I finally finished the procedure for being discharged from the church where I had been indebted to for quite some time.

It’s been a week since I’ve returned to my normal routine.

For almost a week, thanks to Saint Claire’s presence and instilling divine power, my body was completely restored to the point that there was not even the slightest muscle pain.

Maybe it’s better than before the evaluation.

In addition, she even received a gift with a sacred object endowed with divine protection.

Undoubtedly, the person who owed the most during this evaluation match must have been Saint Clare.

Although my discharge from the hospital was delayed a little because I worried too much about her.

As soon as I escaped from the church ward, the first thing I started was physical training, which I had been putting off.

I don’t know if I’m taking a break from exercise for a day or two, but for the past week, I’ve been lying on the bed most of the time, so the lack of exercise is even more extreme.

After I started exercising again at dawn, I met Stella, who I originally shared the same time with, and met again every day.

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Just by sweating together for a few days, I was able to return to the same open-minded senior-junior relationship as before.

“Me, Stella.”

“Yes, Senior Conrad.”

“Aren’t you still upset because I won the hunting festival or something like that?”

“Yeah? Oh, how could that be!”

“Don’t be too discouraged if you lose to me, the wizard. Unlike you, who came across me purely with a sword, I used both a sword and magic. No wonder I had the advantage.”

“Oh no! I think the sparring with senior Conrad in the evaluation match was a truly glorious match!”

“yes… ? I think you don’t even want to see my face for a while. I thought you were paying attention to what happened in the evaluation match.”

“I can’t help but hate it! Oh, on the contrary, when I look at the senior’s face, different emotions keep coming to my mind… .”

“A different feeling?”

“… Ah, nothing!”

I was a little curious about the content of the other emotions she said, but I didn’t bother to ask because I didn’t want to reveal it.

If he wants to talk, he will talk someday.

My body must have recovered somehow.

Around the time when I thought that a normal day would go by without anything to worry about for a while.

I came to understand a strange rumor going around the academy.

Malicious rumors that have recently been circulating around St. Claire, seeming to damage her honor.

It didn’t seem to be widely spread, as if it wasn’t a very public story yet.

It won’t be long before word spreads about her in this small academy.

While walking down the street, thinking about how to meet and talk with St. Claire.

I could vaguely grasp that there was a strange feeling of deja vu around my footsteps.

“… … .”

It was a strange power that I had grown accustomed to after suffering so much, so it would have been nice if I could have resisted and moved on according to my own will.

I didn’t really change my steps, I just followed the direction my consciousness guided me.

Anyway, the person I was going to visit from now on would also be waiting at the end of this sense of déjà vu.

With a mysterious power, I moved my steps as I wanted, and soon I was able to face the silver-haired priestess I had expected.

“Hello, Mr. Conrad.”

“… Hello, Saint Clare.”

“Today, I had free time in the afternoon. The goddess of fate led me to meet Mr. Conrad.”

As expected, the true identity of the deja vu was Saint Clare.

Now, perhaps because she suffered so much, she came to the point where she could realize for herself whether or not her body was acting on her power.

Besides, these days, it seems like more and more people are calling me in this way.

I almost inadvertently told you not to use your powers for things like this, but then I changed my mind and corrected what I was about to say.

“Are you eating yet? If you have time, let’s do it together.”

Learning how to use power frequently on a daily basis would also help me to use it effectively later when I really needed it.

With this much power, it wouldn’t put too much strain on her body.

Being too overprotective would be an act of ignoring her.

“Is that Mr. Conrad?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then why aren’t you nagging me today? Every time we met, he said one word to us not to use the power of destiny carelessly.”

“If it’s a level of power that doesn’t matter whether you use it or not, I thought it would be much more helpful to use it often to learn Saint Clare’s ability.”

“… Is that all? For no other reason?”

“Yes, that is all.”

Looking at Saint Clare’s expression, it seemed that there was an answer she was expecting from me.

My answer immediately changed to a manly expression as if it wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

“Have you ever wanted to hear a nag?”

“… Yeah?”

“Because you seem to be putting on an expression that you don’t like something.”

“Yeah, that can’t be. I was just thinking about something else for a while.”

“Is that so?”

To be honest, that wasn’t the only reaction I felt, but I don’t need to ask her for what she insisted on.

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Just like that, as soon as I contacted St. Claire and began to exchange a few words.

“Hey, look at that. that.”

“I don’t get tired of it and I go out with men again… .”

Rumors of courtesy immediately began to reveal themselves in front of me.

“Holy Lady, for a moment… .”

“Mr. Conrad, you said you haven’t eaten yet, right? I want to go to the new store near the plaza, is that okay?”

First of all, I brought up the word to warn the students who were openly whispering.

Saint Claire suddenly cut off my words and started shooting her own words.

“Yes, what. It doesn’t matter. Rather just… .”

“Daddy, hurry up. Actually, I thought I was going to die of hunger from a while ago!”

“… all right.”

Before long, he turned his words around in a hurry as if he was awkward.

I, too, had no choice but to take a step with Saint Clare.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The strangely disturbing aura surrounding Saint Claire and I continued even during mealtime.

“Hey, it’s Saint Clare.”

“Is he the one next to you? As rumored, she’s stuck with a man again.”

The academy, where young men and women were in their prime, was the perfect environment for rumors to spread.

In particular, gossip that aroused interest in both men and women tended to spread even faster.

Whether an aristocrat from one department is dating a commoner from another department, or someone who fell in love with someone and then switched to another woman.

It took less than a month for rumors of that kind to spread throughout the academy.

In particular, rumors of celebrities who draw everyone’s attention, such as Prince Antonio or Saint Clare, were always a hot topic.

Even now, whenever we spend time together with Saint Clare, it wasn’t particularly the first time that she and I were whispering about each other.

These rumors these days seemed a little more exaggerated than usual.

“Isn’t the saintess too irresponsible? Originally, you should be at church during this time zone.”

“I don’t know. Since she is a saint, she must have thoughts. Could it be that you’re just hanging out with a guy?”

“Well, no matter what, she is a saint born after 300 years. I hope you don’t think so.”

Because simply spreading nonsense about me and her being in a relationship wasn’t enough.

A malicious speculation was added, as if to say that Saint Clare was not fulfilling her duties because of it.

Little by little my patience was reaching its limit.

“So the other day, I got a letter from Willia after a long time.”

“Is that so.”

“Lately, it seems that strange monsters are gradually invading the border area, and it seems that the ice woman attacked the unit not too long ago.

It’s not written in the letter, but I heard that Willia made a great contribution to the subjugation… .”

Saint Clare told me various things on the other side.

Unfortunately, my consciousness was not fully utilized to listen to her story.

“Doesn’t the church manage things like that? Doesn’t it look very bad for a saintess to walk around like that?”

“The other day, I heard a student from the theology department say that there is no way to restrict saints even in the church.”

“It’s completely eaten up. All sorts of accusations that she is a saint… .”

The endless stories of other students around me repeatedly stimulated my senses to focus on St. Claire’s story.

Even if the content of the rumor is the second hit.

Gossiping about things to the extent that they could be heard in front of the person concerned must have been an act that went beyond the limit.

“I’m going to clean up for a while.”

“… Yeah?”

After leaving Saint Clare, who was continuing the story, at her seat.

I immediately moved to the place where the two students who were whispering towards us were.

“I heard you didn’t attend the joint sacred ceremony last time? really great jeong… .”

“Hey, back, back.”

“What’s behind… .”

The student who was looking at me from the other side hurriedly finished talking behind his back.

The student, who had been opening his mouth in the middle of it, hurriedly averted his gaze as soon as our eyes met.

“Looks like you were talking about something interesting.”

“… Ah yes… .”

“… that’s it… .”

“By the way, the content I hear is so interesting. It would be nice if you could talk a little bit less to distract me.”

The two students avoided my gaze and met each other’s gaze.

I threw away my half-eaten meal and hurriedly left the restaurant.

I had no intention of interrupting my lunch break.

Maybe it’s because of the recent evaluation match against Stella.

Or maybe there were rumors that he had beaten all the students in the engineering department who cursed at Lulu.

Most of the annoying things happening inside the academy these days were resolved with just this kind of peaceful conversation.

Raising awareness meant going up and down a lot of annoying rumors, though.

In my case, most of the process of raising awareness was mostly open skills events such as evaluation matches and hunting festivals.

In a quasi-extraterritorial district like the academy, it wasn’t a very wise choice to hate someone like me for nothing.

“It’s done.”

I kindly told the students who were talking behind their backs and sent them back.

I immediately returned to the table where I was talking with Saint Clare.

“Thanks for your efforts.”

It was as if she had caught something she didn’t want to find out.

With a slightly embarrassed expression, he replied that he had worked hard.

“Yeah, and you know! Willia has something to say to Mr. Conrad next time, so maybe this winter… .”

“Saint Claire.”

Then, seeing Saint Clare awkwardly continuing her conversation as if she was about to change the subject, the situation that had been speculation soon led to conviction.

“Yeah?”

“Saint Claire, please be honest.”

“… … .”

“Recently, strange rumors are spreading around Saint Clare. Aren’t you already aware of it?”

It was already an impossible situation to evade or turn around.

Her head nodded up and down in response.

“It’s not really a matter that Mr. Conrad should be concerned about. I don’t really care either.”

“How could I not pay attention to rumors related to the saintess’ honor?”

“But, well, it’s not a rumor that’s particularly hindering living. You can’t be a saint if you pay attention to each and every one of these things.”

“But looking at the content of the story I heard just now, it seems that the story that defames the saintess is spreading.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t without responsibility… .”

was not without responsibility.

My intuition began to move little by little at the subtle remarks that came out of her mouth.

The fact that such words came out of Saint Clare’s mouth probably meant that she had a vague understanding of the cause of these rumors.

There was a high possibility that he also guessed who spread the rumors.

Even so, the fact that she showed a half-hearted attitude and took an unusual action must mean that she contributed to spreading rumors even a little bit.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Saint Clare’s reputation could continue to be damaged like this.

“As I know of Saint Clare’s benevolence, I cannot allow her reputation to be tarnished like this.”

“… Is that so?”

“So, let’s clear up these malicious rumors first, Saint Clare.”

The silver-haired saintess’ head nodded as if it couldn’t be helped.