Having defeated Professor Heims Stefan, there was one last thing left to do.

Report Heims’ evil deeds of injustice to the academy and quickly clean up this disturbing scene.

“Sah, save me! I don’t want to be a monster!”

“I’m going outside and I won’t tell anyone! Please save my life!”

And even rescuing several students from the Ministry of Pensions who have not yet become test subjects.

Of course, it was difficult to handle everything by myself, and I had no choice but to ask someone in a high position whom I could trust.

Principal of Alexandros Academy, Russell Michael.

Not only was he the highest-ranking person in the academy, but he was also someone he could trust.

So, before dawn, I went to Principal Russell’s residence and quickly reported what had happened that day.

Saint Claire is also present to add credibility to her remarks.

Fortunately, Principal Russell was a person who valued public work more than private life, so after listening to St. Claire and me, he hurried to work at the academy even though it was a weekend.

As soon as we grasped the scene, we started dealing with the incident.

After Principal Russell began to take care of himself, the case Haymes caused was quickly and neatly handled.

“It’s really embarrassing that you didn’t figure out that something like this was happening inside the academy.”

While saying that, I saw Principal Russell bowing his head to Saint Claire and me over and over again.

There was certainly a sense of how much he values this academy and its students.

It was like this in a previous life.

Of course, during his term of office, various incidents related to the Dark Church broke out, so he was harshly evaluated as an incompetent person.

Objectively, Principal Russell was a great person. It wasn’t even incompetent, if I had to ask.

Principal Russell, who asked the consent of Saint Claire and I, who were involved in the case, arranged this case secretly so as not to cause unnecessary confusion.

It was a much better way of dealing with it than being publicly revealed.

Heims’ death in the previous life became a signal that the other members of the Dark Church felt a sense of crisis.

In the previous life, Saint Clare almost died, so she had no choice but to publicize the incident, but this time, she and her escort knights were all safe, so there was no need to do so.

I could say that this is a truly wonderfully changed future.

Of course, there was also a future that went similarly in a slightly different form than I expected.

“Willia, are you really leaving?”

“Yeah. I am acutely aware of my immaturity and lack of growth through this incident, so I plan to train while gaining more practical experience on the front lines.”

Was it because his pride was hurt by losing to me with a sword, or was it because he remembered a mistake he hesitated while wielding a sword in a secret underground location?

It seemed that Willia was about to embark on a long journey to whip himself, giving up the position of an escort knight for his precious sister Claire.

Although in a slightly different form, Willia, who had been by Saint Clare’s side for several years, was destined to walk a different path from her in this lifetime.

However, in the past life, it was a breakup that was unavoidable and not her will, but there was a difference that her choice now was made solely by her will.

“It can’t be helped. If Willia thinks so.”

“I am truly sorry for leaving the post of escort knight, saintess.”

“No. It must have been a decision that Willia made after careful consideration. It must be my selfishness that I catch Willia here.

If you are an escort driver, don’t worry. Both Willia and I have someone we can trust, so all we have to do is appoint him as the new escort knight.”

After saying that, Saint Clare turned her head and fixed her eyes on me without a word.

“Mr. Conrad, maybe… .”

“If you are going to leave for training, I recommend going to the northern monster border.”

Saint Clare hurriedly cut off her words, pretending to give advice to Willia before she could get my words out with strange words.

“The border of the northern monsters… It was one of the candidates I had already considered.”

“It’s a place where various monsters attack every day, so if Miss Willia really wants to train, there won’t be another place like that.”

Also, it’s always an understaffed place.

If Miss Willia, who had a lot of practical experience, joined her, it would surely be of considerable help.

“All right. It’s Conrad-sama’s advice, so it’s probably a trustworthy place.”

… sir?

“One day, when I can win against Conrad-sama, then I will return to receive the position of Saint Clare’s escort knight.”

“Please omit the honorifics. Miss Willia and I have nothing to do with each other.”

“Conrad-sama will be the target of my training, so I can’t do that.”

“… … .”

yes. After all, I’m not going to meet anyone after today.

If that’s good, think about it yourself.

“I’ll see you again someday. Saint Clare, Conrad Perdalos escort knight.”

“I am not an escort knight.”

“I look forward to the next time we meet, Willia.”

As I watched her ride away over the sunset on her horse, a thought immediately passed through my mind.

“I look forward to seeing you in the future, Escort Knight Con… .”

“I will cheer for you to find an escort knight as good as Miss William, Lady Claire.”

“… Yes Yes? Wait! Mr. Conrad!”

If I don’t get out of this position right away, I’ll become a member of the Orthodox Church.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It had been about a week since Miss Willia, who felt inadequate after dealing with the crimes of Professor Hemes with St. Claire, left for the North.

Saint Clare somehow wanted to appoint me as her escort knight, and whenever she had a chance, she secretly came to the Ministry of Magic building where I was.

Even if it wasn’t me, there would have been enough people with skills.

First of all, there were times when I showed that my skills were certain, but perhaps the reason why I was obsessed with me more than that was because of the experience of defeating Heims together.

Having experienced the reality of the Dark Church for the first time, the unknown existence would still terrify her.

There is a possibility that the other person arranged by the Orthodox Church is actually a member of the Dark Church.

Even if it is guaranteed that he is a trustworthy person, it would be a matter of picking stars from the sky to find someone with real combat experience.

In the case of Willia, who had been in charge of escort knights up until now, the trust she had grown up with in the same church since childhood would have been the basis.

So now, without Willia, among the people St. Claire can trust, the person with the most guaranteed skills will probably end up with me.

Of course, that and me accepting Saint Clare’s proposal would be completely different stories.

I don’t know if it’s a relationship where we give and receive help whenever we need each other’s strength.

Being formally ordained as a knight by Saint Clare and becoming her subordinate was a different story than simply cooperating with one another.

If I became the saintess’ escort knight, of course I would also belong to the Orthodox Church.

It meant that my actions and political stances had to be restricted one by one, and that I would become a nuisance, unable to take actions that went against the will of the church.

Of course, it would have been impossible to roam around freely and handle the things that needed to be done.

If he made a mistake, there was a possibility that he would take on troublesome errands from the Orthodox Church, except for those related to St. Clare.

I had to prevent that from happening somehow.

Because there are so many things that haven’t been solved yet since now.

Above all, the absolute time needed to grow myself would be lacking.

For some, becoming a saintess’s escort knight as well as a magician affiliated with the Orthodox Church would seem like a dream in itself.

For me, the offer to join the Orthodox Church was a poisoned chalice, and the position of a saint’s escort was a rope-bound throne.

I wonder if it was at least after everything including the demon subjugation was finished.

Right now, I had no choice but to decline.

I just waited for St. Claire to quickly give up on my recruitment and bring in a new escort knight.

Thinking of that, I was hiding myself in an unpopulated place today.

A completely familiar silver-haired priestess lady was approaching me in a corner of the academy.

“Here you are, Mr. Conrad.”

“… Saint Clare.”

Saint Clare, who met me again by the ‘force of fate’, pointed her sapphire eyes toward my face and said,

“Today, too, the goddess of fate led me to meet Mr. Conrad.”

“Didn’t I tell you last time not to use the saintess’ precious power for trivial things like this?”

“Then, will you accept your fate to become my escort knight?

Going around the academy every day like this, looking for you, is getting boring.”

It was a shameless face, as if he was doing what he was supposed to do.

“Saint Lady, as I have said before, I am not competent enough to assist Saint Clare.”

“In addition to overpowering Willia with his skills, he also found out about the existence of Professor Heims, who belongs to the Dark Church. You even defeated a corpse giant, so you want me to believe that?”

“… It’s just the product of many coincidences, and what I’ve done isn’t very much.”

“Then I can only say that Mr. Conrad, whom I met by chance, is qualified as my escort knight.”

“Saint… .”

It looked like Saint Clare’s unique stubbornness had been activated.

It reminded me of the girl from the past who never compromised on what she thought was right.

In the end, the intuition that this debate would be prolonged also passed through my head.

“Perhaps Mr. Conrad is rejecting me because he doesn’t like me?”

However, it may be because he has shown more than necessary expressions of specification over and over again.

Saint Clare showed a strange misunderstanding toward me.

“Could it be?”

“Then why do you keep refusing? It’s not that my skills aren’t good enough, it’s not that I don’t like it, and I can’t explain the reason at all just from what you’ve said so far.”

“… … .”

I guess I’ll have to bend over a bit and express my honest feelings here.

“I also do not have a desire to directly assist and help Saint Clare for her safety and the realization of her ideals.”

“So what?”

“But if I become Saint Clare’s escort knight, I will have to become an Orthodox member, and in the end, I won’t stop at assisting Saint Clare, and I will be tied up.”

“… … .”

“I’m sorry, but right now I’m not in a position to belong anywhere. If you have something to solve by borrowing your strength, please tell me separately at any time.

Even if it’s not a knight-master relationship, I’ll help you as much as I can.”

After hearing my plain words, Saint Claire placed her hand on her chin and put on an expression of deep thought.

“As long as you don’t join the Orthodox Church, will you help me in my future work?”

“Yes, saintess.”

“… I see. If so, I will try to find a way there.”

“Please enter carefully, saintess.”

I don’t know what you mean by finding a way, but somehow it seemed to be a step back from putting me in the Orthodox Church.

Fortunately, there won’t be any troublesome titles.

“See you later, Mr. Conrad.”

Looking at Saint Clare who had left without saying so, he let out a low sigh of relief.

It’s nice to have a relationship with her even before graduating from the academy, but I didn’t want to gain too much trust in this way.

I was just thinking of protecting her precious person and preventing the future that would consume her excessive strength.

In the process, it was this reason that they became closer than necessary.

Should I see this as a good thing or should I think it’s too early?

Well, in the case of senior Xian, it ended up with her joining our party, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have a good relationship with her.

If Saint Claire could be invited to our party, the role of escort knight could have been entrusted to Stella, who had built up trust, rather than me.

“Has human relationships been so difficult?”

Suddenly, his younger sister, Delphina, became respectful.

As a daughter-in-law of a viscount, she steadily built up friendships with dozens of families, managed them, and even managed the Perdalos estate. Her skills were truly amazing.

As expected, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was true that Delphina, not me, inherited the Perdalos estate.

In fact, I tried to make it like that in my previous life, but failed.

In this lifetime, the goal was to somehow place her younger sister in the position of head of the Perdalos family.

While walking, thinking of making a memorandum of renunciation of succession in order to gradually raise Delphina’s political standing.

A familiar silhouette and familiar hair caught my eye on a bench in the corner.

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Just in case, he changed his direction and moved closer.

There, as expected, a young lady with a familiar haircut half-tied and half-untied was sitting there.

“Delphina?”

When I called my sister’s name, who lowered her head and trembled up and down, Delphina’s usual face appeared before my eyes.

“Sniff, oh, brother?”

With an embroidered handkerchief in one hand. If only it hadn’t been for secretly wiping away tears.