Chapter 6: The Saintess and the Radish

The Church’s Saintess, Mia Mason.

The Church currently had an undisputed successor. Rumors had long circulated that this generation’s Saintess had an unprecedented affinity for light magic.

After she graduated from Tyrande Academy, she would take over the Church’s authority and become its true executive. For now, the Pope still held power in her stead.

As far as Aelian knew, after the main game ended there might be spin-off comics or something that covered what the game hadn’t: the Church’s power struggle. It was common knowledge that the Church was split into the Saintess faction and the Pope faction.

Of course, with Leon’s help, it was hard to see how the Saintess could lose, and just as hard to imagine how the Pope could win.

When Aelian found the Saintess, she was standing by the window, her back to the door, studying a document closely.

“Knock, knock…”

He knocked on the door frame to announce himself.

The Saintess noticed someone and slowly turned around.

Sunlight poured in from the window and wrapped her in a pale golden glow.

She had silk-like golden hair that fell neatly to her waist, and when she turned, the ends swayed like rippling water.

The Saintess’s features were not bold, yet she had an appeal that made it impossible to look away: light brows, deep eyes, like daylight filtered through the chapel’s stained glass.

She did not rush to speak. She only pressed the document lightly against her front and turned to look at the uninvited guest at the door.

Her posture was graceful and unhurried, as though she had been gently called back from prayer rather than interrupted by an intruder.

“Glad to see you’re all right, Aelian.”

She said his name exactly, her voice clear as could be, breaking the silence in the room.

Aelian stared at the Saintess, entranced. This was way too different from the game. It was like the seller’s display photo versus the buyer’s actual photo! My Lady Saintess! Your devout follower has come into the game to see you!

Aelian was not a solo stan of the Saintess character. He simply loved every beautiful girl equally.

“I’m very sorry for dragging you into what happened that night. It was a lapse in our work. On behalf of the Church, I apologize.”

Mia bowed deeply to Aelian, which left him at a loss. It was almost as if he had come to demand an explanation from her.

‘Lady Mia is apologizing to me! Oh my god!!’

Fortunately, his beautiful-girl engine started up in time and scattered the awkwardness in his heart.

In the original work, the Saintess first met Aelian in Volume Two.

Right now, Aelian’s villainous young master persona had not been established yet.

“Oh, is that so? You really should apologize to this young master! But since your apology seems sincere, and nothing happened to me, I’ll forgive you.”

Aelian deliberately put on airs as he spoke to Mia.

‘Lady Mia, I am so sorry to speak to you in this tone. Speaking to a beautiful girl this way should be punishable by immediate death. Aelian pleads guilty!’

Hearing this, Mia showed no anger at all. Instead, she laughed.

“Heh heh… Is the young master saying that because he’s worried I blame myself? This is my first time meeting someone in real life who talks like you.”

“The young master came to me so we could travel together to Tyrande Academy, right? After all, the carriage was destroyed. If we don’t deliver the young master safely, it would be a failure on the Church’s part.”

“You’ve looked into me?”

‘Lady Mia, please investigate me thoroughly!’

“The young master’s emblem was lying right beside you at the time. Not many people in the Empire have one. No offense intended, but this is the first I’ve heard of a second son in the Celestis family.”

Mia blinked innocently a few times, her long lashes fluttering.

Aelian suddenly felt as if his underwear had been seen through. Could he keep up this villainous young master identity? If not, he might have no choice but to break character.

‘But… I haven’t completed my beautiful-girl transformation yet… I have to hold on until it’s truly complete! Lady Mia actually saw through Aelian this early! As expected of Lady Mia!’

The reason for maintaining the villain persona was simple: to keep the original plot on track as much as possible, avoid the bad ending, and use his knowledge of the original work to his own advantage.

Now the plot had clearly deviated from the main line.

If the plot did not follow the original route… Aelian always felt uneasy. If it went completely in a direction he did not know, wouldn’t his knowledge of the original work be greatly weakened?

Aelian clenched his fist, ready to…

“All right, young master Aelian. You look like you’ve recovered well. Let’s get ready to leave. I’ve already arranged a carriage for you.”

‘Huh? Aelian wanted to stay with Lady Mia a little longer!~’

At this point, Aelian had completely forgotten that tomorrow was the day to report for the new school term. The only travel time left was this afternoon.

“Wait! I still have one thing to ask!”

Aelian spoke up in time to stop Mia. He still needed to understand why that town had exploded.

“Why did you say you were sorry for dragging me in? Did you already know the town was going to explode?”

Mia thought for a moment at his question.

“Hmm… There’s no real need to keep this secret. It won’t hurt to tell you. I’ll explain on the carriage.”

Mia said to Aelian with a smile. Her smile was beautiful. Aelian did not dare stare, only glanced briefly.

“Then… all right.”

‘I’m going to ride in the same carriage as Lady Mia. I can’t wait!’

Aelian picked up his luggage and followed Mia into the carriage.

“This starts a few days ago.”

“You should have heard the name ‘Blasphemers.'”

Aelian had heard of this organization. He knew it well.

In the struggle between humans and demons, there were always all kinds of traitors betraying humanity. For example, the original Aelian embraced demons, betrayed humanity, and in the end the world was destroyed.

The Blasphemers were people who cooperated with demons. Most sought power, a few sought something else. They lurked in every class and corner of human society.

If a blood sacrifice incident suddenly occurred somewhere in the Empire, the first thing to consider was whether the Blasphemers were behind it.

This time, they had received word in advance that the Blasphemers were going to hold a blood sacrifice ritual in that town, so the Church took immediate action. Something went wrong during the operation, and in the end they had to use a powerful explosion to destroy the entire town.

The original townspeople had been evacuated beforehand and were currently rebuilding their settlement near Moonbay Church.

Aelian’s mind stirred. In the original work, if Aelian went to Tyrande Academy, he would definitely pass through that town.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mia’s next words.

“According to the documents, the Blasphemers were likely trying to summon a Demon God this time. The Church doesn’t know which one.”

“Waaah! Vero doesn’t want a Demon God!”

Vero suddenly popped out of the bag, startling them both.

Aelian had forgotten about Vero since the explosion. Only now did he remember.

“So you weren’t dead after all?”

Aelian asked Vero in surprise, not minding Mia’s confused look.

No wonder Vero had been so quiet these past two days. He had been unconscious the whole time, but knowing Vero’s personality, she could not have avoided attracting attention.

“Wuwu… I did die… I was blown into lots of pieces, but as long as my life stone is fine, I can still revive.”

So she had died and just revived.

“Is this? A Nymph?”

Mia said uncertainly, her tone three parts surprise, seven parts question.

“Oh, I picked this thing up in a goblin camp. It insisted on following this young master, and I can’t drive it away.”

Aelian said with a calm face.

‘Is Lady Mia interested in this radish? Why not just take it away!’

“Vero doesn’t want to follow him. It’s just that my life stone is in his hands! Wuwu!”

Vero let out a sad cry, as if protesting her unfortunate fate.

“This is my first time seeing a Nymph. I’ve only seen this kind of creature in records.”

Mia extended her slender hand, and Vero immediately jumped onto it, not minding Mia’s curious scrutiny.

Aelian looked as if he did not care much, but inside, undercurrents were stirring.

‘Wow! I want to become a beautiful girl too! If I were a beautiful girl right now, I bet I could snuggle up with Lady Mia, right?? The two of us playing with the little radish together, what bliss! Ribbit…’

“Just follow the Saintess from now on. Don’t come bothering this young master again!”

Aelian shot the little radish a sidelong glance.

‘If only I were that little radish! I want to bounce around on Lady Mia too! Ribbit…’

While Mia was playing with Vero, he secretly studied her.

Mia noticed his gaze and looked up.

‘Oh my god! Lady Mia is looking right at me!’

The moment their eyes met, Aelian’s heart skipped a beat.

It was not because he felt guilty. It was because of a beauty that nearly suffocated him. Mia’s lashes were long without looking heavy.

Every blink was like an angel gently beating its wings. Her beautiful eyes in the afternoon light were a nearly transparent pale gold, as if sunlight had been sealed inside them.

She did not speak. She only tilted her head slightly. Her long hair slipped from her shoulder with the motion, like melted moonlight pouring down.

Perhaps sensing Aelian’s stare, Mia suddenly smiled. “Cute, isn’t she?” Then she paused deliberately before adding, “This little Vero.”

Aelian’s heart jumped at first. He thought she was asking if she herself was cute. When he heard the rest, he let out a long breath.

‘I love Lady Mia’s sly side! I really want to transform into Aeliana on the spot and be teased by Lady Mia! Ribbit…’

In the original work, Mia teased Leon plenty. Everyone knew that if you cut a Saintess open, she was black inside.

After Mia spoke, the carriage fell into an awkward silence.

Vero fell asleep on Mia.

Aelian closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

‘At a time like this, I absolutely must not interact with Lady Saintess. How could I, in this lowly male body, be worthy of Lady Saintess! Only by becoming a beautiful girl! I must become a beautiful girl!’

Over the next few hours of travel, Aelian’s rich inner turmoil could easily have filled a short novel of a hundred thousand words.

In short, they arrived at Tyrande Academy!

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