Thinking calmly, what you knew was extremely limited.

You didn’t know about this world.

You didn’t know if this was really the past, an illusion, or a scene inside Sophia’s memories.

You didn’t know the identity of the enemies and their goals.

You didn’t know if the enemy was an angel or a vampire, what relationship the cup and flute had, and what would happen next if they succeeded in changing something on their own.

But you didn’t mind.

There was no need to accurately understand everything in the world.

Even if you weren’t aware of what this situation held, what you had to do didn’t change.

Your contractor had pulled down an opponent you would have otherwise been helpless against into an “enemy that could be hit”.

And if it was an enemy that could be hit, there was no reason the Tin Knight couldn’t defeat it.

You broke the enemy’s wings, crushed their legs, cut off their arms, and beheaded them.

Although your body condition had deteriorated to the level before the modifications in Tik-Tok, you had reached a level where you could apply the Tin Knight’s memories beyond just using them as they were.

Before your blade, the enemy once again scattered into red mist.

You stared blankly at the sword with gaps here and there, then put it back into its scabbard.

Although Sophia had avoided the future of meeting death by poisoning, her life was far from peaceful.

She wasn’t allowed to go outside her home, was under strict surveillance, and was even forbidden from conversing with anyone.

However, the light in Sophia’s eyes didn’t dim.

She continued to research and experiment with something in the house.

You silently watched her by her side.

1st year of confinement. Sophia delved deeply into various magic books.

She repeatedly analyzed, deconstructed, reassembled, and improved existing techniques.

Although Sophia originally couldn’t handle mana at all and didn’t have innate talent like Adel, she acquired the skill to handle mana at will solely through consistent repetition and theoretical learning.

2nd year of confinement. Although all magic-related books and various manuscripts were confiscated by the city’s upper echelons who were wary of Sophia, she didn’t mind.

She had long since memorized all the contents of the books, and even if writing was restricted, thought was free.

Sometimes she needed to organize content outside her head, but she continued her research by writing on parchment, memorizing the content, and then washing the parchment with water.

3rd year of confinement. Perhaps judging that she couldn’t achieve the desired results with mana alone, Sophia began attempting to use holy power like magic.

It was an ordered formula, a beautiful painting, and something close to programming code.

A scholar who had reached the pinnacle even in the city of learning endlessly reconstructed and applied all the knowledge she had accumulated so far, creating miracles through the material of holy power.

4th year of confinement. Surveillance on Sophia became somewhat lax.

To others who couldn’t read her mind, she would have appeared to be just spending most of her day quietly immersed in meditation.

Or perhaps Sophia’s brother, having crushed the city’s democracy and firmly established himself as essentially a dictator, no longer saw her as a threat.

Sophia wandered around various parts of her home and found a cup in a dusty warehouse that wasn’t properly managed.

The cup’s appearance was very ordinary.

The material looked like copper, and its luster was faint.

There was no special radiance or easily recognizable pattern.

Well, since all items with magic power in the house had been confiscated, if it had been special from the appearance, it wouldn’t have been left neglected like this.

However, Sophia stared at the seemingly ordinary cup for a long time for some reason.

Then, after checking the gazes around her, she let mana flow into the cup.

Whoosh!

The change was dramatic.

The color of the cup, which had been nothing special, changed to a brilliant red.

All kinds of elaborate patterns were embossed on the surface of the cup, and the cup itself emitted a soft light.

It looked as if it had been carved from a ruby to make a cup.

Looking at that appearance, you could tell it was the Chalice of Tuberose.

Sophia stared blankly at the cup, then uttered a word.

It was unusual because Sophia rarely talked to herself, though she might when with others.

— …The circumstances are strangely favorable.

Being rich in various knowledge, Sophia seemed to have immediately grasped the identity of the cup.

Also, she seemed to feel doubtful about the Chalice of Tuberose being here.

Hearing Sophia’s words, you suddenly felt it was strange.

You had been watching Sophia’s appearance continuously, and therefore knew she was confined to her home, and even if she knew about the kingdom’s sacred treasures as knowledge, she was in no position to go around looking for them.

Since contact with outside personnel was extremely limited, she couldn’t ask someone to get it for her, either.

Yet the Chalice of Tuberose came into Sophia’s hands as if it were the most natural thing, in a way that didn’t arouse anyone’s suspicion.

Positively speaking, it was fateful; negatively speaking, it was artificial.

A single cup that couldn’t make a sound seemed like a living creature to you.

However, Sophia seemed full of intention to drink it, even if the cup were a poisoned chalice.

She poured water into the cup.

The ordinary water with no special characteristics changed into a deep wine-like liquid the moment it was poured into the cup.

Sophia remained motionless for a long time with her eyes closed.

You realized that Sophia was using the cup’s power.

The power of the cup used during the party’s journey had been absorbed by Sophia and changed, and its original ability must have been to see the future.

Then was Sophia seeing the future now? If so, what kind of future was it?

Suddenly, Sophia opened her eyes—

—and stared straight in your direction.

You waved your hand at Sophia.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ asks if she can see him!]

Sophia didn’t answer.

She tilted her head with a strange expression.

It was an oddly uncertain, dubious expression for someone who always kept composure on her face.

But that was all.

Sophia neither answered your question nor recognized you, but just silently resumed her research.

The only change was that using the Chalice of Tuberose was added to her daily routine.

Since the Chalice of Tuberose returned to the appearance of an ordinary vessel when exposed to holy power, those monitoring her didn’t seem to notice anything particularly strange.

Thus, time passed again.

5th year of confinement. Sophia built quite a friendly relationship with those monitoring her.

To begin with, Sophia had grasped the position of leader of a school with just her speech skills and popularity.

If she set her mind to buttering people up, it wasn’t that difficult to turn those close to her into followers.

Her brother seemed to know this too, and until about the third year, he paid attention to detailed aspects like frequently rotating personnel, but as he came to enjoy unparalleled power as the city’s dictator, his vigilance towards his old rival gradually faded.

The new security manager and staff couldn’t maintain constant vigilance towards a seemingly harmless woman with no power.

Towards them, Sophia continued to make small requests.

Parchment and pens for writing. Flowers from the field. Miscellaneous food items. Perfume for her hair. Seeds to plant in the garden.

If she had demanded “dangerous” items like weapons or magic books, they would have found it suspicious no matter how relaxed they had become, but they weren’t sensitive about such everyday items.

Thus, Sophia succeeded in gathering the catalysts needed for the ritual.

Although you didn’t know much about magic, you could tell that what Sophia was doing was quite heterogeneous and strange.

What she was doing borrowed the methods of magic but wasn’t magic, and used holy power as its driving force but wasn’t holy magic.

Moreover, the irony of using holy power, which by its very nature repelled magic beasts, while the result was a vampire, one of the so-called magic beasts.

It was bizarre, peculiar, and strange.

It was heresy.

And it was also a great achievement.

Thus, she was reborn as something other than human.

— Woong.

Seeing that appearance, the blood-colored cup softly moaned.

Blood-colored mana bloomed like mist, enveloping Sophia’s body.

That appearance seemed as if it was trying to dominate Sophia.

However—

Whoosh!

Even in her transformed state as a vampire, Sophia was still a cleric.

Perhaps due to her changed body, the holy power leaking from her body was much weaker in momentum compared to when she was human, but its pure radiance wasn’t dimmed at all.

The blood-colored mana emitted by the cup rippled as if flustered.

Sophia grasped the cup and poured holy power towards it.

It was a fierce momentum, not stopping at just reverting its appearance as usual.

The cup tried to resist by raising mana, but gradually its form began to melt.

That appearance looked like melted sugar.

Eventually, the cup, which had completely lost its shape and changed into red mist, was absorbed into Sophia’s body.

— What’s going on!?

Immediately after, the guards outside rushed into the building urgently.

Apparently, they had detected the waves of light and power that spread during the ritual.

To them who were flustered, Sophia smiled with a relaxed attitude.

— Hello, everyone. Is something the matter?

No, that wasn’t quite right.

You found yourself involuntarily pointing it out.

***

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