The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master [Novel] Chapter 10

Too late.

The instant she realized she couldn’t avoid it, time seemed to slow. She could see every detail of the sharp glass shards pouring down above her head.

No — it only felt that way.

She reflexively stepped back from the center of the impact zone, but the spread of the falling debris was too wide.

At this rate, even if I avoid serious injury, I’ll still take minor wounds.

“Kyaah!”

At the horrified screams of the worshippers, Cecilia reflexively covered her head with her hands.

In that moment, white light burst from her hands.

Crash!

The vicious roar of glass shards striking the floor rang out right beside her.

But even as time passed, she felt no pain of her skull splitting open. Nothing wet trickled down.

‘Huh?’

When she opened her tightly shut eyes, she immediately saw people frozen in shock.

And the glass shards — no, the debris that should now be called powder — scattered in a circle at her feet.

‘…Why is it the glass shards that got pulverized and not my skull?’

As she awkwardly lowered her hands, glass dust rained down from the backs of them.

Then, someone shouted from among the rigid crowd.

“Woohoo! It’s a miracle! God has looked upon the saintess with favor!”

That cry was the signal flare.

The worshippers who had witnessed the miracle clasped their hands together and began to marvel at the saintess’s majesty.

“Such brilliantly shining holy power!”

“As expected of the saintess!”

…Sorry?

Her startled heart now pounded for an entirely different reason.

‘This is holy power?’

The holy power the Pope and clerics used healed people, but this…

Cecilia looked down dubiously at her hands, still glowing with a faint light.

‘I heard the essence of holy power is the force of purification — turns out it’s physical purification.’

That her holy power simply took a different form, and that her two hands had therefore become weapons capable of grinding even solid glass into powder — honestly, that wasn’t the real problem.

The real problem was…

‘So how do I turn this off?’

Surely I won’t have to live my whole life with sparkling hands.

Just as her head spun at the future of living with self-luminous hands, the Pope rushed toward her, forgetting even his dignity. He was so shocked that his face had gone as white as his vestments.

“O God. Are you all right? Are you hurt any…!”

“I’m fine…”

Before her answer could even finish, the Pope seized both her shoulders and poured holy power into her. A massive, brilliant sphere of white light, on an entirely different scale from what had emerged from her hands, enveloped her entire body.

It felt exactly like being wrapped in a warm blanket dried in the sun.

After briefly enjoying the comfort, Cecilia gave a small shake of her head.

“Your Holiness, I’m unharmed. As you can see, I’m not hurt at all.”

Even if there had been a scratch, it would have vanished without a trace in the holy power he’d just poured out.

After examining her thoroughly with his eyes, he belatedly withdrew his hands.

“…So it seems. What a relief.”

The Pope let out a deep sigh of relief and smiled weakly.

“Still, just in case, let’s go to the infirmary.”

“I’m really fine though…”

Cecilia trailed off, unable to readily agree.

She truly hadn’t been hurt even a speck, and more than anything, she kept thinking of the person who had shouted at her just before the glass shards fell.

“I’m worried about myself.”

The Pope gently squeezed her shoulder.

Behind him, she could see the worshippers and clerics still murmuring. In the distance, even the house knights rushing over after noticing the accident.

In the end, finding no escape route, Cecilia reluctantly nodded.

“Then I’ll impose on you for a moment.”

In the brief instant she turned around, led by the Pope, she quickly scanned through the gaps in the crowd.

But the robed man had vanished without a trace.

The place she was led to, willy-nilly, was a small room containing a couple of cots, a wooden table, and a long sofa.

‘I thought the infirmary would have lots of patients…’

As if noticing her question, the Pope explained it was a space for nobles who visited the temple to receive treatment and blessings.

Setting down warm tea and refreshments with his own hands, the Pope spoke.

“You must have been very frightened.”

Was it only fright?

Glass shards out of a clear sky — well, not lightning but glass shards. They were called shards, but they were the size of whole windowpanes.

At the time she’d been too shocked and overwhelmed to feel the full reality, but she’d nearly had her skull split in two.

But instead of confessing the truth, Cecilia gave an awkward smile.

“I was startled, but I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere.”

The Pope before her was worrying too much, and more importantly, someone else who’d entered the room with them had been dripping tears since earlier.

“Sniff, I-I thought the saintess was badly hurt…!”

It was Sena, who’d been by the Pope’s side from the start. Which meant she’d witnessed the accident happen right before her eyes.

The accident must have been quite shocking, because the girl who’d been too shy to even approach now sat pressed close to Cecilia’s side, clumsily pouring holy power over her again and again.

Right onto her skull, no less.

‘It’s, it’s blinding!’

So blinding that her eyes stung past the point of pain — she was on the verge of physiological tears streaming down.

“Sena, I’m fine, so please stop…”

“B-but the glass, something that huge fell on you, saintess!”

“Sena? I told you I’m not hurt.”

“Sniff!”

“Stop… Stop!”

At the increasingly dazzling light in her vision, she finally grabbed the girl’s hands. The sphere of light subsided as if it had been a lie.

‘Wow, I nearly went blind.’

“See? Do I look hurt anywhere?”

“But there are tears welling up here…”

‘That’s because of you.’

While Cecilia worked to swallow the truth, Sena’s gaze lingered on various parts of her body before falling away.

“…You do seem fine.”

The girl dejectedly lowered her two eyes, now wet with moisture, then soon wriggled her captured hands to clasp Cecilia’s in return. With just that, the girl regained her composure as if by magic.

Cecilia, having barely preserved her eyesight, reached out with her free left hand to peel away a lock of hair stuck to the girl’s cheek.

Bang!

Commotion follows commotion — the door opened without even a knock.

The one who appeared through it was none other than her older brother, Nox. As if he’d been running, he gasped for breath and immediately approached her.

“CiCi, they said your skull split open!”

Large hands seized both of Cecilia’s cheeks. He must have been quite shocked — his hands were terribly cold and damp.

‘But I guess he was worried, since I’m his younger sibling?’

“My head didn’t split, so don’t worry…”

“Even if it’s a useless part of you, it’d be a disaster if it went missing!”

Nox, thoroughly examining her intact skull, muttered seriously.

What the hell was I expecting from this guy.

The urge to tear off his useless parts surged up abruptly.

Cecilia grabbed Nox’s wrists and pulled them away, continuing softly.

‘Don’t worry.’

“Please just fuck off.”

“CiCi, I think your inner thoughts slipped out again.”

This time, of course, it was deliberate.

But far from flinching at the profanity, Nox’s eyes sparkled ominously.

“You couldn’t possibly mean these brothers of yours?”

“Yep.”

‘Wait, brothers?’

By the time she realized the subtle error, she’d already voiced her affirmation.

Nox turned around with a grin.

“Miguel. CiCi says you should fuck off too?”

Only then did Cecilia shift her gaze behind him. The knight who’d been standing awkwardly at the threshold, unable to enter easily, flinched and trembled.

“…I apologize.”

‘Why is he acting like that now?’

His drooping silver hair looked so pitiful that anyone watching would think he was the culprit who’d shattered the window.

Nox glanced sidelong at the flustered Cecilia and let out a deep sigh as if he’d been waiting for this.

“Sigh. I barely managed to bring him here when he was blaming himself for failing to escort you properly. If I’d known he’d be scolded so harshly, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“What? No, that’s not what I…”

“Poor Miguel. I suppose he’ll have to fuck off promptly, as our merciless saintess commanded.”

She snapped her gaping mouth shut in disbelief. She wanted to gift that trap of his a present called Mercy in the form of a fist, but the Pope was here, and Sena too.

‘I can’t shatter a child’s ideals.’

Cecilia barely swallowed the vulgar words that had risen to her throat and called out to the knight.

While completely ignoring the irritating Nox, of course.

“Sir Miguel.”

“…Yes.”

“Unless you personally smashed the window yourself, I don’t think you bear even the slightest responsibility, so please come in.”

His duty was only to escort her to meet His Holiness the Pope anyway. So there was no need for him to blame himself for failing to protect the saintess from the accident.

Still, the knight hesitated until the Pope nodded, then slowly stood before them.

“Thank you for your forgiveness.”

Miguel bowed to her respectfully, as if he’d received some great mercy.

‘No, there’s nothing to forgive…’

A beautiful man looking dejected was quite a pleasant sight, but separate from that, her mind was uneasy.

After His Holiness the Pope and Sena, was it now her turn to comfort a holy knight?

She’d barely swallowed a sigh heavy with fatigue when it happened.

The Pope, who’d been watching their exchange with a benevolent expression, spoke first.

“Sir Miguel. Have you properly settled the commotion outside?”

“Yes. I’ve sent all the worshippers away for now.”

“Well done.”

“And during cleanup, I discovered what’s presumed to be the cause of the accident.”

“Is that so?”

The Pope asked, sounding surprised.

“This is it.”

Miguel abruptly held out what he’d been gripping in his hand.