Northern Empire, Snowveil City.
The weather was excellent today. There was no snowfall, so Suna could see far into the distance from the Royal Academy’s observatory.
The whole world, as far as her eyes could reach, was blanketed in white—magnificent and awe-inspiring.
It was just a pity that the distant Northern Frontier Mountains blocked her view of the Dea Plateau, keeping Suna from glimpsing the scenery of her homeland.
But she hadn’t come here today because she was homesick; she’d come to broaden her horizons.
Taking out her monocular, Suna turned her gaze to the rugged foothills of the Northern Frontier Mountains.
There, something completely out of place with its surroundings hovered in midair.
The object was magma-red in color, radiating an intense heat that constantly melted the surrounding snow, distorting the air.
In the very center, the volcano would erupt from time to time, sending a steady flow of lava toward a massive fissure, as if trying to fill it.
After fleeing the Dea Plateau, Firefall Island had been hiding behind the Northern Frontier Mountains to repair its damages.
“How strange, Firefall Island actually entered our empire’s territory? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Could it be that the Heavenfire Lord encountered some unusual situation?”
Vieno, the Royal Academy’s principal, stood beside Suna and spoke.
At the sight of the enormous fissure on Firefall Island, her first thought was that the Heavenfire Lord must have suffered a grave injury at the hands of some terrifying entity.
But that thought was quickly dismissed. After all, it was the Heavenfire Lord—how could anyone possibly inflict such wounds? Perhaps she was simply remodeling Firefall Island.
But why choose the Northern Frontier Mountains as the place for remodeling? Vieno was puzzled.
“Heavenfire Lord?” Suna put down her monocular and turned to ask,
“She’s the master of Firefall Island? Principal, do you know her?”
“You could say that. In fact, it’s more than just knowing her—I’ve even spoken to her! The Heavenfire Lord has a good relationship with our Lady of Fate. That’s also why you Disaster-class Mages aren’t persecuted in the empire. So, do you want to go? Make a pilgrimage to Firefall Island? You can join the main party headed there.”
During the restoration of Firefall Island, fragments containing Meteorfire Stones or other rare gems would occasionally drop, so many people from Snowveil City had started flocking in groups to the area to fight over the fragments.
Apart from fighting over the fragments, among the crowd were many Disaster-class Mages who worshiped the Heavenfire Lord, making a pilgrimage to Firefall Island.
“Huh? Why would I go?” Suna was puzzled. She wasn’t a Heavenfire believer, so why should she make a pilgrimage?
Vieno, in turn, was also confused:
“You’re asking me? Aren’t you a Disaster-class Mage? The fire elements you wield clearly have the qualities of Heavenfire. Going on a pilgrimage and receiving the Heavenfire Lord’s blessing—isn’t that supposed to be one of your favorite things?”
Wait, a blessing?! Suna’s expression immediately turned resolute. She felt it necessary to observe Firefall Island up close.
After all, Ariel, a Heavenfire follower, was half her teacher. That would make her half a follower as well, right?
She should be able to receive a blessing. Suna decided she’d give it a try.
“No problem. Then in a while, just depart with my student. She’ll be responsible for your safety and won’t let any demons get near you.”
Recently, Vieno had noticed something strange—Suna seemed to have a physique that attracted demons.
She’d only been in Snowveil City for a week and had already run into demons more than five times! It was downright unbelievable.
Suna explained that maybe she’d caught the Ninth Saintess’s misfortune physique.
At first, Vieno hadn’t believed it, but when she considered that most of the troubles Suna and the Ninth Saintess ran into involved demons, she started to be half-convinced.
The world was vast; there were plenty of things she couldn’t understand.
“By the way, Suna, you just looked toward the Dea Plateau, didn’t you? Are you feeling homesick?” Vieno suddenly asked.
As the principal, she actually had no need to ask after a second-year student’s feelings.
But Suna was handpicked by Princess Wilona, and she also had an exceptional talent for fire-element magic.
Even the Academy’s janitors could tell her future was limitless.
So it was only right to take extra care of her.
“I am, a little. Before I left, I didn’t even get to properly say goodbye to my father and Truth. I still feel a bit guilty about that…”
“Don’t worry. Your safety letter will soon reach your father’s hands. As for the Ninth Saintess…” Vieno suddenly bent down and whispered in Suna’s ear:
“I’ll tell you a little secret, just between us—it came from our informant, so don’t spread it around. You know Wangsheng City, right? The hostile city just over a hundred kilometers from Deya City? Some time ago, they tried to assassinate the Ninth Saint—”
“Assassinate?!”
“No need to get so worked up. Relax, the attempt failed, as I said. Hear me out. According to our sources, after their failed attempt, those Desecrators in Wangsheng City became terrified of the Ninth Saintess’s retaliation. On top of that, the Ninth Saintess never made any statement at all, so the whole city spent a long time in a state of anxiety. Many merchants and natives began to believe Wangsheng City was no longer a safe place for business, so they all ran off to the Land of Exile, causing trade between Wangsheng City and other cities to be cut in half. Rumors were everywhere for a while.
That left the city’s High Council anxious. They figured this must be the Ninth Saintess’s revenge—a Mind Game Strategy to undermine the people’s sense of security by ignoring them. To fight back, the council came up with all kinds of solutions and made lots of promises, but the people didn’t trust them, and everyone feared the Ninth Saintess would use the power of the Goddess of Life to bring down Heavenly Punishment at any moment.
After several days of heated debate, the council finally reached a conclusion—they’d lost the initial battle with the Ninth Saintess and decided to give up some benefits in exchange for a breather while they came up with a way to deal with the Mind Game Strategy.
So just the day before yesterday, Wangsheng City sent a delegation to Deya City to meet with the Ninth Saintess. It’s said they brought many precious gifts to please her, along with numerous compensation agreements, all in hopes of getting her to stop the Mind Game Strategy.”
“Mind Game Strategy? That sounds so sly… Not like something the real her would come up with.” Suna frowned slightly.
She thought it sounded more like something cooked up by those sly old foxes in Deya City!
Right then, Vieno suddenly slapped Suna’s shoulder and laughed,
“Ha! That’s right, the Ninth Saintess definitely didn’t come up with that. In fact, there was never any Mind Game Strategy from the start!”
“Huh?”
“You heard me—no Mind Game Strategy. It was all just the wild imagination of Wangsheng City’s council!
Do you know how Vice City Lord Roland reported the situation after returning to Wangsheng City? He said that when he mentioned the words ‘Mind Game Strategy,’ the Ninth Saintess only tilted her head and asked what that was.
It cracks me up! That’s when those Desecrators finally realized the Ninth Saintess didn’t care about them at all, wasn’t bothered by the assassination attempt, and all of it had just been their own self-amusement. Now, the Wangsheng City council still hasn’t even reported the results of their meeting with the Ninth Saintess to the public, because if they do, they’ll become the laughingstock of the world for a long time to come! Haha!”
Vieno laughed so hard she slapped her thigh.
Tia, too.
Inside Deya Magic Academy, after listening to Truth’s story, Tia had been holding her stomach, trying not to burst out laughing, while Truth simply looked at her quietly, speechless at the already departed Wangsheng City delegation.
Who would have thought those people had really come all that way just to deliver warmth…
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