Chapter 112
Chapter 112: Sister Theresa
***
Moving to the back of the crowd, I found an empty spot to stand and directed my gaze toward Daisy.
"I'm fine, don't worry." Daisy waved her hand at me with a sweet smile. "It's just a minor injury, not that painful... It's just that, I'm a bit timid and get scared when I see blood... I've been teased as a crybaby since I was little... so... sorry for causing you trouble..."
As she spoke, her cheeks flushed slightly red, and she lowered her head looking rather embarrassed. I shook my head and said to her, "It's fine, as long as you're alright."
Though I did think Daisy was being a bit delicate, well, she's a girl after all...
Not everyone can become a manly man like me.
"Hey, that old man just now, that was the famous Melville, right!"
Sarah suddenly spoke up with some excitement, and Sophia beside her rolled her eyes at her upon hearing this.
"Please, you only just realized? You're so slow to react."
"It really is him! Will he become our teacher in the future?!"
"...He's already standing right there, what kind of stupid question is that?"
"Wow~ The Royal Academy is amazing—!"
Hearing this, I couldn't help but be a bit curious: "That old man, is he amazing?"
Although I already knew he was a professor teaching advanced Order Studies, I still wasn't clear how strong his Order Power was.
"Super amazing! Many years ago he was already a genius of Water Order, famous throughout the Order City. They say he can instantly create a water vortex taller than a person, and he's the exclusive tutor for those princes and princesses in the royal palace."
Hmm... a person-tall water vortex... huh... is that, is that impressive?
"Oh."
That description doesn't sound impressive at all! Whatever, why did I even ask her...
"And, and! Look over there, standing by the Yahama Mountain side... isn't that the Giant Rahm!"
Following where Sarah was pointing, I looked over and saw from afar a bearded, muscular man standing in front of the Yahama Mountain group, talking endlessly to the students.
"Who's that?"
"That's the one who can kill fire bear beasts with his bare hands, Rahm! The man rumored to have reached the limit of Body Refinement Power. Peylo, haven't you heard of him in the Empire?!"
"Nope."
I wonder who's stronger between him and Pagos... a fight between them would definitely be interesting.
"So uninformed... and that one over there, look look..."
Sarah introduced me to the teachers from the other two towers as well, but I wasn't really in the mood to remember them anymore.
Because I noticed that more and more gazes seemed to be looking at me.
Most of them were naturally from male students. Their gazes were hot and dense, revealing some kind of intense desire within, which made me extremely irritated. In a fit of anger, I glared back at them one by one, and those male students would scratch their faces and turn their heads aside, deliberately pretending to be completely indifferent, but before long they would secretly look back again.
This made me very annoyed. When my temper flared up, I wanted nothing more than to drag them all out and beat them up.
But I couldn't do that... and I discovered that among those gazes were also some female students who, for whatever reason, were also staring at me. Sometimes they would lower their heads and whisper a few words to their companions nearby... and some would show me disdainful expressions.
Without listening, I knew they definitely weren't saying anything good about me.
I quietly moved behind Sarah, listening to her and Sophia chatting idly, waiting silently for the ceremony to begin.
During this time, a few late students trickled in, and the teachers really made them start running laps around the training grounds. I estimated that with a training ground this big, one lap would be at least 1 kilometer, so 20 laps would be 20 kilometers... not easy for ordinary people to run, let alone most of the latecomers were girls.
"Thank goodness we weren't late..." Sophia patted her chest with a relieved expression. "Running that much would be deadly."
Those two boys I had beaten up also came. They seemed to have washed off the nosebleed somewhere, their faces looking quite clean.
Then they reluctantly joined the lap-running group.
"Haha, it's those two idiots... they shouldn't have messed with us!"
No one echoed Sophia's words.
Not long after, the teachers entered.
The students erupted.
"Woo—"
"It's the Brown Bear Frem!"
"Master Aiden!"
"Lucia, I love you—!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Wow! So many amazing people! Peylo, look quickly!"
Sarah beside me kept shaking my arm, her eyes shining with excitement. The excitement of a young girl seeing her idols was fully displayed.
Makes sense. Those who could teach at the Royal Academy naturally wouldn't be ordinary people. Their appearance caused a huge sensation, and young people would naturally worship the heroes in their hearts. The principle was the same as celebrity worship in my previous life, except I didn't recognize any of them...
Except for the principal granny who was surrounded in the middle of the crowd.
She wobbled toward this direction, her small and thin body looking completely unremarkable among the surrounding teachers. Her steps were so unsteady that one worried she might fall in the next second. At the moment, she was being supported by a woman dressed as a nun... huh? There are nuns among the academy's teachers?
I lightly nudged Sophia with my elbow: "That nun, who is she?"
"Nun?" Sophia was puzzled at first, but after seeing clearly who I was talking about, she looked at me with some disbelief. "Ah! You don't know her?!"
I shook my head: "No..."
"You're just like Sarah..." Sophia rubbed her forehead, showing a pained expression. "That's Sister Theresa! She's someone famous in the Order City... no, famous throughout the world... really, how could you not know her?"
"Sister Theresa?"
This name sounded somewhat familiar. I'd definitely heard it somewhere, but where... I couldn't remember.
"She is..."
"Please, Sister Theresa! That famous Sister Theresa! A few years ago she was praised as the best candidate for the next Saint. Peylo, do you never read the newspapers?"
A few years ago... where would I have read newspapers...
"So she's a Saint now?"
"No... it should have been her, but later it seems some problems came up, and her position as Saint candidate was replaced, becoming the current Lady Margaret."
I was immediately somewhat surprised.
"Saints can be replaced?"
"It's Saint candidate, not Saint... anyway if she was replaced there must be special reasons. I'm not very clear either..." At this point, Sophia brought her head close to my ear, deliberately lowering her voice. "There are quite a few rumors about her. Some say that the night before the coronation, Sister Theresa suddenly refused to become the Saint for some unknown reason. Others say she was actually abandoned by the divine, because after that, no one has seen her use Faith Power again... these are all gossip circulating in noble circles, who knows if it's true or false."
"Oh..."
So, rejecting the divine... or being rejected by the divine?
What kind of person is she... I'm a bit curious.
"However, I personally prefer another less popular theory."
Sophia twisted a small lock of hair at her temple with her finger, her warm breath carrying a subtle fragrance as it brushed against my ear.
"What?"
"Becoming a Saint means being the embodiment of the church among the people, saving them from suffering... that requires traveling to many places. But Sister Theresa loves children. She's the director of the Cataloma Orphanage, and because she wanted to continue caring for the children, she refused to become a Saint. I like this explanation because I think she's a remarkable person."
Ah, I remember now.
So that means, when Elle and Lucas came here, it was that woman who was taking care of them.