MSS 28

Chapter 28

“So the temple’s going to compensate me for my brooch, right?”

Black hair tied neatly into a single knot. A slender finger flicking the damp tip of the nose of Johann Mendelssohn Handel Beethoven Bach Schubert Mozart Debussy Parkyeon Strauss the Third, the tip stained with ink. A face without any makeup.
A plain uniform reaching down to the calves, without a single ornament.

The only thing that was the same as the night—so different from his daytime appearance—were those two eyes, gleaming like gunmetal in the morning sunlight, and…

“I can’t sacrifice my brooch just for the sake of justice.”

That practical attitude.

Honestly. What a ridiculous person, Kassian thought, shaking his head inwardly as he pressed down the corners of his own lips with his fingertips before they could rise.

“But hey, Tofu, did you even take a bath?”
What? You didn’t? No wonder it smells! Making loud footsteps, he strode toward the magical saintess who was bickering with Johann-Whatever-the-Third.

“Hi. Magical Saintess.”

“Ugh.”

Serafina, who had lifted her head at the presence, stood up while hugging Johann Whatever 3rd.

She didn’t even greet him—just made a “ugh” sound when she saw his face—but somehow it wasn’t unpleasant, just funny. Barely holding back his laughter, Kassian asked in a calm tone:

“I heard. You were attacked at that reporter Skitter’s house.”

“Yeah. It was some guy I’d never seen before.”
I don’t know how he knew I’d sneak into Skitter’s house and followed me. Serafina said it calmly.

Someone heard she was attacked and couldn’t even sleep out of worry, but she was acting completely unfazed.

Did she have more guts than she looked?
He hadn’t been blind to the fact that making Serafina the Magical Saintess would be dangerous, but this kind of assault had been outside his expectations.

“The way he kept talking about his ‘master’… he felt like someone’s lackey or something….”
Why does someone with that face and that build go around threatening puppies? Serafina shook her head.

Kassian said,

“He probably came after the holy magic power of the Magical Saintess.”

“Is that even possible?”

“According to the literature.”

He didn’t mention that he’d spent the entire night digging through the Great Temple library to find those records, and continued:

“Nine hundred and fifty years ago, it’s said that a villain invented a device that could detect good-aligned magical power. If that thing wasn’t destroyed and got passed down…”

“Then it makes sense they could chase me like that.”

“Exactly. They would’ve tracked the magic you released after transforming.”

“Wait, then doesn’t that mean they could find my boarding house too?”

“If you’re careful, probably not. It takes time to detect magic power too.”

“Then I shouldn’t stay home too long after transforming.”

Really, all kinds of people exist in this world. Kassian looked down at the Magical Saintess as she shook her head.

A single fallen black eyelash was stuck to her cheek. It was too intimate a distance to pick it off himself, so he just silently stared.

In the breeze, the scarf of the uniform she was wearing fluttered lightly.

Neat Serafina.
Different from the night.
A magical saintess living as an ordinary dress shop assistant.
She looked like a smart, capable, ordinary girl on the outside, but inside—

The heart of a lion that doesn’t even flinch when attacked.

And—

The fists of a beast that beats down anything that annoys her.

“Well, we don’t have any more clues about that side, so there’s no point in overthinking it. I’ll just be more careful.”

As she said that, Serafina scratched Johann Whatever 3rd’s furrowed brow with her finger, rub-rub-rub.

Kassian stared at the scene absentmindedly, when suddenly the Magical Saintess asked:

“By the way, Kassian. How did you really know?”

“Know what?”

“That Rosena was the victim.”

Is that really important right now? You were the one who got attacked.

“…A friend who went to the drama school with Miss Rosena came to the Great Temple to pray.”

“Huh?”

“He said that back in school days, he secretly liked Rosena because she worked harder than anyone else.”

He’d been scared of the kids who bullied Rosena and couldn’t stand up for her openly, but inside he always thought she was amazing.

When Rosena finally returned to her hometown, he regretted that he’d never once told her, “You’re amazing.”

“So when Rosena changed her name and debuted, he recognized her immediately.”

“…I see.”

“Ironically, he himself had lost his love for acting and was working at a hat shop.”

“Don’t tell me—”

“Yeah. That hat shop—the one where Rosena and the reporter were seen arguing.”

He’d come to pray at the temple asking for a way to help her properly this time, because it haunted him that he couldn’t help her back then. Kassian continued:

“And also.”

“Also?”

“There was one staff member in charge of Rosena’s costume who was secretly selling her personal information.”

The head of the troupe was furious and said he wouldn’t let them get away with it.

“Apparently, they stole letters Rosena received from her family out of the dressing room and sold them to reporters…”

“Ah!”

Serafina’s eyes widened, like something came to her.

“So that’s why! I knew it! They ran away from the dressing room!”
I saw that person’s face!

“What do we do? I didn’t get to tell Rosena about that part!”

“Don’t worry. The troupe head already caught them.”

“That’s a relief.”

Letting out a breath, Serafina looked up at Kassian.
Their eyes met.

“So, Kassian. You already had a rough idea that Miss Rosena was the victim.”

“That’s right.”

“Good. I almost would’ve been disappointed, thinking you helped just as a fan.”

“Disappointed?”

In me? Kassian’s eyes widened on their own.

Facing him boldly, Serafina said:

“Of course I could be disappointed in you. If you don’t meet my standards.”

Just like you can test me, I can test you too.

“You’re not the only one who has the right to test someone.”

She shrugged her shoulders as she said it.

“Congratulations. You passed the test.”

She said it brightly and then turned her gaze away.

Serafina, withdrawing the eyes that had been on Kassian, shoved Johann Whatever 3rd into Kassian’s stiffened arms.

“Then I’m going. If there’s another mission, send Tofu.”

She turned around and left.

From the back of Serafina’s head as she walked into the dress shop, her neatly tied hair bobbed lightly.

“Extra! Extra!”
“The Magical Saintess’s photo has been revealed!”

Newspaper-selling boys, drunk on their scoop, brushed past Serafina as she pushed open the door.

On the newspapers they held high was a photo of the Magical Saintess’s back, running across a rooftop with the full moon behind her.

For a brief moment, the blurry photo and Serafina’s side profile overlapped.

“Kassian?”

“……”

“Kassian, what are you doing, woof?”

“Ah… yeah.”

“Why do you look like you got punched in the face, woof?”

Until Johann Whatever 3rd asked him that, Kassian didn’t even realize he was making such a face.

After standing there for a long while, Kassian suddenly buried his face into Johann Whatever 3rd’s back.

“Johann Mendelssohn Handel Beethoven Bach Schubert Mozart Debussy Parkyeon Strauss the Third.”

“Yeah?”

“This is the first time in my life someone’s tested me.”

But… it doesn’t feel bad.

Meanwhile.

Arden was serious.

Do I have some kind of sharp instinct that only activates for the Magical Saintess?

At the Ingrid Trading Company mansion last time, and now at that… Sk— I can’t remember his name, that reporter’s townhouse.

I was just passing by the imperial palace, and I still ran into the Magical Saintess.

At this point, isn’t this a revelation from the gods?

The face of the Magical Saintess, which he’d briefly but clearly seen, looking startled. The noisy hammer in her hand.

“I mean, Arden.”

That indecent skirt that ruins public morals.
As the Crown Prince, a divine revelation to personally arrest such a person and contribute to the empire’s fine customs and morals…

“What was the story of that play we saw at Opera Garnier, ‘Underling: The Last Rite’? It was about objects getting possessed, right?”

Before that skirt became a trend, he had to hurry and capture the Magical Saintess…

“That means, the more you buy things, the higher the chance you’ll end up with a possessed item. You have to reduce consumption. You can’t go around buying like fifty handkerchiefs every single day. You never know which towel might be possessed… Arden?”

Ugh!

“Arden!”

Clap!

Serafina clapped right in front of Arden’s nose.

Only then did Arden blink, coming back to his senses.

“What were you thinking so hard about?”
Are you possessed already?

He silently looked down at his senior, who was staring at him suspiciously.

It looked like she’d just come from taking measurements—she had a measuring tape slung over her shoulders. On the back of her small hand were marks where pins had pricked her.

From Arden’s perspective, there were… 2,000 of them.

In reality, there were only two.

2,000.

“……”

Come to think of it, today all the newspapers had been talking about the Magical Saintess’s photo.

These days, people talked about her whenever they gathered.

At first, people had been horrified by her strange outfit, but as the Magical Saintess’s popularity grew, they started hinting that they wanted to try wearing it too.

Which meant Arden’s worry that those bizarre clothes might become a trend wasn’t unfounded.

“……”

“Arden?”

“Senior.”

“Yeah?”

“If a completely new kind of outfit becomes popular, what would the dress shop do?”

“Hmm, wouldn’t all the staff stay up all night to make clothes that follow the new trend?”

“It would get busy, right?”

“Probably. Customers would flood in too.”

“Then do you get paid more?”

“No.”

“……”