“So how do you plan to gain his approval?”
Julius tilted his head, looking at her with doubt. Helos spoke with such confidence, but something still felt off.
After all, even if they only wanted Werner’s recognition, surely they’d need real skills for that.
“With our current strength, even if we tear the sky apart, it’s still impossible, right?”
He couldn’t help but sigh.
Helos, however, grinned as if she had been waiting for him to say that all along.
“Then we train.”
“Train?”
Julius was momentarily stunned.
“That’s right—special training!”
Helos put her hands on her hips, her tone full of certainty. “What Werner acknowledges isn’t talk, it’s strength. If we’re not good enough now, then we’ll make up for it.”
Julius stared at her, feeling like this girl’s eyes were more serious than ever before.
“How are we going to train? Just throwing ourselves at it won’t work, you know.”
“Of course we’re not charging in recklessly.”
Helos shook her finger, smiling slyly. “You’re destined to become a Holy Knight someday, aren’t you? So swordsmanship, defense, and holy magic are all essentials.”
“As for me—”
She patted the potion pouch at her waist. “For now, just think of me as an alchemist.”
“What kind of alchemist goes to the front lines in person?”
“Oh, don’t mind the details~ As long as we play to our strengths and have good teamwork, maybe we’ll manage to hold out in front of Werner for a while.”
Julius frowned, carefully considering her words.
“If it’s just holding out for a bit… I suppose it might be possible.”
“Exactly!”
Helos’s eyes lit up. “Don’t even think about winning. If we can get him to nod and say, ‘You’re qualified,’ that’s enough.”
“That… actually makes some sense.”
Julius shook his head with a wry smile. “But to be honest, you’re not just looking for an excuse to make me your Experiment Subject, are you?”
“Eh? That’s not a bad idea!”
Helos stuck out her tongue, but her tone soon grew serious again. “Jokes aside, I’m serious. If we don’t prepare, we won’t even get the chance to show our stuff.”
Julius stared at her for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh.
“Alright, special training it is. Anyway, if I lose to Werner, at least it’ll be a dignified defeat.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to keep you alive.”
Helos added cheerfully.
“Don’t make it sound like I’m about to step onto the Beheading Platform.”
Julius sighed helplessly, but still nodded. “Fine, I’ll go brush up on holy magic for now.”
“Oh? What about you? What are you planning?”
“Me?”
Helos stroked her chin, thinking for a moment before her gaze sharpened. “I’m going to see if there’s any way to quickly boost my combat ability.”
“That sounds like you’re trying to take a shortcut.”
“It’s not!”
Helos immediately retorted, lifting her chin with pride. “You blockheads just can’t understand my brilliant research!”
“Just wait and see! Let’s see who’s stronger by the end!”
After Julius left, the workshop fell unusually quiet.
Helos lay sprawled across her workbench, chin resting on her arms, staring at the pile of bottles and jars before her, her mind a complete blank.
Quickly boost combat ability?
Easier said than done.
She muttered in her heart.
With her frail body alone, forget dealing with Werner—even against a stray dog she’d lose in a straight fight.
Her grip was weak, her arms lacked strength, she ran slow, couldn’t jump high—when it came to physical attributes, even a three- or five-year-old could best her.
“I might not even be as good as a mouse.”
She sighed deeply, the image of a mouse biting someone popping into her mind.
“At least a mouse can bite people. If I tried, the magic backlash would probably hurt me instead…”
The more she thought, the more frustrated she became.
If her own body couldn’t fight, she’d have to rely on external forces.
Helos propped herself up, grabbing a sheet of parchment and scribbling away.
She’d considered bows and crossbows—ranged weapons, even catapults had crossed her mind.
But thinking calmly, a bow needed pulling strength, a crossbow needed arm strength and precision—none of which she excelled at.
As for the catapult… She couldn’t very well push a giant wooden contraption around the battlefield, could she?
“Ugh, none of these will work!”
She ruffled her silver hair in frustration, crumpled the blueprint, and tossed it aside.
She turned her attention to her potion pouch.
Potions.
That was her current specialty.
But the problem was, the potions she could make were either restorative or supportive. If it came to direct combat, she only had Thorn’s Kiss.
And that only really worked for traps or sneak attacks—it’d be far less effective in a head-on fight.
She could use the Silent Oath’s curse to weaken enemies, but that only reduced their strength—it wouldn’t land her the decisive blow.
Especially against a foe like Werner, who was a hundred times stronger than her, it was hard to say how much power the Silent Oath could even muster.
“Should I make explosive flasks? Or poison gas?”
She murmured, her eyes gradually lighting up.
She imagined herself hurling flask after flask of explosive potion, turning the battlefield upside down, and couldn’t help but grin.
“This might work! It’s dangerous, but at least it’s better than charging in head-on.”
But her spirits quickly deflated.
She did have some ideas for explosive potions—after all, they were just liquid explosives.
She’d even made homemade grenades before, using primitive methods.
But the cost was enormous.
Producing them in bulk was like burning money.
And poison gas needed the right environment to be effective. If she accidentally hit an ally, Julius would never let her hear the end of it.
“Hmm, guess I’ll have to improve them.”
She nodded to herself, and began furiously scribbling notes on a new sheet of paper.
As she wrote, she muttered to herself:
“Can’t use bows or crossbows, can’t use swords, and magic’s out… I might as well be a ‘mobile potion cache.’ Other people have explosive spells—I’ve got real explosions!”
By the end, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Anyway, at least this was a direction for her research.
Helos quickly jotted down her ideas, set her pen aside, and let out a long sigh.
“If only I had a Card Draw System.”
She slumped into her chair, gazing at the ceiling and mumbling, “If I could just spend some money and pull an SSR, all my problems would be solved, wouldn’t they?”
If only I had more hands to help~
The girl closed her eyes, her imagination running wild.
Or maybe a robot or something, so she wouldn’t have to do everything herself.
“Hm? A robot?”
Helos suddenly furrowed her brow.
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
That’s right!
Isn’t that another way forward?!
Now were are going to get materials for that.