Aftermath (Continued)

After the disaster was over, Madam Sicily came to meet her and took her to her side.

But it's different from what others think.

Lavinia wasn't immediately given any high-level courses arranged by Madam Sicily upon entering the facility; instead, she was assigned a large amount of work related to the Volsinii Reconstruction Project.

However, considering that the girl's social qualifications and experience were still too limited, Madam Sicily's arrangement was not to participate directly, but to file and confirm the documents submitted by others after they had finished their work.

Although Lavinia did not understand the significance of Madam Sicily's arrangement of things for her, she did understand the beliefs held by the old woman.

She saw it and was willing to believe it would bring a future to Siracusa.

So she accepted the task and did her best to do what she could.

Even so, she was busy until midnight before she could barely finish her work for the day.

To be honest, things are already pretty good now.

After all, when she first started repairing the damage, her workload was much heavier than it is now. Back then, she couldn't even go home... and that was with the help of others.

Dragging her weary body, she walked step by step back to her home.

Because the original house had been destroyed, the girl could only temporarily live in a small rented room that had been temporarily allocated... These were some of the still habitable housing areas that were discovered later when the city was being cleaned up. People who were allocated such housing areas were usually important personnel involved in the construction of the city.

To be honest, Lavinia was quite surprised when Madam Sicily said she would be allocating the house to herself.

She simply didn't know what she had done to deserve such a temporary accommodation.

But...

Pushing open the door, the girl looked at the empty and desolate world inside the room and couldn't help but purse her lips.

She walked in alone and sat down in her seat.

Nothing in the room had changed; everything was exactly the same as when she left that morning...

The clock ticked in the room.

She sat alone on the wooden chair, gazing out the window, without turning on the light.

His eyes revealed a sense of desolation.

The city lights still twinkled in the distance, and as for the sky above...

"Wow, you're back so early today?"

A cheerful female voice rang out again, and behind her, a wounded Celinina dragged the already unable-to-walk Lappland back into the room.

Once in the room, Celinina seemed to disdainfully toss Lappland aside, then rubbed her head, appearing somewhat tired.

"Um."

Lavinia's mood improved somewhat when she saw that her roommate had also returned.

But after still not seeing the person she wanted to see, she couldn't help but sigh.

"Hasn't Lady Maria returned yet?"

"No."

Lappland shrugged.

Maria had been doing this for some time.

Although he still takes the girls to training and practice every day without fail, he doesn't get much rest anymore.

Even they, if they wanted to see Maria, could only do so within a specified time.

The rest of the time, Maria was busy with her own affairs.

As for what to do... she wouldn't say, and they wouldn't ask.

"Is that so."

Lavinia was feeling down.

Although she is now under the protection of Madam Sicily and no longer worries that her family members would dare to harm her, the sudden loss of that sense of security makes her feel very uncomfortable.

Everything she has now is, in a sense, inseparable from Maria.

If it weren't for Maria's orders, Lappland and the others might not have been so insistent on taking her to the vigil. And if she hadn't gone to the vigil, she wouldn't have met Madam Sicily.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have the opportunities we have today.

She didn't know if this was also part of Maria's plan, but she knew that Maria had indeed kept the promise she had made to herself.

I... witnessed the laws governing the operation of another world.

Lavinia didn't know what this change meant for the time being, but she knew that she would become a better version of herself in the future.

She had always wanted to thank Maria.

In a sense, she also particularly envied Lappland and her friends.

At least, they still have a chance to meet Maria.

As for myself...

I don't know when we'll meet again.

Volsinii, in an unassuming room.

Maria sat silently in her seat, glanced at what was in front of her, and then looked seriously at Madam Sicily.

"This is not a good choice."

"I know..." Madam Sicily's face was equally somber. She sighed, seemingly helpless.

"But... I don't have any other choices."

After these words were spoken, both of them fell silent.

After a long pause, Maria tilted her head back slightly.

"I've also done some research in this area."

"No, no, no, no..."

Upon hearing that Maria had volunteered, Madam Sicily quickly shook her head.

It's quite remarkable that this woman, who is almost eighty years old, is shaking her head at a frequency that rivals that of some young people.

Her face turned extremely pale in an instant.

Then, she forced a smile.

"This kind of thing... doesn't require your personal involvement."

"It's nothing... I often did this during my time in Yharnam."

"That's not necessary..."

"... Okay then."

Seeing that Madam Sicily was so insistent, Maria didn't say anything more.

Meanwhile, Father Agniel finally brought out his fried eggs and bacon.

Although Maria didn't dislike this type of thing.

But looking at the dry bread and obviously overcooked food that the other party had prepared for them, Maria still couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

She wasn't picky about food, not even about the taste, since it was good enough to have anything to eat in Yharnam.

But at least... at least the taste needs to be guaranteed, right?

Dry bread with dry eggs and dry bacon...

There's still no water!

Is this really going to choke her to death?

Is there something wrong with these foods?

Father Agniel didn't think there was anything wrong with his things; he just clattered and smacked them in refusal.

The bread tastes almost exactly like a biscuit...

After a moment of silence, Maria couldn't help but sigh.

"I think... next time, I can cook something for you."

"... Just as I said before, Maria, you are our honored guest, how could we possibly let you cook?"

Although Madam Sicily also found the food difficult to swallow, she firmly refused when she heard that Maria was going to offer her some.

Although Agniel's cooking was hardly appetizing, it was still at least food.

But Maria... she really doesn't discriminate between meat and vegetables!

Maria had shown it briefly once before, and she remembered it vividly – Maria's rough handling of food.

She only cares about the taste; she doesn't care what the food is or whether it tastes good... It's like she has no taste buds; she'll put anything in her mouth!

Heaven knows how her pink, delicate mouth, which looks so inviting you want to take a big bite and savor it, managed to fit all that stuff in.

After fussing around for a while, and seeing that her suggestion had once again been rejected by Madam Sicily, Maria didn't say much and just continued to nibble on her dry bread.

While Madam Sicily breathed a sigh of relief, she also asked a question.

"What are your plans in Siracusa?"

After so many years of Maria's absence, Madam Sicily did not believe that Maria had suddenly become interested in returning.

The purpose of their return was most likely related to the previous Rottish.

Now that Maria has returned safely, the outcome is self-evident.

What intrigues Sicily is how long Maria will stay here.

"Perhaps... it will take some more time."

Maria did not answer directly, but shook her head and fell silent.

Contrary to what Madam Sicily had imagined, she had indeed returned from the battlefield.

But she had not yet killed Rottish.

More accurately, she failed to kill Rottish completely.

Just as Rottish about to self-destruct, Maria successfully seized the enemy's core.

Under normal circumstances, when Maria grasped the core, she would have been able to devour those things.

However, when Maria grasped it, she discovered that she was unable to absorb its core!

This is unprecedented!

This unexpected turn of events left her stunned for a moment.

In the end, Rottish used that brief moment to escape...

This slightly annoyed Maria when she came to her senses.

But Maria's efforts weren't entirely in vain.

On the contrary, although she failed to absorb the opponent's core completely, she did manage to acquire all of its abilities.

In other words, what escaped was merely an ordinary thing with Rottish.

Although this amount of stuff was nothing to worry about, Maria's caution prevented her from leaving.

She was unsure whether Rottish's inability to absorb the core was an isolated case or an exception.

Now is the perfect opportunity for her to investigate everything, so naturally she won't leave so quickly.

As for Madam Sicily...

Maria didn't intend to tell them these things either.

Even a simple leak between those in Great Ones can potentially change the course of a person's life!

However, Madam Sicily didn't dwell on these things; she simply smiled and then spoke softly again.

"Then we might have many more opportunities to meet..."

"Um..."