Right after meeting Reto, I went to find the Alphenhausen twins.
There was no need to go through the trouble of searching.
The Alphenhausen twins were visiting professors, and I heard they usually stayed in their office.
It was an unannounced visit.
Nobles valued promises and understanding. It was polite for the one visiting to request a specific time in advance.
Still, I did not want to adhere to that etiquette.
The Alphenhausen Clan had a particularly suspicious air about it.
First of all, I could not understand the reason for their sudden return to the Academy at this point.
Moreover, I was clueless about why they were looking for me.
Since I was the one in need, there was no harm in acting bravely.
No, perhaps I even wanted to vent my frustrations.
Celine had met both of them and soon vanished.
I had no way of knowing the detailed causal relationships, but the unsettling feeling I had could not be ignored.
What conversation had they had?
The one who held the answer to that mystery would soon reveal themselves.
Knocking softly, I was able to step into the office immediately after.
It was a room bathed in warm sunlight.
Perhaps due to the Alphenhausen’s halo, the twins’ office had good lighting. It was a place where the midday sun offered a warm greeting.
Outside, it was summer.
The heat that still lingered outside should have been invasive, but the indoor temperature was pleasant. It must have been thanks to the expensive magical tools.
The Alphenhausen Clan was overflowing with gold coins.
While the Yuridina Clan was also wealthy, the Alphenhausen’s wealth was on another level.
There were no gold coins that did not go through the hands of the Alphenhausen on the continent.
Such words circulated openly and were accepted as fact, as it was a place that moved massive amounts of capital.
Surprisingly, I was received with polite hospitality.
“Nice to meet you, so… Ian Fercurus?”
“It’s Ian Fercurus, sister.”
In the soft light, the two sisters whispered softly to each other.
The woman sitting in the chair was dazzlingly beautiful.
Her thick silver hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, flowing in gentle waves. Her silver pupils were so dim that it was hard to distinguish them from the whites of her eyes.
And a smile lingered at the corners of her mouth, as if she was about to say something.
Her clear complexion and the folding fan she held seemed to testify to her lively and arrogant temperament.
In contrast, the woman standing behind her had a pale and gloomy impression.
First, it was the eyes hidden behind her bangs.
And perhaps trying to show that she was different from the woman sitting in front of her, her thick bob cut grazed the back of her neck.
The woman in front greeted me, and the woman behind corrected her.
It was such a peculiar sight that I would have surely heard of it before.
After all, they were my seniors.
With a wry smile, I slightly bowed my head.
“It’s been a while, Senior Shiene. And Senior Luna.”
The sun and moon of Alphenhausen, Shiene and Luna.
Shiene had poor memory and always needed to listen to Luna’s advice, while Luna lacked judgment and always followed Shiene’s decisions.
It was as if fate had paired them together from the moment they were born.
So people didn’t refer to them by their individual names; they were known solely as “the twins.”
After all, they hardly ever lived apart.
It had been a long time since I had called the twins by their names.
Senior Shiene wore a faint smile.
“It’s an honor that you remember me, Sir Vertas. But when have we met?”
“We greeted at the graduation ceremony two years ago, sister. With that jungle lion and… and it’s Fercurus, not Vertas.”
“Aah,” Senior Shiene exclaimed as if she had just realized it.
She showed no signs of feeling sorry for incorrectly saying my name.
“That handsome junior introduced by the lion! I’m glad to see you; I was just looking for you!”
With a grin, Senior Shiene hid her mouth with her fan and winked.
“Shall we sit down? It seems our junior has missed us quite a bit.”
There was no reason to refuse the offer.
I sat neatly across from Senior Shiene while letting out a sigh mixed with complaints.
“You’re still the same. Unable to remember names.”
“It’s inefficient.”
With a snap, Senior Shiene declared as she folded her fan.
Senior Luna had already begun preparing teacups and a teapot. There was no sign of dissatisfaction typical of someone handling chores in her natural movements.
She had a calm expression as if she believed it was only right to do so.
Even Senior Shiene seemed the same.
“Things like names, place names, and specific figures… why are those things important? What matters is the flow. It’s the grand current created by countless facts… only those who can read it can hold gold coins in their hands.”
“So you don’t remember my name?”
“There’s a limit to the brain’s capacity.”
The teacup filled up with tea.
Steam wafted, bringing a fragrant aroma. Senior Shiene held her teacup with grace.
“I don’t want irrelevant facts to disrupt my focus. Please understand.”
Nonsense, I thought silently as I heard those words.
At the same time, my eyes glanced slightly to the side. There was Senior Luna, quietly pouring tea into my cup.
If information wasn’t needed, there would be no reason to always have Senior Luna with her.
But I didn’t intentionally break Senior Shiene’s stubbornness.
There was an important matter at hand.
“I heard you met a junior I cherish.”
The eyes of Senior Shiene, who had been sipping tea, narrowed.
A peculiar sound escaped her lips.
Just then, the teacup, which had been wandering in the void, returned to its place with a thud.
“That girl from the Swordsmanship Department? Her name was Elin, right…?”
“It’s Celine Haster, sister. She’s from our family’s territory where the gold mine is located.”
“Aah, right. From the Haster gold mine?”
My brows furrowed slightly as I eavesdropped on their conversation.
‘Haster gold mine.’
It was a disgraceful conversation for those who forcibly took over a mine originally owned by the Haster Clan.
However, I deliberately did not reveal my emotions.
After all, they were people living in a different world from mine.
No matter how much I pointed out their wrongs, they would only claim it was a legitimate transaction based on a contract.
It would be better for my mental health to end this conversation quickly.
“Did you have any friction with Celine?”
The response was a snort.
An overt mockery.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t offended, but as soon as I heard it, I was convinced.
Senior Shiene did not touch Celine.
She likely didn’t feel the need to.
“Why would I? There’s no reason to provoke a young lady from such a small family. It’s inefficient.”
“If so, was there something strange during your conversation…?”
“Nothing. I simply went to ask about your whereabouts. Wanted to know when you’re returning from the North.”
As Senior Shiene shook her head like that, someone approached her ear.
It was Senior Luna.
As she whispered something, Senior Shiene’s demeanor softened a bit.
“Hmm? Speaking of which, back then, you kept asking if I had seen some girl…”
“A girl?”
“Right, even in an empty lot. Were you swinging your sword so much that your head got a little twisted? No, no! More importantly, you!”
Visions of seeing a ‘girl’ was a hallucination.
It was a phenomenon I had heard of somewhere.
As I rummaged through that elusive memory, I could barely catch what the woman in front of me was saying.
With an arrogant expression, she seemed to be trying to offer me a deal with her fan.
My consciousness, lost in the past, was forcibly awakened moments later.
To be precise, it was closer to being rudely jolted awake.
With platinum coins cascading down, who would not react?
Against the backdrop of my dumbfounded gaze, the woman wore an arrogant smile.
“How about it? Is this enough?”
That’s when the conversation continued.
“For selling the Lady Virgin Saint.”
Just as I was about to draw my axe.
Boom! An explosion erupted, sending shockwaves through the air.
As the axe struck the table, the situation unfolded immediately.
A skilled swordsman’s strength transcends the common sense of a criminal. The stark white lightning that fell in an instant shattered the wooden furniture into splinters.
Platinum coins and wood chips scattered in the air, along with the dazed expression of Senior Shiene.
Without any hesitation, I raised the axe again.
The late scream escaped just then.
“Kya! Kyaaaah! Wh-What are you doing?!”
“Is that what you call talking right now?”
I growled low, gritting my teeth.
Selling the Lady Virgin Saint?
How could one even say that?
The Saint was not only my companion but also the benefactor who had saved my life numerous times until now. Just hearing someone suggest selling her made my ears feel like they were rotting.
I forced myself to suppress my anger and spoke again in a restrained voice.
“Betray my companion? You can’t possibly think you can leave here in one piece after such an insult, can you?”
“I do plan on leaving in one piece! Who swings an axe over a single word?!”
Senior Shiene shouted, her complexion pale.
She still seemed to be grasping the situation.
I took a deep breath.
The honor of a noble was like life itself.
If insulted, it was customary to retaliate in kind. Senior Shiene’s condescending attitude was particularly distasteful.
While I didn’t intend to go overboard, I was prepared to give her a lesson so she wouldn’t look down on me.
It seemed that Senior Luna caught on to my intention.
Her voice, which had finally regained composure, resonated softly.
“Sister, Ian Fercurus is known for his violent tendencies. He has a history of gravely injuring members of major noble families, including the Yuridina sisters.”
Realizing the future she would face, Senior Shiene’s face turned pale.
Of course, her tongue still moved in search of a way out.
“No, no, no… I’m just a powerless woman! You’re really going to do this to me?! Don’t you have any knightly honor?”
My body, which had been ready to swing the axe at any moment, came to a sudden halt.
It was a valid point.
Up to now, I had only swung my axe at those with military strength. Those who had at least fought for their lives with either a sword or magic were my enemies.
But the Alphenhausen twins were different.
They were ordinary civilians with no military strength; I couldn’t carelessly swing an axe just because they had insulted me.
I hesitated for a moment before devising a compromise.
“Then just enough to not leave a scar…”
“Are you completely insane?!”
Ultimately, unable to find an escape route, Senior Shiene cried, clinging to Senior Luna.
Tears filled her silver eyes that displayed no focus.
“Luna, that man is crazy… His eyes are out of his mind! Why did we ever try to treat such a person kindly?”
The audacity of still spouting such shameless words until the end was surprising.
Could it be that they were indeed aiming for the next head of the Alphenhausen Clan?
So I had no choice but to swallow a bitter laugh and retort.
“Kindness? What nonsense…”
“It’s not betrayal.”
I was momentarily left speechless.
My eyes, filled with questions, turned toward Senior Shiene.
Before I realized, her silver-gray pupils were on me. The fear and tears I had felt from her earlier were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, there was even a glimmer of subtle intrigue in her gaze.
“It’s about claiming the proper price before being betrayed. Ah, do they teach that it’s also betrayal in the Swordsmanship Department?”
Then, with a meaningful smile lingering at the corners of Senior Shiene’s mouth, I tightened my grip on the axe once more.
“AAAH! You’re a real madman!”
For a moment, the office was filled with screams.
I trudged back to the dormitory.
Familiar scenery washed over my field of vision. Though it had been a while since I returned to this room, I merely wore a tired expression as I headed for the cabinet.
There sat a bottle of cheap whiskey.
As I opened the cap and filled a glass, I recalled the conversation I had earlier.
“Do you think you know everything about the Lady Virgin Saint? Ha, haha! A poisonous woman who has discarded even her name and lived a life of acting!”
“Like anywhere else, especially in the Holy Kingdom, the political scene is no joke. The tongue dances like a knife, and a smile is seen as the sheath of a blade… The Saint survived there.”
With a mocking tone, or perhaps one of sympathy, Senior Shiene had spoken to me. My hand clenched around the whiskey glass.
So what did I respond?
“Do I believe? Well, that’s fine. It’s not bad to regret after being betrayed. Youth is all about learning through such experiences.”
With a smile, she replied.
“I wish you luck, Sir Fercurus.”
I silently muttered grievances to the one who was no longer before me.
My head was in a tangle.
I wanted to think of it as simple manipulation, but Senior Shiene seemed far too confident. It was as if she knew secrets about the Lady Virgin Saint that I did not.
And not long after, it felt as if that fact would be revealed.
I recalled a woman.
Silver hair and rosy eyes, a pure maiden blessed by the gods.
The memories slowly continued.
The sensation of her hand brushing against mine, the warmth, the blush on my cheek, the scent of her skin.
“No.”
Muttering to myself, I swallowed a bitter smile.
The Virgin Saint was not an evil person.
Regardless of what secret she might have been hiding, my faith in the Virgin Saint remained unchanged.
Thus, there was only one thing for me to do.
I didn’t know what kind of plot was being woven, but a trial was approaching the Virgin Saint soon.
So I would protect her.
So that she wouldn’t suffer.
With that determination, night deepened, and the next day.
I found an envelope resting by my pillow.
