Chapter 35: The Miracle of the Clock Tower

(Damn…… This is taking more …… magic than I imagined. ……)

Hirune pointed both hands at the iron block and used holy magic.

Dozens of magic circles overlapped around the iron block, and stardust streamed in from all directions, echoing the light scraping of metal. The surroundings were as bright as day.

“Hirune-sama….. are you alright,……!”

Jeanne, who was behind Hirune, squinted her eyes and raised her voice in concern.

“It’s a …… moot point.” {TN: means debatable question}

“I don’t understand, Hirune-sama …….”

While the two of them were exchanging words, stardust jumped into the iron mass, and before long, a mini-Hirune, made of stardust, appeared around the mass and began to supervise the scene.

(My alter ego appeared on its own, but thank goodness!)

The mini-hirune took care of the minor operations and guided the stardust.

(Even so, adding a purifying effect to the …… bell tones may have been a bit …… overkill.)

Hirune usually used magic in a relaxed state, but she shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic. It turned out to be a holy magic that required an enormous amount of magical power and tremendous magic manipulation.

The effects she granted were:

Automatic bell ringing (the bell would ring automatically three times a day, morning, noon and night)

Tone Purification (purifies any miasma within the sound’s range), and

Growth promotion (effective for agriculture)

The shape of the bell would not change or deteriorate. ( It Doesn’t deteriorate. It doesn’t rust.)

These were the four.

All of them had unparalleled effects, especially the purifying effect of the tone, which was the highest level of holy magic that couldn’t be granted even if a hundred saints had gathered.

Another characteristic of Hirune was that she used her imagination to arrange the various scriptures for holy magic, and her imagination, which was originally Japanese, worked to the fullest. Even if it were another great saint, it would be difficult to give such an effect.

(More and more stardust is being absorbed. I need to be more enthusiastic ……)

On the steel block, the stardust was whirling around, making a zaaaah sound.

“…… Jeanne.”

“What is it?”

Jeanne stuck her face out at the serious tone of voice, which was unlike the usual Hirune.

“Can you say something motivating ……I’m going to fail …… at this ……!”

“Motivation. I understand! I’ll do my best as Hirune-sama’s personal maid.”

Jeanne was motivated by Hirune’s dependence on her.

She clenched her fists in front of her chest and thought about it for a few seconds before opening her mouth.

“Let’s buy a new comforter with my allowance!”

The words were seductive.

For a moment, Hirune forgot that she was in a steel mill and opened her eyes to look into Jeanne’s eyes.

“Oh, really? No, no, no, don’t do that, Jeanne. You can’t spend your precious money on my bedding.”

“As a matter of fact, I’ve already ordered one from Thomas at the Valhalla bedding store.”

“…… Is that true?”

“We’ll sleep together all the time. …… It’s my comforter too, you know?”

“Hehe,” Jeanne giggled with embarrassment.

I should’ve really kept my mouth shut, she mumbled happily.

(How …… nice of her! My little maid! )

Hirune smiled and nodded, jumping up and down with a shout of “Oh futon, Oh futon, Oh futon”.

Joy overflowed from the depths of her heart, and stardust flew out of the magic circle as if in response.

Mini-Hirune, who was supervising the scene around the iron lump, also seemed to have gotten into the spirit of things and took a whistling pose to control the spiraling stardust.

“I’m going to get serious!　　Watch me!”

Hirune injected more magic power into the air with a feeling of joy.

In a flash of light, the lump of iron began to float, and a huge magic circle appeared on top of it.

“The iron’s floating!” “ This is awesome!” “Oh, Goddess Sophia, ……, Great Saint Hirune, …….”

The people watching over the scene let out shouts of admiration.

The iron lump wrapped in the magic circle rose into the night sky, and the residue of the holy magic fell on the city like a stream of meteors. The stardust danced and danced around the iron mass, and it never stopped twinkling, as if it was rejoicing in the birth of a new bell!

The mini-Hirune, who had been supervising the site, gave up and made a bed out of the stardust that was nearby, and began to sleep, making a snuffling lantern.

“Hirune-sama’s…… eyes are rainbow-colored……”

Jeanne shouted in surprise.

Hirune’s large eyes changed into seven transparent colors, the colors constantly changing due to the magic power.

“Jeanne, it’s almost finished. …… look, …… look!”

The moment Hirune said this, there was a flash of light that turned the surroundings white.

0

At the same time, Holly and Zigitoria, who were working in the Central Goddess Square, the site of the former clock tower, saw a flash of light on the north side of the city and turned their heads to the sky.

Holly was holding a notebook and Zigitoria was looking at the Clock Tower scriptures she had brought with her.

In addition to the two of them, there were other artisans in the crowd: architects, sculptors, woodworkers, and watchmakers.

All the people in the square were looking up at the sky.

“Zigitoria, the response to the holy magic is …….”

“Oh, my God, …… the stars are …… gathering in the sky.

“There’s stardust flying this way!”

Holly closed her notebook and pointed at the sky.

The glittering stardust shined and made a light, wind-swept sound as it came towards the clock tower.

“Is this …… Hirune’s Holy Magic?”

Holly felt an enormous main current of magic power and was blinded by the twinkling stardust.

“It would seem so. What the heck is Hirune-chan doing at that steel mill ……?”

Eventually, the stardust converges on the pile of rubble that was the clock tower and began to swoop and change shape into a giant sphere. It looked as if it was struggling to change into something else, and little by little the sphere changed into a vertical shape.

“What kind of magic is this ……?”

“I’ve seen a thousand forms of holy magic, but I don’t know what …… it is.”

Holly grabbed the hem of Zigitoria’s robe, reeling from the unknown magic.

She stood upright, not wanting to miss the scene.

The artisans looked at the sudden phenomenon and swallowed hard.

Stardust rained down incessantly, falling into the rubble-filled square with small popping sounds.

In a few tens of seconds, the vertically deformed collection of stardust transformed into a human-like shape.

“Oh …… what a …… this is!”

Zigitoria was so impressed that he made the holy seal several times.

The assembly transformed into a long-haired woman dressed in the attire of a great saint.

She held a holy staff, her hair swaying, and although the details of her face could not be seen because of the stardust that had gathered, her expression seemed to be that of a compassionate smile.

Holly looked up at the sky, where the stardust was falling like May rain, and felt an inexplicable excitement.

“Who is this person, …… Archbishop Zigitoria ……?”

“The Great Saint …… Martine.”

Zigitoria made the holy seal over and over again, tears streaming down his face.

The older craftsmen who had seen the Great Saint Martine before, were murmuring things like “It’s the Great Saint Martine ……” and “The Great Saint has come down.”

As he looked at her, Zigitoria’s lips quivered.

“When I was a child, I saw the Great Saint Martine and wanted to become a priest. It is……  a miracle that I am able to see her again in this way, now that she is in heaven. ……”

“The Great Saint Martine……”

Holly let go of the hem of Zigitoria’s robe and made the holy seal to the silvery Great Saint Martine.

It was the first time she’d ever seen a woman with such a beautiful face.

Holly couldn’t move from the glitter and divinity and stared at the Great Saint Martine.

She didn’t have any eyes, but it felt as if they were definitely meeting, and it made her heart burn.

“Great Saint Martine, ……? My name is Holly, a saint of the southern branch of the Mephistopheles Church.”

As Holly muttered this, the notebook in her hand floated by itself.

“Ah, …….”

The notebook flipped vigorously in the air.

The Great Saint Martine nodded several times in a human-like manner, as if she had seen the contents. She picked up the notebook and returned it to Holly.

“Um, thank you for ……”

Holly took it in her small hands, and the Great Saint Martine gave her a quick wink.

“……hmm.”

At the same time as her heart jumped, the stardust that had been raining down on her stopped moving and was sucked into the pile of rubble in the square..

“The clock tower…”

The pile of stone and wood shone brightly, and quickly transformed into the clock tower that Holly had designed.

In just a few tens of seconds, the rubble of the plaza had been completely cleared away to make way for a brick paved walkway and a lovely gothic clock tower. If you climbed to the top, you could see the whole city.

“My, plans for …… the tower …… in an instant.”

Holly moved her head upward.

The beautifully curved clock tower has a red conical roof with a large round hollow in which the clock was mounted. The pillars also had a number of hollows, and it looked as if the Great Saint Martine was telling them to carve there.

The artisans were unable to speak, their mouths hanging open at the miracle that had just occurred before their eyes.

“……”

Seeing Holly trembling with emotion, the Great Saint Martine in her stardust form chuckled and slowly stroked Holly’s and Zigitoria’s heads.

Then, with a curve of light, she ascended into the sky and disappeared.

At some point, the stardust stopped, and the residue fell slowly upon the square like powdered snow.

As the silvery shimmer was sucked into the ground, lilies began to grow from the ground beside the promenade, making a rumbling sound, suddenly the square was covered in white flowers.

“Wow, …… that’s so beautiful!”

Holly jumped up and spun around with her arms outstretched, forgetting that ZigItoria was there.

“I’m sure …… that Hirune had summoned the Great Saint Martine. ……”

Zigitoria was watching the scene, forgetting to wipe away his tears.

When she heard his voice, Holly stopped moving and coughed, embarrassed at herself for being so excited, and straightened the skirt of her saint dress.

“Hirune’s holy magic is far beyond your imagination,  Zigitoria-sama.

“It Truly …… truly is …… truly is ……”

“What a Beautiful clock tower–nice–“

Holly hugged her notebook tightly and smiled up at the clock tower she had designed.

The red roof of the clock tower and the lily-of-the-valley flowers looked like a page from a dream or story.