Three days later.

In the carriage heading to the Great Temple were Calliphe, Lynen, and Noah.

Calliphe and Lynen sat on opposite seats, at diagonal ends.

“……”

Noah, sitting next to Calliphe, frantically racked his brain.

‘I need to make them get along again!’

“L-Lady Calliphe.”

“What is it?”

“Can you read me a story tonight? Puss in Boots from before.”

“Sure.”

“With the Duke too.”

At that, Calliphe and Lynen simultaneously flinched and looked at each other.

The moment their eyes met, they flinched again and turned away in unison.

“……”

“……”

Both of them stared only out the windows on opposite sides.

Calliphe’s red eyes trembled slightly, while Lynen’s expression showed furrowed brows, seemingly troubled about something.

Noah, looking back and forth between them, frowned.

‘I need to try something else quickly…..’

* * *

“Oh! Lady Offensa?”

The priest who recognized Calliphe hurried to guide her when she stepped out of the carriage.

“This way to the Wing Gate, please.”

“Alright.”

Noah couldn’t help but gape at seeing the priest treat her with such reverence.

‘That person used to be scared of Lady Calliphe….’

The priest’s attitude had completely transformed since Noah’s first visit to the Great Temple with Calliphe.

‘Lady Calliphe was really cool during the blessing ceremony.’

Even now, Lady Calliphe looked cool receiving such treatment naturally.

The Duke showed no surprise either.

‘I shouldn’t be surprised either.’

Noah tried to close his mouth and mirror Calliphe’s dignified expression.

However, upon entering the Wing Gate, the VIP entrance, Noah’s mouth fell open again.

The better-dressed priests at the entrance all bowed in unison from both sides.

“Welcome, Sister!”

“Welcome, Brother!”

Moreover, the High Cardinal himself waited at the front to greet them.

“May the blessing of the Holy Spirit be with you. Welcome, benefactor of Reparatio and eternal friend.”

Calliphe smirked.

“You’ve suddenly become so polite.”

“Hehe. We have much to be sorry for and grateful for to my lady. Besides, one chosen by the spirit deserves such treatment. Isn’t that right, Spirit?”

The High Cardinal looked behind while asking.

A capybara with white rabbit ears was already trotting towards Calliphe.

“Biiiig sister!”

“Hello, Imel… I mean, Spirit.”

Thanks to the Light Spirit’s disguise during the blessing ceremony, the priests of the Great Temple believed Imelen to be the Light Spirit.

It worked well since very few priests had seen the Light Spirit’s true form anyway.

But when Calliphe appeared, the spirit suddenly revealed itself.

―◉▽◉!!

To maintain Imelen’s disguise, it appeared overlaid like a mask on the capybara’s face.

Consequently, Imelen’s expressions changed like the spirit’s emoticons.

“Pfft. I’m glad to see you too, Spirit.”

―≧ 3 ≦

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Fwiend casual.”

Ah, she meant to use casual speech since they were friends.

Thanks to Imelen’s stumbling explanation with her imperfect pronunciation, Calliphe understood the spirit’s meaning.

“Alright. I’ll speak casually from now on. Happy?”

― ◜▽◝♪

The priests were greatly surprised to see Calliphe speaking casually with the spirit, but no one objected.

They could tell the spirit’s favoritism wasn’t just a whim but genuine.

“The Saint is waiting. Shall we go inside?”

“Alright.”

The High Cardinal guided Calliphe’s group.

However, Lynen, following at the very back, stopped walking.

His gaze turned toward the door behind them.

“……”

Lynen touched his sleeve, seemingly adjusting his clothes. Just when the priests began looking at him curiously.

He quickly detached a button from his sleeve and flicked it in one motion.

Thwack!

A crow that had been spying on Calliphe from among the thick leaves suddenly fell to the ground.

Then it dispersed into black mist and disappeared.

“It, it was a demon beast!”

“A demon beast appearing at the Great Temple… how could this happen? Strengthen the security!”

Just like animals don’t willingly walk into traps, demon beasts rarely set foot in the Great Temple first.

But it’s different when following someone’s orders.

‘Is it Young Marquis Caiman’s familiar?’

It wasn’t surprising since he had already dealt with familiars sent by him before.

‘Worried about being discovered by me quickly, he was watching the Great Temple from the start rather than Calliphe.’

Though it would be harder to spy on the Great Temple now, the Young Marquis had achieved some results.

‘He won’t think we’re just having a friendly tea time with the Great Temple.’

After all, he had paid a heavy price for underestimating us until now.

Lynen watched the busy priests for a moment before following after Calliphe.

* * *

The place where I arrived following the High Cardinal was an entirely white space.

“Marble… no, white spirit stone?”

“That’s right.”

Allen, who had been waiting for me, answered with a smile.

“This is the Mirror Room made of white spirit stone. It’s used to uncover evil things with vast holy power. Only those with permission from a Saint can enter.”

“Now then, young master, shall you come with me? Mihail is waiting.”

After the High Cardinal left with Noah, Lynen and I sat on the sofa opposite Allen.

And immediately handed over the object that was the purpose of our visit.

“Here it is. The fragment of Lumen’s heart.”

Allen held the fragment of Lumen’s heart.

Information sharing was unavoidable to entrust the examination and analysis of the object. So Allen knew about how this had been the Young Marquis’s possession. Even the fact that he had been following me.

“I can definitely feel powerful corruption. To think this is really the heart of the black mage Lumen……”

“More precisely, a part of it. I want to store it somewhere safe. Where it won’t move on its own and can’t be detected by the Young Marquis.”

“Don’t worry. The Light Spirit will help with that.”

“If the Spirit will take care of it, that’s very reassuring.”

It would become a powerful vault that even demon beasts couldn’t steal from.

―❛◇❛

The Light Spirit, detaching from Imelen’s face, opened and closed its mouth like asking for the object to be put in.

Then Lynen gently stopped it.

“We need to examine it first. We need to find out what black magic was used with this fragment.”

“Because that might be a clue to discovering the purpose of the demon beast incidents.”

“That’s right.”

Lynen nodded.

He thought the same.

“Alright. Then Spirit, please help us.”

As Allen clasped the fragment of Lumen’s heart and put his hands together like in prayer, the Light Spirit also settled on his hands to lend its power.

Fwoosh―

As the entire room emitted a soft light, a cool and refreshing sensation enveloped my body.

‘It feels like taking a forest bath in holy power.’

Allen’s expression, who was actually exerting the holy power, wasn’t so peaceful.

“…Hmm.”

He kept furrowing his brows with his eyes closed. Cold sweat had already formed on his forehead.

The Light Spirit dwelling in his hands also seemed to be doing quite difficult work, repeatedly brightening and dimming.

“Nnng.”

After several worried groans from Imelen.

Whoosh―

Finally, after a while, the light faded.

The Light Spirit fell from Allen’s hands like a staggering ball of dust.

“I’m sorry. It took longer than expected.”

“Was there some problem?”

“Problem, well……”

Allen made a subtle expression at my question.

“It was certainly unexpected. I thought it was black magic related to demon beast transformation, but it wasn’t. While that targets an unspecified number of people, what was used here… was black magic targeting one specific person.”

“Who’s the specific person?”

Just then, Imelen conveyed the staggering Light Spirit’s words.

“Target’s name… Offensa.”

“What?”

“Graham Offensa.”

I widened my eyes at the unexpected name.

Graham Offensa.

The Archmage and Marquis of House Offensa who fell into a coma, unable to break through the wall of 8 stars.

And the name of Calliphe Offensa’s maternal grandfather.