"It… It was that girl! The one who claims that the Goddess's champion is her servant!"
One of the bodyguards shook his head before exclaiming in an exasperated voice.
"That's right! It was that girl that attacked your holiness! It must have been her! Melinda Fenrioette, who dared to hit your holiness!"
At first troubled, the second bodyguard's face lit up in certainty, and he nodded at his colleague's words, adding whatever vague memory he retained of the conversation he witnessed.
There was some girl, and she talked about Melinda Fenrioette being the master of the one thought to be the goddess champion, a man named Zane.
If so, the one obvious thing was that she must have been Melinda Fernioette herself; only then were their memories making sense!
"Yes! It was Melida Fen... F-FENRIOETTE!? THE Fenrioette?!"
The second bodyguard nodded vigorously before turning pale and letting out a panicked gasp.
"That uncouth slut! Not only holding back the goddess's champion but also raising her hand to the priest! That blasphemer! The cardinals and the Emperor's court will learn about this!"
High priest Ceto called out, bearing his teeth while ignoring the other bodyguard and barking the words at the already vacant teleportation array.
"...was that girl Melinda…? But… then who slapped my hand down…?"
The black-haired guild master of the adventurer guild listened in on Ceto, and his bodyguard's shouts furrowed his brows while massaging his swollen wrist.
"Y-your holiness! Let's not get ahead of ourselves! If she truly is a member of the Fenrioette family, then even you might get in trouble!"
The other bodyguard's cries fell on deaf ears...
"Hello?! Fenrioette family! Diamondium Kingdom's most horrifying family! Why are you all acting as if this is not a problem?! Let's just forget about everything, or we might be trying to bite more than we can chew!"
"Shut it! This is Emeraldios Empire, not Diamondium kingdom!"
The bodyguard wasn't giving up on trying to change the mind of the high priest but was scoffed at by his colleague who didn't seem to share his opinion about the weight of the situation.
"I… remember a maid uniform… Was Melinda a maid then? Or… maybe it was just a coat after all…?"
Meanwhile on the side, still in his own thoughts, the black-haired guild master tried really hard to hold onto a memory slipping away, but in the end, he also wasn't able to retain the image of Adrianna in his mind once she got out of his sight.
… unbeknownst to anyone, even its wielder, Background Character ability might have gained an unexpected side effect… or maybe its intended effect grew too strong…?
Without expecting a single thing wrong, the four people appeared out of the rising horizontal gate of light in the teleportation array in the Jade City, bringing together with them a bucketful of rain that got caught in the spell's radius.
The weather in that part of the empire was marvelous. A sunny day without even a single cloud in the sky. The warm wind gently ruffling the drenched hair and clothes of the freshly arrived travelers who barely escaped the clutches of the devastating storm.
"A group from… Chainlink port city… You got some trouble in there, don't you? My condolences, and have a nice stay in Jade City. Now, please, leave the formation and do not forget your belongings. We have another group coming in a minute."
A mage carrying a notepad approached them and nodded after exchanging a few words with Adrianna before waving his hand to chase them all out of the array.
Right out of the teleportation array, Jade City surprised Melinda with the hustle and bustle of seemingly countless people walking around.
She was used to the sight like this in her old world but after the Chainlink city, the crowd felt almost overwhelming. Almost a culture shock so to speak - even with the unified culture the Empire was so proud of.
That said… the only time she witnessed Chainling was during the storm and then after it suffered damages from the shockwave of her attack, so that might have been an unfair comparison.
"Should we get a guide? I kind of expected someone to be waiting for us…"
Melinda pointed out, looking around with a bit of expectation of a welcoming committee of sorts—after all, she did leave letters explaining the situation in both the Chainlink city hall and their adventurer guild—but to no avail.
"I-I-I… I know the w-way…"
"You do?! Thank goodness~! Cath, could you be our guide?"
The timid girl who didn't remove her hood despite the completely different weather raised her hand nervously and revealed, causing Melinda to cheer out and ask while Adrianna was helping her out of her hooded cape.
"O-of c-course…!"
The timid girl gasped with a blush at the gold-haired girl's request.
"This will be a bother then. Allow me, Miss."
"Ah! Th-thank y-you…!"
Zane spoke up, taking the small suitcase off her hands, causing her to start bowing her head to him in exasperation.
"Now then. Jade Academy. It's finally time."
Melinda nodded and smirked, looking into the distance with a challenge.
"..."
"...?"
As the two girls began moving, the brown-haired maid tugged on the arm of the monstrous servant, making him raise his brow as he leaned down to hear her out.
"Mister Zane, that whole high priest… He was rudely asking to talk with you, or rather straight up demanding you came with him to the temple. He was addressing you as the champion of the goddess Perseverance."
"That's one I haven't expected to actually hear…"
Adrianna whispered with a grim expression, and Zane furrowed his brows and muttered.
"It is not my place to tell you what you should do, but let me just say that I would think twice before hearing out someone who calls our lady - uncouth slut - without a second thought."
"..."
The brown-haired girl added, and Zane's expression changed to resemble hers as she repeated the high priest's words that had caused her to lose her temper.
Pure. Cold. Fury.
"Dully noted, Miss Adrianna."
Zane declared, straightening his back and instantly becoming the tallest person in the crowd.
"I knew we were on the same pace, Mister Zane."
Adrianna nodded while following a few steps behind Melinda and Catherine, the former talking with excitement and the latter doing her best to keep up with the enthusiasm.