Early in the morning, Rumi was enjoying a peaceful sleep for the first time in a while.

  But a strange sound interrupted her sweet slumber.

  'Snip'

  "Mmm...?"

  "Rumi, wake up."

  "Ugh... what, who is it?"

  When Rumi opened her eyes, Raoul's face came into focus.

  And Rumi gave a slight smile.

  "Oh, Raoul?"

  "Rumi, give me your arm."

  Rumi held out her right arm in a dazed state.

  But there was a hair annoyingly fallen on her arm.

  Rumi shook her arm to brush the hair off under the bed.

  "Not that arm, the hurt one."

  Raoul took Rumi's left arm and rolled up the sleeve to reveal the bruised area.

  Then he sprayed some unknown liquid from a small glass bottle onto his hand and started rubbing Rumi's entire bruised arm.

  "Ugh... it's cold."

  "Medicine works best when it's cold. I made it myself, so apply it morning and evening every day."

  Rumi sniffed the fragrant herbal scent rising from the medicine. It felt somewhat similar to green tea.

  Raoul kept his hand on Rumi's bruised area and began to pray.

  "Now new flesh shall grow and new blood shall flow, pain shall vanish and death shall grow distant."

  Rumi maintained a strange smile and stayed tense while Raoul prayed.

  "Ugh it tickles... heh."

  "Raoul, what did you make this medicine from? It smells nice?"

  "Ah... I crushed thirtyfoot caterpillars that are good for bruises, then ground up dried fragrant jellyfish leaves."

  "What? This is caterpillar juice?"

  "Mm-hmm... really cute caterpillars."

  "Ugh... right. Thanks...

  But what's going on so early? What time is it?"

  Rumi looked around to see a faint blue light enveloping the room before sunrise.

  And checking the clock, it wasn't even 5 AM yet.

  "We have somewhere to go now."

  Looking at him properly now, Raoul was already dressed in his uniform with his bag packed, ready to go somewhere.

  "Where? What's this about?"

  "We're going to learn spirit summoning rituals."

  Raoul said mysteriously.

  Rumi immediately grasped what was going on.

  Raoul had been busy preparing to secretly learn proper spirit summoning rituals.

  "I packed all the supplies so just come out. Malcolm's waiting in the corridor too."

  "Huh? Why him?"

  "We're all going to learn together."

  Rumi felt slightly disappointed.

  "Then, we should bring Niel too?"

  "Yeah."

  Rumi quickly went down to the bottom bunk and shook the restrained Niel to wake her.

  "Niel, wake up."

  "Niel!"

  No matter how much she shook her, Niel wouldn't wake up.

  Could she have drunk the sleeping pills holy water again?

  "..."

  This meant Niel couldn't come.

  Malcolm would be so disappointed, hehehe...

  As Rumi was about to leave Niel behind, she spotted Eve sleeping soundly in the next bed.

  At that moment, Rumi had an interesting idea.

  Rumi ran to Eve and shook her shoulder like something urgent had happened.

  "Eve! Eve! Wake up!"

  "Huh...?"

  "We have somewhere to go. It's urgent!"

  "Wh... what is it?"

  Rumi just grabbed Eve's arm and pulled her out of bed.

  Eve was dragged out to the dorm corridor still dazed from being woken up.

  "What... what is it? What's going on? Don't... don't tell me Medina is here to kill us."

  "Uh... no! We have to go learn something really important."

  Eve came face to face with Raoul and Malcolm waiting in the corridor.

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  Malcolm was wearing his sacred sword at his waist as always.

  "What's this? Where is Niel?"

  Malcolm asked with a frown.

  "She stupidly drank the sleeping pills again. She won't wake up no matter what. So I brought Eve instead, that's okay right?"

  "..."

  Malcolm indeed wore a disappointed expression.

  "No it’s not okay... where are you all going?"

  Eve asked looking at Malcolm and Raoul.

  "Um... well..."

  "Just come along, no questions. It'll be good for you too."

  Rumi cut off Raoul's answer and just pulled Eve along.

  Finally unable to take it anymore, Eve shook off Rumi.

  "Rumi, please act normal for once! Sigh... if you want to take me somewhere, you should at least explain what's going on."

  Eve sighed as if fed up with Rumi.

  "... ..."

  But surprisingly, she didn't seem to be returning to the dorm room right away.

  "Eve, you can come too if you want. Learning this won't hurt you either."

  Just then Raoul answered as he and Malcolm started moving toward the main entrance.

  "You heard him, it'll be good for you."

  Rumi gestured for Eve to follow as she moved.

  "..."

  Eve finally seemed somewhat reassured seeing Rumi was in pajamas too, and she started to fixed her messy hair.

  Then she followed Rumi barefoot.

  Raoul and Malcolm leading the way started climbing the stairs to the second floor.

  And they came to an empty space on the right of the second floor stairs that they had never come before... or rather, had no reason to be.

  The cathedral entrance was right below this spot, so this second floor area with no entrance had nothing particular.

  There was just one painting hanging on one wall showing strange galaxy lights against a black background.

  "Don't tell me we're learning the ritual here?"

  Rumi said with an unbelieving face.

  Eve was also looking around suspiciously.

  "No, look carefully."

  Raoul stepped up beside the painting and pushed the frame slightly sideways. With a click, the large picture frame slid sideways.

  And behind it appeared a dark passage.

  "This way."

  Rumi and Eve watched this with surprised eyes.

  "What? How is there a space like this here?"

  Eve spoke looking at Rumi's naked expression.

  "You have no idea where we're going either, right?"

  "Yes, I know. I was just pretending to be surprised."

  "Well then, follow me inside."

  Raoul and Malcolm entered the dark passage first.

  When Rumi passed through the passage next, she saw very narrow stone stairs right beside her.

  "Hey..."

  Meanwhile, Eve had stopped at the passage entrance, unable to enter.

  "Hurry up and come in, there are no ghosts."

  "What? Ghosts...?"

  Eve wore a worried expression as if scared again already.

  "It's okay, Eve. You won’t see them right now."

  Raoul called from up the stairs.

  "Ah, just come on."

  Finally getting impatient, Rumi grabbed Eve's hand and pulled her up the stairs.

  "Ah, wait!"

  The stone stairs spiraled up continuously and with no windows.

  After climbing for a while, they reached the top of the stairs where another door appeared.

  Raoul silently opened the door. Beyond was a narrow long corridor with dawn light leaking in through a small window at the end.

  Rumi hadn't imagined such a place existed in the school.

  It was like a hidden corridor in some medieval castle.

  While Rumi walked excitedly, Eve walked pressed close to Rumi in fear.

  "Uuuugh!"

  Suddenly a strange sound came from around the corner.

  The group all stopped walking and watched to see what that sound was.

  A white silhouette flickered slightly visible from behind the corner.

  "What... what is that...?"

  At that point Eve completely clung to Rumi's body.

  Raoul and Malcolm, who were close to the corner, checked behind it and suddenly bowed.

  "Ah, hello Senior Mummy."

  Rumi approached the corner curiously, wondering why Senior Mummy would appear here.

  Just then Eve quietly pulled on Rumi's arm.

  Rumi exchanged a wordless look with Eve, and Eve seemed to catch what’s going on here, silently gripping Rumi's arm as she followed.

  Looking around the corner, Senior Mummy really was standing there completely wrapped in bandages, as if trying to scare the students.

  "...?"

  Rumi had no idea why Senior Mummy was here at this hour.

  Whatever the case, Rumi remembered the rule not to treat Senior Mummy as a ghost.

  So Rumi passed by Senior Mummy giving a disgusted look like she would to a real senior.

  Eve just nodded in greeting while clinging to Rumi's back.

  Senior Mummy silently watched Rumi and Eve pass by.

  The two climbed the narrow corridor, turned corners, and climbed another short staircase.

  Only then did Rumi speak to Eve.

  "Eve, you're actually pretty quick-witted."

  "Yeah, I tend to be like that..."

  Eve answered while carefully letting go of Rumi's arm.

  At the top of the stairs appeared a high wall with a ladder attached to it.

  A very tall ladder.

  "Now we just need to climb this ladder to reach our destination."

  Raoul said, waiting for Rumi and Eve in front of the ladder.

  "Ugh... this ladder is too high. Where exactly are we climbing to?"

  Rumi carefully started climbing the ladder following Raoul and Malcolm who went first.

  After climbing about halfway, her hands and feet started trembling.

  Light poured through a small hole at the top of the ladder above, while below, Eve who seemed to have no fear of heights was following up really well.

  Rumi climbed for quite a while more to reach the top. There, Raoul who had arrived first held out his hand.

  Taking Raoul's help to climb up into the space above the ladder, the first thing she felt was strong wind blowing.

  Rumi looked around with anticipation about what kind of place this was, and discovered an unexpectedly amazing view spread out before her.

  Beyond the railing to the left, the entire town was visible with the sun rising. And in front, the cathedral roof was visible far below.

  The most noticeable thing in this space was the huge bell above.

  Yes, this was the rooftop of the cathedral bell tower.

  While helping Eve who just finished climbing up, Rumi looked down the ladder hole in the floor and realized it was high enough that falling would mean instant death.

  "Hah..."

  After Eve climbed up too, she looked around with a surprised look.

  And just then the sunrise began, creating a magnificent view.

  "..."

  Eve was entranced staring at the scenery, lost in the sunrise.

  Just then, Rumi noticed someone was beyond the bell while taking in the unexpected view.

  A person in a black nun's habit was kneeling in prayer.

  Raoul and Malcolm were already standing as if waiting for the nun.

  Seeing her pray so peacefully in such a high place, she didn't seem like a normal person.

  Moreover, seeing various items neatly arranged at her prayer spot, she seemed like someone who came here to pray often.

  "Hey Eve, look over there."

  Rumi called Eve who was still entranced by the scenery and pointed at the nun.

  Eve flinched when she spotted the nun.

  The nun must have heard Rumi too, as she slowly stood and turned around.

  But they still couldn't see her face.

  The habit had a veil attached.

  Moreover, the nun was barefoot, and her habit looked more like a flowing split skirt than a nun's habit.

  "So you really came."

  Her voice was slow and gentle.

  This was a voice Rumi had heard somewhere before.

  When the nun removed her face veil, pure white face and hair were revealed.

  That was unmistakably Senior Sariya.

  To think the person who would teach them spirit summoning rituals was none other than Senior Sariya.

  This explained why Raoul had met Senior Sariya in the gymnasium.

  "Hello, senior... is your leg okay?"

  "...Meeting again today, Rumi."

  Beside her, Eve seemed to recognize that the nun was Senior Sariya whom she had seen in the cafeteria on the first day.

  The senior approached with a gentle smile on her lips.

  "So you all wanted to learn such dangerous spirit summoning rituals that badly?"

  "Yes, sister. Let's start as soon as possible."

  Raoul answered.

  "I wonder what kind of spirit you're in such a hurry to summon... Remember don't use what I teach you dangerously."

  "Of course not."

  Raoul lied rather shamelessly.

  "Then before we start, let me ask one question. Do you know how the God of Life first breathed life in her creation?"

  Rumi had no idea what the answer was.

  And though the others seemed to know the answer, they weren't saying anything either.

  "The God of Life was a singer and dancer. She danced to the songs she composed herself so beautifully that even dead things couldn't help but dance along."

  Senior Sariya paused speaking and suddenly started dancing, her flowing clothes swirling.

  "That means dance and song are the beginning of all sacred things."

  Senior Sariya began singing along as she danced.

  The dance lasted about 2 minutes and the kids watched it entranced.

  Rumi was honestly somewhat amazed. She couldn't help but find it beautiful, seeing the dance flow like water to such pleasant music.

  And beyond the sacred aspect, Senior Sariya looked joyful.

  But one slightly strange thing was that the bite wound from yesterday wasn't visible on those white legs.

  Given how it looked when bitten yesterday, it didn't seem like a wound that would disappear overnight...

  Rumi glanced at Eve beside her and that sight was quite shocking too.

  Eve's face showed she was clearly smitten.