Now that he thought about it, Catherine had never been the type with a good personality.
No—rather than personality, it was more accurate to call it her disposition.
She had been a Saintess, yes, but that was only a title forcibly placed upon her by the Holy Nation of Bretus.
She had risen to that position because of her exceptional compatibility and talent, not because she possessed the gentle compassion befitting a Saintess.
Of course, after becoming the Saintess, Catherine had behaved as properly as she could.
She maintained conduct suitable for the title, because she was constantly educated to do so.
But Ludger knew.
He knew Catherine’s true nature.
She was a tomboy. And she had a surprisingly fiery temper.
A temperament completely opposite of Ludger’s coldness.
Perhaps that was why, even in their brief encounter as children, they had been able to grow close.
‘Still, I didn’t expect her to greet a friend she hasn’t seen in years by throwing a potato at him.’
Well, if Catherine had truly disliked him, she would have pretended he didn’t exist.
This was simply her own way of expressing her feelings.
A bit... rough, but still.
He had thought long enough.
Tap.
Ludger caught the flying potato lightly.
Freshly harvested, it was still covered in soil.
What if dirt got in her eyes when she threw it?
“As a greeting, that’s rather extreme. Or is throwing potatoes how people say hello in this region?”
“As if.”
With an incredulous smile, Catherine strode toward him.
She wore boots for farmwork and loose overalls.
Soil clung everywhere.
She didn’t look like the daughter of a wealthy household at all.
But—
“You look much better like this than you ever did as the Saintess.”
Far more than the ornate white garments she used to wear.
These clothes suited Catherine far better.
“You’re one to talk. How are you still exactly the same as before?”
“Still handsome, you mean?”
“Bullshit.”
“Your language has gotten rough. Is it fine for a former Saintess to speak like that?”
“I quit that nonsense three years ago. And back then, I only acted proper because everyone was watching. Honestly, I wanted to smash everything around me. You have ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) no idea how freeing this is.”
They say the scariest people are those who’ve already resigned from their jobs—
it fit her perfectly.
“I heard you’d come back, but you really got here fast. Is that all our friendship was worth?”
“Well, we did meet long ago, but it’s true we didn’t meet often.”
“Oh, I see how it is? And I was the one bothering a busy man all this time?”
“Well, I also quit everything and am just traveling around now, so you don’t have to feel too sorry.”
“Unbelievable. You really haven’t changed—still insufferable.”
Ludger gave a small shrug.
Decide as you wish—that was what it meant.
Catherine smiled in satisfaction.
“Still, it’s nice. Seeing you smile like that.”
“Is that so?”
“Back then, or during the Holy War—you always looked like someone who’d grown tired of the entire world.”
“Did I? I do know how to smile.”
“Smile? Please. You only ever sneered. When you were a teacher, the students were terrified of you. Don’t think I didn’t hear about it.”
Ludger couldn’t deny that part.
He had never resorted to corporal punishment, but his presence alone could suffocate students.
“So, you quit being Saintess and now you’re out here farming?”
“It’s surprisingly fun. Fulfilling, too. You know how for so long, I couldn’t do anything.”
“You did go through a lot.”
“I’m not going to lament the years that passed. I’m not expecting compensation for them, either. I’m just going to work harder because I was gone for so long. That’s why I’m farming.”
“And your sister there—does she feel the same?”
Ludger glanced toward the other workers.
Workers who were far too beautiful to be ordinary villagers—
people he remembered well.
The priestesses of the Holy Nation of Bretus.
The one who stood out most was Remria—
the priestess he had interacted with the most.
Or rather, not a priestess anymore—just an ordinary girl, Remria.
All of them had stopped working and were now staring at Ludger.
“You’re taking care of all of them?”
“Not all. Those with places to return to have left. Only a few, though.”
“And the rest chose to stay.”
“They have nowhere to return to, and even if you tell them to find something they want to do, they can’t figure it out immediately. Besides, they became priestesses because of me.”
Ludger nodded.
These young women once held positions nearly equivalent to cardinals within the Holy Nation.
But originally, priestesses had existed only in the distant past—
a near-forgotten role.
The one who revived that system had been Saintess Catherine herself.
‘The girls who became priestesses had been nothing more than experimental subjects created for the birth of a Saintess.’
To recreate the vanished Saintess, Bretus had extracted ancient power and injected it into children.
The power was so overwhelming that most children died.
But a few—only a handful—survived.
Half-complete beings.
Not Saintesses, but not failures either.
They could glimpse fragments of the future, but unlike a true Saintess, they could not foresee everything.
From the church’s perspective, this was a troubling existence.
If the priestesses’ existence somehow prevented a Saintess from appearing, what then?
Only one Saintess could exist at a time.
If Catherine had failed to awaken properly, the priestesses would have been disposed of.
‘Even when Catherine became the Saintess, the church disliked the existence of the priestesses.’
They worried the priestesses might interfere with Catherine’s full awakening.
And Catherine protected them.
She shielded those children—experiments like herself—and cared for them like an elder sister.
They should have been discarded long ago.
Their status as priestesses existed only because of Catherine.
Now that everything was over, it was no surprise they still followed her.
To them, Catherine was more of a family member than the faces they no longer remembered.
‘Family, huh.’
Family was one of the strongest bonds in the world.
Even without blood, the bond did not break easily.
Even across unreachable dimensions, it held.
One might know the bond wasn’t real, that feelings did not last forever.
But the strength created in those fleeting moments—
that could become a brilliant driving force.
Because Ludger knew that well.
Tap.
“Why do you look so sentimental all of a sudden?”
Removing her dirt-stained gloves, Catherine lightly tapped Ludger’s chest with her pale fist.
“It’s almost mealtime. You came a long way, so come have lunch with us.”
At her words, Ludger smiled faintly.
“I traveled by crossing space—there wasn’t much hardship.”
“Just say yes!”
* * *
Catherine returned to the field and called out to the priestesses—
no, her adoptive sisters.
“Alright! That’s enough for today! We have a guest, so let’s wrap up. You must all be hungry.”
“Yes, understood, Sister.”
They nodded obediently.
Gathering their baskets, they looked so simple it was hard to imagine they had once been priestesses.
‘Did they ever foresee they’d end up farming one day?’
Probably not.
Even the first Saintess couldn’t foresee the Holy War.
The time after the war—and up to the present—lay beyond the reach of future sight, in the realm of the unknown.
And likely, so would the future be.
But that wasn’t necessarily bad.
Even if farmwork was physically demanding, none of them looked unhappy.
That was thanks to Catherine, who guided them.
“Okay! We’ll finish the rest next time! We still have plenty of time anyway!”
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Ludger approached Catherine just in case.
He didn’t want to disrupt the work by showing up uninvited.
“I’d appreciate the help, but can we really use a mage-level worker for farmwork?”
Catherine looked over the potato field.
“Even for you, managing a field this big won’t be easy, you know?”
And indeed—magic for cultivating crops did not exist.
One could invent it, but not instantly.
“So you don’t have to force yourself. You’re a guest.”
“But I can’t leave without doing anything.”
“You don’t need to help.”
“It’s not me who will help. A friend of mine will.”
“A friend?”
Catherine looked around. Did Ludger bring someone else? No one else was there.
“Where is this friend?”
“Here.”
Ludger pointed at the ground.
Just as Catherine’s expression started to twist with confusion, Ludger said:
“I’ll leave it to you.”
Before the last word fully left his mouth, the ground rumbled—
and a turtle’s head popped up.
A small fragment-body of the Earth Elemental Lord.
Catherine’s eyes widened.
“Huh?”
A stone turtle’s head emerging from the soil—
that alone was enough to shock anyone.
But the real surprise came next.
Rrrrmmmm...
The turtle lowered its head back into the earth and vanished.
Then the soil began to move in waves.
The entire potato field rippled like an ocean, and all the crops rose neatly out of the ground.
As if the earth itself possessed intent and will.
“Wait. Will? Don’t tell me...?”
Catherine realized what Ludger had done.
“My goodness. You asked the Earth Elemental Lord for help? For farming, of all things?”
“Why? Is that a problem?”
“Well... no, but...”
It wasn’t forbidden, and it wasn’t illegal.
But there were limits.
One might as well slice radishes with a legendary holy sword.
“Funny what you’re surprised by. You didn’t even blink when I said the Earth Elemental Lord was my friend.”
“I mean, that part makes sense. A human using 8th-tier magic—of course you’d be close with an Elemental Lord.”
For Catherine, using the Earth Elemental Lord to help with farming was more absurd than Ludger befriending it.
“Well, if the best helper is right next to me, why not ask, hm?”
“...I’m more impressed that he agreed.”
After completing the harvest, the Earth Elemental Lord peeked its head out of the soil.
Its eyes seemed to ask, I did well, didn’t I?
Catherine sighed and nodded.
“Yes, thank you. Half a year of work finished in one minute.”
She realized there was no point in arguing further.
After finishing the work, Catherine headed toward the Unsho estate with Ludger.
Naturally, the priestesses—her adoptive sisters—followed as well.
“Oh my! Miss Catherine! Are you heading home?”
“Haha. Yes, Uncle Thomas. We have a guest today.”
“Heh! So that young man is the one, eh? Handsome fella—reminds me of myself in my youth!”
“Please. Grandpa Boris is still handsome now.”
“My, my! Has our young lady finally found herself a groom?”
“Grandma May! Not at all! He’s just a friend!”
As they walked, the villagers greeted Catherine.
Catherine answered each person kindly.
Seeing her remember everyone’s name and ask about their well-being, Ludger immediately understood why she was so loved here.
Of course, the affection wasn’t just for her.
Her adoptive sisters were also welcomed warmly and chatted with the villagers.
“Is it surprising?”
Remria had approached him.
“Should I call you Priestess Remria?”
“Please just call me Remria. I’m not a priestess anymore.”
“Very well.”
“It’s all thanks to Sister. And more than that—thanks to you. Because this world you made allowed this to happen. That’s why I’ve always wanted to say it properly. Thank you.”
When Ludger first met Remria, she had hidden her eyes behind a tiara to see the future.
Unable to see ahead, she concealed her emotions and wore a masklike smile.
But now—
She looked straight at him with both eyes.
Eyes that once saw the future now looked at the present.
“Finally, I can tell you this face to face.”
Freed from Bretus’s chains, Remria smiled brightly.
A genuine, heartfelt smile.