The Guardian Saint (Part 1)

The Saintess of Yulan is recruiting twelve guardian Gold Saints.

Requirements: No restrictions on status, gender, or strength. Must be under twenty years old. Only geniuses need apply. Recruitment location: Yulan Empire Magic Academy.

This news spread like wildfire, reaching every street and alley of the imperial capital.

The people of the Yulan Empire were stirred into action, flocking to apply.

"Your child has great talent and meets the requirements; why haven't you sent them to apply for the Saintess Guard yet?"

"With your talent, why aren't you applying to be a guardian Saint?"

These were the most common phrases heard when the people of the Yulan imperial capital met.

Countless people were moved by the news, preparing to participate in the selection.

Saga was one of them.

Saga: Commoner background, just turned fifteen, practices lightning-attribute battle qi, a fifth-rank warrior.

His parents were both mercenaries who died together during a mission. They left behind him, a younger brother, and a younger sister. That year, he was only ten years old and had just become a first-rank warrior; from then on, the burden of supporting the family fell entirely on his shoulders.

Mercenary work is an extremely dangerous profession—living on the edge of death, one could perish at any moment, and injuries were a daily occurrence.

During a mission to escort a wealthy merchant, they encountered bandits. Saga was unfortunately severely wounded. His companions brought him to the imperial capital, but because his injuries were too grave, he required a seventh-rank light-attribute mage to cast a healing spell. Hiring such a mage required an exorbitant fee—at least several hundred gold coins—so he could only wait for death.

At the time, he thought that it didn't matter if he died, but what would happen to his younger brother and sister?

"Go try finding the Saintess of Yulan," someone told him then. "Although the Saintess of Yulan is young and only a fourth-rank mage, she can heal no matter how severe the injury, and her fees are very low—sometimes she doesn't charge anything at all."

Clinging to a sliver of hope, he sought out the Saintess of Yulan.

He saw Victoria: a girl of ten or so, radiating a sacred, life-giving aura; noble, kind, and beautiful, she was a goddess.

The Saintess of Yulan examined his wounds and healed him quickly. After learning his story, she did not charge him a single coin.

From that day on, the Saintess of Yulan became the goddess in his heart.

Hearing that the Saintess of Yulan was recruiting a guard, Saga felt he had to participate and succeed, so that from then on, he could protect the goddess in his heart.

Yulan Magic Academy.

Sophie and Jessica, along with Victoria's older brother Hank, were all present, having been dragged there by Victoria to serve as interviewers.

According to Victoria's plan, they would conduct the first round of interviews, and the final assessment would ideally be handled by Catherine and Olivier.

"Two teachers, it's been so long and there haven't been many decent candidates. How long will it take for me to recruit my twelve Gold Saints?"

Ever since Olivier told her the story of Athena and the twelve guardian Saints, Victoria had begun to view herself as Athena, planning to recruit her own Gold Saints.

In her plan, they would first find twenty-four candidates, and then Catherine and Olivier would select twelve from among them.

"Don't be anxious. I see a few who are quite good. We've looked through them, and there are ten who meet your criteria well," Sophie said. Sophie and Jessica felt an overflow of maternal love for Victoria, treating her even better than a biological mother would her own daughter.

"Those princes and young masters are mostly a bunch of straw bags. They call themselves geniuses, but they aren't even as good as fools." Victoria had strong opinions about the aristocratic circles; in the past two years, only a handful of nobles had earned her approval.

"That's because they can't compare to you. You're already an eighth-rank mage, while we are only seventh-rank." Sophie and Jessica had broken through from the sixth to the seventh rank, while Victoria was an eighth-rank.

Hank stood to the side, silent, smiling bitterly to himself.

Oh heavens, I'm only a fourth-rank, alright? Can you please consider my feelings?

On the other side, Olivier was lost in thought.

Athena and the twelve Saints.

Olivier didn't know the full details of this story, only the names, but he could make it up.

Thus, he had fabricated a tale about a goddess leading guardian Saints to fight monsters and how those Saints would protect the goddess with their lives. It was meant to be a form of edutainment to cultivate Victoria on how to act as a goddess and teach her how to handle affairs.

Originally, he had planned that once the Graveyard of the Gods opened, he would have Victoria, as well as relatives like Blumer, go to the secret chamber near the Baruch Empire.

It was safer there.

Now that Victoria had her guardian Saints, taking everyone there clearly wasn't ideal.

If that's the case, then I'll just have to protect the Yulan Empire, Olivier thought.

Although he couldn't possibly break the Boshu Dike to release the gods from the Gorba Plane, who knew what kind of people might emerge from the place Dylin had come from? If they were to make a move against the Yulan Empire, Victoria would certainly be the first to bear the brunt of it.

This was Catherine's homeland, and he had lived here for so long; it was only right to protect it.

At this moment, he considered this place his home; it held his family, his friends, and his disciples.

The recruitment of the guardian Saints was proceeding in full swing.

After two months of screening, background checks, and martial competitions, twenty-four candidates for the Saintess Guard were finally selected. They were informed that the final screening would be handled by two god-level powerhouses: the High Priest and Olivier.

These lucky fellows immediately began to feel nervous, worried, and fearful; the entire group started to fall apart.

He carefully examined the personal files on the list in his hand.

"Judging by the files, this one named Nick is quite good. He's a member of your royal family, thirteen years old, and already a fourth-rank mage. His character is also decent; it's rare for a royal descendant to be willing to serve as a guard."

"And this Saga, fifteen years old, a fifth-rank warrior. He's entirely self-taught, a diamond in the rough. He's been supporting a whole family since he was young—it hasn't been easy. He's worth cultivating."

"And this Miss Annie, a direct descendant of a Duke, a fourth-rank mage at fourteen, clever and sharp—not bad."

Olivier picked out a few who were introduced well.

"These are the elites selected from the entire Yulan Empire, of course they are," Catherine remarked. Ever since the selection for the guard unit began, Victoria had spread the word that those who became Guardian Saints would have the opportunity to meet the High Priest and receive his personal guidance.

Consequently, everyone who possessed the qualifications began to take action.

One must understand that only a few Saint-level powerhouses and the High Priest's direct disciples ever had the chance to meet him; even many emperors had never seen the High Priest in their entire lives. In the Yulan Empire, an audience with the High Priest was the supreme honor.

Otherwise, Victoria's status alone would not have been enough to attract those true noble talents; after all, they lacked for nothing and were usually the ones being guarded, not the ones turning around to guard others.

Who would be so foolish?

On the Yulan Continent, true talents were cultivated from a young age. It wasn't that commoner talents didn't exist, but the probability was far too low.

For instance, the High Priest, War God, Cesar, Linley, Dixie, and Olivier were all of noble birth, though their statuses varied.

"Then we shall meet these talents tomorrow."

Olivier was not particularly interested in Victoria's Guardian Saints. For these people, becoming a Saint-level expert would already be an incredible feat, and the probability of reaching the God-level was extremely low.

Besides, even if they did reach the God-level, it would not make Olivier look at them any differently.

At night.

Saga watched his sleeping younger brother and sister, yet he himself could not fall asleep for a long time. He knew that he had managed to stand out from the crowd not because his talent surpassed the others; in this selection, there were at least a hundred people like him.

He felt that being selected was a grace bestowed by the Saintess.

Recalling the moment he met the Saintess, he was deeply moved and filled with reverence that she had actually remembered him.

His heart could not calm down for a long time.

Tomorrow, he would be meeting the Saintess's master, the Yulan Empire's guardian deity, the High Priest, and Lady Victoria.

Excitement, agitation.

And then, nervousness, apprehension, and fear.

However, as long as he thought of his younger brother and sister, and the Saintess of Yulan, Saga's heart was filled with confidence.

"I must be selected."