Chapter 87: A Secret and an Ongoing Mystery

“Now, Miss Elysia? Could you come this way?”

This was a gathering held to practice for an upcoming event during the Festival of the Divine.

Following the academy staff’s guidance, I moved toward the center of the stage.

“Here, Miss Elysia, you will be handing the trophy to the winner of the tournament.”

“Yes.”

There was no special position to memorize, and anyway, it was right in the center. I just needed to remember to stand next to the Saintess, Mariel.

“And when the Saintess receives the trophy from the winner, please offer her blessings directly. Also, if possible, please use the most spectacular of the divine magic you can perform. It’s a show, after all.”

Since this was an event, grandeur was an important factor. The actual person receiving the blessing was secondary; this spectacle could raise the morale of the students watching.

However, for some reason, instead of responding to the staff member’s request, Mariel raised one hand to her head and staggered a step.

“Ugh… I’ve overexerted myself with the volunteering lately, and I don’t have enough energy to use divine magic…”

…Her face clearly showed exhaustion, and even the tips of Mariel’s fingers were trembling as if she had no strength left.

But why is she making circles with her fingers, Saintess?

And why is she showing those fingers to the staff member?

“Ah! Saintess, you’re overdoing it, aren’t you? No matter how much you enjoy volunteering, you can’t let yourself get this weak. What are you going to do if you can’t even stand up?”

The staff member spoke as she helped support the staggering Mariel.

But why did the staff member’s hand go into the Saintess’s pocket and then come out?

And why is the staff member giving the Saintess a thumbs-up?

Moreover, why does the exhausted Saintess suddenly look full of energy now?

“How about this? If we make the entire audience glow, would that be enough? If we can gather enough donations, we might even be able to make it sparkle.”

Goddess, was choosing Mariel as the Saintess truly your decision?

If someone is threatening you, please shake the Holy Sword.

As expected, the Holy Sword didn’t shake. But for some reason, a sudden short rain began to fall, trickling down from the Goddess statue far away.

After practicing a few more times under the staff member’s guidance, the day’s schedule finally ended.

“Good job, Hero.”

“You worked hard too, Saintess.”

“Eh, this was nothing.”

Before the staff member even left, Mariel was already smiling widely as she pulled coins from her pocket and started counting them.

“Hehehe… Maybe next time, I’ll add some wings to my back. If I ask the Goddess, I’m sure she’ll give me wings.”

But the Goddess was crying, Saintess!

You can hear the Goddess’s voice, so why are you ignoring it?

“By the way, Saintess, why are you collecting money like this?”

I had seen Mariel working hard to earn money, but I had never seen her spend it on anything.

So now that I considered myself closer to her, I decided to ask something that had been on my mind.

While still counting the coins, Mariel smiled at me.

“What do you think, Hero? Why do you think I’m so obsessed with money?”

Instead of answering my question, Mariel threw one back at me.

“Well? Usually, when someone collects that much money, it’s to buy something expensive, isn’t it?”

“Mm… Trying to buy something expensive, huh… I guess that’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not the whole truth either.”

Mariel’s ambiguous answer left me puzzled.

“But I’ll keep the details a secret! Once we go on an adventure together, we’ll have plenty of time, so let’s save the fun of discovering my secrets for then.”

Rather than explaining, she delayed the answer.

“Of course, my secrets are valuable, so you’ll need to save up a lot of money first!”

**”A Moment of Peace and an Embarrassing Incident”**

“…I feel like this is something I could go my whole life without knowing.”

“Aaah! The Hero’s cold-hearted attitude is making the Saintess tear up!”

“If you’re going to pretend to cry, could you at least not blatantly wet your eyes with water? And that bottle you’re holding—it’s holy water!”

“Hehe.”

No matter how powerful a Saintess Mariel was, seeing her use holy water just to fake tears left me speechless.

“By the way, didn’t you say that one of your friends is participating in the tournament?”

Whether she was trying to change the subject or not, Mariel closed the bottle and tucked it back into her pocket as she spoke.

“Yes. It’s Anne. Her goal is to win the championship. She’s already passed the preliminary rounds.”

Since the tournament was open to all students across all grades, the number of participants was overwhelming.

To the extent that even the seven-day period of the Festival of the Divine wasn’t enough to host all the matches, so the academy had held preliminary rounds in advance to select the 32 participants for the main event.

Even though there were students like Celian and me who hadn’t entered the tournament, making it into the final 32 among all those participants was proof of Anne’s skill.

If this were the Anne from the start of the semester, it might have been impossible. But just as I had grown stronger, Anne had improved significantly through our training sessions together, allowing her to reach this stage.

“Hmm. If that friend of yours, Anne, wins the tournament, I’ll give her an especially dazzling blessing. Consider it a special service for you, Hero, so don’t feel burdened!”

That was a generous offer, but I wished she would at least remove her hand from her coin pouch while saying such things.

—

“Haah… this is heaven.”

Back in the dormitory.

While I had been at the event rehearsal, my friends must have been busy studying or training, as the room was empty.

Thanks to that, I could finally relax and soak in the small bathtub inside our shared bathroom.

The door was locked, so there was no risk of someone accidentally walking in.

Even if someone did try to open the locked door, I could easily hide myself.

Since the mark of the Servitude Engraving was still on my body, I always had to be cautious when bathing.

That made moments like this—where I could completely relax in the bath—extremely precious.

Living in a four-person dorm with my friends was lively and fun every day, but at times like this, I missed the privacy of a single room.

Letting my body soak in the warm water for the first time in a while truly felt like heaven.

For now, none of my usual worries or anxieties could bother me.

Maybe because all the accumulated fatigue melted away in the bath, sleepiness started creeping in.

My eyelids grew heavy, so I closed my eyes for a moment—but this was not to fall asleep.

If my friends returned to the room and came into the bathroom while I was sleeping, it would be a disaster. I had no intention of dozing off.

I was just closing my eyes for a little while…

Just a short rest…

– Plop!

…

” Blub! Gurgle…!”

” Cough! Cough! “

Thrashing wildly, I barely managed to pull myself out of the bathtub.

“Hack! Cough! Cough!”

I had only meant to close my eyes for a moment, but I had fallen asleep without realizing it.

And not only had I fallen asleep—I had slipped, causing my face to go under the water.

I had swallowed some water in the process.

To think I nearly drowned while taking a bath…

Just imagining it made me die of embarrassment.

Any desire to continue soaking was gone, so I climbed out of the tub.

As I stepped out, water splashed over the edge, spilling onto the floor.

My nose burned from inhaling water, and the discomfort of swallowing too much water made me feel miserable.

I staggered out of the bathtub, forcing my unsteady body toward the sink and standing in front of the mirror.

Placing both hands on the sink for support, I looked at my reflection.

Staring back at me from the mirror was the familiar silver-haired girl, someone I had grown used to seeing.

However, even though the discomfort I felt was clearly from my nose and throat after swallowing water, my gaze was fixed somewhere else—specifically, on my chest.

Between the two distinct curves that weren’t there when I was a man.

Following my gaze, I raised one hand and placed it over my chest.

All I could feel was the slightly faster beating of my heart, likely because I had been startled.

There was no visible wound, no memory of hitting anything, nor any marks.

Yet… why did I feel the cold, unsettling sensation of a blade, the unpleasant, sticky pain lingering right at the center of my chest?

It was a pain I had never felt before, but the sensation that accompanied it was one I had experienced many times.

Those strange, recurring dreams.

Every time I woke up from one, I couldn’t remember any of the details, yet a disgustingly filthy feeling would linger over me.

And now, this pain in my chest carried that same wretched sensation.