Time passed. Twilight had arrived, and the banquet would start soon.
I didn't expect that I would spend a lot of time talking with Sana about her goal. She told me everything and only hid a little bit about her past situation.
Just as she said before Tris and Eli parted with us earlier, Sana went to the Capital City to check the preparation with Archbishop Cameron as well as informing Queen Eve about the sudden event.
She planned to share the information about the curse as it was possibly related to the assassination three days ago.
Meanwhile, I met up with Tris and Eli again near the church after cleaning myself again with <Purification> to eliminate any lingering smell.
I found them just near the main tent where the nuns distribute food.
There were some people around them, including two faces I recognized. They were Karin and Oliver. The others were wearing the uniform from Castitas Academy, so I believed they were Tris' new friends.
When they saw me, the two cute girls with their hair hidden beneath the veils immediately bowed deeply. They were the same girls who saw me when I stopped by Castitas Academy yesterday.
'And Tris… I didn't do anything to them. So stop glaring like that at me.' I looked at Tris and sent a signal.
"Ah, Arthur! Long time no see!"
Seeing me, Karin exclaimed and waved her hand. She was wearing the Royal Academy's uniform. Oliver bowed slightly toward me with a smile.
"Long time no see, Karin." I greeted her with a smile and turned to the bowing nun candidate. "You may raise your head. You're Tris' new friends, no? It's nice to meet you."
Both of them raised their heads and looked at me.
"Y-Yes, my name is Clara."
"My name is Desy. I-It's an honor to meet you, Your Holiness!"
The girl with blue eyes introduced herself first, followed by the girl with brown eyes.
"It's nice to meet you too." I flashed a friendly smile at them, causing them to blush and avert their gazes.
At that moment, Tris put her hands on her hips and said, "Art, they have been helping me for the last few days. Don't scare them."
"I am not scaring them, though?" I responded in confusion, playing along with her.
"Eeeh, they look scared." She pressed, turning to her friends. "You are scared of him, right?"
"N-No."
"H-How dare we get scared of His Holiness? W-We were just nervous in front of him."
Both of them stuttered and shook their heads in panic at Tris' question. The strict nuns candidate didn't realize that Tris was just joking and wanting to play with them.
"That's enough, Tris." I chopped her head slightly, making her grunt in pain. "Sorry about that. This girl was just joking around."
"That hurts, Art…" She growled and glared at me.
"Hehehe." Eli giggled on my side, and so was Karin and Oliver.
At least Eli's friends weren't as stiff as the students from the Castitas Academy. Due to their upbringing and extensive respect, the latter still couldn't joke around with me, more like they didn't dare to.
"I don't really like excessive formality when we are in a public space. So just be like Karin and Oliver. Understand?" I said.
"Yeah, there is no need to be so formal to him. If he gets angry because you didn't call him Your Holiness or something like that, just tell me, okay? I will give him an earful!" Tris added with a cheerful tone.
She wasn't usually like this.
However, knowing how tiring it was to have friends who acted differently to you or your lover just because they were too high in status, she decided to cut the reason to be formal from the start.
I also had the same way of thought. That was why I told Karin and Oliver to be casual when we first met and only be polite on formal occasions such as parties or church hearings.
"I-If that's what you want, S-Sir Arthur. But this is how I usually speak, so… It might be hard to change it." Clara said nervously, looking back and forth between me and the ground.
"I won't force you to change the way you speak." I told her, "As long as you're comfortable, that's enough for me."
Tris nodded repeatedly beside me.
After both nun candidates dropped their formality, albeit a bit reluctant and still awkward, we decided to explore the area as I hadn't had the chance to look around much. We moved as a group, stopping at stalls to buy skewers and drinks.
The vendors wanted to give them for free because they felt indebted for this free charity event I held, but I insisted on paying.
They were doing business, so accepting these foods for free felt wrong, especially since I had a lot of money. The story would be different if they had given it to me when I visited their home.
After the sun was completely set, the banquet started. The nuns prepared a long table and set various kinds of dishes for people to choose from.
The healing was done already. People had fun due to the festive mood that it didn't even look like a charity event.
But, all the money spent on this event was the church's. I would donate another 5 million Golds later so they would have some savings.
After a loud sound rang, signaling the last event had started, we parted with Eli and Tris' friend and returned to the church entrance. A stage was built there when we were walking around earlier, and the area was lit with a yellow magic lamp.
We sat on a luxurious chair, similar to a throne, with me in the middle.
To be honest, sitting like this made me feel important. Only the area around our chairs was lit by the chairs, and there were some church knights standing guard on our sides.
Truly, they were ruining my fun. I couldn't have fun with my girls, thanks to them.
