time literally stopping? Why? She’s only two levels away from being able to react to time stopping. She should already be able to notice it...’ Nio keeps this to herself.

"Being a dragon doesn’t strip me of my sainthood, High Elf."

"...You’re right. But hiding your race could be problematic. Be glad the theocracy is quite permissive thanks to our gods." Ryu grabs Nio’s hand and pulls her along, away from the crowd.

"Are you going to tell Stelaria the truth?"

"Of course I am. She’s the one in command."

Nio murmurs in dissatisfaction while wondering if she should kill this girl, but decides to restrain herself. Not everything needs to be solved with death. Besides, Ryu’s reaction indicates that Nio’s race isn’t a problem — something she had been uneasy about.

"For a saint, your vocabulary is awful. Is that how you greet someone? Calling her a cow seconds after meeting her?"

"Sorry... you’re right. They’re bigger than a cow’s. I think closer to a powerful bison." Nio rephrases the response, still without it being an insult, because in Nio’s view, Ryu is beautiful — a woman who would be the dream of many men.

"..." Ryu bites her lips, burning with rage inside, but swallows her curses because Nio is a saint.