Temple located in the capital.

The high priest who was offering evening prayers suddenly opened his eyes wide and staggered.

His silver hair that reached his shoulders swayed a beat later.

The chief priest standing beside him to guard him tilted his head.

“Are you alright, Your Holiness?”

“It’s a disaster. The barrier sealing the demon’s egg has just been disturbed.”

“Oh no! Is it the work of the Red Eagle again?”

“It must be. How could they create and cast such a powerful curse!”

The high priest left the prayer room and hurriedly headed to his own room.

Then he opened the wardrobe and began rummaging through the pile of clothes inside.

“Then should I summon the priests right away?”

“No. As soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, we’ll visit the Military Academy first. I need to meet Young Lord Wiegratz too… Anyway, prepare for a secret inspection as we need to go discreetly.”

The high priest then muttered softly, ‘While we’re at it, I should meet the owner of the holy sword.’

Meanwhile, he started taking out thick-lensed glasses and a postal service uniform from the wardrobe.

‘When did he prepare such things?’

Among them was also a suspicious uniform with the language of Universe Number M612, Ertha written on it.

Even the chief priest, who had mastered hundreds of foreign languages, couldn’t read that language perfectly, but it seemed to say something like ‘Dawn Delivery’.

“But Your Holiness, the imperial family is still searching for the missing holy sword. What do you mean by meeting its owner?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You just muttered it.”

“Jerome, you have such good hearing. You must have misheard.”

The high priest said contradictory things while handing a shabby postal uniform to the chief priest as well.

“What is this, Your Holiness?”

“You know, Jerome. The cadets at the Military Academy are no different from wild beasts, though they’re called students. I can’t go to such a dangerous place alone.”

“You’re someone who usually wanders around alone just fine. Why are you acting like this? Did you do something to deserve being stabbed by a cadet there?”

“N-No way. Haha. I just feel comfortable with Jerome around.”

“……”

“It’s true, I tell you. Then let’s sneak out through the back door tomorrow morning. I’ll tell the other priests that I’m going into fasting prayer with Jerome.”

“Haaa…”

The chief priest, Jerome, received the uniform with a deep sigh.

He felt like he might meet the Goddess before his superior while assisting the unpredictable high priest.

At the same time, Rukna Golden, who had been following the guidance of the holy sword, found Matian Wiegratz collapsed in the alley of Closet College.

‘What’s wrong with this guy?’

Could he have fallen victim to the ominous energy the holy sword had mentioned?

The sight of such a powerful being helplessly collapsed was both shocking and frightening.

‘Hey Visby. Hey, Visby!’

She urgently called out to the holy sword, but there was no response, perhaps because Matian was present.

“This won’t do. Let’s call someone.”

Above all, she couldn’t possibly move this body alone.

As Rukna was about to leave the alley again, something suddenly grabbed her ankle.

“Ah!”

Startled, Rukna fell on her backside. Matian’s hand was gripping her ankle.

“Matian? Are you conscious?”

Judging by his silence, it seemed he had reached out unconsciously.

‘Did he grab me to prevent me from calling others?’

Well, Matian would hate to be seen in such a state.

Like a swan that swims gracefully on the surface but struggles desperately underneath.

Rukna turned back and slung Matian’s firm arm over her shoulder.

Then, in a crouching position, she hoisted him onto her back and stood up with a groan.

‘Even though I’ve gotten quite strong, he’s really heavy.’

His appearance was like a sculpture, but was he really made of marble? He was a man who resembled a stone in many ways – cold and hard to the touch despite his pretty exterior.

‘If I hadn’t trained every dawn, I wouldn’t have been able to move even one of his legs.’

Now, let’s find the infirmary.

In fact, the infirmary at Saint Military Academy was notorious for its terrible treatment.

Even for serious lacerations, they would roughly stop the bleeding and just apply some red ointment.

Because of this, there were widespread rumors that the school nurse went mad from overwork due to many cadets visiting frequently for their frequent sparring injuries, or that she was a quack from the beginning.

‘But I don’t have any other options right now.’

Rukna moved while carrying Matian on her back.

In the meantime, his body, which had completely lost consciousness, sagged down even more heavily.

‘Ugh, this is hard. He’s too heavy!’

Rukna arrived in front of the infirmary with trembling legs like a newborn giraffe.

Seeing the infirmary light on, it seemed fortunately that the school nurse was still there.

At the same time, the infirmary door slid open, and a middle-aged woman wearing black glasses suddenly poked her head out.

The red droplets splattered on her worn dress looked just like blood.

“I thought someone was looking for me.”

The woman smiled gently, facing straight ahead rather than in Rukna’s direction. She seemed to be blind.

“Oh, it wasn’t this way. My mistake.”

This time, the middle-aged woman’s head turned sharply in Rukna’s exact direction. Yikes, that startled me.

“Who… are you?”

Rukna asked the woman who looked rather suspicious.

“The person watching you fall.”

Huh? She didn’t understand the meaning, but anyway, does that mean she can see?

“Don’t be so tense. I was just joking since you were pretending not to know me. Come in quickly, Cadet Golden.”

The woman pointed inside the infirmary while feeling her way forward with the white cane she held in one hand.

‘If she recognized me, does that mean she can see? Or not?’

Rukna examined the cane.

The white, straight rod with an opaque crystal attached to it looked more like a magician’s staff than a blind person’s cane.

The woman put on a white coat that had been carelessly thrown onto the bookshelf.

Blue embroidery on the chest read ‘School Nurse Gail’.

Seeing the dandelion flower tucked into the pocket next to it, she seemed to have quite a romantic personality.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. Have you perhaps lost your old memories, Rukna?”

The school nurse asked while rummaging through the medicine drawers on the wall.

Unlike her hand movements checking the braille on the medicine bottles, she accurately pinpointed Rukna’s thoughts.

“H-How did you know?”

“It’s exactly the feeling of someone who’s lost their memories. Seems you’ve forgotten about me too. Isn’t my diagnosis spot on?”

The feeling of someone who’s lost their memories? Rukna turned her head to examine her expression reflected in the glass cabinet.

Her usual expressionless face didn’t seem special at all.

‘Does the school nurse have some kind of special ability?’

“Don’t treat me like I’m possessed. First, why don’t you lay Matian down over there? By the way, I’ve gained inner sight in exchange for losing my physical sight, so don’t repeat the same questions.”

The school nurse pointed her cane at a clean patient bed.

Rukna stared at the teacher, surprised to have her inner thoughts read.

“Even with inner sight, I can’t hear the voice of your heart, so stop worrying needlessly and lay Matian down quickly.”

“What? Oh, yes, yes.”

She’s reading it. She must be reading it!

Flustered, Rukna hastily and roughly laid Matian on the bed.

His jet-black hair was scattered across his forehead, damp with sweat.

Even that looked so picturesque that Rukna quickly lowered her gaze, amazed.

The hem of his pants and his shoes were covered in dust. It seemed his long legs had been dragging on the ground the entire way here.

‘That’s because of Matian’s long legs, not my fault.’

Rukna turned around while dusting off her hands and was startled.

“Ah! You scared me!”

The school nurse was standing right behind Rukna, holding a red medicine bottle.

“What can you do about his legs dragging on the ground because they’re so long? Matian will understand you too.”

“…!”

“Stop being so startled. As I said before, your thoughts are all revealed in the emotions you exude. So you should learn to hide your emotions at least as well as Matian does.”

“You’re the first person to read my mind so well, ma’am.”

“Well, that’s how mothers are, aren’t they? They can read what their child is thinking just by the rolling of their eyes.”

“C-Could you be my mother?”

The question came out before she could think it through.

Although she had been told by Giselle in the past that her parents had died in a carriage accident, the word “mother” had unconsciously triggered something in her.

At the same time, she naturally thought of Sister Agnes who had taken care of her with utmost devotion in her past life.

She had no lingering attachment to her past life, but Sister Agnes was the one thing that weighed on her mind.

‘If she hears the news that I died from overwork, she’ll be sad. I wish she didn’t know.’

Rukna worried about the only person who would mourn Kim Ha Yoon’s death.

The school nurse lowered the ends of her eyebrows, drew out a long “Oh my,” and then smiled bitterly.

“Unfortunately, I’m not your mother. Let’s say I’m a helper who’s taken good care of you like a mother.”

Helper. Rukna belatedly recalled the information the holy sword had given when she first entered the Military Academy, saying there was a helper at the school.

“I’m sorry. I have no memory at all.”

“What are you apologizing for? By the way, you must have been training hard. You’ve become incredibly strong? Being able to carry that big guy here easily.”

The school nurse placed her palm over Matian lying on the sickbed and roughly scanned his entire body.

Then she opened the cap of the red medicine and applied it to his forehead.

Wait. Isn’t that the medicine used for scratches?

“Just a moment, ma’am. Why are you applying that to his forehead?”

“He lost consciousness, so I thought his head might hurt.”

The school nurse answered confidently. I thought she was mystical, but is she just a bit strange?

“Rukna, could you take off Matian’s shirt?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m holding medicine bottles in both hands. Ah, is it too much to ask a girl to do this?”