Chapter 40: A Final Gamble

Back when I had tried to become the Saint of Eros, I had only received support from my patients, but now every student in the academy was backing me. I had won over the representatives and asked them to spread the word to everyone below them. The entire school was on my side, and not even the prince could risk making an enemy out of all of us. Well, at least I hoped he wouldn’t.

His eyes darted across the room looking for some kind of support, but found nothing. The students were all on my side, and even his own entourage had seemingly given up. Roman finally managed to stand up after his fall, but he could do little more than shake his head dismissively when the prince looked to him. He knew it was over. Meanwhile, Atlas was still unconscious, and Holly looked terrified. She was furiously whispering something in his ear that I couldn’t make out, but which sounded desperate.

“Fine,” the prince grunted in a rather undignified manner. “I will...”

“Hello, my beautiful children.”

Immediately, almost every person in the room fell to their knees, overwhelmed by the goddess’s pressure, while I stayed standing and quietly cursed under my breath. I wasn’t foolish enough to really believe she’d let me win without a fight, but I was hopeful that even she would have realized she’d lost when she saw that not a single student was on the prince’s side. However, that likely meant little to her. If she made it clear she was on his side, the students would have no choice but to support him as well. Of course, I wasn’t planning on going down without a fight. If things looked truly hopeless, I’d pull out the same move I used to hit her last time. I’d been practicing, and though the spell still killed me, it was far deadlier than before. However, that was a last resort, and I hadn’t run out of hope yet. While there was nothing I could do to turn things around, I still had an ally that hadn’t played their hand yet.

“Hello, dear child,” came a second booming voice that was far more familiar to me. In an instant, Logos appeared to the right of where the balcony had once stood. He even dressed up for the occasion, taking on a real body rather than the ribbon puppet he’d looked like before. This time, he looked like the most stereotypical wizard you could possibly imagine. He had a grey beard, a long robe, a pointy hat, and a wizard’s staff. It almost looked a bit comical to me, but I stifled my laugh and bowed as reverently as I could before him.

However, more important than how he looked was how quickly he had appeared. Eros had insisted on using the same dramatic petal entrance that she had last time, while Logos simply appeared instantaneously. This meant that, despite her appearing before he did, he was able to make the first move. Before Eros could condemn me or support the prince, Logos claimed me as his own.

“Liliana Florencia Thorn, I acknowledge your considerable effort and recognize you as my first saint. Use what you have learned to protect this world and push it toward a brighter future.”

As he spoke, he placed a massive but gentle finger on my head, and while those around me struggled to look directly at him, they still saw this gesture and let out gasps of awe. That should have been it. Logos had recognized me as his saint, as the law of the gods claimed he could, but Eros did not look happy. She had finally finished her big entrance, but was now left scowling at her brother for interfering before she could. Thankfully, only Roman, Leo, and I could actually see her face, so things could still end peacefully, but I had no idea if they would. I wanted to believe that not even Eros would do something as foolish as bashing the saint her brother had just recognized, but I wasn’t sure. Even Logos didn’t seem completely confident in this moment, but after a few painfully long seconds, she sighed and turned to Holly.

She tried to smooth things over with a speech, claiming that passion was a beautiful thing, but that it could also drive men to madness for the sake of their beloved. Basically, she was trying to sweep away all the damage the prince had caused by saying he’d been just a bit too passionate. It sounded unbelievably stupid to me, but it was the words of a goddess, so it seemed like the people would accept that excuse for the most part. That was fine with me. While I wanted the prince to suffer, I couldn’t predict the consequences if the people fully turned on him. Plus, I had had my fun. I went out of my way to unlock the best possible ending to ensure that the people’s support was enough to convince the prince no matter how much I tortured him.

Besides, I had won. After nearly a decade of repeating the same day again and again, I had beaten everyone. Not even the combined effort of the prince, Roman, Holly, and the freaking goddess herself had managed to best me. I had persevered and defeated them all, and while I took a moment to bask in my sense of victory, that feeling was soon replaced with an overwhelming sense of anxiety. Things had been easy when the day kept repeating. No matter how badly I messed up a conversation, it’d be forgotten by the next day, but that was no longer the case. Everything I’d said today would be remembered, probably forever, by the people around me.

An entire room full of people was staring at me in awe, and I wanted to run screaming out of the room, but that wasn’t an option. I had just been recognized as the Saint of Logos, largely thanks to their support, which meant I had to smile and greet every single one of them. I already knew most of their names from all the time I spent completing side quests, so that made things a little less awkward, and Aster stayed by my side to support me and answer any questions I wasn’t sure about. Still, those greetings took multiple hours, and by the time I was done, I was mentally and emotionally drained, but my night wasn’t over yet. After returning to my room and sitting down for some tea, the first of several visitors began to knock on my door.