Half an hour later, after Clara and Rina had regained their respective composure after almost accidentally kissing each other, all three of them, including Fran, returned to their positions before the whole 'fiasco'. Fran and Clara were sitting opposite each other and Rina, as a servant, was standing behind her mistress.

Compared to the scene from over thirty minutes ago, it could be seen that the blonde girl was very wary of the elf. Clara had positioned herself the way so that her maid stood directly behind her. This was rather uncommon, as a servant's usual position would be diagonally behind their master or mistress. It was as if Clara was a tiger who wanted to protect her cub from a predator.

Seeing the blond's caution, Fran couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. “Fufufu. You don't need to be so wary. I won't take her away from you... for now”

“Y-you...haaaah...” Fortunately, Clara had learned from her mistakes a few minutes ago and calmed herself down, not falling for another provocation. “Seriously, I don't know how someone like you could reach the temple's top position.”

“I'm strong and know a lot about magic, that's all.” The elf answered nonchalantly.

“I know, that's why Father chose you to be our magic instructor. But before that...” Clara glinted her eyes and stared directly at her conversation partner. “... I'll have you explain your circumstances of the hero summoning ritual from seven years ago first.”

“...”

“...”

“... Alright.” After a short silence, Fran gave in to the ten-year-old girl's tense aura. “But first tell me what you know, then I can explain how things went in my eyes.”

“Fine... Seven years ago, out of nowhere, you told to the former King, that you have found a way to increase our chances of surviving the impending demon invasion. That was the hero summoning ritual. You hoped that a random strong man from another world would come to our world to help us fight the demons.”

“...”

“You and your Dark Elf friend then somehow got the lead roles in the ritual. You were in charge of opening the portal and your friend was responsible for security.” Clara clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip, before continuing. “Then you dared to choose my grandfather to be the one to cross the portal to the other world to get that random guy!”

“...” Fran kept her eyes closed, waiting for the blonde girl to finish.

“But because of your Dark Elf friend, the security on site was very poor. So you had intruders sabotaging the ritual. And to make matters worse, you even failed to keep the portal open for long enough for Grandfather to return.”

“...”

At this point, tears were already streaming from Clara's eyes. “*sob* Y-you have killed Grandfather Rick! *sob*”

Seeing her mistress, the girl she had a crush on, crying from behind, Rina could feel her heart aching. She wanted to take the older girl in her arms and comfort her. But Rina didn't have the confidence, that she would succeed with it.

No, that wasn't the problem in the first place.

If Rina were to embrace and comfort Clara, she would be overstepping her bounds. 'Clara is my mistress, and I'm her maid. I must not forget that. I must know my place.' So all Rina could do was stand there and wait for Clara to calm down.

A few minutes later, when Clara's eyes had dried up, she finally spoke up. “Excuse me for my shameful display. Please forget it.”

“Mhm, It's okay,” Fran answered. “You lost a person dear to you, after all... But now I know how you see it, and I must say, it's a pretty convenient version for you nobles, isn't it?”

“What do you mean?”

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“It's completely different from what really happened. Now let me correct your false version.”

These words made Clara's blood boil. “You dare to...”

But before the young girl could finish her sentence, the elf interrupted her. “Lady Dragonherz... I have been silent while listening to your absurd side of the story. Now it's your turn to let me speak, isn't it?”

Without a counter-argument, Clara calmed down and nodded, even though she still very was dissatisfied.

“Now then, let me start with your first misunderstanding... the ritual. You seem to think that I just invented the hero summoning ritual.”

“Yes, because you did.”

“No, I didn't. In fact, I only found out about it after I became the High Priestess. This position gave me access to the most hidden documents of the temple. When I read through them, they revealed that the first king, Hero King Gaius Miriculan I, had a companion from another world to help him defeat the Demon Lord back then. That's how I learned about the ritual. The first King himself had used it.”

“... WHAT!? That's impossible! I've never heard or read anything like that!” Clara jumped out of her seat, looking very shocked.

“Of course, you didn't. Nobody knew about it until I found out.”

“Didn't you say it was written in the records of the church? Why didn't the last High Priest suggest that method before you?” The young lady was somewhat sceptical about Fran's statements.

“What can I say... none of my predecessors had bothered to dig through the old scrolls in the temple library. That was why nobody knew about it, not even the king, until I discovered that possibility. That was why I only told King Thor about the ritual at first. Afterwards, he had insisted on revealing this information to the kingdom, no, to the whole world, in order to spread hope.”

“...”

“And therein lay your second misunderstanding. It was King Thor who suggested sending Knight Commander Rick, your grandfather, to the other world to get the hero candidate, not me. In fact, it was your grandfather himself who even insisted on going through the portal, when he heard about it. Ask Lord Eric if you don't believe me.”

“N-no... Why Grandfather...?” Crestfallen, Clara fell back onto the sofa. “Why would you do that...?”

“Haaah...” Annoyed, Fran let out a loud sigh. “Don't you get it little girl? He had a family to protect. That's why he did it.”

“But why didn't Father tell me the truth?”

“Why should I know that? Ask him yourself.”

“...”

“Going on... your statement about the security is only half true. It was the Knight Commander who had primarily organised the security for the ritual. My friend Milia, the Vice Knight Commander at that time, only assisted your grandfather in it.”

“How should it work? My grandfather went through the portal.”

“Milia was also supposed to go through the portal... but as you already said, some intruders interrupted her just as she was about to cross it.”

“And you think I will believe you? Your commoner friend probably just got scared and is actually glad that she didn't have to do it in the end, isn't she?”

At Clara's words, the mood in the room suddenly turned grim, as the former High Priestess's eyes flashed with obvious anger. “Let me tell you something, little girl. Milia was determined to sacrifice herself by going through that portal and even staying on the other side for the rest of her life, to bring hope to our world. But after failing in that duty, she never forgave herself for it. Even now she blames herself for the failure... so, little girl, if you say one more bad word about my friend, who I am very proud of...”

“Well, what if I insult your cowardly friend anyway?” Clara still dared to slander Fran's friend in the face of the threat, even though she was already trembling under the pressure the elf was exerting.

“... Stupid little girl...” With these words, Fran swiftly pulled a dagger out of nowhere and threw it at Clara.

“Lady Clara!” Seeing this, Rina shouted out in panic and quickly formed a black magic circle on her hand to alter the dagger's trajectory with her gravity magic. Thanks to her swift action the dagger narrowly missed her mistress. But unfortunately, because she was standing right behind Clara, the dagger hit Rina in the chest area instead.

“Rina!!” With a ghost-like face, Clara jumped out of her seat to check on her maid. When she saw out of the corner of her eye that the dagger had struck the younger girl in the chest, she had prepared herself for the worst. But when she got a closer look at Rina, there was no wound to be found. “... Ehhh!?”

“Lady Clara, it seemed to be a toy dagger, made out of cheap materials with a dull blade,” Rina explained after picking up the dagger. Although the impact was quite painful due to its fast speed, the dagger still was very light. So, fortunately, Rina had no visible injuries.

After confirming that her maid was unharmed, Clara breathed a sigh of relief. A few seconds later, however, she turned angrily to the person who had thrown the dagger. “You! Care to explain why you just did it?”

But instead of answering the question, Fran just stared at Rina once again for a few moments. 'So this is Dark magic. Interesting. Is her insane activation speed a boon of Dark magic, or is this girl especially talented? ... Either way, she will play an important role in saving the world.'

Not amused – to put it mildly – by the elven commoner's behaviour since her arrival, Clara finally ran out of patience and grabbed her maid's hands, before heading for the door. “I've had enough. You can go home and never come back here again. I will never accept you as our tutor... I will definitely see you hanged for this!”

“Now, now, young lady, sit down and hear me out. It'll benefit you,” Fran spoke up again, as the girls were about to leave the room.

“Not interested. Now farewell, former High Priestess,” Clara replied with a sarcastic undertone.

“I see.” Fran was playing with the toy dagger that Rina had returned to her earlier. She threw it in the air, where it spun around its own axis three times, before she caught it again, only to repeat the process. Only after the fifth cycle, did she stop throwing the dagger again and look at Clara, who still hadn't left the room. It showed Fran, that the young girl was at least curious about what she had to say. Seeing that, the elf smirked at Clara and said nonchalantly,

“Well then, prepare to say goodbye to your precious maid forever.”