After the purple-haired youth Rain spat out blood and fainted, Ig could only question the servant boy following him.
After some back and forth, Ig finally understood. It seemed Rain had learned from a bribed maid of Princess Misaela that his “engagement” with the princess had made her cry for a long time, and in a fit of rage, he had rushed over to teach Ig a lesson and avenge the princess.
“What is this? What engagement do I have with Princess Misaela?”
Ig felt speechless. To say nothing of Miss Phoenix beside him, he had only mentioned the rumored little princess once in his conversation with Dofiraia, and had never even met her. How could there be an “engagement”?
After a brief pause in his thoughts, Ig, worried that Verafia might overthink, carefully looked at Miss Phoenix’s little face beside him.
However, Verafia seemed to treat this as a joke. Her expression remained cute and relaxed, and her golden eyes even showed a hint of novelty, showing no concern at all. This made Ig involuntarily relieved.
After thinking about it, Ig still felt that this was probably just a small piece of news that the princess had secretly spread to reject those annoying suitors.
As for why he was the unlucky one, it was probably because the Court Mage Vicena, or Elishia’s friend Charlis, had mentioned his name to her, and she had used it as a shield.
The ripples from Ig’s battle with Rain naturally attracted the teachers and staff of Aris Academy.
Although Rain’s identity was the son of a Duke, Verafia had used a magic crystal to record the image beforehand, proving that Rain was the one who initiated the provocation and attack. Therefore, he was not troubled.
Of course, being let go directly was still a bit beyond Ig’s expectation… As for whether the rumored “marriage” with Princess Misaela was the reason, that was unknown.
After ending this small disturbance, Verafia, when Ig once again suggested going to the castle district, tilted her head slightly to think before nodding in agreement.
“Hmm, is Brother Ig thinking that…?”
Her exquisite and flawless lace-up sandals, adorned with delicate lotus gems on her slender feet, landed lightly on the ground. The crystalline and jade-like toes appeared exceptionally delicate and lovely.
The clear sunlight refracted through the gemstone pendant hanging on the girl’s chest, as if dyeing her soft and sweet voice with the vivid crimson of leaping flames.
Compared to the dazzling brilliance of the gemstones before, her large crimson eyes gazed at Ig. Siya tilted her fair little face slightly, her finely drawn eyebrows slightly furrowed, revealing a look of confusion:
“But here, back home, I heard that Misaela is a very good child…”
Siya’s words referred to the purple-haired youth Rain, who had stepped forward for Princess Misaela earlier, and Ig’s speculations after being questioned.
However, no matter what, being dragged into trouble by a princess he had never met for no reason, especially one that easily angered Miss Phoenix beside him, Ig, despite his peaceful nature, could not help but feel displeased.
In Ig’s mind, Misaela had already unconsciously pictured herself as a spoiled and rather deceitful bad princess.
“Ah, Miss Siya is right. These are just baseless speculations…”
Ig reflected on himself briefly in his heart, then looked up. Seeing the gemstone-like brilliant crimson eyes on Siya’s childish and jade-like face, he revealed a half-smile:
“However, Siya and Misaela seem to be very familiar with each other. Hmm, Misaela is a princess of Peka. In that case, Miss Siya’s identity must also be extraordinary in the Empire, right?”
Siya knew she had let something slip. Her snow-white little face suddenly flushed. She moved her crimson eyes away from Ig, pretending to be foolish:
“Eek… This, I only, only heard her name.”
Ig showed a smile but had no intention of pressing Siya further. Just as he was about to change the topic, suddenly, the crowd in the distance, as if having received some news, let out a fierce commotion and surged towards the white stone square in front of the Royal Palace’s high walls.
“Hey, Ig, what’s going on?”
Verafia turned her little face, asking with an incomprehensible voice, “Their voices… it’s the King, hmm, and Bishop Lord and the selection…? Hmm, it’s too noisy, I can’t hear clearly.”
Soon, the girl shook her head and turned her little face to Ig.
Ig also shook his head, clearly clueless.
However, the blue-haired Knight youth Andes, with a smile on his face, spoke:
“When I came here yesterday, I inquired about it. About a hundred years ago today, Lichen’s Church completely drove out the shadow of the Demon Race, and since then, it has been a day worth commemorating for at least the local Church believers.”
With Andes’ reminder, Verafia recalled.
During the Demon Race War, the Peka Kingdom, although generally considered the rear of the human forces, was also infiltrated and disturbed by the Demon Race’s forces.
Verafia had indeed heard that Lichen’s Church was occupied by a shadow demon, and it attempted to summon legions from the Demon Realm using the church as a base. It was around this day, a hundred years ago, after more than a hundred days of back-and-forth with the King’s guards, that the demonic forces were finally driven out.
However, at that time, Verafia was still on the front lines of the Empire and the Demon Realm legions. Moreover, the victory of such a small battle was not considered important among the countless commemoration days of the Demon Race War, so she had not paid much attention.
Verafia never expected that such a thing would still be commemorated a hundred years later.
“Is that so?”
Ig looked a bit bewildered, observing the excited expressions of the surrounding crowd, which did not seem like a simple commemorative ceremony:
“Moreover, what does this have to do with the Bishop and the King whom Veer mentioned? Unless, they can be alarmed to preside over it personally?”
“That’s not impossible.”
Andes smiled slightly and said, “And I heard that in a few months, it will be the centennial commemoration of the Peka Kingdom’s war against the Demon Race. If His Majesty the King wants to use today’s ceremony to make some preparations and pave the way for Victory Day, it’s not impossible.”
“Lord Andiel, you mean?”
The noisy and excited voices around instantly quieted down.
Ig looked up. At the end of his line of sight, on the white stone square, the Bishop, clad in a red divine robe, was surrounded by identically solemn priests. The milky white glass floor was infused with a rich Aura of Light, as if igniting the pure gold holy patterns on the divine robe.
Verafia’s gaze was also drawn. Her scorching gold pupils shone brightly, reflecting the pure white, flawless blade held solemnly in the Bishop’s embrace, surrounded by Holy Gold Light.
