Analysis

The Guild's main doors closed behind Esper. Yat walked ahead, already three steps down.

Then, she heard another set of footsteps coming from the other side of the square.

“Esper.”

Constantine emerged from the corridor on the east side of the square, clutching something in his hand.

A thin silver chain dangled from between his fingers, swaying in the morning light like a sparkling arc of light.

He stopped just a few paces away from Esper and held out his clenched hand.

“Take this with you.”

It was a necklace. A very fine silver chain hung with a thumbnail-sized magic stone. Silver and black stripes wound alternately across its surface, resembling the pupil of some living creature.

“What is this?”

“Noelle asked me to give this to you.”

He pressed the necklace into Esper's hand.

“When I contacted her, she was still asleep—or rather, she had just woken up. In short, she said she can't make it here in person right now, but she can temporarily fulfill her duties as a team member through this. She said all you need to do is channel your mana into the magic stone.”

Esper looked down at the necklace in her palm.

The silver chain was very delicate, and the surface of the magic stone was smooth and cold. The silver and black stripes flowed slowly in the sunlight, like liquid ink dispersing and gathering in water.

“She's still sleeping...”

A hint of urgency and anxiety crept into Esper's tone.

“That doesn't matter. What matters is that she's a Rank Eight expert, and she's on our side.”

Yat looked back from the bottom of the steps, her gaze bouncing between the necklace and Esper, and then she shrugged.

“I'll wait for you outside. No rush.”

After saying that, she turned around, stood with her back to the Guild's doors, and looked up at the sky. This posture was clearly meant to give Esper some space.

Esper squeezed the necklace in her hand and took a deep breath. Then, she channeled her mana into the magic stone.

All light and sound were stripped away in an instant.

Esper felt as if her entire being had been gently lifted out of reality and placed into a completely different space.

The entire process took less than the blink of an eye.

The stone pavers of the Guild square were no longer beneath her feet.

She was standing in a parlor.

There was no source of light; it seemed to naturally permeate the air from all directions. The tone was somewhere between candlelight and moonlight—a warm, subtle amber.

The air was filled with a faint, sweet scent of old book pages and herbs. It wasn't strong, but rather floated subtly between every breath.

In front of her was a round table.

On the table sat a white porcelain teacup, with a faint wisp of steam rising from its rim.

Opposite her was a high-backed armchair. Seated in it was a girl.

She looked like an entirely different species from the adventurers in the City of Holy Radiance who ran around with bounty posters asking for news about the Hero.

Her dark blue mage robes were crumpled around her, and there was a small, uncleaned ink stain on her cuff.

Her long, silver-and-black striped hair was draped over her shoulders. A few rebellious strands stuck out from behind her ears, resting on the armrest before sliding down.

She was slumped in the chair in an extremely casual, unrefined posture.

Her upper body rested on the table, one hand propping up her chin while the other lay on the tabletop, her fingers playing with the handle of the teacup.

Her eyes were clear.

In the dim light, her silver-gray pupils shone like polished silverware.

“Hello there, nice to meet you.”

Her voice wasn't deep.

She spoke at a moderate pace, somewhat lazy, with just the right amount of casual ease.

“I am Noelle. Noelle Gray. The Deputy of the Mage Tower, and also your future teammate. Meeting this way is a bit of a surprise, but it's no big deal.”

“...Yes, I'm Esper. The Hero.”

Esper replied in a low voice.

Noelle nodded and sat up straight in her chair, her fingers stopping their play with the teacup.

“Due to Teacher Wald's instructions, I cannot come to assist you in person for the time being. The specific reasons are quite troublesome to explain, so just think of it as some academic precaution. But there's no need to worry. Just through this necklace, it is enough for me to help you complete your mission.”

“Okay.”

“By the way, Teacher Wald mentioned it to me. I know you're a vampire and allergic to holy light. So you don't need to hide it from me when planning strategies.”

“...Okay.”

She reached out a finger and lightly tapped the tabletop.

The tabletop lit up instantly. Silver lines of light radiated outward from where her fingertip touched the table, spreading along the wood grain to form a grid-like layout.

In the next instant, the light rose upward, folding into a three-dimensional outline of the parlor, with even more outlines nested inside it.

The table, chairs, walls, the light fixtures on the ceiling, the teacup in her hand... every object was outlined in translucent silver lines, floating layer upon layer above the tabletop.

Then, three small points of light emerged in front of her.

“Mind Link, Basic Space Construction, and Thought Acceleration.”

She tapped the three floating points of light on the table one by one. Each point emitted a soft ding when touched.

“Constructed together by these three spells engraved on the pendant, we have this parlor.

Mind Link is used to connect our subjective minds, Space Construction is used to host our conversation, and Thought Acceleration is used to adjust the flow of time...

By the way, this is also my favorite spell. It's just a bit heavy on the brain's cognitive load. But since I'm resting inside the tower right now, this small load is no big deal.”

“...Why must you construct a parlor?”

“Having a physical form to ground things makes it easier to construct other objects. Magic is very profound, you know. For example, right now, I can share a field of vision of the real world equal to the size of this parlor, and I can perform spell interference on reality within this parlor's range. Though, the prerequisite is that you have to activate me first.”

“...I've never studied that at all.”

“What a pity. I can tutor you for free later.”

She withdrew her finger, leaned back against the chair, and folded her hands over her knees.

“In short, because of Thought Acceleration, the time spent thinking here is far less than in the outside world. This means we can leisurely analyze intelligence, review battles, and formulate tactics without worrying about the sky outside growing dark.

At the same time, even if you don't channel mana into it, I can still observe the surroundings through the magic stone and communicate with you. I just won't be able to construct spell matrices.

And finally, there's one last point. If you inject an excessive amount of mana into the magic stone, it will respond to your power and grant you boosts to things like intelligence and magic affinity. In a sense, it can be considered an extra buff. It also seems to strengthen your compatibility with 『Wisdom』, though I haven't tried that myself.”

Noelle paused slightly, then raised her chin a fraction, casting her gaze straight across the table.

“Oh, and to add, I won't force you to do anything. After all, I'm just a member of your team. My job is to offer advice, analyze intelligence, and coordinate with you to complete missions in battle.

If there's anything you don't understand, or if you have questions you want to discuss with me, don't hesitate. Ask away, and I will answer them one by one.”

At this point, she fished an old pocket watch from her cuff, flipped open the cover to glance at it, and snapped it shut.

“So, before we begin, let's list the most urgent issues at hand. Which problem do you want to tackle first? Is it about the Saintess who might be controlled, the power of the Black Tide, or some other enemy?”

As Noelle spoke, her crumpled mage robes slipped down two inches from her shoulder.

She reached out and yanked it back up, her movements so practiced she had clearly done it countless times.

Esper fell silent for a moment.

She unbuckled the Holy Sword from her waist and placed it on her knees. The white light on the blade appeared exceptionally cold against the amber glow of the parlor. Her fingers rubbed back and forth on the hilt wrapping twice, and then she looked up.

“Eladia. My Saintess. She left the City of Holy Radiance last night and headed north toward the Black Tide contaminated zone.”

Noelle nodded, not interrupting.

“The Pope said she betrayed us, that she was corrupted by the Black Tide and joined the death marchers willingly. But I don't believe it. She wouldn't be corrupted so easily, and she would never betray me. Absolutely not.”

Noelle still did not interrupt.

She didn't ask Esper why she was so certain; she only let her silver-gray eyes brighten a bit more than before.

“But she left very decisively, without any sign of being stopped. The gate guards saw her leave, but no one stopped her, and no one felt they should. The entire city felt that the Saintess's departure was only natural.”

“Only natural?”

Noelle repeated the words, her tone rising slightly at the end.

“Meaning, these people genuinely felt in their hearts that her leaving was normal?”

“Yes. The Pope said they needed someone else to point it out before they noticed anything was wrong.”

“The Pope said that?”

Noelle's tone remained flat, simply confirming.

“Yes. She said Eladia chose to betray us on her own, and she claimed she was worshipping and didn't have time to stop her. But that's a lie. She knew exactly what was happening from beginning to end. She did it on purpose.”

“Indeed, this level of disguise is not difficult for the current Pope.”

Noelle nodded slowly, then let out a small yawn.

“So, do you have any theories on how the Saintess is being controlled?”

“...It's faith, isn't it?”

“A friend of mine once told me that faith has a certain ability to alter cognition and brainwash people.”

Noelle stopped fiddling with her pocket watch.

“Hmm... but if it's only that, it wouldn't be enough to satisfy the conditions for the Saintess's betrayal.”

“...What?”

“The so-called death marchers are entities swept away by obsession or hatred, eventually falling into the Abyss. If Beatrice only used faith to brainwash her, that wouldn't be enough to directly cause the Saintess to fall.”

“...”

“Hmm... how troublesome. It's not like the grand Pope would possess a forbidden item capable of directly plunging someone into the Black Tide, keep it unused all this time, and then suddenly use it on a Saintess belonging to her own Church, right?”

“...”

“Oh, wait. She is Beatrice.”

Noelle clapped her hands.

“But we shouldn't speculate with too much malice. Let's guess in another direction.

Eladia, our diligent and chaste saint, the great Saintess. Her mental state was actually on the verge of being captured by the Black Tide all along, and she was barely holding on to keep from completely breaking down.

Then, Beatrice gave her one final push at the edge of the cliff.

With just that single push, Eladia was captured by the Black Tide.

Her pain and despair were recognized by the Abyss at that moment, so the Abyss extended an olive branch to her.”

“...Ela...”

“Beatrice probably didn't expect it at first either. She just wanted to cause some trouble for fun, and then accidentally went too far. But she quickly realized this turn of events was even more interesting than what she had originally planned, so she simply rolled with it and let the Saintess run off.”

“...”

Noelle sighed.

“She might indeed be corrupted, and she might indeed have betrayed you. Even if it wasn't her own wish, it's still an undeniable fact.

You've seen the death marchers, right? Obsessive, self-centered, and unreasonable. Though there are occasionally individuals you can communicate with, the influence of the Abyss will continuously reconstruct their minds until they are completely loyal to it, becoming sowers of calamity and despair.

Trying to break the brainwashing of faith is already incredibly difficult. Trying to drag her soul out of the Abyss on top of that is even harder...”

She paused.

“Esper, how important is she to you?”

“If there is even a sliver of hope, I will pull her back at all costs, no matter what I have to pay.”

The Hero replied without the slightest hesitation.

“She is my friend, the one who accompanied me on my journey and gave me comfort. I absolutely cannot just stand by and watch her walk away to her ruin.”

Noelle clapped her hands.

“Alright, then how important do you think you are to her? How much confidence do you have that you can make her remember you, remember that she is Eladia, and remember that she still has a reason to return?

You won't just be facing her; there might be other death marchers interfering to keep this sudden, powerful asset on their side. This time, it's the Black Tide's home turf, and you might encounter enemies far more terrifying than before.

Do you have absolute confidence that you can bring her back?”

“Yes.”

Esper replied.

“You didn't even hesitate? Being this decisive is actually a bit suspicious, you know?”

Noelle teased.

“I don't care about any of those other things. I promised her that I would become her reason to live.”

If she needs a companion, then I will be that companion.

If she needs an anchor to keep herself from falling, then I will be that anchor.

If she needs a place she can call home, then I will be that home.

“We promised each other.”

“Hoho.”

Noelle stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded in understanding.

“Though I don't fully understand this situation, I like your answer. After all, even if things go south, it's not me who's going to die.”

“...Are you really supposed to say that out loud?”

“It doesn't matter. In short, since you've made up your mind, then go, Hero.”

She sank back into her chair, returning to her lazy tone.

“For now, go catch up to her. If any problems arise on the way, just channel your mana into the magic stone.”

“...Okay.”

“Do your best.”

.

Esper opened her eyes. The morning light of the Guild square shone on her face, warm and comforting.

The Holy Sword still rested on her knees, the white light on its blade slowly flowing.

She opened her palm. The necklace lay there, carrying her body heat.

She stood up, slipped the necklace around her neck, and pushed open the Guild's doors.

Out on the square, Yat was leaning against the base of a statue by the fountain, listlessly peeling an apple with a dagger.

Hearing the door open, she looked up and tossed the peeled apple skin into the soil of a nearby flowerbed.

“Finished?”

“Let's go.”