【Today is the seventh day I've stayed in the city of Laxus.】

【Everywhere here bears the mark of Agio's artistic influence.】

【Every stone is carved with dragons and phoenixes; every water has a reflection of the moon.】

【Agio is overly obsessed with refinement, which just goes to show that they are a decadent and mature old school.】

Among the six major families, Agio is the only one that has never been replaced.

They are the family in charge of religion, overseeing this religious autonomous region. Every ten terms, which is once every seventy years, they have the right to bypass the competition and directly assume the position of the leading family. The head of their family is the Pope.

Maria is the Pope this year, but due to her humble personality, she always prefers to be called Bishop by others.

Although Maria has been married for many years, she currently has no daughters. The only daughter she had unfortunately passed away because of certain circumstances.

The only offspring she has are several sons, and there are no other direct blood relatives. The remaining few relatives are distant cousins who are not close by blood.

One can't help but worry about the continuation of their family.

"Why did I come to this remote and impoverished place?" Turing, dressed in a nun's black and white habit, stood in the grand garden of the monastery courtyard, facing a towering tree dozens of meters high, leaning on a decrepit broom, muttering to himself.

Laxus is certainly not a remote and impoverished place, but compared to the castles in Ochya, it can't be praised any further.

As a nobleman high above, he was sent to the monastery to do temporary nun work—it was originally a punishment used for nobles who committed more serious offenses to repent.

But now, this punishment has been used on Turing for a year, even though Turing hasn't done anything wrong. On the contrary, one should say he has achieved great merit.

Yet Oedipus has cleverly called it "immersing oneself in the artistic atmosphere in order to engage in immersive study."

All of this is in preparation for the upcoming art competition in the Fire Festival next year.

"Alas..." Turing took out a paper filled with writing, looked at Elizabeth nearby wearing the same nun's attire and holding a broom, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Why is Merka clearly on the list... why can't I see him anywhere?" Turing compared the white paper he held with the column where Merka's name was. It was originally a duo formed by Merka and Elizabeth, but it had been changed to a duo with Merka and Turing.

The paper in Turing's hand was a duty roster. The nuns in the monastery were divided into pairs and took turns on duty each day.

"Damn... the shift arrangement didn't change, and as a result, I ended up being paired with an idiot." Turing complained a bit louder, seemingly intentional for Elizabeth to hear.

Turing noticed Merka's name on the list as soon as he arrived at the monastery. In these seven days at the monastery, Turing had tried various methods hoping to see Merka again. But Merka seemed to have disappeared from Turing's world; he could be seen on the duty roster, his photo was visible in the monastery group photo, the nuns talked about him, but Turing just couldn't find him in person.

The same went for this exchange of duty shifts. Turing clearly requested to exchange with Elizabeth, but in the end, Merka was the one exchanged.

Whenever Turing was about to see Merka, strange coincidences always occurred.

These days, longing for Merka was Turing's only source of joy in this monastery.

"Who are you scolding? I heard that!" Elizabeth shouted loudly from a distance at Turing. Although it sounded imposing, her gaze was wandering, her voice lacked conviction, and instead of moving closer to Turing, she unconsciously took a few steps back.

"Tsk..."

"I'm asking you."

"Why did Merka not come after I discussed with you about changing shifts?" Turing approached Elizabeth step by step, frightening her to the point where she didn't dare move."Mmm...Hmm..." Elizabeth's voice suddenly became much softer when she saw Turing approaching. "Sister Domrémy told me to come... Otherwise, I wouldn't have come even if you asked me to..."

"She said she wanted to punish me for changing the cleaning schedule without permission... Oh, no, she said it was because you were tired from cleaning alone, so she asked me to help you." As she spoke, Elizabeth continued to clean vigorously. Almost the entire garden was cleaned by Elizabeth alone, while Turing hardly did anything.

Turing frowned.

"Didn't you say it was my request to change the cleaning schedule?" Turing's tone softened slightly.

"Why did you say that?"

"No, I already said that I was only asked by Sister Domrémy to help you!" Elizabeth stamped her foot angrily.

After a while, the little girl in front of Turing became deflated.

"Sigh..." Elizabeth sighed softly.

"What's the point of saying all that..." Elizabeth pouted and her chubby baby-like mouth, along with her peach-colored big eyes and light golden hair, made her look especially cute.

"Adults will only believe in those who they have already decided in their hearts..." Elizabeth's voice became even smaller, pitifully. "It doesn't matter to me, whether it's right or wrong."

"It doesn't matter... anyway." Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth's words silenced Turing, who was initially slightly angry.

[Elizabeth, perhaps you weren't sent here just because of your mistakes.] For some reason, Turing had an unshakeable belief in the conclusion he intuitively drew.

The autumn wind that came early flew up a sea of flowers, causing ripples in Turing's heart.

The ancient tree in the center of the garden remained silent, having heard the joys and sorrows of mortals countless times. It once again cast shadows into the abyss of the human heart.

Turing fell silent. He didn't know what to say at this moment, but he had learned a thing or two over the years. If he truly felt sorry but didn't know how to express it, at least it was better not to speak at this time.

——————————————————————————

In a distant clock tower, a handsome young man with snow-white skin leaned on the solid stone window frame with one arm, tilting his body to watch Turing and Elizabeth standing face-to-face under the ancient tree.

A tall and slender woman stood behind the young man and said, "Tell me, little Merka, why do you have to hide from that child?"

"Look how sad the child is." There was an unmistakable smile in the woman's voice.

"Isn't that a rhetorical question..." Merka didn't smile, licked his lips, and murmured quietly. He, who used to smile a lot, hadn't moved the muscles on his cheeks for a long time.

Merka looked gloomy as he stared into the distance. The autumn wind blowing from Turing collided with him head-on.

The cool breeze carried a touch of melancholy, swirling Merka's bangs and brushing against the... three earrings on Merka's earlobes.

The three earrings were made into relics by Maria, using the mementos of the lazy officer, shepherd, and the little girls they met at the police station.

In any case, the nature of the relics would not change because of their size, and only one person could inherit them as a child mage. So it was very suitable to make them into earrings.

Merka also asked Maria to make the relic of the Tidal Witch, but it failed. No matter what relic or cremated ash Maria took from her, none of them could be made into a relic.

This was also recorded in Merka's notebook as one of the doubts in the Red Port.

The reason why Merka wore these earrings was to remind himself of his failures, right? So that he could save more people next time.

But by remembering his failures, he also remembered the pain.

The Agio family had a knack for torturing themselves.

"Madam Maria," Merka spoke up, "why don't you let me continue working at the church in Crotto?""I don't want to be compared to Turing by you anymore," Merka said casually.

"It's completely meaningless."

"Heh... heh," Maria awkwardly chuckled and didn't say much.