"Simon!"
Anna sprinted over before anyone else could even process what was happening. Simon noticed she wore a choker designed to block divinity, much like Lethe’s. She immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.
"I heard you were stuck in the hospital ward after being poisoned! I was so worried!" she cried. "Are you okay? Are you really alright?"
Pulling back, she grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him back and forth. His head whipped around, making him intensely dizzy.
"I-I’m fine, Auntie," Simon stammered.
It felt as though Balak’s dormant poison was surging through his system all over again. He quickly gathered his senses.
"More importantly, you scared me! How did you end up getting dragged to such a dangerous place?"
"Ah, well..."
Anna sheepishly recounted her kidnapping. She had been following someone who claimed to be a Langerstine guide when a strange gang suddenly ambushed them and dragged her off.
Simon shrugged after hearing the whole story.
"Couldn’t you have just forced your way out?"
"Oh my, wouldn’t it cause diplomatic problems if I started hitting people in a foreign country?" She placed a hand on her cheek, looking bashful. "Besides, whoever I hit might die of shock, or a building could end up collapsing."
"No one would blame you for subduing a criminal gang," Simon pointed out. "And a house got destroyed anyway."
"Ohoho! All that matters is that you’re safe, Simon."
She stroked her grown son’s cheek, her eyes dripping with affection, before glancing past his shoulder.
"By the way, who are those pretty young ladies behind you? Are they your friends?"
Lorraine, who had been commanding her skeletons to tie up the unconscious gang members, turned around in surprise. She quickly clasped her hands together and bowed politely.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Lorraine Archbold, Simon’s classmate."
Her voice trembled slightly at the end. ’It’s been a while since I’ve seen Lorraine this nervous,’ Simon thought.
"Oh my, Lady Nephthys’s daughter? I’ve heard so much about you from Lady Nephthys... No, wait, I mean—I’ve heard so much about you from my older sister, who heard about you from Lady Nephthys. Ohoho!"
’Your acting is so awkward, Auntie!’
Simon watched Anna, mentally stamping his feet in panic.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, ma’am."
With a soft rustle of fabric, Serne lightly pinched the edges of her uniform skirt and dipped into a flawless curtsy. Sunlight beamed down on her like a theatrical spotlight.
"I am Serne Aindark, the official successor to the Ivory Tower, the current rank one, and the second-year classmate who shares the deepest bond with Simon."
"Oh my! How lovely. It’s so nice to meet you. To think Simon had such wonderful friends!"
Anna rushed over in a single bound.
"Thank you both for being friends with our Simon."
She warmly grasped Lorraine’s hand in one of hers and Serne’s in the other, clasping them together.
"Our Simon may look brave on the outside, but he can be a bit scatterbrained sometimes. He has a lot of blind spots when it comes to things he doesn’t care about, and he gets his feelings hurt easily."
’Mom!’
Simon’s face flushed bright red.
"But earlier, even from a distance, I saw the two of you fighting alongside him."
Anna quietly closed her eyes.
"I could feel that Simon truly believes in and trusts you both as his comrades. To think he has such amazing friends by his side! Every day, I look toward Kizen from our hometown and worry, but after today, I think I can rest a little easier."
She smiled as brightly as a blooming flower.
"Thank you. I’m truly lucky to have met you two."
Lorraine and Serne flushed simultaneously.
"I’m the one who receives a lot of help from Simon!" Lorraine insisted. "Thank you."
"Ohoho, leave Simon’s safety to me, Auntie," Serne added playfully.
"Please, just call me Ayla."
Ayla seemed to be Anna’s alias.
After securing the gang members, they contacted the local guard and made their way out of the slums.
In the short time it took to exchange a few more words, Anna and the girls had grown unbelievably close.
The laughter simply wouldn’t stop. Lorraine, who usually maintained a calm and collected demeanor, was chatting away with sparkling eyes. Meanwhile, Serne laughed elegantly while affectionately clinging to Anna’s arm.
It was Anna’s ridiculous sociability at work. It looked as though she had gained two new daughters a mere ten minutes after meeting them.
’What is this? They closed the distance so fast.’
Simon trailed behind the women from a slight distance. Then, Anna looked back and beamed at her son. Simon smiled in return and spoke up.
"Auntie, I’m a bit late to point this out, but what’s with the outfit?"
"Ah. This dress?"
Anna usually wore casual, practical clothes. This was the first time Simon had ever seen her decked out in a noble’s gown and fine jewelry.
Because she had dressed up so extravagantly, she had drawn unwanted attention and ultimately become a target for the gang.
"Griffith advised me to dress like this to maintain my dignity as the Student Council President’s relative."
’Mrs. Griffith.’
Griffith was the wife of a Leshill farmkeeper who met up with Anna every day to gossip.
"Oh, hold on a second."
Anna’s expression suddenly hardened. Looking alarmed, she rushed over and began inspecting every inch of her son’s body.
"Auntie?"
"Hold still."
After finishing her examination, her expression grew even more severe.
"You’ve gotten thinner since the last time I saw you. I don’t care about anything else, but how many times have I told you to eat your meals on time?"
"I-I couldn’t help it! I had my final exams just last week...!"
"Don’t talk back to me. Have I ever nagged you about anything else? I told you to make sure you eat three meals a day, no matter what."
The usually good-natured and affectionate Anna unleashed a barrage of nagging as if a switch had been flipped. Simon couldn’t utter a single peep and hung his head low. Even Lorraine and Serne were too overwhelmed by her momentum to intervene.
"I knew this would happen, so I borrowed an artifact with preservation magic."
She opened her bag. It looked like an ordinary, modestly designed satchel on the outside, but an endless stream of food began to materialize from within.
"This is braised fish, this is strawberry pie, and this is..."
The containers began piling up like a tower in Simon’s hands. He cried out in dismay.
"Do you really have to take this out right now? It’s vacation anyway, so we’ll be heading to Leshill together soon!"
"This is for you to eat on Roc Island before that. Here, take this too...!"
After emptying half the bag, Anna let out a heavy sigh and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Smiling in satisfaction at last, she turned to the waiting Lorraine and Serne.
"Oh dear, did I get too excited? I’m sorry for making you wait."
"It’s fine," Lorraine murmured.
"Simon? Let’s stop by a nearby restaurant first. You two can join us..."
"Auntie," Simon quickly interjected. "I think I need to head back to Roc Island right now. Something came up."
Anna blinked in confusion.
---
Currently, Simon was a patient under the strict care of the Kizen hospital ward. Leaving the premises without permission was strictly prohibited.
But how could he just sit still after hearing that Anna had gone missing?
The deed was already done, so he had to return to his hospital room before the doctors or staff noticed his absence. The four of them immediately took a teleportation magic circle back, but...
"Mr. Polentia. This puts us in a very difficult position."
The ward doctor and nursing staff were already waiting in Simon’s room, standing firm with their arms crossed.
Simon apologized profusely on the spot. Thanks to Lorraine stepping in to advocate for him, he fortunately avoided having the incident reported to the administration. In exchange, he was banned from even taking short walks until he was declared fully cured.
"Don’t tell me you even got into a fight? Your condition has worsened."
Fighting the gang members while the poison was still active in his system had caused Simon’s physical condition to deteriorate further. He lay groaning in bed.
Then, that evening.
"Son. Are you feeling alright?"
Anna secretly slipped into the hospital room. Simon, who had been suffering from the lingering pain, lifted his head.
"M-Mom?"
"Just wait a second."
After carefully checking the corridor to ensure no one was nearby, she swiftly deployed a magic circle. It was a high-level barrier designed to block out divinity.
"I heard you had been poisoned, so I practically begged your father to let me come."
With a soft flutter of fabric, she draped the white robe she used to wear during her days as a Priest over her shoulders and brought her hands together.
"I’ll heal you right up."
A warm, radiant light flared through the room.
For a brief moment, Simon could feel the true worth of the "Miracle Saintess," who was once the strongest Priest in the Holy Federation.
The healing magic he had received from other Priests up until now was nothing in comparison. It felt as though his body was being forcibly resurrected.
A few hours after Anna’s visit, the doctor came in to check on Simon’s vitals.
"What is this?"
He stared at the diagnostic results with a look of utter disbelief.
"Your body is completely healed in just three hours?"
"Ahaha, I think the medicine I took last night really helped!" Simon replied, sweating bullets.
He had been facing a situation where he might have been stuck in the hospital ward for half of his vacation, but a single cast of Anna’s detoxification magic had brought him to a state of near-complete recovery.
"This is absolutely baffling," the ward doctor muttered, shaking his head.
---
The next morning at dawn.
There were people who had to start their grind long before the rest of the world woke up.
The cook for the Kizen hospital ward let out a massive yawn. With a half-asleep expression, he pulled on his chef’s hat and trudged into the kitchen.
"Those so-called seniors all took time off and left me hanging, seriously. I wish the food would just magically cook itself while I sit still... Huh?"
He blinked. The kitchen lights were on.
’Did I leave the lights on last night?’ He turned his head toward the prep tables. All sorts of ingredients were neatly sliced and arranged in perfect order.
He picked up a beautifully julienned carrot and inspected it.
’Who did this? Why is it chopped so perfectly?’
A sudden blast of heat radiated from the stove. He quickly approached and saw a woman wearing a slightly oversized chef’s uniform, spinning a large frying pan.
She was frying rice with such skill that it was hard to believe that much strength could come from those slender wrists.
"W-Who are you?! Who gave you permission to be in here?!"
"Hello!" Anna greeted him with a friendly smile. "I’m Ayla, Simon’s aunt. I bought some ingredients, so would it be alright if I helped out?"
She set down the frying pan, picked up a kitchen knife, and chopped the ingredients at a speed that nearly left afterimages before arranging them on a plate. Then she smiled sweetly.
"That should be fine, right?"
"...Uh, um."
The kitchen worker’s gaze quietly drifted toward the knife in Anna’s hand.
"S-Sure. Go ahead."
Some time later, the doctors and administrators on duty arrived at the hospital ward. Still half-asleep, they took their seats in the conference room one by one.
Various matters were being discussed when one ward doctor began getting heated.
"This incident is unacceptable."
"The academy’s business and the Kizen hospital ward are separate matters," he continued. "No matter how much Miss Lorraine is covering for Simon after he left without permission, do you really think it makes sense to just let this slide?"
"Doctor, have you been drinking?"
"Alcohol isn’t the issue here!"
He tapped irritably on the table. The doctor seated across from him yawned and replied.
"It didn’t happen during the semester, so let’s just move on. His aunt was kidnapped by a gang. Of course he must have been shocked."
"That’s exactly what I’m saying! If we keep overlooking one thing after another like this...!"
"Breakfast is here~"
Everyone turned at the sound of that voice.
"?!"
"What is all this?"
Luxurious dishes, including roast turkey, were being set out in front of them one after another.
Breakfast usually amounted to bread and soup at best, with a few scraps of meat if they were lucky. But today, dozens of dishes had appeared first thing in the morning. And the person placing the food on the table wasn’t the usual kitchen worker, but an unfamiliar woman.
"Ah, Simon’s aunt?"
"I heard my nephew has been in your care quite often," Anna said with a bright smile. "So I decided to put in a little effort!"
The ward doctors and administrators picked up their utensils with dubious expressions. Then, one by one, they each took a bite.
"?!!"
Their eyes all widened at once. Conversation vanished from the dining table as everyone became too busy devouring the food.
Anna watched the scene with pride. Just then, the ward doctor who had criticized Simon at the start frowned.
"Excuse me. Who gave you permission to do something like—"
"Eat first. Eat. Alright?"
A fellow doctor shot him a warning look. He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and brought a spoonful of the soup in front of him to his mouth.
"..."
Then he silently took another spoonful, and another after that.
"M-Ma’am."
The kitchen worker approached, nearly tearing up with emotion.
"Thank you for helping. Thank you so much. If it isn’t rude of me to ask, could I possibly get the recipe...?"
"Of course. I’ll write it down for you."
"Thank you!"
After that, no one in the ward made an issue of Simon’s actions again.
---
Holy Federation.
Efnel’s headquarters, Sky Island.
"Have all the chairs been wiped down?"
"Yes!"
Priests were hurrying busily about. Today was the day an important conference between major figures would be held.
Servants were scrubbing the floors until not a single hair remained, while paladins rolled their wrists and practiced their sword salutes.
"Why are those two coming here all of a sudden?"
"How should I know?"
While people murmured among themselves, an elderly priest called out.
"The Saintess of the Divine Sea, Lady Israphel, is entering!"
The majestic sound of trumpets filled the chamber.
All the priests, regardless of rank, dropped to one knee at once. The paladins raised their swords in crisp, disciplined salutes. Those of lower status, like the servants, did not even have the right to lift their heads, so they flattened themselves against the floor.
Step. Step.
A woman in a fluttering dress walked in, holding a large harp in her arms.
She wore no shoes, revealing pure-white bare feet. Each time her feet touched the ground, ripples spread across the marble floor like water.
With sea-blue hair, closed eyes, and a benevolent smile, she waved gently to those around her. She looked like the very image of a Saintess painted into reality.
"Ahh."
Some priests gazed at her with flushed faces, even tearing up.
"It’s Lady Israphel."
"How can someone be so graceful?"
Israphel passed through the crowd and approached a woman.
She was the only person present who had not lowered her posture.
"Gratula mi cibilis. I greet the daughter closest to the Goddess."
Rahl kissed the back of Israphel’s hand. Israphel smiled kindly.
"Professor Rahl, please forgive this unworthy student for not keeping in touch."
"To hold such an important conference at Efnel... What brings this about?"
"There are matters we must discuss."
Rahl let out a deep sigh.
"I also have matters I urgently wish to discuss with you, Lady Israphel."
"Ohoho, this is about Lethe, isn’t it?"
Israphel smiled as if she already knew without needing to hear it.
"She’s such a tomboy that she must be giving you no end of trouble, but please take good care of her."
"Lady Israphel, that isn’t the issue..."
Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tam!
Ta-ta-ta-tam!
The music suddenly changed.
It shifted into a fast, forceful piece like a monarch’s march. The paladins straightened their posture, and the crowd began murmuring as they gathered around.
"The Saintess of Judgment, Lady Dana, is entering!"
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
A woman strode in, wearing not the light, fluttering holy vestments of a Saintess, but a resplendent suit of shining armor. The paladins saluted her with force.
Israphel turned around.
"You’ve arrived."
The Saintess with fiery red hair grinned at Israphel as well.
She was the head of the hardline faction within the Holy Federation, the faction that advocated all-out war against the Dark Alliance. In terms of raw combat power, she was said to be the strongest among all the Saintesses.
"Well, if it isn’t a rare face. Didn’t expect to see you here, Israphel."
She was the infamous Saintess of Judgment.

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