A week after the disastrous miracle in the capital city, neither the Church of Coris nor the Emperor had made any sort of announcement about the incident. In the absence of an official narrative, public opinion had settled into two major camps.

The first camp held that Saintess Anne Coris was the true chosen one sent by the Goddess to unite the church, the imperial family, and the elves of the Sacred Forest in a new age of peace and prosperity. They saw Anne’s public behavior as proof that she was friendly and open-hearted, willing to meet people where they were.

The second camp viewed Anne as a false prophet, traitor, and spy, sent by the elves of the Sacred Forest to corrupt both the church and the imperial family. They saw Anne’s public behavior as proof that she was frivolous, hedonistic, proud, and manipulative.

The longer time went on with no official response, the more tensions increased between these two groups. Brawls broke out in pubs across the city, family members stopped speaking to each other, and groups of menacing looking men took to loitering in the general vicinity of the Cathedral, glaring at each other.

Anne herself was only vaguely aware of all of this.

So far Anne had been following Eva’s instructions and staying inside the Cathedral, although she was going a bit stir crazy. Luckily, someone came to visit her most days, whether it was Sebastian, Corvina, or various members of the Bastards’ Club.

Today it was Nia and Collette who came to visit her. Anne, Agis, and the two of them were having tea in the Blue Courtyard. The sky overhead was dark and heavy—the threat of a thunderstorm hanging in the air like the threat of a civil war.

“You really can’t come out with us, even for a little bit?” asked Collette. “What if we just go to one of my boutiques? Surely you don’t think anything bad will happen if you go out and do a bit of shopping.”

“Sorry, Eva told me not to leave,” said Anne. “Last time I went out even though she told me not to, and we ended up having a big fight over it. I feel kind of bad about it, so I figured this time I should just stay put until she says it’s okay.”

“Eva… that’s your childhood friend, right?” said Collette.

“Yeah, that’s her,” said Anne.

“Sounds like a real stick-in-the-mud.”

Anne just shrugged. “I mean, sort of, I guess, but she has her reasons…”

“Well, fine, so just ask her if it’s okay,” said Collette. “If you get her permission then it’ll be fine, right?”

Anne and Agis looked at each other.

“We haven’t been able to find her since we had that fight,” said Anne. “That was almost a week ago.”

“Wait, she’s missing?” asked Collette.

“I don’t know if she’s missing,” said Anne. “But she’s not here.”

“I’ve checked around the city, too,” said Agis. “Everywhere I could think of that she might go to. No one’s seen her.”

“Aren’t you worried about her?” asked Collette.

“Of course I am!” said Anne. “But the fact that she’s gone means I would feel even more guilty if I went against her wishes so I can’t really do anything about it. I asked Corvina if she could have her intelligence network keep an eye out but she hasn’t heard anything either. It’s like she vanished. I just… I just hope she’s vanished of her own free will. And that she’ll reappear again when she wants to.”

Honestly, Anne was kind of freaking out about it. The original Saintess had been raised in the church, so she would at least have had the basic knowledge to navigate the organization. But the current Anne didn’t have any of those memories and still barely knew how the church operated. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to last as the Saintess without Eva to ask as a buffer between her and the church hierarchy and to guide her through all the tough rituals.

Plus… Eva was her friend. Not just the original Saintess’ friend, but her own. Anne still remembered how scared she had been when she’d first arrived in this world, and how much Eva’s emotional support had meant to her. Yes, they had been fighting lately. Yes, Eva could be a bit smothering. But Anne never would have made it through those first few weeks without her. Thanks to Eva, Anne had never felt truly alone in this world, even in her darkest moments.

“I hope she reappears soon, then,” said Collette, a sympathetic expression on her face.

“Thanks.”

“I guess it’s no use begging you to come hang out with me, then. Ah, well.” Collette stood up. “Shall we get going then, Nia? I still want to stop by a few of my boutiques before supper, with or without the Saintess.”

Nia nodded. “You go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you in a moment. There’s something I’d like to ask the Saintess.”

“Okay, well, I can wait!” said Collette, sitting back down again.

“There’s something I’d like to ask her in private,” said Nia.

Collette rolled her eyes. “Fine, but don’t take too long or I’ll leave without you and you’ll have to walk home! It’ll serve you right for leaving me out of things.”

“Do you want Agis to leave, too?” asked Anne.

“If he wouldn’t mind too terribly,” said Nia.

“What?” said Agis. “I have to go? Why? I’m trustworthy! I’m a noble prince, you know!”

“Come on, Agis, you can patrol the grounds or something,” said Anne. “Make sure there aren’t any threats.”

“Ugh, fine,” said Agis. He got up on top of the table, stepping around the remains of tea, and from there leapt straight onto the roof, landing in a crouching position before scampering off and out of sight.

“What was it you wanted to ask?” Anne felt slightly nervous, talking to Nia alone. Nia was far too cool for Anne to feel fully at-ease alone with her. “If you’re after religious advice or something I’m not sure how much help I’ll be…”

Nia shook her head. “That’s not it. I wanted to ask you more about the prophecy you received.”

“Ah, okay, I can probably answer that.”

“Do you remember any more details about what happens to my mother?” asked Nia. “The Ambassador from Quellinia? Any details at all. About how or why she’s meant to be assassinated or by whom?”

“Oh…” said Anne.

Anne tried to remember if there were any more details in the original novel, but it hadn’t actually been a particularly significant event. At least, it hadn’t been significant enough to any of the main characters to dwell on it specifically. It was a footnote. A plot contrivance. An excuse for the author to start a war.

“I don’t know,” Anne admitted. “That part of the prophecy was vague. I only know that her assassination, if it happens, will be what sparks a war with Quellinia.”

“Do you think the assassins are trying to start a war?” asked Nia. “Or will they go after her for another reason? A personal grudge, maybe?”

Anne shook her head. “No, I don’t think it’s personal. Probably they’re trying to start a war on purpose, but I don’t know for sure.”

Nia sighed and stood up. “Thank you, Saintess. If you happen to receive more detailed revelation on this at any point, please inform me.”

“Of course!” said Anne, with a smile. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

Nia looked at Anne for a moment, her expression unreadable.

“What is it?” asked Anne, feeling a bit self conscious.

“Don’t worry too much about your friend Eva,” Nia said, adjusting the dark lenses she wore on her face as always. “If I’m right about her she’ll reappear again before long.” Nia bowed and took her leave.

As Anne watched Nia walk away she thought, Eva, where in the world are you?

Eva was in a dark room lit only by a few small candles which illuminated a wooden workbench. The workbench was covered in books in several languages, multiple of which were left open on specific pages, and various craftsman tools. Eva was working closely on a small object using these tools, holding a magnifying lens in one eye.

Nearby, hovering in the air at Eva’s eye-level, was a shimmering image of the Blue Courtyard in the Cathedral of Coris, where Anne was having her tea with Collette and Nia.

Eva had easily been able to adapt the surveillance spell which she had used to keep an eye on the meeting between Anne and the Duke in order to keep an eye on Anne in the Cathedral more generally. The only problem was that the spell was physically tied to the Cathedral itself and wouldn’t work outside its walls.

But Eva was an innovator.

There were several types of magic that existed, which had largely been viewed as mutually exclusive throughout the history of the empire—practically contradictory to each other.

The first type, which Eva wasn’t entirely convinced had ever actually existed, was divine magic. Divine magic was the power wielded by all the previous Saintesses, or so the church claimed. Divine magic supposedly derived power directly from the Goddess herself.

The second type, which was commonly used through the empire to this day, was alchemy. Alchemy was a physical sort of magic, tied directly to various objects and substances, and derived power from the natural properties of the objects themselves. This was considered a generally safe and reliable sort of magic. In fact, it was barely seen as magic at all. It was often treated more of a craftsman’s trade, like carpentry or blacksmithing.

Finally, there was true magic. True magic was thought to have disappeared entirely from the empire generations ago. It was a wild, dangerous, and unpredictable form of magic which drew its power directly from the caster—from their life force, their mana. Eva highly suspected the “divine magic” of the various saintesses had actually just been true magic all along. Not divine at all, but the ultimate form of human power.

There had never been very many people capable of using true magic, but as far as Eva could tell from her research (and she had done a lot of research), none of them had ever attempted to mix forms of magic. She could find no instructions for how to do so.

So Eva had been forced to invent her own methods.

She found it utterly ridiculous that this was never the standard practice for magic users. By combining true magic with alchemy you could attain the increased power of true magic while vastly reducing its risks, and you could rely on the stability of alchemy without being held back by its limitations.

Done.

Eva set down her tools and examined the results of her handiwork. It was a small decorative pin made of a sleek blue metal with small sapphire adorning the end.

It had taken her longer than she had anticipated. But she finally had the solution to her problem. This would fix things with Anne.

Eva blew out the candles. The total darkness that descended lasted only a moment, until she activated the portal. Natural light poured through from a window in the small room beyond.

The portal was a perfect example of the benefits of combining true magic with alchemy.

Yes, Eva was capable of unlimited teleportation through true magic, but it consumed a massive amount of mana. By tying the teleportation spell to specific locations through alchemy, Eva could reliably travel long distances using only a small amount of mana.

Eva stepped through the portal and into a small, mostly unused room in a forgotten corner of the Cathedral in the capital.

She was back.

Now to find Anne.