That evening.
Bahila Front, Holy Federation Headquarters.
Israphel penned a letter straight from the field and tied it to a divine beast pigeon. It arrived at the Bahila Front headquarters in no time.
"Archbishop!"
The letter was rushed to the Archbishop, the supreme commander of the front. He broke the seal and scanned its contents.
"Who sent it?" asked a man in the same room, resting his chin on his hand.
The Archbishop narrowed his eyes, a strange expression crossing his face.
"An officer named Israphel."
"I’ve heard of him. He’s the tactician who travels with the Saintess of Miracles. What does it say?"
"Let’s see." The Archbishop slowly read down the page.
"A letter out of concern for the Saintess? Ho ho!"
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Leaving her assigned post without reporting to the center. A secret rendezvous with a man at an undisclosed location. And all of this isn’t Saintess Anna’s fault, but due to the coaxing of a servant she took in named Lena? Hahahaha!"
The Archbishop burst into loud laughter, as if listening to the antics of his own granddaughters. The man with him smiled in amusement.
"An amusing report."
"So Saintess Anna has this side to her, huh! I’ve been worried because she’s just been doing what she’s told like a machine all this time, but it seems it was all for nothing."
The Archbishop stroked his beard, his face darkening for a moment. "My daughter ran off with that damn bastard too..."
"Let’s leave your daughter out of this," the man quickly cut in. "Anyway. Regardless of the severity, it’s an official report submitted by an officer. We must hold the Saintess accountable. She is supposed to set an example for the people. Command has a duty to take appropriate action."
"That’s enough. There’s no need to blow this out of proportion."
The Archbishop waved his hand dismissively. "This long war has been dragging on for nearly a hundred years. From the lowest layperson to the high priests, everyone’s dissatisfaction and fatigue have reached their limits. If we keep tightening the reins, the believers won’t be able to breathe."
"Then what will you do?"
"Send someone to bring the Saintess back. However, there’s no need to interrogate her. I’ll go down later and have a talk with her myself. If I reason with her, she’ll understand."
The conversation ended there. The Archbishop intended to wrap things up with a moderate talk at his own discretion. However, the man who had been speaking with him quietly slipped outside and pulled out a communication crystal ball.
"This is the Bahila Federation Headquarters. Respond."
Static crackled loudly before a faint voice echoed from the crystal.
—"What is it?"
—"A variable has occurred. Yona and Anna are meeting in an unexpected area. History is trying to return to its original course."
The crystal buzzed.
—"That’s troublesome. Is it because of the person Nephthys sent?"
—"The cause is unknown. However, the circumstances point to a person named ’Lena’ being highly suspicious."
—"Understood. I’ll head there myself. Stand by."
The man slowly bowed his head.
"For the Society."
—"For the Society."
---
Sometime later, Richard and Anna crossed the sea and returned to the orphanage.
Since the kiss, a somewhat awkward tension had settled between them. Anna, in particular, was so embarrassed she couldn’t even look Richard in the eye.
’This is killing me.’
Meanwhile, Richard was suffering from mana depletion. Spirit magic was an art gradually dying out on the continent, much like a knight’s aura or a mage’s pure magic. The reason, naturally, was its poor efficiency compared to jet-black or divinity. Just taking a round trip to the sea with two Spirit Dragons required even Yona, a Legion Commander and the greatest talent of the Dark Alliance, to consume a considerable amount of internal energy.
Nevertheless,
"I had so, so much fun," she said.
If it was for her smile, why would mana matter right now? Richard felt he might even willingly throw away his life for it.
"Were you uncomfortable at all?" he asked.
"Not at all!"
"That’s a relief. Now, let’s head back to the quarters before the director notices."
They walked side by side through the garden, holding hands. It was only a ten-minute walk to the quarters, but Richard wished this short garden path would never end.
"You might be right, Richard," Anna suddenly said. "How long has it been since I did something of my own free will? When was the last time I made a decision based on what I wanted, following my heart? This might actually be the first time."
"...Ayla."
She smiled brightly. "But today, the one time I stepped out of line, was the most special and radiant day of my life, a life where I’ve lived the exact same way forever."
Richard’s expression turned slightly more serious. "Today isn’t the end. Keep challenging yourself like this."
"Pardon?"
"Even with small, trivial things, little by little. Show that you are the master of your own life. Don’t let others sway your decisions. Do whatever you want to do, Ayla."
Anna’s eyes curved into half-moons. "Thank you. Do you have any worries of your own, Richard? I feel a bit guilty that I’m the only one receiving such good advice."
"Worries, huh." Richard stared blankly at the night sky for a moment. "My worries are the exact opposite of yours, Ayla."
"Like what?"
"When I was young, I also lived a life trapped by my family, forced into things. Then I ran away from home. Since then, whether out of a desire for compensation or revenge, I’ve lived recklessly, doing whatever I pleased."
He closed his eyes. "Living like that, you’d think I’d have been knocked down a peg at least once, but strangely enough, luck was on my side. The world felt easy. I thought this entire world was a stage built just for me."
"I succeeded at everything while acting exactly as my heart desired. But,"
Richard let his arms drop. "When I suddenly looked back, I just felt empty."
"Oh."
"I couldn’t deeply attach my heart to anything. Even when I worked hard at something, I’d quickly get bored and go looking for something else that seemed fun. Living like that, before I knew it, I had nothing precious left. I’m already feeling regret at my age."
"Is that so? Then," Anna smiled warmly and gave his hand a tight squeeze. "You need to find a place to rest your heart."
"A place to rest my heart?"
"Whether it’s a place, an organization, a person, or a memory, create a place you can return to someday. A place where you can lay down your exhausted heart, where you don’t have to worry or pay any price, and where you can just stay comfortably for as long as you want."
Richard stared intently at her face, speechless.
’A place to return to someday.’
’A place to lay down my exhausted heart.’
’A place where I want to be without any worries or price, huh.’
Since leaving his family and hometown, Richard hadn’t had anything like that. Everything was just a passing phase, a stepping stone to be used and discarded for his own growth.
’I never even considered that I might need something like that.’
It felt as though fresh air was finally flowing into his stuffy brain.
"Thank you for the good advice, Ayla."
"I’m glad it helped."
It didn’t feel like they had walked much at all, but the quarters were already visible ahead.
’Damn it.’
He didn’t want this to end. If a demon appeared before him right now and asked if he would sell his soul to move the quarters ten minutes further away, Richard would have gladly accepted. He wanted to talk with her more. He wanted to be with her for even a few seconds longer.
But cruelly, their steps eventually brought them to their destination. The moment of parting had arrived. An awkward silence lingered between them in front of the quarters.
"Richard."
"Yes."
"Even with small, trivial things, little by little... You told me to try doing whatever I want, right?"
"Yes, I did."
"I’m going to put that into practice right now."
Saying that, Anna stood on her tiptoes and gently kissed Richard on the cheek.
Richard felt his thoughts freeze. His mind went completely blank, and his surroundings seemed to melt away like sweet sugar.
With her cheeks dyed red as an apple, Anna gave an embarrassed smile and slightly averted her gaze, before meeting his eyes again with a soft giggle.
Richard realized it keenly.
’I am madly in love with this radiant being right in front of me.’
"Well then, I’ll be going." Anna smiled, holding her hands behind her back. "See you tomorrow, Richard."
"...Yeah."
Richard stroked his cheek and let out a dazed laugh. He waved at her until she disappeared inside the quarters, when,
His body belatedly sensed an anomaly.
’What is this? This energy.’
An unpleasant sensation swept down his spine. Realizing the danger, he shouted toward the building.
"Ayla! Dodge!"
Darkness was rising in the shape of a claw right next to Anna. Richard hurriedly sprinted forward and swung his arm.
With a sharp ’crack’, the darkness crashed into his forearm and crumbled.
"R-Richard? What’s going on?"
Blocking Anna, Richard sharply scanned their surroundings. Because he had been entirely focused on her, he was late to notice the threat. As his senses expanded, he detected the foreign energy and simultaneously realized that the lit quarters were unnervingly quiet.
"This is,"
With a sickening ’squelch’, something began rising from the pitch-black darkness. Richard immediately braced himself.
"They’re dark spirits."
"What?"
Richard found it absurd. In this era where elementalists themselves were hard to find, they were facing dark spirits of all things?
"Come forth."
He drew on his spirit magic to summon two lesser fire spirits. As the spirits spewed flames from their mouths, the dark spirits backed away warily.
"Now! This way!"
Richard wrapped his arm around Anna’s shoulders and ran. Reaching the building in an instant, he kicked the door open and rushed inside.
The dark spirits had already taken over the inside of the quarters.
Fortunately, the children were nowhere to be seen, and there were no signs of casualties.
’Did that watcher guy notice the spirits’ attack and evacuate the kids? Good job.’
"Richard!"
A dark spirit tore through his summoned fire spirit and lunged at him.
Richard urgently spread his arms to deploy a defensive magic circle, but...
’Ugh! My mana!’
He had used too much power summoning the Spirit Dragons earlier. The magic circle failed to manifest.
’Crack!’ At that moment, Richard doubted his own eyes. With her ash-gray hair fluttering, Anna leaped in like lightning and smashed the dark spirit with a devastating kick. ’Thwack!’ Landing lightly on the floor, she proceeded to knock down the surrounding dark spirits with a dazzling display of martial arts. It was a truly flawless, perfect sequence of movements.
"A-Ayla?"
’Crack!’ She obliterated another dark spirit with a sharp elbow strike before belatedly gasping. Blushing, she covered her mouth.
"Ahaha, was I a little too violent?"
’So cool...’
Even in the midst of this chaos, Richard felt himself falling completely for her. Then, realizing this wasn’t the time, he smacked his own forehead.
"There must be children fleeing nearby! Let’s hurry and follow them!"
"Right!"
The two of them simultaneously kicked away a dark spirit each and dashed forward.
---
At the same time.
Simon and Lethe were frantically striking down dark spirits to carve out an escape route for the orphans. Behind them, the children, the director, and the volunteers followed with terrified faces. It was fortunate that among the volunteers, there were retired soldiers and those who knew how to handle a sword.
"A-Amazing."
But even among those veterans, the ones who shined the brightest were undoubtedly Simon and Lethe. The two of them were perfectly in sync. They crossed paths to deliver kicks or stood back-to-back as they struck down their enemies.
"What’s going on all of a sudden?" Simon struck down a dark spirit with his elbow and looked back at Lethe. "Do you have any idea what this is about, Lethe?"
"I do." Lethe shattered a dark spirit’s body with a crisp roundhouse kick and continued. "It must be the work of those Society bastards. It seems they know we are here and are attempting to interfere."
"...You mean we’ve already been found out?"
He had been prepared for the Society to find them eventually, but they had caught on far too quickly. They had only arranged for Richard and Anna to meet twice so far.
"No one should know that we’re volunteering here except you and me. And my father and mother."
"I am unsure where the intelligence leaked from."
Just then, Simon stopped his movements and looked back with a darkened gaze. Lethe blinked.
"Hm? What is the matter?"
Simon lowered his stance.
"...Someone is coming this way."

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