IDMWE 03

Chapter 03

“Hey! You think I want to be paired with you?!”

Leona shouted angrily, but Regan, as if he couldn’t hear her voice, continued speaking to the Commander.

“I was under the impression that new recruits to the Central Headquarters are normally paired with senior officers as a rule.”

At Regan’s words, the Commander waved his hand and began an excuse-like explanation.

“While such a rule does exist, it’s more of a tradition than a codified regulation.”

“I would ‘very much’ like to follow that tradition.”

Seeing Regan’s firm attitude, as if he would rather die than be paired with Leona, Leona raised her voice.

“Are you out of your mind? They’re offering to reduce our mandatory service by not just one year, but a whole two years!”

“Are you the one with any sense? After causing all that chaos at the Academy, you actually want to be around me? Just as expected from the Knight Faculty—utterly simple-minded.”

“What? You’ve said enough!”

Sparks were about to fly between them.

At that moment, the Commander, who had been discreetly watching the argument between Regan and Leona, interjected.

“Ahem, well, I have another meeting to attend, hmph. I should be going! Ah, yes. And this.”

Along with the Commander’s words, a token was placed on the table.

“The Temple side said they’d like to meet the two of you as soon as possible.”

The token bore the seal of Sirphion, the God of Peace and the state religion of the Empire.

“Then, make your way to the Papal Headquarters today!”

With those words, the Commander hurriedly disappeared.

It was clear to anyone that the situation had already been set in stone—they would have to be paired.

“Haa…”

Left in the office where the Commander had fled, only sighs of resignation escaped the two of them.

—

***

—

*Clop, clop—*

Leona was currently lounging lazily inside a magical carriage on her way to the Papal Headquarters.

“Ah, I want to ride my horse.”

From the Central Headquarters to the Papal Headquarters was an hour by magical carriage.

It was a distance she could cover in thirty minutes if she rode her beloved horse at full speed.

Nevertheless, the reason she was taking the carriage was entirely because of Regan.

—

*”If I ride a horse, I can’t read my book.”*

—

Regan had declared so confidently and slipped into the carriage alone.

For a moment, Leona felt a surge of desire to just leave him behind, but…

*’It wouldn’t look good if people heard that we went separately on our very first day as a pair.’*

Unlike back at the Academy, this was work.

Especially since Leona was the first female recruit at the Central Headquarters—she had many eyes watching her.

“I’ll endure it. I’ll endure.”

Leona muttered to herself, leaning back in her seat as if she were lying down.

Even inside the swaying magical carriage, Regan kept his gaze fixed on his book.

A book titled <Interaction of Dimensional Mechanics: Focusing on Symbras Geometry>, the contents of which were utterly incomprehensible.

Watching Regan flipping through the pages with intense concentration, Leona suddenly had a thought and slapped her forehead.

‘Ah, right! When I shook hands with Regan this morning, didn’t I hear a strange voice about dimensions or something?’

She had completely forgotten due to the Commander’s sudden announcement about pairing them.

Leona opened her mouth to check if Regan had experienced the same thing.

“Hey, Regan. You know—”

“I’m concentrating right now, so be quiet.”

But all she got in return was a sharp reprimand.

‘Hey, who said I wanted to talk to you?’

Feeling offended, Leona shut her mouth.

‘Right, since when were we on such friendly terms anyway?’

With that thought, Leona relaxed her body and fell into her own thoughts.

‘Dimension, s-something… something. Sponge? Starfruit? Something roughly like that.’

Just as Leona was racking her brain—

*Thump—*

Suddenly, as if hitting something, the magical carriage lurched violently upward.

“Ah, what the—”

Leona managed to brace herself safely with a knight’s quick reflexes, but unfortunately, Regan wasn’t so lucky.

Having been too focused on his book, he lost his balance and pitched forward.

The problem was that Leona was sprawled out almost lying on the seat in front of him.

“……!”

As a result, Regan ended up half-mounted on her body.

With a posture that looked like he was pinning Leona down, Regan froze instantly. Leona’s burning red eyes and her breath were felt right before him.

“……”

At that moment, for some reason, Regan thought Leona smelled sweet.

An intoxicatingly strong, sweet fragrance.

*’There’s no way this woman would wear perfume.’*

And it was Leona who shattered Regan’s thoughts.

“Hey, Regan. What are you doing? You’re heavy, get off.”

“…I-It was an accident.”

For once, Regan even stammered, uncharacteristically. His face was flushed as if intoxicated by the scent.

“You should work on your lower body strength more. You’re way too frail.”

“What did you say?”

Though a mage, Regan never neglected physical training—and he was about to flare up at the remark about his lower body.

“Aaah! The <Fragrance of Love Operation> was almost a success!”

A voice suddenly popped out from the empty air.

It was clearly a voice she had heard somewhere before.

—

“Finally! After three years, we finally succeeded!”

—

It was definitely that youthful voice she had heard following the dimensional comment earlier.

Startled, Leona’s eyes met Regan’s.

“Hey, you heard that too, right?”

“I heard it.”

The moment they made their judgment, Leona instantly shifted her stance and drew her sword. Crimson ether, resembling burning flames, engulfed her blade in an instant.

Regan too quickly extended his hand forward. Light burst from his grasp, and at the same time, a shield materialized in front of them.

“I’ll attack, so handle detection!”

Leona’s sword flew toward where the voice had come from. It was an astonishingly elegant and clean sword strike.

Simultaneously, Regan cast both a detection spell and a dispel invisibility spell.

Before the intruder could even react to Regan’s non-incantation magic—the very skill that earned him the title of unparalleled genius—and his insane ability to simultaneously unleash three spells, they were forced to reveal themselves.

“E-Eek!”

It all happened in less than a second.

And Leona and Regan couldn’t hide their surprise at what appeared before them.

“A spirit? A fairy?”

“This is my first time seeing one. It seems to be an unreported species.”

“Should we catch it?”

“Obviously.”

The two quickly prepared their next moves.

Seeing that, the unidentified being panicked and shouted.

“W-Wait! I am the divine Sirphion—!”

“It seems to have high intelligence. The academic world will be abuzz.”

“The reward for discovering a new magical creature is split fifty-fifty.”

“Keep the reward. I get to name it instead.”

Leona and Regan’s eyes gleamed with greed.

“No, why do you two only work well together at times like this… Guh!”

The unidentified being’s scream echoed throughout the carriage.

—

***

—

“Please believe me… I really am the divine Sirphion…!”

The bizarre being making such claims was currently dangling from Leona’s grip.

Tears and snot streaming down its face—it was hardly the image of a sacred mythical being.

“Seriously, what kind of god looks like this…”

“Looks pretty stupid, doesn’t it?”

Regan unhesitatingly voiced what Leona couldn’t bring herself to say out loud. As Leona nodded, the strange being spoke up as if to defend itself.

“Th-That’s actually because…”

And the explanation that followed was enough to astonish both Regan and Leona.

“So you’re saying you lost all your power sealing the Demon King during the war with the Demon Realm five hundred years ago?”

“Exactly. My true self is asleep to recover my strength, and this is an avatar I created in preparation for my slumber.”

“If that’s the case, then this immature form does make sense.”

By now, even Regan and Leona’s tone had shifted to polite speech.

“So, you—Sirphion-nim, no, I mean Sirphion-nim’s avatar-nim…”

“Angel! Just call me an angel. Since I lost my power and most of my memories, I’m no different from a regular angel now.”

“Alright then, Angel-nim. What exactly were you doing here anyway? Was that thing this morning also your doing, Angel-nim?”

Leona asked, recalling the events of that morning.

“Th-That… I was in the middle of carrying out the only mission my true self left in its memory…”

The angel answered earnestly, sniffling.

“A mission to protect the hero who will save the world.”

Upon hearing that answer, Leona’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh! Does that mission have something to do with us by any chance?”

A hero! Wasn’t this just like a story from a fairy tale!

Leona, the girl who had dreamed of becoming a knight after reading countless fairy tales featuring heroes, pleaded earnestly.

“Wow! No way! Angel-nim, that hero is me, right? It’s me, isn’t it? Please say it’s me!”

However, Leona’s expectations were crushed in an instant.

“Sorry, but no.”

“Huh? It’s not me? Then what, it’s this crazy bastard? No, Angel-nim! This guy wouldn’t save the world—he’d annihilate it just because someone annoyed him with his foul temper!”

At Leona’s sharp remark, Regan’s brow furrowed.

“No matter how annoyed I get, I wouldn’t go so far as to—”

“Th-That’s not it either!”

*At least it’s not Regan.* Satisfied with that, Leona didn’t give up and pressed the angel further.

“Then maybe I’m the hero’s companion? The reliable knight who always protects the hero by their side…”

Leona’s fantasy, which had been stretching out in an instant, was cut short by a single word from the angel.

“Yo-Your child…”

“Excuse me?”

Leona asked back in disbelief.

Then, as if it hadn’t been sniffling moments before, the angel declared firmly.

“Leona Everhart, Regan Clanford. Your child is the hero who will save the world!”

The angel’s cry echoed through the carriage like a reverberation.