A new day, morning.

Hilia left the dormitory, ready to go to class, but found Benovia waiting downstairs.

Benovia looked at Hilia and said straightforwardly, "Hilia, I want to ask you something. Is this a good time?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

If it had been Doris, Hilia would have immediately refused, but she actually had a good impression of Benovia.

The girl hesitated for a moment, then nodded her head.

"Let’s talk somewhere else."

This was outside the dormitory; there were many students coming and going.

The two walked to a quiet spot where no one was around. Benovia looked around, then leaned closer and whispered, "Do you know His true name?"

"Him?" Hilia looked puzzled. "Who do you mean?"

Benovia mouthed the words ’Hiro Association.’

Hilia suddenly understood, then shook her head. "I don’t know."

Benovia nodded, and asked in a low voice, "You’ve cleared out Abyssal Religious Group’s strongholds before, so you should know a bit about this Twelve Heterodox Sects group, right?"

Hilia nodded. "Yeah, I know some things. Why?"

The girl didn’t really understand what was up with Benovia today; she was being all mysterious and asking questions that had already been confirmed ages ago.

"The Abyssal Religious Group claims that Evil God Ross was once the lord of the world, that He brought equality and bread to the world."

Benovia paused as she spoke, then asked in a low voice, "In... those records, is it ever written that a God once ruled the continent, bringing peace and ending hunger?"

Hilia nodded, puzzled, "What are you trying to say?"

"Do you think there’s some connection between the Abyssal Religious Group and Hiro...?"

"Absolutely not," Hilia refuted immediately, "The Abyssal Religious Group just borrows Ross’s name, and all they do is shout slogans and hold mass rituals all day. Not only do they not give their believers bread, they actually demand bread from them. And... they operate in the shadows, while Hiro Association secretly gives free bread and magic to poor townsfolk. Their goals are completely opposite."

Benovia nodded. "That’s what I think too, but what I’m curious about is... When you hear them talk about their gods, don’t you think there are a lot of similarities? So, do you think He and He... might actually be the same one?"

A strange light flickered in Hilia’s eyes, but she shook her head, "I don’t know—but I don’t think so."

Benovia gave Hilia a thoughtful look, nodded without saying anything, and walked off.

Hilia stared after her, confused, not really sure what was going on in her head.

Did she maybe notice something, and now thinks that the Hiro Association and Abyssal Religious Group worship the same god—that is, Evil God Ross, the only one all the gods acknowledged as a heretic?

But that doesn’t seem likely... Otherwise, why would Lord Ross not react at all when facing the Hiro Association?

Besides, no sect would admit their god is an all-out villain; everyone claims their god will bring the world peace, bread, immortality, salvation, and all that jazz.

Every group the Holy Court labels as one of the Twelve Heterodox Sects has its own ’evil’ side. Like the Dusk Sect—they’re always trying to sacrifice living people, dreaming of going to the underworld and attaining eternal life—but the god they believe in isn’t actually the Nether God, it’s just a made-up "God of Death."

Within the Holy Court, there is the God of Life and Death, but no one believes the Twelve Heterodox Sects’ "God of Death" is really the same as the God of Life and Death, one of the Twelve Main Gods.

Another example: the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association. They worship a deep-sea monster called Roster, supposedly spawned from Ross, and say he comes from the stars, dwells in the deep sea, and brings destruction to the continent in regular cycles. Only those who become his followers, work for him, or sincerely pray to him are spared.

None of the Twelve Heterodox Sects are normal. Besides those twelve, there are a bunch of other sects officially recorded—the rest are a bit more restrained. Some are just gangs, some are ’marketing’ scams organized by noble families.

These sects operate quietly; some even worship one of the gods, just refusing to accept the Holy Court’s authority.

"Lord Ross, why do you think Benovia suddenly came to ask me all these random, baffling questions?" Hilia couldn’t figure it out, so as usual, she asked Rose.

Rose smiled slightly. "Take a guess."

"I can’t guess..."

"Then go to class—stop overthinking stuff."

"Alright then."

...

Time passed quickly. There was only a month left until the year-end exam, and the weather was already getting cold. All that was missing was a heavy snow, and winter would officially be here.

Divine Magic Academy had no winter or summer break. Every March through October was class time. After the exam in October, the instructors led the students for holiday trials until mid-January. Then there were two months off before classes began again in March.

After classes resumed in March, usually sometime in the first to third month, a summer holiday trial lasting 7 to 30 days would be organized. After returning, everyone studied nonstop until October, marking the end of another school year.

During this time, besides attending classes and practicing magic, Hilia focused on using the Heart of Gold to draw high-quality scrolls and sold them to the Mercenary Guild or Mage Guild.

She preferred selling to stall vendors, accepting a slightly lower price for the benefit of quick sales.

After a few rounds, her funds quickly reached 50 gold coins.

She used to have a lot of silver coins, but got annoyed at carrying them everywhere, so she went and exchanged them for gold coins instead.

The official exchange rate for gold to silver coins was 1 to 100, but when you went to official exchanges, they’d always tell you they were out of gold coins—but you could swap for silver coins if you liked.

Outside the official exchanges, wherever you went, the rate was never lower than 1 to 120, sometimes even 1 to 150...

But if you wanted to swap gold for silver, those shops immediately stuck to the official 1 to 100 rate.

Why? Hilia didn’t get it. No matter which exchange, they encouraged everyone to use silver coins, but after hearing that, Hilia chose to swap everything for gold coins anyway.

She just kept a little silver for daily expenses.

"Hmph, lots of magic materials only accept payment in gold. You think you can trick me? Not a chance!"

The girl happily counted her gold coins, eyes practically turning into little gold coins themselves.

She subconsciously wanted to share her joy with Rose over this windfall, only to find that Rose wasn’t in her head this time.

"Mr. Rose hasn’t been around much lately..."

Hilia grumbled to herself.

"Maybe he’s busy with something."

With Rose absent, Hilia didn’t have much choice.

"If Mr. Rose isn’t here, I’ll just have to decide for myself."

Hilia started packing her bag.

She was getting ready to go on a trip.

At that moment, Rose’s voice suddenly rang out: "Oh? What are you up to?"

Hilia stopped packing and looked happily at Rose in her mind.

"Today Anarce suddenly told me she’s planning to go home for a bit. From the look in her eyes, I could tell she wanted me to stop her—but I didn’t..."

"Mmm, that matches my views, but you know, that’s not really how a Holy Daughter should behave, right?" Rose said with a grin.

Hilia played dumb: "A Holy Daughter doesn’t have the right to stop her friend from visiting home. But she can secretly tag along to protect her friend during her visit—so she won’t get bullied on the way!"

"Alright, go ahead."