They had set out at once—but only for a moment.
No sooner had Theodora entered the corridor than she was forced to stop.
Apart from her reluctance, she understood the contents of the order, but she had realized she had forgotten the most important part.
‘Where am I supposed to go?’
She fell into thought as she looked at the fork in the path before her.
Normally, she could simply check the timetable and follow him to class, but unfortunately, today was a holiday.
She had no choice but to determine Ashen’s whereabouts herself.
The problem was that she had no clues for doing so.
Theodora did have a certain degree of personal fondness for Ashen, but that was all.
She had no idea what he liked or how he usually spent his time.
The only information she knew was…
‘He was part of Humilitas.’
Come to think of it, was her name Cecilia?
The noble young lady who had once vented her complaints about Ashen to her came to mind.
‘I’ll have to ask her.’
Having decided on her destination, Theodora began moving again.
A short while later, in the Humilitas lounge.
Theodora did her best to ignore the gazes of the other students staring at her and searched for her target.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Cecilia approached her first.
“What brings you here, Miss Theodora?”
“Ah, Lady Cecilia. It’s good to see you.”
Theodora greeted her with her usual smile.
Unlike before, however, Cecilia was looking at her with wary eyes.
Seeing that, Theodora gave a bitter smile.
‘I suppose she’s hated me since the dungeon exploration incident.’
From Cecilia’s perspective, Theodora was one of the people behind that incident.
In reality, the one who had manipulated the affair from behind the scenes was Ramsey alone, but—
‘Lady Cecilia believes I stand above Ramsey.’
Even so, she couldn’t very well reveal the truth here just to clear up the misunderstanding.
Theodora maintained her kindly expression while sighing inwardly.
“There’s someone I’m looking for personally.”
“Someone?”
“Yes, a student named Ashen. Would you happen to know where he is?”
At Theodora’s words, Cecilia’s eyebrows twitched.
For a moment, Cecilia remained silent without answering.
The way her gaze shifted about was likely because she suspected Theodora was plotting something again.
Sensing that, Theodora simply acted with the same expression as before.
In the end, perhaps having found nothing suspicious, Cecilia let out a sigh and opened her mouth.
“By now, he’s probably gone to the library.”
“…You’re telling me more readily than I expected. Why?”
“Because no matter what you do, Ashen won’t be shaken.”
“Is that so… I understand. So he’s in the library?”
“Yes. He said there were materials he absolutely had to find. It seemed urgent enough that he even left Miss Lena, who’s always with him, behind.”
“I see.”
“Wait.”
Just as Theodora, having heard her destination, was about to move, Cecilia stopped her.
“I’m saying this just in case, but don’t even think about harming him. He is a precious friend of mine.”
Theodora turned her head slightly and looked at Cecilia.
The noble young lady who had once been full of complaints was nowhere to be seen.
She was trying to protect someone precious to her by her own will.
Unlike herself, who was a puppet of the Church.
“You’ve changed, my lady.”
“I met a good friend, you see.”
Theodora hesitated for a moment, then nodded to Cecilia.
“I will not do him any harm.”
“I’ll trust that promise.”
No sooner had Cecilia finished speaking than Theodora hurried toward the library, as though fleeing from that promise.
Twenty minutes later.
After arriving at the library, Theodora was able to find Ashen before long.
Using the sunlight as his lamp, he was quietly turning pages at a seat near the window.
Seeing that peaceful figure, the monstrous strength he had shown in the dungeon before seemed like a lie.
‘Come to think of it, this person is a student too.’
Though he sometimes seemed far older, he too was an academy student.
She couldn’t be certain, but their actual age difference was probably not very large.
Was it truly right to become friends with someone like that for the sake of bringing about another’s downfall?
‘Don’t think about it.’
She had no right to think for herself.
Comforting herself that way, Theodora, who had been hesitating, approached Ashen.
With a smile on her lips that looked as though it had been crafted onto a wax doll.
**
‘So this really is all there is?’
I clicked my tongue lightly as I looked at the book before me.
It was a fairly thick book, but the material I was actually looking for amounted to only a few pages.
And if you stripped away the useless embellishments, it was really only a few lines.
‘It’ll be hard to find information on the Bloodstained Lord through history books.’
Closing the book, I let out a small sigh.
Ever since my meeting with Victor, I had been looking for information on the Bloodstained Lord whenever I had time, but it wasn’t easy.
‘I thought if I found out about it, something might change.’
At this rate, wouldn’t it be better to try to find Victor instead?
Suppressing the useless thoughts that kept dragging on, I shifted my gaze to the next book.
After turning a few pages dealing with ancient history, I saw a record concerning the Bloodstained Lord.
My eyes lit up and I read that section, but I soon had no choice but to be disappointed.
The Bloodstained Lord. A legendary knight who existed in ancient times. Though brutal in his methods, records remain that he aided the common people. There are records that he used powers reminiscent of a vampire, but their credibility is unknown.
‘It’s exactly the same as what I already know.’
This book was no good either.
Just as I thought that and closed the book, I felt a gaze looking at me from a distance.
‘Hm?’
When I raised my head and looked toward the source of the gaze, a familiar woman entered my sight.
Beautiful silver hair, jewel-like violet eyes, androgynous beauty, and a men’s uniform.
‘Theodora?’
Did the Church send her to monitor me?
‘Looks like my reading ends here.’
Just as I was thinking that and about to rise from my seat, Theodora approached me and greeted me.
“It’s good to see you, Ashen. This is the first time since the dungeon exploration, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
I pretended to be calm as I observed her expression.
As always, her smile was so perfect it felt like a painting.
It was beautiful, but the artificial feeling was so strong that it made me uncomfortable.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I wanted to offer my greetings regarding the dungeon exploration incident. There was also what happened at the herb shop. Ah, before that, may I sit?”
“Go ahead.”
Theodora sat across from me and looked at the book I had been reading.
For an instant, interest flashed through her eyes.
“Are you researching the Bloodstained Lord?”
“I’ve been looking into various things. But it’s nothing more than personal interest, so I doubt I can really discuss it.”
“Certainly, his records are far too obscure to appear on a history exam.”
As she said that, Theodora pulled a book from a nearby shelf.
‘A theology book?’
Just as I was beginning to wonder why she had suddenly picked out such a book, she opened it to a certain page and showed it to me.
Drawn there was a magical beast I had never seen before, reminiscent of a red dragon.
“This is…”
“The blood-colored magical beast described in the scriptures of the Church of the Six Great Gods. Among theologians, opinions are divided over whether this might be the Bloodstained Lord.”
‘So this is why I couldn’t find it.’
Looking at the contents of the theology book, which contained a fairly lengthy record, I let out a hollow laugh.
I had planned to look through theology books only as a last resort in order to minimize my involvement with the Church of the Six Great Gods, and yet things had gone wrong from that very point.
‘I’ll have to reflect on that.’
Nodding, I asked Theodora, who was still smiling in front of me.
“Why did you help me?”
“If I said it was pure goodwill, you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”
“No.”
At my flat answer, a bitter light passed briefly through Theodora’s eyes.
But she soon returned to her usual expression and continued speaking.
“Then let’s call it a bribe for you. There’s something I want from you.”
“What do you want?”
“Let’s talk about that a little later. More importantly, aren’t you going to read it?”
I looked at Theodora for a moment, then let out a small sigh.
“Before that, I should thank you first. Thank you, Miss Theodora. Thanks to you, I’ve found out where the materials I need are.”
“Don’t mention it.”
After saying that, Theodora brought over several more books.
Each one was a theology text boasting considerable thickness, and all of them contained records about the blood-colored magical beast.
“Besides these, there are quite a few passages concerning this blood-colored magical beast. They include metaphors, so they may be difficult to understand unless you’ve studied theology in earnest.”
“Is that so?”
“So, would you consider accepting my proposal?”
“A proposal… Please be more specific. What is it that you want?”
“How would you like to study theology with me?”
At Theodora’s question, I closed my mouth for a moment and fell into thought.
Certainly, in order to research the Bloodstained Lord, studying theology had now become essential.
Of course, I did know some things about theology, but what I knew was only information.
It would be much easier to have someone who had studied it properly with me.
However…
‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea to spend time with the Church’s puppet.’
Should I keep as much distance from her as possible?
Or should I make use of her in reverse and feed confusion into the Church’s information network?
As I continued to ponder, I observed Theodora’s complexion.
Over her perfect smile, her beautiful yet empty eyes came into view.
A figure utterly different from the “original her” in my memories.
Seeing that, I became certain.
‘I should keep her close after all.’
I was reluctant to get closer to the Church, but more than that, I needed information about Theodora.
As a player character, she was originally an existence no different from this world’s protagonist.
If I left her broken like this, I had no idea what might happen in the future.
Having finished my judgment, I immediately nodded and agreed with her.
“Very well. Then let’s study theology together.”
“That’s good to hear. Then when shall we begin?”
“Let’s start three days from now. I have another appointment after this today, and there are things I need to prepare.”
With those words, I rose from my seat.
A trace of disappointment passed through Theodora’s eyes, but she did not follow me.
Before leaving, I looked at her face once more.
A perfect yet empty expression. What was hidden beneath it?
As I was now, I did not know.