“Hey.” Marcus crouched in front of Stella, who was lying on her back on the wall of a destroyed building. “Can you stand up? It’s fine if you can’t.”

  A tiny, strained sigh came from Stella.

  “I don’t think I can, Sir Marcus.”

  “Hmm.”

  “That guy…he was quite powerful.”

  “I did notice. You both threw a lot of mana at each other.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Still, you won. Did you get what your familiar needs?”

  Stella looked up at Marcus, her amethyst eyes the only thing he could see clearly in her white mask. Yet, he could tell that she was smiling proudly beneath it.

  “I retrieved it, yes. T-thank you. It’s all because of you—”

  “Stow those words away.” Marcus took her hand, stood up, and pulled her up. “You worked for it and won it yourself. You’re free to give yourself a pat on the back today.”

  Marcus could see that she was quite wobbly while standing. It must be extreme mana exhaustion. She practically expended everything she had in a short burst of time with her skills and spells.

  But, with her holding a ruby-colored magic crystal, it was all worth it in the end.

  “By the way,” Marcus noticed that mana was moving from the magic crystal on Stella’s palm straight into her pendant. “Is she…?”

  “Yes,” Stella answered. “Lady Siris is absorbing her essence. Once it’s done, she should be back on full strength.”

  She almost sounded tearful.

  “She’ll be fine. I can’t believe it. I was so scared, but she'll be fine now.”

  Marcus patted her lightly on the back.

  “Good work. I’m sure she’ll be proud of you.”

  “Yeah…I guess so.”

  Suddenly, a bunch of wyvern knights appeared in front of Marcus and Stella. It was the same wyvern knights they saved earlier. They all looked like shit, their armor and uniforms in tatters due to the fighting.

  Some of them were limping while holding on to their buddies; others had bandages on their wounds. Even Heinrich was clutching a wound on his shoulder.

  “Hey, you two!” A cocky grin was on the lieutenant’s face. “We managed to clear out the rest of the cultist force. Though…we’re in a bit of a rough spot.”

  “I…” Stella summoned a wand on her free palm. “Wait, I think I can do—”

  “Not now,” Marcus stopped her. “These guys are going to get healed by their buddies. Reinforcements are incoming.”

  “Wait, for real?” Heinrich was bewildered.

  “But they’re bleeding,” Stella protested.

  “Yeah, and you’re basically out of mana,” Marcus said. “Plus, you told me that casting way too much magic with internal mana can cause your gate to shatter. Didn’t you cast enough spells today?”

  “Ugh…I can still do a few more…” Stella mumbled.

  “You don’t sound convincing.”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Heinrich said, smiling as he bowed. “You both did enough for us and for Sordale. We can hardly ask for more.”

  Heinrich then eyed Stella, while she averted his gaze, seemingly flustered.

  “U-uhm…”

  “I said don’t worry about it,” Heinrich laughed, turning to Marcus. “Now I don't know what happened between the two of you, but good luck.”

  “Wait,” Marcus turned to Stella. “What is this guy talking about?”

  “They found out that I’m their princess…” Stella sheepishly replied.

  “No way.”

  “Yes way,” Heinrich answered. “But, we’re going to keep our lips sealed. All we know is that the ‘White Watch’ saved us.”

  “Yeah, that’s right!”

  “Princess Stella, don’t worry about anything!”

  “From now on, we’ve got your back!”

  “Exactly.” Heinrich stepped forward in Marcus's direction, extending his hand to him. “Consider us your allies in the Wyvern Knights Corps, good sir.”

  Marcus was a bit unsure about all this. Partially, he was worried that these soldiers would run their mouths anyway, and then the White Watch’s identity, or at least the identity of one of its members, would be revealed.

  But…

  Then again, so what? Regardless of what happens, the mission won’t change, and it’s not like anyone knows ‘Marcus Lieberman’ anyway.

  At most, all I’ll get if things go wrong is an extra headache from protecting Stella.

  When he turned to Stella, unsure whether to accept the soldier’s offer, she gave him a tiny nod.

  That, and she seems alright with it.

  Marcus took Heinrich’s hand.

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  “Understand that she’s the [Saint], so please, respect her will if she wants to keep her identity secret.”

  “I understand that, sir.” Heinrich shook Marcus’s hand. “Even a dumbass like me knows how much trouble she must be in that she’s hiding like that.”

  “...I’ll reveal myself one day,” Stella blurted out. “O-once I’m ready to uphold my task as the [Saint].”

  “Then we bid you good luck in that endeavor, Your Highness.”

  Heinrich stepped back before saluting Stella. That surprised her.

  “Um, I’m not really a part of the military or of the government…” Stella sheepishly refused the officer’s gesture.

  “Be that as it may, we’ve heard that soon, the next ruler of the kingdom will be chosen. The way I see it, you’re the only elven blueblood so far that seems to care about grunts like us.” Heinrich laughed. “So, hey, if you can do it, we won’t mind you as queen.”

  “You buggers are just biased,” Marcus laughed. “Because she saved you.”

  The soldiers behind Heinrich responded defensively.

  “Eh, so what?!”

  “Who are you anyway?”

  “Don’t you dare harm her while she’s not in Sordale, ya hear!”

  Marcus shook his head. It seemed like Stella acquired quite the fervent group of followers. Marcus, as usual, gained nothing even if he helped save them.

  Well, his disgruntled and assholish demeanor probably led to that.

  It is what it is.

  “Anyway, your buddies are incoming now,” Marcus alerted, as he noticed the wyvern knight reinforcements entering the range of his [Mass Surveillance] skill. “We’ll be off now. It’s up to you folks to explain things to them.”

  “Just don’t get yourselves in trouble,” Stella added. “I won’t mind if you tell the truth if it’s truly needed. The last thing I want is for people to get hurt because of me.”

  “We won’t.” Heinrich seemed quite confident, way too confident of himself. “Goodbye, you two. Please have a safe journey.”

  “Heinrich!” Fritz shouted as he ran straight into his men, who were all sitting at the entrance of the village. They were all injured, and there were only eleven of them left.

  Yet, they were alive. There were survivors in Fritz’s squadron, even after he saw that all of them were brutally shot down in the fight. Did those guys who intervened earlier save them?

  How? There was no way that his men would be patched up after falling from the skies while on fire!

  He stopped in front of them, observing them closer.

  “...Hey, Heinrich. What happened here?”

  The injured officer looked up at Fritz with a small smile on his face.

  “Captain,” he laughed. “Some fucking miracle happened, that's what.”

  Fritz crouched close to Heinrich. There were no lies in his eyes. For some reason too, he wasn’t being snarky anymore. He was serious.

  “The cult. What happened to them?”

  Around them, members of the 101st were already rushing into the abandoned village. Villagers who ran into the woods and road were also returning, all of them equally confused and afraid about the previous battle.

  On the other hand, Fritz was here, trying to make sense with the only witnesses he had. He knew the colonel was coming soon, once he was done giving orders to his commanders.

  So, he better have something good to explain.

  “They’re wiped out,” Heinrich answered. “You see, while we were fighting in the skies, a group known as the ‘White Watch’ appeared…”

  Stella stirred awake with a soft yawn.

  It’s now been two days since the incident at Eisenfeld. So far, they temporarily settled on a nearby city called Branburg, which was just south of Eisenfeld. There, they found a fine hotel, which they have been in for the past few days.

  The battle badly drained Stella, and even her familiar was unable to wake up immediately after she absorbed the essence from Salvador’s magic crystal. It was why Marcus decided that they should ‘rest’ for now.

  So, as Stella stretched after sitting upright, she looked down at her pendant. It wasn’t cracked anymore. Due to her drowsiness, that detail barely registered on Stella’s mind.

  She was half preparing to get up out of her bed and begin preparations for the day until she realized something.

  Lady Siris must have repaired the cracks on Stella’s pendant while she was asleep. That meant…

  “Lady Siris!” Stella shouted, excited.

  The ruby pendant suddenly glowed, and out a white-colored fox appeared on Stella’s lap. The nine-tailed fox purred a bit, her form now fully physical compared to last time.

  It seemed that she now had enough strength to manifest herself fully in the real world.

  “Morning, Stella,” Siris’s voice greeted, her mature, elegant voice contrasting with Stella’s more childish tone. “Oh no. Don't do that. You see me in my prime again after so long, and you’re tearing up.”

  “L-lady Siris.”

  “Now, now. That boy you’re with would be quite concerned if he saw you that way, don’t you think?”

  Stella’s mind went blank for a second. Then, she turned red.

  “Hey! Why are you bringing him up!”

  “Nothing, nothing.”

  The fox, or well, more accurately, kitsune, bounced around happily on Stella’s lap. Then, she floated up before bopping Stella’s nose.

  “Ow!”

  “I really, really missed you,” Siris said, before nuzzling herself into Stella’s cheeks. “Quite frankly, during that fight you had with those cultists, I was so worried since I couldn't do anything.”

  “Really? Well, I suppose…Salvador Magath was quite scary. I tried to act tough, but really…he was so strong…”

  “Hmph, worst of all, your partner left you to fight that monster alone.” The kitsune floated away before crossing her arms. She was now flying upright, with a haughty look on her face. “Quite frankly, I don’t understand people like him. How can one be so callous yet be so kind?”

  “I don’t know…” Stella curiously looked up at Siris. “Um, I thought you could judge people more than I do, Lady Siris.”

  “Not when it comes to his type.” Siris frowned a bit. “Hmm…let me put it this way. He’s a soldier. Do you know the role that soldiers have? Of course! It’s to serve a nation and its leaders.”

  “Uh-huh,” Stella just nodded along.

  “His motivations, therefore, confuse me. You see, Sir Marcus has no nation anymore. He has no leaders and no people to protect. In other words, he should be free now! He's free to do whatever he wishes in this world. Yet…”

  Siris flew closer to Stella, her ears drooping down slightly.

  “He still chooses to fight and commit violence. He won’t even be rewarded or recognized for it. A shame, truly.”

  Stella frowned at Siris’s words. Surely, that wasn’t the case. Stella always praised Marcus’s work and effort, because she knew that he was making a positive impact on the world.

  Even if his methods were…a bit iffy.

  Still, Siris was correct. Marcus had no reason to do any of the things he was doing right now. He already fought the fights that he was meant to fight in. What he should get now is a comfy retirement after surviving hell.

  Instead, he was here stuck with an incompetent [Saint] that he needed to babysit.

  “...It does sound awful when you put it that way.” Stella mumbled.

  On the other hand, Siris perked up, flying up to Stella’s head and finding her favorite spot to land on.

  “Regardless, we shouldn’t be too down anymore.” Siris said. “Up! Up! I want to see the sunlight and fly around again! That, and I have a debt to pay.”

  “Debt?” Stella frowned. “Is it with Sir Marcus? He doesn’t do that kind of stuff, you know?”

  “Of course. But, after saving my little Stella so many times—”

  “Don’t call me that way!”

  “I’m of the opinion that Sir Marcus deserves a few treats from this great spirit.” Siris seemed quite full of herself. “That's why I'll whip his atrocious spellcasting abilities myself, starting today!”