“Things have been strangely restless lately, Lucy-san.”
Inside Avalon Academy, one of Lucy’s friends was chatting with her.
“Just a few days ago, a Demonized Being appeared in Doff City and was cut down by Captain Monica of the Enforcement Guard.”
“…Something like that happened?”
Lucy replied absentmindedly.
She wasn’t even looking at her friend while speaking.
This made the friend rather unhappy. Lucy had been in this cold, distant state for days now.
Normally, she would have long since invited her over to the dorm at night to talk about life.
Now she was brushing her off completely.
Ever since that last meeting with that annoying Via, Lucy had been like this.
Where exactly am I inferior to that squishy pink-haired brat? Just because she’s cuter?
“Yes, and not only that—Captain Monica and the Holy Knight Order from the Holy Land made a huge commotion in the underground black market together.”
“The underground black market…?”
Lucy blinked and finally turned her gaze to her friend.
“Mm, the real underground black market. I heard it from another well-informed noble classmate.”
Seeing that Lucy seemed interested, her friend tried to hold her attention with the topic.
“They really did find a suspicious heretic. That heretic caused massive chaos, but it was suppressed in the end, and a lot of criminals were arrested too.”
She really likes running off to the underground black market. I haven’t seen her these past few days… could something have happened to her? Lucy pinched her chin and muttered to herself.
“Her?”
Lucy’s friend caught the keyword.
This “her” probably wasn’t Via, but someone else.
Every now and then, Lucy would mention a mysterious person she seemed to have known for a long time—also a student at Avalon Academy. Lucy occasionally met with “her.”
Her friend had no idea who it actually was.
“Lucy-san, the person you’re talking about is—”
“WAAAHH!!!”
Before the question was finished, an excited scream echoed from the other end of the corridor.
Immediately after came the thudding of countless footsteps.
A huge number of students started running.
“Hurry, hurry! We won’t make it in time!”
“Is Senior Sophie really here?”
“It’s true! If we’re any later, we’ll miss her!”
All the students surged in the same direction.
“Senior Sophie?”
The moment Lucy heard that name, she couldn’t stay seated. She shot to her feet, left her friend behind, and joined the flood of people.
Outside, the clamor was deafening. Layers upon layers of Avalon students had completely surrounded a red-haired girl.
It was the current most popular saintess candidate—Sophie Shirleyford.
“Senior Sophie is back!!” the students shouted excitedly.
Sophie was being swarmed and adored.
It wasn’t strange. On one hand, Sophie had inherited Sylvia’s beauty and talent; her bearing and manners were impeccable. Naturally, many placed their hopes on her becoming the successor to the “Perfect Saintess.”
On the other, Sophie was an Avalon Academy graduate herself. She had enrolled early, achieved outstanding results in every assessment, and graduated in record time—becoming the model student on every teacher’s lips.
Under these two factors, her popularity among the students was sky-high.
A graduated Sophie returning to Avalon Academy instantly made her the center of attention. In just a moment, students spontaneously gathered around her.
The scene was practically a celebrity meet-and-greet.
“Senior Sophie, if possible, please give me an autograph!!” A girl pushed through the crowd and held out a notebook and pen.
In terms of age, she was actually older than Sophie.
Yet everyone willingly called her “Senior.”
“Mm, no problem.”
Sophie smiled at the girl, took the pen, and wrote her name.
“I got it! Senior Sophie’s autograph!!” The girl clutched the signature, nearly in tears.
Everyone instantly realized—if Sophie truly became the Perfect Saintess in the future, the value of this autograph would be astronomical.
“Senior Sophie, me too!!”
“Please sign one for me as well!”
“Lady Sophie, please sign my back—I swear I’ll never shower again!”
The crowd was beyond excited.
Faced with such enthusiasm, Sophie couldn’t refuse. She began signing one after another.
“She really does resemble her…”
Watching Sophie from afar, Lucy couldn’t help but sigh.
Sophie truly looked far more like Sylvia than Via did.
Sophie’s hair was the same naturally beautiful rose-red as her mother’s, while Via’s was a much lighter pink.
In demeanor and personality, Sophie was also much closer to Sylvia.
“What a pity.”
Lucy knew full well—Sophie was a flower atop a lofty peak, the Holy Land’s prized protégé. She could only be admired from afar, never touched.
That only made her more certain: the only one she could obtain was Via.
“Senior Sophie, what brings you back to Avalon Academy?” a boy who had received an autograph asked curiously.
“I’ve been carrying out missions for the Holy Land recently and happened to pass through Doff City. Since my alma mater isn’t far, I simply requested half a day’s leave to come visit.”
Sophie answered calmly and methodically.
However, she was only telling half the story.
All of that was secondary. The real reason she had returned to Avalon Academy was—
…
…
“What’s going on today? It’s so noisy outside. It’s not usually like this, is it?”
Via grumbled inside her dorm room.
She had tied her pink hair into simple twin tails, thrown on a casual white T-shirt and blue hot pants, and was squatting in her former roommate’s empty room, preparing to set up her Magic Workshop.
Thanks to Goren waiving the payment last time, after deducting drinks and miscellaneous expenses, she had quite a bit left over—all of which she spent on tools and materials.
Though Via was once again flat broke and facing the prospect of more “good fight” meals, the materials she bought were enough to build a basic Magic Workshop.
If anyone discovered she was building a Magic Workshop in the dorms, things would get ugly.
No student could possibly achieve this level of precision—even the academy’s magic department professors would gasp at the intricacy.
What the Demon King considered “simple” was, to others, extraordinarily advanced.
“Ugh… it’s so loud out there. Did something happen?”
Via heard more noise.
“Whatever, it has nothing to do with me anyway. Given how unpopular I am, no one would ever come looking for me in the dorms.”
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