Chapter 125: The Goddess’s White Lion
So bright.
The intense sunlight made Cecilia instinctively squint her sore eyes.
But in the very next moment.
She jolted awake as if she’d been shocked.
She whipped her head around, her eyes landing in horror on the brass mechanical clock hanging on the wall.
The hour hand was pointing squarely at the eleven.
It was almost noon!
"Oh heavens!"
Cecilia let out a despairing cry.
She had broken their arrangement, completely missing the internship time she’d scheduled with Lance for this morning.
The maiden scrambled up from her chair and frantically started to change her clothes.
She struggled to jam her feet into her leather boots, haphazardly threw on a dusty, coarse-cloth cloak, then snatched her canvas backpack and bolted for the door.
Just as she was on the verge of tears from anxiety, the door was pushed open from the outside.
Yuna happened to be walking in.
It was her squad’s scheduled day off, so without a trip to the forest on the agenda, she seemed especially relaxed.
"Whoa, what’s going on!"
Yuna had barely stepped inside when Cecilia, charging head-down, nearly crashed right into her.
"I’m doomed! I missed the meeting time for my internship today!"
Cecilia’s face was a mask of anxiety. Without another word, she tried to dart around her roommate and continue her dash outside.
But Yuna, quick as a flash, wrapped her arms around Cecilia’s waist from behind.
"Stop running. We’re not going to the forest today."
Yuna quickly said, trying to stop her.
"Lance already came by this morning!"
"Lance came by?"
Hearing this, Cecilia froze mid-struggle, as if she were a puppet that had just been switched off.
A powerful wave of apprehension and unease washed over her.
’Lance isn’t going to think I’m some spoiled, lazy noble girl who can’t handle hardship because of this, is he?’
’Missing something as important as my internship... Is he going to be disappointed in me?’
She lowered her head as all sorts of terrible scenarios flashed through her mind.
Seeing her roommate’s pitiful expression, Yuna couldn’t help but chuckle.
"Lance told me he’s giving you the next couple of days off to rest."
Yuna let go, walked over to the table, and poured a glass of water.
"He said you two have been completing high-intensity commissions every day, and that the combat has been too demanding. He came to the residence just to tell you about taking time off."
Yuna took a sip of water and added,
"When I came into the room, I saw you sleeping so soundly at your desk. I took the liberty of not letting him in to disturb you."
After hearing Yuna’s explanation, Cecilia’s heart, which had been lodged in her throat, finally settled back into her chest.
She let out a long sigh, and her tense body finally relaxed.
"Oh, right. There’s one more thing."
Yuna set down her glass, turning to give Cecilia a suggestive look.
"Later this afternoon, Lance is coming to the residence to find you. He’s going to take you to the market to buy the professional supplies you’ll need for overnight trips."
"He said he’ll prepare a list beforehand."
"We’re going shopping... together?"
At the invitation, Cecilia’s heart, which had only just calmed down, began to race again.
It felt as if a happy emotion was leaping for joy inside her chest.
"Okay, I understand!"
She happily turned around, ready to go back to her room to change out of her cumbersome Adventurer gear and into her regular clothes.
But as she reached her desk, her eyes immediately fell upon the stacks of handwritten papers scattered across its surface.
They contained detailed records of her wild, rambling thoughts and all sorts of ridiculous worries from the night before.
There was even an absurd question like, "How can I keep my hair silky smooth in the wild?"
The maiden gasped. She rushed forward and, with arms outstretched, swept all the papers—her "cringey past"—into a pile, clutching them tightly to her chest.
"What on earth was I even thinking..."
She muttered in frustration as she tidied up the papers.
’No matter what trouble we face, Lance is so incredible; he can surely handle it all with ease.’
’Cecilia, you’re such a fool.’
Bright sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the maiden in its glow.
In that warm halo of light, a lovely blush unknowingly crept back onto the Half-Elf Maiden’s delicate cheeks.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Warm, bright sunlight bathed the flat streets of Gray Rock Town.
Nia stood quietly outside the gate of the courtyard Lance was renting.
She was dressed in simple, homey clothes and carried a small wicker basket, which was carefully wrapped in a clean, checkered cloth.
The enticing warmth of freshly baked herb and roast meat buns wafted faintly from the basket.
But now, standing before the closed wooden door, Nia was starting to regret her impulsive behavior.
And it was all the fault of the mysterious star-shaped mark on her left wrist.
She had received this peculiar mark while in White River City.
That day, on a strange whim, she had walked into the local Aretia Temple. Just as she was praying devoutly, this peculiar mark—a star wreathed in flames—had been branded onto her left wrist without any warning.
Just as she was panicking, at a complete loss for what to do,
the mark began to speak in her mind. The voice was that of a mature woman and sounded incredibly languid.
The sudden voice startled the unprepared Nia so badly that she nearly cried out loud right there in the Divine Hall.
Sensing Nia’s panic, the mark quickly soothed her in a gentle tone.
The female voice introduced herself as Judith.
She also instructed Nia not to make a fuss about it under any circumstances.
For a local who had grown up on fairy tales, the name Judith was all too familiar to Nia.
It was the name of the white lion belonging exclusively to the goddess Aretia in the myths and epics. To believers, the name symbolized courage.
But the voice from the mark immediately explained that she seemed to have amnesia.
She couldn’t be one hundred percent certain now if she was actually the white lion from the Legend.
The only thing she was certain of, however, was that she had previously encountered some sort of mortal danger. It had forced her to hide in the depths of the Divine Hall, and as a result, she had logically ended up residing within Nia.
She swore up and down that this was absolutely an arrangement made by the goddess through fate.
To verify this absurd claim, Nia later secretly tried bringing the mark on her wrist close to the sacred emblem of Aretia enshrined in the Divine Hall’s main chamber.
As it turned out, it did create a faint resonance with the mark.
This was enough to prove that there was indeed a connection between this entity and the goddess. Nia just didn’t understand why such a ridiculously cliché fate had to fall upon her.
However, after confirming this fact, Nia felt none of the joy one might expect from being chosen by destiny.
She had never fantasized about becoming a Hero who saves the world. At her core, she was just an Ordinary small-town girl who wanted a peaceful life.
So, Nia politely asked the voice in her mind if it could please leave her body and find a more suitable host.
The request, however, was met with a firm refusal.