I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 756 - Side Story 29: Catherine Earnshaw (1)

Now that I think about it, Catherine wasn't really the type with a good personality.

No, rather than personality, I should say temperament. She was a saint, but that was merely a ceremonial title forcibly bestowed upon her by the Bretus Holy Nation.

It was a position she attained because of her exceptional aptitude and talent, not because she possessed the compassionate personality of a saint.

Of course, after becoming a saint, Catherine behaved as quietly as possible. She displayed conduct befitting the title of saint because she had been consistently taught to do so but Rudger knew Catherine's true nature.

She was a tomboy. And she had quite a fiery temperament. She had the complete opposite personality of Rudger, who was merely cold.

Perhaps that was why the two of them were able to become friends during that brief encounter in their childhood.

'Though I didn't expect her to immediately throw a potato at a friend she was meeting after so long.'

Well, given Catherine's personality, if she really disliked someone, she would have treated them as if they didn't exist. This was probably her own way of expressing how much she'd missed him.

The method was just a bit rough, that was the problem.

His thoughts had gone on too long.

-Thunk.

Rudger lightly caught the flying potato. The freshly harvested potato from the field was covered in dirt. What was she thinking, throwing it when dirt could get in his eyes?

"That's excessively violent for a first greeting. Or do people in this neighborhood greet each other with potatoes?" 

"As if that would happen."

Catherine walked briskly toward Rudger with an incredulous smile. She wore boots for field work and even large overalls with suspenders. Her appearance was covered in dirt. It was attire that made it impossible to see her as a young lady from a wealthy family.

However

"You look much better than when you were a saint."

More than the white vestments full of ornate decorations. These current clothes suited Catherine much better.

"And you're exactly the same as you were before and back then." 

"Does that mean I'm still handsome?" 

"Bullshit." 

"Your mouth has gotten foul. Is it okay for someone who was a saint to use such language?" 

"I quit being a saint 3 years ago. And back then I only pretended to be a refined lady because of others' gazes, but I wanted to smash everything. I can't tell you how refreshing this is."

They say among people who let loose, none are scarier than someone who's quit their job—it was exactly like that.

"I heard you'd returned, but you came pretty quickly. Was that all our relationship amounted to?" 

"To be precise, we met long ago, but we didn't meet often, right?" 

"Oh my, is that so? I'm being too talkative with a busy person." 

"Well, now I've also quit everything and am just traveling around, so you don't need to feel too sorry." 

"You won't yield even one word. Anyway, you're as unappetizing as ever, both then and now."

Rudger smirked and shrugged his shoulders. It meant to judge for herself.

Catherine smiled contentedly at that sight.

"Still, it's good to see that you know how to smile like that." 

"Did I?" 

"When I saw you before, and when I saw you at the Holy War. You always had a dead look on your face like someone who'd lived through everything." 

"Did I? I do know how to smile though." 

"Smile my ass, you probably just sneered. When you were a teacher, the students were terrified of you. I know all about it."

Rudger couldn't deny that part. Though he didn't use corporal punishment, Rudger could make students suffocate with just his atmosphere alone.

"So, you quit being a saint and now you're plowing fields in a place like this?" 

"It's actually quite enjoyable. It's rewarding too. After all, I couldn't do anything for so long." 

"That's true." 

"I don't plan to lament the years that have passed. I don't expect any compensatory psychology either. However, I do plan to work harder to make up for the time I was away from this place. That's why I'm doing field work too." 

"Does your younger sister over there feel the same way?"

Rudger's gaze turned toward the other workers. The workers, composed of beauties difficult to encounter in such a rural village, were people from Rudger's memories, the priestesses of the Bretus Holy Nation. 

Among them, the most noticeable was Priestess Remia, who had the most acquaintance with Rudger. No, she was now just an ordinary girl named Remia, no longer a priestess.

They had all stopped working and were staring this way.

"Are you taking care of all of them?"

"Not all of them. The ones who had somewhere to go left. Though they were only a minority." 

"The rest chose to stay." 

"They have nowhere to return to, and it's not easy to suddenly find something they want to do. Those girls became priestesses partly because of me too."

Rudger nodded. Those women held the high position of priestess in the Holy Nation, almost equivalent to cardinals.

However, priestesses originally only existed in the distant past and were a title that had nearly disappeared by now.

The one who revived it was Catherine, who had been a saint.

'Originally, the girls who became priestesses were nothing but experimental subjects created for the birth of a saint.'

The Bretus Holy Nation injected the power they had extracted in the distant past into young children in order to give birth to a lost saint.

The power of the saint was so powerful that most children couldn't endure it and died.

However, occasionally, children survived with a very low probability, half-successes who didn't become saints but didn't completely fail either.

They could glimpse the future at a glance, but they couldn't divine everything like a true saint. From the church's standpoint, it must have been ambiguous whether to keep them or dispose of them.

They worried that if they left them alone, what if a saint wouldn't appear because of the priestesses' existence.

Only one saint could exist in each generation.

If Catherine hadn't successfully awakened as a saint, the priestesses at the time would have been disposed of.

'No, even though Catherine actually became a saint, the church was reluctant about the priestesses' existence.'

They worried about what would happen if Catherine's abilities didn't activate properly because priestesses existed.

It was Catherine who protected them. She looked after the children who had been experimental subjects like herself and decided to protect the children as their older sister.

The reason half-success experimental subjects who should have been disposed of originally came to hold the status of priestess was because of Catherine's efforts.

Now that all of that was over the sight of them still following Catherine was not strange at all.

To them, Catherine would seem more like a real family than the families whose names and faces they no longer remembered.

'Family, is it?'

Family is a bond stronger than anything else in the world. Even if blood isn't connected, the bond of family doesn't break easily. It was the same even if they were in a place that couldn't be reached, vastly beyond dimensions.

He knew that it was an illusion that didn't truly exist. He also knew that emotions directed toward something didn't last forever.

But the intense power arising from that momentariness could be a more brilliant motivation than anything.

Because that's how it was for Rudger.

"Why are you looking so melancholic?"

Catherine, who had removed her dirt-covered gloves, tapped Rudger's chest lightly with her pure white fist.

"It's almost mealtime. You've had a hard time coming from far away, so come and let's eat lunch together."

At Catherine's words, Rudger smirked and replied.

"I came through space, so I didn't have a hard time." 

"Just say you did!"

Catherine immediately returned to the field and spoke to the priestesses—no, now the family members living together.

"Alright! That's it for today! Since we have a guest, let's finish here. It's about time we got hungry anyway." 

"Yes. Understood, Sister."

They obediently nodded at Catherine's words. The sight of them gathering up their baskets was so modest that it was hard to recall they had once been priestesses.

'Did they know with their ability to see the future that they would later be plowing fields?'

They probably didn't. Even the first saint hadn't anticipated the future of the Holy War. The time from the Holy War until now was a realm of the 'unknown' that couldn't be confirmed even with the power to see the future. And it would likely be the same going forward.

But this couldn't necessarily be called a bad thing. Even though field work was physically demanding, the priestesses' faces showed no signs of hardship.

The reason they could be like this was probably thanks to Catherine, who led them.

"Come on, let's do the remaining quota next time! We have plenty of time left anyway!" 

"Is there anything I can help with?"

Rudger approached Catherine and asked, just in case. He wondered if he was causing disruptions to their work because of himself.

"It would be nice if you helped, but is it okay to use high-level human resources like a mage for field work?"

Catherine said while gazing at the potato field.

"Even for someone like you, it won't be easy to handle a field this wide, will it?"

That was true, as magic to cultivate crops didn't exist in the world. It wouldn't be impossible to create if they tried, but there wasn't the time to spare for that right now.

"So you don't need to say you'll help. You're a guest, aren't you?" 

"Still, I can't go empty-handed as a guest." 

"I said you don't need to help." 

"I'm not the one helping. My friend will help." 

"Friend?"

Catherine looked around. She wondered if Rudger had brought someone else, but no one was visible.

"Where's your friend?" 

"Here."

Rudger pointed at the ground with his hand. Just as Catherine's expression was about to become even stranger, Rudger spoke.

"I'd like to ask a favor."

As soon as those words ended, the ground heaved and a turtle's head suddenly popped out. Of course, not the main body, but a very small-sized fragment.

Catherine's eyes widened.

"Huh?"

It was natural to be surprised since a turtle made of rock had stuck its head out from the dirt. What was even more surprising unfolded next.

Srrrrrrk.

The turtle buried its head back into the ground and disappeared. The dirt all squirmed as if moving alive. The entire wide potato field moved as if waves were crashing, and the crops inside popped out one by one.

It was as if the earth itself possessed a will.

"Wait. Possessed a will? You don't mean..."

Catherine realized what Rudger had done.

"My god. You asked the Elemental Lord of Earth for help? And not for anything else, but to plow a field?" 

"Why? Is that not allowed?" 

"No, well..."

There was nothing particularly wrong with it. There was no rule saying not to do it, nor could such a thing be illegal.

But still, shouldn't there be some sense of proportion? It's not like using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken, and even slicing radishes with a legendary sword would be more valuable than this.

"You're surprisingly shocked about a strange aspect. You don't seem particularly surprised that I'm friends with the Elemental Lord of Earth." 

"No, well, that could happen. What's stranger is a human using 8th Circle magic, right?"

For Rudger, who heard the voice of God and even used that power, was being close to the Elemental Lord of Earth really such a big deal? At least to Catherine, calling upon the Elemental Lord of Earth just to help with field work was more absurd.

"Well, what's good is good, isn't it? When the one who can do it best is nearby, you can ask for help." 

"...But the fact that it actually helps is surprising too."

The Elemental Lord of Earth, having finished all the harvesting, poked its head out from the ground. At those eyes that seemed to ask 'I did well, right?', Catherine dropped her shoulders and nodded.

"Yes. Thank you for helping. Thanks to you, half a year's worth of work finished in one minute."

Catherine realized there was no point in arguing about it here.

Having finished work, Catherine headed to the Earnshaw mansion with Rudger. Naturally, the priestesses accompanied them as well. Now they were Catherine's sworn sisters.

"Oh my! Isn't that the young lady! Are you on your way back?" 

"Haha. Yes, Uncle Thomas. I have a guest." 

"Hehe! So that young man is that person. He's so tall and handsome, it's like looking at me when I was young!" 

"Oh come on. Grandpa Boris is still handsome." 

"Oh my, our young lady is finally going to get married." 

"Grandma May! It's not like that! He's my friend!"

On the way home, villagers greeted Catherine. Catherine kindly responded to each of them. Seeing how she remembered all their names and even asked about their wellbeing, it was clear why Catherine was popular in the village.

Of course, this affection wasn't monopolized by Catherine alone. Her sworn sisters following behind her also had various conversations with the villagers.

"Are you finding this fascinating?"

As he watched that scene, Remia approached and asked.

"Should I call you Priestess Remia?" 

"Just feel free to call me by my name. I'm no longer a priestess." 

"I'll do that then." 

"It's all thanks to sister. More than that, it's a scene you created. So I've always wanted to say this. Thank you."

When he first met her, Remia covered her eyes with a tiara to see the future. Unable to see ahead, she had to hide her inner thoughts and wear a masked smile.

But now it was different. Her two eyes were looking straight at Rudger.

The eyes that saw the future had finally seen reality.

"I can finally convey this face to face like this."

Freed from Bretus' shackles, Remia smiled brightly. Not a false smile, but one filled with sincerity.