"Now, answer me. Why do you have Dark Energy?"
Saintess Amelia asked again.
Saintess Amelia sure was persistent in that question. Zero didn't know why she was so adamant about it.
Even in the novel, there was no mention of the Demon Princess threatening Saintess Amelia's life, so he didn't know why Saintess Amelia hates Dark Energy.
The girl asking the question was his savior, so he could not refuse her. But it was not like anyone could believe that he could use the Dark Energy because of the memory from other parallel existence.
( Now, how do I explain it to her? )
This world didn't have any concept of a parallel world unlike on Earth. Earth was much developed in their way of thinking and would always assume that everything was possible including the existence of a multiverse and parallel world.
However, Edolas was different. Everything would be magic-focused, so they don't research much on other spaces; rather the research is about Dungeons, Gates, and Artifacts.
People here would probably not even believe that there are other planets with life. They would label me as crazy.
Even if I tell the truth, she would not understand me. It was like telling a kid about calculus; he would not understand anything.
I was quite perplexed about how to respond to the Saintess.
"..."
The Saintess silently waited for the answer. She wanted to know whether the existence known as 'Zero' was a danger to her friend.
Saintess Amelia cares for Professor Mia more than anything in the world. She didn't want her friend to be entangled with someone who uses Dark Energy.
Whether Zero was a Dark Contractor didn't matter, as long as The Authority finds out, Saintess knew that everyone related to him would be in trouble.
Since her friend seems especially concerned about Zero, she knew that she would get into trouble when The Authority takes action against Zero.
Zero saw that the Saintess was staring at him making it hard for him to ignore the question. He knew he had to say something that would convince the Saintess.
"I can only say that I was able to use Dark Energy due to a certain skill."
Zero gave Saintess an answer which was somewhat the truth. Without the Parallel Memory Skill, he would not have been able to use Dark energy after all.
"Skill? What Skill? I have never heard of a skill that can produce Dark Energy."
It didn't seem that the answer had satisfied Saintess Amelia.
"Th-that… Indeed, there never was one but it is not like there never will be one. I have it. It could be a very rare one."
Zero expressed his thoughts while trying to convince the Saintess. It was true that the Parallel Memory Skill is a unique skill that has never been recorded in any book.
He could not even tell the name of his skill. It is because Parallel Memory is a well-known F-Rank skill that only improves the memory of the user.
His parallel memory skill, on the other hand, is Rank-SS, which has entirely different applications.
Even if he says the name of his skill, others will just accuse him of lying. Who doesn't know what type of skill Parallel Memory skill is?
"You… you are deceiving me, aren't you?"
The Saintess was angry. She waited for a definite answer from Zero but all she got was an ambiguous one. She felt like she was being deceived by Zero.
"What are you two talking about?"
Interrupting the conversation between me and the Saintess was Professor Mia.
( Looks like Elixir worked. )
I was quite relieved to see that she was okay. The last thing that I remember was seeing a hole in her stomach.
Looks like Legendary grade Elixir deserves to be one of the most powerful potions in the world.
"What did you do, Zero?"
Professor Mia glared at me like I had done something wrong.
"Huh?"
( What did I do? )
"I heard Ames saying that you are deceiving her. Don't tell me you started to flirt with her as soon as you woke up."
"EHHH…"
I don't know why Professor Mia misunderstands me again. Looks like it is very hard for me to change the image that I initially have.
She still thinks that I would start chasing after any beauty I see.
"Ames, sorry for his behavior. He has always been like that but I don't think that he means any harm."
Professor Mia started explaining even though I didn't do anything wrong here.
"Professor Mia, I didn…"
"I know what you are trying to say. Even if the Saintess is beautiful, it doesn't mean that you can flirt with her. You should know her position…"
Professor Mia started lecturing me about how I should not think about girls at my age.
I look behind her to try to get help from the Saintess. Professor Mia would stop if the Saintess explained the situation to her.
Looking into Saintess's eyes, I begged her to help me.
"Heh"
The Saintess grinned and approached Professor Mia. I don't think she is going to help me, though.
"Mia, thank goodness you got here in time. This degenerate here was teasing me. I didn't think your student would be like this. I think you should leave him alone. He is not worthy of your affection"
Adding fuel to the fire, Saintess Amelia acted as if she had just been molested by me.
( This girl )
I didn't know what to say to the Saintess who was acting so shamelessly. How can she say that I was teasing her?
Doesn't Saintess have a law that states they can't lie or something? I have heard that Saintesses are holy beings and they don't sin.
However, looking at the Saintess in front of me, I realized all that was bullshit.
The Saintess was definitely trying to make trouble for me.
"I don't tease old women, you know?"
Feeling hurt by their accusation, I started to make some rude remarks. I mean just because she is pretty doesn't mean she can accuse me.
And it was kind of true that I don't tease older women. Older women all remind me of Eleonore.
" "What did you say? " "
Both Professor Mia and Saintess Amelia yelled angrily at me. I was startled by their reaction.
I forgot that Professor Mia was the same age as Saintess Amelia. Must have felt indirectly insulted by my earlier remark. Women were creatures that were very concerned about their age, especially those who were in their 20ths.
"Anyway, Zero, how are you feeling? Is your body alright? Any pain or discomfort?"
Professor Mia asked, looking a little worried.
"Yes, thanks to you, I am all healed up. I didn't think that I would survive after that."
While I was saying that, it looks like I reminded Professor Mia of something.
"You… "
Professor Mia remembered what a stupid thing Zero did and scolded him. From disobeying her instruction to using Elixir on her. She took hours to scold the Zero who had just woken up.
"Remember we are alive just because of luck. You would really die if you did such stupid things again."
After she had finished scolding Zero, she allowed him to rest. Saintess Amelia had already left the room when Professor Mia started to scold me. However, before leaving she turned back.
"Thank you for saving my life. If not for you, I would have been dead in the Gate."
She smiled at me while thanking me, so I smiled back. There was no reason for her to actually thank me because she was in danger because of me.
If not for me, she would not have even attempted to fight with the Ice Griffin in the first place.
"You're welcome!"
However, I graciously accepted her thanks. After she left the room, I took out my phone and checked the news.
It has been two days since we had come out of the Gate and there has been lots of news about the incident. There are many headlines about Professor Mia.
'The third High-Ranking Gate of the year was conquered by the victim by herself. The person was none other than the Ice Enchantress.'
'A Dungeon conquered by a Single Lady.'
'The Strongest Woman emerges!'
'Ice Enchantress attacking news reporters.'
'Oppressing others with Rank.'
However, not every news article was about Professor Mia's achievement. In addition, they criticize the use of aura to make all the news reporters faint.
Some also called it bullying the weak. Not following the law and attacking innocent citizens. Some want The Authority to act against her behavior.
'Ice Enchantress broke the record again!"
'Youngest Rank-S in the World!'
Additionally, there were news articles stating that Professor Mia had reached the rank of S. Zero thought that all those news articles were either not true or just their assumptions.
Especially the news about Professor Mia attacking the news reporter and them claiming to know her rank. He thought that the news reporter just assumed that Professor Mia was Rank-S.
Zero didn't know that Professor Mia had released her aura at the Gate site. Though the news reporter could not tell the rank of Professor Mia.
However, other Rank-A Explorers at that place realized that Professor Mia was Rank-S. Of course, the reporter will collect information from those Explorers.
In some cases, people will not reveal the information to protect their privacy, but in others, as long as the news company pays them enough, they will share. Through them, they got information about Professor Mia being Rank-S.
While some news companies wanted to avoid making enemies with her after knowing this information and just covered good things about Professor Mia. They didn't mention that they were attacked by her aura.
These were the others who were fearless and had a grudge against Professor Mia. It was people who only cared about the news and not the person.
Their ego as news reporters was hurt after Professor Mia blatantly released her aura. They wanted to get back at her through inciting violence.
Though when Zero saw the news talking badly about Professor Mia, he didn't think it was a big deal. People would always say bad things about others not knowing that some of the things they were doing were also bad.
And it was not like anyone could punish Professor Mia. Being the youngest Rank-S would also come with many benefits. Numerous guilds would extend an invitation to her with many benefits.
To punish her, The Authority would need to send in at least 3 Rank-S to arrest her, which was absolutely not worth it.
Unless she does outrageous things like signing a contract with the Devil, The Authority or any strong Organization for that matter wouldn't condemn her for action that has caused less damage.
Looking at the recent event, Zero once again realized how much change he brought to this world.
According to the novel, Professor Mia would only advance to Rank-S in two years. And there was also a life-threatening experience he got.
He realized that no matter whether the world was going according to the novel or not, the most important thing was raising his strength.
"Looks like I need that 'thing' if I want to live."
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