Sister

“Your Highness, the Saintess, let us return. Your unauthorized departure has caused everyone a great deal of worry.” The stern-faced nun turned and bowed slightly to Theia.

“Also, we must trouble this lady not to speak of Her Highness’s presence here. This was intended to be a confidential visit, and the Church apologizes for the trouble this accident has caused.”

“The students of Alice Girls’ Academy are all outstanding children. I trust you will make the right choice.”

Her words were slow and unhurried, steady and powerful, but the mix of reassurance and threat within them made Wang Ning realize this matter wasn’t so simple.

‘Good heavens, why do I keep running into this kind of trouble lately?’

Wang Ning lamented internally.

Theia, who had been silent until now, suddenly looked up and said, “Ai Er. This, was, my, own, doing. It has, nothing, to do with, her.”

“I, am, willing, to return, and accept, punishment.” She spoke each word deliberately.

As her voice fell, a small stir went through the crowd. The nun named Ai Er, whose expression had been unshakable, now changed. She looked at Theia in surprise. Even the elderly Bishop, who had been standing by and watching, lowered his head slightly to look at the silver-haired Saintess.

The next moment, Ai Er collected herself, took a deep breath, and said to Wang Ning, “Very well. If you require any assistance, you may come to the church and find me.”

When she said this, the strong sense of distance and officialdom from before had weakened considerably, and her tone had softened.

Since transmigrating, Wang Ning had heard many things about the Church, but most of it was surface-level information. Even when she had been a member of God’s Blade in the game, her rank was not high, and the information she could gather was scarce.

She knew nothing about the Saintess, nor did she know who “Theia” was…

‘No, wait, there was a character whose identity was vaguely connected to the Saintess.’ Wang Ning suddenly recalled a certain character—not a protagonist, nor a background NPC.

‘…No, no, no, how could that be? How could a cute and harmless little girl like Theia be her?’

Wang Ning’s mind, which had been calm, grew increasingly flustered the more she thought about it. She glanced at Theia again and again.

‘Besides the red eyes, there’s no resemblance at all, hahaha.’

‘…But how many characters in the game even have red eyes!’

‘—Maybe she’s just a hidden character, like Xiao.’

Thinking of Xiao and her similar red eyes, Wang Ning gradually calmed down. She convinced herself, even though a little voice in her head kept shaking her.

“Wang Ning,” Theia called out.

“Hm?” Wang Ning responded, watching as Theia tilted her head up and repeated, “Wang Ning.”

“Your Highness, the Saintess, allow me to review the etiquette we learned in our last lesson. When addressing a female older than yourself outside, it is proper to call her ‘sister’ or ‘ma’am’,” Ai Er interjected smoothly.

Theia nodded and said, enunciating clearly, “Sis, ter.”

On the training ground, Wang Yi suddenly sneezed. In that moment of distraction, the Nightmare Beast at her feet erupted in a struggle. Its black body swelled like an expanding black fog, corroding the air, and instantly broke free from its restraints.

“Hey! Watch your own prey!” A student next to her shrieked, flinging her longsword aside. She screamed as she sliced the charging Nightmare Beast in half, then pulled out the gun at her waist and fired a few more shots. She watched as the black pollutant exploded, splattering onto her clothes.

“Ahhh, so gross, so gross, my new clothes! I’m gonna kill—” The student lost her composure and shot a fierce glare at Wang Yi, only to fall silent the moment their eyes met.

“…Forget it. I’m the bigger person, I won’t hold it against you.” She muttered and turned her head, avoiding Wang Yi’s gaze and quietly moving several dozen meters away.

She swore, she absolutely wasn’t scared!

It was just… this freshman named “Wang Yi” was just too damn weird. She had practically been certified by the independent special-grade forum as—”The Madman.”

A whistle blew.

Wang Yi pulled her sword from the Nightmare Beast’s body and looked towards the watchtower. Her excellent vision spotted the teacher standing there, Ms. Sai Li.

“Students, you have all demonstrated outstanding combat skills in this practical training. I believe you will be the most talented class in history!” Ms. Sai Li stood beside the assembled formation, her voice sharp, her eyes filled with appreciation as she looked at them.

“However—” Her tone then shifted, becoming abruptly serious. “What is the most important thing in battle?”

On the empty training ground, the foul stench left over from killing the Nightmare Beasts lingered, difficult for even the filters to completely eliminate.

In the neatly formed ranks, everyone stared straight ahead, but inwardly they were all praying—”Don’t call on me,” “Don’t call on me,” “Please, please don’t call on me, if I answer wrong this devil will seriously make me do extra training until I die, ahhh.”

“Wang Yi, you answer.”

The others let out a long sigh of relief.

‘Wait, that name sounds familiar, Wang Yi…’

‘Isn’t she rumored to be the biggest troublemaker of this year’s class?!’

Wang Yi was still wearing a gas mask. The black, metallic texture, clasped against her fair face, looked more like a taboo decoration.

Her voice came through it, muffled. “Reporting, teacher. It is individual strength.”

Ms. Sai Li looked at the girl standing in the front row. “I’ll give you one more chance to answer. Your reason.”

Wang Yi: “Only through one’s own strength can one protect what is most important.”

“If you can’t even protect… the most important person, then no matter how powerful you are, you’re nothing but trash.” She was extremely serious when she said this.

The crowd: “Hiss—”

‘As expected of the troublemaker! She’s so confrontational!’

‘The correct answer is simply teamwork and cooperation, and this big shot just goes for a head-on rebuttal!’

The field fell silent for a moment, so quiet you could almost hear breathing. After what felt like an eternity, they finally heard a voice.

“Very good.” Ms. Sai Li suddenly smiled. Looking into Wang Yi’s amber eyes, she was as if seeing another person.

“Individual strength is indeed very important—but what if your enemy numbers in the hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands?” she asked lightly.

Wang Yi answered without hesitation, “Then I will kill a hundred, a thousand, or even tens of thousands—until I have eradicated the threat that seeks to harm my sis… my most important person.”

Her words were simple and brutal. Even Ms. Sai Li was silent for a moment.

The person standing next to Wang Yi quietly tugged on the corner of her clothes and, under Wang Yi’s confused gaze, gave her a thumbs-up.

‘What a warrior!’

‘What a statement, so lacking in the Empire’s core values!’

Ms. Sai Li was at a loss for words. She now realized just how difficult it would be to correct Wang Yi’s values.

In the end, she could only say, “In this practical exercise, I saw some students who were only concerned with self-preservation and killing Nightmare Beasts, lacking in teamwork. This resulted in most of you ending up injured and out of the fight, with very few left standing at the end.”

Someone in the ranks whispered, “Wang Yi… that little madman seems to be one of the ones who was left standing.”

Ms. Sai Li: “…”