But the interior that was revealed was very different from what they had expected of a principal's office.

  Inside was an enormous circular lecture hall, like a large university auditorium.

  Looking at the map, since it was built above the school stadium, its scale was unbelievably large.

  Moreover, with the numerous sacred relics displayed around the lecture hall's descending steps, this place seemed quite sacred in its own way.

  The children all started examining the sacred relics that clearly looked precious.

  As Rumi looked around at the sacred relics, there were masks, books, Y-shaped holy objects, and premium holy water bottles sealed behind glass walls.

  But there she saw a radio on display that looked exactly like Bertin's radio.

  "..."

  Seeing that reminded her of Bertin's belongings that were confiscated in bulk when Rumi and Niel first entered the town.

  They had taken even Bertin's glasses back then...

  Rumi wondered if those items might be displayed here and started frantically searching around the principal's office.

  But besides the radio, none of Bertin's belongings seemed to be visible.

  "Did you sleep well?"

  Just then Raoul smoothly appeared beside Rumi who was rushing around.

  Raoul's hair was somewhat disheveled.

  "Yeah... slept well. Raoul, why did you skip morning mass?"

  "Ah... overslept."

  "Really?"

  Rumi didn't think Raoul seemed like the type to oversleep, but looking at his current appearance, maybe he was.

  Just then the principal appeared wearing white priest's robes.

  "...!"

  The office instantly fell silent.

  And the students found their seats with careful awareness.

  "Mass ran a bit late so class is delayed.

  But since both the mass and first class are my class anyway, that's not so bad, right?"

  The first words of the first class were ominous.

  "This class is a special lecture I've specially prepared to convey basic knowledge about the Angsolarge Scripture.

  Though you've all grown up with the scripture, I judged there was a need to lecture on the basic doctrines of Angsolarge for the first time this year, because surprisingly, especially last year's students were all idiots."

  "Before we begin, would someone here like to explain what the Angsolarge doctrine is?"

  The office froze at the sudden question.

  And at that moment, every student in the office instinctively knew they would experience a class close to death if they didn't answer or gave wrong answers.

  In that situation, Rumi tried to think up an answer, but she knew nothing about the Angsolarge church's doctrine.

  At best, she only had fragments of information that couldn't be explained in one sentence.

  "Are you saying no one here knows about the core doctrine of the Angsolarge Church?"

  Silence fell and the children started looking at each other nervously.

  "My! Perhaps this year's students might be even bigger fools than last year's.

  At least last year's students tried to answer... Ah, how unfortunate, in this case I'll have to double the lecture period..."

  'Someone please answer!'

  Rumi screamed internally.

  Raoul or even Eve would be fine, please someone!!

  Just then a student raised their hand.

  The person who raised their hand was none other than Medina sitting in front of Rumi.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "..."

  All the children in the office tensed.

  "The core doctrine of the Angsolarge Church is to deny death and affirm life, freedom, and joy in commemoration of the God of Life Angelica's teachings and sacrifice."

  Medina answered very clearly and precisely.

  Even to Rumi who knew nothing, it sounded like a perfect answer.

  "W...wow!"

  Some students clapped in admiration.

  "... ..."

  Principal Pierre showed a surprisingly taken aback expression. This was the first time seeing such a look.

  "That's... correct... Fortunately, it seems we got some proper students this year."

  The principal reluctantly acknowledged while lifting his head.

  Rumi thought she could see a cunning victory smile on the back of Medina's head.

  Perhaps because she had been marked by the principal more than anyone, she made a final struggle and it was successful.

  It was truly a win for humanity

  But at that moment Rumi witnessed a strange scene.

  In Medina's hand was a paper densely covered in writing,

  And between her legs was an open bag with a doll visible inside.

  "...?"

  "Ahem... still, since I'm giving the lecture, I should explain in more detail.

  First, the scripture is divided into Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 deals with a story from very long ago, while Part 2 covers events from about 2000 years ago.

  The Part 1 doctrine is this: 'Life is more important than anything, and that importance comes from joy.'

  The Part 2 doctrine is: 'The temptation of death is too sweet, and that sweetness comes from nothingness.'"

  "I will conduct this special lecture over one month, with two weeks each for Parts 1 and 2.

  So today's class will look at the outline of Part 1's content, and from tomorrow we'll examine the detailed flow of the story while reading the scripture directly."

  When the principal pressed some button, blackout curtains descended over the bright office windows and the room instantly darkened.

  And a screen came down projecting illustrations drawn on cellophane.

  Soon images worthy of a fairy tale appeared on the screen, with the first picture showing a faint face against a dark background.

  "In the beginning, there was the God of Death.

  In the world ruled by the God of Death, everyone was subjugated to death without freedom. But because of that, everyone was happy.

  One day, the God of Life appeared and created life.

  The God of Life created all living things and humans. And taught humans songs and dances.

  Humans danced joyfully to the god's songs.

  Among the dancing humans, the God of Life had six special disciples and gave each of them a name.

  White, Black, Red, Blue, Green, Purple.

  The God of Life taught humans new joys through the six disciples, and everyone seemed happy.

  But this world where humans lived was still ruled by the God of Death, and being alive could not be tolerated.

  So when dark night came, humans had to pretend to be dead.

  At first, humans were grateful to the God of Life and enjoyed being alive even while pretending to be dead,

  But over time, they began to feel the pain of living pretending to be dead.

  No, they began to feel pain from being alive at all.

  Humans would drown, fight each other, feel pain from illness, and sometimes be lonely by themselves.

  They began feeling pain they wouldn't have felt if they were dead.

  Moreover, humans tired of pretending to be dead every night began yearning to end their endless life instead.

  And the living humans wanted the six disciples to represent them in expressing their complaints.

  Why give us life in a world ruled by the God of Death, they said, let us return to death.

  Five disciples earnestly pleaded with the God of Life. They could no longer feel joy in being alive, they could no longer feel freedom in living.

  To this, the God of Life answered with song and dance.

  And humans who could not understand such a God of Life and began resenting the god who had breathed life into them.

  More time passed, and humans began to hate the God of Life.

  Then one day, five of the God of Life's disciples found a way to kill the God of Life and themselves.

  It was to keep dancing thorugh the night until the God of Death awakened.

  On one fateful day, the five disciples continued their dance that started in daytime into the night, revealing the existence of life to the God of Death.

  The God of Death was enraged at the existence of life and questioned the humans.

  Then five of the six disciples placed all blame on the God of Life.

  They betrayed the god who had freed them from death and taught them the songs and dances of life.

  Thus the God of Life was betrayed by the humans they had created and received the curse of eternal life.

  Yet because the God of Life loved the life she had created, she accepted all blame and willingly took the curse alone.

  And so the God of Life sacrificed herself to return death to humans while receiving endless terrible suffering, unable to die eternally.

  But the God of Death's judgment did not end there.

  The God of Death punished the betraying humans too, making them receive curses during their briefly living time, experience imperfect life, and ultimately return to death.

  And all six of the god's disciples received extreme curses, being reborn as witches and warlocks.

  In the end, we are all humans who betrayed god, and because of this the God of Life still suffers alone in the land of death.

  Therefore we must always be grateful to the God of Life and live our given lives joyfully."

  "..."

  Rumi learned for the first time that such a story existed at the beginning of the scripture.

  Rumi now somewhat understood why the God of Life Angelica was the god of the Angsolarge Church.

  A god who created life was betrayed by their own creations and suffers eternally.

  In the end, a god who saved humans...

  Rumi thought something seemed strange for a moment.

  It was because humans in this world seemed to suffer quite badly from heavy curses too.

  They seemed to be under even worse curses than what the God of Life received...

  "Now we must examine what joy meant according to the God of Life. In fact, the joy spoken of by the God of Life can be seen as very different from the word joy."

  The principal continued the class by explaining in detail what he had just talked about.

  After the first class ended, all the children looked dazed as if drained.

  Not only was the class long, but there was a lot of homework too, painting a picture of hard times ahead.

  But personally, Rumi found the class interesting.

  It was because the principal explained about history rather than stating his opinions, so it felt like listening to an old fable.

  As Rumi was sprawled out waiting for the next class, the principal suddenly approached her direction.

  "...?"

  Actually, the principal hadn't come for Rumi but for Medina sitting in front of her.

  "Miss Medina? Good answer today. I'm pleased we got a smart student after so long. Would you like to have tea together? I have something to show you."

  "Ah... yes..."

  Medina nodded while forcing a smile.

  She seemed unsure whether to be happy or disgusted.

  Medina entered the principal's private office inside the main office.