Distant Reunion
From afar, I quietly watched Julia. It was because I still couldn’t reach a conclusion after a long, exhausting stretch of agonizing. My head understood perfectly. Approaching her was the right thing to do. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I also knew that the correct choice was to go to her and prove that I was Gunter—that I had returned.
Yet the courage refused to come. Fear held me back. The fear that Julia might have forgotten me. Or that she might look at me with distaste. So even though the girl I had desperately searched for now stood before my eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to close the distance. I remained where I was, watching from afar.
I wanted to approach her. At the same time, I didn’t want to approach her. Caught between those conflicting emotions, I simply stared at Julia.
She was drawing every gaze around her. Was it because she was a Saintess? That wasn’t the only reason. Her appearance surely played a massive part. Otherwise, people wouldn’t be losing their senses while staring at her like that. The sight filled me with quiet satisfaction.
Julia herself, however, didn’t seem to share the feeling. If anything, she looked as though she found the attention unpleasant. Given her personality, it wasn’t surprising. She had never been the type to enjoy outside gazes.
“…….”
Even so, I couldn’t stop worrying. Because right now, she didn’t look happy at all. Part of me had hoped the changed circumstances and environment might have brightened her a little. But from what I could see, there was no trace of that.
Maybe Julia simply wasn’t satisfied with her current life. The thought rose unbidden.
While I watched her with that worry in my chest—
“……!!”
‘…How boring.’
Everything felt tedious. The voice of the man they called the imperial prince droning on beside her. The stares from every direction. The atmosphere itself. None of it held the slightest value. If she could, she would leave this place immediately and hunt down the remaining forces of the Dark Cult.
But she couldn’t. In the end, she had no choice but to endure it all.
Julia let out a silent sigh, then suddenly felt a gaze.
“…….”
Strictly speaking, she had been feeling gazes the entire time. Even now, eyes from all around were locked onto her. Yet this one was different. She couldn’t easily put the difference into words, but it was unmistakably another kind of stare.
Naturally, Julia turned toward the source of that gaze. And then—
Their eyes met. With the man who had been watching her.
“……?”
For the first time in a long while, emotion surfaced in Julia’s eyes. Doubt. The man’s gaze was clearly unlike the others. It carried joy, satisfaction, sorrow, and a wistful tenderness. It was strange. She didn’t know him. She had never seen him before. That was exactly why it puzzled her—those were not emotions one should direct at a complete stranger.
Who was that man? And why was he looking at her with such eyes?
For the first time since arriving at the Academy, Julia felt curiosity.
But—
“…….”
She soon looked away. While she had grown mildly interested, the feeling was faint. It wasn’t strong enough to make her move.
Julia turned her gaze back to her colorless world.
“…Sigh. What an idiot.”
That night, alone in the dormitory, I muttered curses aimed squarely at myself. The reason was obvious: I had let fear stop me from approaching Julia. There had even been a perfect chance. Our eyes had met, and for a fairly long time she had stared straight at me. It was an opening. If I had taken that moment to walk over and greet her, I might have been able to speak with her, maybe even build some connection.
Instead, I had simply stood there and let the opportunity slip away. I fully deserved every insult I hurled at myself. As I writhed in my own foolishness and pathetic hesitation, I eventually muttered—
“…Still, another chance will come.”
I forced the regret down. There was no guarantee another opportunity wouldn’t appear. ‘She doesn’t look like she’ll leave anytime soon.’
From what I’d heard, she planned to stay here for quite a while. I didn’t know the exact length of her visit, but she clearly wasn’t going to disappear overnight. That meant plenty of chances remained.
There was no need to fall into despair. And fortunately, I already had a place to direct my attention.
‘I haven’t been paying much attention to it lately…….’
Because of the sudden reunion with Julia, I had completely forgotten about the story.
‘It’s about time…….’
If my memory was accurate, a new event was due to begin soon. This time it was the Knight of the Lake. Among Elion players, the event had a rather infamous reputation. The reason was simple: difficulty. Starting with the Knight of the Lake, the game’s challenge level shot up dramatically. Unlike the relatively lenient incidents before it, careless preparation made clearing it nearly impossible. It was known as the first wall, or the newbie gatekeeper—the moment new players unfamiliar with Elion first tasted true despair.
So this time I needed to pay close attention. Of course, high difficulty in the game didn’t guarantee the same here, but caution couldn’t hurt. Especially after I had personally witnessed an unexpected situation during the ‘maniac incident.’
‘…Hold on.’
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
‘If those girls became Saintesses…….’
I had already confirmed that not only Julia but the other two had become Saintesses as well. When I first heard it, relief and joy had blinded me to the implications. Now that I thought about it, the conclusion was obvious. If all three of them had become Saintesses, the world could not have remained unchanged. The villainesses who should have existed were gone, replaced by Saintesses. A shift like that was bound to cause massive ripples in the story.
‘No.’
The changes had likely already taken place. I could even guess where.
‘The Dark Cult.’
Not long ago, while confirming what had changed in this world, I had noticed significant alterations in events connected to the Dark Cult. What if those changes had been caused by the girls?
It had been a passing thought, but it felt surprisingly plausible. The girls had known about the Dark Cult from a young age, and the emotions they held toward them could hardly have been positive. If the newly appointed Saintesses had taken action against the cult, those variations in events suddenly made sense.
The problem was…
‘I have no way of knowing exactly what those changes are.’
There was no information. The cult kept everything related to the Saintesses tightly sealed. The fact that Saintesses appointed years ago had never been revealed to the public proved that much. Even Dustveil had failed to uncover anything, so hoping for new information now was unrealistic.
‘…Can’t be helped.’
It wasn’t something I could solve immediately. Instead of worrying about things beyond my control, I decided to focus on what lay in front of me.
“I don’t care whether you become the family head or not. Just do whatever you want. But.”
“Elion, don’t touch that guy.”
“If you do, I’ll thoroughly destroy everything you have—family, future, all of it.”
“─Coming.”
“…….”
“Elion!”
“Uh, yeah?”
At the sound of his name, Elion jerked his head up. Only then did he register Rex’s face staring at him.
“What were you thinking about to zone out like that? I called you multiple times and you didn’t even answer.”
“Ah, it’s… nothing. I was just thinking about an assignment.”
“Really? That’s rare. Did you fall behind or something?”
“Well… something like that.”
He gave a vague answer and moved on, but the truth was different. Elion had been replaying the events of that day. The fight between Kyle and Bellad. And the warning Kyle had given him.
His heart gave a violent thump.
“Ugh…!”
Elion shook his head hard. Just remembering the scene and those words made his body react strangely. His heart raced on its own, and it became difficult to think straight. He had no idea why.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”
Rex asked with genuine worry after seeing Elion’s sudden behavior.
“N-no. I’m fine.”
Elion shook his head hastily, but—
“You sure? Your face is bright red.”
“What?”
Only then did Elion notice the heat burning across his cheeks.
“It’s nothing. Just feeling hot. Anyway, what were you going to say?”
Even after Elion’s denial, Rex’s concern lingered for a moment before he finally continued. What he brought up was a rumor.
“The Knight of the Lake, huh……”
Lately, people had been spotting an armored knight at the lake inside the Academy.
“What do you want to do? Should we go check it out?”
“Hmm……”
After thinking it over, Elion said, “Let’s talk with the others first.”
He decided to discuss it with Charlotte and Delphine as well.
. . .
“Alright, let’s move out!”
As a result of the meeting, Elion’s party decided to verify whether the rumor was true. It had been the expected outcome. Among them, Rex was the most assertive when expressing his opinions. Just like always, Rex had strongly pushed his view, and the rest of the group eventually followed.
“I have a bad feeling we’re about to get dragged into something pointless because of Rex again,” Delphine muttered with a faint frown.
“Come on! What could possibly be dangerous? We’re inside the Academy,” Rex laughed, full of optimism.
“Just in case, let’s stay alert and move carefully,” Elion told the group after watching the two bicker. He had naturally become the leader of the party. No one had officially decided it, but it had simply happened. In terms of skill, Elion was the strongest, and he remained calm no matter the situation.
Following his instructions, the group began heading toward the lake. Yet despite their caution, they remained unaware.
That someone was quietly following right behind them.