“So this is our new home.”

Virgo Cathedral was small compared to the cathedrals Yu had envisioned, but it had a hall large enough to hold a hundred and fifty people and was used for religious ceremonies.

The ceremonies were standing, with chairs for those who had difficulty standing. The dais was for the Virgo Cardinal, and according to Yu's knowledge, the ceremonies took place with the cardinal performing a simple ceremonial dance or chanting a hymn, which was considered sacred, while reading from the Whisper of the Stars.

“Come to think of it, I've never seen Yurine sing, let alone dance. I wonder how shy and sweet her face will look when she tries to dance?”

Inside the building, the ceremonial hall was the main hall and the main door was here. There was also a kitchen, rooms for the cathedral's inhabitants and guests, which were not very large, study rooms and a bathhouse outside the regular bathroom.

Even though the rooms were small, somehow they managed to fit so much inside the cathedral. So the cathedral could accommodate more guests.

Unlike the Andromeda Church, the Virgo Cathedral had a small tower that could hardly be called a minaret. At the top of the tower was a bell. A flag with a white maiden holding a spike on a red background flew at the top of the tower.

Traditional religious ceremonies took place once a month and the bells rang once a month for this ceremony. Sometimes the bells rang for announcements, the death or wedding of someone important.

“Yu, this is the living room.”

Yurine was holding Yu's hand as she showed him around the cathedral with her smiling face and cheerful voice. The servants watched Yurine with open mouths, even though half of them were used to the sight.

How else could they have reacted when this arrogant young lady, who a year ago would have given no face to anyone but her mother, took the hand of a man they didn't know and led him around the cathedral?

“Yu, let's sit down.”

There were two single seats in the living room, but when Yurine moved to one of the two seats because she wanted to sit next to Yu, no one else could sit in the seats in the living room.

Sivina and Ana sat on the chairs and Kigaro alone was almost enough to seat two people, while Tobias, who had no other seat, had to sit next to him.

Tobias was probably not comfortable at all, but he thought it would look strange to get up and move to a chair, so he continued to sit with Kigaro.

“Neltia, bring them drinks and sweets.”

“If you want to bring tea or coffee, don't bring it to me, just water is enough.”

The older and more senior of the two young maids bowed her head and bowed again to Yurine after ordering one of the younger ones.

“Welcome back, young lady.”

“I’m welcome.”

As the two maids inside waited for any requests, Yu noticed that the younger one was giving him furtive glances.

“I'm so handsome...”

A slight smile formed on his face and his ego swelled rapidly.

“I'm so much more handsome than a man could ever be. Ah... I have such a great face. I swear I'm gorgeous, but I'm sorry honey, as a single father devoted to his daughter, I don't want to see myself in a romantic relationship now or in the future. Of course I understand that you like me and I know you can't do anything about it, so I respect your feelings. After all, it's not every day you see the most handsome man in the world. Although you will see me every day from now on...”

Yu Valarfin used to think such thoughts from time to time. Right now he wanted to stand in front of the mirror and examine his face for the millionth time.

“Mr. Valarfin! Do you plan to tell us what you were thinking when you kept us waiting for so long?” Ana asked. Sivina added right after her.

“What you have done is absolutely reprehensible, reprehensible! You give two beautiful girls a date to meet and you miss it!”

“You can imagine how worried we are about our lady, you absolutely must apologize!”

Yu was dumbfounded by every word that came out of their mouths. He didn't know what to think as he stared at the two of them. Were they the kind of people who would say such things?

“You are definitely a bad person! Now apologize!”

Yu was still looking at their faces when Sivina concluded. The girls he knew were not this friendly, nor did they speak with such enthusiasm.

“I apologize.”

He would have preferred not to worry them, but their worry seemed to bind them to him more. He felt no regrets since Yu was not entirely to blame for their tardiness anyway.

As a result, he gave a contrived apology, but the girls accepted it.

“Why are you late?” Sivina asked.

“And you didn't even explain what you were there for,” Ana added.

“We stayed in İlonya because of a debt, it's not a big deal.”

His conscience was clear because he had convinced himself of his lie.

His actions could be described as a matter of credit and debit. Yu had some gold that he wanted to buy, and after he had bought it, he was going to give some of it to his very valuable accomplices. So it became a matter of give and take.

“Did you have debts?”

“They was owed me money.” Yu just slapped the answer straight on. They would find out about the gold later anyway.

“You still haven't told me why you're late.” Sivina finally returned to the serious tone Yu had come to accept as normal. “You were supposed to be here at the beginning of winter, but it's the end of winter.”

Looking out of the window, it didn't look like the end of winter at all. The snow was still heavy and it looked as if it was going to stay that way forever.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“On our way to the Mora, we met Kigaro, then we learned that he needed help and we decided to help him.”

Sivina and Ana saw the roarons for the first time in their lives. They looked at Kigaro, he was the one Yurine had told them about.

“Then we found ourselves in a battle,” Yu said.

“Battle! Did you fight? There are two of you, when we are not with you...”

Yu raised his hand and stopped Ana.

“It was an unexpected turn of events and we were caught off guard. Thanks to Yurine, we were saved, so it's all good now.”

He wished he had never put Yurine in such danger. If he went back in time and met Kigaro in that forest again, he would definitely refuse to fight demons.

It wasn't about fighting and winning, it was about Yurine being in danger. For Yu, the beginning and the path to the end were as important as the results, and he couldn't ignore the other stages just because the result was good.

But that battle was behind him and he had no problem using words that contradicted his own philosophy in order to avoid Ana.

“So you're okay?”

“We're fine, Ana. Thank you for your concern.”

Another lie slipped out easily. He couldn't call himself good. The curse on his shoulder was still there.

Even though he knew it was there, he no longer had any difficulty moving his arm, but still the curse made him feel worse every day. His heart tingled and he felt as if a spider's web was being woven inside him.

He knew the curse was meant for something.

He had no idea what would happen to him if Yurine failed to heal her, and so far Yurine had failed to heal him. It wasn't spreading anymore, but the inability to remove the curse was both demoralizing for Yurine and increasing their anxiety.

He had to find a solution before things got worse, but he had no idea what to do.

“Can you tell me what kind of battle you are talking about?”

Sivina was as worried as Ana, but she put her worries aside and wanted to know the details. Being a warrior, she was interested in such things.

“Demons attacked the people of roaron.”

Demons

In the myths of Yu's world, demons were referred to as malevolent creatures. If Yu were not from the twenty-first century, he would be as afraid of the word as the people of this world.

But in the twenty-first century, demons had ceased to be the evil creatures of religious stories and, thanks to popular culture and anime, were being portrayed as humanoid and good creatures. After all, lots of people gathered in front of the screen to watch demon girls' breasts, and Yu did that from time to time.

In short, thanks to the secularization of people and anime, demons didn't scare people like Yu anymore, but when Yurine used that word, everyone in the room froze.

There was a phrase in this world called ‘making the devil's eyes red’ and there were people who were afraid to even hear that phrase.

And Yurine was saying that they had encountered real demons. Demons were evil, horrible, they shouldn't exist, and no human being should ever encounter them. That was the way the people of this world thought.

“I was on fire and being chased by a demon beast when the lady found me. If it wasn't for the lady I would have died, she saved my life.”

Kigaro, who usually used an informal language in conversation, was now speaking respectfully. His tone of voice represented the gratitude of the entire roaron people towards Yurine.

“Then she saved the rest of my people.”

Kigaro's and the other roarons' gratitude towards Yurine pleased Yu. Gratitude was a loyalty that could not be bought, he could trust them.

“After meeting Kigaro, Yurine decided to help the rest of the roaron people. That night she destroyed all the demons that attacked the roarons.”

“Yurine?” Sivina and Ana reacted at the same time.

Sivina and Ana, who had not been aware of Yurine's power the last time they met her, were stunned and could hardly believe what they were hearing. Neither did the servants, who had last seen her a year ago.

“Here you go.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Neltia, the maid who had just been sent to bring drinks and sweets. On her tray was a type of dessert Yu had never encountered before.

After the other young maid placed the tables in front of the people, Neltia put the plates and glasses from the tray on the tables. Yu didn't want tea so she brought him orange juice.

“Thank you.”

The dessert that was brought was made with kiwi. Yu thought it tasted good, but it was not one of the fifty best things he had ever eaten. Yu described the level of beauty of the dessert in front of him as ‘I won't buy it, but I will eat it if they bring it.’

Receiving a thank you from Yu, Neltia smiled. Seeing her reaction, Yu's ego swelled a little more.

“Uh-huh... I'm great, I'm so good.”

Yurine was now in a position to recognize what he was thinking by the slight changes in his face, and she recognized what he was thinking now. She nudged him with her elbow, giving him the message not to overstep his bounds.

“We've settled the prisoners,” Dimen said as he entered. He had a long red mane and welded leather armor.

Behind him, Bart entered with his graying hair, beardless face and gray eyes. Neither of them thought it appropriate to sit down while their wives were seated, so they decided to stand.

“Yu, I didn't introduce you to them.”

When Yurine returned to them, the servants lined up for introductions.

“You've already heard of two of them, he's Bart and she's Neltia.”

Neltia was a brunette. She was tall and had an attractive figure. Yet Yu didn't think she was his kind of girl. Although the shape of her body appealed to Yu's sexual desires, he liked girls with more colorful features, because in the world he came from, most people had black or brown hair.

“That's Maia, Neltia's aunt.”

Maia, the older of the two girls, resembled her niece in face, but unlike her, she was a large woman.

“That's Clara.”

He found Clara more attractive than Neltia. Her hair was dark green and her eyes were light orange. Yu was in a fantasy world and wanted to see such different colors.

“Yu Valarfin, nice to meet you.”

After Yu gave his own name, Yurine turned to the roarons.

“You've met Dimen and Tobias. That's Kigaro, the commander of the roarons.”

Kigaro greeted them with a slight nod of his head and Yurine continued without interruption.

“Bart, Yu will be the butler from now on.”

A butler was someone who took care of all the affairs of the household and managed the other servants. It was decided that Yu would be given this position while he was still at the Wizarding Academy.

“Understood. I couldn't keep up with the youth anymore.”

Bart's steward's outfit had a maiden brooch on the chest. It was the symbol of the spike and was the same design as the symbol on their flag. Bart approached Yurine and handed her the brooch from his chest.

Yu could see the hesitation in his eyes. Bart knew Yurine, but he did not know the young man named Yu Valarfin. He had reservations about entrusting the daughter of the Virgo Cardinal, under whom he had previously been employed, to a man he did not know.

Still, he did not object to Yurine's remark. Yurine took the brooch handed to him and placed it on the chest of Yu's robe. At that moment, Yu assumed the role of leader of everyone under the cathedral except Yurine.

It had always been like that, but now it had become official.

“Yu's word is my word, do as he commands.”

“Understood.” The servants nodded in unison.

Now that he was officially steward, he could begin the work of restoring Virgo Cathedral. He wanted to accomplish great things in a short time, and he would need the determination of his staff.

“Our conversation was unfinished,” Ana returned to the subject.

They had to continue their story.

“I didn't want to interrupt you, but let me ask you now, when you say commander of the roarons, how many roarons are you talking about?” Sivina asked.

“By the time Yurine destroyed the demons, the roarons' homes and the supplies they had stored for the winter were long gone. They could not survive the winter, so Yurine decided to take them in.”

And so he could tell them why they were late.

“That's why we were late, because we were moving with two hundred roarons. Kigaro is the commander of thirty roaron warriors among them.”

“You came here with two hundred people?” Ana asked.

“Including us and the prisoners, the total number is two hundred and twenty-one. If we could have taken the main road we would have arrived faster, but I didn't think the Mora would accept two hundred refugees, so we had to take the mountains. Fortunately the roarons were faster than humans.”

With the Roarons on the scene, Yu had an excuse. The main reason for using the mountains was that he could not get the gold he had stolen in İlonya through customs, but thanks to the Roarons he now had a good excuse.

“I understand, that's why you are late. It's hard to travel with two hundred people in winter.”

“Yes.” Yu acknowledged Ana with a nod.

Still, they had succeeded, so he was not going to be nagging about how hard it was.

“How about we take a break from talking now? I want to unpack and take a breather, we've been on the road too long.”

“Let us help you.”

Maia wanted to escort them to their room. Clara and Neltia competed with each other to help Yu.