Ch.7272. Moonlighting Author

Mid-June.

The royal decree that spread from Greyfond, the capital of the Griffin Kingdom, was surprisingly causing major ripples throughout the continent beyond the kingdom’s borders.

In the Griffin Kingdom, where the Black Mage Heralhazard had left deep scars.

The fact that they had bestowed a position on a Black Mage as part of the royal court.

The name of the man who would be called a ‘Spiritmaster’ as a Black Mage affiliated with the royal family was.

Deus Verdi.

The younger brother of the Count of Norsweden, known as the northern bulwark and giant.

While neighboring countries were tense about this sudden change, saying that Griffin had finally opened its doors despite its historical hostility toward Black Mages.

In reality, within the Griffin Kingdom, far more people viewed this change as corruption rather than progress, causing a storm of controversy to swirl.

And that influence was spreading all the way to Robern Academy, where he had originally been affiliated.

“…Sigh.”

Erika was walking briskly toward the Chancellor’s office.

The students’ whispers grew louder with each passing day. Since Deus had turned himself in as a Black Mage, the academy had been quite busy.

After persuading students who had submitted withdrawal forms during the previous Septima Angel incident, encouraging them, and barely getting things back to normal.

Just when she thought the academy had finally normalized after the midterm exams.

Once again, discussions about Deus had become the hot topic, causing a commotion.

Erika knocked and opened the door. Inside, Karen, the health professor, and Gideon were already seated.

Gideon frowned upon seeing Erika, but she spoke without giving him even a glance.

“Dismissing Professor Deus again is absurd.”

Cold yet calm.

The Chancellor shrank his shoulders as if shivering at her chilling voice, reminiscent of Professor Erika from the old days.

“Nothing’s been decided yet. Sigh, I don’t know what to do in this situation.”

Though he hadn’t been performing professorial duties, Deus was already listed among the faculty.

Currently, on paper, he was away on the quarterly business trips he had requested when signing his contract.

Here, Gideon stepped in.

“Do you know how many calls we’re getting from parents? Many parents want to withdraw their children, saying there’s nothing to learn from a Black Mage!”

“Ugh.”

That was the problem.

Just when things had finally settled down after the Septima Angel incident, another crisis had erupted, leaving them with no way to keep students enrolled.

But Erika interjected again.

“The royal court has given Professor Deus the new title of Spiritmaster. Dismissing him could be seen as disregarding the royal will.”

The Chancellor struggled with Erika’s argument that keeping Deus would ultimately be beneficial in the long run.

He glanced at Karen, the health professor, but she merely shrugged, maintaining her neutral position.

The Chancellor wondered why this man Deus always caused him such confusion.

He felt like confronting him directly.

As Erika and Gideon continued exchanging sharp words and arguments.

Gideon’s fiery temperament and Erika’s cold tone clashed like polar opposites in a battle of wills.

Bang!

The door to the Chancellor’s office swung open as a young girl entered.

The Chancellor was about to scold the uniformed student for barging in but froze with his mouth agape.

Brilliant golden hair symbolizing royal authority and pride. Elenoa Luden Griffin, who had proudly claimed the top rank among first-year students in the recent midterm exams.

She strode imperiously between Erika and Gideon and declared:

“I understand there has been much talk within the academy recently.”

Elenoa standing here was not in her capacity as a student.

She was fully exercising her dignity and authority as a princess.

“It seems to be about Deus Verdi, whom my brother, His Majesty, has acknowledged.”

“Ah…”

“Surely, you wouldn’t treat a royally appointed Spiritmaster carelessly. Deus, a Black Mage, has become part of the royal court. One could easily infer that His Majesty holds him in high regard.”

Erika nodded calmly, lending support to her statement.

Elenoa approached the Chancellor slowly and declared chillingly:

“I already turned a blind eye once by not making the previous incident public. But if you disregard the royal will again this time…”

With a swift turn, Elenoa asserted:

“Within days, you will have to step down from that position.”

A clear threat.

But it was undeniably persuasive and essentially an order that could not be disobeyed.

The Chancellor exhaled, slumping back against his chair as if melting.

This was actually for the best.

It had been difficult to decide, but now his options had been narrowed down to one.

“Professor Deus is a necessary talent for the academy. We will forget about the dismissal.”

Gideon’s expression crumpled at those words, but even he couldn’t say anything.

After all, the princess had acted, setting aside her status as a student.

Just before Elenoa left after hearing the Chancellor’s answer, she glanced at Erika.

“…?”

Wondering if there was some issue, Erika watched as Elenoa bit her lip firmly and yanked the door handle open.

“I will win.”

In that moment, she had returned to being just a young student experiencing the freshness of love.

* * *

“Mmmmph!”

The woman who stepped out of the carriage stretched her body this way and that.

Her braided hair, which rested on her shoulders, was a uniquely noble silver-white color.

After quickly covering her attention-drawing hair with a hood and neatly putting on glasses.

Finally, in her hand was not a thick gospel but a relatively thin romance novel.

The name of this woman, who had instantly transformed into a different person, was Lucia Saint.

In the Griffin Kingdom, she was the most famous person aside from King Orpheus—a woman chosen by the divine.

She was the Saintess.

‘It’s been so long since I’ve been to Greyfond.’

The church leaders had offered to prepare a separate carriage for her, but due to remaining work, she had no choice but to send her private carriage ahead and take a regularly scheduled one.

But it wasn’t bad.

Thanks to that, she could leisurely enjoy the outside scenery and have some rare time to herself.

Plus, she had plenty of time to think.

‘A Black Mage, huh.’

The church leaders had requested the Saintess’s support regarding the unexpected appointment of a Black Mage as a royal mage under the title of Spiritmaster.

It was the bishops’ shallow strategy that her mere appearance as the Saintess at the upcoming public debate would strengthen their position.

Honestly, the Saintess didn’t want to get involved in such matters.

But she was curious.

According to confidential information, this person had resolved Princess Elenoa’s nightmares, which she herself couldn’t solve, and even eliminated an evil spirit that had been dormant in the Griffin Kingdom.

‘Spiritmaster must mean one who comforts souls?’

He seemed somewhat different from the Black Mages she knew.

Honestly, Lucia, as the Saintess, couldn’t help but be skeptical.

Most Black Mages she had encountered were selfish madmen.

What made them worse was that they had no malice, acting solely for research results or magical achievements.

That meant they didn’t even feel guilt.

‘Sigh.’

As she began walking through the city, she heard protest sounds from all around.

Citizens had gathered courage to take to the streets with placards, and the content was quite extreme:

– The King is being controlled by a Black Mage.

– Our land will not be tainted by evil.

– Withdraw. Do not surrender to the vicious demon.

– The Goddess is watching.

And so on.

The phrases were so extreme that those displaying them could be arrested at any moment.

They seemed to have come to the streets with a martyr’s mindset.

“Hmm?”

Yet the kingdom’s military response was lukewarm. Rather than suppressing them by force as expected, they were merely observing.

Feeling puzzled, Lucia entered a shop while surveying the street atmosphere.

A restaurant called Mercen.

It was a bit late for lunch, but that was actually better.

This was a must-visit restaurant whenever Lucia came to Greyfond, one of the best among the best.

Especially sitting by the window, drinking coffee, and watching the street scenery was one of her small pleasures.

The owner of Mercen greeted her with smiling eyes, recognizing his regular customer.

He knew her identity but kindly pretended not to—a person she was grateful for.

“Ah…”

Lucia, who had been happily heading to her usual spot, let out a disappointed sigh when she saw someone already sitting there.

A man was seated there.

With slightly long hair tied back in a ponytail, he was visibly quite handsome.

For some reason, he had a bandage on his cheek, as if someone had hit him.

With a cup of coffee, basking in the sunlight while calmly reading a book, his appearance was enough to make passing women’s hearts flutter.

But to Lucia, he was simply an intruder who had taken her seat.

‘That’s too bad.’

But it couldn’t be helped.

It wasn’t like the seat had her name on it, and the customer had just sat in one of many available spots.

Just as she was about to look for another seat.

Abruptly.

The man stood up and headed to the counter.

Seeing him carrying his coffee cup and book, Lucia quickly sat down, thinking the seat had become available.

“Lucky me.”

Was the Goddess accompanying her?

Thinking this while happily opening the menu to contemplate her choices.

Thud.

Someone sat down in the chair opposite her.

It was the same man, who had refilled his coffee and was now looking at Lucia.

“Ah…”

Realizing her mistake, Lucia tried to get up quickly.

But the man looked at the book in Lucia’s hand and calmly said:

“Rose Mary. A good book.”

His voice matched his appearance—calm yet with an underlying coolness.

The man didn’t seem particularly bothered by Lucia sitting in his seat and gestured as he removed the book cover from the book he had been reading.

It was also the latest volume of Rose Mary.

“Oh.”

As Lucia made an exclamation with a peculiar expression, the man slightly raised his book and said:

“I like this author. Though she uses the pen name Ruse and has never officially shown her face, I’d really like to meet her someday.”

“I-I see…”

Lucia felt her face burning red.

As the Saintess who was secretly writing and serializing romance novels.

Using the pen name “Ruse,” which she had roughly created by taking the first part of her name and title, Lucia Saint.

This was the first time she had met one of her devoted readers like this.

Lucia sat back down, feeling embarrassed.