Having casually ignored Professor Rahl’s instructions, Lethe left the oratory and strode down the long cathedral corridor.
The Efnel students who spotted her began to whisper amongst themselves. As the top-ranked student and a leading candidate for the next Saintess, Lethe was a figure who drew whispers and attention wherever she went.
"Sister Lethe!"
Just then, a girl in a white Efnel uniform came hurrying over, calling Lethe’s name.
"Huh?"
Lethe turned around with an expressionless face. It was a girl from her class. She came up beside Lethe and made the sign of the cross. "Laus, Sister Lethe. May the Goddess’s blessing be with you!"
"Laus. What is it?"
"Ah. Well," the girl blushed and said quietly. "For the upcoming Visitation, have you decided who you’re going with?"
At Efnel, dispatch missions to the surface were called ‘Visitations’.
"Alone."
"What? But we’re supposed to go in teams of four!"
"It’s a hassle. And if it’s a job for four people, I’m more than enough on my own."
"That’s Sister Lethe for you!"
’So it’s already Visitation season. This is going to be a pain.’ Lethe yawned with a bored expression, sticking her hands in her skirt pockets. And it truly did become a pain. Efnel students began to flock toward her now that she was alone.
"Laus! Sister Lethe!"
"Have you found a team yet?"
"Sister Lethe!"
Having Lethe in one’s team was the best insurance policy, so it was a natural move. Of course, Lethe’s reaction was indifferent. "I’m going alone, so please leave me be."
Lethe replied cynically and kept walking, but from the opposite direction, someone was approaching with a far larger entourage than the students trailing her. In Efnel, where the ratio of male students was low at around twenty percent, he was a boy of extreme popularity. His dazzling red hair fluttered in the breeze, his features were chiseled, his nose was sharp enough to cut paper, and his gentle smile was more than enough to sway the hearts of women.
Walking from the other side, he spotted Lethe and spoke to her with a slight smile. "Laus! Top-ranker Lethe! Good morning."
He raised a hand in greeting, but Lethe walked right past him. "Laus to you, second-ranked Romain. It is a good morning, so please continue on your way."
"Ahaha! Can’t we talk for just a moment?"
Lethe ignored him and kept walking, while Romain walked backward, trying to get her attention. "What is it? I’m doing this Visitation alone."
"Ah, no, not that. I was just wondering how your sacred artifact creation assignment for Professor René is going."
"That’s none of your business. I’m passing through."
"Actually, I found a place to get ‘Moon Pearls’ to use as material for a rosary."
At the mention of Moon Pearls, even Lethe showed a slight reaction. It was only natural. Moon Pearls were a top-tier sacred material, and just finding them guaranteed a top score on the assignment. He took out two tickets.
"There’s a train heading to the surface tonight. Want to go together?"
A few of the surrounding girls made envious noises, but Lethe waved her hand dismissively, as if uninterested. "Congratulations in advance on getting first place in the sacred artifact assignment. And have you ever considered that if I take that precious material too, your rank might drop?"
"It’s fine, top-ranked Lethe," Romain winked. "As your only rival, it’s my small consideration. Let’s rise together."
"Hah—" Watching Romain still stubbornly following her, Lethe’s irritation began to boil over. "I was trying to be quiet because Professor Rahl scolded me, but you’re really crossing the line."
"T-top-ranked Lethe?"
"What rival? It’s pathetic, so keep your nonsense to a minimum." There was no one, at least in this school, whom she considered a rival.
"What else would the top and second-ranked students be but rivals?" Romain laughed and followed her. "And that white robe you’ve been wearing lately is a liiittle tacky." Romain placed a hand on her shoulder. "When we get to the surface, I’ll buy you a new..."
Romain suddenly felt his vision spin, an immense pain lancing through his back and neck. When he came to his senses, he was sprawled on the floor. Screams and noise erupted from all around.
"Where do you think you’re putting your filthy hands?" Lethe muttered coldly.
At the same time, Romain felt the line of his patience snap. He roughly got to his feet, about to slap her cheek, when—
Her shoe slammed into his abdomen. He let out a gasp. ‘I-I can’t breathe...!’
Lethe grabbed the back of Romain’s head with one hand. "There’s one thing I like about Efnel."
And then she smashed him into the glass wall. The entire reinforced glass wall, said to be so sturdy, cracked and splintered.
"I don’t have to worry about killing someone if I beat them up." Lethe, her eyes flashing with a chilling light, grabbed Romain’s head with one hand and dragged him, shoving his face against the wall. "I don’t have to worry about leaving scars or wounds on their face or body if I beat them up."
She walked on, her heels clicking. A horrific sound echoed as Romain’s face was ground against the wall. A long, crimson line of blood was left on the wall as if a paintbrush had been dragged across it.
"And even if I beat them to the brink of death, I don’t have to worry because Efnel’s great healers will patch them up and bring them back to life."
She hadn’t even used white magic. It was solid, fundamental, holy combat and overwhelming power, crushing him with her immense amount of divinity. The second-ranked student, Romain, couldn’t even put up a fight.
"It was indeed an equal fight worthy of a rival, second-ranked Romain." Wiping Romain’s blood from her cheek with the tip of her index finger, she said sarcastically. "Even kids stronger than you are keeping quiet. You talk too much for someone who’s only second-ranked on paper."
Romain, his face a bloody mess, lay collapsed on the floor with his eyes rolled back. A deep silence fell around them. When Lethe looked back, the Efnel students who had been watching quickly averted their eyes.
"You sisters over there. Please take this bastard to a healer."
"O-Okay!"
The students rushed over to help the fallen Romain, and Lethe strode out of the corridor, her white hair flying.
Arriving at her dorm room, Lethe opened the door and walked in.
"Laus, Sister Lethe!" Her roommate, a girl who had been scribbling at her desk, waved both hands in a cheerful greeting.
Lethe nodded back in acknowledgment. "Laus, Lirinet."
"Did something happen at school? It’s so noisy."
"I wouldn’t know." Playing dumb, Lethe first took off the robe slung over her shoulder and hung it on a hook. The outside of the robe was white, but the black inner lining was visible.
"Ah, a letter came for you, so I put it on your desk."
"A letter?"
"Yes, that old woman who always comes by..."
"Huh!"
Lethe’s face, which had been expressionless all day, suddenly lit up. "Could it be!"
She scurried over and looked at the letter placed on her desk.
’To Lethe’
This beautiful, elegant, and dignified handwriting. She could tell who had written it at a glance. After all, it was a script she had seen thousands, tens of thousands of times.
"Aaaaaah!! Miss!"
Finally, a letter from Anna had arrived! Lethe was so happy she hugged the letter to her chest and jumped up and down. To send a letter from the Dark Alliance to the Holy Federation, one had to use a somewhat unofficial route, and the messenger was the old woman who had delivered the letter.
Lirinet let out a mischievous smile. "If people found out that Sister Lethe actually has this girlish side to her, I wonder how they’d react. I’m so curious!"
"Ugh, shut up. I’m in a good mood."
She immediately went to bathe. She wanted to read Anna’s letter with a pious heart. After washing herself clean and changing into comfortable clothes, she placed the letter on the floor and knelt respectfully. The driving force that helped her endure this difficult life at Efnel. A single ray of light. Her heart pounded with an anticipation so fierce she thought she might go mad.
"But Sister Lethe," Lirinet swiveled her chair and spoke. "Who’s the letter from that’s making you so happy? A boy, perhaps?"
"Am I crazy? If you don’t want to get hit, please be quiet."
As if performing a very sacred ritual, she carefully broke the seal of the envelope and unfolded the crisp stationery. Just seeing the elegant black handwriting on the white paper made it feel as if the whole world was submerged in happiness.
’Hello Lethe? It’s Ms. Anna. How is life at Efnel these days?’
A sound of pure bliss escaped Lethe as she read the letter. A wide smile blossomed on her face.
Just then, as she was reading the letter in her pink-tinted world...
Another letter fell out from inside the envelope. It turned out there were two letters. Lethe looked at the last sentence with a puzzled expression.
’And Simon wrote a letter that he said you must see. I’m enclosing it here.’
"Huh...!!" She blinked, her expression stiff and frozen. ‘A-a letter from that bastard?’
She was incredibly confused. Who was he to send her a letter? He said I must see it? What on earth did he want to say all of a sudden? Flinching as if looking at a bomb, she cautiously reached her arm toward the fallen letter.
Her arm was shaking violently. She quickly retracted her hand, holding it to her chest in bewilderment. ‘W-what’s wrong with me? Why am I so nervous?’
Her heart suddenly started pounding. A bead of sweat even formed on her forehead. She hesitated several times, trying to pick up the letter. ‘Ugh! What am I doing? This is so humiliating!’
She bravely snatched the letter and tore it open. Then, she scanned the contents.
’Hey, Lethe. Are you doing well?’
Her pupils quaked.
’Thanks for your help during the vacation! I’ll think of you as my lifelong benefactor. Say hello to Lady Israphel for me. Is Ran doing okay? I think about him sometimes and miss him.’
’Miss him? As if!’ Lethe bit her lip as she read on. But then, her expression grew colder and colder.
’Remember the evidence we got from the train? Please check if the name ‘Judas’ is in there.’
"Ah! That bastard, really!" She threw the letter down with a thud. He had written a short greeting at the beginning and then filled the rest with a list of demands. Trembling with anger, she paused. ‘But why am I upset that the greeting was short?’
As Lethe stood there dumbfounded, her roommate Lirinet slyly read the letter she had thrown. "Oh! It’s a boy! That’s a boy’s handwriting, right? Wow, what’s this? He thinks about you sometimes and misses you? Ooooooh...!"
Lethe raised her arm with a frigid expression. A brilliant light flashed, and the air opened up. Her divine beast, the baby dragon ‘Ran’, shot out and coiled around Lirinet.
"Aaahhh!"
In an instant, she was restrained by Ran. Her arms were bound and raised above her head, and her feet lifted off the ground.
"I told you," Lethe said, picking up Simon’s letter, her eyes blazing with anger. "To be quiet."
"Aaaah! P-please forgive me! Sister Lethe!"
"No forgiveness!" Lethe began to gently tickle Lirinet’s exposed armpits. Lirinet’s face turned beet red as she twisted her body and laughed hysterically. "Hahahaha! Aaargh! Hahah! S-save...!"
"I have a favor to ask," she said, stopping the tickle torture.
Lirinet, with tears in her eyes from laughing, quickly said, "P-please command me, Sister."
"You said your uncle is an active Heretic Inquisitor, right? Please contact him for me."
In the end, Lirinet was released from her bonds in exchange for contacting her uncle. "But why my uncle?"
"Never mind, just hurry."
Lirinet took out a communication crystal and contacted her uncle. "Yes, yes, Uncle! I’m doing fine. Yes, a friend of mine has something to say."
"My name is Lethe." Lethe suddenly stuck her head out and snatched the communication crystal from her. A thick, masculine laugh came from the crystal.
—"Hahaha! Lethe? I’ve heard a lot about you from my niece!"
"What have you heard?"
—"That the top-ranked student from Efnel in the same room has such a nasty temper..."
"Ran."
"Aaahhh!"
Ran clung to Lirinet again, and Lethe shielded her back so her uncle couldn’t see his niece’s humiliating state, then said, "I need you to find someone for me."
—"It’s a request from my niece’s friend, so I have to grant it. Who is it?"
Her expression turned serious. "A Heretic Inquisitor named Metin."

Comments

Loading...