"Um, I have something I want to ask."
Anna, who had been pretending everything was fine up until now, finally spoke to Lethe. And it was a question.
Lethe had a good guess as to what was on her mind, but she sat down beside her, feigning complete ignorance.
"I’ll answer whatever I can, Miss Anna."
"Well, it’s just..."
Perhaps feeling anxious now that she was actually bringing it up, Anna fiddled with her fingers. She wet her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.
Lethe didn’t say a word, simply waiting in silence.
"Given my position, it’s an inappropriate question to ask... maybe next time..."
"What, are saintesses not human?" Lethe blurted out. "You’re just a priest who happens to be a little more exceptional than the rest because you accepted the essence of a Saintess. Do you have to be unconditionally morally superior and think on some transcendent level unlike everyone else?
"Are human struggles not real struggles? Do you just have to keep them bottled up inside forever?"
It was a blasphemous answer that would have made other believers jump in shock, but Lethe spoke without hesitation.
Naturally. Lethe herself was a Saintess, after all.
Perhaps because that shared kinship bled into the air between them, Anna didn’t find Lethe’s words offensive in the slightest. Rather, she felt relieved, as if the girl had said exactly what she needed to hear.
Finally, Anna mustered her courage.
"Are there... any good people among necromancers?"
Lethe blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Ah, well, I mean..."
Anna clasped her hands over her chest and lowered her head.
"It was just a bit of a shock. To find out that the person I thought was a good man was actually a Necromancer..."
Anna had always looked into people’s eyes.
Ever since she was young, she could tell if someone had a good or evil heart just by meeting their gaze. She could guess what they were thinking and whether they approached her with good intentions. Her keen eye for character was famous among her peers.
Anna recalled the first time she had seen Richard.
She had been startled. As if shrouded in thick fog, his eyes were filled with a dizzying, murky energy. She had thought he was someone she needed to avoid.
But as they talked and she got to know him, she saw new sides to him. Beyond the thick fog, she saw a firm resolve deeply embedded in his gaze.
Radiating a powerful presence and shining brightly even through the murk, it was incredibly beautiful. Anna had never seen anyone with such eyes before.
By the time they met for the second time, the fog had cleared even more.
His eyes sparkled as clearly as stars in the night sky. Seeing them shine even more intensely when they were directed at her made Anna’s heart race.
He was such a good person that she felt guilty for her initial prejudice. She could tell he was deeply warm on the inside.
And yet.
"He was a Necromancer."
From a young age, Anna had been raised with a strict religious education. She had only ever heard terrible things about Necromancers, and those teachings had taken deep root in her mind, forming her core values.
Minions who contracted with Satan, monsters who found pleasure in corpses while defiling the final rest of the dead, emotionless demons who would kill their own parents and turn them into undead just to secure a victory.
’Necromancers are evil and must be thoroughly eradicated.’
That was why Anna had participated in the war as a Saintess, fighting to stop those wicked beings from tormenting the innocent people of the continent.
But with Richard’s appearance, her worldview had shattered to pieces.
"Did I just misjudge him? Or are Necromancers also..."
Anna couldn’t finish her sentence and swallowed the words. Shaking her head as if to brush the thought away, she looked up, her tone laced with sorrow.
"What should I do?"
She looked incredibly fragile.
The woman who had always projected the image of a steadfast, deeply faithful Saintess was being shaken to her very core.
Lethe took a step closer, firmly grasping Anna’s pale, slender hands in her own.
"What you do from here on out, Miss Anna, isn’t something I can answer for you."
There had always been a ’correct answer’ in Anna’s life.
There was no room for doubt.
Because whenever she started to question things, someone would hand her the answer.
The bishops who taught her, her environment, and society itself.
They simply made her silently follow the path laid out for her.
But now, Anna was trying to think and judge for herself. If Lethe gave her the answer, it would only bind her in another way.
’Honestly, I’m not entirely sure either.’
Lethe squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.
She herself was a Priest, and she had lost her parents to Necromancers.
Simon was an exception, but she still hadn’t fully understood or accepted Necromancers, her sworn enemies. Even now, her faith and her heart clashed time and time again.
However.
"But I can answer your first question more confidently than anyone else."
’Are there any good people among Necromancers?’
Lethe smiled as a certain someone’s face came to mind.
"There are good people. Definitely."
Anna snapped her head up.
"R-really?"
"Yes."
Lethe shrugged.
"Just like there are bad people among Priests, the same goes for Necromancers. Jet-black mana and divinity are just differences in the source of power; they can’t be absolute measures of good and evil."
Lethe surprised herself by saying such things out loud.
Seeing her conviction, Anna smiled.
"You’re thinking of that boy who came with Richard, aren’t you?"
Lethe flinched as if she’d taken an unexpected blow.
"No! It has nothing to do with him!"
Anna laughed softly.
Lethe let out a soft breath and continued.
"Theories and experiences don’t matter. The most important thing is your own heart."
Anna followed suit, placing a hand over her chest.
"My heart."
"Yes, because it’s your heart and your feelings. If even that has to be swayed by your position or environment, is there any point in us humans living at all?"
Anna remained silent.
"I’ll ask you again," Lethe said, her expression serious. "What do you want to do, Miss Anna?"
The latter half of the Hundred Years’ War.
It was a fierce period where even the most vicious tactical weapons, such as the ’Ashen Judgment’ and the ’Faceless Devil’, were mobilized.
Regardless of whether it was the Dark Alliance or the Holy Federation, major cities were entirely devastated by bombardments, resulting in the highest number of civilian casualties.
There was a central theme that pierced right through this latter half of the war:
The Sealed Book.
After it became known that the Sealed Book—previously treated as a mere legend—actually existed, both the Dark Alliance and the Holy Federation fought desperately to find it.
Both factions already had a history of using tactical weapons from ancient civilizations, and they knew their destructive power better than anyone. It was clear that whichever side got their hands on the Sealed Book, which was said to possess the most overwhelming destructive force of them all, would gain the absolute upper hand. It had truly become the key to winning the war.
The Dark Alliance analyzed ancient texts from the Ivory Tower, while the Holy Federation analyzed records from various holy scriptures. Surprisingly, both factions’ estimated locations for the Sealed Book matched to some extent.
The location deemed most likely for excavation was the Bahila Territory. Both factions deployed their greatest assets, Yona and the Miracle Saintess, to this area, and fierce battlefronts formed in every other estimated region where the Sealed Book could potentially be unearthed. It had reached the point where borders and territories were entirely meaningless.
As the war to secure the Sealed Book dragged on, a massive historical event occurred.
[The Sealed Book has been discovered at the Dark Alliance’s Periford Front.]
The Sealed Book had actually been unearthed. The Periford Front was a territory of the Dark Alliance, but the artifact was discovered at an excavation site under the effective control of the Holy Federation.
Thus, the Sealed Book initially fell into the hands of the Federation, but the Dark Alliance, having caught wind of this through intelligence, launched a night raid.
They succeeded in crushing the Holy Federation forces and stealing the Sealed Book.
Now, the tide of war tilted sharply in favor of the Dark Alliance. The Periford Territory was relatively close to Roc Island. If they could transport the Sealed Book to the island and successfully decipher it at Kizen headquarters, the Dark Alliance would seize victory. However...
The desperate counterattack from the Holy Federation was nothing to scoff at.
They immediately sortied to the coast of Roc Island and used holy relics to create a powerful atmospheric storm in the sky. This atmospheric field distorted coordinates to prevent the use of teleportation magic circles, making it impossible to transport the Sealed Book onto Roc Island.
Then, they deployed their largest holy fleet—consisting of top-tier Priests, Saintesses, and arch paladins—to the coast of Roc Island. Instead of fighting the Necromancers on the island, they simply stood by, blockading the sea with their fleet.
Afterward, they urgently dispatched their remaining forces to the Periford Front, mobilizing them to secure the Sealed Book.
In response, the Dark Alliance also redirected their forces outside of Roc Island toward Periford and gathered their naval power, planning to forcefully break through the holy fleet and deliver the Sealed Book to the island.
Naturally, this meant...
"Yona. The battlefield has changed. Head to Periford immediately."
"Saintess, you will be relocating to Periford."
Richard and Anna were urgently dispatched to the Periford Front where the Sealed Book was discovered. Without even having the chance to confirm their feelings for each other, they had to immediately take a teleportation magic circle and move to the next fierce battleground.
Following them, the soldiers at the neutral zone’s Bahila Front also prepared to move to Periford. Since not all forces could travel via teleportation magic circles, only key figures like Richard and Anna were sent through, while the rest of the troops had to march to Periford on foot.
Amidst the rapidly changing situation, Simon and Lethe met again at their designated meeting spot.
"The Sealed Book was discovered a little early, but for now, the situation is flowing according to history," Simon said, biting his lip. "The Legion of Betrayal incident is going to happen soon."
"We need to hurry and get to Periford too!" Lethe tugged at Simon’s sleeve with an urgent expression. "I’m worried about those two. The Secret Society bastards definitely went that way as well! We have to catch a ride on a teleportation magic circle somehow and—"
"It’s impossible."
In the latter half of the Hundred Years’ War, a time when both resources and money were hitting rock bottom, teleportation magic circles were extremely precious.
The neutral zone fronts had already overextended themselves just to send one person each—Richard and Anna. The next teleportation magic circles to be completed were reserved for the aces of each faction, meaning Simon and Lethe, who were merely a watcher and a servant, had low priority.
"How about we steal a carriage or some horses and ride there?" Lethe suggested.
Simon shook his head. "The distance is too far. We’d never make it in time on horseback. By the time we arrive, the Legion of Betrayal incident will have already happened."
"Hmm."
While Lethe was deep in thought, Simon spoke up.
"Aunt Israphel hasn’t been able to go to Periford yet, right?"
"Correct. Her priority is high, so she is scheduled to depart the moment the next teleportation magic circle is completed."
Simon’s eyes sparkled.
"Good. Then let’s persuade Aunt Israphel."
At that, Lethe made a subtle grimace and looked away.
"What’s wrong?"
"Ah, well." Lethe awkwardly twirled a strand of her hair. "You witnessed it yourself. Relations between Lady Israphel and me have been somewhat strained recently. Do you really think it is possible?"
"If it’s you, it’s possible," Simon answered immediately with a grin. "Besides, you and I both know very well what kind of person Aunt Israphel is in the future, don’t we?"
Lethe remained lost in thought for a moment before standing up, her mind made up.
"Then let us go. Before the Legion of Betrayal incident occurs."
Six hours later, at the Holy Federation camp.
Israphel’s military tent.
Israphel closed her eyes, the scratch of her quill echoing in the quiet tent. With a reverent mindset, she dipped the nib in ink, applied pressure to the parchment, and began writing a letter.
’Letter of Protest’
’Tactical Proposal’
Her quill danced across the blank parchment.
’At a time when Saintess Anna’s safety is of paramount importance, sending her into the middle of enemy lines to keep the enemy in check is highly inappropriate. The Saintess only reveals her true value when she is under the complete protection of our forces. To give examples from battles where she achieved great merit...’
After quickly drafting the letter, she turned her attention to the maps. Maps of the entire continent were plastered all over her tent. She tore down a few of them, spread them across the table, and drew lines with her quill without hesitation.
With swift, sweeping strokes, she used the thumbtacks scattered nearby to mark enemies and allies, predicting their directions of movement. Having meticulously considered the terrain, landmarks, and even the enemy’s psychology, she added new contents to her tactical proposal.
It outlined the most ideal tactic to seize the Sealed Book while prioritizing the protection of the Miracle Saintess above all else.
’The enemy is feverishly trying to transport the Sealed Book, but we have ample time. To break through our holy fleet, the enemy will require far more naval power. What we must do is...’
The quill’s scratching faltered, producing watery letters as the ink ran dry. As Israphel dipped her quill back into the inkwell, she abruptly turned her head.
"Who said you could enter without permission?"

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