16 ~ Gambling
At Baros’s signal, the tester fitted a crossbow bolt—selected from a pile of junk—onto the handheld crossbow and aimed it at Teresa.
A flicker of surprise flashed in Teresa’s eyes. Never having undergone a Divine Maiden test before, her body tensed instinctively.
Baros stood off to the side with his hands behind his back, saying nothing as he watched the scene unfold.
This was precisely the effect he wanted. An unawakened Divine Maiden could only trigger her Divine Domain instinctively when her nerves were taut and she sensed impending danger—a primal response to protect herself.
The tester deliberately wobbled the crossbow a bit to give Teresa a hint: “I’m about to shoot you.” After making sure she’d noticed, he pulled the trigger.
The wooden bolt tore through the air, whistling as it flew. Teresa’s pupils shrank. She instinctively tried to dodge, but Baros pressed down on her shoulder.
The next moment, Baros snatched the flying bolt out of the air with one hand, halting it just inches from Teresa’s snow-white neck.
The distance looked dangerous, but it was actually perfectly safe. With years of experience working in the Evaluation Hall, Baros was intimately familiar with this process. He could intercept the arrow with his eyes closed before it hit a student.
Even in the worst-case scenario—if he missed—the Divine Domain triggered by Teresa should’ve blocked it.
“Beep beep beep...” A magic array beneath Teresa’s feet flickered several times.
The test had concluded, yet the strange look on Baros’s face remained.
Her Divine Domain... was it triggered too subtly? So subtly that even I, standing this close, couldn’t sense it?
On the other side, Blaise walked over with a puzzled expression, holding a report freshly printed from the crystal-engraving device at the console.
“What is it? What type is this child’s Divine Domain?” Baros asked.
“Nothing... The sensing array didn’t detect any Divine Domain from her just now,” Blaise replied, double-checking the report with a confused look.
“Didn’t detect anything?” Baros furrowed his brows and glanced at Teresa.
That made no sense. The pressure was high enough, the bolt came within a hair’s breadth of harming her. Under those conditions, how could her Divine Domain not react?
“See for yourself.”
Baros took the report. Out of the corner of her eye, Teresa could also glimpse the document’s contents—but it was all numbers. She couldn’t make sense of it.
“What the...? All zeros...?”
“Could it be that she really didn’t activate her Divine Domain just now?”
“But that’s impossible, isn’t it?” Blaise was equally astonished. “There’s never been a case like this.”
“Have any of you considered that this child might not be a Divine Maiden at all?” another tester chimed in, voicing his theory as he walked over.
“No, Miss Teresa is definitely a Divine Maiden. I tested her with a magic crystal yesterday. She's without a doubt a Divine Maiden,” Miss Blaise pushed up her glasses. “Are you questioning my work, Mr. Jem?”
“Then I don’t get it. The sensing array has never failed. Why did it give a false read this time?”
“Maybe it didn’t fail,” Baros mused. “There are two possibilities. One: the divine authority she inherited is so weak that it barely qualifies her as a Divine Maiden, and she simply can’t control a Divine Domain.”
“And the other possibility...”
“Our method is flawed. Miss Teresa’s Divine Domain might activate differently than normal—unlike the instinctive trigger we expect.”
“Huh? Mr. Baros, are there really such Divine Domains? I’ve never heard of one.” Jem spread his hands.
“There are, but... they’re exceedingly rare,” Baros shook his head, sighing as he looked at Teresa. “So rare they’re only mentioned in history books or divine authority compendiums.”
“Which is why I personally lean toward the first explanation—this child barely qualifies as a Divine Maiden.”
“Put simply, she’s a Divine Maiden... with no Divine Maiden talent.”
Blaise let out a sigh.
The three of them all understood what that meant—if she couldn’t even activate her Divine Domain, the idea of wielding divine authority was a joke.
“So... what do we do now?” Jem glanced at Teresa, who stood in silence, her head lowered in deep thought.
“Is a Divine Maiden without a Divine Domain even considered a Divine Maiden?”
“.........”
Blaise and Baros both fell silent.
“If not, that means we don’t recognize her as a Divine Maiden. And if she’s not a Divine Maiden, she obviously doesn’t qualify to enroll in Coleman Academy. Have you made up your minds?”
“Miss Teresa.” Blaise called out to her, crouching slightly as she looked up at Teresa with a hint of regret.
“Why do you want to attend Coleman Academy?”
“.........Miss Blaise, may I ask you... to give me one month.”
“One month?” Baros frowned. “In one month, the Freshman Crown Tournament begins. Teams that fail to qualify will be expelled.”
The implication in his words was clear. Even if she managed to cling to Coleman Academy for a month, she’d still end up packing her things and leaving.
He didn’t believe any team would want to take in this childlike Divine Maiden. And even if someone did, she’d probably just drag the team down in battle. Supporting a Divine Maiden like her would require a Divine Child of peerless might and stature. But that only raised another question—why would a proud and lofty Divine Child ever choose Teresa?
“Exactly. One month from now, I’ll prove myself... in the Freshman Crown Tournament.” Teresa lifted her tender little face and declared seriously.
She was betting everything on the Divine Awakening that would come when her body fully digested [Sacred Oblivion].