“Alright—up to here. From here on, Lady Saintess has to disguise herself.” Luna stopped. “Lady Saintess needs to go back to being Vinny, okay.”

As she spoke, Luna handed Vanessa the set of men’s clothes she’d taken out of the villa earlier.

Vanessa took the clothes Luna passed over.

Luna really had thought things through. She’d even deliberately brought him a set of men’s clothes before setting out, so he’d have something to wear after changing back—because the one with a Carillian Academy student identity was Vinny, not Vanessa.

Otherwise, once he changed back, he couldn’t exactly keep wearing women’s clothes, could he?

Vanessa took the men’s clothes and walked over to a patch of bushes. The three of them kept watch in front of the bushes. Along with a bloom of cherry-pink light drawing in, and a soft rustling, it wasn’t long before a blue-haired young man in formal dress stepped out of the bushes.

“So amazing.” Even though she already knew, Fennia still stared wide-eyed when she saw it.

No matter how many times she watched it, it still felt unbelievable.

That blue-haired young man in front of her was actually the same person as that elegant, proper, virtuous Lady Saintess.

Still, maybe it was because of preconceived notions—seeing Vinny again, Fennia couldn’t help feeling that his face had faint traces of the same contours as Vanessa.

Maybe it was just because she already knew that this “young man” named Vinny was actually the Lady Saintess herself.

“Fennia, later you can’t show that kind of shocked reaction again, okay.” Luna said to Fennia, then looked at Amisha. “Miss Amisha, you too.”

“Yes, Lady Luna, we’ll keep it in mind.” Amisha nodded while holding her staff, then looked at Vinny. “Vinny... from now on, I’ll be in your care.”

“Mhm. I’ll be in your care too, Amisha. Fennia.” Vinny nodded with a solemn face.

The group caught up to the main Carillian Academy team ahead.

“Hm??” A mentor bringing up the rear immediately noticed the three women and one man running toward them. When he saw Luna, he recognized her. “Haukekai??”

“It’s me, sir. Luna Haukekai. The four of us are Carillian Academy students, and we’re requesting to rejoin the group.” Luna said.

“Are you all alright? If you’re injured, there are church nuns and priests in the middle of the formation.” He looked them over. Seeing that they were moving freely and didn’t look like wounded patients, he let out a breath of relief, but still reminded them.

“It’s a blessing in misfortune—you’re all fine. But speaking of which, where are your uniforms? Why aren’t you wearing your uniforms?” the mentor asked, puzzled.

“Sir, after we escaped danger, we were lucky enough to find a nearby villa that belongs to my family’s property. We changed clothes there and took a bath.” Luna explained.

“I see. No matter what, students, it’s good that you’re fine.” The mentor nodded, and also understood why Luna’s group wasn’t injured—he nearly forgot that Luna’s Spirit Soul was [Saint’s Envoy] to begin with.

“Sigh. Our academy has really been plagued with trouble lately. Just last semester we went through the [Bronze Blood] attack and the Demon Pillars invasion incident. I thought this semester would be easier.” The mentor let out a long sigh, helpless. “Who knew something like this would happen again?”

Easier? That was probably impossible. Vinny had always felt that Carillian Academy had bad feng shui. It had been like that in his previous life too—this place claimed to be the safest, yet all kinds of monsters and demons kept crawling out. Though, it was probably because all the Destiny Heroines were here, messing up the magnetic field.

“Sir, up to now, can you tell us what exactly happened? That strange space... and that dim cube?”

“Yes—we all saw it. Every student and mentor participating in the study trip saw it that night, and all of us were pulled into it.” The mentor’s expression instantly turned serious. “As of now, we have guesses, but we can’t confirm anything. Before results are out, no one can be sure.”

“Alright. Enough of that—hurry and catch up to the main formation. We need to get out of here. I’ll register your names.” As he spoke, the mentor took out a roster.

After they reported their names, they fell into line.

Just as Vinny was about to search the crowd for any familiar faces, a voice called out to him.

“Vinny, little bro—is that you?” The voice was full of disbelief.

“You’re... Ferdi, big bro??” Vinny turned in surprise, his gaze landing on a young man who looked so bedraggled—hair a mess, clothes torn and filthy—that Vinny nearly couldn’t recognize who it was.

“It’s me. Vinny, little bro—you... you’re still alive??” There wasn’t any teasing or joking in that at all. Ferdi looked like someone who hadn’t seen a familiar face in ages. After the cube-space collapsed and other people rescued him, Ferdi had stayed in a dazed state like this the whole time.

Just looking at him, Vinny could tell his mental state was seriously abnormal—like he’d been terrified beyond measure, or like he’d seen a ton of things he’d never even imagined, things he’d never had any way to touch, completely shattering his worldview. Like he’d just crawled back from the gates of death, with his SAN completely wiped out.

“Yeah. Ferdi, big bro—are you okay?” Vinny felt like the question didn’t even need asking. One look said Ferdi’s condition was terrible, but after seeing Vinny, it seemed a little better.

Ferdi didn’t say a word. He stepped forward and hugged Vinny hard. “Vinny, little bro—you... you’re alive. That’s great. I thought... I thought I was the only one left. Hah... hahahahaha...”

Ferdi’s laughter carried a kind of bleakness. Vinny had no idea what Ferdi had seen in the cube. He’d survived the disaster, but it felt like half his life had been left inside.

Yeah.

Not just Ferdi—Vinny had been through nine deaths and one life too.

The difference was: what he faced was the mastermind behind it all. The cube-space hadn’t killed him, but the Church of the Dawn nearly had.

If Luna hadn’t appeared in time, then he, Fennia, and Amisha would’ve been erased in the literal, physical sense.

Vanessa locked in a gilded cage would have replaced Vinny. As for Fennia and Amisha—if they didn’t obey the Church, they would absolutely be dealt with.

What the four of them experienced was probably the hardest “stage” out of the entire Carillian Academy group... but that didn’t mean other students had it easy.

Watching the two of them interact—especially when they were hugging—Fennia hesitated as if she wanted to say something, feeling like it wasn’t quite appropriate.

Even if this male student hadn’t done anything wrong... Lady Saintess was, no matter what, a girl, wasn’t she??

“Vinny, little bro. Vinny, little bro.”

“Yeah? What is it? Ferdi, big bro—take it slow.” As the team moved forward, Vinny supported Ferdi.

“Vinny, little bro... Andre, h-he... earlier, to save me...” Ferdi’s face crumpled.

“Andre? You ran into him in that cube-space? He saved you—what happened??” Vinny had a bad feeling.

“He...” Ferdi didn’t continue, but at this point, silence itself was an answer.

Vinny didn’t speak.

Andre—one of their card-group members. The one who’d been paired with him last semester, the one he’d thrown fake practice games with.

That guy had always been goofy and unserious, but he was a really good person.

In Vinny’s definition, anyone who valued him, and didn’t listen to outside rumors and look at him with discrimination, was a good person—and Vinny cherished them.

Luna, Fennia, and Amisha listened silently at the side. None of them spoke. They only watched Vinny’s emotions carefully.

“Don’t do this. What exactly happened?” Vinny frowned. “Don’t talk in half-sentences. What happened to him? Did you see with your own eyes that something happened to him??”

“He—he was dragged away by those ghost-vines that were covered in eyes, when he tried to save me!” Ferdi pressed his lips together, like he still couldn’t get his emotions under control.

“Vines covered in eyes??”

“Yes. I don’t know what those things were. I’ve never seen anything that terrifying. I’ve never even seen something that exaggerated in storybooks.” Ferdi said in a defeated voice.

What he’d seen inside that cube seemed to have completely shattered his reason and his worldview.

“Did you tell the mentors?” Vinny asked.

“I did, but the cube already collapsed. They said all we can do is wait for follow-up news, search the surrounding regions slowly. They said they’ll do their best, and told me not to blame myself.” Ferdi lowered his head.

“So—you didn’t see Andre actually get hurt, did you?” Vinny raised his brow. “Then why are you assuming Andre got hurt??”

“But...”

“No more ‘but.’ You can’t do anything by burning yourself up here. You can’t help anyone like this.” Vinny let out a soft sigh. “Better to look at it differently—Andre might not be in trouble. Don’t just declare the guy gone, okay??”

“I understand.” After a long silence, Ferdi nodded.

“Ferdi, big bro—after you got out, did you see anyone else familiar in the group?” Vinny asked.

“No. You’re the first familiar person I’ve seen.” Ferdi shook his head. “Thank goodness you’re fine.”

“Luckily, you’re fine too.” Vinny shook his head.

After this kind of disaster, after seeing despair—running into a friend who survived too really did bring up an extremely complicated sort of emotion.

At this moment, Vinny also realized: he always felt like the Destiny Heroines couldn’t be compared to other people—but what about him?

In this study-trip group, aside from the mentors, everyone was first-years and second-years. In that tier, Vinny’s strength was above average—he could even be counted as upper-tier. For students who were barely average, or not even average, their despair would be worse than his.

But in the end, these were still Carillian Academy students. In the same circumstances, their quality and crisis response were already the top tier among young spellcasters.

While soothing Ferdi, Vinny’s gaze swept across the other students trudging along. If you described this group as an army, then the morale right now was extremely low. If it really were an army, there would probably be countless deserters.

Vinny didn’t see a single familiar face [N O V E L I G H T] in the crowd.

Yeah. If Shicodale were in there, Ferdi would definitely recognize him.

Soon, the group reached the Empire border. After the leading mentors discussed things with the border commander, the Tyrel Empire’s border gates opened.

The Carillian Academy students filed into the border checkpoint. Quite a few of the Empire students looked much better after entering—because this was already a safe zone.

For the rest of their lives, they’d probably never want to go to the tribes again. Even though the tribal people were likely just as confused, not knowing what had happened—how they’d suddenly been swept into the storm.

Watching that, Vinny silently clenched his fist.

It was all caused by those upper echelons of the Church of the Dawn—beasts in human skin. Just to make his death look like an accident, they launched a disaster this absurd.

Demons were frightening—but some people were even more frightening than demons.

The people gathered in Carillian Academy were all the new generation nobles of various nations. If they even dared to do this to Carillian Academy, then ordinary people wouldn’t even be worth mentioning. It was just that they didn’t want to—if there were profit to be had, what bottom line would those people have??

This was only what he could see. What about what he couldn’t see??

Even if it weren’t for himself—now he still felt that resisting the Church of the Dawn was the right thing to do.

Everyone waited at a station in the border region. Soon, a familiar unicorn carriage descended from the sky.

When everyone saw that carriage, it was like seeing a return ticket. Their emotions surged, and they were all incredibly excited.

“Ferdi, big bro. Let’s get on. It’s all over—we should go back to school.” Vinny supported Ferdi, who still looked downcast, and helped him onto the carriage. Luna and the others followed right behind.

They could all tell that Vinny’s mood was heavy too—only compared to who he used to be, the current Vinny clearly knew better how to hide what he was thinking. He didn’t show much emotion, because he knew that once he expressed it, it would infect other people.

After all, he’d only found one familiar person. Everyone else—including the roommate he was most worried about—he hadn’t seen.

Luna and the others knew that Vinny was actually a very kind, emotional person, so at this moment he had to be suffering. So they didn’t disturb him. They only watched his condition quietly.

They had thought the return trip would feel longer and heavier than the trip out—but it was actually extremely fast, so fast it felt like there was no sense of time. As if they got on the carriage, and before long, they were getting off again.

Maybe it was because every one of them was weighed down by their own thoughts.

After all, this was supposed to have been a pleasant, easy study trip. No one expected it to turn into this.

After a week of travel, they returned to the familiar Carillian Academy.

The academy arranged a physical check for everyone, but on the very day they returned, they were told to go back early and rest.

Vinny returned to the dorm room he knew so well, and out of habit, he knocked on the door.

Normally, there would definitely be the sound of quick footsteps from inside, and then the door would open. Shicodale, wearing an apron, would poke out his little head, full of energy, coming to greet him.

Vinny also hoped that this time, coming home would be like that—that silver figure had actually gotten back a long time ago, agonizing in worry at home, waiting for him.

Until, when the door didn’t open for a long, long time, Vinny numbly took out the spare key and opened the door himself.