episode_0529

‘Mirif, you’re a little late.’

Academy Central Park, morning break.

I wait for her at Central Park every week on the day I usually meet her, but today, Mirif didn’t show up for a moment.

It was quite a surprising situation considering that whenever we met like this, he would always come first and wait for me.

I waited for about 30 minutes, wondering if he might be late due to unavoidable circumstances, but Mirif still didn’t show up at the meeting place, so I couldn’t help but have doubts about it.

‘Is the priest a bit busy…?’

He seemed a little tired whenever I saw him recently. I’ve often heard that he usually spends his free time at church treating other students.

I didn’t really try to stop him since he liked doing it, but doing it to the point where he got tired was a different matter.

Besides, I heard that he’s been taking pharmacy classes from Professor Bell recently. To be honest, it wasn’t a level of workload that one person could handle.

‘I hope you didn’t suddenly get tired and collapse on the way here.’

I don’t think it’s to that extent. But, even though she was once an adventurer, how can she not take care of herself properly?

Still, I went to the Academy Church to at least check why he wasn’t showing up. If he was treating students at the church, I could take a quick look and then sneak back.

With that in mind, I briefly visited the Academy Church, but today’s church had a more chaotic atmosphere than usual.

“Sister, haven’t you come back yet…?”

“Yes. Since you left yesterday morning, not at all… .”

“Wait a minute, let’s start with the patient admitted to room 2… .”

“… … ?”

What is this atmosphere?

Aside from the fact that everyone looked busy, the overall atmosphere was ambiguous.

A chaotic atmosphere where it seems as if a serious problem has arisen, but it is not clear whether it is serious or not.

I briefly wondered if it might have something to do with Mirif… but probably not.

‘Mirif isn’t even a character in the main story. Even if something were to happen, there’s no way she’d be involved.’

It can be said that this is a similar principle to how Lizzie, who is Auguste’s daughter and has influence even in the Academy’s commercial district, rarely gets involved in incidents compared to her actions.

Characters who did not appear in the original or did not leave when the time came are not particularly involved in any particular incidents. Unless they really wanted to get involved and forced themselves to show up.

So, even though I thought to myself that it had nothing to do with Miriff…

‘I’m a little anxious.’

For some reason, I had an inexplicable instinct that made me feel that way.

And based on my experience so far, I also know that ignoring this intuition and moving on will not end well.

“Excuse me, I have a question… .”

“Yes?”

“Could you please ask if Father Mirif is here? We were supposed to meet today, but he didn’t show up at the meeting place, so I was wondering if he was busy… .”

“Mirif… Are you talking about the first-year Mirif sisters Aurelia and Niel?”

“… Yes, that’s right.”

… I guess that’s right. I forgot Mirif’s full name, but as far as I know, there aren’t any other priests named Mirif in the first year.

The priestess who heard my story took on a slightly serious expression and then carefully told me about her whereabouts.

“Sister Mirif…hasn’t returned since she went out yesterday morning.”

“… … Yes?”

“We are also looking for our sister who suddenly disappeared. Are you a friend of Sister Mirif?”

“… Yes, that’s true.”

… suddenly disappeared? You didn’t come back after going out yesterday morning?

It was clear that just this one statement was enough to get me into trouble.

I couldn’t imagine that such a sincere girl would suddenly disappear without saying a word to anyone. She, a priest, wouldn’t suddenly have a boyfriend and have a one-night stand or something like that.

Professor Bell, who has been mentioned occasionally in recent stories about Mirif, is a bit suspicious, but it might be too much of a leap to be suspicious of him based on that alone.

I had a strange imagination about a year ago and made a wrong decision, so I had to think carefully and make a decision.

“What is your name?”

“… Release Rosewood… Blackwood.”

“I will tell you the story when my sister returns.”

“Yes… .”

Of course, I couldn’t just wait for the church kids to search.

Luminor Academy was a place where evil conspiracies and dangerous incidents occurred once or twice a month during the time the warrior was attending the academy.

… Even if the group of warriors graduated, we may not be able to feel completely at ease.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from my months on the run is to not think alone or act alone.

I’ve reflected on this many times, thinking that if I hadn’t run away from Blackwood Manor with strange misunderstandings in my head, and if I hadn’t run out alone without consulting anyone, that incident wouldn’t have happened.

I had to tell Ethan, especially if no one else did. I had to tell him that Mirif might be in danger and that I needed his help.

“If you’re talking about Mirif, you’re talking about the priestess that Lilith mentioned? You met her in the Iron Horde and spent time with her in Ermia.”

“Yes, Ethan.”

“That priestess suddenly disappeared… You really have no idea where she is?”

“… None. In the first place, the only places where Miss Mirif can wander around in the academy are the facilities around the academy’s theology department building. Other than me, it seems like she doesn’t have any particularly close friends from other departments.”

“If it’s as the release says, it’s a little suspicious that he hasn’t come back even after one night. Maybe he really got involved in something.”

“… Yes. So I hope you can help me find Mirif somehow. It might be a bit bothersome since he has no relation to Ethan, but he is still a precious friend to me… .”

“You shouldn’t say that, Lilith, it has nothing to do with me.”

“… … Yes?”

“If she’s a friend of Release, she’s important to me too. There’s no way I could irresponsibly ignore the fact that someone like that could be dangerous.”

Ethan said that and took out a small box from his bag.

As soon as I opened the box, which was about the size of a palm, what appeared inside was a familiar-looking blue leaf.

“Ethan, that’s… .”

“I kept it because that guy said he didn’t need it, but I never thought I’d end up using it like this.”

“… … .”

“If we use this, we can probably find that girl named Mirif right away, but I think it would be better to gather people first. If she really was taken away by someone like Princess Mezlen, it could be dangerous for the two of us alone.”

“… Thank you, Ethan.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

For that reason, the Mirif Rescue Team was formed on the spur of the moment.

First, I gathered as many acquaintances as I could from within the academy as possible. Everyone I could use, whether they were helpful or not.

… Unfortunately, most of the trustworthy people graduated last year, so it ended up being a bit of a chaotic party.

“ Senior Release’s friend was kidnapped. I will definitely punish that heinous guy on the honor of our tribe!”

“Oh, it’s not confirmed yet that she was kidnapped. It means that there is a possibility based on the circumstances.”

“But if Lady Rosewood says so, there must be a reason. Miss Agnes also says that Lady Rosewood sometimes shows similar intuition to the warrior.”

“Ha, but this time, I really can’t be sure. I asked Prince Antonio for help, just in case… .”

“It’s okay. I’ve received a lot of help from Lady Rosewood, so I can lend you my strength to this extent.”

“I, I, well, I’m not doing this for anything in return, so you don’t have to worry about it… ? If you want to repay the favor, I think it would be good if you could tell Harold about me naturally and subtly, without being awkward… .”

“… Your Highness, you may come in.”

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Miss Lilith…? I know that this is the moment when my unique magic and Kate’s power are needed the most… .”

… there are whispering leaves, so it’s not like you really need Mezlen’s unique magic.

Kate’s power would actually be used to protect Mezlen, so it wouldn’t have much meaning. To be honest, it was just a power close to plus or minus 0.

Antonio requested that he bring Mezlen, who was in the VIP room with him, because he thought that his personal power was not bad and that he would be of some help if he had an escort (whose name I don’t know). But unfortunately, Mezlen was also in the VIP room with him, so he ended up bringing her along as a bonus.

Lilia is… a little stupid, but she’s strong and kind, so she’ll definitely be helpful.

‘The member composition is a bit unstable.’

If things were as they were, instead of this ragtag bunch, they could have brought in people like Geumbyeoljossegiggyeot (+ the harem trio) and Agnes.

I can only hope that whatever crisis happens to Mirif is nothing serious.