Just because Fresia had decided to stay with Smartass didn’t mean the others could simply say, “Well, have fun, you two!” and leave.

For one thing, her resolve remained unshakable. So they continued their discussion on the assumption that she would stay with him.

“Well, I’ll explain things to David and the others over there. Hmm, should I practice acting sad in advance?”

“Honored Ancestor, will we really be able to see Lady Fresia again if we ask... Quivery?”

“Yes, I’ll do what I can. But a gesture would be better than asking aloud. Someone might overhear.”

“What sort of gesture...?”

“When it’s time to pray, clap three times in front of the slime, then pray. You might do it when I’m not watching, so you should try in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.”

“Ah, understood!”

“U-um! Honored Ancestor! Is there anything you’d like me to tell Grandmother?”

“... Tell her I’m grateful she gave me an encouraging slap on the back when I left the Mage Tower.”

“Yes! Oh, and... when the Saintess meets with Saintess Fresia, could I speak with you too? I may be insignificant compared to you, but I’d like to talk about m-magic!”

“I don’t know much about magical devices. Would that be all right?”

“Of course!”

“Very well. Oh, and... I would prefer it if you called me Ventus rather than Honored Ancestor. I may be a lich, but being called an ancestor makes me feel terribly old.”

“Oh... yes! Lord Ventus!”

“Looks like you still worry about your age even after becoming a monster, Boss.”

“Apparently so.”

“Heh. Forever sixteen at heart, is he...?”

“Hehe, we’ll get to see Bouncy when we go to Chilture!”

As they talked, they decided to fabricate a story in which Saintess Fresia had lost her life along with the lich.

But simply saying the two had died together wouldn’t paint a very flattering picture, so they decided to stage one additional event.

A succession ceremony, so to speak.

Near the end of the battle, the lich regained his senses. By then, however, Saintess Fresia had already been gravely wounded.

Repenting his wrongdoing, the lich took his former companion Fresia into his arms. There, she entrusted the Church’s future to Amelia, the next Saintess. Then she confessed the feelings she had kept hidden from the Mage of a Thousand Spells, now a lich, and breathed her last.

The Mage of a Thousand Spells declared, “At the end, I shall follow you,” and vanished in flames along with the body of the departed Saintess.

That was the story they devised.

“... Fresia. Did you really have to include the c-confession at the end?”

“A secret love has its charms, but I want the world to know I’m in love with you.”

Was this what made late-blooming love so frightening?

Having confessed her love to Ventus, Fresia had become remarkably bold.

“I-in l-love. U-um... I-I see.”

“Pfft! Pffft! Look how embarrassed he is. Hahahaha!”

“Stop laughing, Nellin!”

“Oh, come on! What am I supposed to do when it’s this funny?”

Once they had settled on the story they would tell the Holy City, Smartass opened a Warp and transported everyone but Fresia to Saint’s Hill.

“Hey, I’ll call you as soon as we meet up with Bouncy, so come right away, got it?”

“If I enter the village myself, my aura will throw it into chaos. If you want to meet, head outside the village beforehand. Leave the slime behind.”

“Why’s that?”

“I have my reasons. Please understand.”

“Well, fine. Then... pfft, enjoy your cozy little time together.”

“Urgh!”

“Everyone, please take care on your journey.”

“Saintess Fresia, if you need anything, please tell us the next time we meet. Saintess Amelia and I will find a way to prepare it for you.”

“Thank you, Paladin Paulen. Oh, Gracie?”

“Yes? W-what is it?”

Before the party left, Fresia took Gracie’s hand for a final word.

“You must be very confused right now. But don’t worry. I’m certain you’ll find the right path. Ventus and I will help you.”

They had faced one shocking revelation after another, but Fresia thought Gracie had suffered the greatest shock of all. After all, the person she had regarded as her cherished teacher had turned out to be the culprit who killed her ancestor—and someone who wanted her to fail.

Tears welled in Gracie’s eyes at Fresia’s warm words.

“Saintess Fresia... thank you!”

The shock hadn’t completely faded. Frankly, she still felt lost about how she was supposed to carry on at the Mage Tower and couldn’t think clearly.

But knowing that her ancestor, a legendary hero, and Saintess Fresia would help her lifted a great weight from Gracie’s heart.

After the party left, Smartass truly was alone with Fresia.

‘W-what do I do now?’

Smartass had never been romantically involved with a woman, either in life or after becoming a lich. That didn’t mean he found women uncomfortable or became excessively embarrassed or shy around them.

If he had, he could never have traveled with Fresia and Nellin.

But!

Being alone with a woman who had openly declared her love for him was an entirely different matter.

What should he talk about?

No, before that...

‘I-I... haven’t even given her a proper answer yet, have I?!’

He had only said her confession made him happy. He hadn’t actually told her how he felt about her.

Of course, the mood had made it as good as an acceptance of her feelings. But as a mage, Smartass naturally felt compelled to define everything clearly, and to him, the situation was still all but unresolved.

What if he let things drift along like this, and Fresia was hurt because she never received an answer?

‘Th-that mustn’t happen!’

Fresia was someone precious to him, someone who had said she loved him so much that she would willingly become undead.

The thought that he couldn’t bear to make her sad weighed on Smartass.

While he wrestled with those worries...

‘I’ve done it... I really went and did it.’

Fresia was regaining her composure. She didn’t regret what she had done, but she was aware that she had been terribly bold.

‘I’m going to cause so much trouble for so many people.’

Even with Amelia there as the next Saintess, she knew how much her presence meant to the Holy City. Many people would surely grieve.

Because of her, Nellin, Amelia, Paulen, and the others would have to lie.

Even so, Fresia had no intention of taking back her decision.

‘Now I can stay by Ventus’s side with my feelings out in the open.’

She didn’t want any more regrets.

‘I want to talk with him more, so much more. I want to see him more. I want to stay... by his side longer.’

“Ventus.”

“Uh, wh-what is it, Fresia?”

Even the way he startled in his nervousness looked endearing to Fresia.

“Hehe, aren’t you trembling a little too much? You sounded so dashing when you fought us.”

“Th-that was... ahem. I hadn’t seen you all in so long, and I wanted to make a decent impression. Now...”

“Now?”

“I-I’m embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?”

“O-of course! I’m alone with a woman who... who’s in love with me. How could I not be embarrassed? And that woman is you, of all people, Fresia...”

It made her happy to hear that Ventus felt embarrassed around her. To think he felt that way about her, an old woman now.

It was funny, but it made her happy too.

“Hehe, I’m an old granny now, you know. You’re still embarrassed?”

Delighted by the reaction of the man she loved, she nevertheless let a little self-deprecation slip into her words.

“What are you talking about, Fresia? Didn’t I tell you that you’re still beautiful?”

“What? But that was...”

“I meant it. I think you’re beautiful just as you are now.”

“V-Ventus...”

“Besides, look at me. I’m nothing but a skeleton, aren’t I?”

Hearing the man she loved call her beautiful shook Fresia’s heart, which had remained calm through so many storms.

‘Yes. That side of you... is what I fell in love with.’

But that was one thing, and this was another.

A woman wanted to remain beautiful before the man she loved, and her wish to stay by his side forever hadn’t changed either.

And so...

“Hehe, you’re right. Then when do you intend to turn me into an undead?”

Fresia had also meant it when she said she wanted to become undead.

She still thought becoming a monster like him and remaining at his side forever was far better than living together for, at most, another twenty years. If the alternative was letting him watch her grow even older, she thought becoming a skeleton like him wouldn’t be so bad.

“That... I’m sorry, Fresia, but I can’t do it right away.”

“Why not?”

“The spell for becoming a lich needs further research. It certainly turns a human into an undead who retains their reason. But it’s designed specifically for mages. To turn you, a member of the clergy, safely into an undead, I need to... study it further.”

“Ah, I see. That’s a shame, but... I suppose I’ll have to wait.”

Nothing Smartass had said was untrue. The spell for becoming a lich had indeed been designed on the assumption that its user was a mage, so he needed to research it further before using it on Fresia, a cleric.

But there were other reasons too.

For one thing, he had used the spell only once, while he was alive. He needed to review its formula and refresh his memory.

And then there was this.

‘Once I turn Fresia into an undead, there’s no turning back. In that case... this is practically a marriage proposal!’

To Smartass, becoming undead together and spending their entire lives at each other’s side was as good as marriage.

So if he were going to turn Fresia into an undead, he thought he first needed to properly confess his own feelings.

‘I-I need something wonderful. A wonderful line! So I can live with Fresia from now on... Live? Ah!’

In the midst of his fretting, Smartass remembered something very important.

“Fresia! Are you hungry, by any chance?”

‘Hungry? No, not particularly. It’s still too early for a meal.’

“Then I’d better think of a solution quickly. I may not need food, but you do.”

“Oh my, you’re right. Ah, I do have some jerky.”

“I can’t have you eating something like jerky! Wait just a moment! I’ll find a solution right away!”

Smartass folded his arms and immediately began puzzling out how to provide Fresia with a meal.

‘Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him like this.’

He might have become a skeleton, but his gestures as he sought a solution were the same ones he had used whenever they ran into trouble on their travels.

Fresia watched him with a smile. Simply seeing the man she loved working so hard for her made her heart race, yet put her at ease as well.