The manager did not speak the truth, but everything was written plainly on his face.
Lovene did not expose him, nor did she press further about the whereabouts of those Church Knights. After healing the manager's legs, she attended the farewell banquet Marcus and Elena had prepared for her.
Many people who had crossed paths with Lovene attended the banquet—Wint the worker, Vera the physician, Gale the knight... They crowded around Lovene, chatting endlessly, mostly offering words of caution and advice. For a moment, it truly made her feel as if she were leaving home.
After the banquet, Lovene and Mia boarded the carriage waiting outside the lord's manor.
Crack—!
As the whip cracked, the carriage slowly departed. Sitting inside the carriage, Lovene heard the scattered farewells fading behind her. She did not look back, only turning her head slightly to gaze at the moon outside the window.
Parting was for the sake of a better reunion.
She believed that once she broke free from the church's shackles in the future, she and the people of Oswell territory would eventually meet again.
The carriage bumped along slowly. The scenery outside transitioned from the coastal landscape of Oswell territory to a deeper, darker green. The trees on both sides of the road grew taller, casting shadows that moved slowly across the edges of the carriage curtains.
Sido territory was very far from Oswell territory. It was a county, and it was said to be rich in iron ore and far more prosperous than Oswell territory—a true major city.
Although she didn't know what the holy relic in Sido territory was, since it was a contest, the Church of the Morning Light would certainly not be the only ones vying for it. She just wondered who else would join the fray.
Lovene turned her head, the light from outside tracing the line of her shoulder. After a long silence, she suddenly turned to Mia and said, “Mia, can you teach me magic?”
She had thought it through.
Her mana level had risen, but she didn't know any offensive magic. Thus, her actual combat ability was probably inferior to even a Rank Two knight.
This wouldn't do.
She had to learn how to fight. Even the most basic magic could save her life or even turn the tables on an enemy at a critical moment.
Mia turned her head, somewhat puzzled. “Magic? But Your Highness, the prerequisite for learning magic is possessing mana. You...”
A Church Saintess could not possess mana.
She didn't finish the sentence, fearing she would hurt Lovene's feelings. But to her surprise, Lovene shook her head, completely unbothered.
“I know. A Church Saintess cannot possess mana. But if it's just unranked mana, I'm sure the church won't make things difficult for me, right?”
As she spoke, she lightly clenched her fingers and then released them. A faint, warm glow flickered in her palm before quickly dispersing.
The glow was not as stable as actual mana; it was hazy, like a candle flame flickering in the wind, but she had indeed channeled it.
Mia was somewhat surprised. “Your Highness, since when do you have mana?!”
Though that wisp of mana was hazy, it was undeniably real mana!
Lovene withdrew her hand and rested it on her lap. She blinked, pretending to hesitate. “It seems to be recently. I don't really know when it suddenly appeared, but it's just unranked mana, nothing to make a fuss about.”
Mia took her hands, a faint trace of excitement in her voice. “To possess mana without even actively absorbing it... Your Highness, perhaps you are truly gifted in magic. If you received formal training, you might even become a great magic tutor in the future. What a pity...”
At this point, she froze.
What a pity indeed, for a Church Saintess was not allowed to possess real mana.
She realized her careless words had pricked Lovene's wound again. She looked up cautiously, but Lovene simply waved her hand. “Let's not talk about that. For now, I just want to learn magic.”
A wound?
The wound of not being able to possess mana had long since healed.
Unranked? Please, she was already at mid stage Rank Three! If she weren't barred from telling anyone this secret, she would have shown off in front of Mia long ago!
But truth be told, this Silver Moon Bracelet was truly amazing. Even Mia, whose mana level had reached Rank Five, could not see through her true mana level.
If she wanted to believe it was unranked, then so be it. What Lovene needed to do now was quietly build up her strength and then shock everyone!
Mia fell silent for a moment, then waved her hand, using magic to summon an old book.
Its spine bore creases from repeated reading, and the corners of the cover were curled. She handed the book over. “I have an introductory book on basic magic here. It contains some magic tutorials. You can take a look, Your Highness.”
Lovene took it and opened it to the table of contents.
The terms were lined up neatly on the page with clear margins. After skimming through the introduction, she stopped on one of the first few pages, her fingertip sliding across the paper. “Fireball? Fire-Binding Curse?”
Muttering to herself, she began to cast Fireball according to the book's instructions. However, when she raised her fingertip, the space where the spell should have manifested remained completely empty.
She narrowed her eyes, as if checking if she had missed something. Mia couldn't help but chuckle, covering her mouth. “Fireball is the most basic magic, usually used by apprentices as an entry-level spell. Even so, it takes a normal apprentice at least a week to learn it. For someone like me, it took three days to—”
Before she could finish, a tiny spark suddenly flickered on Lovene's index finger, rapidly expanding into a fist-sized fireball in a split second.
It hovered in the air for a moment, flickered twice, and then slowly went out.
Lovene looked down at the finger that had just ignited the fireball, then turned to Mia with an innocent look. “Three days to what?”
Mia opened her mouth, swallowing the words of self-praise she was about to say. She quickly whispered, “Three days to... teach an apprentice Fireball.”
Then, her eyes lit up as she changed the subject. “To learn Fireball so quickly... Your Highness, you are truly a genius!”
Indeed, learning Fireball after just a single glance made her a genius of a magic apprentice, no matter the era or location.
If Lovene were not the Saintess of the Church of the Morning Light but an ordinary person, Mia would have been exceptionally thrilled by her genius. But at this moment, she felt only heartache and loneliness.
How cruel it was for such a gifted magic apprentice to be unable to possess mana.
It was an incredibly cruel reality.
At this moment, Her Highness must be feeling so sad...
She looked up, only to find that the young girl, who should have been in pain, showed no signs of sorrow. Instead, she was eagerly looking at the next spell in the book—the Fire-Binding Curse—and practicing it with great anticipation.
...Of course, Her Highness was simply too kind. She was so kind that even if reality was full of thorns, she would embrace it without hesitation, unbothered even if she was left bleeding all over.
If Her Highness did not feel the pain, why should she, as her Holy Knight, feel this way?
Her own gloom would only affect Her Highness. It would be better to put aside this sorrow and immerse herself in the ocean of magic with Her Highness, experiencing the mysteries of mana together.
After failing to cast the Fire-Binding Curse several times, Lovene looked at the spark flickering on her fingertip, shook her head, and sighed. “As expected, magic isn't as simple as I thought.”
Hearing this, Mia gave her a complicated look. “...Your Highness, the Fire-Binding Curse is a high-tier magic with great power. For an apprentice to learn it, it would take two or three years. Even producing a single spark usually takes half a year...”
Seeing Lovene produce a spark so easily, Mia suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. She no longer wanted to immerse herself in the ocean of magic with Her Highness to experience its mystery.
After all... mana only seemed mysterious in front of her. In front of Lovene, it was like a beautiful girl stripped of her clothes, waiting for her favor.
Rate on N.U.
