Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Gift Exchange
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Elise was just as meticulous when picking out a gift.
"It needs to be valuable, but something the recipient has no use for. And not too expensive, either."
"...Pardon? Why is that? Don't people usually give gifts that the recipient actually needs?"
"Miss Helena, silence is a virtue."
Under Elise's wordless pressure, Helena shut her mouth.
"And... hmm. Yes. It'd be better if it came in a pair."
Elise examined the expensive trinkets lining the jewelry box, then pulled out a relatively crude pair of earrings. They were crafted from silver, platinum, and lapis lazuli.
"This will do."
Elise set one earring down and picked up only the other half.
Why would someone gifting earrings choose just one half?
"...Ugh."
Helena, the maid, was utterly baffled by this bizarre behavior.
'She definitely has a boyfriend.'
Helena was convinced.
All the recent changes in her lady stemmed from that.
The one and only saintess candidate of the era, Elise, had a man in her life.
It started with her lady excitedly picking out a gift, a expression Helena had never seen before.
'...Oh, and come to think of it...'
Helena recalled how her lady's spending had increased lately.
As a saintess candidate, Elise received a portion of the church's tithes. Add in the monthly allowance from House de Lua under the guise of living expenses, and it rivaled a minor noble's salary.
Elise usually saved or donated most of that money. But lately, she was spending every last coin.
"...Exactly."
She'd been completely hooked.
Her lady was purity personified, like a flower painted in pristine white. A woman raised like a delicate greenhouse bloom, utterly naive to the world.
Some sleazy opportunist had surely targeted her innocence and money.
Helena couldn't stand by and watch her lady be toyed with by a bad man.
But telling the head maid would only spark a massive scandal.
The moment word spread that the flawless saintess candidate had fallen in love, Elise would be in dire straits.
Better to handle this quietly, just between Helena and herself.
'Alright. First, reconnaissance.'
Helena resolved to observe the situation as discreetly as possible.
The next morning at dawn, as Elise left the dormitory, Helena quietly trailed her. Maids of Ophelia Hall were skilled at moving silently, so it was no trouble keeping up.
They arrived at a dilapidated chapel tucked away in the western garden of the academy.
Elise delicately placed the earring atop the offering box inside and withdrew.
'A chapel...? Why there?'
As Helena puzzled over it, the sun rose, and a man emerged.
He had golden hair, somewhat dark skin, and blue eyes.
He looked like a typical thug from some back alley, but he wore unmistakable priestly robes.
He tilted his head at the single earring on the offering box, then pocketed it and vanished.
"...L-Lady..."
Helena muttered toward Elise, who wasn't even there.
"Even if... falling for a priest is going too far..."
The curse of knowledge.
She wished she could bash her head against a wall and forget it all.
Someone had left an earring.
"Lost item, maybe?"
She said "left" but it was just lying at the base of the offering box.
I'd heard that besides coins, people sometimes left other things in offering boxes.
Even back at the orphanage, folks would drop off loaves of bread for the kids instead of money.
But a jeweled earring? In this crumbling chapel, no less.
"...Guess I should hold onto it."
No sense stirring up trouble, so I pocketed it.
Then I handled the morning mass.
Just three attendees, at most.
They bolted the moment the perfunctory prayers ended. Six copper coins in offerings. I could already picture Priest Lowen clicking his tongue later.
I was weeding the chapel's barren backyard when...
Creeeak-.
The chapel door opened again, followed by the clack-clack of heels.
I could tell who it was just from the footsteps now.
"...That young lady again."
My first regular confessor, Miss Burnout.
She'd been coming a lot lately.
I sat on the opposite side. Sure enough, her faint lily scent wafted over.
"Sister, what brings you today?"
I spoke in a thoroughly professional tone, laced with a touch of kindness. A clear voice replied from the other side.
"Let's see. What would be good?"
"..."
Could she at least come up with a pretext beforehand?
A brief silence, then she spoke as if it'd just occurred to her.
"There was this super important event I absolutely had to attend, but I skipped it. Slept in a warm bed instead. Until my maid panicked and woke me up! I don't usually like sleeping in, but this morning was special."
"...Ah, yes... I see."
From the sound of it, she skipped more duties than she attended.
Was this girl really okay?
She wouldn't get expelled or something?
"...Sister, it's fine to act freely, but breaking academy rules could land you in trouble."
"You're so kind, Father. Thank you. But no need to worry. Those people can't touch me."
"...Hmm."
True enough.
She came from a family wealthy enough to stuff the offering box with gold coins, so she probably wielded immense influence here.
Not my place to fret, as a lowly priest.
"I see. That's a relief, then."
As I nodded, a shy laugh came from beyond the partition.
We chatted for a while after that.
That seemed to be her real goal.
She chattered nonstop: minor episodes from yesterday's classes, reviews of a new dessert shop in the lower town, even tales of a cute stray cat she'd spotted.
"Oh, and there was a mad stray dog prowling near the chapel."
"A stray? I haven't seen one..."
"It's gloomy and stupid. Watch out, Father. It might bare its teeth anytime."
"...Hmm."
Anyway.
Not exactly fitting topics for a confessional before God.
It was more psychiatry than confession, really.
But seeing how lively she'd become since crying her eyes out months ago... it wasn't so bad.
"Oh, right. I lost something recently."
"Something? What was it?"
"An earring."
At the sudden mention, I pulled the earring from my pocket.
"Was it silver, by any chance?"
"Wow! How did you know? It has a blue gem in the center."
"...Well."
It was in my hand right now.
Looked like the earring from this morning was hers.
I unlatched the confessional's tiny door and handed it over.
"Is this it?"
A short silence from the other side.
"Yes!"
She grabbed my hand. Firmly. For quite a while. Her soft skin and warm body heat transmitted over.
A bit long for a handshake.
"...Um, could you let go of my hand...?"
"Oh, sorry... I got so excited finding my lost item..."
She finally released it.
I could see her shoulders shaking from beyond the partition—she must've been thrilled to recover it.
"Thank you! I'll never forget this gift!"
She left the chapel after that, and I stared blankly in her direction.
"...Gift?"
I tilted my head.
"I just returned a lost item."
Kids these days... who knows what goes through their heads.
I shrugged and resumed cleaning.
"A-Ah..."
Maid Helena had witnessed the entire farce from nearby.
Just an hour ago, the grand cathedral had erupted because the saintess candidate skipped morning mass.
Holy knights rushed to Ophelia Hall's dormitory, but Elise wasn't there. Archbishop Balua flew into a rage, high priests glancing nervously at him— that's when Helena pieced together her lady's whereabouts.
She'd come just in case.
And sure enough, Elise was at the western chapel.
Apparently confessing to the priest.
Too far to hear what they said.
But seeing the earring from yesterday in Elise's hand as she left...
"Lady, don't tell me... you think this is a gift...?"
Helena watched her lady's light steps with a hollow expression.
A saintess candidate skipping grand cathedral mass, getting her own earring back from a thug-faced priest in a chapel, then joyfully calling it a gift.
That was her lady.
Why must embarrassment fall on the beholder?
"Aaaah..."
Helena's assessment was succinct.
"It's so creepy!"
Creepy.
No, beyond creepy...
"It's gross!"
Yes.
Gross.
Utterly gross.
Helena was aghast at her lady calling the return of her own dropped earring a "gift."
She regretted her curiosity.
If she hadn't spied, she wouldn't feel this mortified.
"This is... just kowtowing..."
How did the era's sole saintess candidate, the greenhouse flower, the epitome of perfection—Elise Aurora de Lua—end up simping so hard for a blonde, tanned thug of a priest?
Helena couldn't watch anymore.
This had to stop.
"...I need to find a way..."
Helena of Ophelia Hall quietly vowed.
To somehow fix her lady.
In Throne of the Academy, Act 1 is basically a tutorial scenario.
As such, the story boils down to Sword Saint Sophia claiming her blade and slaying the Shade. Few branches, nothing major.
Even the boss Shade was more gimmick than challenge, so players breezed through.
But Act 2 ramps up the difficulty. More characters, more events, branching paths galore, massive variables.
The point is...
"This sucks."
Lowen, tilting his beer mug across from me, cocked his head at my mutter.
"Problem, Priest Leo?"
"Problems up to my neck. Too many problems is another problem."
"Haha. That's when we priests say: secret technique."
Lowen raised his mug high.
"According to the Lord's will!"
This guy a priest?
Not that I, with zero faith, should talk.
Anyway.
Act 2...
Compared to the full moon festival, way more variables to juggle. Especially now that Princess Ciris showed up ahead of schedule.
Main events of Act 2 happen in the magic department.
Acts 1 and 3 centered on knight and divine departments, but Act 2's frame is magic.
It starts with a squabble among students.
Magic department obsesses over bloodlines more than others.
Unlike knights, who just need brawn, or divine, who need zeal—magic leans half on innate talent from pedigree.
Pureblood wizard heirs clashed endlessly with half-bloods—muggle wizards, in jargon.
One spat escalates. Forbidden magic gets used.
Summoning a monster from another dimension...
Predator.
Act 2's boss.
Several times deadlier than Shade.
And the byproducts? Chimeras with knockout combat power. A normie like me? Instant scream-fest death.
So my plan was clear.
"I'm steering clear of the magic department."
No tangling. Spot it? Run.
Vowing that, I dramatically raised my mug.
"According to the Lord's will."
"Haha! Right on! According to the Lord's will!"
We got properly hammered, and I staggered back to the chapel.
Shhh-
Rain poured that day.
And then...
"Father."
"..."
"I hear mages need rational judgment. Am I... disqualified as a mage? As a human? For fiddling with doll-like toys like this...?"
Sure enough, this damn god hates my guts.