Chapter 97

“Has that little black one finally lost it…?”

A crazy fool.

Leopard clicked his tongue while gazing at the distant sky.

It was clear he was insane.

There was no way a dragon could hover in the sky all day without eating or sleeping.

Was that the same guy who had been wallowing in the mortal realm, indulging in all sorts of luxuries, just a few months ago?

From this high in the sky, he could see all the way to the edge of the continent.

Avoiding the Duke’s gaze was no ordinary challenge.

If he attempted to hide too clumsily, it would only attract the Duke’s attention.

“It’s about time for him to show up.”

Leopard, dressed like a vagabond, leaned against the wall and waited.

Not long after, a woman caught his eye as she appeared at the market entrance.

Though her outfit was simple and baggy, it couldn’t completely conceal the curves of her body.

Before long, Leopard was completely captivated by her.

The problem was that this kind of woman was not rare in the area.

“Hey, you guys. Are you not lowering your eyes?”

“What’s wrong…”

They dared to set their sights on someone like her.

Leopard felt a wave of annoyance, which soon turned to embarrassment.

He stood quietly, watching Julia shopping.

“How unfamiliar.”

This was the first time he had seen Julia like this.

With a serious expression, she roamed around various shops, appearing just like any other lady.

Of course, there was no lady as beautiful as her in this world.

“No way, is that…?“

At that moment, Leopard jumped in surprise.

In front of a low stall, Julia squatted down, tucking her skirt beneath her knees.

As a result, the outline of her large buttocks became prominent.

No matter how he thought about it, the shop owner must have had ill intentions setting up the stall so low.

He couldn’t allow anyone else to see that scene but himself.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Leopard strode toward Julia.

“Whoa!”

“Come with me.”

He grabbed the nape of Julia’s neck and dragged her into a back alley.

There, he spread various barriers that could deceive the dragon’s eyes.

It would only last about three minutes, but that was enough.

“It’s been a while, Leopard.”

“…”

Julia smiled and lowered her hood.

Her expression seemed genuinely glad to see him rather than just polite, which made his heart flutter.

Usually, she would scowl whenever they met.

Leopard was momentarily flustered and couldn’t find his words.

“What’s the matter?”

Julia asked nonchalantly, crossing her arms.

She seemed to guess why Leopard had suddenly appeared.

“Finally, the jealousy-inducing plan has succeeded.”

If she decided to receive personal magic lessons from the gloomy priestess, Leopard would naturally get angry and rush over.

But after a long silence, he thought she might have stopped stalking him; yet here she was the very next day after her first class.

It seemed she had ultimately exploded after holding it in for so long.

At least, that’s what Julia thought.

“What was I going to say? I forgot after seeing your face.”

“…What?”

Julia looked somewhat bewildered.

Leopard didn’t seem very angry or annoyed.

It appeared that she didn’t know about the tutoring arrangement.

For now, there was nothing else to conclude.

After staring closely at Leopard’s face for a moment, Julia raised her hand.

Leopard flinched and trembled for a moment but did not push her hand away, accepting it as it came.

Julia, with a worried look, gently stroked Leopard’s cheek.

“Did you go somewhere far away?”

“What? Uh, how do you…?”

Startled, Leopard stepped back and waved his hands away.

Lately, he had been traveling back and forth between the demon realm and the human realm.

But he wondered how Julia had found that out.

“You haven’t contacted me lately. You were acting like you would come daily to cause trouble but have hardly shown up. And more importantly, there’s a small pimple on your once perfectly clear face. Are you living quite tired these days? Did you go on a trip?”

“…”

Julia laughed quietly.

A trip.

Traveling around the country looking for a way to kill Schwarz Dragania, filled with malice, could be considered a trip in a sense.

Leopard couldn’t resist her innocent smile and burst into laughter himself.

During that moment, he finally remembered the real reason he had come.

Leopard stiffened his expression and locked eyes with Julia.

It would be a disaster if she took it playfully.

“Julia, I came to tell you something.”

“What is it? Why is your voice so low? It’s scary.”

“Under no circumstances should you go to the Putorana Forest for a while.”

“The Putorana Forest? Why suddenly? What’s there?”

“Nothing.”

“…?”

Julia tilted her head in confusion.

She vaguely remembered hearing about the Putorana Forest, located south of the institution, which was a wide and dense forest.

As far as Julia knew, the Putorana Forest was just an ordinary forest, slightly larger.

“Why would I go to a forest with nothing in it?”

“I just wanted to be cautious. Even if you happen to need to go, don’t ever go. Got it?”

“You need to tell me the reason for me to understand.”

“No need to understand. Just don’t go. Answer me. Do you understand?”

“Okay…”

Julia pouted her lips and replied in a tiny voice.

As expected, she was still as unreasonable as ever.

Without considering other people’s feelings, she just blurted things out…

Julia purposely showed her displeasure, but Leopard didn’t budge an inch.

“The matter is done, and now I’ll let you go. When I dash out of the alley, you can shout I’m a pickpocket and get angry. Got it?”

“Huh? No? Why should I do that?”

“You don’t need to understand. Just do it.”

It was all a process to deceive the dragon’s eyes.

Leopard shouldn’t have met with Julia today.

However, to Julia, it only seemed absurd.

“What’s up with you today, seriously… Hey! Hey!”

Before she could finish her sentence, Leopard quickly put his hood back on and dashed out of the alley.

Julia followed him out into the street, but he had already run far away.

“You, you bad pickpocket!”

Without understanding the situation, Julia awkwardly shouted as if reading from a textbook.

What an infuriating guy.

Just when she was happy to see him after such a long time, he treated her like that, which was really unpleasant.

“Is there some issue…?”

Even so, the worry in her heart prevailed.

Despite his appearance as a hero, if he was busy running around, it couldn’t be a minor issue.

Julia clasped her hands and stared blankly in the direction Leopard had gone.

She could only fervently hope that something serious wouldn’t happen to him.

“Oh right. My shopping basket.”

Just for a moment, Julia remembered the basket she had left behind and hurriedly ran back to the market.

*

Fortunately, she was able to retrieve her shopping basket without incident.

The shop owner next door, who remembered her as Dragania’s assistant, had kept it safe for her.

It seemed that many people were indeed afraid of Dragania.

If it were another noble family, she would have undoubtedly been robbed.

Having safely finished her shopping, she was just about to head back to her villa when she spotted a familiar face.

It was natural for a tall man dressed in dark priestly robes to stand out among the crowd.

She pondered whether to ignore him, but then decided to follow him for just a moment.

“What is he doing?”

However, Julia could not grasp what Alexander was doing there.

He was browsing the shops, so perhaps he had come to shop, but since he didn’t have a basket, that didn’t seem right.

He kept moving around, so it didn’t seem like he was waiting for someone.

Nor did it appear he was out looking for something.

He almost resembled someone who had just been fired but was lying to their family about going to work, wandering aimlessly through the city.

Unable to hold back, Julia went up to Alexander and spoke to him.

“What are you doing here, Father? Or should I say, Teacher?”

“Julia? What a surprise to see you here. Today is a day off, as there are no classes with St. Sophia.”

“You’re off today…?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

He’s taking a day off?

This was astonishing.

So, this is what happens to someone with no friends and no hobbies…

Julia began to feel a bit sorry for Alexander.

For some reason, she felt a sense of responsibility to at least keep him company.

“Aren’t there any duties you should be attending to as a priest?”

“I’m dispatched from the Papal Office, so I cannot engage in the church’s work here.”

“Then how is the dispatch going?”

“It’s been stagnant…”

It seemed the search for the Holy Maiden was still stalled without any progress.

Considering that Leopard was neglecting his duties in assisting with the search, it was no wonder nothing was advancing.

That was good news for Julia.

She could only fervently wish for things to remain stuck like this.

“Then you really are a teacher right now. You’re not doing priestly work, nor are you showing any progress with your dispatch duties. All you have left to do is teach St. Sophia and give private lessons.”

“I’m not a teacher… It’s just a temporary position…”

“Hehe. Teacher, teacher.”

It seemed calling him a teacher made him quite embarrassed.

Every time she called him that, his face turned red, and he turned away, which was quite amusing.

“Don’t you find it boring, Teacher?”

“I can’t say I find it boring… It’s just peaceful. This is the first time in my life that I get to live with such leisure, so I might be perceiving it as such.”

“Hmm. It seems like it is boring. If you have nothing in particular to do, can I go to your teacher’s room now?”

“Y-Yes? Huh?! What do you mean?!”

“…?”

Julia was startled as Alexander jumped up in surprise, causing her to react in shock as well.

What was this about?

She only asked for the additional tutoring she had missed yesterday…

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