I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 759 - Side Story 32: Catherine Earnshaw (4)

To live, that was the mission and instinct given to all life forms born into this world.

It would certainly be arduous. But even so, one cannot give up on living. Even if heading toward death, surely the light that flows out in the process is brilliant and beautiful.

Right. I had forgotten for a moment. Being alive. Feeling the world with all five senses, and interacting with everything around me. That must not stop. It was the same even if one had already achieved what they wanted.

'I was on a journey to find that. And I certainly still have a flame remaining within me.'

I must visit my mother on Earth once more through the passage that has already been connected.

I must finish the unfinished work as Theon's teacher.

I must travel to places in this world I haven't been to yet.

I must face again the connections I made with him and have a heart-to-heart conversation about the years that have passed.

Right. He still had many things left to do.

So he must live. He must not doubt his own existence.

'I.'

Rudger took a calm deep breath. In his body that felt like it had fallen into the cold deep sea, a flame arose and warmth returned.

'I exist in this world.'

In this present that walked through the past. And in this very place where he will move forward. He was still alive, breathing, and existing.

His violently pounding heart became calm. No more cold sweat came out either. His slightly dilated pupils also returned to normal.

"It seems you've properly pulled yourself together."

Catherine looked at Rudger like that with pride.

"Thank you. It's thanks to you." 

"Save your thanks. Rather, I should be the one thanking you. How much have I received from you? What I just helped with isn't even enough to repay it."

Catherine rather regretted not being able to do more for him.

"I've received too much from you. That day during the holy war, I told you to leave because I was worried. But you didn't leave, and after subduing me, you told me where my parents were."

Catherine turned around, toward the mansion where her family lived. Toward the hometown she had no choice but to be away from for decades.

"Just being able to come back like this makes me grateful to the world. Beyond that, I've incurred far too much emotional debt to you." 

"Emotional debt." 

"Right. Everything in the world changes. Just as those tree leaves wither when time passes, many things will change. Emotions are the same."

However, Catherine continued.

"The roots underground and the rocks never change eternally. This is the same, Heathcliff. My feelings toward you will never change. Your joy will be my joy, and your sorrow will be my sorrow. So I want you to be happy." 

"If you say it that way, doesn't it make me sound like someone who only pursues unhappiness?"

Rudger chuckled. Then Catherine also replied playfully.

"Weren't you?" 

"Unhappiness is something that follows as you live, I didn't particularly pursue it. I too am someone who wishes for happiness. Because that's what people naturally do."

Instead, Rudger simply accepted even his own unhappiness because it was those pains and wounds that allowed him to be who he is now.

Just as shadows form where there is light. Happiness without unhappiness was not true happiness.

"And put away that talk about debt. Between friends, really." 

"Oh really? You know I don't say empty words, right? If you say that, then there's really no debt?" 

"Right. Think as you please."

Rudger walked slowly down the path. The sensation touching his skin was more vivid than ever before.

Even Catherine's voice behind him demanding why he was going first was simply pleasant to hear. Between time and time. Between the continuous waves of pouring sunlight. Within that, he still lives on.

Night came. The pastoral countryside became even more beautiful at sunset, and Rudger had to have his gaze stolen by it for a while.

The setting sun emitted intense light, like a child who throws a tantrum not wanting to go home even after playing to their heart's content.

In that tantrum, the light spewed out various colors—orange, yellow, pink, red. If you include the colors mixed between colors, the number would be countless.

As the blue waves of night forcefully pushed through, even the sunset disappeared beyond the west and the sky was dyed in dark tones.

When the largest light disappeared, the small lights that had been holding their breath until now rose one by one. They were starlight.

They all seemed similar from afar, but when looked at closely, they were different. Just as people all seem the same from afar but are each different entities, the stars were the same.

The stars sparkled with their own size and color.

Sitting on the balcony of the room for guests, peacefully watching that scene.

"What are you staring at so blankly?"

After eating dinner, Catherine, who had been spinning thread in her room, asked. Catherine wasn't alone. Two more foster sisters were by her side, one of them being Remia.

The two seemed quite dissatisfied that the field work had ended early today. So they were helping Catherine by spinning thread, embroidering, or doing miscellaneous tasks by her side.

He wondered why they were doing this in the room for guests, but decided to think that one's heart is more comfortable when with people they know rather than being alone.

"The scenery is nice."

Insects chirped outside. Why don't they cry during the day but are noisy only at night? There's nothing sadder than life forms with day and night reversed.

"You've traveled around the world and seen many things, what's so special about here?" 

"There are many more splendid places than here. The Elf Kingdom for one, and the northern mountain range is the same. But splendor isn't always beautiful."

There is beauty even in simplicity. Rather, excessive splendor dazzles the eyes and disturbs even the essence of appreciating why it is beautiful. In that sense, Rudger liked this scenery because it had the most fundamental aesthetics.

"Is that so? I don't really understand." 

"I think I understand."

Remia picked up the conversation. She was embroidering, and her meticulous hand movements seemed like they weren't just from a day or two of practice.

"When I lived for a long time with my eyes covered, what I saw were just fragmentary futures. There was no continuity in them and they were always fragmented. Sometimes the order was all jumbled up too."

That was a side effect that priests with the power of the saint had to endure. Some might say they envy seeing the future, but unwanted information forcibly entering through the eyes wouldn't feel very good.

"So when I first opened my eyes and could look at the world properly, I was really happy."

The city scenery was nice. The quiet streets were nice. The bustling people walking around were nice.

That sight which had become daily life for someone and was now even tiresome. For someone else, it could be a scene more precious than anything else in the world.

"I became able to accept even trivial things with joy." 

"Wait. When you say it that way, it makes me feel like I'm someone who's only exposed to stimulation."

Catherine, who had been knitting, let out a deep sigh while Remia said with a smile.

"How could that be? We all know that no one lives with more gratitude for the present than you, sister." 

"Thanks for saying that at least."

Catherine's knitting, which had been moving continuously, stopped. The same was true for Remia who had been embroidering, and the other sisters too.

The insect sounds subsided. A wind of silence blew from the forest adjacent to the mansion.

Rudger, who had been watching the stars, lowered his gaze.

"Was it always like this?" 

"Hmm. It's been rare lately, but it's been particularly severe recently."

Catherine smiled bitterly. When Remia tried to step forward, Catherine stopped her.

"Uninvited guests unsuited to a peaceful place."

Though far away, Rudger could feel it. Human presence was felt from the forest. Along with it came the ominous aura they emanated.

"They're probably anxious. If not that, they think it's an opportunity. Well, of course, the Demon King returned and was executed."

Catherine's words tickled Rudger's ear. Before he knew it, she was standing next to Rudger, gazing at the forest together.

"Sufficient reason for the Order's remnants to come visiting."

The group secretly approaching from the forest now were the remaining forces of the Lumensis Order. Though the holy war ended and the Holy Kingdom fell, the Order didn't completely disappear.

Broken and scattered, they survived with tenacious vitality.

It was pitiful compared to the days when they commanded the entire continent. But to put it differently, it meant that because they once commanded the continent, even in ruin their power would last long.

The goal of the surviving remnants was simple: the revival of the Lumensis Order.

Unable to forget past glory, they were trying to return to those times. So the top priority goal was one thing: creating a focal point for the Order.

'The Pope's family all died. That bloodline no longer remains in the world. But if we try to find the next most outstanding ones, they all died in the holy war.'

Captain-level holy knights and cardinals all died in the holy war. But to elevate someone at the diocesan bishop level as a focal point lacked symbolism.

Then who remained? The saint.

The surest would be the First Saint, but no one knows her identity as she's been sealed deep underground in the Holy Kingdom until now.

There was only one saint known to the world, Catherine Earnshaw. Those remnant forces found out Catherine's whereabouts and were trying to make her a symbol of the Order's revival.

They wouldn't not know that Catherine would never do such a thing. Judging from what she said, there had been similar incidents several times before.

Yet they still came, which meant they would do as they pleased regardless of Catherine's will.

'Since they were originally people who did similar things, they probably have nothing to hesitate about.'

They were probably just going to put forward an empty symbol, then use that as a starting point to gather forces and rise again.

In other words, it meant they were moving for personal desires.

"They must be anxious too. The more time passes, the weaker the power they possess becomes."

Catherine said in a pitying voice.

After Lumensis died, the Order's priests and holy knights had to feel their own power declining.

Now, three years after the holy war ended, more than half of the priests and holy knights had returned to ordinary levels.

Holy knights at least had their trained bodies remaining, but priests were different.

"Well, rather, the people who still maintain their power and remain are impressive." 

"Divine power is an external force, but most priests and holy knights don't receive power bestowed by Lumensis."

Excluding the Pope's family and priests, the divine power possessed by ordinary priests and holy knights was practically their own.

"What does that mean?" 

"Divine power is the power of faith. They think they receive power from Lumensis in exchange for their faith, but that's a big misconception. Faith is originally one's own."

The divine power they used came from belief. In the end, it was similar to a mage's mana. If magic is reconstructing the energy called mana through logic and rationality, Holy magic is manifesting unknown power through the mental force called faith.

"So you're saying the original source of those people's power is because of their own belief in god?" 

"Right. But not knowing that, when the god disappeared, that belief wavered. That's why they're weakening."

But they didn't know even that. If they knew, they wouldn't have come to kidnap Catherine saying they would recover their power.

"Conversely, does that mean there are people from the Order who maintain their power?" 

"That would be so. And such people, having had firm mental strength from the beginning, probably didn't participate in things like this. More than that, are you okay?"

Catherine's power was bestowed by an external source. Unlike those who didn't realize their own power was theirs, Catherine was in a state where she had no choice but to weaken.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm just weaker than before but still strong." 

"That's true. That's why you blocked the previous attacks too." 

"But today they seem to have really made up their minds. Before they came halfheartedly, but this time is different."

Indeed. Just the presence felt from the forest showed their numbers were considerable. If they harbored evil intentions, they could erase the entire territory managed by the Earnshaw family.

"They probably think it's their last chance. The Demon King is dead too, so now is the optimal time for the Order to revive." 

"Ah. If only someone hadn't died." 

"That's unfortunate."

Rudger said with a wry smile.

"This works out well anyway. I was at a loss about what to do with the hospitality I received."

To call it Catherine's problem, Rudger couldn't be free from it here either. Whatever it was, it was related to his bloodline.

Catherine let out a sigh.

"Haa. Fine, I get it. This is. I don't know if I should say the timing is bad or good. I didn't want to show you this." 

"Let's finish quickly and rest." 

"You know, right? We need to handle it quietly, without my parents knowing." 

"I know."

Rudger and Catherine simultaneously jumped from the balcony.

The two, once called the Demon King and called the saint, slowly walked into the forest full of darkness.