Yes.
There was no point in denying the truthâhe was right. That was exactly what I was after because I had the highest chance of becoming an aura master. After all, Ephael was still only an advanced aura expert. Even Tesilid, who was a supreme aura expert like myself, would only become an aura master after Loop Forty, according to the original story. He still has a long way to go.
Tesilid laughed out loud and remarked, "Fine. You take it, Allie."
"Really?" I replied, beaming in delight at his kind words.
"What about my opinion?" Ephael groused. "I might still want it."
"Perhaps you should reach supreme first," Tesilid suggested.
"Ugh."
That was all it took for Ephael to admit defeat, awarding me the Blooming Sword skill book. Picking up the skill book, I carefully placed it in the inventory, telling myself that I'd learn it as soon as I became an aura master.
When the allocation of the loot was complete, I sent the rest of the division members away except for Tesilid. The two of us needed to address the issue of monetizing the minor items to share them with not just the knight division, but with Hilde, Raewyn, and Prinz as well.
While he was scratching away at the accounting ledger with his elegant handwriting, my deputy commander calmly suggested, "Allie, don't you think we should hire an administrative assistant who can handle jobs like this for the division?"
I pondered his proposal. "An administrative assistant, huh?"
It wasn't a bad idea. We definitely needed someone who could help with all the paperwork. Thankfully, the perfect person popped into my mind, someone who had promised me as a child that she would always help with administrative tasks, such as managing personnel and finances for my various endeavorsâIt was none other than my dear friend, Bianca Gilette!
"Good thinking, Tez. I'll offer someone I know the job during our upcoming visit to the kingdom."
"You have someone in mind?"
"Yup, she's a catch. You can get your hopes up."
â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos blinks spasmodically with excitement.â
â¬The Critic for Balance asks why they're blinking like that.â
â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos answers that they're exercising their eyelids.â
I knew they'd like that. Also, even just thinking about Bianca made me feel delighted.
"We'll just have to manage the best we can until we hire someone better, Tez. It won't be forever."
"All right."
We returned to the ledger, hoping our combined brainpower could get the job done quickly.
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World calls for an emergency R&D department meeting with a serious look on their face.â
Huh? An emergency meeting?
â¬The Advocate of Confidentiality asks what kind of glitch has occurred this time.â
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls shakes their head at the R&D department's incompetence.â
â¬The Executive of Creative Economy prays that it's not a cash copy bug or something equally disastrous.â
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World angrily tells them that it's nothing like that.â
What is going on in Lord Voice's department?
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World exclaims that the director of the Transmigration Bureau will be visiting soon!â
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls is shocked.â
â¬The Executive of Creative Economy is dismayed.â
It seemed that the most senior god of the Transmigration Bureau would visit the R&D department.
T-The commander general is visiting?
â¬The Architect of the Skyscraper of Suffering shudders with agony as they recall an unpleasant memory.â
â¬The Critic for Balance looks for junk food with trembling hands so they can eat their feelings.â
â¬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos presses their palms to their eyes in an attempt to avoid reality.â
â¬The Voice that Shapes the World curses the director for visiting when they should be looking for their wayward son.â
â¬The Advocate of Confidentiality hurriedly blocks The Voice that Shapes the World's mouth.â
With that, the message window went silent after Lord Confidentiality dragged... or escorted Lord Voice to the meeting room with the other R&D department gods trailing behind them. All that remained were the Head of Evaluation and the Head of Operations.
What is the commander general's... I mean, the director's holy title?
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls advises that they do not know because there are too many.â
It seemed that holy titles continued to expand like nicknames based on a god's accomplishments, just like my nickname within the chat community of transmigrators. I was mulling over this new piece of knowledge about the Divine Realm, when Tesilid spoke up.
"Allie."
"Huh?"
His low and languid voice had the power to draw attention, for I immediately severed my train of thought and glanced in his direction to find my handsome companion wearing a grim expression.
"About the Blooming Sword... I think you should try to learn it before autumn is over."
"Really?"
"Yes."
It was the middle of summer right now, so he was suggesting I become an aura master in just one season.
Agnes seemed to have an opinion on the matter. «What? Why are you asking Ailette to do something you yourself failed to accomplish?»
Tesilid froze at the harsh question.
Feeling the sudden shift in mood, I murmured, "Agnes..."
«Ahem!» She offered a dry cough instead of an apology, but seemed content to say nothing else humiliating.
Meanwhile, Tesilid looked quite taken aback and embarrassed, rubbing his face with his hands. With the tips of his ears glowing red between the strands of his silver hair, he mumbled, "Oh, umm... Well... I guess it could seem that way..."
"No, no, Tez! Don't mind Agnes!" I patted his shoulder to console him, desperately wishing to revive the pleasant atmosphere from just a moment before. "I know what you were trying to say," I said encouragingly. "You meant that I need to become stronger if I'm going to prepare for the Grand Festival of the Demons that will take place in the fall, right?"
"Yes, that's right," he responded, offering me a grateful glance followed by a nod.
That's when Agnes asked, «The Grand Festival of the Demons?»
I nodded to Tesilid to explain it to her.
"The Grand Festival of the Demons marks a day when all three moons rise simultaneously in the Demon Realm, which occurs only once every one thousand years," Tesilid said succinctly.
The distorted half-moon, the bleeding full-moon, and the melting crescent moonâeach of these moons represented a Demon Lord.
"This festival is also called Walpurgis Night, and a disaster always occurs in the human realm during this time."
«What kind of disaster?»
"Well..." Tesilid narrowed his eyes, pressing his lips together as if he were trying to sift through what example would be appropriate to share.
Feeling like the silence was getting a little too long, I took over the explanation. "Bursts and sinks will occur in each nation's capital at the same time."
With the Chaos and Evil brought on by Reed in this Loop, the scale of this disaster was going to be bigger than ever. But it wasn't just Reed's presence that concerned me.
I've been ruining his plans until now. The more I outwitted his schemes, the more determined he would be to cause as much destruction as possible. For all I knew, a much greater disaster than the one that was mentioned in Loop Seventeen of the original story was going to take place, which meant I needed to prepare that much more diligently.
"As Tez said, I need to become exponentially stronger in a short amount of time. Please help me, Agnes."
â
I focused on my training and frequently subjugated dungeons with my knight division. A string of rather peaceful days had continued for over a month, when the day I was meant to pay a visit to the royal family finally arrived.
Because I needed to represent the honor of the holy kingdom, I dressed in formal attire, wearing a chlamys* over my holy knight uniform to complete the heavily decorated look. The saving grace was that the peak of the summer's heat had passed, so the layers were somewhat bearable.
With the preparations complete, the Silver Citadel Knight Division headed to the courtyard of the Vatican.
"You look impressive today, Sis."
"You look quite dashing yourself, Ash."
Ash was wearing a holy knight uniform instead of his standard leather outfit, giving him a much more polished appearance than usual. We walked outside to be greeted by members of the court who had been sent by the Vinchester family to accompany the division to the kingdom.
"We've come to assist you, Your Eminence."
Two men spoke simultaneously, their formal tones attempting to mask how uncomfortable they felt at that momentâthey were two knights with whom I was very familiar.
"Wow, Brother Ray," said Ash to one of the men.
"Oh look, it's our division commander's older brother," noted Ephael dryly, eyeing the pink-haired knight.
Hestio observed, "Both of your uniforms have changed."
Prinz and Raewyn were now wearing the uniform of the royal knights, rather than those of the knight academy. It seemed that they had been assigned the role of escorting us back to the kingdom with a teleportation stone.
"Rinz!"
I was pleasantly surprised that the kingdom had decided to send people we knew. I quickly strode over and gave a light smack to Prinz's shoulder.
"Uh, um..." he said awkwardly, flustered by my casual greeting.
"Oh, come on. I'm your sister. Why are you being so stuffy and formal? Anyway, it seems that you've finally been knighted. I'm so proud of you. Now, become successful and mark our family's name in history!"
Prinz rubbed the back of his head and said softly, "I think you've already managed to do that."
"Oh, don't sound so meek. The grandson of Grand Duke Heathfenrir should be more confident! By the way, I suggest you stand up straight when you meet our grandfather."
"R-Right..." my brother stuttered, pulling his shoulders back.
Once we exchanged pleasantries, I passed Prinz over to the rest of my division members. We hadn't been given the chance to converse last time due to the frenzy of the battle, so now was a good opportunity for them to talk to each other properly.
While they chatted, I turned toward Raewyn and thrust out my arm to offer him a handshake. "We meet again, Lord Raewyn Wallenstein."
"I am pleased to see you again, Ailette." He looked rather nervous as he also reached his right hand out.
Huh...?
«Oh, my... Would you look at that?»
I was startled when Raewyn grabbed my hand, only to turn it around so that he could kiss the back of it.
What's going on? Did the genre change to a romantic fantasy?
Noticing how blank and frozen I was, Tesilid stepped in. "Lord Raewyn, perhaps that gesture was unnecessary."
"I-Is that so? I'm sorry, Ailette. My body instinctively greeted you as a lady."
Raewyn stepped back awkwardly, so I waved my hand and told him, "It's fine. I was just a little bit surprised because I'd never been kissed on the back of my hand before."
"Really? That was your first time?" He looked overly excited by that news for some reason.
"Yes, although I've had someone kiss my palm before."
"Who was that?"
What's with the sudden change of expression?
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls finds this hilarious and tells you to toy with him more.â
Goodness, Lord Scale. It's cruel to mess with a kindhearted person like Raewyn.
But Lord Scale swiftly disagreed.
â¬The Scale that Judges Souls corrects your assumption and says that it's the main lead's reaction that they find humorous.â
---------------
*The chlamys was a type of an ancient Greek cloak. It was worn by men for military and hunting purposes during the Classical, Hellenistic and later periods