Chapter 18

‘Was it really just my imagination, after all?’

The story Frey had told wasn’t all that different from what I already knew.

The temple’s goddesses—they were people who inherited the name “Lilia,” acting as living stand-ins for the goddess herself.

Sometimes appearing once every few decades, and other times once every few centuries, they were regarded as possessing sacred power and lived their lives revered by the priests.

I seemed to recall hearing that there were also guides whose purpose was to seek out such a goddess and lead her to live as a living goddess.

“It was all stuff I already knew, but it was still pretty interesting in its own way.”

I said, giving a slight shrug.

However, Frey once again brought up something I hadn’t expected at all.

“Shall I tell you something even more interesting?”

“Something even more interesting?”

Frey spoke with an unreadable, enigmatic smile.

“The day a goddess is born is also the day a demon is born.”

“………”

“Nobody knows whether the demon appears because a demon was born and the goddess must emerge to protect the people, or if the demon appears to take revenge on the goddess the moment she is born. But like a repeating sign on a musical score, they keep encountering each other over and over again. Just like fate.”

True to Frey’s words, this was definitely a story that wasn’t very well known.

“Wherever a demon is, a goddess is there too, and close to where a goddess is, a demon exists as well.”

“………”

Yet, what on earth was the reason Frey was telling me all this?

Before I even realized it, Frey’s story had drifted far, far away from any academic perspective.

On top of that, the things he was telling me might even be secrets that weren’t supposed to be spoken aloud to ordinary people.

‘Could Frey possibly be…’

“How about it? Was it an interesting enough story to spark your interest in history?”

“Huh?”

At Frey’s words, I blinked with a blank, foolish expression on my face.

‘What the heck. Was it just casual chatter after all?’

I stopped my runaway thoughts from drifting too far and let out a secret sigh of relief.

That night, I had a dream again.

“You are standing at a crossroads of choice.”

Hearing that dreamlike voice, I instinctively knew.

It was the exact same dream I had completely forgotten about from January 1st.

“Please don’t reject your name.”

“Who are you?”

Trying my best to clear my head and keep my wits about me, I called out toward where the voice was coming from.

I had a strong, gut-level intuition that this wasn’t an ordinary dream.

……?

However, there was no reply from the voice. Just like last time, a warm breeze simply brushed past me and faded away.

Unlike the last time, I opened my eyes and stood up from where I was.

Yet, though I hurriedly looked all around my surroundings, the only thing that met my eyes was a vast, open plain.

“Tell me. Who are you, and what is this about ‘my name’…”

I spoke while scanning my surroundings. But because there was nobody else in sight besides me, my voice gradually lost its strength and grew smaller.

“What on earth kind of dream is this…”

Ruffling my hair in frustration, I began to walk aimlessly with no destination in mind.

The plain was peaceful. The beating sunlight was warm, and the grass brushing against my bare ankles tickled in a way that wasn’t particularly unpleasant.

How long had I walked? Finally, something entered my field of vision.

Far off in the distance, a large, beautiful old tree was standing all by itself.

“A person?”

On top of that, something that looked like a human figure was seated beneath it.

“………”

Seeing that, I hastily broke into a run.

For some reason, I felt that if I could just reach that person, all the riddles and mysteries would finally unravel.

“Hah, hah…”

No matter how desperately I ran, however, I didn’t get any closer to that figure.

Like a mirage, it looked as though it were within arm’s reach, yet I could never actually touch it.

“What on earth is this…”

Running for a long while like that, just like the typical laws of dreams, I ultimately failed to reach my destination and was forced to wake up from my sleep.

“Are you alright, Iris?”

“Huh? What?”

Snapping abruptly back to reality, I found myself sitting at the lounge with a book spread out before me.

It seemed I must have been staring blankly into space for the entire day.

“If you’re not feeling well, why don’t you take the day off?”

Theo asked, a tone of deep worry lacing his voice.

“No. Sorry for making you worry. I just have a few things on my mind.”

“Things on your mind?”

“I’ve been having weird dreams lately.”

I let out a sigh and rested my chin in my hand. It seemed it was a lost cause trying to focus on studying today anyway.

“What kind of dream is it that’s got you like that?”

In the end, I put down my pen and explained the dream I had experienced in detail to Theo.

“………”

Just like me, Theo rested his chin in his hand and quietly listened to my story all the way to the end.

The quill wedged between his finger supporting his chin swayed back and forth following Theo’s movements.

Having finished my entire explanation, I watched Theo—who looked deep in thought—with an anxious, uneasy gaze.

It was because of a lingering feeling that I might somehow receive a bad interpretation of it.

“So, basically, a voice keeps calling out from the sky, but it just keeps dragging on with vague, cryptic things that don’t make sense?”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

“And then you opened your eyes to find yourself, quite conventionally, in the middle of a vast plain, with a very symbolic single giant tree? And standing right beneath it was someone who looked like the owner of that voice.”

“……Right.”

When I nodded, Theo let out a dry chuckle and looked at me.

“That sounds suspiciously like a ‘revelation’.”

“What?”

However, the words tumbling out of Theo’s mouth surprised me more than any dream interpretation ever could.

A revelation—I wanted nothing to do with such a vague, religious-sounding word.

Perhaps my reaction had been far too extreme, because Theo raised an eyebrow and spoke again.

“I’m not saying it’s a certainty. But isn’t it holy to an almost artificial degree?”

“If you put it that way, it makes me worry even more!”

As I stomped my feet and whined, Theo laughed under his breath.

“A divine revelation meant to be passed on to Iris—could it mean you need to grow up a bit more?”

“Theo!”

“I’m joking. Besides, where on earth would gods even exist?”

Theo scoffed as he said those words. His attitude of utterly refusing to believe in deities seemed to signal that there would never, ever be any change to that stance.

“I guess it really was just a meaningless dream after all, huh?”

“Yeah. It probably was.”

Saying that, Theo turned his gaze back down to his book.

The book we were looking at was the history textbook Frey had recommended a short while ago.

I fell into brief contemplation while looking at that book.

‘The guy named Frey himself is unpleasant, but his ability as a teacher seems pretty good.’

“Hey, Theo.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you think we could use a teacher, too?”

This time, Theo finally put down everything he was holding in his hands and turned to face me squarely.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean anything special by it, just wondering if it might be a good idea.”

“………”

Wondering what was going through his head, Theo narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, he spoke to me as if issuing a strict warning.

“I can’t stand adults. And I hate the idea of some adult inserting themselves between the two of us even more.”

“………”

“Even if it’s crucial exam studying for our future, I want the two of us to handle it by ourselves.”

Because of that, the words I had been about to blurt out—suggesting we get help from Frey together—got stuck firmly in my throat.

No matter how much time passed and how much Theo grew up, it seemed that his wild-animal-like instinct of guarding against strangers still hadn’t completely vanished away.

“Hrm…”

However, that posed a problem for me.

No matter how hard Theo and I tried to study everything through self-teaching, passing the academy entrance exam was going to be an uphill battle.

And not just “difficult”—it was closer to successfully finding a needle in a desert.

That was precisely why, up until now, we had only ever thought of it in terms of finding meaning simply in the act of challenging ourselves.

But what if we had an educator?

Our admission to the academy wouldn’t be some pie-in-the-sky daydream anymore; it would become a realistic, attainable goal.

Borrowing and comparing experiences from my past life, Frey wasn’t a bad option at all.

No, setting aside my personal feelings and speaking honestly, he was a pretty good teacher.

On top of that, since he had readily offered to help us study, if we played our cards right, we might even be able to get help from other priests as well.

“………”

I bit my lip and wrestled with my thoughts.

‘I don’t want to make Theo angry… And I don’t want to get into an argument, either.’

Still, it felt far too wasteful to just give up here.

I didn’t know how Theo felt about it, but I was taking the academy entrance exam quite seriously.

After all, I figured it might be the only way for us to live ordinary, peaceful lives like everyone else.

‘Ugh, damn it—‘

Should I just close my eyes tight and blurt it out anyway?

Tossing back and forth like a seesaw, my heart failed to find any balance and kept leaping wildly.

Right at that moment,

“………”

Suddenly turning his head toward me, Theo reached out and placed his hand over my lips.

“………”

“Stop biting your lip.”

Taken aback by his sudden action, I lost my words and sat there completely dumbfounded.

‘What was I just thinking about again?’

Watching me with that blank look, Theo let out a sigh and said: “What on earth are you planning to do to drive me crazy this time? Stop taking your frustration out on your innocent lips and just tell me.”

Staring dazedly at Theo’s face, I broke into a wide, triumphant grin.

Because right now, what Theo had just said was practically equivalent to saying he’d grant my request in the end, no matter how absurd or troublesome it might be.

I answered the moment Theo’s words finished dropping. Fully equipped with the most harmless, friendly-looking smile I could muster, just to make sure Theo couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

“Let’s get a private tutor.”