Spoiler Money makes the (Other) World Go Round: The Corporate S*ave Dragged into the Saint Summoning

Money makes the (Other) World Go Round: The Corporate S*ave Dragged into the Saint Summoning

Raws

https://novel18.syosetu.com/n4862eq/

Novel and Manga

https://www.novelupdates.com/series...orate-slave-dragged-into-the-saint-summoning/

https://mangadex.org/title/50992/the-affairs-of-the-other-world-depend-on-the-corporate-slave

Spoilers pls and thx in advance!

@lazynoodles

 

Spoiler Table of Contents

Book 1​

• Book 1 by @Souply
• Book 1 by @RAGA

Book 2​

• Book 2 summary + prologue-c25 by @RAGA
• Book 2 c26-epilogue + bonus by @RAGA

Book 3​

• Book 3 summary by @RAGA
• Book 3 prologue-c17 by @RAGA
• Book 3 c18-35 by @RAGA
• Book 3 c36-epilogue by @RAGA

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Yes, spoilers please!

 

Still waiting TT

 

so i'll just say this, google translate can only do so much
someone already gave a summary of what happened in the review and i'll try and continue from there
https://www.novelupdates.com/series...orate-slave-dragged-into-the-saint-summoning/
FantasyCreatures4You 's review

Spoiler: from what i remember 1

some food has mana so Alec has to supervise what Seiichiro eats, so they are seen in the cafeteria together. alec makes sure Seiichiro eats. Yua wanted to eat with Alec and her food is made like royalty so she doesn't eat with many people, alec declines because Seiichiro monitoring. Yua decides to eat in the cafeteria and spots Alec with Seiichiro.
a guy from Seiichiro 's accounting department asks Yua about her and Seiichiro's world, and exictedly talked about what Seiichiro told him however Yua points out that his info is wrong.
only for Seiichiro to say that he did lie to him, only because he was pestering him so he said whatever just to appease him. Seiichiro did however truthfully tell him about the length of skirt and swimsuits (i think the 2 piece ones).
also the saint is treated like or even greater than royalty, even being able to interrupt the king and speak without permission. she also constantly has guards. so the guards saw how casually Seiichiro talks to her and they don't like how the saint's tagalong (google translate says: alien) has gotten a big head.
so a knight that was angry about Seiichiro's budget meddling and the saint's guards, beat Seiichiro up. Seiichiro is found by the guy (very influential) who gave Seiichiro his higher than normal position in the accounting department. Seiichiro can't handle mana so they can't heal him normally with healing magic so another way had to be used and ?it could only be done by the highest ranking doctor? (i think)
Seiichiro is fine and could clearly identify his attackers, they try to deny it by saying the person that found Seiichiro, must be wrong however the guy (the very influential one) walks in like "lol so i'm wrong, huh?" and they immediately back down, because this guy is very scary. the attackers get a significant cut to their pay however they will not be fired because being a knight is difficult to even get and they need all the man power for the subjugation expedition

*breaths*
*cracks knuckles* let's go

Spoiler: from what i remember 2

so there is a party (banquet) for the saint (Seiichiro finds this to be a waste of money) and Seiichiro also has to attend (can't remember why) so maids have to fix him up and even have to hid his ever present bags. during the party, after the speeches from the king and prince, the prince patronizes Seiichiro that a weak girl is going to a dangerous place while Seiichiro is just staying back being safe. so Seiichiro says that he will go too.
i'd also like to point out that there is actually no reason why Seiichiro should go since he can't actually contribute anything. also only Alec and the doctor know that Seiichiro is vulnerable to mana so the expedition can kill him if he's not careful.
for the expedition Alec and Seiichiro, ride on the same horse. during the trip Seiichiro reviews some papers. can't remember what prompted this interaction but Yua wants to talk to Seiichiro about something, something pertaining to her safety and during this conversation Seiichiro tells her that he had almost already died twice.
moving on, Yua purifies a bit of miasma but she still green then Seiichiro asks for the mages that accompanied them to use a barrier spell, the prince says that they can't use the barrier to protect the whole kingdom however Seiichiro tells the mages to make the barrier around the source of the miasma, which did actually contain it. Seiichiro calls this plan for them to "wipe their own asses for once", basically "handle your own issues by yourself"

Spoiler: from what i remember 3

Seiichiro talks before the king and lays out the whole strategy. summoning and looking after the saint requires a lot of money, so Seiichiro suggested that mages will be maintaining a barrier around the source of the miasma and the cost to do so is significantly less than summoning a saint and which the observation of the current barrier that is holding the miasma, there is no issue in doing this.
the other nobles start spouting shit about how the saint is sacred and who is this nobody to have a say in the matter, a lot of shit was flying basically treating the girl like an object
also the country that summons the saint, basically has a trump card and have a level of prestige above all others.
Yua objects and says she wants to go back home [makes sense right] and the nobles are shocked that she's even ask that because she is basically the most taken care of person in the country but Yua doesn't want that. after she's done purifying the miasma, she'll have nothing to do and will just be a glorified trophy.
Seiichiro points out that the magic department has being studying the whole summoning process and how to send someone back, the king isn't into it until Seiichiro lays out how beneficial it will be because the magic department will be allocated more funding and so they can make greater strides which will in turn boost their magic tool innovation and put them above the other countries in advancement

this is all i remember and google translate did its best. if i am incorrect about something, pls correct me.

 

Thank you for the spoilers~!

Do you also happen to remember the sweet/smexy scenes between our MC and ML?

 

i only remember one time, this was after the barrier thing as google translate said: Ales' hand begins to invade into his underwear from below. Seiichiro's desperate proposal was crushed by the sudden sound of the door opening and the bright voice of the ist (i have no idea what the fuck that is)
i choked, that why i remember it

 

Thank u for the spoiler~!

 

Just finished mtling this and spoilers be here!

I'll divide this into 2 parts. The 1st part will be chapters 1-13, which have already been translated by Watashi wa Sugoi Desu and links are in NU. I highly recommend reading their translations instead of this (I used their naming sense for as many of the characters I could). I really only did these chapters bc they contained important info you'd need to know to understand the latter part of the series.

The 2nd part will be my interpretations of mtling chapters 14-36 and are most likely going to contain mistakes. So, pardon those in advance. And of course, support the author if possible! This turned out to be super long... I don't know Japanese, so I'm sure I missed some things. But please let me know if it was too much. This was a really great read so I hope this gets fully translated.

This has a sequel, 異世界の沙汰は社畜次第２　～教会運営支援計画～, which I think translates to something like, The Affairs of Another World Depends on the Corporate Slave 2: Church Administration Assistance Scheme. I haven't mtled though and idk if I'll do spoilers for that one yet when I've yet to read it. We'll see, but no promises. Anyhoo, happy holidays, all!

Spoiler: Spoilers for ch1-13

MC gets caught in someone else's summoning
MC, Kondou Seiichirou (I'll call him Sei), is a 29, almost 30yo, coporate slave (slang for salaryman who is a workaholic to the point of unhealthy obsession--important defining trait for our MC) who leaves work one day and hears cries for help. He sees a high school girl (16yo Shiraishi Yua) being pulled into a portal. He goes to pull her out but manages to get sucked in with her and they land in another world (the typical European/fantasy medieval magic kind). They're greeted by a crowd of people (clergy, knights, mages, royals, palace staff, etc.), most of whom rejoice for summoning a saint and whisk Yua away, leaving Sei behind. Finally, someone notices that there was a tagalong and takes Sei to get him sorted out.

They explained to Sei that they routinely summon a saint in order to purify the miasma in the magic forest every 100 years. But they didn't expect to get another person in the mix this time and tell him that all of his needs will be accommodated for by orders of the prime minister (Kamil Calvada) because they couldn't return him home. They ask him what he wants/needs and he, tired and a bit befuddled over his situation, blurts out a demand that they give him a job and states that he specializes in accounting (this workaholic ). So, they give him a position in the palace's accounting department, along with a uniform and dorm room, and introduce him to his boss (Helmuth).

MC gets a job
Helmuth takes him to his dorm, where Sei meets a future co-worker (Norbert). Norbert is the very enthusiastic puppy-type and gets really familiar with Sei (giving him the nickname, Sei at first meeting) and promises Sei that he'll show him around the next day. Because Sei wasn't sure how the world worked, he had asked Helmuth to give him books on the concept of math in the world to familiarize himself with it (he finds out that he's able to read the language for some unexplained reason and that everyone can understand his writing in Japanese too--Sei surmises it might be an apology gift from god for being pulled into this mess). Sei also has doubts about the whole saint thing because he doesn't agree with the whole kidnapping and taking advantage of minors business of it and is worried over Yua. But because Sei is also a stranger in a strange land, he wants to firmly situate himself first before getting involved in her business.

Next day, Sei arrives early to meet with Norbert but runs into the ML (Captain of the 3rd Knight Order, Aresh Indrak ). Sei recognizes him as a face in the crowd of people who summoned the saint. Aresh starts interrogating Sei about why he's in this location and why he's working in the palace but gets interrupted by the arrival of Norbert, who freaks out seeing Aresh, and Aresh immediately leaves.

Norbert thinks Aresh approached Sei because he's concerned about Sei being an other worlder and explains a bit about the knight's order (1st Order-basically police and royal guards; 2nd-protects royal family and vips; 3rd-also magic users and nobles and fights monsters in the magic forest). Norbert explains that not only is Aresh an accomplished noble, but he's basically OP (genius, super handsome, strong physically and magically, etc.). We also get a tidbit about Norbert being a noble.

Sei then gets introduced into working in the accounting section, which turns out to be super laid-back though there's only 5 people (it's also an 8hr/dy job, including 2hr lunch break with free food from the palace's cafeteria, so really just 6hrs [Where can I find a job like this!? ], and everyone is already ready to leave by the time the workday ends and barely do any actual work during Sei's first day--definitely different from Sei's usually high-stressed work mentality). Sei arrived just in time for the holidays, so he was paid (750K yen/$8K [seriously, I want this job]) and was sent out.

Norbert takes Sei out to the marketplace and Sei gets essential office supplies for himself and finds a kid/street vendor to commission on abacus from (the kid was selling a toy he made that looked similar to one). Sei's other reason for going to the market was to get a feel of how prices fared and how the economy was like.

After the holidays, Sei arrives much earlier than everyone else and tidies up and organizes the workplace. By and by, we learn that Sei has an air of "constantly tired" about him, with dark circles under his eyes, aches and pains, and all, and that he has a really poor appetite. He's unable to stomach much of the food and tends to only eat veggies. This will be an important point later on. Anyhoo, Norbert remarks about Sei looking so tired and gives him a magic supplement/potion. But their talk is interrupted because Sei is being called to meet the saint.

MC meets with the saint properly for the first time
Sei meets with Yua, who is living with and being taken care of by the royal family. Along with the 2nd Order knights, who guard the royals and saint, Aresh is also there. And we meet the 20yo first prince, Julius , the spoiled, arrogant, elitist type, who is totally "in-lurv" with Yua. But Yua obviously has a thing for Aresh . Sei and Yua get formally introduced to each other and start talking about the saint thing when the prince is called away. Aresh is still there, so Sei starts whispering to Yua.

Sei asks her to seriously consider her situation because it seems like she hasn't. He reminds her that she was kidnapped against her will and being taken advantage of in order to embark on a dangerous mission that neither of them really have any idea about. He tells her to become more aware of her surroundings and then act instead of just listening to everything they tell her to do. Sei warns her against easily trusting the people in the palace who have no reason to be interested in her beyond her being the saint. And he tells her to question the whole idea of them needing a saint in the first place because the notion of putting the country's safety into the hands of an unknown/other world minor seem hella suspish/ridiculous.

But Yua gets upset and emotional instead and proclaims that they told her she's the only one who can save them and accuses Sei of wanting her to abandon these people who need her help and then she runs away (le sigh~ ). Sei leaves also, not knowing what else to do and is kicked out by the 2nd Order knights. He goes back to the dorms and takes the magic potion and goes to sleep.

MC learns the truth about the accounting department
Next day, Sei wakes up and realizes he feels GREAT! And gets Norbert to tell him how to get more of this potion, which Norbert points him to the pharmacy to get. Sei and Norbert run into Aresh and his vice-captain (Orzif Rowder), who insults Sei, calling him the Saint's extra and disparaging his look, and turns his nose at their profession, calling it the "Laundering Department" (we're also told that Sei actually has a more attractive face than Norbert, whom Sei calls a playboy, but Sei's looks are marred by his overall tiredness and general non-maintenance of his well-being--seriously, Sei; how wasteful~). The "laundering" term raises red flags for Sei. Norbert and Sei leave but before they do, Aresh gives Sei the heads-up that Kamil has his eyes on Sei.

With Sei's new abacus and magic potions, he's able to work at incredible speeds and is allocated more and more work. That's when he notices discrepancies in the budget requests by various departments, especially of those related to the Knights Order. A lot of requests are vague or ludicrous and demand suspiciously high but even costs. When he asks Helmuth for an explanation, Helmuth responds that these requests are normal and admits that he stamps his approval for every request that comes through because that's what he's told to do.

Sei can't believe how naive Helmuth turned out to be and realizes then that the accounting department is actually a puppet department and doesn't do any real accounting but rather exists as a means for aristocrats to abuse their power over the country's taxes. He remembers the "laundering" comment made by the vice captain and demands to see the entirety of the budget allocation reports from the last year in a fit of anger. He notices that the kingdom is toeing the red and takes it upon himself to overhaul the entire operations of the accounting department. He tells Helmuth that from now on, he'll be rejecting every single request that doesn't pass his guidelines and that he'll note the reasons why if anyone should ask.

MC changes the accounting department and gets a promotion
This... does not go over well with the other departments, especially the 3rd Knights Order. Orzif complains about it to Aresh, but Aresh is largely indifferent, as he has no real passion for his job in the first place so most of the knights' management goes to Orzif. They're interrupted by Yua, who comes to greet them but Orzif, while thinking she's cute, observes that she is still lacking in proper manners for interacting with nobles. They're joined by Prime Minister Kamil and talk about how her studies are going. She remarks that she's still learning and remarks on how kind and handsome all the guys around her are (both Orzif and Aresh are left wondering if she's all right in the head by calling Kamil kind when his smile doesn't even reach his eyes). The conversation turns to Orzif asking if men in her world were like Sei. She refutes saying that Sei is a prime example of a corporate slave and proceeds to describe what that is, which sparks the first signs of interests over their conversation in Kamil.

But back to the fallout of Sei refusing requests. In order to deter the blame and quiet any rebellion for his actions, Sei revealed to everyone the reports of expenditures from the last 20yrs of every department and included detailed evaluations of stats and predictions of the kingdom's economy based on those reports. This shuts most of the departments up. Of course, there were still some complaints. But because Sei refuses to allow Helmuth to handle these matters, Sei decides to deal with them himself. He even rearranges the schedule so that the department would be out to lunch when other departments are on their breaks and Sei'd eat lunch in the office.

Sei is confronted by knights from the 3rd Order whom he's rejected and they demand to speak to Helmuth instead of a lowly, no-rank worker. Sei responds that he's the only one available and if any requests were to go through, the budget would be allocated from their boarding expenses (meaning: they'll receive crappier food and it'll be their own fault). They try to argue that Sei doesn't have the authority but are interrupted by Kamil coming in and promoting Sei to assistant director (he was impressed by Sei's evaluations), giving him that authority. Sei doesn't want it but can't refuse either.

MC getting sick and being taken care of by ML
Next day, Sei realizes he's run out of magic potions, so goes to get more on his break. After buying in bulk, he takes one and collapses on the street. Meanwhile, Aresh is also on his way to the pharmacy and spots Sei on the street. He diagnoses that Sei is having addiction symptoms from overdosing on potions and uses rare healing magic on him (it's also why he's around Yua so often; he's being forced to teach her about healing magic). However, that causes Sei to have an adverse reaction, which Aresh notices is the same as what only newborns get when they're not used to magic and are over-exposed. The only treatment is for a magic user to use the same magic to force the other person to become more accustomed to the magic via touch. Usually, because it's such common knowledge, babies are acclimated slowly, with gentle carcasses, but as Sei is an adult and exposed to a great quantity of rare magic, drastic measures are needed (hahaha , sure, okay, whatever you say ).

Aresh takes Sei to an inn and explains to him what needs to happen. After getting his consent (hurrah, consent ), an R15 scene commences (yep, not as raunchy as it could've been ). Sei wakes up later and Aresh is still there, but before he could say anything, Sei asks to know what time it is and freaks upon finding that he's going to be late for work. He hurries to put on his clothes and rushes off with a quick thanks and apology, leaving behind a flummoxed Aresh (poor guy).

ML takes charge over MC's health
Sei comes into work, wishing for a donut pillow and marveling at magic again (he's also feeling a lot better). Aresh also goes into his tutoring session with Yua later, not as chipper, and contemplates the conundrum that is Kondou Seiichirou. He decides for the tsundere route of planning to accidently-on-purpose bump into him during lunch break and check up on him and ignores Yua's attempt to ask him out to lunch to rush over to the royal cafeteria. Of course, he doesn't find Sei and is told that Sei brought lunch to eat in his office. Aresh, getting more frustrated, knows Sei wouldn't have had time to make lunch to eat, marches to Sei office and drags him out to see the healers.

Aresh bypasses everyone and takes Sei straight to the head healer (Cielo Querbes) and forces him to get a full check-up when he learns that Sei never got one before. And after, he proceeds to get mad at everyone for leaving Sei alone when he's told that Sei has no immunity to mana whatsoever and the very air is slowly killing him (the air has small amounts of mana). It's also why Sei can't eat the food bc most meat has high concentration of mana (Sei has chalked it up to his general poor health and never noticed that the food, itself, was the problem). Both Aresh and Cielo are shocked with how Sei can barely function outside work. Cielo then states that Sei can develop an immunity over time by keeping track of his diet and exposure to magic and mana and that he's not allowed to take those potions either, much to Sei's dismay. Aresh decides to take charge of all that because Sei is so bad at taking care of himself (mostly, he scolds lectures Sei and eats lunch with him to tell Sei what's okay for him to eat and making sure he actually goes home and sleep instead of working overtime while he's recovering).

Spoiler: Spoilers for chapters 14+

MC and ML get to know each other
Unfortunately, despite the R-rated scenes, both Sei and Aresh treat these acts as a thing of necessity and there's not any lovey-doveyness from either side yet. Aresh is more perplex by Sei and aggravated by his inability to take care of his health and Sei treats Aresh as a superior (but does admire his looks and likes his voice).

Aresh takes Sei out to a local, hole-in-the-wall dine-in place and Sei finds he likes the food but can't eat as much as Aresh wants him to (he keeps trying to feed him more). Sei thanks Aresh for his help again and they have a conversation about why Sei is so work-obsessed. Sei responds that it's a way to establish himself and that working is calming for him, but really Sei can't separate himself from work and sees it as a natural part of his life (part of his core values). Aresh tells him he doesn't get it but that doesn't mean he should overwork himself and that taking care of his body is also essential for doing his work. Sei recalls that Aresh is a marquis and OP so doesn't need to do much to affirm himself.

After, they wind up having lunch and dinner together everyday and Norbert joins them for lunch at times. Aresh also makes sure Sei uses his break to relax until it's over and picks him up at the end of the workday. Sei starts taking some of his work home so he can continue working. The have conversations about the world and each other as they go to dinner and Sei never pays because Aresh would accuse him of treated Aresh like a prostitute .

MC starts to question his relationship with ML
Another holiday is approaching and Sei tells Aresh that he doesn't need to take of his meals that day (knights get days off in rotation while civvies have fixed holidays). Sei states that he'll be going to the library to read up more on the world and Aresh tells him to take time to rest and also warns him to not try to take any more magic potions. Sei agrees readily (so suspicious~), but then Aresh catches him going to the pharmacy right after they leave. Aresh noticed he was acting suspicious so went to check and threatens to tell the store not to sell any drugs to him.

Sei first complains that Aresh was abusing his power and Aresh scolds him for trying something he knows could kill him. Sei responds that he was trying to find alternative supplements because he's now having pains without the potion to alleviate them, and he missed not feeling achy all the time. Then Aresh asks to show him where the pain is. Sei, confused, tells him he has a headache, so Aresh uses magic to heal him and then kisses him to regulate Sei's intake. Then he leaves and Sei is even more confused.

Sei has a flashback to past relationships he botched because work was more important than his girlfriend (oooh) and knows that his relationship with Aresh is unusual. But he's still not sure what to make of it because Aresh is the only one able to treat him and the only one who actually cares about his health in the world. But he's also unsure what Aresh think about kissing him just because of using his magic to relieve a headache but wonders if it's not a big deal because they've already had sex.

MC meets with the prime minister
The next day Sei is called to meet with Kamil. This would be their first one-on-one and Aresh has warned Sei about him before. Kamil asks after him bc he heard about him visiting the healer and then talked to him about the budget planning Sei submitted while they drink tea together. Kamil then asks why Sei doesn't seem curious anymore about what was going on with the saint. Sei responds by asking the Prime Minister what he'd feel if he was brought to another world, along with a fellow countryman, who's also a minor and a stranger. Kamil side-eyes Sei and replies that if he can afford to, he'd try to protect them. And Sei agrees, saying that how he thinks: he'd protect them too, but only if he can afford to. Sei knows that Yua is being treated much better than him as the saint and that people practically worship her but don't care or have a high opinion of him, so he's not in a position to be able help her, much less to worry after her. Kamil ends up laughing and saying that he likes Sei's rationale and cunning (I didn't want to reveal in the prior spoilers but Kamil turns out to really like Sei from the moment he promoted him; ngl, I kinda ship 'em after finding out that Kamil wasn't a villain in this series--unless he is in the sequel? He and Sei are kind of birds of a feather and I'd debate on whether he'd be the 2nd ML if the story was longer, but of course, I prefer Aresh ). Kamil asks for Sei's first name and says he find talking to Sei meaningful and wants to talk more in the future.

MC and ML big fight (of sorts)
Sei ends up getting a stomachache from the tea. Aresh isn't happy when he finds out and tells him that they use magic to make tea, so he kisses Sei and tells him to not eat/drink anything he doesn't approve of in the future. And Aresh also tells others that Sei can't receive anything without Aresh's approval.

Unfortunately, this makes Sei feel like a pet. Sei is feeling more and more constrained because of things like this and gets sarcastic with Aresh during dinner one evening. He tries to reign it in some to tell Aresh to lay off his mother-henning a little because it's interfering with the work he wants to do, but Aresh asks him why is he trying to do everything by himself and not delegating, pointing out that he's even doing work that's not necessary for his job title. Sei replies that it's natural for those in higher positions to know and to be able to do everything both required of their position and of those below and that it should be expected of them. Sei believes that doing everything yourself, rather than trying to explain and expect things of others, is more efficient, especially as what he's doing is saving the country's finances.

Aresh proclaims that he leaves certain matters to others, like the management of the knights to Orzif, and it works out for him. Sei, who still receives complaints from the Knight Order, asks what does Aresh usually do and is told that Aresh handles upper-level affairs (and recently is forced to train a saint) and doesn't go beyond that. Sei remarks that he's just doing the bare minimum and asks if that's enough to keep the Knight Order running.

Aresh reiterates he's had no problems and besides, it's the people around him that wanted him for this position in the first place. Sei interprets that to mean Aresh is seen as more of a mascot for the Knight Order than someone actually in charge. He sarcastically remarks that he sees, which Aresh asks him what he means by that and Sei replies that he's just reaffirming the differences of their values and position (yeeks, things are getting a little touchy rn ). Sei figures that bc they're from different worlds, they'd be unable to fundamentally understand each other and tries to change the topic, but Aresh presses on, asking him to explain what he means. Sei answers that he doesn't believe the the noble Knight Captain Indrak could ever understand the values of a lowly businessman from another world.

Aresh then asks him to explain his obsession with his work and claims that Sei is acting similar to a religious zealot in regards to labor, taking drugs he knows is harmful just to work more and persisting on working alone. Aresh calls his behavior of that of a fanatic. Sei has money, so why work so hard? Sei is stumped and notes that his mindset towards work was typical of those as a Japanese person. Work gives him a peace of mind and he tries to claim that because there's a job, but Aresh cuts in by stating that Sei even creates jobs for himself when nothing is forcing him to and doing jobs that didn't exist before.

Sei explains that he's doing all this extra work because the country's finances were in trouble. Aresh responds that he hasn't heard about that before, and Sei retorts that it's because he doesn't care about things like finances. He goes on to say the Knights Order receives special treatment and snarks that since the news is probably given to those on the bottom level, he's probably not the only one who doesn't know.

Then Sei catches himself and that he was having this attitude in response to being called a fanatic, so he laughs and tries to apologize. Aresh informs Sei that he should be careful that his work attitude could have a negative effect on those around him because when the higher-ups work like Sei, those on the bottom would get embarrassed and it'd spoil the work environment. Sei recalls that his behavior has caused confusion among his coworkers.

Aresh also reminds Sei that if Sei is the only one involved in creating a new finance system, that there's no one to pick things off if something happened to Sei and so he needs a successor. Sei is reminded again that things are different than in Japan, which would have something already in place for situations of when a worker is unable to work. As Aresh had a special status, Sei decided to let his frustrations go and grin and bear it, but Aresh calls him out again for lying.

ML ruminates over the MC's words and the saint joins them for lunch
The next day Aresh reevaluates his role and duties as a captain after thinking about his conversation with Sei. He notes that two knights are missing and asks Orzif about them. Orzif claims they went to deal with a matter with another department and tell Aresh not to worry about it now because he needs to go tutor the saint. Aresh leaves but is distracted by his feelings of unease and by Sei's words the whole tutoring session. He staves off Yua's attempt to eat lunch with him again and goes to the cafeteria to find Sei. Sei, meanwhile, has just finished dealing with the latest knight complaints. He's feeling awkward about going to lunch and doesn't want to see Aresh by himself, so forces Norbert, who can sense the atmosphere, to join in their meal together.

This time Yua decides to follow and eat at the cafeteria despite her guards objection over how the cafeteria is for servants. Yua convinces them by saying she wants to get to know the people she's protecting more (the irony at how the guards are touched by Yua's attitude towards the lower class yet they also scorn people in the lower class the whole time). Of course, her real target is Aresh and she goes to join him at his table.

Yua is surprised to see Sei and asks why he's in the castle (she thought he went sent to live in the city). Sei explains that he's been working in the castle for the last 2 months and she claims he's really a corporate slave (this girl ), not knowing that her words are getting Aresh irritated (Sei treats it as words from an ignorant child). She further asks to find out why Sei and Aresh are together and Sei, sensing Yua's crush on Aresh, tells her that Aresh helped him out when Sei was sick and that's how they know each other.

Then Yua starts gushing about how kind Aresh is and how he's been teaching her magic manipulation, which perplexes Sei as to why a Knight Captain would be tutoring her about magic manipulation (yeah! Instead of, you know, a mage or smt) and he concludes that it must have been her willfulness. This causes Sei to regret his words about Aresh only doing the bare minimum and to give Aresh a gaze of pity (Aresh was not amused).Yua also finds out that Sei is limited in his eating because he has low magic resistance.

Sei says it's not a big deal as he's not that interested in eating, but then gets teased by Aresh and Norbert because he actually does have a dish he likes (that he first ate at the dine-in place). Yua begins to feel left out, which hasn't happened in the world before because the saint was always treated so reverently. However, Norbert talks to her and asks about a bunch of bizarre questions about her world that he learned from Sei. But Sei quickly admitted that he lied/told half-truths because Norbert was being annoying with asking so many questions during work hours instead of doing his job and he didn't feel like explaining concepts Norbert got wrong . But Norbert feels happier once Yua confirmed that miniskirts and bathing suits were a thing .

However, Yua's guards took offense to Sei, of all people, and accused him of being Yua's stalker and having illicit designs on her. Sei is understandably disgusted and perturbed by the notion because he sees Yua as a complete child and is insulted by the knight's accusation. Sei answers that younger people are out of his strike zone (truthfully, it's younger people with no real world experience, but Sei thought that'd be too rude to say about the saint). This leads to Sei revealing that he recently turned 30yo and Aresh revealing that he's 22, much to his consternation.

The reveal causes Norbert wanting to throw a party for Sei's birthday but he's shot down by Sei. Norbert suggests to give Sei the magic supplements as a gift but is shot down by Aresh. Yua, not thinking it through, thinks Sei was in pain and offers to use healing magic on him and does so. Sei gets knocked out and wakes up in Aresh's arms. He takes Sei to a nearby abandoned warehouse and kisses him better. Aresh mentions wanting to use a ward but explains that it took up too much magic that would come from the user.

MC gets assaulted
Later, Orzif finds that Aresh took the initiative to write up the expenditures for their next expedition, which is usually Orzif's job. He is feeling a little threatened because Aresh is so OP that he'd render everyone else obsolete if he really took over. But he soon gets distracted by Aresh questioning him as to why some people wouldn't want a younger lover. Orzif is really shocked and super hyped when he figures out that Aresh is coming to him for advice for himself over an older crush (though Orzif has no idea who's rejecting Aresh). He manages to answer that it's probably because values would be different.

In another part of the castle, Sei bumps into the prime minister, who informs Sei that since Yua's saint education is advancing, she'll be ready to start venturing into the magic forest to purify the miasma. Kamil asks that Sei gets ready for it and Sei nods, thinking that he was going to be in charge of getting all the paperwork ready for all of the costs of the trip and prepping for miasma collateral damage reports. He says his goodbyes to Kamil and walks off, planning the necessary documents he'll need.

Walking down a deserted passageway, Sei is attacked from behind and dragged off to a dark room. Sei wakes up but pretends to be unconscious and hears his attackers speak. Turns out that his assaulters were the 2 knights who kept complaining to him about his budget rejections and Yua's guard, who accused him of being a stalker. They wind up beating up poor Sei half to death (they deserve no mercy).

Kamil, who doubled back because he forgot to give Sei a document, takes a shortcut down the same passageway and finds Sei when he hears Sei moaning from inside the room. He takes Seo to Cielo for treatment but Cielo says he's unable to bc of Sei's adverse constitution with magic. But Kamil keeps pressing about him being the best healer, so he must be able to do something, and keeps getting frustrated by Cielo, who refuses to explain why they have to wait for someone else to heal Sei. Kamil accuses Cielo of being bias against Sei for not being the saint, and Cielo is feeling very wronged (he stuck between getting the Prime Minister angry for not treating Sei and not clearly explaining why and getting the top military personnel angry if he does anything to Sei or potentially angry if he tells people about them).

But luckily for Cielo, Aresh arrives shortly and tells everyone else to leave the room. Kamil is very bewildered but Cielo asks if he'll be done in half an hour (Aresh says to give him 2hrs) and pushes Kamil to leave. Another very short R-rated scene commences (seriously, it's a blink and you'll miss it moment ). After, Cielo and Kamil return and Sei tries to thank and apologize for the inconvenience (why? it's not your fault ) and Kamil tells him not to fret but to tell them who done it, to which Sei wasted no qualms in snitching.

Aresh summons the 2 knights to his office. Orzif is present and thought that it was because the accounting department had enough and finally went to Aresh about their constant complaints. Orzif knew about how prideful these knights were of their title and how they constantly harrassed the accounting department but didn't do anything about it. He also thought Aresh was the same in that he didn't care what they did either. But then he noticed how POed Aresh was and figured that something much worse must have happened.

Orzif asks what was going on, but Aresh starts questioning the knights about their whereabouts during the assault. They give some shoddy excuse about equipment inspecting. Aresh takes out a piece of cloth and asks if it was torn off during their inspection and they affirmed that it was. Then Aresh reveals that a civil servant was found heavily assaulted in that area yesterday and that he tore off a piece of his attackers' clothing. Orzif gets a really bad feeling and starts to suspect where Aresh was going with these questions.

The knights try to deny knowing anything about it but get tripped up in saying that they had passed by him before the attack but also admitting they thought he was unconscious during the attack. Orzif is alarmed by their actions and by how angry he sees Aresh is becoming. The knights try to say it was a frame-up but Kamil enters the room.

Aresh discloses that Kamil was the one who found Sei and took him to the healers. Kamil states that he recalls telling them off for harassing Sei when Kamil promoted him before. Kamil informs them that Sei would have died if he hadn't been found and asked them if they understood how serious his injuries were and the one who treated his injuries was Aresh. The knights panic when they grasped that Sei had connections with both Aresh and Kamil, a couple of the highest authority in the country, and are terrified (while Orzif is all, you done f*cked up).

A knock is heard from the door and Knight Captain Radim of the 2nd Knights Order comes in with the saint's guard/3rd assaulter. The other 2 knights exclaim that the 3rd knight is the mastermind behind the attack. They're punished by having 3wks house arrest, a ban against talking to Sei, a year's pay cut and compensation of 1M of their currency. Radim asks Sei if that is enough and Sei agrees. Kamil wants their knighthood to be revoked but Sei stops him, saying that knights are rare and necessary for the protecting dignitaries and fighting in the magic forest. Kamil still thinks the punishment should also be depriving them of their dignity/pride but Sei claims he doesn't care about their pride/dignity and the only thing both sides regarded of value was money, so a hefty fine was enough.

Sei starts getting excited about now having the 2nd and 3rd Knights Order owe him for this, along with official government protection, and tells Kamil that they'll be able to expedite the Saint purification expedition and save a lot a money in the process (this workaholic). He begins to show his plans to Kamil but Aresh interjects angrily that Sei was supposed to be recovering, not working.

MC has ML create a magic ward
Later, Aresh and Sei are having dinner again and Aresh has apologized for his knights behavior and for not doing a better job supervising, but Sei retorts that he never expected Aresh to do any supervising in the first place so he doesn't need to apologize (ouch). Sei goes onto saying that it's Sei that should compensate Aresh for saving his life again and that he wants to pay Aresh to set up a ward for Sei, but he also knows Aresh doesn't want to be paid with money. Sei suggests using his mouth (...).

They go to a room in the inn and Sei uses a lot of Sei-logic to justify to himself why he wants to give Aresh a bj (he doesn't like being a salted fish, it's easier on him to swallow than be penetrated, it's unreasonable to burden Aresh with doing most of the work when it's treatment for Sei's sake, etc.). Sei pushes Aresh onto the bed and Aresh places a warding spell on Sei. Then we get a steamy hj and bj scene (the most graphic in the story thus far).

MC goes to a party
The Saint purification expedition is set up to happen in 6dys. Because of the debt owed to Sei by the 2nd and 3rd Knight Orders, Sei's plans were able to go through smoothly with only a little resistance from the prince. Helmuth tells Sei, being one of the main planners, that he also has to attend the dinner party the king hosts for the expedition, which Sei understands is for networking and money.

Norbert uses this as an excuse to bring in people to spruce Sei up and give him a makeover. To Sei's surprise, Norbert confesses that he's not just a viscount but also a member of the royal family (his mom's status is low, so he was adopted but still is expected to serve the family as a royal), so he'll be attending too. Norbert explains that he's not part of succession so Sei shouldn't feel any pressure and Sei just tells him that he has a lot to say about his people, so please make time to listen to him later.

Sei is at the dinner and meets with Kamil. They make nice with business small talk and thanking each other for their parts in this expedition. Kamil comments on how nice Sei looks and Sei responds that it's all due to the skills of Norbert's maids, who were able to hid the tired aura Sei constantly has (covered his dark circle, made his face rosier, put him in nice clothes, etc.). The change was really dramatic.

Sei has an ulterior motive for attending the dinner party but before he can speak to Kamil about it, they are approached by the Chief Secretary of the Magic Court Division (Zoltan), a flashy, seemingly prideful older man, who has a once-sided rivalry with the 3rd Knights Order (remember, the 3rd Order possess magic too). He almost snubs Sei but catches himself in front of Kamil. Sei doesn't mind, as he thinks the self-important type are easy to deal with and he wanted to speak with the Magic Court Division. But Zoltan spots someone (Isto, 2nd-in-command of the Magic Court) by the food table and rushes to introduce them.

Before proper introductions can be made, Isto looks towards Sei and demands Sei give him money, which Sei instinctively responds with a no. Zoltan gets angry at Isto's rudeness and scolds him into acting proper, impressing Sei with his management ability. Sei introduces himself and Isto asks that he give the Magic Court money because they're poor, which earns him another scolding from Zoltan (Isto is a bit of a messy scatterbrain and Zoltan is like his caretaker lol).

Sei privately agrees that the Magic Court should receive more funding and is aware that their budget tends to get slashed (unlike the Knights Order, which is always well-funded--another reason for Zoltan's rivalry) because they require a lot of money for research but research is slow in producing significant results. It was already part of his plan to increase the funding for that division, so Sei decides to use this chance to strike a deal with Isto.

He moves closer to Isto but is grabbed by Aresh, who's just arrived. Behind him, Yua runs in after him but Kamil sends her back, as she was supposed to enter with the prince. Yua states that Aresh was supposed to enter with her and should go back with her too, but Aresh rebuts by saying that the dinner was to showcase the saint and royal family and that his presence wasn't required. So she returns without him when a guard leads her away.

Shortly, everyone but Sei, Aresh, and Isto leave to mingle with the other nobles. Aresh asks Sei what's with his looks and Sei explains that it was due to Norbert and his maids and notices that Aresh seems to be in a bad mood. Soon, the dinner party officially begins with the entry of the royals and saint and the royals/saint give a speech. Lastly, the prince lists out all the members joining the expedition, which includes Sei.

Everyone is surprised, including Sei, who thought his job was just to do the paperwork for budgeting. Kamil asks Sei if he's actually going and Aresh proclaims that he can't because it's too dangerous and Sei would be really vulnerable. He offers to talk to the king but the prince comes over and interjects by asking that if even someone as delicate as Yua is going, is an old man like Sei going to run away? (this conniving little brat) Yua is behind Julius but looks troubled.

Aresh claims that age and gender have nothing to do with it but that Sei, unlike the saint, has no resistance towards magic/mana, so he could die from the miasma. Julius responds that Sei was the one who pushed this expedition forward, so he should go as well instead of staying safely behind. Kamil joins with Aresh in protesting Sei's involvement but Julius refuses to back down. Isto, unaware of the argument going on around him, asks Sei if he's planning to go too and Sei thinks about it and replies in the affirmative, alarming Aresh.

MC and ML before the expedition
Sei packs to go and Norbert cries and is clingy. The king allows for everyone to have a free day before the expedition to prepare and Sei decided to use that time to pull an all-nighter and finish up extra work and even used magic supplements to do so (uh oh). Aresh pops by unexpectedly and finds out what Sei is doing after seeing the mountain of documents on Sei's desk, He berates Sei for using a day off before a dangerous journey to work instead of resting up. He accidently bumps into the desk and a certain hidden empty bottle rolls out.

Aresh gets more vexed and the scene cuts to a bed scene . Sei recounts that after Aresh found the empty bottle, he had to use recovery magic on Sei, which in turn led to him needing to regulate the magic, which led to them being in bed most of the day. Aresh also states that he'll be staying with Sei until the trip. Poor Sei missed out on all the extra work he wanted to do.

After they finish, they lie in bed talking. Aresh tells Sei that he has the summary order for the expedition prepared for the 3rd Knights Order and he'll give that to Sei to work on during the trip since he knows Sei'll bring work with him. Aresh also says that he dropped by to reinforce the warding on Sei before they head out. Sei feels bad for troubling him and is surprised by Aresh's recent involvement in managing his division.

Their conversation leads to Sei asking about Aresh's living situation and he informs Sei that he has a room in the knight's quarters but stays in his parent's residence because it's closer to the palace. He also lets Sei know that he's the youngest son, with 2 older brothers, the 2nd already has his own mansion he's living in and the 1st is set to inherit the family's, and an older sister, who's already married.

In return, Sei divulges that he's an only child when Aresh asked. He ponders about the life he left behind and if his parents received his property since he's gone missing. He worries over his parents, whom he hasn't visited for awhile, even skipping out on New Year's, because of work. He lets out that he's all alone and gets feverish again , so Aresh does recovery magic on him and kisses him.

The start of the expedition
Everyone is set out to go the next day with a parade through the city. Even though everyone but the knights are using carriages, Aresh convinces Sei to ride on the horse with him. Orzif asks about it and Aresh responds that since the first prince ordered Sei to go on the expedition, Aresh will personally guarantee his safety since he's the one best suited to look after Sei. Sei tries to discourage him by making the excuse that he's never ridden a horse but Aresh assures him that he'll make sure Sei won't have any trouble. Sei felt that Aresh is getting more overprotective lately but decides to follow him after Aresh pulls out the budget report he promised to give Sei yesterday, saying that Sei can read it while riding. Yua overhears and calls out from her carriage that she'd also like to ride a horse but is shot down by the people around her who tell her that the saint has to stay in the carriage.

Once they are out of the city, Sei goes over Aresh's report. Amazed at how organized it is, he asks if the clerical staff handled the report, but Aresh attests that he handled it himself. Sei is floored that Aresh, whom he views as mostly a layabout in regard to menial labor, is able to such impeccable paperwork and thinks this is evidence of his genius. Aresh is definitely not flattered by Sei's reaction. But Sei switches to asking about parts of the document and using this as an opportunity to learn more about the Knights Order for accounting purposes, since Aresh is there to answer his questions.

The party arrive at a town near nightfall and are invited to stay at a mansion and nearby inn by the local lord. Sei gathered his things in his room at the inn and leaves to order people to recover information about any damages caused by the miasma (one of the reasons he agreed to go on the quest was to retrieve more exacting numbers to calculate for miasma damages in the country, something that has been neglected to be reported to the royal accounting department).

Then Sei went to another room in the inn to find Isto. Sei decided to speak with Isto because, as he's someone who made his hobby his job, he was likely to be straightforward and have a clear desire. Sei then leaves after discussing something with Isto to speak with the people he ordered to survey the miasma damages before needing to meet with Aresh for dinner but is stopped by Yua calling out to him.

The saint gets a much needed reality check
Sei speaks with Yua outside the inn but refuses to sit down with her to talk. Sei notices that while Yua isn't in her usual fancy palace garbs, she's still not dressed like someone going on a dangerous mission. Sei also spots that Yua has a guard nearby as well.

Neither of them have spoken to each other since the time in the cafeteria both because Yua wasn't interested in Sei and because Sei had been avoiding Yua to deter any more misunderstandings caused by interacting with her. While Sei relents that it wasn't truly Yua's fault, it's clear that Yua lacks situational awareness and doesn't realize how her willfulness can cause problems for others.

Sei requests that Yua get to the point and make it brief, so she, with a blush, dives straight in to ask him to switch places with her for the journey. Sei is a bit perturbed that she's more focused on her crush than the fact that she's on a dangerous mission and wonders why her guards aren't trying to dissuade her. But the guard is avoiding his gaze.

So, Sei has to walk her through the concept that not only is she on an important and dangerous mission, but that she's a super VIP because she's the saint and the only person who's able to purify the miasma, which is why she's riding in the same carriage as the royals because that is the most safest place for her to be as it is the most well-guarded during the journey. He tells her that her safety is top priority for everybody, which is why she's always surrounded by guards and the reason why she lives in the tower with the royal family in the first place. This causes Yua to pout.

So, Sei further explains that his constitution makes him far more susceptible, not only to the miasma, but to the very air in this world. Yua is baffled by what he means and Sei has to spell it out that as he's a normal person, he's not able to handle the magic of the world on his own and will die without any external protection and that he is not a special person, so no help is going to be afforded to him out of any predetermined obligation like with a saint.

Sei is certain that Kamil and Aresh must have told her about this but Yua looks in disbelief and starts to say he's exaggerating, but Sei interrupts and says that it's 100% certain that he is likely to die because he's already almost died twice before since coming to this world (overdosing on the potion and being assaulted; both times he would've died if Aresh and Kamil hadn't coincidentally been in the area and decided to help him).

He goes on to tell her that she's taking her request too lightly because what she's proposing is going to increase the workload of everyone else in order to protect her and potentially put him in more dire straits. Sei determines that the miasma will become greater the further along in the journey, so while he believes Aresh is being overprotective, it's still true that Sei needs Aresh to be able to survive the trip. Plus, he really doesn't want to add needless extra work for everyone else (his miserly side is showing here).

He tells Yua to start thinking about her situation properly because this isn't the kind of world in which she can easily have a peaceful life by just doing what she's told. What Sei doesn't tell her is that he's already in the midst of destroying the whole current institution surrounding the saint (just to clarify, he's not trying to destroy her specifically, but he wants to get rid of the general attitude towards saints in this world).

After dinner, Aresh and Sei are in Sei's room and Aresh is on the bed while Sei is at the desk working. Aresh lets Sei know that he's heard that Sei had spoken with the saint, which is why she seemed so dispirited during dinner. Sei is just impressed that she still had the sensibility to attend the dinner party and give face to the lord, despite dealing with personal disappointments. He sits on the bed and leans onto Aresh, asking him how he found out. Aresh tells him that it was from Yua's guard and assures Sei that he's kept the prince in the dark about it.

Aresh holds onto him and remarks that he thought Sei wasn't interested in saints, to which Sei replies that he is but silently thinks that it's not Yua he has a problem with but rather the country's system with saints, which is what lead him to be summoned to this world in the first place. But while he didn't bear a grudge against Yua and feels sorry for her, he thought she needed a reality check.

A cute moment between Aresh and Sei with Sei asking if Aresh was going back to his room. Aresh replies that he will if Sei goes to sleep instead of working. But Sei keeps asking if he's really not going back, so Aresh takes Sei's papers away from him and pushes him onto the bed and Sei is forced to eventually sleep. (tbh, I'm not sure whether there was an innuendo in here or if they just slept ).

Sei sees Yua the next morning, but she turns away from him. Unluckily, the prince notices and Sei suspects that the prince won't be kept in the dark about their interaction for long. The party takes 2 more days to get to the magic forest and Sei is working overtime because there's more damage to calculate the closer they get to the forest. Aresh re-establishes the warding around Sei and sleeps with him again the night before reaching the forest.

The saint's POV
We get a chapter to read the story from Yua's side. From her perspective, we learn that she viewed the summons like being in a dream because she saw the palace was similar to those she's seen in theme parks and games at first. But then the people in charge impart on her that she was the saint, and that as the only one who could save everyone, that it was her duty to do so, which she naturally accepted. They also tell her that the miasma wasn't so bad yet and that she had time to practice her powers and she would be taken care of, so she only needed to focus on that.

She's given a room that looks like something out of a fairytale and is provided a multitude of dresses and jewels and other gifts by a kind and handsome prince, who also seemed like someone from a fairytale. She's presented with delicious food everyday and maids and guards to serve and protect her. She's also introduced to the highest officials, including Aresh.

Yua becomes interested in Aresh because of his black hair, which was familiar to her, and because he was the strong, silent, mysterious type. As Aresh wasn't forthcoming about himself and Yua wanted to know more about him, she requested that he teaches her magic so she could spend more time with him. Yua found studying about magic was similar to what she did when going to school and thought she did well because she was always praised for her progress.

With so much kindness being shown her way, Yua was encouraged to do her best so she could save everyone.

Fast forward to the present: something hits the barrier over the royal carriage and rocks it hard. Julius holds onto Yua and she hears an animal, which unnerve her as the carriage is supposed to be soundproof. A guard from outside reassures her that it's probably just animals going berserk from the miasma but not to worry because both the 2nd Knight Order and 3rd Knight Order are there to protect them. But this just frightens Yua even more. She asks if the guard is hurt and if he needs healing (she knows she has healing powers but isn't quite sure how to use them), and the guard answers that the healers were there for that job and she only needs to focus on the purification process.

Yua's beliefs of the peacefulness and kindness of this world begin to crumble. She recalls what Sei told her about almost dying and finally comprehends that her perception of the world only came from how well she was treated as a saint and that Sei wasn't granted the same because he wasn't anything in this world when he crossed over, so he understood the world better than she did.

The purification process
After battling the beasts, Sei starts calculating the damages that incurred, much to some of the knights' disapproval. They arrive at the outskirts of the forest and set up camp because only a few people (the saint, prince, a couple mages, healers, and knights) were to go into the forest for the purification process. Aresh tells Sei to stay out the forest and Sei agrees, thinking that Isto will take care of the request he asked of him earlier (Isto is one of the mages going). But he's also worried if the absent-minded mage will actually remember. However, the prince orders him to come with them.

Aresh wonders if the prince is trying to purposefully put Sei in danger and notices that the saint has a really bad complexion and is looking at Sei. Aresh tries to reason with the prince that a civil servant is of no use in the forest, so there's no reason to take him farther in as he'd only be a liability. But it becomes apparent that this is the saint's request, so the prince hold her wishes in higher priority over the safety of a civil servant .

While Aresh was trying to plead his case, Sei finds Isto and asks if he remembers what he agreed to do, but Isto is clueless and has no idea what he's talking about . This causes Sei to immediately respond that he'll enter with the group.

Aresh is very pissed but Julius, and everyone else, only cares that Yua is feeling more stable. In order for the purification to work, the saint must be in stable condition, so if Yua wasn't, she couldn't purify and the whole trip would've been wasted (especially money-wise bc it costs so much to fund). As the country's finances are barely stable, they couldn't afford to waste this trip. Plus, Sei felt it better to see the results with his own eyes too. Luckily, Aresh's warding spells were able to help protect Sei through the miasma.

They make it to the source of the miasma, a demon tree, in 2hrs (Yua was carried by her guard and Sei fended off Aresh's attempts to carry him and managed to walk it). Though Yua was still pale, she declares that she's all right to go when Julius asked and begins to perform the purification. But just as the tree was getting lighter, Yua collapses.

Sei, who had read up on the purification process, knew that Yua wouldn't be able to purify it all at once, so left her with Julius and went over to Isto. He asks Isto to evaluate how much of the process was done (30%). Sei calculates that would mean they would need to fund around 3 more expeditions to finish the job.

Aresh gets worried about Sei running around when the miasma was still there and Sei tells him that he needed to make a request to the Magic Court mages. Aresh claims that Sei could just ask the 3rd Knights Order, as they have a better track record with using magic so it's natural for people to go to them for magic tasks (Sei is starting to understand how Zoltan developed his rivalry). But Sei does see that using the knights would be more convenient, so he decides to put them to use along with the mages.

Creating a barrier
While the knights were unsettled with Sei ordering them around, the actual dissent came from the mages, particularly Zoltan. Sei lies through his teeth and pushes all the blame on Isto (Sei told Zoltan Isto gave him the okay after speaking with him on the first day). Before Zoltan could confirm it, Sei states that the mages would be rewarded for their work and that catches their attention and agreement, especially after seeing that Sei has an official document signed by Kamil and Helmuth to reward the mages. Then Sei asked Zoltan to be in charge of the mages' side of things and that was that.

But Julius, who is still tending to Yua, glares at Sei and accuses him of acting without permission. Sei was hoping that Yua's condition would be a big enough distraction for the prince but no such luck, so he explains that he has official permission from the Prime Minister to do this work. The prince gets angry and shouts that he was the one in charge of the expedition, and Sei agrees that he is but that this was a different matter that was not of his concern.

Julius gets angrier but Sei overrides him by stating he should be tending to the saint and taking her into town so she can rest. But Yua asks to stay with Sei too and Sei detects that she seems to be clinging onto him. But as Yua would only get in the way and Sei could do nothing for her, Sei coldly tells her to go back and rest.

Julius returns shortly and states that he's the one in charge of the expedition and as a prince, he doesn't want to leave the issue of the miasma to a foreigner, so asks Sei what he should do. Sei was hoping he'd stay with Yua, but resigns to the fact that he can't get rid of him and tells him to observe from a distance.

Aresh goes to ask Sei what he wants the knights to do and Sei states that they'll be escorting the mages and recording the barrier spells they'll be making. Everyone gets confused because there's no way they could create a barrier to cover the entire country, but Sei corrects them and says that they'll actually be creating a barrier around the demon tree and they have enough to do that.

Later when they come back to the inn, Sei further explains to Aresh that what they'll be doing is sealing the tree so it can't spread miasma. However, the sealing process isn't able to last forever, so it'd need to be reinforced every so often, but reinforcing a seal would be much less costly and damaging and more efficient than allowing the miasma to spread and depending on a saint to summon every 100yrs to save everyone. This is also why they recorded the barrier spells for future reference. Yua is planned in to complete the purification process too. Meanwhile, they'll also have a mage and knight stay in the town to record how long it'll take for the seal to weaken and schedule for reinforcement periods based on that, and the kingdom can research on how to destroy the core.

Aresh becomes downcast and admits he never even thought of doing something like that and Sei comforts him by telling him that it's probably because of the kingdom's zealous attitude towards saints. Sei can see that his method is more complex and a bit more time-consuming than it would be to just summon a saint, so why would the kingdom think to do that when a much simpler and tested solution was available (except for a few extremely magically inquisitive people, like Isto, Sei doesn't tell Aresh).

But the goal of this was that the kingdom could now stop kidnapping people and deal with the problem themselves. However, with the fervor people of the kingdom had about saints and the flex of having enough power to summon one from other worlds, which keeps the neighboring kingdoms in check, Sei knew that he still had more work to do to convince the king to stop summoning saints.

He starts to go to his desk but Aresh pushes him back onto the bed. He tells Sei that work could wait but they need to reestablish Sei's wards after being around the miasma for so long. Sei notices a change in the way Aresh looks at him but doesn't want to address it at the moment. Things get really hot and heavy but then Isto bursts into Sei's room in the middle of things (wtf!?).

Little scene with Isto
Isto is a merchant's son, who's an extremely inquisitive genius in regards to magic and is absolute garbage at everything else. Luckily, he was able to make a rather successful career by being accepted into the Magic Court Division (which is good bc he was terrible at being a merchant and Zoltan is essentially his caretaker for things like basic needs, which Isto also can't do). It was even through his research that the kingdom was able to do saint summonings again, but now, he was more interested in the magic forest.

So, off he goes to find Sei, but to his surprise, Sei is with the 3rd Knights Order captain. And he's on top of Sei, And they're half naked. Isto is very confused. Aresh is not amused and tells Isto to leave. But Isto is thinking. Isto recalls that Sei should have no magic, as an otherworlder, and remembers sensing magic on Sei that was similar to Aresh when they met and comes to the conclusion that the magic came from Aresh, which means...

Sei sees that Isto has not responded to Aresh at all and crawls out from under him, but Aresh tries to hold him back. Sei suggests that they should take a break and Aresh argues against it because he knows Sei will talk his way out of continuing.(Sei notes that he's not wrong about that). But Sei thinks Aresh is crazy for confronting Isto while they were on the bed like that and looks over to Isto to properly speak with him and to tell him to close the door. But stops when he sees Isto is wearing an expressively happy look for once instead of his usual sleepy-eyed one. Isto then asks if he could stay and watch (omg ).

Going back to the palace and ML's confession
The scene cuts to Sei and Isto riding the same carriage and Isto gushing over the discovery of Sei's lack of magical immunity and how rare an opportunity it was to be able to observe it in an adult, especially one who was only recently exposed to magic and to see how his body was able to regulate Aresh's magic, etc., etc.

Sei finds it weird how people in the research field are able to become so obsessed with their interests that they don't notice anything else. But he continues to half-listen to Isto's one-sided ponderings while he sorts through his paperwork and thinks out what to do next. It's why he decided to not ride with Aresh, and as they were moving away from the area with miasma, Sei thought he'd be okay with just the warding. Sei plans to send his reports to Kamil ahead of the party's arrival back so they can start gathering more supporters and prepare documents for the prince, as it's likely he'll want to know more about their project.

The party spends the night at the same town from the first day again before heading back. Aresh barges in Sei room again (Sei resigns himself to the fact that no one seems to knock in this country, but Aresh retorts that Sei just didn't hear him knocking). Sei at first tries to make excuses but Aresh replies that he and Sei won't have any free time once they return and it'd be best to reinforce the wards before then. Sei acquiesces because he knows that he's at the critical stage of this project of his and he can't afford to fall because of his health.

Sei also considers the feelings that are developing between the two of them but privately decides to hold off on dealing with them until after he completes his project. Aresh pauses in what he's doing and when Sei questions him, he tells Sei that he refuses to hand him over to anyone else.

This freaks Sei out, as he wasn't expecting Aresh to bring the matter up himself and tells Aresh that it's a bad time to talk about this because of everything they'll be busy with. Aresh responds that is the reason why it's the perfect time to bring it up now, as dealing with their relationship beforehand would make things more efficient and that it's best to make intentions clear early. Aresh points out that Sei would prefer it this way too because he's the type that likes clarity over ambiguity and seeing efficiency and results, first and foremost. Sei is impressed by how well Aresh knows him but wallows a moment in consternation for his habit of emphasizing so much on efficiency around Aresh yet also agrees with Aresh's points.

But Sei contemplates how much stock he really puts behind his faith of "getting the best results the fastest way possible." Sei agreed with Aresh's earlier comment about taking time to prepare a successor for himself but he didn't do so because of his thinking that he should do everything himself for the most efficient results. On retrospect, he finds that he actually chose his methods out of self-satisfaction for instant results, rather than that these results would produce the best outcome. It was the same for him choosing to be taken care of by Aresh. The more efficient decision would be to work with the healing department to resolve his body's aversion to magic so he wouldn't need to rely on a single person, but Sei had reasoned that using Aresh was much simpler and quicker so never did anything to change that.

Aresh understands that Sei can't give him an answer at the moment but he wanted to declare his intentions now because it'd be most efficient to do so now and smiles at him. Sei believes that the way Aresh looks at that moment was so charming that anyone would fall for him.

MC confronts the king
2dys after they return, Sei is summoned to meet the king. He goes into the chambers and spots Yua, Julius, Kamil, Aresh, Radim, Zoltan, and Isto in the audience, along with many unfamiliar nobles. Technically, Sei conspired with Kamil behind the king's back to take these extra measures against the miasma and should be condemned for such actions, but the king informs everyone that Viscount Baranek (Norbert's adopted dad) gave him the report before the party had returned.

Julius is shocked that his father knows about what Sei was up to. Sort of. Sei actually set the viscount and Norbert (who's still a royal) up to be the ones who both came up with and authorized Sei's plan, so that it would seem like Sei was only operating under the viscount's orders. Sei surmised that sense the king allowed the viscount to adopt Norbert, the king probably trusts Baranek a lot.

Baranek chimes in that he also consulted with Kamil and didn't want to distress the king over such a touchy issue, so asked Sei to report directly to Kamil. Sei gives a summary of his plan and what they've done so far, and the nobles object, stating that this was unnecessary because they had a saint but Kamil silences them.

Sei motions for the attendants to pass around the documents he prepared, explaining that these were the showings of the costs from the last 50 years from relying on a saint (including the cost of summoning and housing the saint for the rest of her estimated lifespan) compared to the projected expenses Sei predicted will cost the kingdom by using his method. Even with the margins of error, the differences were staggering, but the nobles with strong ties to the church get mad at Sei for putting a monetary value on the saint and claim that having a saint is a point of advantage for the country.

The nobles call for Sei to be thrown out, but before anyone can do anything Yua enters the chambers and demands to be taken home.

The truth about the saint
The saint is a figure that appeared 700yrs ago, claiming to be an angel of god. She purified the miasma at the time and married the king and became queen. It's the people who called her a saint. The miasma returned after her death and her descendants were told by an oracle where the next saint would be and go to retrieve her. And every 100yrs the cycle would repeat. Legend has it that every saint was pure-hearted and devoted their lives to helping the country.

However, Yua was also a girl from another world as well as a saint. She spoke up and said that she's willing to finish the purification process but that they had to send her back home right after. Julius is dumbfounded by her requests and tells her that she's the saint and that she'll be taken care of by his country for the rest of her life.

But this just troubles Yua further. She's always felt that this place was too fantastical and didn't really perceive that she might actually be stuck there her whole life. She breaks down saying that she finally realizes how dangerous this world was and how vulnerable she was in it. She doesn't have her family with her nor any friends or anyone who cares for her beyond her being a saint.

She also realizes that there exists a difference of common sense between her and the people of this world and isn't sure how much of that she can accept. She has no idea what will become of her after the purification is completed either and that scares her. Julius and the other nobles try to pacify her, telling her that she'll just be spending her life being a figure for the people to look up to, like all the other saints, but that just scares Yua even more.

She turns to Sei, the only one who could understand her, for help. Sei states that his plan will make the need of having a saint obsolete and Yua is relieved, but Julius gets irritated. But he also tells Yua that there's no way for them to return as of the moment either. Yua starts crying for her family and for them to let her go home. The nobles and prince are confused at her outbursts and try pacifying her again by telling her that she's what the world needs. Sei turns to instruct the attendants to give the other documents.

The nobles get mad again that Sei is still talking because they blame him for Yua's current disposition. Sei, however, blames them for being the cause of this mess. Neither he nor Yua ever wanted to come here in the first place, but they were dragged here against their will and without anything knowledge of what was happening. In other words, the nobles here committed an abduction. And Sei doesn't plan to let them have their way.

MC implements plan anti-saint
Sei unveils the fact that the other world summoning was a new magic developed by the Magic Court Division, shocking all the nobles. Isto rushes forward with Zoltan and tells everyone about the summoning magic they'd developed, which allows them to summon saints from anywhere, even other worlds, but currently is unable to be used in reverse and may only send them to another location, which might not be their world.

Sei proposes that the Magic Division be expanded and the funds be raised so that more research can be done on the summoning to allow saints (and Sei) to return and to study the issue of the miasma. The nobles get mad that Sei is interfering with the country's politics now, but Kamil rebuts that he gave Sei permission for this.

Another noble gets angry that Sei's proposal is neglecting the 3rd Knights Order but Sei replies that the knights only involved themselves in the practical applications of magic to fight monsters while the Magic Court Division focused on the research aspect, which makes them better suited for the job. Plus, the knights were needed for the expedition instead. Aresh then quiets any dissent from the knights (Sei tries not to look too closely at Aresh who has a dog-like "praise me, praise me" aura going on).

The nobles insult Sei for demanding too much even though he's the saint's extra and shout objections at him. Sei responds that he was brought here against his will and that his proposal was a benefit to the country by negating the need to spend so much funding to host a saint and by gaining profits from byproducts of magic research. The king summarizes Sei's proposal as they will be losing the saint, but in return, they will be gaining advance magic and technology, which Sei affirms. Sei adds that managing the miasma his way will also prevent further miasma damage to the country too.

Yua asks Sei what will she be doing then if they go with this plan. Sei tells Yua that she'll finish the purification and then they'll have to make do in the country until they have the means to go home. But Sei also knows he doesn't have the authority to tell Yua where she's allowed to stay and asks her what she wants to do. Yua states she wants to leave the palace, at least. She also wants to earn a living and suggests working with Sei but he turns her down immediately, but tries to smooth his rejection with the excuse that she's more suited to help people in other ways, with her healing powers and her title as saint (but Sei really does not want her to work in the same vicinity as him because it'd be so troublesome).

Luckily (sort of), Julius speaks to Yua. He's still bewildered by her refusal to staying the country's saint and her wanting to leave the palace. Sei suspects that Julius is also in love with Yua, but isn't in the mood to see such a scene play out in front of him. Yua only answers that she'll be returning all of the gifts he's given her but she'll be leaving right after finishing the purification (Sei has a funny moment of silently questioning her decision of not selling her gifts instead for living expenses but his face reveals his thought and Kamil notices and chuckles at him).

The ending of the main story
Sei is in the market and is commissioning for a few more abacuses from the boy/street vendor for the accounting department. Norbert calls out to him and asks him why he always disappears on Norbert. Sei teases him by saying that he wasn't shopping with Norbert but that they were just going to the market at the same time. But he relents and lets Norbert know about getting the abacuses and gives one to Norbert. Norbert wonders why but becomes dismayed when Sei says that he'll be teaching him how to use it so he can do his work, though Sei suspects that Norbert will be glad once he's able to calculate things faster. Sei's workload is increasing, so he's finally taking Aresh's advice and teaching others to take over for him so he doesn't have to do everything by himself.

Norbert informs Sei that his father received the title of Count after the whole miasma project, which means he'll be a son of a count and can get advantages like that. Sei teases that's nothing to be proud about, especially as he already has more advantages as a member of the royal family. But Norbert gets depressed and apologizes.

Sei thinks of Yua, who is starting to work at the church and plans to move there after the purification is over. The bishop is rumored to be a handsome, young man with connections to Kamil. This move quiets the nobles who are connected with the church from further objections to Sei's plan, while the other nobles are silenced by the financial reports, Yua's breakdown, and the king's order. The church is also happy because they have a connection to the saints but the palace had been monopolizing Yua.

Sei heads home to plan out what he'll need to get done for the upcoming expedition. Aresh has been busier lately too, so has been instructing Sei on what he's allowed to eat instead of providing Sei his meals. But he and Aresh plan to meet to reestablish the wards at Sei's dorm, which Sei is a bit embarrassed by but thinks it's the best place to do it since it's easier on his schedule than doing it at the inn. Sei leaves Norbert and heads to his room but he's blocked by a crowd of unfamiliar civil servants outside of his room. Sei wonders what all the fuss is about.

Sei squeezes through and reaches his room but sees that it's been completely emptied. Sei gets upset about his missing pens and documents and a voice behind him dryly questions his priorities. It's Aresh, who was waiting for Sei to return. Sei figures the disappearance of his stuff has to do with him and asks what's going on. Aresh smiles at Sei's reaction and answers that he bought a house and is moving. Sei gauges that to mean Aresh wants them to live together and Aresh reasons that since Sei still needs Aresh to survive, living together would be the best way to get things done.

Sei thinks Aresh is being too extreme but Aresh proffers that it's more efficient this way, isn't it. Sei glares at Aresh, who's in a good mood and retorts to please don't think that Sei will agree to everything with that reasoning.

Epilogue+extra/MC's new place
Aresh takes Sei to his new house, which is actually a large estate with a huge garden and is filled with servants. Sei's uncomfortable with the luxury at first and all the servants and not paying for anything, but then gets suckered in with all the free massages he's able to get There's a funny moment when Sei is introduced to his rooms and states he wouldn't be able to work in such a gorgeous place, but Aresh points out that Sei never cares where he works in the first place as long as he's able to work, to which Sei is unable to deny because he's then distracted by seeing his missing documents and starts working on them (though he does notices Aresh's hard look but pretends not to).

The do have a conversation of how Sei feels like living here. Aresh stresses that this house belongs to both of them but Sei feels like a houseguest in it. This leads to Aresh asking Sei about him home world and what kind of place he lived in. Sei begins to reach for his paperwork again but Aresh stops him to ask about needing to do the warding.

Sei states that there's 3 more days until the expedition and that they can do it the day before, but Aresh responds that it'd be easier on his magic consumption and scheduling to just draw it out for the next 3dys (i.e. it's more efficient~ ). This makes Sei agree.

The last chapter is a steamy extra where Sei is enjoying his free massage by the butler (Waltom) in Aresh's room when Aresh tells Waltom to stop and takes over. Sei's skeptical at first but Aresh only massages him. Sei received a pleasant surprise at how well Aresh gives massages and calls him a genius. Sei is feeling really good and is puzzled because he feels a bit hot. He puts 2 and 2 together and exposes Aresh of using magic on him. Aresh confesses and states that using recovery magic this way will help his body become more efficient . Sei is flabbergasted with Aresh's abuse of the word.

Aresh had a special non-magical oil prepared and uses it on Sei, while touching his skin directly now that he's no longer hiding the fact he's using magic. Too late for Sei because the massage has him feeling good but he's also feeling good in a different way. Aresh speaks in his ear and nibbles on it (forgot to mention but Sei really likes Aresh's voice). Sei trembles and Aresh softly laughs, asking Sei if he agrees that this is more efficient (yeah, it ends there ).

The End.

 

Ty very much for the detailed spoilers <3

Best ever spoiler summary ever! Oh and it has a sequel... church management owo hm.... i sense drama over the saint rights... and etc

Also @Zhen_Qing for spoiler bl tag train

 

OMG, thank you so much for your dedication to give us such a long detailed spoiler!

 

Did saint get back..? To her original world

 

Part 1

I’ve decided to do the spoilers for the sequel, 異世界の沙汰は社畜次第２　～教会運営支援計画～, which I’ve taken to translate to The Affairs of Another World Depends on the Corporate Slave 2: Church Administration Assistance Scheme.

Raws: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n3631fn/

To make this easier to follow, I divided the spoilers into chapters instead of dumping everything on you guys like I did in my last spoilers.

But let me know if I should’ve made a separate thread for this one (or if someone wants to make a separate thread for the sequel, feel free to use this if you want—just credit, please). Again, I don’t know Japanese, so this is my interpretation from mtling everything, which most likely means that there are a plethora of mistakes and missed nuances in this spoiler. I tried to follow the naming structure as close to the ones used by the translating group, Watashi wa Sugoi Desu, who are currently translating the prequel, but there are discrepancies/deviations too. With the new names, I used previously done translations from various sources I could find to come up with them.

As always, support the author if you can.

Spoiler: Quick info on the premise and characters from the prequel:

Seiichirou (MC—I’ll be calling him “Sei”) was accidently transmigrated to a magical world when trying to rescue a girl, Yua, who turned out to be a saint summoned to save the world from some kind of demonic miasma, which comes from a demonic tree in the Forest of Magic near the kingdom, Romani. As there was no way to return home, Sei demanded to be given a job by the people who summoned them and was placed into the Royal Accounting Department.

Sei, a normal albeit work-obsessed person, had adverse reactions to magic/mana, which was basically everywhere, and was helped by Aresh (ML), Captain of the 3rd Knight’s Order, who used physical contact (and sex) to slowly acclimate Sei to magic. Other stuff happened, but just know that Sei basically implemented a plan to abolish the saint system, enacted a new method to keep the miasma in check, and constructed more funding to go to the Magic Court Department to research a way for Sei and Yua to go home.

Now, Yua is working with the church and Sei is living with Aresh (and Aresh had already confessed to Sei), and Sei still works in the accounting department.


Important/noteworthy figures from the 1st novel:

Royal Accounting Department
Seiichirou Kondou – MC (30yo); deputy director of the royal accounting department, workaholic

Norbert – Sei’s friend and co-worker (18yo) in the royal accounting department; adopted son of Count Baranek and the not-so-secret illegitimate son of the king

Helmuth Somalia – director (42yo) of the royal accounting department; nice but a yes-man

Royal Knight’s Order
Aresh Indrak – ML; youngest son (22yo) of a marquis and captain of the 3rd Knight’s Order, which deals with magic and fighting beasts in the Forest of Magic

Orzif Rowder – vice captain of 3rd Knight’s Order; Aresh’s older cousin (27yo)

Radim Makovsky – captain of the 2nd Knight’s Order, which primarily act as personal bodyguards for the royal family and other important dignitaries (like the saint)

Royal Magic Court Department
Isto – genius mage (30yo); 2nd in command of the Magic Court Department; really scatterbrained but obsessed with magic

Zoltan – mage (40-50yo); Chief Secretary of the Magic Court Department and Isto’s (unofficial) caretaker

Royal Health Department
Cielo Querbes – head healer of the royal healing department

Other Royal Officials
Kamil Calvada – Prime Minister; on good terms with Sei (he and Sei are birds of a feather) but not much known about his bg

Royals/Saint
Yua Shiraishi – saint summoned from another world (16yo); naive but has a good heart; really wants to go home

Julius – dumb*ss first prince (20yo); gaga for Yua (not reciprocated); doesn’t like Sei

Nobles
Baranek – former viscount, now count; adopted father of Norbert and presumed to be close to the king

Aresh’s residence
Waldem – butler (around 60yo); an excellent masseur; formerly served Aresh in the main Indrak household

Myran – maid (around 50yo); also takes care of the garden when the gardener isn’t around; has a son and daughter (btw, author keeps switching her name between [ミラン] and [ミラ], so I’m going to stick with [ミラン] as it was used in the prequel)

Pavel – cook; young disciple of the main Indrak household’s former chef, who is the current owner of Aresh’s favorite secret restaurant from the prequel

Others
Sigma – child vendor (11yo); commissioned by Sei to make abacuses for the Royal Accounting Department

Spoiler: Prologue

This chapter mostly goes over what the plot was in the first series.

It’s been 2 weeks since Seiichirou (Sei) has moved into Aresh’s new mansion (and 2½ months since he’s transported to this world) and he still feels like a houseguest in it. Unfortunately, we learn that these two have yet to officially become a couple , but that doesn’t stop Aresh from always sleeping with Sei in his room (forgot to mention in the last series’ spoiler, but Aresh has a master key that allows him entry into any room in the estate). Sei thinks he does this in order to acclimate Sei to his magic.

It’s only been twice they’ve ever went all the way in sex and both times were for live-saving purposes (the quickest way to acclimate someone to someone else’s magic is via contact of semen through penetrative sex, but this should only ever be done when a person’s life is in danger and the person isn’t resistant to magic…… sure, whatever you say, yaoi logic). During their other sexcapades, they’ve never needed to go that far as only regular contact is needed for minor magic stuff (creating wards/regular healing/etc.). However, Sei is aware that Aresh also has feelings for him and isn’t hiding that fact. He’s also aware that he should give an answer, but this doesn’t change the fact that Sei needs Aresh to survive (technically, he could go work with the healing department to monitor his condition and have them assist in helping him develop a resistance, but according to Sei, that’s time away from his work, which would hamper his efficiency).

Scene switches to Sei at work, talking to Norbert (according to Sei, he seems like a flirt/party-boy. According to me, he seems more like a puppy ). Norbert is now able to do his work faster because of the abacus Sei taught him to use. Much to Norbert’s dismay, this makes Sei impressed by his work efficiency and he decides that he can hand Norbert more work.

By the by, Sei finally delegates more of his workload and doesn't take everything onto himself, especially as Aresh, who is quite familiar with Sei’s bad habits, diligently escorts him back home at the end of the workday everyday and takes Sei to bed early enough that Sei doesn’t have time to overwork himself at home. Plus, Sei’s anti-saint/pro-kingdom-do-your-own-work project is making a lot of progress. There’s still one more expedition to go to complete the purification process, as the second expedition, which just ended, is another success. To do everything else (putting up wards, dealing with property damage from the miasma, fighting leftover beasts, etc.) involves a lot of other departments, so Sei can’t do everything even if he wants to. But he still keeps track of everything and still has a heavier workload than anyone else.

Sei also worries over the new budget for the Magic Court Department, which is working on research that will send Yua and Sei back to their original home. This places an additional burden for Sei to start contemplating on what he should do if the Magic Court is successful in their research. Leaving will mean leaving Aresh and this job that he’s worked so hard on, but at the same time, the world isn’t a place that is easily safe for Sei to live in.

The chapter ends with Sei being summoned to Prime Minister Kamil’s office.

Spoiler: Chapter 1: Discussion in the Office

Sei and Kamil sit in the Prime Minister’s office, drinking tea (it’s low on magic so Sei can safely drink). They meet often nowadays because of the anti-saint plan (actually titled something like, “No Need for a Saint, Miasma Damage Control Counterplan”), which Sei proposes in the prequel (however, as far as “official records” go, Kamil and Count Baranek are the ones who came up with the plan and Kamil placed Sei in charge of it).

This chapter continues with some of the exposition from the prequel, including a blurb about how similar Kamil and Sei are, which lends into their ability to get along. Both are rationalists and workaholics and they respect each other’s work ethics and they have the same goals. Plus, they know where they stand with each other, which make communications between them easy. So, Sei considers Kamil to be a good boss, unlike a certain overly interfering Knight Captain (poor Aresh).

However, because it’s a lull period, Sei doesn’t know why he’s been summoned this time, and it shocks him when he finds out. Sei goes back to the accounting department, and Norbert welcomes him. Sei tells Norbert and the rest of the department that he’s being transferred to the church. Then he prepares to allocate the work for his leave.

Scene cuts and Aresh goes to confront Kamil in the Prime Minister’s office about Sei’s transfer. He demands to know why Kamil is transferring Sei. Kamil calmly answers that he asked and Sei agreed and then turns to Sei, whom Aresh has dragged along, to see if there was a misunderstanding, to which Sei replies no.

They sit for tea (again). Sei tells Aresh (again, apparently) that the church has yet to submit its budget reports, so Kamil is assigning Sei to investigate the matter. Aresh retorts that he’s aware but doesn’t understand why Sei has to be the one to investigate, since others in the accounting department could do so too. Basically, it boils down to efficiency: if the delay of the report is because of a need to revise the church’s income management, then Sei, with his ability and position, can devise a revision on-site if need be. At least, that’s why Kamil recommended for Sei to the job.

Aresh disagrees strongly, as the church hosts many highly magical artifacts and is a source of strong magics in itself. Therefore, this environment will be dangerous to someone like Sei, who has low resistance to magic. Kamil interjects that Sei has been to the Forest of Magic, to the source of the miasma, when assisting in the purification process, and he has been fine during all that. Aresh is silent but it’s because he’s not shameless enough to admit that he placed wards on Sei and slowly acclimated him to magic during the whole process .

Then Kamil reprimands Aresh for not being aware of his political position as a marquis and Knight Captain, as his blatant and unwarranted favoritism is likely to cause aversion from others. This is especially so as Kamil, being technically Sei’s boss, who also gave Sei his positions/promotions, is also noted as one of Sei’s political backings. But Aresh doesn’t have any professional ties to be Sei’s backer.

It’s another reason why Sei goes to Kamil for the anti-saint plan instead of Aresh. Everyone knows that Sei was living with Aresh and all of the knights and officials know that Sei is under Aresh’s protection. People even stop by the dining hall to observe them during lunch because Aresh still eats with Sei in the royal dining hall. Not to mention that Aresh completely follows Sei’s orders during the purification processes.

Kamil notes that people were speculating that the 3rd Knight’s Order is being threatened financially by the accounting department, which is why he wants to Sei to go away from the palace for a while in order for time to suppress the rumors and remove doubts about accounting department and the 3rd Knight’s Order (quick recap: in the prequel, Sei did a huge overturn of budget allocation and slashed a lot of frivolous funding after finding abuse of funds from multiple departments, of which the Knight’s Order was one of the biggest offenders for; later, he allocated more income to the typically underfunded Magic Court Department; and all this done in a span of less than 3 months—so, yeah, looks sus). Plus, the job will be a commuting one, and not lived in, so Sei won’t be there 24/7.

This causes Aresh to turn contemplative. He worries that Sei, an otherworlder, is being pulled into so many of his world’s conflicts and wants to be nearby in order to protect him. Additionally, Sei sucks at taking care of himself and has worrying work ethics. But at the same time, Aresh doesn’t want the rumors to turn into another incident of Sei being attacked again either. So, he ultimately gives in.

Unfortunately, Sei ruins the mood by exclaiming this was the perfect opportunity to get the church on his side. If he can do that, this will be the perfect way to advance the anti-saint plan and summoning magic research, which was the main reason why Sei is taking the job. The shouts from the Prime Minister’s office become the talk of every department that day ( omg, Sei, stahp it).

Spoiler: Chapter 2: Transferred to the Church

Sei gets out of the bath back at Aresh’s mansion (it’s one that has a lion head spout, which makes Sei think that all rich people have the same taste in décor no matter the world). Aresh is sitting dejectedly on the sofa in Sei’s room and Sei asks if he’s mad. Sei also secretly laughs because of how far from the image of a Knight Captain Aresh is portraying (instead of his usual all black, he’s giving off that classic bodice-ripper ML vibe—open white shirt, loose trousers, fresh out the shower). But Aresh calls him out for it and pulls him into his lap.

Aresh doesn’t think Sei dried his hair enough, so he uses magic to dry it. This stirs admiration in Sei, whose body is starting to heat up, and he let’s Aresh take care of him. Aresh sighs that he’s not mad, but wonders why Sei would go to such a place like the church when he gets affected by even a little wind magic. The church exudes the most magic after the Forest of Magic. Sei knows Aresh knows his reasons, so he doesn’t answer Aresh. And Sei can’t refuse the job anyways. So, Aresh tells him to be careful and kisses him.

A little bit about the religion in Romani: 90% of the people worship the god, Abrahan (could also be “Abrán” or “Abraham”), unlike in Japan, which people are either atheist or practice Shinto. However, the god in Romani is also more strongly connected with the people, as Abrahan is known to give oracles. The temple, where the Pope resides, is in a different location from the church.

The church, according to Sei once he's there, is magnificent and looks like it requires a lot of maintenance to upkeep. Its location is 30min away from the castle by carriage. However, his reports state that there are less than 20 people on-staff, including staff in the orphanages, though some locals also volunteer. In any case, it doesn’t seem like there are enough people to run the church. Thus, Sei believes that some of the work is probably outsourced. More troubling, the income reports from the previous year lumps everything together, so Sei can’t determine where funds go.

Sei feels the affects of the church’s magic the moment he steps through the gate, but calms himself by remembering he is thoroughly warded from the day prior. At the entrance, Sei meets a rude, (currently nameless) little boy (14/15yo Celio, which we’ll learn in the next chapter), who has a beautiful and neat face, with green hair and blue tsurime-type eyes. He interrupts Sei’s greetings, calling him an old man, and tells Sei that his time is being wasted by acting as a guide, so Sei should just hurry it up. He speeds through the door, prompting Sei to run after him.

He takes Sei, not to a parlor, but a small and simple room. Sei asks to see the priest in charge, but the boy snickers and retorts that the priest is busy. So, Sei asks to see the person in charge of accounting but the boy snaps that everyone is busy. Sei is skeptical as to whether the kid is just messing with him but dismisses it when he sees a bunch of people, who seem to be clergy members, listening by the door but none are stepping in.

So, Sei expresses that he’s here to conduct an audit on the church, emphasizing that it was via royal decree (meaning obstructing him would be treasonous). But the boy turns to the group at the door and everyone becomes very affronted with Sei for being some hoity-toity royal official who dares to throw his weight around and audit the church . Sei surmises that the people in the church are at odds with those in the palace but bucks up because it's his job (that and the church would be in trouble too if he couldn’t do his work).

Sei notes that the group is made up of young people and starts to wonder how much they really understand of what was going on. The group finishes off with claiming no one is going to cooperate with Sei, so he might as well do whatever for the rest of the term, and they rush off. This gives Sei some inspiration.

Next scene cuts to someone asking Sei what he’s up to, as Sei is found in a room that seems to be like a library. Sei has been going through the books/documents and organizing them to find out more about the workings of the church. It’s late, with the sunset tinting everything in red, including the man questioning Sei. His suspicion is reminiscent to Sei of his initial encounter with Aresh. The man was wearing pure white, which is only permitted to members of royalty and those with the ranking of priest and higher in the church. This is Sei’s first encounter with the priest, Siegward.*

* Okay, I’m super iffy with my interpretation of this part [and of the name, but that’s another matter]—another interpretation could be that only those with rankings higher than a priest can wear all white and Siegward has a higher ranking as he wears all white, but because the raws use “司祭” in reference to both Siegward and “priests” when explaining who may wear white, I’m guessing that it means that Siegward is considered a priest and that priests are allowed to wear all white.

Spoiler: Chapter 3: Sei Met a Priest

Sei introduces himself as an official from the royal accounting department and is asked what business he has in the church. Sei is confused if that means that the higher echelons of the church are unaware of the audit or if this particular person is excluded from this information. Sei observes the priest and notes that he’s as tall as Aresh, but thinner, and has swept-back, curly chestnut hair, giving him a neat and serious appearance. Siegward looks to be in his 20s as well, which means his priesthood is a considerable feat for his age. Though, Sei suspects his dignified bearings might be because he’s from some kind of nobility, which may play into factor to support Sei’s theory of Siegward being purposefully uninformed about the royal audit.

Sei explains why he’s at the church, but while Siegward is a bit perplex about there being an unsubmitted income/expenditure report, he’s more concerned as to why Sei is alone in the church’s archives. Sei answers that someone did greet him at the door but left Sei on his own to “do whatever,” which Sei took as permission to start his investigations ( sneaky). Siegward is even more suspicious and asks who is Sei’s guide. Sei figures that it is disagreeable for some stranger, even on claiming to be a royal official, to be found wandering around alone in the church without permission, but he’s also prepared to make the “grass-head” boy his scapegoat anyways . Sei describes the boy to Siegward, who identifies him as Celio.

Siegward takes a pocket watch-like object out and uses it to call for Celio to come (the device is a magically run telecommunicator and we get this excerpt on how the magic world uses “magic science” for their technological advances—smt Sei can’t use as he can’t use magic tho). Then Siegward turns to Sei and formally introduces himself and apologizes with an explanation that he was recently transferred from the branch office in another city and hasn’t been updated on the going-ons of the church yet. This surprises Sei, as this is the first time someone in this world has interacted with such civility towards him at the first meeting (Hey! What about Norbert? How can you just dismiss that cute doggo like that!? That poor baby~ Oh, and Helmuth too!).

They exchange a bit of formal apologies and Siegward explains that the archives are off-limits to outsiders. Sei thinks it's weird because the room was unlocked and unmanned when he came there but he only continues the apology and doesn’t inform Siegward of that fact. Sei asks who should he see to start the audit and Siegward tells him that he’ll need to check with the person in charge of the church's bureaucracy about that.

They are interrupted by the arrival of Grass-Head, who is very flustered and becomes even more stunned once he spots Sei. Then he pales (yep, that’s karma for you). Siegward lightly scold Celio for running and turns to verify with Sei of his identity. Of course, Sei feels no hesitancy in snitching.

Siegward asks Celio who gave him orders to act and Celio explained that Bishop Matthäus told him about the audit. Then Siegward starts interrogating and reprimanding Celio on his irresponsibility, which causes Celio to sputter and pout and stare blankly at Sei. While Sei tries to look on expressionlessly, Celio glares at him and starts berating Sei for leaving his room without telling anyone and not checking to see where he can go. Sei, still fully intending to use Celio as his scapegoat, tells him that Celio is the one to leave him alone and to tell him to “do whatever” and it's the first time he’s learned that there are off-limit places in the church. But all this just frustrates Celio more.

Siegward cuts in to chastise Celio for neglecting his duties as a guide and informs Sei that there are off-limit places in the church, but leaves it at that without specifying further.

Siegward tells Sei to leave, as it was late and Sei does, with Celio following him. Sei hears Celio muttering that he thought Sei left when he didn’t see him at lunch time, but Sei ignores him and heads outside. Celio is still sulking and tells Sei he doesn’t need to return but he’ll be monitored from now on if he does. Sei doesn’t comment and heads off but makes sure to keep the notes he took earlier with him.

When Sei gets home, Aresh is there and remarks that it’s late. Sei earlier agreed that his daily work schedule at the church will be the same length as it is for his job in the accounting department, but Sei is late because he lost track of time. In fact, if Siegward never interrupted, Sei would’ve been in the archives all night.

Before Sei could make any sort of excuses, Aresh cuts him off by asking about his health and condition. Then he asks if Sei wants to eat, which confuses Sei as Aresh knows he’s rarely interested in food. But after Sei refuses, Aresh declares that they’ll be taking a bath together so Aresh can redo the wards. Aresh takes Sei to the bath and then to bed, where Sei received a solid night’s sleep (sorry, no hanky panky scene).

Spoiler: Chapter 4: Second Day

Much to Celio’s displeasure, Sei greets him at the door of the church again the next day. And once again, Celio quickly heads into the church but without a word to Sei, leaving Sei to follow after on his own. This time Celio takes Sei to a conference room, causing the clergy members inside to leave the moment they see them. Celio remarks that it’s because no one has time for Sei, to which Sei wonders the truth of his speculation that the church was understaff. Sei reports as such to Kamil before but the church and state or separate entities, so the Prime Minister can’t interfere too much with its matters.

Celio complains that the church isn’t part of the bureaucracy, so Sei’s audit is just giving them extra unwanted work. Sei responds that there’d be no need for an audit if the church just turns in its income report, after which Celio questions Sei authority in telling an independent entity to hand in a report. With this, Sei surmises that Celio isn’t part of the church’s accounting department and requests to speak to the one in charge of that.

Celio answers that it’s Mr. Cipriano but he isn’t at the church. Then he mocks Sei for not knowing who’s who even though he’s in charge of this audit (much to Sei’s chagrin bc it’s true that he was too invested in numbers to learn the other relevant information). Celio explains that Cipriano left with Bishop Matthäus to visit another city for a meeting, so they won’t return for quite some time. Sei is perturbed as to why the church has no one in charge despite knowing that an audit is going to occur.

Celio takes Sei on a tour of the church. They arrive at a place that makes Sei feel uneasy, so he suspects it might have something that contains mana (and may actually be divine), but Celio explains that the place is magically warded to prevent mischief (so that’s why Sei felt sick).

The bell rings for lunch hour during the middle of their tour and Celio reluctantly invites Sei to lunch. But Sei politely declines as he brought his own lunch (since Sei wouldn’t be able to safely eat the food provided by the church), which makes Celio turn red and stomp away (tsundere).

Siegward finds Sei looking over documents again (this time, the church’s visitors log) and is suspicious as to whether Sei is taking documents without permission again. Sei gives a half-truth by saying that he has spoken to the other clergymen about the log and assures to Siegward that he’ll be sure to get expressed permission for future documents.

Then Siegward asks if Sei has eaten, to which Sei replies that he hasn’t, which causes Siegward to worry if Celio is neglecting him again. And Sei clears up that misunderstanding. Siegward takes Sei to a flower garden courtyard, as eating/drinking is forbidden in certain areas in the church.

The garden was created and maintained by the previous saint, whom Sei recalls from his readings is a nun from the countryside in Japan. Unfortunately, the beauty of the garden is lost on Sei as he is more preoccupied with considering the cost of its maintenance.

Sei begins to eat his lunch and Siegward strikes up a conversation with him. Siegward confesses that he was part of the summoning ceremony, which Sei presumes to mean Siegward is yet another of those people who only concentrate on Yua and don’t care much for him, especially as Siegward never met with Sei beforehand.

But Siegward surprises Sei again by giving him a formal salute and sincere expression of gratitude for his services and an apology for not greeting him earlier (to Sei, it was like a scene from a movie). Sei stands up and tries to convey that he is only here by accident and isn’t really special, but Siegward rebuts that as the ceremony was ordained by Abrahan, Sei’s presence has meaning. Siegward states that Sei may not be the saint, but he is still sent by god.

While Sei’s never been treated so favorably like this, he feels uncomfortable with it. This feeling gives Sei a sense of kinship towards Yua, with having imposed and seemingly out-of-nowhere expectations set upon them. Sei plans to discuss it with Yua the next time they meet.

Sadly, for Pavel (the one who made Sei’s lunch), Sei is unable to finish his meal and he gets another lecture from Aresh when he returns home.

Spoiler: Chapter 5: Working on a Holiday (Norbert POV)

In the accounting department, Norbert is being invited for drinks by a senior in the department, who is also a good friend and from a military family. But then, the senior notices the stack of papers on Norbert's desk and asks if it’s okay for him to go drinking. Norbert responds that there’s plenty of time to get things done since Sei won’t be back for a month (oof, way to jinx it ).

A voice in the office menacingly asks why Norbert thinks this is the only thing he has to do. The office quiets and Norbert slowly turns around… it’s Sei (dun dun dun!). Apparently, Sei is on holiday and he tells Norbert that he’s returning to make sure Norbert isn’t slacking off.

Actually, Sei is coming back to do more work since it’s his day off. For Sei, days off means days to do accumulated work at his own pace (ummm, no ). Norbert argues that days off means days of rest, but Sei retorts that then there’d be no time to finish off this extra work (Sei is overworked, and while he’s been delegating, much of his work can only be done by him). Norbert then tries the Aresh card (that Aresh wouldn’t let Sei do this) irking Sei, who scares Norbert by telling him to remember who exactly his boss is (poor Norbert). And no one hears Helmuth voicing that he’s the actual one in charge of the department (poor Helmuth ).

At lunch, Norbert warns Sei off from eating certain foods again, but Sei explains that his resistance, with the help of Aresh and Pavel, is slowly improving, and he’s able to handle food with a bit of a higher amount of mana/magic. He just needs to watch for stuff that has more concentration of it (he later scolds Norbert, who then asks him out for drinks, bc alcohol has high concentration of mana).

Norbert is disappointed because he wants to discuss what Sei’s been up to at the church. However, Sei has an extra reason to come back to the department, which is to speak with Norbert and find out more about the church.

More info on the church: in the Romani kingdom, once a person turns 6yo, they go to church to be baptized. At 18yo, a person has their coming-of-age ceremony held by the church. Seasonal offerings are made at the church for each festival, so the church has closer ties to the people than the royal palace (Grammar-wise, I can’t tell if this means that the people have a better relationship with the church than with the palace or that the church has a better relationship with the people than with the palace; the latter is definitely true, but I’m not sure of the former).

In regards to aristocrats, typically, the loyalty of the aristocrat is tied to their land; however, for nobles without land titles, their loyalty/support will go to either the crown or the church. In fact, most positions in the church are occupied by a noble. And only those from the orphanages or a person with an abundance of magic can work in the church (most nobles have high levels of magic, so their dominant presence in the church is inevitable). Sei suspects that Siegward must also be a noble.

He recalls that during his interactions with the church’s staff, there are also people who seem too crude to be aristocrats among the more obvious noblemen and he ponders if the church allows for commoners and nobles to mix. Norbert states that being in service of Abrahan is an honor but one that’s not for him.

Sei thinks Norbert is pretty shameless to say things like this out in public, but he also sees Norbert as a pretty tactless/straightforward person so isn’t too surprised (after all, Norbert can easily bring up taboo subjects around Sei while others are more wary of him—speaking of…). Norbert wonders and asks if Sei doesn’t worry that his coming to work will be found out by Aresh, especially when they are in a public space like the dining hall. But Sei smugly informs him that Aresh won’t visit the dining hall by himself in the first place (Sei lets him know that Aresh usually eats in his office if Sei wasn’t around). Norbert looks at him with dismay and notes that Sei must have really been concerned about Aresh finding out. Needless to say, Norbert receives a heavier workload that afternoon .

Spoiler: Chapter 6: Sei Received a Sermon

Sei’s return from vacation is met with sarcasm by Celio, who tells Sei he can stay away for longer. While the palace allows for holidays, other occupations do not (Sei is told this by the kid vendor who made his abacus, whom we learn is called Sigma). The church is also opened all year long and all members of the church’s staff both work and live in the same vicinity of the church.

Sei is preoccupied by trying to connect how the church, which is supposed to be receiving donations from nobles, is left in its current state. So, Sei only half listens to Celio and makes some noncommittal sounds, which frustrates Celio and he storms off and leaves Sei to his own devices.

Déjà vu happens because Siegward finds Sei working in a room in the church alone again. Seigward guesses what happened and remarks that Celio is very devout but not very honest with his feelings. Sei responds that he’s around that age (middle school age) and thinks that being raised in such a sheltered environment as the church also influences his biasness.

Then Siegward becomes skeptical and asks Sei if he was trying to shake off his surveillance on purpose, reminding Sei of a certain someone (coughAreshcough). But Sei denies this and states that Celio just doesn’t like him. For Sei, Celio’s presence doesn’t make a difference to his work.

Siegward admits that Celio has bad feelings towards aristocrats and the palace, to which Sei interprets to means the church must not have good feelings either since they are sending Celio to be his guide. Siegward informs him that most of the church’s apprentices are orphans of common birth and also don’t have a favorable impression of the palace. Sei, also a commoner, empathizes with them. Siegward is willing to change Sei’s guide but needs permission from the bishop, but Sei tells him not to worry about it. Then the noon bell rings.

Sei and Siegward go to the garden again for lunch. Siegward offers to let the church provide Sei meals but Sei declines and lets him know about his condition. Siegward is confused as why the saint, another otherworlder, seems fine, so Sei informs him that the saint is okay because she’s the saint in this world, so she must be blessed and can withstand the world’s magic. Siegward agrees but turn pensive.

However, Sei thinks he made a mistake in telling the truth because Siegward, a pious follower of Abrahan, may begin to see Sei as a heretic, as even the world is trying to kill him. While most people treat Sei with contempt or derision for being an “extra” to the saint, Siegward treats Sei with courtesy. But Sei thinks that this is because Siegward interprets Sei’s presence as part of his god’s will, and so, his treatment of Sei is akin to what should be towards “a person sent by god.”

But as Sei isn’t “blessed” the same way Yua is, it’s most likely evident that it means that he’s unnecessary to this world. Sei first worries that this will change Siegward’s attitude towards him, but he decides to hold off on his pessimism and wait to see Siegward’s response.

To Sei’s befuddlement, Siegward states that Sei must be an apostle of tribulation. While Sei is silently confused, Siegward goes on and declares that since Sei is here, it’s proof that it is part of god’s will. And so, Sei’s condition must also be part of god’s will. Therefore, it must serve as a “test,” which they must go through and train for to improve oneself to properly convey god’s will to the people.

Sei is still silent, but in the face of Siegward’s sincerity and zeal, he’s reminded of Isto, when he gets hyped up about magic research. Sei grows wary that a switch may have flipped in Siegward and definitely wants to avoid becoming involved in any potential “special training” he fears Siegward might be pushing for.

He attempts to head him off by claiming that he’s just a nobody that got caught up in this, but Siegward disagrees, stating that god won’t do something meaningless. Personally, Sei pins the whole idea and process of the saint-summoning on the priests/mages and that the only thing god did is show them an oracle (in other words, as Abrahan wasn’t the one to bring Sei, Sei’s presence was an accident caused by human error).

But Siegward believes that they (priests/mages) are only assisting in god’s will, as he believes summoning isn’t a human thing but something part of the divine. So, his logic is that saint summoning is god’s will, therefore Sei’s presence, produced by the summoning, must also be god’s will. Sei persists that it was really all an accident and Siegward counters that while something seems accidental to humans, it’s really the will of god. Seeing how adamant Siegward is about it, Sei gives up and agrees with him.

Spoiler: Chapter 7: Magic Court Department

It’s another holiday for Sei, so of course, Sei goes to work. Norbert bemoans that Sei is back in the accounting department again. Unfortunately for him, Sei hears and tells him he has a task for Norbert to do. Norbert isn’t happy because he’s been trying to decrease his workload and accuses Sei of making up a job just to get him back for complaining. He whines over why Sei is working on his day off and grumbles as to whether Sei doesn’t have anything else to do instead. Sei snaps that what he does on his own time is his own business.

Norbert changes the conversation and pesters Sei on how’s he getting along with the people at the church. Sei, recalling his interactions with the church members, says that Norbert is a simpleton but he might be a good subordinate, to which Norbert loudly exclaims embarrassment over (his coworkers silently mock him for completely missing the fact that Sei called him a fool but no one says anything bc he seems happy enough ).

3dys later, Sei is still poking around the church, while his investigation isn’t progressing much. Plus, the staff seems to hate/avoid him. Siegward, on the other hand, bumps into Sei practically everywhere nowadays. Sei supposes it’s good because this means that the places Sei runs into him (being the church’s main caretaker) are parts of the church’s operations, but at the same time, he’s also getting in the way of Sei’s work. Thinking back to Norbert, Sei considers himself blessed to be working in the Royal Accounting Department because no one meddles into Sei’s work, and better, no one had the ability to interfere with his job, unlike at the church.

Later, Sei has another day off, so he uses it to go to the Magic Court Department. As Sei’s the one to initiate the focus on the summoning/return magic research, he’s been doing what he can to support the research in the Magic Court, even getting Kamil to find more mages to hire. However, the number of new hires is low and it doesn’t help that the position seems to be one that requires some form of specialization yet is not considered prestigious.

Sei goes to the back of a large building cluttered with research materials and bodies (not like that; the mages are sleeping on the floor even though it’s in the middle of the day) to find Isto for his progress report. Sei finds him sleeping within a barricade of the largest stack of books and calls for him to wake up. Isto groggily does (barely).

Although he and Sei are the same age, Isto retains a touch of childishness about him, so Sei finds it hard to think that this guy is 2nd in charge of such an important department. Even more amazing, this guy is the best mage in the department. The person in charge, however, is only a figurehead who obtains his position through his family’s status. In any case, although magic is common and in use everywhere, the Magic Court Department is more like a glorified government office.

To Sei, it reminds him of his workplace back in Japan. Sei worked at an IT company and views the garbage dump of an office the Magic Court Department is to being similar to the IT company’s system engineers’ office before a delivery deadline. So, this place feels rather nostalgic to Sei, which is why he’s one of the few people outside the Magic Court who doesn’t mind visiting it.

Sei tells Isto again that he needs his progress report. He laments that while Isto’s singular focus on magic research makes him the best mage in the department, Isto is pretty much useless at everything else. Thus, while Sei put Isto in charge of research over the summoning/return magic, he also requires that Isto regularly updates him so Sei can properly manage the budgeting.

Privately, Sei thinks another mage would be better to work with, but Isto is the only one who’s able to devote himself to the research that Sei started, as other mages have other jobs to do too. Sei’s gripe comes from the fact that Isto insists that he isn’t able to write a progress report in the beginning, so they’ve set up a system where Sei has to visit Isto in order to write/organize the report that Isto will orally give instead. And because the average mage/accountant won’t understand Isto’s research/ramblings (he tends to go off on tangents), as well as Sei’s budgeting requirements, Sei can’t fob the task off to another mage/accountant either (Er, I mean, if you just took the time to train someone, I think you could, Sei).

It’s not only the technical parts that people have trouble understanding but also Isto’s way of speaking (disjointed ramblings). Plus, people are intimidated by the way Sei handles the job. Sei thinks that he’s only able to keep up with Isto because of the ease at which he’s able to compartmentalize and organize Isto’s words on paper while simultaneously using his abacus (which is a weird tool to people outside the accounting department). But that just makes the onlooking mages both impressed and cautious of Sei.

At the end of the report, Sei concludes that the department will need more funding, so he’ll have to figure out how to do that. There’s a funny bit with Isto misunderstanding that Sei is going to immediately give him money and he doesn’t listen when Sei refutes him. This winds up with Sei revealing that he’s working at the church and Isto tries to cajole Sei into bringing him back the Sacred Object (Sei says no ).

Sei leaves after saying his goodbyes to everyone and runs into Yua.

Spoiler: Chapter 8: Being Complained To

(This chapter goes into a bit of exposition from the prequel regarding Yua).

Unfortunately, Yua isn’t alone, as Crown Prince Julius is walking with her and he’s not all that ecstatic about bumping into Sei . While Yua and her former devotees (prince and guards) don’t like Sei, Sei is the only person in that world that Yua trusts 100%. And Sei, with his modern Japanese sensibilities, can’t just abandon Yua either. But while the knights can’t touch Sei because of the incident in the prequel, the same can’t be said about the prince.

Yua explains that she visited the accounting department to meet with Sei earlier but is told that Sei wouldn’t be in for awhile. Sei affirms and explains that he’s been temporarily transferred and only came in today because it’s his day off. Quietly, he also wishes that she wouldn’t visit him at his workplace without an appointment either (bc it’d interfere with his work). He lets her know that he’ll be at the department later that day.

Yua’s surprised that Sei is working on his day off but offers words of sympathy (omg, look at that character growth~). She wonders that if Sei is at the palace for his holiday, then the place he transferred to must be nearby. Sei affirms again and tells her he’s working at the church in the capital. Yua informs him that’s where she is going to school currently. Sei has almost forgotten about that, even though he is one of the people who helps persuade Yua to continue living in the palace (it’s safer) and commuting to a church to expand her understanding of the world and master her powers.

Sei thinks it should have been obvious as to which church Yua’s school would be, as the church in the capital is the most suitable for the saint.

Sei asks after her and she lets him know the church is treating her well and she is progressing a lot with her powers in the church. Sei hears from Yua’s voice that she sounds more fulfilled from learning in the church then she ever did while learning in the palace. He thinks Yua’s the type to learn better with practical work rather than theories.

He’s also flummoxed by the notion that those church members could be “kind” but concludes that it’s probably because the difference in their attitudes between a saint and a palace official. Yua even mentions that she gets a lot of help from a beautiful church apprentice, Celio (hmmm ).

She interrupts herself by wondering why she’s never seen Sei at the church though she’s there daily. Sei answers that it’s probably because he’s busy with paperwork and never goes near the chapel (where Yua would normally be).

Then Yua starts talking about the orphanages, which she became interested in after meeting the orphans during her healing sessions, when Julius, who’s been ignored this whole time, interjects to tell Yua that she only needs to concern herself with the purification process and doesn’t need to work (this lil’). But Yua cuts him off and lays it out to him real quick (you go girl!), proclaiming that she’s told him before but she’s doing what she wants to help others and that doesn’t mean being limited to just purification.

And before giving Julius the chance to speak, she lets out an aggravated sound and apologizes with a huff, thanks Sei, and turns and leaves them (OMG, I’m so proud!!! ). Sei notices some shadows following her and guesses that those are her guards.

Awkwardness ensues.

Sei puts on a face of pretending like he didn’t just witness anything and tries to take his leave, but Julius orders him to stay. Then he’s forced to listen to all of Julius’s grievances and complaints over Yua’s constant rejections and his inability to understand why. They’ve moved to the prince’s private rooms, and with the knights guarding the door, Sei’s stuck with no way out. With that, Sei doesn’t bother to hide his sighs and makes himself comfortable on the chair.

The prince demands that Sei tell him why Yua is more reliant on Sei than Julius. Sei notes that Julius is one of the rare few in this world who is saying his name correctly and thinks it’s Yua’s influence. But back to the issue, Sei thinks that it’s pretty obvious, but isn’t sure how to break it to Julius.

1. Yua wants to go home after completing the purification process.
2. The country wants her to stay and bear children (don’t think I mentioned but only children of the saint may receive oracles about the next saints).
3. Yua wants to avoid the people who dragged her into this world and never bothered to tell her the full truth.
4. The rulers of this country want to use Yua’s status as a saint as a banner for political gains.

Just these already makes it impossible for Yua to rely on the people here. But as for Julius in particular…

Sei’s aware that Julius idolizes the romance of the saint’s legend and wants to do the same as the past kings, who married the saint (along with the child-bearing aspect). And while it doesn’t seem like Yua realizes the full extent of Julius’ feelings, Sei thinks she’s somewhat aware that Julius’ regards towards her are because she’s the saint and that’s not something she’d be receptive of for the basis of a relationship. And Sei is definitely, 100% positively, certain that if Yua ever realizes Julius’ real intentions for pursuing her, she will absolutely despise him, especially with her modern Japanese sensibilities.

However, the dilemma of breaking this to Julius tactfully remains, and Sei looks around at any of the adults (maid/guards) in the room for help (as they should’ve told him smt already), but they all look away.

So, he only states that Julius and Yua have different values. Julius tells him to clarify because he knows that Yua’s from an aristocratic family too. Sei explains that while Yua may come from a wealthy family, nobility isn’t a real thing in Japan. Plus, their worlds were different all round. Inwardly, Sei is freaking out that he’s going to have to break it all down to spell it out to the prince. And no one’s willing to help him either .

Julius claims that it doesn’t matter, as Yua’s a saint, but Yua doesn’t seem to like the treatment she’s receiving as one either. After a long pause, Sei tries to be as diplomatic as possible to not trouble Yua or himself and responds that perhaps Yua is just being cautious.

Then Sei is, once again, forced to listen to all of Julius’s incessant whining, so he sits back and gives the occasional ambiguous response. *

Luckily, as Julius is the crown prince and so, has a busy schedule, Sei only had to endure this for half an hour.

* The story says that Sei is practicing the fine skill of the businessman, “Muddying the Tea” [お茶を濁す], which is what you’re doing when you try to fix something or cheat someone by making shambolic or suitable but evasive/ambiguous remarks on the spot. This doesn’t only apply to the business world either.

The concept is similar to “fake it ‘til you make it” and “pussyfooting around” but includes context of its use when you either don’t want to answer or you don’t know an answer but you still say something in order to deceive the other person from what you know/don’t know or to soothe them over.

The phrase originates from the way that amateurs had made green tea/matcha back when Japan had more of a class divide. Matcha was, and still is, difficult to authentically make and a person needs some actual skill to make it well. Back then, the real deal was expensive, so only aristocrats and monks could afford to learn to make it correctly. But for people who lacked this knowledge, they could “make” green tea by stirring the tea water and matcha powder (in such a way to make it “muddy”) so it’d look like real green tea. So, they’d be said to “muddying the tea.”

Both the phrase, “Muddying the Tea” [お茶を濁す], and the word, “unreasonable” [無茶苦茶], contain “tea” [茶], but while the phrase is about matcha, the “tea” [茶] used in the word “unreasonable” [無茶苦茶], refers to “tea” [お茶] (the polite form of “tea” [茶]), which covers all tea, not just matcha.

However, the construction of the word, “unreasonable” [無茶苦茶], is a contradiction.

The first part, [無茶], meant to serve bitter tea, while the latter part, [苦茶], meant to not serve tea, making it “unreasonable,” which also means to lack common sense/knowledge or to make a mess of.

So, this usage plays into the phrase, “Muddying the Tea” [お茶を濁す], bc you are being messy/unclear and obscuring the truth.

Spoiler: Chapter 9: Sei is Propositioned

The chapter starts by going over the information from the prequel about the 3 Knight’s Orders division, but includes a color scheme for each Order, which also distinguishes each department’s official, with the cloaks of their sanctioned ensemble: 1st-red, 2nd-green, 3rd-black (Magic Court-purple, Legal-blue, Accounting-brown).

This is because the 2nd Knight’s Order Captain, Radim Makovsky, is paying Sei an unexpected visit (btw, his surname from the raws directly translated to “Makovská”, but I think that’s the female version of the surname bc of its ending—let me know if I’m wrong—so I changed it to “Makovsky”). Poor Sei isn’t able to refuse him and has to leave his planned overwork behind, which is already being neglected with the interference of Julius.

They head towards the parlor near the knight’s quarters, and Radim notices that Sei seems uneasy. He assures Sei that none of the knights will mess with him, however, while Sei still holds the memories of being assaulted, his main concerns are over the location. Since this is the knight’s quarters, the chances that Sei can be caught, being at work on his day off and even wearing his official uniform, including the designative brown cloak, by a certain 3rd Knight’s Order captain is high. Sei fears that if Aresh finds him, Sei might get in trouble and worse, be forced to take an actual day off .

Thus, Sei tells Radim to get to the point to make their meeting end quickly. Radim, understandably, misunderstands this as Sei not liking to be around knights. Radim is apologetic but gets straight to it. As the one in charge of the 2nd Knight’s Order, who is directly responsible for protecting the royal family and other important dignitaries, Radim requests that Sei acts as a mediator between Julius and the saint.

In response, Sei states he’s leaving.

Meanwhile, Orzif is also heading towards the knight’s quarters and notices an out-of-place brown cloak, which stops him in his tracks. He figures it must be Sei but can’t quite remember his name, which makes him ponder it aloud. This catches the attention of a certain 3rd Knight’s Order Captain, who overhears Orzif while he’s headed towards the training grounds.

Aresh asks Orzif why he’s talking about Sei. Orzif starts to answer but remembers that he’d already had a revelation that Aresh, whom Orzif knows from the prequel to be in the midst of his first love, is most likely targeting Sei, based on Orzif’s observations. So, Sei’s meeting with Radim is not info he wants to share with Aresh and Orzif decides to play dumb. It’s during work hours, true, but Orzif thinks it’s best to avoid potentially causing any conflict between captains in the Knight’s Orders.

Instead, Orzif states he was wondering if Sei will be going on the next expedition. Aresh answers that the last time was because of pressures from above, but since Sei’s presence isn’t necessary and it’s dangerous for him, Aresh won’t let him go to the Forest of Magic again. Orzif silently questions if Aresh even had that authority but nods along anyways.

In order to leave the area quickly, Orzif asks Aresh to come into his office to check out some paperwork for the next expedition. Aresh agrees and proceeds to go there, but then, he stops and turns to Orzif to say that only Aresh is allowed to call Sei by his given name and that Orzif should only address him by his last name. Orzif just feels disgusted at how nauseating Aresh is being . *

* Actually, the raws state that Orzif is “vomiting sand” [砂を吐く]. It’s an internet slang to indicate when someone witnessed an overly sweet romance. “Sand” [砂] in this context is in reference to “sugar”/ [砂糖]. So, the phrase is actually “vomiting sugar.” I think it’s similar as the saying something is “so sweet it makes me nauseous.”

Spoiler: Chapter 10: Giving a Welcome

Sei returns to the mansion in low spirits because of all the work he’s missed from being interrupted so often. Myran is there to greet him and hang up his cloak (Sei tries to be as self-sufficient as possible in the mansion but has been defeated by Myran’s excuse for it being her job—he’s weak to the word “work”). Sei shakes off his slump and focuses on his work at the church instead.

Sei wants to get his material together before the bishop and accountant come back, but he’s being obstructed by the fact he’s not familiar with the politics in the church and how uncooperative everyone is being. He’s also worried about any opposition from the nobles and thinks part of the uncooperative attitude by members, like Celio, might be directed by a member of the nobility in the higher ups, since most of them would be nobles.

Sei also wonders if nobles in the church are cut off from their families because he recalls that Siegward never gave him a family name when he introduced himself. He asks Myran, who’s worked a long time in a ducal household, and she replies that it varies, as those in the church can’t be beholden by any one family. But even then, those nobles may not be completely cut off from their families either (they’ll still receive support). And sometimes it’s a temporary thing, bc some nobles send their kids to join the church for disciplinary training too (Sei recalls seeing a lot of luxurious rooms from his past wanderings). Since Sei can’t find out more on his own, he decides to ask Kamil. However, Kamil, as Prime Minister, is hard to get ahold of, so Sei isn’t sure if he’ll be able to schedule a meeting with him.

But then Waldem, the butler, knocks on the door to announce Aresh’s arrival. Sei notes Aresh came back early and that Sei lucked out because he was able to get out of his uniform before Aresh’s return. Waldem requests Sei to come to greet Aresh and Sei leaves with him.

However, when Sei gets to the entrance and greets him, Aresh is immediately suspicious of Sei’s behavior. He asks what’s Sei’s planning and Sei tells him he’s being rude and asks what Aresh must think of him. Aresh responds that Sei is an excessive workaholic, so Sei thinks to not to greet him in the future, but he also thinks Aresh is being contradictory because he goes to stroke Sei’s hair and seems pleased.

Sei, a person of Japanese modesty, moves away, making Aresh’s eyebrows furrow. But then Aresh acts like nothing happens and casually tells Sei that he has documents for the next expedition and asks if Sei wants to see them. Sei is ecstatic ( smooth, Aresh).

The expedition is scheduled but not everything is finalized. Sei checks through and is disappointed to note that his request for mages and architects to be sent to wait at a nearby village to put up the barrier after the expedition was rejected (only disappointed bc it would’ve made things cheaper). Aresh points out that there aren’t enough mages to handle both the purification and the barrier at the same time. Sei wonders if that means that they’ll need to plan another trip just for the barrier.

Even though the funding for the Magic Court Department is increasing, the personnel isn’t. Not everyone is able to become a court magician because the person needs to be above a certain magic level to be so. Sei thought everyone could use magic, but both this and mana resistance vary among individuals. So, someone like Aresh, who possesses high specs and great control in both, is very much admired.

Aresh explains that having a lot of magic power requires a lot of discipline, otherwise, someone’s powers could go out of control. This is why nobles send their children to the church, which offers training for magic and is heavily warded.

Sei continues reading the documents but feels something soft on his neck. He’s in Aresh’s lap on a sofa (a condition for being able to read the documents), and Aresh is placing his hand near Sei’s inner thigh . Aresh claims that’s he placing wards on Sei and proceeds to do so. Sei gets hot and suggests doing it orally, but Aresh shakes his head and tells him to turn around, making Sei straddle his lap.

Aresh holds onto Sei, while Sei worries that he’s too heavy and tries (and fails) to get up. Aresh assures Sei that it’s not a problem and holds Sei in place until he relaxes. Then comes a very NSFW frottage scene .

Spoiler: Chapter 11: Sei Visits the Orphanage

Sei wakes up in Aresh’s arms the next morning. He feels comfortable/safe in his arms but then backtracks on those feelings. He finds Aresh to be too strong an opponent, who seems to have a grasp on Sei’s weakness for his love of efficiency and is probably targeting that aspect to get Sei to lower his guard. But Sei still holds onto his moral compass and knows that such an aspect isn’t good to form the basis of a relationship around.

Sei tries to count prime numbers to calm down and Aresh wakes up. Sei reflexively gives him a morning greeting in response to Aresh’s and notices that his already attractive voice is even deeper and more languid than usual. And Aresh gives Sei a kiss.

Later, Sei berates himself for getting caught up in creating a scene of a morning for lovers. He tells himself to get a grip while on his way to the church. The next expedition is in 6dys and it may not be the last one, so Sei has a lot of paperwork to do for that and for the barrier process that should come after.

Plus, there’s a severe lack of personnel for everything. While Sei is sure Aresh will agree to make the 3rd Knight’s Order help out if he asks, he’s aware that this would create a power imbalance. Sei believes his transfer to the church is Kamil’s way of both avoiding that and telling Sei to find other resources. This is because, while the Magic Court doesn’t limit themselves to just nobles, high magic levels require discipline and is done at an early age. Therefore, he’s more likely to find potential recruits at the church, where kids go to learn how to control their magic.

However, he’s skeptical of his success in this because the Magic Court doesn’t pay as well as working directly for a noble. Plus, while the budget is increasing, it’s not by a lot because of pressure from the Knight’s Orders. Sei wants 6 people on rotation for his barrier plan but can’t use people from the Magic Court, so he’ll need to find new people to hire.

Sei arrives at the church and Celio is there to give his usual charming greeting. Sei remarks that Celio seems busy and Celio blames Sei for that. Sei won’t mind it if Celio leaves Sei to his own devices but it seems that Celio is being pushed into monitoring Sei. So, Sei pays him no mind and gets on with summarizing his research material.

Suddenly, a 20yo church member barges in and asks Celio why he isn’t helping out at the orphanage. Celio responds that he’s monitoring Sei. The other guy just snickers and tells Celio to leave Sei by himself, since he’s just an extra that can’t do anything anyways. He tells Celio that it’s his job to work at the orphanage anyways.

His demeanor is irreverent and Sei wonders if he’s a member of nobility. Celio, who always shows a bad attitude to Sei, isn’t able to say anything back and agrees and leaves. The guy insults Sei again and also leaves (jackass).

Of course, Siegward finds him alone once again. He looks troubled and states that he’ll get Celio. Sei asks to join him and Siegward is suspicious for his reason. Sei answers that the orphanage is also subject to inspection and Sei hasn’t seen it up close yet. Plus, it’s more efficient if Sei does his inspection where Celio also needs to do his job. So, Siegward agrees.

From what Sei can see, those in the orphanage range from infancy to about 13yo. He verifies that there are 28 orphans with Siegward. Sei also asks about requirements for graduation, which he learns is done at 12yo, after which, the child can become an apprentice of the church or be sent to get a lived-in job the city. Sei asks more questions to Siegward, who tells him he should act more like an apostle, but Sei refuses and continues to pester him.

Sei learns that most orphans who go to live in the city become craftsmen. Sei is surprised because he thought that most of the orphans possessed high levels of magic and wonders why they aren’t getting jobs to make use of that. His question causes a strange change in Siegward.

Siegward’s eyes glow and his face loses color. Sei feels a sudden spike in magical energy too, even through his wards. Siegward responds that he doesn’t know what Sei’s heard, but many of the orphans are only orphans in name. In reality for some, their magic is too great to allow them to live with their parents, so they’re forced to be sent to the church, where Siegward helps to teach them to manage their magic in order to live a normal life.

Sei, feeling that this matter must be really touchy, backs off and changes the subject to ask Siegward what activities are done at the orphanage. Siegward follows the mood and calms down, retracting his magic. He tells Sei to ask Celio about that. Speaking of, he sees Celio running over to them.

Celio is not pleased to see Sei, as per usual, and asks why he’s at the orphanage. Sei responds that since Celio is supposed to be watching Sei and has his tasks to do in the orphanage, it’s easier for both of them if Sei does his job at the orphanage too.

Siegward remarks that it should be Frederick’s job today (the a-hole from before) and tells Celio to just come to Siegward the next time Frederick tries to foist his job onto him. Sei privately thinks that’s never going to happen because Celio probably feels it’d make things worse. Siegward then says his goodbyes and tells Sei to mind himself before leaving.

Celio turns and glares at Sei, demanding again to know why he’s here. Sei states he’s already explained but Celio retorts that Sei is lying because there’s no way a royal official would come to the orphanage. And even if Sei is an otherworlder, he’s not like the saint. But then a voice cuts off Celio’s tirade.

It’s Yua, who’s come over to greet Sei.

Spoiler: Chapter 12: A Plan

Yua runs over and greats Sei with a smile, while Sei is a bit envious of her youth, being able to run without any shortness of breath (that’s why he should follow Aresh’s advice to take care of himself and work on his stamina30 is no age for turning geriatric). She states her surprise at finally being able to see him at the church and asks if there was something going on. Sei responds that he’s just conducting an inspection and questions what Yua’s doing at the orphanage (and not in a classroom or an area that requires her saint-powers).

Yua replies that she’s helping out in the orphanage too, which perplexes Sei, as he operates the mindset of “right place for the right person.” He feels that it’s wasteful for Yua, the saint, to be at the orphanage when there are other areas that will need her and others are available to work in the orphanage (Sei's boomer side is showing ). But he reminds himself that he’s dealing with a minor with no employment obligations.

Yua goes on to talk about the orphanage but before she can really start, Celio thrusts his hand in between them and exclaims that he thought Yua and Sei didn’t get along. Neither Sei nor Yua have a clue where he gets that from, astonishing Celio.

For Yua, at first, she is so overwhelmed by being in a new world that she doesn’t give much thought to Sei at the time. Now though, she sees him as a reliable adult from her home world. For Sei, he’s never been on bad terms with Yua. He thinks she can be troublesome but not to the point that he can hate her. Further, Sei welcomes Yua’s status as a saint, a very useful tool, as long as she listens to him and doesn’t do anything unnecessary (…Sei's villain side is showing ).

So, neither of them has ever had a problem with the other. But Celio pales when he hears this. Celio stutters that Sei’s a hindrance to the saint and Sei wonders if he’s referring to his anti-saint plan. But Yua gets more baffled and presses Celio on why he thinks she and Sei don’t get along. Celio starts saying something about the saint’s significance being diminished, but Yua interjects that she hopes that’s true because then she’ll be able to get back home easier.

Celio is completely frozen and Sei now understands why he’s so particularly despised at the church. But he does clarify for Yua that they won’t be able to go home as long as there is a lack of progress in the summoning/return magic research. But Yua assures him that she understands and that she’ll assist with the research once the purification process is complete.

With her drive ablaze in front of him, Sei contemplates whether it’d be safe for Yua to meet Isto, as both can go a bit overboard when it comes to magic. He’s wary that the two of them combined will cause more chaos than anything else. But that’s a matter to be dealt with later, as there is a job Sei came here to do.

Sei asks if Yua’s been to the orphanage often and she states that it’s her 4th visit. Sei recalls their last conversation of Yua’s interest in the orphanage. Then Yua remembers what she wants to tell Sei earlier. Sei, hoping to learn a bit more about the church, encourages her to go on.

Yua expresses her dissatisfaction and begins to criticize that the church’s education for the orphanage is lacking. They aren’t even being sent to the school but instead are just doing housework every day. She worries that this is a hindrance on their future. She’s seen that, mostly, the orphans take care of themselves with only a bit of outside help from the church and locals. Every day, they’re busy with looking after each other and maintaining the orphanage.

Sei tries to interrupt but Yua continues that she understands that not everyone can go to school, but she thinks it’s a pity that they don’t even have the opportunity to from such a young age just because they lack parents. Sei, however, considers people like Sigma, the child street vendor, and other children in the city who only have a single parent. They also work rather than go to school. Sei believes that the situation in this country can’t be compared to Japan.

However, Sei agrees in part with Yua, in that there lacks opportunity/freedom of choice for these kids. He considers that to be wasteful. It’s a waste of potential talent and a loss for the country that these people fall by the wayside just because of their birth or upbringing. Sigma, for example, is a gifted craftsman, and the orphans have high levels of magic.

Yua ends with wondering if there’s anything she can do to change that. Celio remarks that the saint is kind but that it’s an impossible situation. He tells her that the orphanage has no money or time to spare. Yua presses that Celio once told her he wanted to pursue a career path when he was younger though. She claims that others have dreams as well: wanting to be a mage, wanting to work in the castle, wanting to be a knight, etc. She goes on with saying that it’s a strange thing that people can’t pursue their dreams just because of birth and upbringing.

Celio remarks that the saint’s world must be very peaceful, but Yua refutes by saying that wars, discrimination, and orphanages exist in her world too, but that people are still able to have the opportunity to study and pursue their dreams. So, she wants to enact that sort of change here too.

Celio tears up, denying that such a thing can happen in this world , but Yua states that even if the change can’t happen all at once, it’s still worth considering.

Sei, on the side making notes, speaks up and gives an idea. He thinks that the church should host a type of private school for those who can’t go to regular school. Sei hopes that if this can be done, public trust in the church will rise, which will result in more worshipers and more helpers for the church.

Celio is dismissive but Yua is excited. * But Celio lists all of the factors that will still need to be considered: high costs, lack of personnel, overcrowding, plus the orphanage still needs maintenance.

* Yua says this is like the “blue sky classrooms” [青空教室], which is a reference to how during and post-WWII, Japan didn’t legally disband schools, so in cities where most buildings were heavily destroyed, including school buildings, the city would host “classrooms” in an open area and teach students from all over the city until buildings could be rebuilt.

The same method was implemented after the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995, in which an earthquake that measured at 6.9 caused damage to around 400K buildings and produced 300 fires and had aftershocks that lasted days after.

And it was also used during the opening of the Koa Institute of Technology, now Chiba Institute of Technology, which started classes before buildings were fully constructed, so the college hosted classes in shrines, temples, riverbeds, coffee shops, etc. However, this method of teaching was so well-received that the school continued hosting such classes even after moving to Chiba.

However, Sei proposes a shift system to deal with overcrowding, maintenance, and costs of material: the children can divide into 3 groups and the groups take turns doing the chores and going to school. Since the world operates on a 6-day system, it’s enough for people (new to studying) to study twice a week instead of everyday. Plus, the school material can be shared among the 3 groups, reducing the costs by 1/3. Sei thinks it’s enough that the private school at least teaches the basic (simple 3-R’s: reading, writing, arithmetic).

Celio tries to object weakly, but Sei overrides him by stating that learning the basics will open more doors and jobs for the kids. Plus, if any kid is found to have talent for learning, they could be sent to a regular school on a scholarship program. Sei gets excited about this aspect, as this could get the royal family invested too. Then, those excellent students will become grateful to the royal palace and are more likely to consider working for them. ** He plans to talk with Kamil over it.

** Sei says that this would be “buying Aota” [青田買い], no the “Hikaru Genji Plan” [光源氏計画], and Sei mostly uses both in the same way.

“Buying Aota” [青田買い] means to buy rice in advance by estimating the yield before the rice grows.
“Aota” [青田とは] is a lush but ungrown field of rice. In a business setting, it refers to securing excellent students for hire before they graduate.

But Sei takes it a step further and calls his idea, the “Hikaru Genji Plan” [光源氏計画], which is basically another word for…

It’s wife-husbandry.

The reference comes from The Tale of Genji, in which the titular character kidnaps a 10yo girl from her life of poverty for the purpose of raising her to marry once she’s of age. Omg, Sei Yeah, he’s rather spot on with that one.)

Poor Celio can’t stop the united front of Sei and Yua, who are hyped up into planning for this. They run off to find the kids in order to group them and almost leave him behind. Celio calls out that Sei doesn’t have permission, but Sei, not really listening, just tells him to hurry along because he’s busy. Celio ends up shouting that he still hates Sei but no one is there to hear him.

Spoiler: Chapter 13: Progress Report

Sei finally has a long-awaited meeting with Kamil in his office. They exchange brief pleasantries and Sei gives his progress report. Sei informs him of the strange absence of both the church’s accountant and the bishop, but Kamil hints that he planned for their leave so Sei can have the freedom to snoop look around by himself. Kamil informs Sei that he’s received word that they’ll be returning the next day and asks for his impression of the church.

Sei insinuates that he believes there’s most likely an embezzlement case in the church but he’s unable to get any exact numbers to Kamil to look over. However, based on the list of names in the visitor’s log and the number of those names being nobles, plus the estimated donation amount Norbert informs Sei is the usual to give, Sei deduces that there should be more than enough funds to support the church’s operations, yet the church’s maintenance is lacking.

Sei tells Kamil that he doesn’t know where the money is going but he thinks that the orphanage, church apprentices, and the priest are unrelated to this issue. Kamil’s eyebrow twitches at the mention of the priest and Sei asks if he knows Siegward. Kamil responds that Siegward, with his family background, high level magic, good looks, and a devotion that makes him hard to deal with, is a well-known figure among the aristocracy. Sei understands that even without his background, Siegward must be notable just for having a high level of magic, which makes the situation with the orphans even more mysterious.

Kamil explains that magic requires a lot of special knowledge and skill to handle, which is why children with a lot of magic are sent to the church. Kamil reveals that the church is used to help reduce the children’s magic, shocking Sei. From the look on Kamil’s face, Sei thinks that this fact was common knowledge.

Kamil then inquires after Sei’s health and how his magic/mana resistance is going. Sei answers it’s been better and Kamil jokes that this is a good thing, especially for a certain overly devoted someone, as much so as Siegward, whom Sei has reined in. Sei, exasperated, asks if he’s comparing Aresh to a horse, as he’s talking about reins. Kamil, holding back a laugh, states that Aresh is more like a silent beast, so Sei’s more like a chain.

Then Kamil turns serious and says that no matter Sei’s feelings, Sei has become a “chain” to Aresh, but unlike the Siegward’s “chain”, Sei is tangible and vulnerable. Kamil states that he’ll keep an eye out for Sei, but that Sei needs to take care of himself and be more cautious.

(ngl, I’m certain there was some wordplay in this joke Kamil exchanges with Sei and am equally certain that I missed it, but I think this is what they meant.)

Sei understands that people are starting to notice Aresh’s unusual interest in Sei, an otherworlder with no powers. And Sei has been so caught up in working that he hasn’t really established himself in this world. It’s the other reason why he decided to accept this church investigation request from Kamil. He wants to show he can stand on his own ground without Aresh.

They move on to talk about Sei wanting to open a private school in the church. Sei says it isn’t a big deal, just a way to teach the 3-r’s for free to anyone (mainly the church’s orphans). Sei suggests this will improve the church’s image, as well as the image of the noble who donate to the church. Plus, it’ll attract more visitors and make the church more open to the people. It’ll also make subsidizing church activities easier. Additionally, having more common people know how to read/write will reduce crimes and increase job prospects, which will raise the standard of living. Further, they’ll be able to utilize the talented people among the common folk for government positions by offering scholarships.

Kamil’s impressed that Sei’s even thinking of the country’s education. Sei credits the saint for the idea and let’s Kamil know that he’s working on the estimated costs (Kamil calls it Sei’s specialty), as he knows most reforms fall through because of financial issues.

But then Kamil pauses and focuses on Sei. He asks Sei what he wants to do with this country. It’s unspoken, but his question is asking what Sei goal for this country that has abducted Sei and a fellow but underage countryman to become its saint but also has neglected Sei and has been dangerous for him to even breathe in.

Sei doesn’t have an answer. He’s sure someone like Yua would say that she’d want to make a country where everyone is equal or one that no one suffers from starvation or the miasma. But Sei’s got nothing. He doesn’t possess any sense of altruism for this country and really has no loyalties to it at all. He just has a job and he wants to get it done.

Instead, he answers that the Magic Court is understaffed, which is impeding on the research for the summoning/return magic. This plan will give them a source for more staff. Commoners can work in the Magic Court, but they still need some education (even Isto had some schooling).

Kamil is speechless and sighs at his response. He also gives a dry laugh. Sei’s never witnessed him show such an unsophisticated/childish tone and expression. But Sei returns to his response to say that it’d be a loss to the country to waste potential talents. He reasons that even if the government funds for 100 commoners to go to school, if even 1 of them joined the Magic Court, it’d be a worthy investment. In Sei’s company-oriented mind, people were also resources.

Kamil leans back and agrees that a country can’t exist without people, so it’ll be a loss to not use them effectively. Kamil chuckles again. Sei’s unsure of Kamil’s reaction but is relieved to hear the Prime Minister is supporting his plan.

Kamil smiles at Sei and says that it’s a shame and that he apologizes. Sei asks for what, worried that there was something wrong with his plan. But Kamil gives him a look Sei’s never seen before and remarks that if it weren’t for that black beast, he would’ve taken good care of Sei. Sei tries to ignore the look of desire Kamil directs at him and dryly laughs that he’s thankful for Kamil’s regards ( I knew it! I knew he liked Sei ).

Spoiler: Chapter 14: Discovered

Aresh questions Orzif if he’s checked the supplies for the expedition. Orzif nods but clicks his tongue at Aresh’s change of attitude regarding these kinds of matters. Orzif muses that he hopes the miasma problem will be dealt with completely this trip and Aresh agrees. Orzif can’t believe the change Sei has brought forth in Aresh, who used to do job without care, especially of the trivial details or of any wishful thinking.

The expedition is scheduled for the day after the next. Orzif informs Aresh that the team going is planning on resting the day before the trip and asks what Aresh plans to do. Aresh gives a short and simple response that Orzif notes is an aspect of Aresh’s that still hasn’t changed. Aresh will be resting as well.

They head to the training grounds but Orzif remembers that the group is having a drinking party that night and suggests Aresh join. Aresh rejects him, which Orzif isn’t surprised by. He guesses Aresh wants to go home asap, as he’s been leaving as early as possible these days since he’s bought the mansion. Orzif thinks Aresh acts like a newlywed, as he knows that Sei lives with Aresh. He doesn’t get Sei’s appeal but prefers that things remain peaceful and that his job is going smoothly.

Suddenly, Aresh stops and turns around. Orzif calls out to him but Aresh quickly walks off. He follows Aresh and they hear voices at the end of the corridor, where they spot Radim and Sei. Aresh rushes over and pulls back an unsuspecting Sei. Sei looks back at him with a frown and Orzif thinks that he’s the only one in the kingdom that would look at Aresh like that.

Aresh asks what Sei is doing here (Sei’s in his uniform on his day off). Sei fumbles for an answer and denies it when Aresh inquires if he’s working on his day off. Sei straightens out and informs Aresh that he’s here to give his progress report to Kamil as part of his new job and wore his uniform out of formality.

For those who don’t know Sei, it seems like the truth, but this is Aresh. He points out that the 2nd Knight’s Order’s budget report is in Sei’s hand and that has nothing to do with the church. Sei replies that Radim had handed him the report. He turns to give Radim a look and after a short deliberation, Radim agrees with Sei’s words that he had spotted Sei and decided to use this chance encounter to give his report.

Alas, their deception falls through with the sudden arrival of Norbert. He calls to check if Sei’s received the 2nd Knight’s Order report and came to pick Sei up as he’s been taking so long getting the report. He also reveals that he’s left the documents Sei requested that morning on his desk (oh, Norbert~).

Of course, there is a lecture later while they’re in the carriage to go home. Sei tries to defend himself by saying the progress report was real. Also, since he’s in his uniform and going to the palace anyways, it’s no big deal to do a couple of extra tasks. Aresh retorts that he shouldn’t have gone that day anyways since he was on vacation. The lecture continues even after they’ve eaten and bathe.

They’re in Sei’s room and Sei asks Aresh if he’s ready for the expedition. Aresh says it’s their third trip, so everything’s been prepared already by the knights. Sei recalls the only time he went with them and how Aresh rejected all of the clothes he picked, making him wear an outfit similar to Aresh’s and sit on the same horse in front of everybody. For Sei, it was an embarrassing memory.

Sei presence isn’t necessary for this trip, which is just to purify the miasma. It’d be different if they could begin the barrier process, but that’ll have to be done later. Instead, Sei will be focusing on his job at the church.

Aresh states that since he’s not going to be around for some time, he’ll need to make sure Sei is properly warded. Aresh informs Sei that he has tomorrow off, which will give him plenty of time to do it. He stands up .

Sei can’t run away and lets his eyes wander. He knows he needs the wards to be done but feels uncomfortable when thinking of Aresh’s feelings. He wants this to be more of a businesslike transaction, but Aresh’s is extremely gentle.

Aresh lays him on the bed and he strokes Sei’s sides. He has a higher body temperature than Sei and the places he touches are hot. Aresh presses a kiss under Sei’s ear. Sei tries to express that he doesn’t have to, but Aresh cuts him off by saying that he’s not going to waste an opportunity to get to touch Sei and bites his ear. He tells Sei that he should know that much and kisses him on the lips (yep, chapter ends there, folks. ).

Spoiler: Chapter 15: Sei Meets the Bishop and the Accountant

After spending a day with Aresh, Sei comes to the church and Celio unexpectedly greets him with a smile for once. He states that it’s time for Sei to pay his annual tribute to the church (rather, it’s time for the palace to pay its tribute—the Royal Accounting Department only collects it). Sei tilt’s his head and recalls that the bishop and church’s accountant is coming that day. Sei’s a little muddleheaded from the day before, but Aresh didn’t go all the way, so his body is fine . Aresh left earlier in the morning for the expedition.

On that note, Sei conveys Yua's regards as she’ll be absent for a little while. At the mention of her name from Sei, Celio is at a loss for words and clenches his teeth. He proclaims that even if Sei is close to the saint, Celio doesn’t approve of the way Sei follows her or bosses her around. Sei feels a sense of déjà vu and pieces that people at the church must not like him for more than just the misunderstanding that he and the saint don’t get along.

Sei responds that being a total noob can be self-destructive, so Celio should attend the private school when it’s ready. * Celio senses Sei is making fun of him and gets angry. Sei thinks it’s good he’s perceptive at least, and he leaves the shouting Celio to enter the church.

* Sei tells Celio that being “joujaku” [情弱] can be self-destructive.

“Joujaku” [情弱] is short for “jouhou jakusya” [情報弱者], which translates to “information weak person” and is used to describe those in a poor/inferior situation—usually a situation when one either lacks information when he/she needs it or has the information but doesn’t know how to use it. It's especially used in reference to those who don’t have internet access or are lacking in internet and social media literacy, and it can also be used to describe when people are lacking in basic common knowledge.

“Joujaku” [情弱], in particular, has become more a derogatory internet slang to describe people who are not familiar with the circumstances, history, or basic knowledge of a particular field or community, or who are unable to evaluate the bias or authenticity of information.

“Noob” is the closest English equivalent I could think of for this but I don’t think it really fits either—maybe “goober” or "boomer"? But those also don’t really fit either, I don't think. So, I just put in “noob” to best convey the same effect of Sei using internet slang to insult Celio for being ignorant and Celio being confused with a word he wouldn’t be able to understand.

If anyone has a better word, let me know!

At noon, Siegward takes Sei to a reception area that Sei hasn’t been in before to meet the bishop and accountant. Bishop Matthäus greets Sei with an arrogant attitude, pointing out his position as an otherworlder. Sei thinks Matthäus’s attitude is reflective of his status as a noble. But Sei’s status as a palace official should be noted before his status as an otherworlder, so Sei concludes that the whole church must be against his presence.

Cipriano, on the other hand, is pretty friendly. He’s slender, with thin eyes and blue hair, and looks around Sei’s age or older. Sei thinks he gives off a clean and favorable impression, but he has a forgettable face.

Cipriano apologizes about the missing income report. His excuse is that he lost it when he helped out with the saint-summoning and had to redo it while taking care of the saint. Further delay is because there was a problem in the branch office and he needed to accompany the bishop there.

Matthäus interrupts to asks if that is the cause for the saint’s unexpected arrival to the church, but Cipriano answers that the saint was already scheduled and ready to come to the church, but the delay of the report is due to Cipriano inexperience. Apparently, Cipriano still has to work on the report, so Sei decides to continue his inspection while he waits for it and tells them so.

Sei also lets them know that the saint asked him to open a private school in the church. To Sei’s surprise, Siegward questions about it (Sei thought Celio would’ve reported this to him). Sei explains about the school plan and it being the saint’s idea and fibs that Yua put him in charge of organizing everything (there’s no way he’d leave Yua in charge of the planning). Siegward is delighted to hear about this, but the bishop is not.

Matthäus objects to the use of the church for the school. Sei mentions the location is still under development, but he thinks the church can benefit from this. He hands the proposal documents he prepared prior, which includes a lengthy, albeit slightly exaggerated, list of advantages to the church for hosting the school.

The bishop’s mood improves as he looks through the document. Sei thinks things are going swimmingly but a hitch appears. Siegward, someone with a lot of power and energy yet is prone to making assumptions, requests to participate in the plan.

Things change a bit after this exchange. Celio is still treats Sei coldly but he starts paying more attention to Sei’s work and is more willing to converse with Sei in order to ask about Yua. Sei, not really that familiar with her, instead talks about their world, which seems to appease Celio. In fact, the rumor that Sei and the saint are friends, or that Cipriano is seen on good terms with Sei, makes the members of the clergy warm up to Sei. At least, they greet him now.

The biggest change comes from Siegward, who starts addressing Sei as “Apostle-dono”, which Sei isn’t comfortable with. Actually, Siegward’s attitude towards Sei has become more reverent: he praises Sei for coming to church despite the danger it poses to his health; his supervision, which was more of a habit to him has become more pronounced; he worries way more about his health to the point that the look in his violet eyes is giving Sei a terrible sense of déjà vu (coughAreshcough).

Unfortunately for Sei, this extra attention is restricting his freedom to do more of the riskier maneuvers that he wants to attempt now that Aresh is out of town. Aresh will return in 6dys but Sei set aside an extra day and plans to finish up in 7dys. During which, Cipriano begins giving his income reports to Sei, who always turns them back in for Cipriano to fix the discrepancies. Fortunately, Cipriano took no offense and made the corrections with an apology.

6dys pass and the expedition returns, and luckily, Sei wards hold firm during the 6dys. However, when Sei returns home, he’s told Aresh has yet to arrive because the party was attacked by a herd of magical beast on a nearby mountain. A royal messenger informs him that the 3rd Knight’s Order has stayed behind to quell them.

Aresh also sends Sei a letter. The content is mostly his mother-henning but it ends with “May our souls be eternally together” . To Sei, the words are extreme. Sei asks Myran if the mission was life-threatening and she explains that it is a sentiment used among knights to express their feelings of affection. It is saying, “sleep, knowing that I am with you.”

Yep. It’s basically a love letter .

Spoiler: Chapter 16: Lunch in the Flower Garden

The palace decides to host a party for the returnees, and Kamil invites Sei to join but he declines. While the mages and 3rd Knight’s Order confirm that the miasma is gone, another check-up needs to be done before the barrier process can start.

Yua arrives at the church 3dys after the expedition. Everyone goes out to greet her, but Siegward stays with Sei. His excuse is that Yua is done with her saint duties but the apostle (Sei) has yet to complete his. That and one can never be sure what trouble Sei will get into. From Siegward’s experience in the last few days, he’s had to remind Sei to not skip meals and to stop him from inadvertently taking church documents home. He nags that Sei should be more aware of himself.

Sei, for the dozenth time, tells Siegward that he’s not an apostle. He’s getting fed up with Siegward’s reverence, even though he’s being treated with respect. Siegward, on the other hand, admires Sei’s zest for his work, even if he’s lacking in other areas.

The reason Siegward thinks of Sei as an apostle, besides the divinity of the summoning aspect, is because Sei is risking his well-being in order to help a world that he doesn’t owe anything to. As Abrahan made Sei vulnerable to magic and mana, Siegward sees Sei’s efforts as self-sacrificing (I mean, he’s not wrong; just not for the right reasons), which impresses Siegward. He finds his mission as a follower of Abrahan to assist Sei in completing his work.

Of course, Sei’s really just a workaholic, but Siegward isn’t going to understand that.

Besides not wanting to encourage Siegward’s over-attentiveness, Sei doesn’t want to be called “apostle” because it’s bringing a lot of negative attention from the other clergymen. There are some that don’t care whether he and the saint aren’t on bad terms. To them, Sei’s still considered the saint’s unnecessary extra.

Sei and Siegward exchange back and forth’s on what to call Sei. Sei finally gets Siegward to call him by his name, with “-dono” attached. Sei gives up trying to make it his surname, Kondou, after remembering that Siegward gave up his family name, so Sei is now “Seiichirou-dono” to Siegward. Siegward allows for Sei to call him by his first name as well (Sei’s been calling him “Priest-sama”). At first, Sei tries to refuse but Siegward argues that if he’s making a concession, then Sei should as well. So, Sei now calls him “Siegward-sama”.

Later, Sei and Siegward meet up with Yua (with Celio following her). Sei congratulates her on her part in the purification and observes that she seems to have matured a bit from the experience. Siegward, likewise, congratulates her, but kneels while doing so. Yua exclaims that he doesn’t have to give her thanks as he’s already done so at the party prior (as a priest, Siegward was invited to attend).

Sei asks Yua to schedule some time in for them to meet so he can go over the purification report with her. He wants her first-hand knowledge of the event and her perspective as an otherworlder. Celio cuts in and claims that Yua is busy, but Sei retorts he didn’t ask Celio, making him angry (as per usual ).

Yua agrees and asks Sei if he’d like to do so over lunch because she’d also like to exchange notes with him on the progress of the private school. She also invites Siegward, who agrees too because he needs to monitor Sei’s diet (did Aresh reincarnate or smt? Someone check on him, plz ).

They eat in the flower garden, and it’s Yua’s first visit. Sei has his homemade lunch from Pavel, which the others comment on. Siegward explains that Sei’s constitution limits what kind of foods he’s able to eat, which Yua remembers from eating with him before (in the prequel).

It’s Celio’s first time hearing this and he’s shocked. Sei states that it’s because he’s from a different world. Celio starts asking after the saint, but she explains that she’s fine because she has some kind of blessing (that’s what was told to her). Siegward states that Sei came to this world as an ordeal and Celio should be more considerate.

Sei steps in to prevent Siegward from spreading the image of him as an apostle and tells Celio that Siegward is exaggerating. Sei’s not some apostle and he’s slowly building his tolerance to magic. He only needs to be careful not to take in too much of it so he won’t die. This only serves to freak Celio out and makes him think Sei is dying.

Yua tries to lighten the atmosphere by changing the subject. She compliments Sei’s lunch. Sei also thinks Pavel makes great food that he even looks forward to eating, but he just tends to forget to eat when working.

Sei turns the subject to the purification process. According to Yua, the process went the same as it did the first and second time, with her purifying the tree and it creating new buds after. The tree will get larger after each purification process, as it’s supposed to (er, wait, that seems kinda sus). The mana measurements are also taken by the mages, as per Sei’s insistence, and when the mana level is below the standard, they announce the process to be complete.

Yua mentions a strange finding too. During surveyance around the tree, footprints of a beast, called the napolik, was found (author made up a creature). The napolik is a large magical beast that is supposed to live in colder regions. It’s lured to mana, which strengthens the beast. However, too much mana can lead to intoxication and make it turn violent. Beasts tend to become violent in the Forest of Magic, but because of the napolik’s size and aggressiveness, it’s a presence that can’t be dismissed. Thus, the 3rd Knight’s Order’s mission is to subdue the creature.

The sighting of the beast is near a village in the mountain areas, so as that is closer than the capital, Sei thinks that Aresh should use the village as a base to regroup and resupply (that's what he'd say if he were there). But Sei suddenly blurts out that it’s okay, astonishing himself with his outburst. But he goes on to explain that the prince and the 2nd Knight’s Order state there’s nothing to worry about, so Sei is sure they’re fine. Sei convinces himself that the knights should be familiar with this by now anyways, and Sei knows how strong Aresh is. But for some reason, he can’t finish Pavel’s lunch anymore (ooh, poor baby ).

Spoiler: Chapter 17: Thoughts on Magic

In this world, letters that are 3dys-on-horseback away are sent via messenger bird or, if by an aristocrat, via transition magic. The return magic Isto is working on, btw, requires a magician and a magic tool with a built-in spell formation at both locations and is limited in magic capacity, but it’s not subject to outside interference, making it more secure, which is perfect for transporting important documents. *

* This is thrown in bc the raws also calls the magic Isto works on “transition magic”/“ten’i maho” [転移魔法], but emphasizes that there’s a difference between the two—from what I understand, Isto’s using his version, which I’m calling “return magic”, to integrate with the summoning magic he helped create in order to find a way for Sei and Yua to return to Japan—this process is what I dubbed, the “summoning/return magic".

Sei gets another letter from Aresh, who is now sending a separate letter every time he sends in a 3rd Knight’s Order report. It’s been a daily occurrence, so Sei is now expecting to receive a letter from the royal messenger each day. Aresh even uses a separate seal from his family’s official one for it.

The first part of his letters is his usual mother-henning. He also let’s Sei know about how things are on his side in a recent letter: he’s getting supplies from the mountain village, it’s taking longer because of the size of the napolik’s territory and because he’s trying to clear away other rampaging beasts so that it’ll be safe to put up the barrier, etc. He continues with more mother-henning, reminding Sei to visit Cielo if he’s feeling discomfort.

Sei has suspected that Aresh was planning to clear any aggressive beasts before the barrier expedition starts. He supposes that the presence of the napolik hastened Aresh’s actions. Sei thinks prioritizing safety is more efficient too.

There’s a cute moment where Sei is thinking about how mature Aresh can seem but how much of his childish side Sei has witnessed—he’s seen Aresh be sulky and clingy. So, Sei thinks that Aresh’s subjugation may be mostly in part so that Sei will praise him . Sei feels uncertain of what to do if Aresh gets hurt for such a childish reason. He regrets that he didn't figure it out earlier to stop him.

Sei reads the last sentence of the letter. Aresh writes that he ponders about the time back in the days when he and Sei didn’t know each other. Because now that he’s away from Sei, Aresh can’t remember how he felt before he met Sei .

Later, Sei is in the market and meets up with Sigma again. Sei recalls that Sigma is trained as a woodworker by his late father and makes money on the side by selling toys made from surplus wood. Sigma let’s Sei know that the current master he’s apprenticing for is injured, so Sigma is unable to receive training at the moment. Further, as his injuries aren’t healing well, the business may be closing down. Sigma gripes that they said they’re looking for a new place to put him, but as he’s just a kid, his priority is low and they keep putting it off.

Sei understands that those with family backing or are grown men or are self-reliant are generally given first consideration for new hire. However, they seem to be providing those, like Sigma, with surplus wood and letting them figure out the trade themselves.

Sei came to commission for more abacuses to be made, which cheers Sigma up, as Sei pays well. He asks how many and Sei states that he’ll need 30 this time, but he wants them to be slightly smaller. Sigma is shocked by the number and responds that there may not be enough wood for 30 pieces, as there’s a limit of how much wood his boss is willing to spare. Sei suggests that they speak with the lumber supplier Sigma’s boss deals with instead. They’ll get Sigma’s boss to give a referral and Sei will pay for the wood upfront, so there shouldn’t be an issue.

The scene ends with Sei asking if Sigma is interested in attending a private school.

After finishing his business with Sigma, Sei rushes off to the palace. Contrary to Aresh’s expectations, Sei’s even busier because of the bishop’s delay in returning and the school planning. Now that Aresh is out, Sei’s able to move more freely in the palace. He just hopes that if someone reports him, it’ll be after things are completed.

He meets up again with Isto, who has returned from the purification expedition and is now working on a magic circle. Isto notices that Sei’s magic aura is different than usual, in that there seems to be a third type of energy mixed in it. Unfortunately for Sei, Isto isn’t being clear with his words, but it’s usual for his words to be disjointed as though it makes sense only in his head. To understand him, Sei needs to pick up on the context clues and past references.

Speaking of, Sei recalls that Isto once walked in on Aresh reinforcing wards on Sei and his face gets hot. He requests that Isto not talk about such matters in public. Isto relents and asks if Sei has the Sacred Object for him. Sei then requests that Isto please remember that he had said it’s impossible. But Isto looks baffled. Since Isto’s the type to only remember when it interests him and their conversation has gone on a tangent, Sei just rolls with it.

He wonders why Isto wants the Sacred Object so badly. While Sei’s been told about the Sacred Object in the church, it’s so heavily warded that Sei’s never had the opportunity to actually see it himself. Isto answers that it’s a container that’s able to accumulate a lot of magic, so Isto really wants to experiment on it.

To Sei, a Sacred Object (it’s called “goshintai” [御神体] in the raws and Sei thought it to be the same as what it is in Japan) is supposed to be the “sacred body of the gods” or a physical object that acts as a temporary repository to make the gods more accessible to humans to worship. Sei’s thinking is that it was something natural, like a piece of stone or monument or something of that nature, but now that he’s learned it stores magic, it’s clear to him that the Sacred Object is an artificial/manmade object. So, would this mean that it’s really a magic tool?

Sei asks if Isto has seen the Sacred Object and he replies that all children are baptized at the age of 6 and go to pray in the church. Plus, Isto has a lot of magic (I think Isto is speaking disjointedly again). Sei remembers the weird thing Kamil mentioned about children with too much magic having their powers reduced by training at the church. He puts two and two together and figures out that the Sacred Object is artificially taking away a person’s magic powers. Sei has felt discomforted about this aspect when talking to Kamil but didn’t say anything because he didn’t understand much about magic. But after piecing things together, Sei still feels a sense of unease. Sei then wonders what’s done with the stored magic.

Sei decides to go to the Accounting Department to consult with Norbert to see if his feelings of unease are just his misunderstanding of the world (and to see if he can get more work done). Lost in thought, Sei bumps into a hard object and it turns out to be Radim. Behind Radim is Julius, who tells Sei to follow him. Sei fears he has to reschedule work again.

Spoiler: Chapter 18: Receiving Sweets

Norbert unexpectedly arrives and catches up to Sei, not knowing whose company he’s with. Sei leaps at this opportune chance at escape and states he has work and his subordinate has come to pick him up. But Julius responds that it’s fine to bring Norbert along, to their dismay .

He brings Sei to his parlor again. And he talks about Yua, again. And he talks about how Sei is getting closer to Yua. Again. At this point, Sei sees him more like a kid than a prince, but he can’t even hide his disgust at this anymore. He starting to connect the word, “stalker”, to Julius’s behavior too (yeah, same ).

He explains that he only speaks to Yua about work, but Julius overreacts. He questions whether the summoning/return magic has been completed. Sei wonders if it’s all right for a crown prince to be so obvious with his emotions.

Sei answers that they talked about another work matter and realizes something. Julius, who’s overly obsessed with Yua, is a prince. This means…he’d be an excellent source of income to fund the private school.

Norbert notices that Sei looks like he’s hatching an evil scheme and tries to speak to him. But Sei jumps up to tell Julius all about the plan for the private school. He gives the same spiel he gave to Kamil and Siegward but emphasizes that this is all Yua’s idea and it is her project and her plan (oh man, that's devious).

As expected, Julius onboard with this. Even Radim is impressed. Norbert (my sweet summer child) murmurs that the planning seems more on the lines of something Sei'd come up with, but Sei shoves teacakes, which were given to them earlier, into his mouth to quiet him. Radim glares and questions Sei’s actions and Sei covers it up by explaining that Norbert requested some sweets. He doesn’t seem convinced but luckily, Norbert is enjoying the cake, so he doesn’t say anything more.

Julius still complains that Yua should have come to him for this plan instead of this extra. Sei replies that Yua probably wanted to tell him after the school was established. Then he slyly hints that if Julius, a wise prince, were to offer his help before being asked it’d be a great way to demonstrate to Yua that their values aligned and Julius can show off his good side.

Julius completely falls for it. Sei pushes further by proposing that if Julius uses his private funds instead of the palace treasury, it’d prove to Yua that his feelings are sincere. He states that this kind of action is considered manly in Sei’s world (pfft, this conman). Julius gets hyped and declares he’ll tell Yua that’s what he’ll do. Then he rushes off, leaving Radim to chase after him and Sei and Norbert to stay behind.

After a pause, Norbert, who despite appearance is elegantly eating the rest of the cakes, commends Sei on receiving funding from Julius instead of relying on the treasury for this plan. Sei puts on an air of innocence and replies that the treasury has a lot of expenses to cover, including the barrier project and increase funding of the Magic Court. He also defends that it’s true in Japan that self-sacrifice is a virtue. Norbert comments that this must be why workaholics like Sei exist, hitting the nail on the head.

But Sei is glad to get some things out of the way and head off to the Accounting Department, with Norbert following along. However, Radim, who hasn’t quite left, calls out to Sei to take back a bunch of the sweets Norbert was enjoying earlier to share with the department. That’s when Sei remembers that Radim, captain of the 2nd Knight’s Order, was in charge of protecting the royal family (ooooh, right. Welp, there goes my shipping goggles).

Sei asks if Julius knew about this and Radim replies that Julius is the one who instructed the sweets to be delivered (what). Sei is shocked (same). Radim is in disbelief of Sei’s reaction and proclaims that while Julius has a lot of admiration for the saint, he’s an excellent successor to the throne (what?). Sei thinks that maybe he doesn’t see it because he’s only ever seen Julius when it involves Yua. But he dismisses the matter as he doesn’t really care who the next king will be.

He heads out and tosses the sweets to Norbert, who’s happy to receive them. But Sei can tell there’s something deeper to his reaction and Sei questions him. Norbert responds that his relatives seem to hook him in with sweets. Sei asks if there’s more to this and Norbert confirms there is. Sei notes that Norbert is too old to be that happy with just receiving sweets.

Norbert begins that it’s a common thing among nobles. For most adopted nobles, it’s often the case that relatives won’t know about each other at all. But it’s different for the royal family, who need to keep track of their line in case anything goes awry. Sei feels it’s like a drama and that more than just this world, he’s also not familiar with the aristocracy.

Sei then asks Norbert about the Sacred Object, which Norbert responds that it’s a figure with a magic ore stuck in it. Sei lightly questions if it absorbs magic and if people knew about it, which Norbert replies yes, though he only knows that the knowledge is common among nobles and isn’t sure about the common folk.

So, Sei asks what happens to the accumulated magic. Although Sei doesn’t really know much about magic, he understands that it’s a type of usable energy, which would make it an asset. However, the church’s expenditure report has nothing about it.

Norbert asks if Sei’s talking about the Royal Capital Defense Barrier, which is the first Sei’s heard of this.

Spoiler: Chapter 19: A Flood of Visitors

Sei finds out 3 things after turning going through the documents in the Accounting and Magic Court Department:

1. The magical properties derived from prayers can be stored within the Sacred Object.
2. The magic from the Sacred Object is used for the defense ward around the capital.
3. The kingdom has been supplying/supporting the church, which includes magic

Sei’s certain that the amount of funding to the church must be massive and notes some of the magic supplied is also the kind used to summon the saint. However, Sei still can’t find the exact figures for the amount of magic anywhere. The expenditures for the defense of the kingdom are mixed in with the support money to the church and only a vague description is in the Magic Court Department.

Sei searches nearly all night and comes to the church looking exhausted, causing Siegward to worry. Sei mutters that he’s fine but before Siegward can question more, a voice greets them. It’s Yua, and behind her, is a happy Julius, who’s dressed down like he trying to go incognito (Sei inwardly ridicules him for using a turban, of all things). Julius tells them to call him, Juli, when he’s wearing these clothes.

Yua excitedly tells them that “Juli” is here to help with the private school. Sei can’t help but watch with a lukewarm gaze and sardonically thinks that men in love sure act quick. Julius then pulls Sei to the side and whispers that his idea was a good one but what’s with the atmosphere between Yua and Siegward.

Sei sees that Yua is speaking to Siegward with sparkles in her eyes. He thinks that high school girls’ hearts are a fickle thing since she liked Aresh before. Julius surprises Sei by revealing that he knew Yua liked Aresh yet he doesn’t understand why a serious stiff like Siegward is appealing to her. Sei tells him to go ask and find out for himself. But Julius states that he’s been around them together longer and wants to know his thoughts.

Truthfully, Sei never pays attention to anything outside work so he doesn’t know for sure. But just based on the similarities between Aresh and Siegward (there are a lot), Yua’s taste seems to lean towards the handsome, tall, cool/mysterious type. Julius, on the other hand, is much slenderer than the both of them and his looks are better described as pretty/lovely. Plus, his silver hair and blue eyes make him look flashy (like an idol) compared to Aresh’s black hair and Siegward’s brown.

He explains to Julius that black and brown hair are normal in Japan, so Yua probably feels more comfortable with them than Julius’s silver hair and blue eyes. Julius protests that blue eyes are the signs of royalty (both the king and Norbert have blue eyes). Sei explains that blue eyes are still pretty rare in Japan. Julius counters that Aresh’s and Siegward’s violet eyes were way rarer, even in this country. Sei can admit he’s not seen anyone else with that eye color.

Then Yua calls to Julius to ask if he’s going to the orphanage, and Julius pushes Sei aside to run over to her. Siegward rushes over to Sei’s side to check on him and Sei takes a closer look at Siegward’s eyes. They really look the same as Aresh’s. Norbert’s explanation about adoption and relative not knowing they’re related comes to mind (!!!) and the thought throws Sei for a loop. But Julius shouts for Sei to come and give a tour, bringing Sei back to the present.

Celio’s at the orphanage today and isn’t sure about Julius’s presence until he sees Siegward and Sei walking with him. But another surprise presence is Sigma at the entrance of the orphanage. Sei goes to ask why he’s here, and Sigma explains his mother told him to go and make an appointment about the private school.

Sigma’s nervous being in front of so many important looking people. Sei states that it’s fine, since it’ll make it easier to explain how the school will operate to their sponsor. Sei privately points Julius out as an important noble, so Sigma should be careful with him, causing Sigma to straighten up.

Celio comes up and questions Sei’s relationship to Sigma. Sei responds that Sigma is his candidate he solicited in the city for the private school. When the idea of the private school arose, Sei naturally thought of Sigma, who is bright, ambitious, and dexterous. A lot of the planning is based on Sigma’s situation, as Sei believes there are a lot of kids like him, whose talents are being wasted.

As Sei explains his interactions with Sigma, Celio became frozen. Siegward sees and admonishes Celio for believing in rumors over his own first-hand experiences. Sei and Sigma leaves a bewildered Celio behind as they head to the orphanage but another unexpected visitor comes.

Spoiler: Chapter 20: Going to Pray

It’s Isto, who’s finally come out of his book-cave. He’s here to see the Sacred Object after watching Sei researching in the Magic Court Department the day before. Sei doesn’t expect Isto to take the initiative to leave the research building and has serious reservations about leaving him on his own.

The orphans gather around their new visitors (Sei and Isto), with the younger ones curiously crowding them and the older ones keeping a distance when they see how important-looking Isto seems. Celio tries to tell the younger children off, but Isto stoops down to the children’s level and asks if they have done their prayers yet.

They converse and the children are at ease (they can probably sense he’s at the same mental level). The children invite Isto along for the prayer. Sei muses over what the prayer is but Isto isn’t listening. Instead, Siegward overhears Sei and comes over to verify Isto’s identity.

Sei introduces Isto, even though he’s certain that the two should know each other since they both were at the saint’s summoning. But Isto needs a minute to scrutinize Siegward before finally nodding in remembrance and shaking his hand. Isto asserts that he’ll be joining them for prayers, like he has that authority, resulting in Siegward turning to Sei for help but Sei pretends to not notice.

Yua notices that they’re going to pray and offers to join in too. Sei’s reluctant to let her, as he understands the prayers are to replenish the magic orb, but she seems familiar with the processs. Sei incense by the notion that the country might be exploiting Yua’s for her magic even though the saint should only have to purify the miasma. Even during her training period, Yua is taught to only use her magic for practice. Sei’s uncertain how much magic the magic orb takes and is uncertain of its effects on Yua’s purification abilities.

Yua once tried to heal Sei and is probably praying as an extension of helping the orphanage but this isn’t reported to the palace. In fact, Julius’s expression changes when he hears this. His brow furrows when Yua explains that she prays during her volunteering at the orphanage. Yua is uneased at Julius’s reaction and turns quickly when Sei calls out to her.

Sei states that he’ll go with Isto to the prayer site now and asks that she go with Julius later. She agrees. Sei and Julius meet each other’s gaze and turn away before Julius puts on his usual face for Yua and requests to continue the tour. Yua’s still confused but is more relaxed seeing Julius return to normal.

Sei urges Siegward, who isn’t following their conversation, along to the site of the Sacred Object. But Siegward objects, stating that Sei would need permission to go there. While it’s open to the public during ceremonies, the place is only accessible for church members during usual hours.

Sei asks Siegward to get permission yet Siegward hesitates, as it’s a sudden request. But Sei points out that Isto, someone with a high rank, came for that specific purpose and tells Siegward that Isto isn’t the type to not do something just because someone said not to. So, he suggests that Siegward hurries because Sei’s not sure how long he can keep Isto from going off on his own.

After getting permission, their group, who is joined by Cipriano, go to the prayer room. Sigma comes along since he only knows Sei but gets fascinated by the church’s architecture. Cipriano informs Sei that he’ll give Sei the amended expenditure reports the next day, which means that barring anything unexpected, Sei’s initial work at the church will be over by then. So, Sei is determined to get a lot of the foundation work for the school done by then.

They enter a simple-structured room, with a stone floor and white carpet and a partially covered stain-glass ceiling. From the doorway, Sei can see an altar-like platform, carrying a jeweled object, encased in an ornamental metal frame: it’s the Sacred Object. Sei knows because he suddenly feels really sick.

Siegward sighs at its beauty. He explains that as a child, he wielded so much power that he couldn’t control, which made him feel like the son of a demon. Fortunately, he was taken to the church to pray and was able to calm his magic. That’s way he dedicated his life into the church’s service.

Sei’s puzzled because it sounds like Siegward is treating this as an incident of faith (like a miracle) and the Sacred Object as a divine artifact for worship. * From his perspective, it’s pretty explicable that the Sacred Object just siphoned off his magic, making it more manageable. But considering Siegward’s character, it seems like he the type to believe this to involve the divine and he’s not one to approve of embezzling church funds or bamboozling the faithful.

* I’m a bit iffy about this. Sei asks, “…シーグヴォルドは【御神体】をただの信仰対象だと思っている？”, treating “goshintai” [御神体], which means is a material object that holds the body of a god, differently from “shinkou taishou” [信仰対象], which means an object of faith.

Besides the fact that “goshintai” [御神体] is part of the Shinto religion, I think that the use of “goshintai” [御神体] in the story is for Sei to think that the Sacred Object is a symbolic representation but hearing Siegward’s story makes him think that the Sacred object is being treated more like a “shinkou taishou” [信仰対象], but in a manner along the lines of idolatry, similar to the Golden Calf in biblical/Islamic narratives.

Of course, this is all my speculations as I’m not sure how that’d work if they’re supposed to be worshipping Abrahan too. Unless the Sacred Object is Abrahan?

Caught off guard by his thoughts, Sei shrugs it off as being from a lack of sleep or the effect of all the magic in the room. And Sei also doesn’t notice a wave of magic heading towards him until Sigma shouts a warning.

Spoiler: Chapter 21: Collapsed

Flashback: Isto notices that Sigma looks uneasy about something and asks what’s wrong. Sigma notes that people were praying differently than how Sigma did so at his baptism (Sigma doesn’t do daily prayers because he has low levels of magic). But that was around 5 years ago, so Sigma thinks the process must have changed.

Isto agrees and responds that it’s been some time since he’s been to the church but it’s changed from what he remembers. He thinks that this method will suction up a lot of magic, so some of the children might get affected by the strange circulation of magic in their bodies. Sigma has no idea what Isto’s talking about.

Isto is confused at Sigma’s lack of comprehension. Isto, a mage with prestige and high levels of magic and an obsession with learning about magic, of course, knows that the Sacred Object is siphoning off magic from the people via prayers. But he thought everyone else knows about it too. But as he brushes it aside and continues.

Isto points to Cipriano, who’s leading the prayer, and claims that the priest should be sensing it too so maybe this much is the amount that they usually collect. Sigma struggles to keep up with Isto put still can’t understand him. They talk more and Sigma finds out that Isto can see magic and that he’s a palace mage, which is an occupation (along with knights) admired by the children in this kingdom. Sigma, particularly, longs to be a mage and create magic tools, so his admiration for Isto skyrockets, making even his sloppy appearance seem cool.

While Isto’s mind tends to wonder off and he rarely listens when others talk, something even Sigma notices, it’s not the case when something of interest is involved. So, when Isto, who’s learned that Sigma can’t see magic, hears that Sigma wants something like a magic detection tool to be created, he gets very excited and bombards Sigma with questions over it. Sigma does his best to answer and throws in his opinions and ideas of how a magic detection tool should be designed.

They wind up talking about a magic substance called Quersil, a poisonous substance extracted from a crystal and used for research in the Magic Court. It can expand in the presence of magic (it’s a made-up substance, like mithril or vibranium, and is being treated like mercury). They end up making an idea to create what is basically a color-changing thermometer to be used to detect magic.

There’s a bit more backstory on Sigma. Sigma has always been innovative and loved creating things. He’s invented many useful tools to make the daily lives of his mother and sister easier. But most people shy away from new things, so it’s been hard to sell his inventions. It isn’t until he met Sei that someone outside of his family praised and paid for his creations. And now, with meeting Isto, Sigma’s potential may grow even more.

But their excitement is short-lived because of a strange going-on. They turn over to the children praying and notice one boy is convulsing. Isto mutters that it’s overflowing and pulls an item out of his sleeve. Isto sings an incantation while wrapping a necklace made with stone-like beads on his arm, and the boy calms down.

But then another voice speaks out and a mass of magic jumps out of the boy’s body with great force. It heads towards Sei, who’s talking with Siegward. Sigma cries out a warning to Sei. A white light hurtles towards him and a condensation fills the air.

Siegward pulls Sei into his arms and creates a ward to protect them. For a moment, the room is blinded in white light, then the light clears and the magic power is gone, with no visible damage to anything or anyone.

Sigma slumps in relieve. The boy, whom the magic came from, is scurrying around as if nothing happened to him. But then Sei collapses in Siegward’s arms. He doesn’t respond to anyone and his eyes are vacant and breath, shallow.

Sigma and Siegward are puzzled since they’re certain the magic didn’t reach him. But Isto checks on him and notices that his wards are gone. Isto looks closely at Sei’s unfocused eyes and then presses his lips on Sei’s and inserts his tongue, to Sigma’s and Siegward’s shock .

He let’s go and murmurs that it’s no good. Siegward wipes Sei’s mouth with his sleeve and yells wtf is Isto doing in a sacred place. Isto only stares at Siegward and nods, saying that the original is best. Then he asks if Siegward has a lot of magic, which perplexes Siegward even more as he can’t understand Isto’s train of thought at all.

Siegward tells Isto to stop fooling around and that Sei needs to go to the clinic. But Isto retorts that Sei will die if he does, stopping Siegward from carrying Sei there. But he finds that what Isto says next is even more outrageous because Isto asks if Siegward is willing to embrace Sei.

Spoiler: Chapter 22: Treatment

In another area of the church, Yua and Julius come across Aresh, who has come to the church still in his expedition uniform. Aresh reports to Julius that the 3rd Knight’s Order returned without any casualties. After formalities, Aresh searches around for, of course, a certain workaholic lacking in self-preservation.

When Aresh got back from the expedition, he took advantage of Julius’s absence in the palace to forgo turning in his report to get home quicker. It’s in order to see Sei sooner but also to complain that Sei never sent any reply letters even though Aresh sent a letter everyday. But he met one of Sei’s subordinates on his way out the palace and learned Sei was at the church, 2 days after schedule. So, he rushed over.

Aresh worries that the wards may not hold on for much longer either. He regrets taking so long on the expedition because he should know better. Sei never does what Aresh wants him to do.

Julius informs Aresh that Sei is at the prayer site with the orphans. Aresh’s brows wrinkle and he confirms that Sei is in the same place as the Sacred Object. Yua explains Sei wants to see the Sacred Object but is interrupted by a loud explosion from the direction of the prayer room. Aresh runs towards it, leaving Julius and Yua behind.

Back in the prayer room, Siegward, agitated by Isto, is at a lost for words. Isto confirms that Siegward has placed a ward on Sei before, so what’s the problem? Siegward is flustered and doesn’t understand what that has to do with holding Sei.

Isto responds that Sei has a weak constitution against magic. Siegward recalls this in the conversation he had with Sei at the flower garden. But he didn’t think it was too bad, since Sei is at the church every day, and he doesn’t require anything extra besides watching his food intake. Looking back, Siegward remembers that Sei seemed out of it earlier.

Isto replies that it’s probably because Sei has wards all over his body but now, the wards are gone. Siegward is appalled that Sei went into the prayer room despite needing such advance wards just to enter the church but is humbled by his devotion. Even more so, with his noting that the wards are diminishing (though no one pointed out that the wobbling was probably because of his lack of sleep).

Isto goes on to say that Sei was suffering from the overdose of magic and needs to be acclimated quickly. Siegward finally realizes what Isto was trying to achieve with kiss from earlier. Isto states that a kiss wasn’t enough to help Sei adapt, and as a Siegward’s magic is most familiar for Sei to acclimate to, he’s asking Siegward to do it, causing Siegward to turn speechless again.

Siegward understands what Isto is asking. He looks at the man in his arms. And after some thinking, especially over how much Sei has sacrificed, Siegward states he’ll do it. But a loud crash occurs and a voice startles them.

They turn and see Aresh, who has punched a hole in the wall and exuding a killing aura. Julius follows in after him, shouting his name, which reveals to Siegward who he is. Aresh stalks up to Siegward to retrieve Sei and declares that he’ll handle things from there. Siegward, feeling protective of Sei after being so darkly glared at, firmly retorts that Sei isn’t a thing and besides, he’s unwell so Siegward can’t hand him over .

With a bang, Aresh gives off a heavy pressure, but Siegward isn’t intimated and glares back. With such a scene, their audience can only watch on at a distance without interfering. In the silence, a small voice calls out Aresh’s name. Siegward, who’s holding Sei, notices first that Sei woke up. Sei, affected with a fever, is looking at Aresh and lets out a sigh of relief that he’s safe before losing consciousness.

Julius speaks up and tells Siegward that it’s okay to leave Sei in Aresh’s care, as Aresh has been in charge of Sei’s health. Since the prince says so, Siegward reluctantly gives Sei up, though not without rebuking Aresh for his rough treatment. But Aresh just spares him a glance and walks off with Sei.

Siegward asks Isto if this is okay since Isto said Siegward’s magic was best for Sei. Isto responds that it’ll be fine and that he’s familiar with it (he’s talking disjointedly again, I think).

Scene cuts to Sei. He’s feeling feverish, with his head and body aching. It’s reminiscent of the time he caught the flu. While there’s less pain, his consciousness fades in and out the same way.

When he finally regains consciousness, he’s less dizzy but he still feels hot. He can’t move but he doesn’t feel uncomfortable and isn’t feeling nauseous. In fact, he's warm and comfortable, like he’s soaking in a hot spring. His thoughts start going off on tangents but he remembers this warmth inside him, which feels very familiar.

Sei calls out Aresh’s name and opens his heavy eyelids. His voice is scratchy, like he hasn’t used it in a long time. And he spots the violet eyes that he was thinking of. Aresh leans into whispers that he’s awake, finally.

Sei looks down and sees they’re both naked and he’s woken up in the middle of things . It’s a very nsfw scene, and Aresh says it’s going to take awhile because Sei was so reckless. Sei asks when did Aresh get back and he answers that he returned a short while ago. Then Aresh nags Sei with how reckless he’s been and he berates him for falling into the arms of another guy and admits that he wouldn’t have forgiven Sei if it wasn’t because he was sick (all while not stopping their activities).

Sei’s still not thinking too clearly because of the fever, but he places his hand on Aresh’s cheek and welcomes him back.

Spoiler: Chapter 23: Hospitalized

2dys have passed and Sei is recovering in bed in a ward in the Health Department, which is in the same building as the Accounting Department. Norbert’s visiting, surprised to hear that Sei collapsed. Sei doesn’t want to talk about it and demands that Norbert give him the work documents he has requested Norbert to bring.

Siegward had visited before when Sei regained consciousness. He apologizes to Sei for putting him in danger by bringing him to the Sacred Object even though he knew Sei had a weak resistance to magic. However, Sei understands perfectly that most of the fault lies with himself, as he went despite not taking precautions and being sleep-deprived. Plus, he is the one who has insisted on seeing the Sacred Object and he would’ve gone in anyways even if Siegward said no. Furthermore, it’s Siegward’s warding that saved his life. If it wasn’t for that, Sei’s condition would’ve been much worse than it is.

He tells Siegward as much. He also says not to worry and thanks him for his help. But Siegward has another thing to talk to Sei about.

Scene cuts and Waldem, the butler, has come to visit Sei usethe day before he’s scheduled to be discharged. Waldem brings a gift and announces that Aresh will bring him home after work tomorrow. Aresh hasn’t visited Sei since he dropped him off. Sei has heard from Cielo that Aresh brought him to the Health Department to treat Sei and left right after, before Sei woke up.

Sei’s disappointed that Aresh never came but tells himself that Aresh has a lot of post-expedition work to do. Though, he realizes that he made this excuse up for his own convenience. So, he’s happy to hear that Aresh will be picking him up.

Waldem lowers his voice and admits to Sei that the real reason Aresh has been absent is because he’s been recovering himself. Aresh has used too much of magic healing Sei that he’s suffered magic depletion and overdosed on recovery potions, so he’s stuck in bed to recover from that (Sei’s rubbing off on him, hmmm? ).

Sei can understand the magic depletion, as Aresh took care of Sei right after returning from the expedition. And he’s well aware of the negative consequences of overdosing on the recovery potions. Sei knew it was strange that Aresh never came to visit (and gave up the chance to lecture Sei). And leaving Sei in someone else’s care isn’t like Aresh either.

Waldem tells Sei that he’s been taking care of Aresh since his childhood and his feelings regarding Aresh are of a parent’s. Sei can tell Aresh holds Waldem in high regards, perhaps even more so than for his parents. Waldem continues that his first priority is Aresh’s health and well-being. Sei straightens up at Waldem’s gaze.

Waldem describes his experience in witnessing the normally apathetic Aresh become livelier after falling in love, which gives Waldem great joy, so he’s thankful to Sei for that. However, Waldem gaze get steely, he states it might be because he’s an old man but he hopes that Sei takes care of his body first.

Sei can see where he’s coming from as a parental figure. Aresh is super OP, so Sei’s been overly dependent on him. Nevertheless, Aresh is still human and has limitations too. But Sei has taken it for granted that Aresh will always be there to help him.

He apologizes to Waldem for his oversight. While Sei’s been aware of his habit of neglecting his body, he only realizes now that his lack of self-care will affect Aresh too. Waldem says there’s no need to apologize, as many of Aresh’s actions, such as subduing the magic beasts, are out of his own volition. But this doesn’t stop Waldem from worrying over his health, even if it means making moves that go against Aresh’s wishes.

Sei thinks Waldem is very much like a parent in this manner. He’s jealous of Aresh, who possesses a source of such unconditional parental love when Sei doesn’t have that in this world. However, as Waldem reminds Sei that there are people who care if Sei should fall ill, Sei supposes that he does have something like that here too.

That person came the next day to pick Sei up as scheduled .

Spoiler: Chapter 24: Discharged

While waiting for Aresh, Cielo gives Sei one final check-up. Sei finds out that he isn’t charged any fees because he’s a government official (I want that kind of healthcare). They’re still talking when Aresh arrives.

Aresh comments that Sei looks much better. He gets closer and strokes Sei’s cheek. Sei lets him and takes a close look at Aresh. He looks the same as usual and if it weren’t for Waldem spilling the beans, Sei wouldn’t know Aresh was in recovery. He doesn’t say anything about it though, as the fact that Aresh left the Health ward to recover at home must mean he doesn’t want anyone to know about it.

Sei apologizes for worrying him, but instead of lecturing, Aresh continues stroking his face. With Aresh’s feelings being so clear, Sei’s cheeks heat up. Aresh asks if he has a fever and Sei answers that he’s fine. Cielo, whom the both of them forgot about, pipes in to tell them to wait until they get home to make out.

Sei moves away from Aresh and thanks Cielo for his care. Cielo tells him to take better care of himself, and Aresh and Sei leave. Aresh seems to be in a good mood the whole time. Before they completely walk out, Sei is stopped by another visitor.

He has two visitors, actually: Isto and Sigma. Sei wonders why Sigma is with Isto, while Aresh asks who he is. Sei answers that Sigma’s the one who made the abacuses. Sigma, shy in front of Aresh, says that Isto invited him to see the Magic Court Department. Sigma explains that he wants to work as a mage and create magic tools but his background limits that option. He states that he and Isto got along at the church, so Isto has invited Sei to work with him.

Sei is shocked. He knows how talented and ambitious Sigma is and wants him to attend the private school so he can be hired for a government position in the future. However, Sei wants Sigma to work in the Accounting Department. He didn’t expect Isto to beat him to it . * He looks at Isto with resentment, but Isto doesn’t notice.

* Sei calls Sigma being snatched by Isto something like a “black kite’s fried tofu”/“tonbi ni aburaage” [トンビに油揚げ].

This comes from the proverb, “fried tofu is snatched by black kite”/“tonbi ni aburaage wo sarawareru” [トンビに油揚げをさらわれる], which means having something you value—aburaage/fried tofu—be stolen by someone else—tonbi/the black kite.

A tonbi/black kite is a bird, btw.

Instead, his eyes gleam and he gushes on about a new invention he and Sigma created (it’s the magic detecting thermometer). This sparks an interest in Sei, who heads to check it out, but Aresh stops him by grabbing his head. Aresh warns reminds Sei that he’s only now allowed to leave the ward after a long stay, so they’re going home.

Sei starts to ask Isto to write up a report on the new device then remembers that this task is impossible for the absent-minded man. Fortunately, Sigma announces that he’s already written up the necessary documents and presents them to Sei. This moves Sei and he hugs the paperwork, along with Sigma, in awe and gratitude.

This produces a conflict in Sei, who still wants Sigma for the Accounting Department but sees the benefit with having him in the Magic Court Department (specifically, having him do paperwork for Isto). Aresh’s grip on his head brings him back to reality.

He asks Sei to recall what he agreed to with Aresh and Sei first answers to go home… and goes on a tangent to resolve his inner conflict by saying that Sigma won’t get a palace job soon since he needs to attend the private and regular school first. Aresh squeezes his head in response, so Sei repeats to go home… and includes that it’s for the purpose of going over the documents Sigma gave him (this also earns him another head squeeze). Cielo leaves them to their own devices, Sigma looks on in confusion, and Isto zones out into his own thoughts.

At that moment, Siegward comes to visit and congratulate Sei on his release. The scene in front of him triggers him to angrily ask what does Aresh think he’s doing to a recently recovering person. He tries to pull Sei away but Aresh grabs Siegward’s arm back. Sei attempts to placate Siegward and apologize about the trouble he’s caused. He asks Aresh to let him go, and he does so only after giving Sei a (very) tight hug.

Sei then compares the 2 and spots how similar each is to the other. Even though their faces differ a lot, they still look related (they don’t act brotherly though). Sei wonders whether there is a bastard line born in the Marquis family, like there is in the royal family.

Siegward’s attention turns to Sei and he asks if Sei’s feeling better. Sei responds that his stay at the Health ward gave him enough time to rest. Siegward then glances between Sei and Aresh and turns red, but Sei doesn’t know why. Instead, he asks Siegward if there is something Sei should do for him. Siegward replies that there’s nothing yet to let him know if Sei needs help for the matter they spoke of previously. After finishing up, Siegward thanks Sei and leaves.

Aresh asks resentfully what matter are they speaking about. Sei shakes his head and replies that he’ll explain once they get home. Scene ends there.

Flashback to Siegward’s last visit: Siegward reveals to Sei that them being targeted by the mass of magic wasn’t a coincidence. Julius had asked about what happened after Aresh left with Sei and Isto and Sigma said something strange. They informed the other two that the process of the prayers had changed from what they remembered.

Even though Siegward is a priest, he isn’t usually in charge of the orphans, so he doesn’t know how they pray. At the time, Siegward was distracted by his talk with Sei and wasn’t paying attention either. Siegward asked Isto what he meant and Isto repeated the motions and words from memory.

From what Siegward can tell, Cipriano deliberately released the magic from the child and targeted Sei. This horrifies Sei, who doesn’t expect that the embezzlement matters were going to be that obvious. Yet if it weren’t for Isto’s presence, the matter would be dismissed as an accident. Siegward promises Sei he’d testify for him if needed, as the expenditure report for the church has been submitted during Sei’s stay in the Health ward.

Spoiler: Chapter 25: A Request

Waldem, Myran, and Pavel greet Aresh and Sei when they return home. Pavel, in particular, fires up and pronounces that he’ll make sure Sei eats healthy. Sei’s a little nervous seeing Waldem again as he smiles like he knew everything, but Sei endures.

Even though it’s mid-morning, Sei’s told to take a break from work. Aresh is taking a break too and goes to check up on Sei. It’s the first time Sei’s mind has been fully clear in front of Aresh since he went on the expedition. Aresh leads Sei to the couch and comments that Sei’s lost weight. Sei observes Aresh’s face, which looks sharper, and says the same back. Aresh remarks that it’s because of the expeditions but Sei is already skinny and needs to take care of himself, as Aresh strokes Sei’s waist. Sei notices the difference in their musculatures.

Sei admires Aresh’s build and his eyes, thinking how different they are from Siegward’s (he’s still on the idea that they’re probably related). When his thoughts turn to Siegward, Sei thinks about the church and his work in it.

The church’s expenditure report has been turned in and is currently being scrutinized, so Sei’s transfer job is over. As for the private school, Yua and Julius are most likely going to take the lead on that while Sei does work on it behind the scenes. Sei will only need to submit an expenditure report on it to Kamil and that will be the extent of his role there.

But there’s still something bugging Sei. It’s not that the bishop and accountant’s attempts at manipulating and delaying the church’s reports. Nor is it over Sei’s injuries. But before he can think further, Aresh calls his name in concern. Sei, seeing how troubled he looks, soothes his worries over Sei’s health.

Sei, in returns, mulls over how he’s never expressed his worries for Aresh during the expedition before. So, he awkwardly but determinedly asks Aresh if there’s anything he’d like Sei to do for him. He states that he wants to thank Aresh for saving his life, but since Sei knows he won’t accept money… Aresh blurts out that Sei can pay with his body and is dumbstruck by his own words.

Sei, for once, goes for the attack. He presses Aresh down the couch, suggestively insisting that Aresh can ask anything of him and that Aresh is his life’s savior and that Sei’s willing to do whatever he wants. Aresh purses his lips, with his gaze downward, clearly struggling.

Since it seems like Aresh can’t say what he wants, Sei suspects that maybe Aresh will use his offer to target Sei’s unhealthy workaholic tendencies instead, then Sei will have to plan around for that. Sei doesn’t think that Aresh will ask him to do any errands, as he’s always turned down those offers. Aresh is more likely to ask Sei to make out instead, which Sei usually rejects out of embarrassment (and it being inefficient), so Sei’s expecting him to ask for that.

Aresh finally speaks out and clarifies that Sei’s willing to do anything. Sei agrees but privately takes out the options of “not working” and “dying” . Aresh stuns Sei by asking him to change his manner of speech. Sei can’t figure out what’s the problem with his speaking and tells Aresh to explain.

Aresh has a resentful look and declares there’s nothing wrong, as Sei always uses polite tones, but he wants Sei to speak to Aresh in the same familiar manner he speaks to Sigma. His request flabbergasts Sei and he tries to explain that Sigma’s status is different from Aresh, but Aresh interjects that he’s much closer to Sei than that kid. Sei’s speechless that this beautiful, powerful, noble Knight Captain is jealous of a 10yo street kid .

Found out I reached the maximum limit for characters, so please go to the part 2 post for the rest of the spoilers.

 

Sorry, late reply, but if you mean in the prequel, then...

Spoiler: Spoilers

No, she and Sei are still stuck in the magic world and can't get back home.

Long story short, the mages who brought them there can portal them away but aren't able to send them back precisely where they came from. Part of what happens in the first series goes into Sei making plans to increase resources for the mages to find a way to send them back.

If you want to know the situation in the sequel...

Spoiler: Spoilers for sequel

Short answer is that they're still stuck and the mages haven't made any known progress to getting them to return.

 

Part 2 Spoilers for The Affairs of Another World Depends on the Corporate Slave 2: Church Administration Assistance Scheme

It turns out that I reached the limit of characters in my prior spoilers post. So, here's the continuation.

Spoiler: Chapter 26: Slip Up

The Health Department finally gives Sei the okay to return to work, which makes Sei happy. When he enters the Accounting Department, everyone welcomes him back. He’s been gone for 6dys, so he’s accumulated a lot of work that he needs to catch up on. He immerses himself in his work and misses lunch, which brings a certain irritated knight to his office.

Aresh tells Sei not to forget his promise of eating lunch in the dining hall with Aresh when they are both at work. Sei doesn’t recall making such a promise, but as this has become a daily occurrence, he doesn’t refute Aresh and agrees to go. Sei addresses Aresh with “-san” instead of “-sama” as part of their compromise of Aresh’s earlier wish, which puts Aresh is a better mood.

Norbert, who has been waiting for Sei to finish his work to eat lunch, attempts to run off. But Sei grabs him before he can get away. He tells Norbert that he has to eat lunch with them too. And another voice requests to join in. It’s strawberry-blonde-haired Kamil, in his blue cloaked uniform. Norbert mumbles that it’s happening again, but Sei dismisses him, as he’s sure that even with Norbert’s complaining, it won’t affect Norbert’s appetite anyways.

They sit down and everyone else keeps a wide breadth from their table. Kamil asks after Sei’s health, which Sei responds that he’s fine. Then they go straight into talking about the expenditure reports from the church, which were filed after Sei was admitted to the Health Department. Kamil also thanks Sei for submitting separate reports on the church’s donation amounts and operation expenses.

Then Kamil mentions the magic attack and hints for Sei to use the incident to help him put a leash on the church. Sei, however, feels that he’s only an accountant and doesn’t want to get involved in political matters. He neither wants to interfere with religion or politics. Kamil raises an eyebrow at Sei’s self-assessment.

Sei relents a little and informs Kamil that he highlighted a list of nobles in the prayer books who have not made their donations. Sei also has a separate report that point out specific figures based on the accounting data of the previous year. He’s certain that those nobles will be very distressed about it, so Kamil should handle it with the Legal Department. Kamil gives a small smirk.

Their conversation goes into the background work for creating the magic detection thermometer, which Sei spoke to Isto about earlier that morning. They plan to use the devices to measure the amount of power needed for the barrier plan. Sei’s already gotten in contact with a company for manufacturing details and he expects to be able to write up a form to submit for it soon.

Kamil compliments Sei with a smile and a small laugh and offers that Sei come to him whenever he gets tired of the black beast. This causes Norbert’s eyes to bulge and he shifts his gaze between Kamil, Sei, and a certain black beast. The same black beast is giving off a very black aura.

Sei tries to laugh it off but Kamil’s blue-gray eyes seem pretty serious about it. Kamil tells him that he likes Sei’s calmness and ability to detach himself from his work, but he suggests that Sei seems to be invested in this matter. Sei’s nervous at how well Kamil can read him but is impressed with his insight.

In all honesty, Sei wants to keep out of the church’s matters. Unlike the issue with the miasma, barrier plan, and summoning/return magic research, the church has little effect on Sei at a personal level. The only advantage working there has is to keep rumors about biasness with the 3rd Knight’s Order at bay.

And while it’s good for the country to scrutinize the flow of its money in a more accountable manner, Sei doesn’t possess any real loyalty to the country to care that deeply about its development (beyond how it affects his situation). He has his own homeland to return to and just wants to do his job.

But…Cipriano went after Sei’s life. Therefore, he pulled Sei into the matter. And Sei prefers to thoroughly deal with something that involves having a target be placed on him. He feels he deserves to know the reason why and the chance to retaliate. Thus, the only way he can see to do so is to completely expose the church’s matter.

Discussing it with Kamil is actually making Sei’s calm face slip up and show more and more visible anger. And another person wants to hear more about this too. The proclaimed black beast and most powerful knight in the kingdom has anger in his eyes, as if he wants to kill someone.

Spoiler: Chapter 27: Gathered Together

Sei comes back to the church for the first time in a week. He meets a surprised Celio at the entrance again, who asks why Sei’s back again when he’s not supposed to be here. Sei responds that the matter of the private school still needs dealing with. Then he leaves Celio alone to go to the orphanage.

Celio hurries after him, shouting that Sei needs permission. Sei states that the bishop gave permission by allowing for the private school, which causes Celio to choke up. Celio mumbles that Sei seems fine. Sei asks him to speak up and silently calls him a child when Celio denies saying anything. Celio instead says that he’ll need to talk to Siegward first and Sei agrees.

They head to Siegward’s room and see a clergy member outside his door. It’s that jack*ss Frederick. He looks at Celio with condescension to say that Siegward has a visitor and can’t see them, as it’s not someone an errand boy or an extra can easily meet (this lil').

Sei think this guy puts too much emphasis on bloodlines but before he can say anything, Celio surprisingly speaks up to admonish the other person and to defend Sei. He asserts that Sei’s efforts to give the common folk an education is more in line with god’s work than Frederick’s behavior. Frederick gets mad and shouts back.

Siegward’s door opens before Sei can intervene. Siegward comes out to ask what’s going on, and unexpectedly, Aresh also comes out. Frederick puts on a polite façade and tries to say that he was trying to hold back these noisy guys but Aresh interrupts him. He explains that he called Sei to come and walks up to Sei to speak familiarly with him. The scene shocks the 2 youngest, as they’ve never seen Aresh and Sei interact before.

Siegward tells Celio that he is going to the prayer room so he should gather the children. Celio snaps out of it and rushes off to comply. Siegward turns to greet Sei and remarks that he looks a lot better. Sei responds, “thanks to you” in common courtesy, but Aresh claims the credit should be his. Sei retorts that’s not what he meant, getting tired of Aresh’s constant interruptions when he should know better.

He notes that Siegward is staring at them and tells Aresh that even the priest is appalled. Aresh only calls out Sei for using formal language, but Sei refuses to change in public settings (but he still calls Aresh’s name with “-san”). But then Siegward voices his complaint that Sei has promised to call him by his name too. Sei changes his address back to “Siegward-sama,” but Siegward reasons that since Sei uses “-san” with Aresh, a knight, he doesn’t need the “-sama” with his name .

Sei’s at a loss because it is weird to address a marquis with “-san” but a priest, who cast aside his nobility, with “-sama.” Not to mention, this means a marquis is being called “-san,” along with those of lower statuses. So, Sei explains that it’s only because Aresh and he are close friends, but Siegward asks if they can’t be friends as well.

Sei’s hesitant about this because he’s not sure if he can call Siegward a friend. Sure, he’s the one Sei spends most of the time with in the church, but Sei’s not all that into being revered as an apostle. However, Siegward interjects that all person, no matter positions, are equal before Abrahan. Sei’s not sure about that but then Aresh blocks his vision.

Sei scolds Aresh, whose hands are over Sei’s eyes and glasses, that he’s getting his glasses smudged. But Aresh isn’t responding. Aresh finally lets go and Sei sees that he’s in an intense staring match with Siegward (again). Before anything else happens, Yua is running down the hallway and calling out to Sei. Behind her are Julius, Celio, and the other children, as well as Cipriano.

Yua gives everyone a bright greeting, saying they ran into Celio on their way to the prayer room. Julius drags Sei aside and demands to know why Aresh is there. Sei responds that there’s a lot going on but rounds on Julius to know why Yua’s praying. He thinks Julius should have stopped her.

While the purification is complete, Sei still worries over the aspect of prayers, especially their effect on the saint’s power. He decides to investigate into it. Julius asks if Sei is talking about the Capital Defense Barrier and Sei wonders if Julius has the same idea as Sei (to investigate).

Julius informs Sei that he had people look into the Defense Barrier’s magic source and there’s nothing that indicates the magic came from Yua. Sei found out earlier that there are several types of energies in magic. Therefore, if the saint’s magic, which is so different, mixes in with others, it’s easy to locate upon examination.

Sei compliments Julius for his initiative, since his side didn’t have enough time to check. Julius becomes suspicious and questions if Sei involved him and Yua into something. Sei replies that since Julius is already here, what’s the problem with joining. Julius calls Sei disrespectful and that he’s notice for awhile now that Sei’s never shown Julius any respect (oh my how perceptive).

Sei tells Julius that they have a saying in their country, “when dealing with an urgent matter, make use of whoever is handy.” * Julius is appalled over such a country. But Sei points out that this is Sei’s and Yua’s homeland, then Julius concedes that it can’t be helped. With this manner, Sei thinks Julius is easy to handle.

* So, the phrase “when dealing with an urgent matter, make use of whoever is handy” [立っているものは親でも使え], is basically saying to use what you have on hand or to use whoever is available when there’s a need to. But there’s another aspect to it meaning that it’s okay to use your superiors (like a parent or boss) to your advantage, which Sei is referring to with Julius.

The same can’t be said about the jealous knight who approaches them. Aresh comments that Sei’s relationship with his highness is closer. Cipriano cuts in to ask what Sei is planning on doing. Sei looks at his would-be killer and smiles. He answers the usual prayer.

Spoiler: Chapter 28: Cornered

Cipriano leads in prayers again. Celio and Yua help in directing the children to their spots. Meanwhile, Sei takes out the magic detection thermometer and Aresh takes it to put on the side of the Sacred Object. Sei thanks him but Aresh is still peeved from earlier.

Cipriano inquires about the thermometer and Sei answers that it’s a magic detection tool the Magic Court Department wants to test out. Cipriano looks uneasy and states that it’s not appropriate to use on the Sacred Object. He receives agreement from the other clergymen around them, as he’s right in a way. The prayers are reflective of a person’s faith in Abrahan, so using something to measure someone’s faith is uncouth.

But help comes from the bishop, who announces that he’ll forgive them for conducting this experiment. Along with him is Kamil, whom Matthäus states he wants to prove the church not being guilty of anything to. Matthäus gives the go-ahead to start the prayer.

Matthäus and Kamil join Sei’s group. Aresh and Siegward push Sei behind them, so Sei must peek in between them to be able to see anything. Yua’s praying with the children and Julius is beside them. Then Cipriano starts the prayer.

The Sacred Object glows but no wayward magic comes out of anyone like the last time. Soon, the prayers end. Aresh stops Sei from retrieving the tool and goes to get it himself. Sei thinks he’s being overprotective because he knows Sei has new wards on him from last night.

Half of the display on the tool is dyed in red. When asked what it means, Sei explains that it indicates the amount of magic the prayers gathered earlier. Sei then pulls out a document, which denotes the amount of magic the Capital Defense Barrier requires that Sei calculated beforehand.

When converting the data from the amount of the recent prayer to the data on the documents, they match up. The bishop replies that it’s only natural as it’s the church’s duty to supply the amount of magic needed from the prayers to the kingdom. He gives Sei a condescending look, but Sei ignores it and takes out another document.

Matthäus asks Sei what this document is. Sei replies that it’s the readings of the amount of magic gathered from prayers 3dys ago. This shocks all of the church members, except for Siegward. Matthäus is confused how Sei has these numbers and say that he’s lying since he hasn’t been to the church until this day.

Siegward goes behind the Sacred Object and pulls out another thermometer hidden behind it. Matthäus looks on in disbelief. Sei explains that the thermometers were completed 4dys ago, so Sei asked Siegward for help collecting data from the church.

When unraveling schemes of this magnitude, one needs a crowd, an authority figure, and visible results. Mere numbers aren’t enough and on-the-fly results are too weak. For a church official used to leading prayers in public, they won’t run away just because of a crowd. It’s more likely that there are only a few who can understand the results gathered anyways. So, any allegations brought up against the official is more likely to be seen as false.

This is why Sei went to Siegward secretly for help. He knows such a devote man of faith will never allow his to be defiled, especially in the church of all places.

Kamil checks the device and notes the device is only 2/3 full. He presses the bishop to reveal where the excess magic went. Matthäus obviously can’t yell at Kamil the same way he did to Sei and chokes back his words.

Julius joins in and questions where the saint’s magic went. He informs the bishop that his investigation of the barrier holds no indication of her magic, even though she’s been participating in prayers. Matthäus turns pale at that.

Sei strikes another blow by taking out yet another document. He hands it over and explains that it shows the stats for the magic power used in domestic commerce, agriculture, and industry this year. However, some of the items purchase are from vendors that don’t exist. This causes the bishop’s jaw to drop.

Sei hopes Matthäus hasn’t forgotten that Sei’s 2nd in charge of the Royal Accounting Department, which oversees the flow of the nation’s finances. Although, it’s been sloppily run, after Sei came over and overturned everything, he has clear, organized, and concise data of the nation’s finances for the current year. Further, he doesn’t overlook even the smallest discrepancies.

Sei points out that even this data is strange though. Because taking out all of the suspicious purchases, there should still be magic leftover. So, Sei wants to know where that is. He turns to Cipriano this time and demands an answer.

Cipriano’s been quiet the whole time. He hasn’t moved, as Aresh’s eye are trained on him. Eerily, his expression remains the same as before. At most, he only seems slightly angry. Siegward, whose eyes are flashing in rage, repeats Sei’s demand for him to answer. Seeing this and remembering how angry Siegward was when Sei first revealed the truth to him, Sei hides behind Aresh a little just in case.

Cipriano questions the sacredness of the prayers in a whisper before letting out loud laughter. At this, Yua holds back the frightened children and Julius moves to stand in front of her. Cipriano announces that the only true god is Moerke and that Abrahan isn’t a real god but a selfish, lowly being. Moerke, Sei recalls, is a deity in the east. She’s the goddess of harmony, who eliminates otherworldly and external enemies.

Cipriano rants on about saints and purification. He condemns that the kingdom brought a saint by connecting worlds and disturbing the balance of the world. Such actions are a defilement of the earth! He also blames Abrahan for causing the miasma.

Siegward is in such a rage, his face turns pale and his body trembles. He questions how Cipriano can be so ungrateful over the blessings Abrahan has bestowed on the country. Cipriano counters that a being that only brings peace and fertility for the last 100yrs can’t be considered a god.

Siegward body starts to shimmer and Aresh calls out to Sei to look behind him. Kamil reveals that he brought the guards. But Cipriano mocks them for being foolish and reveals what happened with the excess magic. He takes out a small ball, embedded with multicolored stones.

Sei can feel a high concentration of magic emanating from it and it feels like a bomb about to go off. When Sei initially thought about the ones behind the scheme in the church, he thought he’d be dealing with someone unsatisfied in the kingdom’s politics or the country or something. He didn’t expect a religious terrorist, a type Sei thinks is the worst, as they tend to allow their religion to overcome any sense of reason and Sei can’t understand that mindset. Against such a person, Sei thinks they may have acted to hastily.

The ball in Cipriano’s hand starts vibrating.

Spoiler: Chapter 29: Admittance

The entire room fills with white light. Sei feels a familiar arm wrap around him and despairs at being in the position of needing saving once again (he doesn’t want Aresh to get hurt). But after a moment, Sei doesn’t feel anything has happened. He looks over Aresh’s shoulders and sees the bomb, glowing, but suspended in midair.

Yua cheers that it worked, bringing everyone’s attention to her. Yua, apparently, is the one stopping the bomb; Cipriano can’t believe it either. Yua floats the bomb towards herself and Julius warns her that it might be dangerous. But Yua shakes her head and says she secured it with her magic, so it’s safe (you go, girl!).

Sei can’t help but ask her to explain, as she’s using her magic in a way that’s making those from this world surprised, much less him, a fellow otherworlder. But Yua tilts her head and said it’s Sei who did it. Of course, knowing he can’t use magic, Sei doesn’t understand what she means. So, Yua clarifies that she is doing the same as Sei with the demon tree in the Forest of Magic: create a barrier around the source of danger.

Sei’s still flabbergasted and weakly mutters that he only came up with the idea. But Yua counters that Sei not only came up with the idea but also directed everyone in creating the barrier, which is the same as Sei creating the barrier. Sei can’t help but be touched by Yua’s sincerity.

Aresh pinches his nose because Sei's face is slack and the mood relaxes. Siegward praises that this is the results from Abrahan’s calling on the saint and apostle and that Moerke is wrong to deny such people’s existence.

But Sei unconsciously blurts out that it’s up to the individual to chose what to believe in. Both Siegward and Cipriano turn to Sei in incredulity but Yua agrees. She states it’s normal if there are many gods, which causes an outcry from everyone else (most everyone is monotheistic, even Cipriano but not to the same god).

The bishop admonishes her for her words and asks how can she think such a thing. Yua tilts her head again in confusion and asks why not. She states that it’s true that a voice called her to this world and that she receives visions of a being who tells her things sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that other gods don’t also exist.

That’s too much information for Sei to handle at the moment, so he puts that aside and agrees with Yua. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. He adds that while the majority of the Romani kingdom worships Abrahan, the kingdom doesn’t exclude the worship of other gods. He turns to Kamil to clarify that and Kamil verifies that the kingdom doesn’t suppress any other religious practice and taxes them all the same (wow, them priorities).

Cipriano speaks up and asks if that means they believe in Moerke as a god.

In Japan, Shinto was once the national religion that everyone practiced. However, Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism have spread in the country. But at its core, Shinto is in the root of Japan and the country still posses the spirit of those 8 million gods, even if its people are atheists. For Sei, while he doesn’t believe in anything, he’s also open to everything, thus he can’t truly deny the existence of anything either.

So, he turns the question back on Cipriano and asks doesn’t he think so, because that’s all he can really say on the matter. However, Cipriano goes deep in thought and slumps to the ground. He asks if Sei forgives him, but Sei states that this and that are two separate matters.

Not only Cipriano, but Siegward looks at Sei weirdly for that. Sei lists out his charges of embezzlement, attempted murder, property damage, etc. And as these acts occurred in front of the VIPs of the nation, treason most likely will be on the list too.

Kamil chimes in that he’s also guilty of fraud for posing as a member of the Abrahanic faiths. He also adds that his embezzlement charge will include both types: simple and in the course of business. Further, charges of disrespect and insult will be added.

As they speak, the knights detain Cipriano and Matthäus. And with that, Sei’s work at the church is completely over.

At a later time, Sei’s leaving work for the day. Norbert calls for Sei to wait (Sei responds he should’ve been ready 10min prior) and he rushes to catch up, with a mess of materials in hand, which Sei is sure he’ll drop. They run into Sigma, on his way to meet with Isto to help in an experiment (Isto was able to get ahold of all of Cipriano’s bombs).

Sigma, for his works on the thermometers, has been officially invited to join the Magic Court Department. But as he can’t read/write properly, he’s still attending the private school while the department treats him as a trainee. Sei asks Sigma if he’s able to join him in heading to the school but Sigma responds that he’s scheduled to go there later.

Yua greets Norbert and Sei at the orphanage. Matthäus is sent to the frontier despite his family paying his bail fees and the church has a new bishop. Cipriano is likely to spend the rest of his life locked away though.

The private school has received a large number of applicants since Yua and Julius advertise it. The initial plan of 3 groups is changed to 2 and the classes will be divided into day and night classes, causing a delay for the change in plans.

Surprisingly, Yua and Julius have gotten closer with all the work they’re doing together. Yua still goes to the palace even after the purification finished. Speaking of the two getting closer, Radim, the guy who’s still playing matchmaker for them and is still trying to recruit Sei on this noble quest, is there too. He asks Sei if he’ll be joining to work as an official under Julius, but Sei gives a hard pass.

Truthfully, Sei can tell that Yua’s type is one with more spine instead of someone who’s always spoiling her and that she admires older men but prefers hanging out with people her own age. But Sei really doesn’t want to join that side, so he doesn’t say anything.

Celio is assisting Sei get material prepared for the school and mutters he thought Sei was busy. Sei responds that he is, which is why his subordinate is taking over a math class for him. But Celio doesn’t seem very happy to meet Norbert (why? He’s precious~). Sei asks Norbert if he did anything but Norbert retorts that this is Sei’s fault.

Celio despondently asks in a muffled voice if this means Sei won’t be at the church. But Sei assures him that he’ll still be coming. While he doesn’t admit this part, Sei thinks that since the school is in its opening stages, he’ll still need to do a lot of work as the man behind-the-scenes. Because to him, Julius and Yua are really only the faces for the school, not the ones doing the background work.

Plus, the church has recently been involved in large scale embezzlement. So, Sei will need to conduct regular inspections for a while.

Later, Norbert comments that Sei sure Is popular wherever he goes. Sei can’t figure out what he means. Aside from Aresh, everyone else either treats him as a nuisance or an extra (what about Norbert? ). But he adds one more person after Norbert responds that Sei was solicited by the Prime Minister before they came to the church. Kamil asked Sei if he’d like to leave the Accounting Department and join him in the Legal Department.

Sei leaves after observing Norbert’s first class. Outside, he spots a luxurious carriage on the road. Its door opens and Siegward walks out. He isn’t wearing his usually white attire of a priest but a red and purple ceremonial garb.

Sei greets him and asks about the outfit. Siegward confesses that he went to see his parents. After what went down, his parents want him to return home but Siegward refuses. He still wants to serve as a priest.

Sei takes note of the coat of arms on the carriage while speaking with Siegward and recognizes it as belonging to the Öhrwall family, a marquis family who preside over the most prosperous land in the west. He recalls that the church’s records show this family donates the most to the church.

Sei doesn’t think that family has any connection to the Indrak family. He concludes that his prior speculations over Siegward and Aresh are just misconceptions and don’t need his concern.

Siegward also declares that he wants to expand on his knowledge, so he hopes Sei visits him whenever he’s at the church. Sei agrees and thinks it’s good that he’s willing to be more flexible. Sei also thinks that it’s good to have ties with such an influential member in the church who’s backed by such a prominent family.

Time-skip and Aresh is picking Sei up from the Accounting Department. The first thing he speaks about after they get in the carriage is how he’s heard that Sei was solicited by Kamil and Radim, which makes Sei check his collar to see if he’s been bugged. Sei responds that he turned them both down and Aresh pouts that Sei is still using polite speech with him (Sei states he’ll only change it when they get home). Sei’s growing fond of his childish expression.

Still, Sei’s not sure about how to respond to Aresh’s feelings. There are still a lot of matters that need addressing and Sei also plans on returning to Japan. Aresh, seeing how silent Sei is being, asks if Sei wants to take a seaside trip with him after things have settled down.

This catches Sei’s interest, as he was born near the ocean but moved when he went to college and hasn’t been back to the ocean in Japan in a long time. Plus, he’s never seen the ocean in this world either. He asks Aresh about it, and Aresh responds that the family’s main house is near the ocean but they have a separate house in their territory too if Sei wants to relax without anyone bothering them.

Aresh is trying to entice Sei into taking a real vacation, the kind with relaxation/recreation and no work. Sei is tempted but he’s uneasy going so far from his work, especially when the kingdom’s communication development is so poor (if anything were to happen, they’d be stranded). Aresh, figuring out Sei’s dilemma, states he understands and isn’t going to let Sei’s work be thrown away when it’s half-done.

At Aresh’s statement, Sei’s heart feels a familiar squeeze. Aresh cries out in alarm when Sei leans over. But Sei is deep in thought and comes to the conclusion that he can no longer deny his feelings for Aresh. While Aresh is still worried, Sei looks up at him and gives him a kiss. He proposes that they talk about their relationship (FINALLY!).

Spoiler: Epilogue

Sei and Aresh arrive back to the mansion and are greeted by Waldem and Myran. Although Waldem is smiling, Sei’s wary after their last conversation and because of the strange gaze Waldem directs towards him. Aresh instructs that to prepare their meals in half an hour and sends Waldem a look. Myran lights up and Waldem eyes narrow. He tells Aresh that Pavel will prepare Calalapoui (this is a dish the author made up).

Sei inquires about it. Aresh, after adverting his eyes and clearing his throat, admits that this is a dish from his hometown that’s made for special occasions, such as for baptisms, coming-of-age, and marriages. Sei flusters over it but later they eat the dish under the smiling gazes of the 3 attendants. Calalapoui is a baked good and traditionally is shared with everyone, including staff and neighbors, so Pavel made a lot.

Later, after Aresh comes out of the shower, he spots Sei on the bed, ruminating over the implications of the Calalapoui. Sei’s in disbelief at how nonchalant everyone appears to be. Since Sei isn’t speaking, Aresh worries if Sei isn’t feeling well and checks his forehead for fever.

Sei peers into Aresh’s violet eyes and Aresh’s touch turns into a caress. He uses a touch more force as his fingers move to Sei’s chin and Sei doesn’t resist but leans into the oncoming kiss. Their lips part and Sei sighs in surrender.

Sei confesses that he’s embarrassed at how accepting and commemorative everyone is being over their relationship, especially considering how old they are. Aresh states that there’s no way they would ever act against Aresh’s intentions. This response reminds Sei again of Aresh’s status as an aristocrat (the way Sei and Aresh think about servants is fundamentally different).

Sei is planning to let it go, but rethinks this decision. In the past, with topics of confliction between them, Sei tended to not argue the issue and let it go, excusing it as differences of values. But now that he wants a real relationship with Aresh, Sei considers that letting Aresh know of his opinions, even if they can’t come to understand with each other, is important for their relationship .

So, Sei explains that in his country, people don’t make a big fuss about their love life, so he isn’t used to everyone’s reaction. Aresh replies that he understands this from Sei’s letters, but he’ll be sure to talk to Waldem. Sei doesn’t think Aresh fully gets it but is satisfied with Aresh’s reaction. He thanks Aresh and they share a kiss again.

Then when what Aresh says fully registers. Sei has no idea what letters Aresh is talking about and breaks the kiss to ask. Aresh kisses Sei’s ear and answers that he means the letters Sei wrote to him during the last expedition.

Sei’s a little distracted by Aresh’s voice and moves away to think. He never sent any letter to Aresh, but he has written unsent letters… Sei panics and tries to get up to check his desk but Aresh pulls him back. Sei demands to know if Aresh read his letters. Aresh replies that the letters are addressed to him, so there isn’t a reason to not read them.

Sei is angry because those letters were in his desk drawer. He tells Aresh that going through his things without permission is an invasion of privacy and he doesn’t approve of it. But Aresh clears his name by explaining that the letters were given to him by Waldem.

Then Sei realizes that Waldem’s gaze from before must be because of the letters he found. Sei figures that Waldem must have found them before his last conversation with Sei, which is why he gave Sei a hard time. Sei reasons it must also be why Waldem didn’t stay angry and why Aresh was in such an agreeable mood when he picked Sei up from the Health ward.

Sei asks for the letters back and Aresh argues that the letters are his. Sei tries to counter that since he never sent them, the letters are still Sei’s, but Aresh attempts to distract him by stroking his lower body. He embraces Sei and kisses his cheek and ear, and Sei complains that he still hasn’t taken a bath.

Aresh tries to persuade Sei that they’ll be getting dirty anyways so it’s okay to bathe later. As he says so, he noses Sei’s neck and his passion flares. Sei tells him not to sniff his neck and that taking a bath before is better. Aresh claims that Sei takes too long and he can’t wait anymore. He slips his hand inside Sei’s shirt and traces a line down his chest, causing Sei to moan. Sei gave up resisting and wraps his arms around Aresh’s neck.

Looking back, Sei realizes that this is the first time they’ve been intimate to this extent without the purpose of acclimating Sei to magic. In fact, Sei and Aresh have only ever gone all the way when it involves saving Sei’s life (fyi for those who want to know: they've only went the whole way 3 times). During all of those times, Sei’s consciousness was never fully clear, so this will be the first time he’s doing this fully sober from start to finish.

Aresh reaches behind Sei and touches there. Sei makes a noise and Aresh asks if it’s okay. Understanding Aresh’s desires and recognizing the same in himself, Sei gives a kiss to Aresh on the forehead and shakes his head. He studies those violet eyes, darkened by lust, and kisses him again, only if just to touch him. Then in Aresh’s ear, Sei voices his own desires of wanting this too.

A very nsfw scene insert here.

In the morning, Sei grumble to his 8yrs younger boyfriend that there are limits. Aresh, in a good mood, kisses Sei’s forehead and lets him go on. Sei continues that their ages, occupations, and constitution are different from each other’s. In general, Sei’s complaining that his body isn’t 100% and not made to do the different positions they did last night, so he’s feeling aches and pains everywhere.

Therefore, Sei requests that they only go all the way only once a week before holidays. Aresh gives out an exclamation and hopes that Sei is joking. Sei tells Aresh that it’s no joke that doing it too often will put a strain on Sei.

Aresh then notices that Sei does look pale and limp. Realizing that he was too enthusiastic last night, he casts a healing spell with an apology. He replies that once a week is too little though and offers that if Aresh uses healing magic, can’t they increase the number. Sei retorts that they can do it once every two weeks instead .

And for the next 3dys, the servants watch in smiles at Aresh’s attempts to placate Sei.

Spoiler: Release Bonus

Sei finally enters Aresh’s room and it’s after their lover’s spat. At the moment, he’s reading documents on the couch in the room while stroking Aresh’s head on his lap.

After a moment, Aresh remarks that he thought Sei would be a lot more reserved. Sei looks confused, so Aresh sits up and explains that he didn’t think Sei would be into giving unnecessary tactile gestures. Saying this, Aresh grabs the hand Sei used to touch his hair and Sei intertwines their fingers.

Sei looks and Aresh and gives a laugh. He let’s Aresh know that his treatment towards his lover and everyone else is different. Aresh thumbs over the back of Sei’s hand, addressing Sei again. Sei tone in response is definitely that of a lover. Aresh asks about Sei’s previous lovers.

That kills the mood. Sei loses most of his soft expression and returns to a dead-eye look he usually gets from being overworked . After a pause, Sei answers that his past experiences didn’t end well, so he doesn’t want to talk about it. Sei tries to pull his hand away but Aresh holds on.

Aresh questions him and states he wants to hear and won’t complain. Sei retorts that it’s useless talk and that Aresh will definitely complain. Sei thinks a person that wouldn’t complain won’t ask in the first place.

Aresh pushes him to sit on the couch. He bombards Sei with questions on how many, when, if he plays with their hair too, etc., but Sei refuses to spill. Aresh offers to tell Sei his past too. However, while Aresh has been in other relationships, Sei is his first love. This and those can’t compare, so those relationships are easy for Aresh to talk about. Sei, on the other hand, has been in serious relationships with several women in his past . It’s obvious to Sei that Aresh won’t be able to keep calm if they discuss this topic.

He confesses that Aresh is his first male lover and changes the topic by seducing Aresh instead. Sei uses his free hand to caress Aresh’s hair and compliments it while moving to stroke Aresh’s neck. Then Sei moves his face closer and Aresh rubs Sei’s side. And yep. Sei succeeds in moving Aresh’s attention away from their previous topic.

Later, Aresh gets a lecture from Waldem on what it means to be a mature lover after Sei tips him off.

The End
Hope these spoilers are satisfactory. Please let me know if there's anything noteworthy I should change about them.

So, obviously, there are still a lot of plot points that the author has yet to address. I didn’t see anything about another sequel even though the story leaves itself open for it.

But, I also checked that the ending of this series was posted May of last year (2020) and the bonus was updated later in August. Since it took around a half a year for the author to post the first chapter of the sequel after finishing the prequel, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if there will be another sequel to this one. I hope so.

 

Breaking news! The author recently posted the first 4 chapters (the prologue + 3 chapters) of the third volume in the series! It's called 異世界の沙汰は社畜次第３　～魔法外交正常化計画～, which I've interpreted as The Affairs of Another World Depends on the Corporate Slave 3: The Normalization of Magic Diplomacy Project.

Raws: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n6681gw/

Here's the summary given by the author (contains spoilers):

Spoiler: Summary

On his way home from work Seiichirou Kondou (30yo), a corporate employee, gets caught up in a saint summoning and is transferred to another world.

As a result, he almost died, saved the country, started an affair and later fell in love with the young Captain of the 3rd Knight's Order, Aresh Indrak (23yo--he had a birthday?).

He was determined to treat the relationship seriously, but due to his excessive work ethic, Seiichirou was appointed to be the guide for envoys from another country. The head of the envoys from Egorova, a country of magical technology, was their third prince, a subject of many rumors---?

Finally, the summoning/return magic is nearing completion, and Seiichirou will be meeting Aresh's family.

What will Seiichirou's and Yua's choices be?

 

Guys... Who is the bottom... Please reply me