Israphel sat with a serene smile, her eyes closed. The meeting was so unexpected that all other questions vanished, leaving Simon with a feeling of pure happiness.
After a moment’s thought, Simon adjusted his posture slightly.
“Gratula mi civilis. It is good to see you again, Lady Israphel.”
It was the formal greeting used for Saintesses and high-ranking priests. Of course, there was no need for it here in the Dark Alliance, but the gesture was not lost on her.
“Ah.”
Israphel seemed genuinely touched; simple courtesy and respect could earn great favor. Her face bloomed like a flower as she stood and opened her arms.
“Come here, Simon!”
“Lady Israphel!”
They shared a warm reunion embrace. In the Holy Federation, even touching a Saintess was a grave sacrilege, yet Israphel responded to his formality with an even greater breach of convention. She was quite tall; though Simon wasn’t fully grown, she stood a head taller than him. She lightly stroked his hair.
“Simon!”
His mother, Anna, poked her head out from the kitchen. This time, mother and son hugged. The sweet smell of apple pie wafted from her apron.
“You must be starving! Sit down. I went all out for dinner tonight!”
“Yes! Mom!”
More than anything, Simon had missed his mother’s cooking.
The four of them sat around the table, chatting and enjoying the meal. As he ate Anna’s special tomato omelet, a dish he couldn’t get anywhere else, Simon felt a deep sense of contentment. Israphel and Anna giggled and chattered away, while Richard was too busy watching Israphel to dare join the conversation, and it was clear the two did not share a comfortable relationship.
“But how did you end up here, Lady Israphel?” Simon asked quietly.
Though they were enjoying a peaceful dinner, from Kizen headquarters’ perspective, this scene was an unprecedented, catastrophic emergency. A Saintess from Efnel had infiltrated deep into the Alliance’s territory. It wouldn’t be strange if every ‘Crow’ in the country was foaming at the mouth and descending on their location.
“I used a slightly troublesome method,” she said, fiddling with the black choker around her neck. “It’s an artifact that seals the power of a Saintess. Wearing this allows me to evade the Dark Alliance’s detection.”
“B-But isn’t it too dangerous to seal your power? This is the heart of enemy territory...”
“It’s alright.” She wrapped her slender arms around Anna and Simon’s backs. “My beloved sister and nephew will protect me. Right?”
“O-Of course!” Simon declared, clenching his fist. Anna smiled brightly.
But Israphel pointedly excluded Richard, the most powerful person among them. Richard simply laughed it off as if he were used to it, accepting the treatment as his due. He watched her every move with caution.
’Neither Lethe nor Lady Israphel seem to like Father very much.’
Still, it wasn’t as openly hostile as Lethe had been. Israphel occasionally joked with Richard, and each time, Simon and Anna would laugh loudly, hoping the two would gradually grow closer.
And so, the meal ended.
“It was worth the risk to come to the Dark Alliance. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in such a warm, family-like atmosphere,” Israphel said, elegantly wiping her mouth.
“Was it delicious?” Anna asked.
“Yes, sister.” Israphel, who always kept her eyes closed, slowly opened them, revealing jet-black pupils reminiscent of an abyss. “So much so that I want to kidnap you and bring you to the Federation so I can eat your cooking every day.”
“Oh, ho ho! You’re too much,” Anna said, blushing at the high praise. Richard, on the other hand, was sweating profusely and avoiding eye contact.
“I’m just kidding,” Israphel said, her eyes closing once more as she gave Simon a playful wink.
“Well then, sister-in-law,” Richard began, clearing his throat and regaining his fatherly gravitas. “How about you present Simon with your proposal now?”
“Of course, brother-in-law.” Israphel turned to face Simon directly. Her composed posture made Simon tense up and straighten his own.
“Lady Israphel, what proposal...?”
“Simon, I would like to ask a favor of you.”
Simon’s eyes widened in surprise. A request from a Saintess! And to him?
Israphel lifted her head, her eyes still closed. “I feel a great evil emanating from the north of the continent. This aura becomes even more distinct when I am in the Holy Federation.”
In the northern region of the Holy Federation lay the Kinver province, a place of perpetual snow. Israphel explained that a great evil aura was growing stronger there.
“I went to vanquish that evil myself, but I failed. It was sealed too firmly.” Israphel’s closed eyes turned toward Simon. “And to break that seal, both Divinity and Jet-Black are required.”
“...Ah.”
“Among the necromancers I know, there is only one person who can hide their identity, evade the Inquisitors, and move freely throughout the Holy Federation.”
For Israphel to speak of him in such a way made his shoulders straighten with pride.
“This evil will one day threaten not only the Holy Federation but the Dark Alliance as well. The entire continent. Simon, please accept my request. I want you to stop this evil before the problem grows any larger.”
Simon stroked his chin, his expression turning serious. “Hmm, that ‘evil’ is a bit abstract.”
“You’ll understand immediately once you get there. I’ll provide you with an excellent guide.”
’...Hmmmm.’
In truth, it wasn’t a bad proposal. First, going to the Holy Federation for the vacation would allow him to completely escape Magnus’s pursuit. He had planned on leaving Leshill after a few days anyway. Second, he had spent most of his time at Kizen.
The Holy Federation was a good opportunity to train his white magic and Divinity. His new technique, ‘Chaos,’ could only grow stronger if both sides of his power did. And third, he owed Israphel for his mother’s life. This was a debt he absolutely had to repay.
“Alright.” After some thought, Simon nodded. “I can’t turn a blind eye when you’ve risked your life to come all this way to ask. I’ll take the request.”
Israphel covered her mouth, her expression one of pleasant surprise. “I haven’t even told you the reward yet.”
“Huh? Ah, haha! R-Right!”
If anything, his immediate acceptance seemed to have raised her opinion of him even more. Her head turned toward Richard.
“Brother-in-law.”
“Yes, sister-in-law.”
She smiled sweetly. “...Truly, I cannot help but acknowledge you.”
Richard laughed heartily, as if it were a matter of course, but he was fervently giving Simon a thumbs-up behind her back.
“Simon, I heard from Lethe that you have a talent for Spiritology, is that right?”
Simon scratched his earlobe, looking embarrassed. “I’m not sure if I have a talent for it, but Spiritology is my favorite subject.”
“If you accept this mission, I will give you a reward of 10,000 gold. And as a gift, a top-tier artifact exclusively for divine beasts, which you could never obtain in the Dark Alliance.”
10,000 gold! And an artifact for divine beasts that could only be found in the Holy Federation! This was a mission he had to take.
Simon shot up from his seat. “You can count on me. I will do my absolute best!”
Night fell.
-Meow! Meow!
-Nyan!
When Israphel asked to see his divine beasts, Simon summoned Whitey and Blacky from his divine subspace.
“They’re so cute!”
The former Saintess of Miracles and the current Saintess of the Divine Sea, both in their pajamas, admired the kittens’ antics. When Anna dangled a trinket on a string, the kittens displayed their hunting instincts, batting at it with their adorable paws. Squeals of delight filled the room.
Simon, returning after finishing the dishes, watched the scene with a faint smile.
’So that’s what Father meant when he said Mom had returned to her girlhood.’
Anna and Israphel, having graduated from Efnel together, were the closest of friends. Meanwhile, Richard was dutifully cleaning up the cat hair that had fallen on the floor. He sighed deeply.
“They shed a lot. Once your mother and sister-in-law are done playing with them, hurry up and put them back in the divine subspace.”
“Aren’t you going to go see them, Father?”
“I have no interest in any animal other than humans.”
The next morning, Simon came downstairs for a drink of water and found Richard lying on the floor, trying to attract the cats’ attention with a toy. Their eyes met.
-Meeeoow!
The kittens ignored Richard and came running to Simon.
Two days later, Simon departed for the Holy Federation with Israphel. He had assumed that since a long-distance teleportation circle was prepared, they would simply zip over and arrive in the Holy Federation in the blink of an eye.
Reality was very different.
The sound of carriage wheels rolling and the chatter of merchants filled the air. Inside a narrow, dark, and shaking box, Simon and Israphel faced each other, their bodies practically piled together in the extremely cramped space.
’I’ve definitely been in this situation before!’
Sweat trickled down the back of Simon’s neck. To make matters worse, their legs were intertwined to endure the long journey. One wrong move could result in their knees touching each other’s groins. Every time the carriage wheels hit a stone and bounced, Simon’s heart lurched along with it.
And even in this situation, Israphel’s beauty did not fade. A faint scent of a seaside resort emanated from her body, pressed so close to his. Simon, who had been trying to look elsewhere, met her gaze. She was staring intently at him.
When she gave him a sweet eye-smile, Simon’s face turned red and he quickly looked away, earning a soft laugh from her.
“...L-Lady Israphel.”
“Yes...”
“You’re a Saintess. Do we really have to travel this way?”
Hiding in a wooden crate in a merchant caravan to cross the border was an arduous and difficult experience he was all too familiar with.
She chuckled softly. “We can’t be discovered by the Holy Federation’s side, either.”
“Um...”
“I came here the exact same way, loaded in a cargo wagon.”
They were transporting a Saintess crammed into a cargo crate. If any of the merchants moving this carriage were followers of the Deva religion, they might take their own lives out of guilt and sacrilege.
“It seems we’re about to pass through the Gate of Divinity.”
The Gate of Divinity at the border of the Holy Federation was a place that filtered out profane objects and hidden necromancers. Israphel extended her arm.
“I’ll protect you, my nephew.”
Then she hugged Simon tightly. The faint divinity spreading from her body enveloped him. Simon felt like he was going to die from embarrassment, his face flushing with blood.
“Ah,” Israphel’s soft voice murmured. “It would be troublesome if you hugged me too tightly. Strictly speaking, you and I don’t share a single drop of blood.”
The moment Simon’s face turned beet red, he felt them pass through the Gate of Divinity. Israphel finally let him go.
“I’m just kidding,” she said.
’One more joke like that and I really might die,’ he thought. As Simon wore a dazed expression, Israphel giggled like a mischievous adult.
“Um... Lady Israphel.”
Thinking that silence would only make it more awkward, Simon forced himself to speak.
“By the way, who is this guide that’s supposed to go with me?”
Israphel smiled sweetly. “Are you curious?”
“A-Achoo!”
A girl with a sleepy expression sneezed. The servant brushing her white hair smiled.
“What’s wrong, Saintess Lethe?”
The girl blinked, looking embarrassed. “...Ah, um. I’m not sure. I think I might have caught a cold.”
The servant laughed. “Oh ho ho! How can a Saintess catch a cold? You’re so funny.”

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