Chapter 59: The Laws Set by Our Ancestors Must Not Be Changed!
Victoria took a sharp breath. The situation was so chaotic that she panicked for a moment.
Of course she had heard of the person standing in front of her. That was a legendary adventurer who once gave the Church a lot of trouble.
In other words, the reason the Holy Academy tried to recruit Peiya was partly to keep Elise in check. And now you’re telling her that the two of them are together? Is this a joke?!
Victoria felt like an old general on a stage, forced to fight a top-level opponent the moment she appeared.
She suddenly understood why Maya had tried so hard to persuade her that night. If she had rushed in without thinking, wouldn’t she just become easy “experience points” for someone else?
Luckily, she listened and changed sides in time. Otherwise, she would have become a useless sacrifice for the Holy Academy.
Facing the powerful Elise, Victoria decided to give up instantly.
Whoever wants this job can take it. If you have the ability, you do it yourself. As for her, she was ready to run away at any moment.
After making her decision, Victoria stepped forward and showed a gentle smile.
“Hello, my name is Victoria. I was sent by the Holy Academy to pass on a message to Peiya.”
“To me?”
Peiya looked at the brown-haired girl in front of her, a bit surprised. She didn’t remember having any connection with the Holy Academy.
Could it be that the patent she applied for earlier caught the Church’s attention?
Peiya stayed alert, her expression becoming more serious.
This reaction startled Victoria, who thought, This is bad…
Why does it feel like I’m making things worse the more I explain?
She knew the Holy Academy didn’t have the best reputation among adventurers, but it shouldn’t be this bad, right?
No, there’s still a chance to fix this!
Victoria forced a smile and spoke sincerely:
“I think there might be a small misunderstanding between us. Please, have a seat. Actually, I came to you because the Holy Academy wants us to observe talented newcomers and help train them. I think you have great potential, so I wanted to ask if you’re interested in studying at the Holy Academy.”
Victoria decided to be direct. Clearly, trying to be mysterious now would be unwise. If she annoyed Peiya and lost her patience, things would get worse.
“But I don’t really have much connection with the Holy Academy, and this feels a bit sudden. To be honest, I have something to do today, so I probably can’t give you an answer right away.”
Victoria waved her hand.
Busy… being busy is good!
Anyway, she couldn’t go back anytime soon.
“It’s… it’s fine. You can go ahead and do your thing. I just wanted to tell you in advance so you can think about it. I’ll be staying at the Adventurers’ Guild for a while. Whenever you’ve made a decision, it won’t be too late to tell me.”
Victoria quickly stepped back.
If the Holy Academy found out she was being this humble, they would definitely beat her up.
But they weren’t here right now, so whatever she said was what counted!
Even if the Pope herself came, it wouldn’t matter!
Besides, she was just a worker. If this job didn’t work out, she could always switch sides.
See? If you change your way of thinking, there are actually quite a lot of ways out.
As long as you’re willing to lower your expectations, there’s never any fear of too many difficulties.
Peiya thought for a moment, then nodded. “No problem. But I’m not very interested in the Holy Academy. If you have other suitable candidates, you can look for them first. I don’t want to waste your time.”
She had once admired the Holy Academy, but recently too many things had happened, and she simply didn’t have the energy to care about it anymore. So she decided to make her attitude clear. At this moment, Elise, who was standing beside her, also spoke.
“If the Holy Academy has anything urgent in the next few days, you can send a message directly to my manor. There will be someone there to receive you.”
Victoria’s heart skipped a beat. She thought, Well… that’s pretty obvious now.
Sending messages directly to Elise’s manor, there’s no need to explain their relationship anymore, right?
Sisters? They don’t look alike though.
And if she remembered correctly, Elise’s older sister was named Anna.
Wait… Anna…
Victoria suddenly felt like there was some very complicated and dramatic love story behind all this. Of course, she didn’t dare jump to conclusions. She just cursed Lisa a few more times in her heart.
You had such a powerful backing and still managed to mess things up so badly. What a waste of opportunity.
Maybe your parents should hurry and have another child while they still can. Lisa… is beyond saving.
But that was all for later. Right now, she needed to think about how to deal with the pressure from Elise. It really felt like the air around Elise was heavy. It was as if gravity magic was holding her in place.
Victoria raised her hand to her chest and nodded stiffly. “Then… thank you for the trouble.”
Seeing that things were going smoothly, Peiya took the chance to ask.
“President Maya, is there any new information about the bear tribe guards? Elise and I are planning to leave today to challenge the Ice Bear King.”
Maya bent down and, looking a bit troubled, took out a few wrinkled documents from the drawer.
“Well… there is a little information. It’s all here, but there’s not much important stuff. Most of it is just small fights around the outer area. The investigation team had to come back because of injuries, so there are no further notes. If there’s anything important, it’s that the full moon is coming soon. Monsters might mutate to some extent, so please be careful.”
Peiya nodded and quickly looked through the documents. The information was mostly what she expected.
The heavy weight in her heart finally lifted.
No news is the best news!
“Thanks, then we’ll head out first.”
Peiya turned to leave, but at that moment, Nara suddenly stood up and said, “Wait, you two!”
“Is something wrong, Nara?”
Peiya looked at Nara, who was dressed in formal clothes, feeling a bit surprised. It was her first time seeing Miss Nara dressed so formally.
“You’ve decided to challenge the Ice Bear King this time, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Mm… then please be very careful. Make sure you come back safely. I still want to hear your stories about what happens there.”
“Thank you,” Peiya said, then looked at Elise. “How about you? If there’s nothing else, shall we go?”
“Okay, I’ll follow your lead~”
Elise held Peiya’s hand as they left, leaving the three people in the room quietly thinking about what just happened.
Victoria was the first to come back to her senses.
“Maya, what exactly is the relationship between those two? Why does it feel like sparks are flying when they look at each other?”
“Why do you care so much about that? So what if there’s a little ‘spark’?”
“That’s not right… I remember when there are sparks, it usually means… love—”
“Stop. Don’t imagine too much, Victoria. Did you forget your identity?”
“The Holy Academy doesn’t forbid women from dating though. But really, Maya, look into my eyes. Do you think sparks will fly between us?”
President Maya looked at Victoria with a confused expression, wondering why this girl suddenly became so silly.
“No.”
“Come on, let’s try. The teacher said practice leads to truth.”
“Are you crazy? Stop being weird. Why do you care so much about their relationship anyway?”
“I’m not telling you.”
Victoria actually knew more than the others. She remembered that Peiya’s former teammates were Anna and Lisa.
And now she was being told that after Peiya was kicked out, she somehow ended up with Anna’s younger sister.
Heh~
There’s definitely a clown here, though she won’t say who.
The more Victoria thought about it, the more exciting it felt. Normally, outsiders wouldn’t notice this kind of thing. But thanks to Lisa’s wrong information last time, Victoria accidentally discovered this little secret.
Seeing Victoria smiling sweetly like she had just eaten honey, Maya couldn’t hold back anymore.
This is clearly about young people’s relationships, why is an outsider like you smiling like a proud aunt?
Could she really be a weirdo?
“Nara, since the president won’t tell me, how about you? What do you think?” Victoria looked at Nara, who was squatting in the corner.
“Me?” Nara came back to her senses. “Actually, I think Miss Peiya is a very hardworking person. She tries her best and has always been working hard to make her life better.
Victoria, maybe you’re used to the environment in the Holy Academy, where people talk big every day.
But there are still many dark corners in this world where light can’t reach. Yet the people there don’t give up, they struggle and live with all their strength.
I think it’s a very happy thing that Miss Elise is by her side. I hope the two of them can take good care of each other.”
After hearing Nara’s explanation, Victoria froze.
A question she had wondered about for a long time was finally answered.
“I always thought Peiya came from a rich and powerful family. Then how did she achieve all this? Even my teacher, who rarely praises anyone, spoke highly of her.”
“What else could it be? She studied and researched little by little,” Nara said. “Victoria, do you know how many patents she has?”
“How many…?”
“She gave me more than a hundred last time.”
“How many? Say that again?”
Victoria was so shocked she almost fell onto a chair. Even if she worked her whole life, she might not be able to produce that many patents.
[Daily Question: Is Peiya even human!?]
“More than a hundred. And I don’t even know how many more she hasn’t shown yet. She’s really hardworking. Your Holy Academy probably won’t be able to recruit her.
Think about it, a child who wanted knowledge was rejected by your Holy Academy when she was young.
Now that she has succeeded, the Academy suddenly acts like it’s for her own good and tries to force her to join. Isn’t that a bit shameless?
There’s a reason adventurers don’t like your Holy Academy. When someone is useful, you keep them. When they’re not, you explain it away as some kind of ‘natural inferiority.’
I know this has always been the Academy’s stance, and it’s not easy to change.
But I still think the biggest problem with your Holy Academy is that it doesn’t respect those adventurers who worked hard to get where they are.
And you even treat entering the Academy as a reward. Then let me ask, why did they work so hard to gain knowledge in the first place? Wasn’t it because your Academy denied them back then?”
Nara said everything she had in mind in one go. She was fully determined to support Peiya. No matter who came, it wouldn’t change her mind!
As Victoria listened, her expression slowly became dim. Peiya’s early experiences were truly painful.
Victoria herself had worked hard to climb up, so she could roughly imagine how much effort Peiya had put into those patents.
No one’s success comes easily.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to touch her painful past. Actually… didn’t you notice? What I said just now doesn’t sound like something the Holy Academy would say. In other words, we’re not enemies. I also support Peiya. But the Holy Academy isn’t easy to deal with. If I fail, the next person they send might be even more unreasonable. They won’t listen to your explanation. It’ll probably be more like, ‘If you won’t come with us, then if we can’t have you, we’ll destroy you.’ But I’ll try my best to delay them. Trust me!”
Tears shimmered in Nara’s eyes. “Sorry, I misunderstood you, Victoria. You’re really a good person. I take back what I said earlier.”
“It’s okay. We’re all working for a better future. Maybe that’s the meaning behind the birth of the Holy Light.”
Victoria remembered that the Holy Academy’s scriptures recorded that the Holy Light symbolized the purest beginning and the highest hope.
Only those who truly seek the highest path can find the real Holy Light.
At that moment, the silver-white cross in front of Victoria suddenly shone brightly. A beam of light shot out through the window, and quietly landed on Peiya’s head.
Victoria: ?
Wait… she was just talking about it. Why did the Holy Light suddenly respond, and then run away without looking back?
Hey, she was the official member of the Holy Academy!
Why are you chasing Peiya?!
In a way, the pure golden Holy Light was also the original will of the Holy Academy.
To tell it apart, people preferred to call it “Divine Revelation.”
After all, the Holy Light born from the gods was not something ordinary holy light could compare to.
The difference was like night and day.
It had been so many years since anyone last saw a Divine Revelation that people had almost forgotten the term.
You had to know, Divine Revelation was something even teachers and bishops of the Holy Academy didn’t dare to casually compare themselves to.
The original purpose of the silver-white cross was to seek a response from the “Divine Revelation” of “Knowledge,” which had founded the Holy Academy.
For so many years, countless students had been hoping for their ancestors to show a sign.
And now you’re telling her, the ancestor finally showed a sign today… and then immediately ran away?
Victoria burst into tears.
Who could she even complain to about this?
If the Holy Academy found out, they would probably go crazy on the spot.
They always said knowledge should stay within the Church. But now, “Knowledge” itself had run away, and to someone who wasn’t even part of the Academy!
This was way too ridiculous.
The Holy Academy taking people wasn’t anything new, but the Holy Academy being “taken” by someone else? That was a first!
Could this be the legendary “home base stolen by force”?
This is way too unreasonable!
Wait… actually, maybe this is the Academy’s own logic now.
After all, it was “Knowledge” that founded the Holy Academy in the first place.
You could say this Divine Revelation was the root of the Academy, it should absolutely remain within the Academy. This was the law set by their ancestors, something that must never be changed.
But… if even the “ancestor” runs away with an outsider… then what does that even count as?