“Now, Lady Elysia? Could you please come this way?”

We gathered here to practice for the event happening during the Celestial Festival.

Following the guidance of the Academy staff, I moved toward the center of the stage.

“Here, Lady Elysia will be handing the winner’s trophy to the champion.”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t like I had to memorize some special position, and anyway, it was right in the center. I’ll just remember to stand next to the Saint, Mariel.

“And when the Saint hands over the trophy, please deliver a blessing directly to the winner. Also, if you could use the most dazzling holy magic possible, that would be great since it’s all for show.”

Clearly, since this was for an event, glamour was an important factor. It’d boost the morale of the students watching, regardless of who received the blessing.

However, for some reason, instead of responding to the staff member’s request, Mariel placed a hand on her head and took a small step back.

“Ugh… I’ve been so busy with volunteer work lately that I’m too drained to use holy magic…”

Her face looked completely exhausted, and even the tips of Mariel’s fingers were trembling weakly.

But why is she making a circle with her fingers, Saint?

And why is she showing that to the staff member?

“Oh my! Saint, aren’t you pushing yourself a little too hard? No matter how much you enjoy volunteering, what are you going to do if you can’t even move your own body?”

The staff member spoke while supporting Mariel, who looked like she was about to collapse at any moment.

But why is the staff member’s hand going in and out of the Saint’s pocket?

And why is the staff member giving a thumbs up to the Saint?

Also, why is Mariel, who just as earlier looked like she would faint, suddenly brimming with energy?

“Is it alright if I light up the entire audience? If I have enough ‘donations’… it seems the sparkling effect could be possible.”

Goddess. Is it truly your decision to choose Mariel as a Saint?

If someone is blackmailing her, please shake the Holy Sword.

…

Of course, the Holy Sword never shook. However, for some reason, a sudden light rain started to flow down the cheeks of the distant statue of the Goddess.

After repeating the preparations according to the staff’s guidance a few more times, today’s schedule finally came to an end.

“Good job, Hero.”

“You did great as well, Saint.”

“Ah, this is nothing.”

Before the staff member even left, Mariel had a beaming smile, taking out her pouch and counting the coins inside.

“Ohoho… Should I ask for some wings to be added on my back next time? I bet the Goddess would grant something like that.”

The Goddess was crying, Saint!

You can hear the Goddess’s voice, so why are you ignoring it?

“By the way, Saint, why are you so intent on gathering money?”

Until now, I had only seen Mariel tirelessly working for it, but I had never seen her actually spend it anywhere.

Thus, now that I thought we were close, I decided to ask my lingering question.

Instead of answering, Mariel smiled at me while counting coins.

“What do you think, our Hero? Why do you think I’m obsessed with money?”

However, instead of giving me an answer, Mariel turned the question back on me.

“Well… Usually, when someone is gathering money, aren’t they saving up for something expensive?”

“Hmm… While that’s not wrong, it’s not the answer either.”

Mariel’s answer was vague.

“But the details are a secret! When we embark on adventures later, there will be plenty of time, so let’s keep the mystery about me as a fun surprise for then.”

Instead of explaining in detail, she deferred the answer.

“Of course, my secret is expensive, so you better save up a lot of money beforehand, okay?”

“…I feel like this is something I could go my whole life without knowing.”

“Aaah! The cold attitude of our Hero makes me feel like crying, Saint.”

“Could you at least not get the water from the holy water bottle on your face while pretending to cry? That water you’re holding is holy water, you know!”

“Hehe.”

Even though supposedly the Saint could produce holy water, seeing her use it just to fake cry was absurd.

“By the way, you said your friend is participating in the tournament too, right?”

Perhaps trying to change the topic, Mariel closed the lid of the holy water bottle she was holding and put it back in her pouch.

“Yes. Her name is Anne. For now, her goal is to win. She has already cleared all preliminary rounds.”

Since the competition was open to all grades and departments, the number of participants far exceeded expectations.

To hold the tournament for all those participants would take even the entire 7 days of the Celestial Festival, so the school held preliminary rounds in advance to select the 32 finalists.

Although there are students like Selian and me who aren’t participating, the fact that Anne made it into the top 32 among a ridiculous number of participants meant she was exceptionally skilled.

If this were at the beginning of the semester, it might have been impossible for Anne, but due to the progress we all made through our training sessions, she was able to achieve this.

“Hmm. If that friend Anne wins, I’ll give her a particularly extravagant blessing. This is a special service just for you, our Hero, so don’t feel burdened!”

That was a friendly offer, but at least I wish she would keep her hands out of her coin pouch when saying such things.

—

“Hah… Is this heaven?”

Back at the dormitory. While I was busy with event practice, no one was in the room. Maybe they were studying or training somewhere else.

So, for the first time in a while, I could comfortably soak in the small tub in the bathroom of our four-person room.

Since I had locked the bathroom door, there wouldn’t be any unexpected intrusions.

Even if someone did try to open the locked door, there was enough time to hide.

Having the Master-Servant Mark still etched on my body made it so I was always tense during every wash, so opportunities like now to bathe peacefully were rare.

While living in the chaotic, merry atmosphere of the four-person room with friends every day, I still missed having a single room that offers personal space in moments like this.

Soaking in the warm water felt heavenly.

All the usual worries and concerns couldn’t bother me at this moment.

But perhaps due to the fatigue that had piled up, the warmth of the bath began to lull me to sleep?

My eyelids became heavy, so I shut them for a moment, but this was definitely not to fall asleep.

What a disaster it would be if my friends returned to the room and entered the bathroom while I was asleep!

Therefore, I was definitely not going to sleep.

I was just briefly closing my eyes…

…

Just…

…

…

– Zzz

“Ungh! Gurgle… Cough! Cough!”

I flailed around and barely managed to get my body out of the bathtub.

“Cough! Cough!”

I guess saying I’d just close my eyes ended up resulting in me dozing off.

And not only that, it was not a simple sleep; my body had slipped, and my face submerged into the water, making me swallow a mouthful.

To nearly drown while bathing… just imagining it was utterly mortifying.

Perhaps because I swallowed water, all desire to continue bathing vanished, and I climbed out of the tub.

The moment I stepped out, water cascaded over the edge of the tub to the floor.

My nose stung from the water, and since I swallowed quite a bit, an unpleasant feeling settled in.

Struggling to stabilize my wobbly body, I stood in front of the mirror at the sink.

I placed both hands on the sink for support and looked into the mirror.

In the mirror, a silver-haired girl with a familiar smile stared back at me.

But the distress from the water I just swallowed was clearly felt in my nose and throat… yet somehow, my gaze was drawn to my body in the mirror, specifically my chest.

Between those two perky peaks, I raised one hand along my line of sight.

I could only feel my heart racing a little faster than usual out of surprise.

There were no injuries, no memories of bumping into anything, no traces of any impact.

But… why was the chilling touch of cold steel lingering stickily in the center of my chest?

This kind of pain was certainly new, but the sensation that accompanied that pain was something I had experienced many times before.

Recently, I had been having bizarre dreams often.

After waking from those strange dreams, I wouldn’t remember any of the contents, yet an incredibly dirty feeling would take over my whole body.

And now, the pain I felt in my chest was definitely accompanied by that filthy feeling.