Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: The Saintess Descends (4)
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Ever since her time in the brigade, Roshiar had been their top surveillance target.
The spear tip aimed at Helzev's heart could veer in that direction at any moment.
Thus, they had long since gathered intel on them.
Carolyn knew full well just how scatterbrained and dim-witted Adella Sylvestra de Roshiar was.
Innocent and slow on the uptake—precisely the type most easily exploited for reconnaissance.
But Carolyn hit a snag right from the start in tracking down Adella.
"Adella? It's lunchtime, so she's probably at the canteen."
"No, I checked, and she wasn't there."
"Hmm... Then maybe try spots near ant hills? Like behind the brick school building or the flower beds in the corner of the sports field."
"Ant... hills?"
Kal, a first-year, paused mid-swing with his sword, wiped the sweat from his brow, and nodded awkwardly.
"Yeah. She sometimes goes to kill ants when she's bored."
"Uh, um, sorry..."
"I get what the Saintess is thinking, but it's easier if you just don't think about it at all."
His guarded tone shut down further prying, so Carolyn simply nodded and backed off.
She spent the rest of lunch scouring ant hills but never found Adella.
Late afternoon, after classes ended.
Next, she encountered a middle-aged man tending flowers in the garden before Bayou Hall—Grunoy.
The moment he heard Adella's name, he flew into a rage and pointed at the ruined balsam tree.
"She won't be around for a while! She already ransacked this place recently!"
"Ransacked...?"
"Yes, Saintess! That student turned my carefully tended garden into a total mess! Even this tree I guarded day and night every day... Ugh!"
September—the branches that should have burst with pink blossoms were now covered only in withered, twisted leaves.
Carolyn had been smiling, thinking he'd tried dyeing his nails with the sap despite everything, but her face hardened like stone at his words.
"Well, she only touched that one tree and left it be—probably figured it wasn't worth eating."
"......"
It was baffling.
To the point where she wondered if Louis, not Adella, was the one she should really be investigating.
The next day, Carolyn finally met Adella.
It was Sunday morning, with a cool breeze just starting to blow.
Following advice from first-years who knew her, Carolyn stacked four canteen loaves on an outdoor table in the academy grounds.
Like offerings to a god.
A few hours later, there was a rustle from the nearby bushes.
Swish.
As Adella crept up and reached for the bread, Carolyn smiled warmly and spoke to her.
Yes, like a saintess. Like the saintess the world expected her to be.
"Adella? Do you have a moment?"
"Who're you?"
"I'm Carolyn Magdalene. You might remember me from when I bought a Magic Cube at the canteen..."
"Oh...! You're the one who smashed my ice duck!"
Adella's eyes sharpened as she stuffed bread into her mouth.
Caught off guard, Carolyn apologized first and pivoted to questions about Louis.
"Um... the teacher?"
"Yes. I heard you know him better than anyone."
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything. All of it."
The bell tower rang ten times.
Services were likely in full swing at the Temple of Light by now.
Yet even before this saintess, agent of the divine on this joyous day, Adella pondered deeply.
She wasn't going to open up easily, after all.
Carolyn's mind cooled to ice.
Her eyes narrowed sharply, and at the same moment, her callus-free hand gently rested atop Adella's head.
Certain holy spells favored by the brigade specialized in mental interference.
Using principles akin to purification—protection from demonic taint—they amplified pleasure centers in the brain to coax out desired information.
The moment Carolyn prepared to command her to spill everything about Louis—
"I'll tell you, then."
"Huh?"
Adella's sapphire eyes sparkled as purely and clearly as before the spell.
'Did it fail? But ever since becoming a saintess, my holy magic has gotten even stronger...'
Carolyn panicked but quickly masked it with a smile.
"Please do."
"But, like..."
"Yes?"
Adella's demeanor seemed to check something one last time.
Carolyn noticed one of her hands hiding something behind her back.
"Do you... like the teacher or something?"
It was definitely Sunday morning, with a cool breeze just starting to blow.
Yet Carolyn arrived at the temple around four a.m. the next day.
After crossing herself and swearing she harbored no rational affection for Louis, she endured seventeen straight hours of Adella's ramblings.
Most of it was pointless bragging.
Shwaaa—
Standing blankly before the sink, she silently twisted a towel into a thin cord, shredding it viciously.
She shoved it into her ear and pulled it out—blood trickled from the tip.
"Fuck..."
Like muzzling a horse.
Her fervent praises of Louis had dragged on for over half a day.
After showering and changing into loose clothes, Carolyn slipped back into an empty corner of the confessional.
Moments later, Michellan's voice came from the other side.
"So, learn anything?"
"Ha, well..."
Carolyn relayed what she'd heard about the suspicious Louis—filtered through Adella's narrow, biased lens.
Especially skipping key details because she still resented the ice duck incident.
Thus, Michellan's lukewarm reaction was inevitable.
"So... per your senior, this canteen owner guy's got a legitimate lover he's already been intimate with, yet women keep flocking to him? Even including a princess, with other noble ladies showing interest behind the scenes... He's handsome, ridiculously skilled—fought the Snow Duke on equal terms and ended up in some shady relationship... Sigh, Senior."
"I know. So shut up already."
"No, I have to say it. Your job is investigating the princess's circle, not digging into some playboy's love life who charms every girl he meets."
'What am I supposed to do when that's all I heard all day?!'
She seethed inwardly but couldn't refute Michellan.
The more she dug, the more Louis seemed like the Pied Piper—women multiplying wherever he went.
At this rate, hyperbole aside, he'd seduced every noble lady he crossed paths with.
Jewelers' clerks and guards said the same.
Rumors even linked him intimately with the chairman who put him on stage last time...
"Enough nagging from the start. You're just making me paranoid."
As he spoke, a thick tome slid through the slot.
Carolyn took it, grimacing.
"It's an ancient language translation."
"We learned it at the brigade's training grounds, right? Essential for deciphering warlock ciphers or old scriptures."
"Yeah. But why this?"
"No idea how much you'll remember now, but memorize it again. There's a test soon selecting top students proficient in ancient and rune languages across all years."
He stressed she had to make the cut.
"Oh, Senior."
"What now."
Carolyn irritably snapped back as she dragged her weary body toward the exit, hearing her junior call again.
"Any divine revelations from the Goddess?"
"......"
"Even a small sign—you must report it."
"......Nothing like that."
Bang!
"The Saintess came asking about me?"
"Yep!"
"And you told her everything you knew?"
"Nope! She smashed my duck, so I skipped the important stuff!"
I was deeply moved.
Adella had finally grown up.
How much blood and sweat—from Estelle, me, and others—had poured into transforming her barren, sand-filled mind into a vast sea of knowledge?
Our efforts were finally paying off, even if just a little.
"Good job."
"Hehe, I'm smart, right?"
"Very smart. A total genius. Want another bread?"
"Yes!"
Adella beamed, crumbs on her lips, grabbing the leftover loaves.
Liv, meanwhile, had been rather gloomy lately.
"Baroness?"
"Yes!?"
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, no. Nothing."
But it didn't seem like nothing—she subtly tugged my arm toward her.
"Hey, boss. Now that the weather's cooling off, maybe stop selling ice cream?"
Ah, that was it.
She must be a bit jealous from me sticking so close to Adella lately.
Unlike Adella, who'd abandoned studies to haunt the canteen day and night, Liv had been busy.
Come to think of it, I still owed her that ring...
Ding~.
As I pondered cool Adella versus soft Liv, the door opened and a familiar customer entered.
Erzebet Brunhart, still shadowed with fatigue under her eyes.
Not here to buy anything, she headed straight to the counter, eyeing Adella and Liv on either side.
I read the room and shooed them to the back.
Erzebet lowered her voice and said,
"Louis, you promised to help me last time."
"Yes, I did."
"There's a test in a week. It evaluates language skills in runes and ancient tongues. Top thirty get training in Skandal, down south."
Like the magic seminar at the tower, she continued.
"If I pass, could I hire you as my temporary guard?"
"Don't you have plenty of reliable knights around the princess already?"
"Sir Aberret sent a letter after returning to Hooksclo. It mentioned you."
Sequel to our spar, apparently.
Runes, ancient language, Skandal—it clicked.
The site of the now-burned Uzet Grand Library.
Only one reason to hire me for that.
"The Saintess is coming too?"
"She'll take the test. Half the point is surveillance, really. I don't want her near kingdom-held imperial relics, but as an academy student, we can't discriminate."
Even whispering, gasps erupted behind me.
Liv's delighted face contrasted sharply with Adella's shocked one in the wall mirror.
I clicked my tongue softly and stepped farther to probe one concern.
No way to leave the canteen unguarded lightly, especially after Adella's report.
"What if she fails? Then I don't have to go, right?"
"You wouldn't have to, but..."
Erzebet hesitated, then tapped Piy's beak on her shoulder.
Piy spread its wings, muffling surrounding sounds.
Still uneasy, she tiptoed and whispered in my ear.
Face unseen, her voice carried a sulky edge—like, you still won't come?
"You... not interested in a title?"