Chapter 735: Episode 735

"I am your monitor."

At Simon’s answer, Richard’s face contorted bizarrely. The other necromancers blinked and exchanged glances.

"A monitor? For me? Why all of a sudden?"

"Lady Nephthys is concerned that Commander Yona’s personal life might negatively impact the operation."

A few of his subordinates snickered, trying to stifle their laughter.

"Nephthys definitely sent him."

"Did she see the future or something?"

Richard glanced back, shutting them up with a single glare, before roughly sweeping his bangs back.

"That senile old hag... It’s all completely pointless."

"Still, it’s an order. Shouldn’t we at least pretend to follow it?" Simon said with a beaming smile.

Richard let out a long sigh and looked at Simon’s necklace with slightly more serious eyes.

"You, that necklace."

"Yes."

"The order wasn’t to deliver it to me, but for you to wear it and stay by my side?"

"Exactly."

The two locked eyes.

Richard clicked his tongue, then abruptly turned and started walking.

"What are you doing? Let’s go."

Simon’s eyes sparkled as he nodded.

"Yes, sir!"

---

The Holy Federation camp.

The fortress was still bustling. "Long live the Saintess of Miracles!" the people chanted, celebrating their victory in repelling the necromancers’ invasion.

"Return to your posts! You never know when those cunning necromancers might target this place again!"

"Prepare for a night raid! Repair the walls and purify the remnant undead outside!"

The soldiers finally began to move once the commanders stepped up to organize the situation.

Hammering sounds echoed everywhere as repair work began. The priests were also about to return to their barracks to rest when—

"Move it!"

A sudden, aggressive shout rang out.

An unidentified suspicious person had been caught by the guards while trying to sneak into the massive, pure-white tent where the Saintess resided.

"This one’s an intruder! Grab her!"

"Gah! Why is this kid so strong?"

"Let go of me!"

It was Lethe. Having broken through the guards, she yelled furiously.

"I merely wish to see Saintess Anna, sir!"

"What?"

"Argh!’ Do you think the Saintess is someone just anyone can meet?!"

"You are being entirely too petty! The Saintess will not wear out just from me looking at her!"

For an intruder caught trying to sneak in, she was strangely unapologetic.

Exerting her monstrous strength, she finally managed to force her way into the white tent where Anna was, but she couldn’t advance any further because the soldiers densely blocked her path.

"Force her to her knees!"

"Bring the Inquisitor! Interrogate this woman!"

As one of the guards grabbed Lethe’s shoulder, sparks flew in her eyes.

"How dare you—"

She countered by grabbing the guard’s arm, shifted her center of gravity to her right foot, twisted her waist, and hoisted the guard up, throwing him bodily.

"—touch me!"

The airborne guard slammed hard into the tent with a deafening crash.

The entire tent shook, and a nearby pillar tottered. Startled, the terrified guards scrambled to grab the swaying pillar.

The sharp ring of steel echoed as the guards finally drew their spears and swords. Not only them, but the elite paladins who personally guarded the Saintess also revealed themselves. Lethe snorted and clenched her fists tightly.

"Even if it is right after a battle, to allow an intruder to get this far... The military’s discipline has grown slack," a middle-aged paladin said, stroking his long mustache.

"Who are you? You must be an assassin sent by the Dark Alliance."

"Me?"

Lethe ground her teeth and released her divinity.

A massive, highly pure divinity flared out, filling the tent. All the soldiers and paladins present flinched.

"Do I truly look like a necromancer to you? Shall I pluck your eyeballs out, scrub them clean, and shove them back in?"

Highly pure divinity was a symbol of faith in the Goddess.

The tips of the soldiers’ swords began to waver.

"We just need to subdue and interrogate you."

The middle-aged paladin with the mustache responded like a true veteran and assumed a swordsmanship stance.

At that moment.

"Stop."

A beautiful, elegant voice echoed through the tent.

As if the voice possessed some magical effect, everyone present paused as if bewitched.

"Saintess!" The mustached paladin looked back and spoke urgently. "You shouldn’t come here. It’s dangerous!"

"It is fine," her voice rang out. "If there is a subject seeking me, I believe it is the duty of a Saintess to gladly meet them and listen to their story."

With light footsteps, someone was walking toward them. Without another word, the mustached paladin respectfully dropped to one knee.

"What are you all doing? The Saintess approaches!"

Everyone present dropped to one knee in a disciplined manner, their armor clanking against the floor. Lethe raised her head and looked at the figure approaching her.

It was a woman wearing a white holy robe. Her face was hidden behind a veil. Her hands were neatly folded over her stomach, and beneath the robe, Lethe could faintly see the familiar Efnel uniform.

’Ah.’

Lethe felt her breath hitch and her limbs tremble. The Saintess opened her palm toward her.

"Come here."

Lethe followed the Saintess as if possessed. The mustached paladin, seemingly bothered by Lethe, repeatedly sheathed and half-drew his sword, but he didn’t dare make a move.

Following her, they soon arrived at a quiet room. For a place where the Saintess resided, it lacked any grand features. There was an uncomfortable-looking cot, a table, and various snacks scattered about.

She sat demurely on a chair and offered Lethe a seat as well.

"Please sit, if you’d like."

Lethe had wondered if she should kneel on the bare floor, so she was grateful to be offered a seat. She sat down as politely as possible, folding her hands neatly on her lap.

’This person.’

The voice itself felt like Anna’s, but it was far too young.

Her speech pattern and intonation were different too.

It definitely felt different from before. Was it really Teacher Anna? She had felt the intuition that it was Teacher Anna from the moment she first saw her, but she felt a strong urge to see her face.

"What is your name?"

At the Saintess’s sudden question, Lethe snapped back to her senses and answered.

"I-I am Lena, ma’am!"

"I see, Lena. Why did you say you absolutely had to meet me?"

Lethe felt her mind go completely blank.

In truth, the moment she saw Anna’s younger self, all reason and logic had already flown out the window. The thoughts she had prepared in her head suddenly, strangely, refused to come to mind.

"W-Well..."

She could feel the paladins outside glaring daggers and straining their ears.

One wrong word and she was dead meat.

"I-I-I have a favor to ask of you, ma’am!"

"Anything, if it’s something I can help with."

But her rationality had already evaporated.

At this moment, Lethe had only one thought in her mind.

’I want to confirm if this is really Teacher Anna from the past!’

At least when it came to Anna, Lethe simply couldn’t maintain her sanity. She couldn’t even remember the scenario she had planned out next.

"May I..."

"May you...?"

Her face turning red, Lethe stammered out the rest of her sentence.

"May I hug you?"

The moment those words left her mouth, her heart pounded. She could feel her rationality, which had been banished to some distant corner of Andromeda, screaming, ’Are you crazy?!’

She wouldn’t have had a single word of complaint if she were dragged away for blasphemy and beheaded, or burned at the stake on a red cross.

"As much as you’d like."

The Saintess benevolently opened her arms. The veil was in the way, so her smiling face couldn’t be seen, but a warm affection could be felt in her voice.

With permission granted, Lethe’s body reacted first. Stumbling up from her seat, she immediately headed toward the Saintess and collapsed into her embrace.

’Ah.’

At this moment.

Lethe knew instinctively that she was Anna.

This cozy embrace, this scent, this warmth.

Even the touch of her hand rubbing her back as she hugged her—it was all Anna’s.

"Oh my," the Saintess let out a surprised sound. "You must have had a very hard time. Did something sad happen?"

Before she knew it, Lethe was shedding tears from her reddened eyes. She quickly shook her head.

"No. It is just... I am so happy."

Lethe slowly reached out her arms. She felt embarrassed by the loud thumping of her heart.

She couldn’t resist the urge. Since she had already crossed the line, she intended to go all the way.

She reached out and slowly lifted the veil covering Anna’s face.

Lethe gasped in shock.

The world suddenly bloomed into a field of flowers.

A young girl with a beautiful, delicate face was smiling, her cheeks dyed with a bashful blush.

It felt like a beauty not of this world.

She was much prettier in person than in the photos.

"Teacher Annaaaaaa!"

Lethe burst into wailing tears and hugged her tightly.

"T-Teacher?"

Anna looked down at Lethe with dizzy, spinning eyes.

"I am the Saintess. A-And if I had to say, I’m closer to being a student than a teacher."

"Waaah!"

Going wild with fangirl devotion, Lethe stroked Anna’s cheeks with her palms. Anna let out a startled gasp.

’So cuuuuuuute!’

She looked to be about the same age as Lethe, or perhaps a year or two younger. Just as Anna used to do when scolding her in the past, Lethe pinched and pulled Anna’s cheeks. As her cheeks stretched out, Anna made an incomprehensible whining sound.

Even this sight was cute and lovely. She felt like she was going crazy.

’How can I give this Teacher Anna to Richard! Just marry me instead!’

Her tears of deep emotion showed no signs of stopping.

Anna tried to calm Lethe down, but this runaway fanatic showed no signs of stopping.

"Step away from her at once!"

The sharp ring of steel echoed as a sword was pointed at the back of Lethe’s neck.

Belatedly regaining her composure, Lethe rolled her eyes and looked back.

"What do you think you’re doing to the Saintess! There is a limit even to blasphemy!"

It was a sharp, somehow familiar shout.

Short, sea-colored bobbed hair that came down to the neck.

A deeply scrunched, frowning face.

Disgruntled eyes that stretched long to the sides, and a gaze as sharp as a razor blade.

Lethe realized who she was and her jaw dropped.

"N-No way. Lady Israphel?"

She looked completely different from the image of Israphel that Lethe knew.

Hearing those words, the woman’s face crumpled into a fierce scowl.

"How does a bug like you know my name?"

’B-Bug?’

It was a word she could never imagine coming from the mouth of the famous leader of the moderate faction and the Saintess of the Divine Sea, Israphel.

She was someone who always smiled radiantly with her eyes closed, no matter how angry she was.

Just what in the world had happened to that person over the past few decades?

"Sister Ann... No, Saintess Anna! We must immediately hang this blasphemer on a cross to make an example out of her for everyone!"

"Calm down, Israphel."

Anna smiled affectionately and patted Lethe’s head.

"I don’t think she’s a bad person."

"Excuse me?"

Israphel jumped up in shock.

"What do you mean she’s not a bad person! She pinched Sister’s cheeks, which even I haven’t been able to touch... I mean! She blasphemously played with the Saintess’s face! Furthermore, even though this woman used divinity, there are currently degenerates even among the priests who are cooperating with the Dark Alliance!"

She vented, her eyes glaring fiercely.

"She is definitely a spy sent by the Dark Alliance. We cannot win this war with the outdated, dichotomous mindset that anyone who can use divinity is on the Goddess’s side! Have I ever been wrong before?! I was exactly right when I pointed out that the 7th Legion Commander Yona appearing on the northern front was a deception, and that he was actually targeting this fortress!"

"Of course, Israphel. I rely heavily on your brilliant resourcefulness as well."

Anna continued speaking while rubbing the back of Lethe, who was sniffling and pretending to be fragile.

"But this person is good. I can feel it."

Israphel fell silent.

Just as Israphel’s strategies as a tactician had all been correct so far, Anna’s ’eye for people’ had also never been wrong.

Israphel bit her lip with a soft groan.

Just then, Lethe turned her head from within Anna’s embrace. She stuck her tongue out teasingly before burying herself back into Anna’s arms.

"Y-Yooou..."

Her face turning bright red, Israphel trembled all over.

Lethe was already starting to enjoy her new life in the Holy Federation.