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Chapter 17

Today is The Start of My New Beginning

 

「Ha? Come again?」

 

Sybilla asked back, looking seriously dumbfounded after hearing my response.

Her pale complexion from getting attacked by the dragon, and the heartbroken look on her face after I rejected her offer, all of that is gone, as if it’s all been in the distant past.

 

「Like I said, I want you to teach me how to use this Dark Magic thing.」

 

「You… Did you even hear my explanation at all? I told you, that to learn Dark Magic, you will have to sacrifice all of your Healer-related magic.」

 

「But is that really necessary?」

 

「….What?」

 

I asked again.

That dumb expression on her face with her Goddess wings still spread wide is quite the sight to see.

Personally, I think this is the cutest expression she has ever made.

Though I’m sure she’ll flip if I say that out loud.

 

But thanks to this, I can somehow make her forget that we’re still in a life-threatening situation right now.

 

「Sybilla, you said that by using 『the knowledge of every magic I accumulated』 I can learn Dark Magic, right?」

 

「Y-Yeah, I did.」

 

「At what level was the Priest when they learned Dark Magic? Did they learn Extra Heal yet?」

 

「There’s no way they have, do you think they would accept my offer if they learned it? In the first place, a Priest who has learned Extra Heal is considered high-level, so they won’t be treated unfairly. The highest Priest I’ve made a pact with is level 13. But even with such a high level, he only learned two Dark Magic after sacrificing all of the magic he has learned.」

 

I see, level 13 huh.

And then there’s me who learned Extra Heal only at level 4.

 

「Hey, do you remember at what point when I reached level 8?」

 

「…..It was during our dungeon exploration today, right? And it happened quite early too. I think it was around the time when we defeated the first Dungeon Scarlet Bat that showed up——Ah!」

 

Looks like Sybilla has finally noticed that something’s off too.

 

「Since then, we have slain three Dungeon Scarlet Bats. And from then on, you never told me if you have leveled up anymore. Even stronger black goblins like goblin archers and goblin mages are starting to show up after that….」

 

「To tell you the conclusion, it was just as you said, Sybilla. It seems Cure Link is the last magic I can learn.」

 

「……Then, what is your level now?」

 

That’s right.

There was no way I’d slain several times as many monsters since then and my level didn’t raise.

 

「I’m at level 12 【Saint】.」

 

「12!? Then, that means——!」

 

「I can feel my magic power increased tremendously from level 9, yet I haven’t learned a single new magic since then.」

 

Sybilla looks like she is about to say something to console me, but she stops.

Well, it’s not really the time to be thinking about such a trivial thing.

 

「And there is one more thing I want to say. I’m not the same as the Saintess from the past.」

 

「Eh?」

 

I felt something strange when she told me about the 『Legend of the Saintess』 earlier.

I have been using magic without holding back since earlier and without even trying to conserve my magic power at all, but even after I got this far, I don’t feel any symptoms from magic power deficiency.

In fact, I still have so much magic power that I even start to think my magic power is infinite.

That’s when a thought crossed my mind.

 

「The former Saintess, who’s supposed to be the same as me, used Cure Link without chanting, so her level must be higher than 9, right? Then, how come her magic power ran out after only casting Cure Link on an entire village?」

 

「….With that scale, it’s only normal that you will run out of magic power, are you an idiot?」

 

「Exactly.」

 

「Are you making fun of me right now?」

 

「No, what you and I said were both correct. So what I’m trying to say is——」

 

After thinking about it a lot, I’ve come to a conclusion that makes sense.

 

「——I think I’m not normal compared to the Saintess in the past. If it’s me, I probably won’t faint just after treating one entire castle town. That’s my natural quality as Russell the 【Saint】.」

」

It took some courage for me to come to this conclusion and say this myself.

I’ve often belittled my abilities as a Saint.

But now after everything that happened, which became the basis of my conclusion, I will no longer run away from my past.

 

There’s no mistaking it.

I can proudly say that I’m special.

 

Sybilla, with her mouth gaping open, looks like about to fall flat on her butt.

But I held her hand with both of my hands so she didn’t slip out of my grasp.

 

「Sybilla… no, O Goddess of the Evening Dusk.」

 

「Ah…」

 

「Once again, I wish to make a 『Twilight Pact』 with you. I will sacrifice 4 levels of my Saint Job. I’m a Healer who not just learned Heal Link, but also Extra Heal Link, with an excess of enormous magic power after learning it. Let me offer all of it to you.」

 

Sybilla looks back and forth between my face and my hands, which are wrapped around hers.

Eventually, she closes her eyes and, as if she finally made up her mind… she places her other hand on top of my hand.

 

「With the authority of the 『Twilight Goddess』 Sybilla. By using the excess magic power from the 【Saint】 Job, convert the subject to a 【Twilight Sorcerer】 without erasing the existing Job. 《Reject Job Change》……confirming excess magic power…… excess magic power, confirmed. 《Magic power conversion》……《Granting a new Job: 【Twilight Sorcerer】》to the subject.」

 

A dazzling light overflowed from our hands.

At the same time, I was caught by the feeling that something swelling inside me was changing color.

 

And then… at the same time, I heard a voice rang in my head saying 【Twilight Sorcerer】 Level Up.

So this is Dark Magic.

 

When I opened my eyes in surprise, I saw something even more astonishing.

Sybilla’s, the Twilight Goddess’ black feathers were much darker than before, and this might be just me, but they also looked larger than before.

Is this because… I made a Twilight Pact with her?

 

Sybilla turns away and starts speaking while running her fingers over her own black feathers.

 

「I have deceived you, Russell. Without telling you, I approached you for your magic power. Hey, can you tell me why you decided to trust me?」

 

「It’s not that I trusted the Twilight Goddess.」

 

「Huh?」

 

Sybilla was taken aback with a dumbfounded look on her face.

Even though her Goddess-like appearance has been dramatically enhanced, this kind of reaction shows that the essence of the Twilight Goddess is still the same Sybilla I have seen until now.

And when I think about that, I feel a sense of relief.

 

「I was just thinking about it, but you don’t really need my consent to proceed with the 【Twilight Sorcerer】 Job change don’t you?」

 

「…Oh, so you’ve even figured that out huh.」

 

That’s right. I didn’t have to do anything or say anything to Sybilla when she was doing the conversion earlier.

Sybilla used that magic to bestow me another Job and also used it to stop my current Job from getting erased.

I arrived at this thought when I saw the part where Sybilla went to the trouble of specifying the Job change rejection. That means she can actually change someone else’s job without their consent by using this magic. 

 

However, Sybilla didn’t do that.

Even if it was her chance to turn a 【Saint】, a Job that’s on par with the first 【Saintess】 into her 【Twilight Sorcerer】.

Even though she knew that forcing me to change my Job would easily help us get out of this situation, she still respected my wish.

 

And there’s one more thing.

 

I put my palm on Sybilla’s head.

She shudders for a moment, probably because she’s expecting a karate chop, but it’s not, and I gently stroke her head.

 

「Ah…」

 

「I know you’re a girl who has a sincere personality and doesn’t tell lies for a bad reason. The one I trusted was not the Twilight Goddess Sybilla.」

 

「Eh?」

 

「The one I trusted is the 【Mage】 Sybilla, an adventurer-senpai of mine who came all the way from the city to protect an orphanage in the village of Adria for the sake of the children, even if she had to give up observing me.」

 

After saying this, I stepped out into the center of the cave, without looking at Sybilla’s face——so that she couldn’t see mine.

……No, well, saying something like that straight to her face is just too embarrassing after all.

But I meant what I just said.

 

It is in times of crisis that one is more likely to express their true feelings.

What did Sybilla say in response when I rejected her offer again?

 

『I hate myself who can’t hate you no matter what even after you said all that……』

 

Sybilla said she couldn’t hate me who prioritized the children who needed my help first before the Dark Magic that could help me with my revenge.

In this life-threatening situation where we could lose our lives, that’s what she said.

This must be the important core that makes up the existence of Sybilla, the Twilight Goddess.

 

Alright, I’ve made up my mind.

Let’s switch things up, shall we?

 

『Uwwoooooooo!!』

 

The light from the Job bestowal earlier was so bright, after all. The guy outside must’ve felt something was wrong after seeing too.

As the wall of flame gradually diminished, the Fire Dragon seemed to finally realize that it had failed to kill us.

 

「No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t be anything more than a supporting character, but…」

 

I double-casted Wind Barrier as I started walking triumphantly in front of the dragon’s massive body.

 

「I’m going to surpass you, Vince.」

 

I raise my left hand high in the air.

The Fire Dragon seems like it’s going to fire another breath.

 

And I aimed my raised left hand right at the center of it.

 

「——Today is the day I will become the protagonist in my own story. 《Dark Arrow》！」

 

As if in responding to my voice, a black magic arrow formed in front of my arm and bared its fangs at the dragon’s life.