Third Inner Stanza Border Checkpoint

Septus 17, 3023 A.M., day of Sunar, 10:12 a.m.

Vivian had her Inquisitor Half-Mask on while she was inside her office sitting behind a desk and reading a book about noble etiquette.

Regarding her request to go to the nearby village or town, it will be tomorrow -- assuming that everything goes well. And as for her negotiations with Lamont about the incident last night, he has yet to give her a reply.

Knock.

Knock.

There was a knock on her door and she turned her attention to it.

"Come in."

Ka-cha!

The door opened and Lennon stepped inside.

"May I have a moment, Sister Inquisitor?"

Vivian put down the book she was reading.

"Of course, Brother High Lieutenant," she said and smiled as she gestured with her hand. "Please, take a seat."

"Thank you," Lennon said before walking over to one of the chairs in front of her desk and sitting down. "It's about what your requests last night."

"I see. And?"

"Knight Lieutenant Lamont agreed and here are the coins," he said as he took out a coin pouch and placed it on top of the desk. "That's 500 Twin platinum coins. Unfortunately, that's the only currency he has because he's from the Twin Kingdom. But if you want Holy currency, I can ask Sister High Sergeant Juana to fly to the nearest village or town to have it changed right away."

Vivian's eyes narrowed behind her mask as she stared at the coin pouch.

So 500 platinum coins is just too little…?

What was his rank again…?

Lieutenant, right…?

I see…

So 500 platinum coins is nothing to a Knight Lieutenant…

Ugh…!

I feel so cheap…

This is so embarrassing…!

It hurts so much that I don't even want to touch it…

Please kill me…!

I really should've demanded 10,000 platinum coins…!

She shifted her gaze towards Lennon.

"I see," she said and smiled.

"There's also another thing I want to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

A serious and worried expression flashed across Lennon's face.

"Sister, are we in danger?"

Vivian brows knitted together behind her mask.

"What do you mean?"

"Sister, please allow me to be frank with you for a moment. We can tell that you're still young but you're already this powerful. Knight Captain Edgar and I would even admit that you're the most powerful person in this area and no one here can defeat you even if we all banded together against you. Because of that, although many of us believe that you will be one of the future core leaders in the Temple, we're also concerned. 

"So our question is: Are you or anyone allowed to reveal your true strength? Because people like you are usually assassinated or kidnapped while you're still growing and we're wondering if we need to tighten our security."

Vivian leaned back in her seat and thought about it for a moment before finally answering.

"I understand your concerns, Brother High Lieutenant."

Lennon raised his hand.

"Please, let's forget about my rank for now. Let us talk with our actual ranks in terms of strength."

She nodded.

"Okay, just this once."

"Thank you, sister."

"As I was saying, I understand your concerns, brother. 

"The truth is, I never planned to reveal my true strength to everyone and put everyone in danger. I was really hoping that I would go unnoticed until my contract ends. Unfortunately, that Lamont has been an unreasonable sexist since day one despite the fact my authority was higher than his and last night I simply had enough of his disrespect.

"Having said that, I simply wish for everyone to understand where I'm coming from. As a person with my level of strength, I can no longer train like how people would normally train. In fact, the reason why I made an official request to go to the nearest village or town is to purchase some things for my training.

"So what I'm saying is, no one here has to worry about me revealing my true strength and putting everyone in danger as long as no one gets in my way on how I do things, especially how I train."

"So last night, the reason you went outside the South Gate was to train?" Lennon asked.

"Yes," she said and nodded.

Lennon mused for a moment.

"Sister, the truth is, Edgar and I talked this morning and we decided to issue a gag order that no one is allowed to talk about your strength or even identity to avoid attracting uninvited guests."

"Smart move," she said and nodded.

"But there's a problem, sister."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Do you really have to go out and train? You mentioned that due to your level of strength, you can no longer train like how we, normal people, train. But what if by going outside to train you end up attracting unwanted attention and they trace you back here, putting everyone in danger?"

"That is a valid concern, but you don't have to worry about that because I've already considered that issue. In fact, one of the reasons why I issued a formal request to go to the nearest village or town to purchase some things is to limit the number of times I need to go out."

"I see, sister," he said and nodded.

"So my request to go to the nearest village or town to purchase some things will happen tomorrow as scheduled, right?"

"Yes. But there's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Once you purchase the things you need for training, this will limit the number of times you need to go out, right? But how many times do you need to go out exactly?"

"I would still need to go out once every 3-4 days."

Lennon raised an eyebrow.

"So twice a week?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

A deflated look flashed on Lennon's face for a brief moment.

"Brother, you look unsatisfied?"

He quickly straightened his posture and waved his hand.

"No, of course not, sister. I was just thinking about everything you said."

"I see. Well, since this concerns everyone's safety, I will reveal to you another way where I don't have to go out and hunt unless it's necessary."

"Really? What is it?"

"I need to eat a freshly cut flesh of a monster who can use Magic Art, like that pet Draghorn of Sister Juana every 3-4 days."

"A freshly cut flesh of a Draghorn who can use Magic Art every 3-4 days?"

"Any monster would do as long as it can use Magic Art."

"Oh…"

"However, it must be fresh. If not, then it won't work."

A puzzled look flashed across Lennon's face.

"What won't work?"

Vivian's lips curled into a small smile underneath her half-mask.

"You've heard that people, especially Aristocratic Noble families, have their secret methods to train and maintain their power, right? Just like them, I too have my own."

Lennon's brows knitted together.

Eating animals or monsters who could use Magic Art wasn't uncommon. In fact, it was considered a delicacy. However, he has never heard about a training method that required one to eat a freshly cut flesh of a monster who can use Magic Art.

His eyes suddenly became wide.

"Lore Magic…? You have Lore Magic?!"

Vivian shook her head. 

"Unfortunately, I don't have any Lore Magic. I'm not that worthy yet in the eyes of the God of Light. Let's just say that there's something in the meat of a freshly cut flesh of a monster who can use Magic Art that can help one recover faster. And what that something is exactly, I can't tell you because it's a secret I can't share or anyone who knows it will get in trouble."

"Recover faster? I understand… I understand..." Lennon said and cast his gaze down as if he was thinking about so many things.

If I could lessen the number of times I need to go out and focus on training, then much better…

Whether it's my beauty or my strength…

The world is just drawn to me…

Oh Vivian, when will you accept the fact that you're just too perfect for this world…?

It's time to face the music, girl…!

"So brother, can you provide me a freshly cut flesh of a monster who can use Magic Art every 3-4 days?"

Lennon snapped back to reality and returned his gaze to Vivian.

"If we provide you that meat every 3-4 days, you won't have to go out anymore, right?"

"I will still need to go out if necessary but it will severely lessen the number of times, perhaps once every 1-2 weeks or depending on my training."

"Okay. And it doesn't have to be a Draghorn meat, any monster that can use Magic Art can do, right?"

In Lennon's mind, providing a freshly cut flesh of a monster who can use Magic Art for Vivian to eat was easy. They can chop off a piece of meat from Pipi's body and then heal her with [Greater Heal] or any of the other animals at the stable that could use Magic Arts. Although it would destroy the trust between the monsters and the personnel here, it was better than putting all of them in danger. And even if they decided to report her to the authorities because she was putting everyone in danger, given her talents, the worst possible punishment she could possibly get is losing her Holy Crusade points and being transferred to another location. With that, he decided that it was better for all of them to establish a friendly connection with her whom they believed was destined to be one of the core leaders of the Temple of Priests in the future.

"That is correct. However, there is a size requirement," Vivian said and made a 3ft long gesture with her hands. "I need it to at least be at this size. In return, I will also help you people in exterminating and training."

"I will make sure to provide that meat."

Vivian got up from her seat and extended her hand. 

"Thank you, brother," she said and smiled.

Lennon quickly got up as well before reaching out and they shook hands.

"Ah… Yes… No problem, sister," he said and also smiled.

Vivian let go of his hand and they both sat back to their seats.

"By the way, I just have to ask because this has been gnawing inside my head since last night. And you don't have to answer it if you don't want to," Lennon said.

Vivian raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"Are you really a White Cloak?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you don't have [Resurrection]?"

Vivian shook her head. 

"I'm not that talented to have [Resurrection] at my age."

Lennon scratched the back of his head and let out an awkward laugh.

"If you consider yourself not talented, then what does that make us?"

Vivian shook her head once again.

"The training of Class Magic is different from the training of Physical and Magic Arts. I will admit, my Physical and Magic Force is quite high for my age, but that's because I spent most of my time on it that I've neglected my Class Magic. If I could figure out a way where I could train my Physical and Magic Arts and Class Magic at the same time without losing any efficiency, then perhaps I would consider myself talented. However, even if I cover that part, there's also the fact that I still have so many things to learn, like foreign languages, politics and many more -- I would even argue that there are things that only you know. So considering all of those aspects, I think calling myself talented is something that's still so far away from my grasp."

Lennon wanted to tell Vivian that being knowledgeable and being talented are two different things, but he bit his tongue. Although he was a few years younger than Edgar, as one of the commanding officers of the border checkpoint, he learned a few valuable skills throughout his career. One of those skills is soft skills. Yes, having high Physical and Magic Force was important. But being able to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people, especially with powerful and influential people, was also something very important.

"I didn't expect you to be very humble, sister," he said and smiled.

"By the way, brother."

"Yes?"

"You wouldn't mind if I capture a heretic who could speak the demon-kin language and keep him inside one of the holding cells for the time being, right?"

"Um… I wouldn't. But why would you do such a thing?"

"Because I want to learn the demon-kin language quicker so that I can destroy the demons, demon-worshipers, the Cult of Infinity and the heretics in this world more efficiently."

"Oh… Yes, yes. But some of us here can speak it."

Vivian shook her head.

"But it's not enough. You speak either in broken sentences or pronounce some words differently."

Lennon let out a small chuckle. 

"Well, that's true..."

"So if it's not much of a bother, whenever you encounter suspicious individuals trying to cross the border, please call me. I want to personally interview them. And if there isn't any, it's fine. I can just go and grab one from the Great Plains of Stanza."

"Yes, sister. I will inform the others about your order."

"Thank you. Is there anything else you want to tell me, brother?"

"That's all, sister."

Vivian got up and saluted.

"Thank you, Brother High Lieutenant!"

Lennon saluted as well.

"You're welcome, Sister Inquisitor Monad!"

Vivian was caught in surprise when he shouted back and she stared at him with blinking eyes behind her mask.

Is it just me or did I break this guy…?

Well…

Whatever…

Let's just see if these people can follow orders…