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A few days passed.

Though I was acting as a witness, I didn’t have anything particular to do, and I didn’t even know what was the outcome of their contest.

As such my daily life had no changes from before, and was now headed to the church to hold a class aimed towards advanced course students.

The advanced course was aimed at people who displayed above a fixed level of learning ability during the initial test, so it was like middle school in a way.

Since the education of the teachers couldn’t keep up at present, I was acting as a temporary teacher to hold the classes.

When I arrived at the church, Bernard came out to greet me.

“Miss Illya. Thank you for coming as always.”
“Not at all. It was my idea from the start. I’m happy to be of help if anything.”
“…I see. Then, please follow me.”

I followed behind Bernard to the classroom.

He was acting as he normally did… but I didn’t miss his momentary anguished expression.

We didn’t mention anything to discomfort him like that, and my Eyes of God didn’t show any illness either.

He must be resisting the evil god’s erosion.

If his life ends here, the evil god would be annihilated too. But I naturally rejected that option.

He didn’t seem to be aware of the evil god’s existence, and if so I couldn’t do anything yet, and if I said anything carelessly it would only serve to corner him.

“Pastor.”
“Hm?”
“I know that you are busy, but please take care of yourself. You are the pillar of this school… like a father for the students.”

Bernard looked at me in surprise after hearing those words. He might’ve not understood what I meant, so I decided to reword it.

“You’re someone important to everyone.”

So don’t fall so easily, okay? I’m not sure if he would grasp the meaning I put into those words, but I would be happy if they give him some strength at least.

However, hearing those words, Bernard’s face warped a little. But that expression instantly faded away.

“I will take it to heart.”

He said and smiled, and it seemed to be coming from his heart.

Thinking about it, I didn’t know which of his emotions the evil god was attached to. If my earlier words only served to burden him, perhaps I only cornered him even further.

“Then, I shall leave the rest to you.”
“Yes.”

While we talked we arrived at the third floor of the church and I headed inside after parting with Bernard.

“Good morning.”
“““Good morning!”””

While I held the lesson I pondered if there was a way to help him recover, but I couldn’t think of any bright ideas so easily.

“Well then, let’s end the lesson here. Next time we will move on to the final stages of the great war of the Age of Creation. Those who have time please prepare for it beforehand.”
“““Thank you very much!”””

Once the lesson ended, the students gathered by my side in high spirits. Their ages went as high as the middle twenties to as low as the early teens. They barraged me with questions to satisfy their intellectual curiosity while putting aside their races.

The world history I was in charge of now… was centered around the Age of Creation, which resembled mythical tales. It depicted an era of intense warfare, where numerous gods—be they human, beast, or bird—met their demise. It was akin to a vivid picture book of epic battles. Surprisingly, it sparked enthusiasm in the hearts of the men, who actively engaged with questions today, contrary to the usual scenario where they were overshadowed by the energy of the girls.

Normally the information about the Age of Creation was only fragmentarily held by elves in various archeological divisions.

I knew everything due to the Memory of the Stars so I told it by dramatizing it a little like it would fit a story, while excluding the information that the elves were protecting.

I mean if I told it straight as is, it would just turn into a story of perverts. It had pretty depressing developments.

“Sorry, I have to attend my receptionist duties after this, so it’s about time for me to go.”
“““Booo!”””

I calmed down the reluctant students and left the church, but just as I stepped outside, one man called out to me.

It was a male birdman, who I felt like I’d seen at the hall, not for accepting commissions but just ordering food, though. It was basically someone that random.

“M-Miss Illya.”
“Yes?”

It seemed like he was waiting for me, so he approached and presented a paper.

It turned out to be an arena ticket.

“I-I’m fighting tomorrow in the morning! I-If it’s fine with you, I want you to come! I’ll do my best!!”

I wasn’t sure whether to describe him as birdlike or sports-minded… Basically, he was very loud, so I was glad there were few people around the church.

“I’m sorry, I don’t like bloody events.”

After all, it was good for him too that few people saw him getting rejected.

He had a decent skill and he seemed to be aware that fighting was his strong point, so he just quietly went away with that rejection.

It might’ve been a coincidence, but if he looked into my work and knew that I had no shifts tomorrow morning, that would be kinda off putting.

I received more invitations after that. It wasn’t just for the arena, but also for meals and other clearly sexual stuff.

Hehehe. Can’t you just disappear? Seriously, guys who get in the way of my work should just disappear.

“Wow… Illya, you look seriously angry.”
“……Sigh.”

Cynthia next to me at the reception looked at me with a cramped expression so I tried to collect myself as I could.

I had to fake a smile at least during the work.

“…But why did they suddenly grow in number?”
“Ahh… Well, that’s probably the reason, isn’t it?”

Cynthia gazed towards the group of beastmen that were flirting in the hall.

“When they show off like that, other guys get impatient, you know?”

Cynthia muttered and sighed. That doesn’t sound that convincing from someone who is normally popular.

But thinking about my past life, I feel like I panicked during Christmas and other events… Wait, are you guys high schoolers or something?!

Anyway, setting my reality escapism aside, in the hall that had a mix of both elevated and stagnated atmosphere, there was one seat at the counter that was wrapped in a strange aura.

She was holding her head so I couldn’t see her face, but it was the girl from the contest I was a witness to.

Noticing my gaze, a woman that sat next to that girl moved to the seat in front of me.

She was a human girl belonging to a party that had been working hard for us ever since the monsters started their abnormal increase. Her name was Lilit.

“…Are things not going well for her?”
“Looks like it…”

Lilit nodded gravely.

“Erica pushed herself quite a bit and completed a C-rank commission… but Serge managed to finish a B-rank subjugation in the meantime, so…”

If I remember correctly, their contest was about who would complete more higher-ranked commissions.

I don’t know the details of how they would be scoring them, so I didn’t know how many C-ranked commissions would be equal to a B-rank one, but it still seemed like a hopeless situation.

“Um, what is the relationship between Ms. Erica and Mr. Serge?”

Cynthia asked Lilit nonchalantly yet also full of curiosity. This girl had a habit of deluding about other people’s love affairs, so it must be because of that.

“Hey, Cynthia!”
“(Ehh, my senses are telling me things are complicated here. Aren’t you curious?)”

As expected…

She kept up appearances and whispered that, but Lilit overheard it and smiled wryly. She took a moment to think, and then looked at me once more.

“Well… Would you like to hear it?”

I felt like it wouldn’t stop at only hearing it, but I couldn’t just ignore it either so I nodded to her.

“Originally, those two used to work in different parties.”

Our conversation got interrupted along the way due to the incoming commission processing requests, but to sum it up, the two used to be in separate parties, and their parties merged during a mutual commission they took in Luneville.

Erica’s party which only consisted of girls, and Serge’s, which consisted of guys.

With the current mating season, several members withdrew temporarily, and thus they decided to hasten their plan to recruit more people which both sides had been considering for some time.

And with that, when the merger happened, the two of them turned out to be acquaintances from the same village, and they started quarreling from the moment they met each other.