“Now, what you are holding is the letter from His Holiness. It’s that time of year, so you all already know what it’s about, right?” Instructor Meiran smiled, standing with her hand on her waist. “It’s a field trip to the Vatican.”

This letter was sent out every year to all academy students under the age of fifteen. Ruvar-H was the kingdom’s premier school of talent, and it wasn’t just the royal family or the aristocracy that had high hopes for its students. Elysium, as it was called, was under the authority of the royal court, but it had great influence across the kingdom and even held the power to designate sanctuaries.

—Come forth to behold your true name on the coming Progression Day.

The name given by the Vatican was called the “true name.” Although it was not mandatory to receive a name, most students chose to visit the holy city to be named. Upon receiving their true name, a blessing was bestowed as well. The name was recorded, and it was used as a middle name, which was represented only by an initial. It was customary that the true name stay unrevealed to anyone but the recipient unless they decided to share it with others.

The problem was the location of the Vatican.

“Oh, it’s such a bother,” said a student.

“We only need to get this done before turning fifteen. Let’s go next year.”

“Wouldn’t you feel better to have it over with?”

There was clamor among the students.

Unlike Ruvar-H, located west of the kingdom, the Vatican was inside the capital city, and it took at least ten days to reach it from the academy. Ruvar-H counted the days of travel to receive the true name as attended school days, but some students felt like the occasion wasted too much time.

Among his noisy classmates, Judas quietly read down the letter. At the bottom of the parchment was the crest of Ruvar-H with cautionary notices regarding conditions of leave that would count as attendance and a list of various documents required to leave the school grounds.

—Those who register will travel together in groups of three.

“A group of three?”

It seemed that the students were put in groups instead of assigned to individual chaperones. Thankfully, the trios were arranged by the school.

Egret touched his chin while staring down at the parchment.

After returning to his dormitory, he sat on the bed and opened his hand.

“Yuni.”

“Yes, Egret.”

At his call, the spirit appeared without a second of hesitation and flew to sit on his hand. She nuzzled her face on the pads of his fingers in delight. Egret smiled with her.

“How long do you think I will live in this child’s body?”

“I don’t know. We just want you to stay with us. But why do you ask so suddenly?”

“Hm. I am not too sure how far I should act on my own accord...”

Yuni looked thoughtfully at Egret trailing off his words and asked, “You want to receive it, don’t you? The true name.”

She had always been keen. Egret nodded to her insightful question.

It was a special name given only by Elysium to children between the ages of ten to fifteen. One of the biggest differences from a typical blessed given name was that the true name was only bestowed during the age when the recipient had a sense of self-determination but was still in their innocence. The true name was holy for being recorded in the holy book and was precious for never being revealed to anyone unless the beholder decided otherwise.

At a time when the royal court and the Vatican were in balance, it was mandatory for all noble children to get their true name from Elysium. The current emperor, Lewis G. Ruvarsan Archideon, had also received his true name during the appropriate age, his middle initial “G” being its first letter. And following the customs, he hadn’t told anyone what the name was.

“I wish to leave a mark that means I was here. Haha, this old man is greedy.”

“Do you know that way of speaking really doesn’t suit your look right now?” Yuni stirred up the wind to cool him down, noticing a trickle of sweat down his face. “You just need to do whatever you wish to, Egret. Who knows? Maybe you will live in that body until the end.”

“Ah, wouldn’t that be sad? I think this child had a lot that he wanted to do...”

“Did you not hear me?! You really don’t have to worry about that. As long as you’re in that body, you are the owner of it.”

The spirits had always loved only one person. Well aware of the blind love they had for him, Egret gave Yuni a small smile and leaned back. The plush feather pillow cradled his head. His worn-down body quickly fell asleep, and Egret had a dream for the first time since living as “Judas.”

It was a short one, but he was sure it was a memory the body had kept from the past. A much younger Judas was standing together with someone else. Well, they were close together physically but not emotionally, it seemed.

The sound of a slap rang through the air. The child’s head turned, but he did not cry. His eyes reddened but it was due to the impact, nothing more.

Egret, shocked by the strike, held up his hand to feel his cheek. The throbbing pain felt real despite it being a dream.

“Useless.”

I’m sorry.

Apologies lingered at the tip of the child’s tongue, but they did not make it past his lips. His cheek was scratched and bleeding from the slap. The adult did not pay any attention to the blood that stained the child’s small hands. Instead, the person turned their back on him.

“How infuriating.”

A loud crash. His favorite potted plant shattered into a million pieces.

The woman who’d broken the pot curled her red lips into an arrogant smile. The boy was almost relieved to see her smile, but then she bent to pick up a shard. The sharp piece of ceramic was held high in the air, reflecting the child’s face that had turned pale with fear.

No, I need to stop her...

Having assimilated with young Judas’ feelings in his dreams, Egret called for someone with a strong wish. Then he woke up.

Yuni was sitting by his pillow, lost in her own thoughts when she noticed something strange.

“What is this? Egret!”

She flew up in the air and saw that the energy frequency of the earth was reverberating. Books fell from the shaking bookshelf. Several teacups that were placed on top of the shelf also fell to the floor. Yuni’s face turned stern at the sudden earthquake. She quickly flew over to Egret’s head.

“Egret.” When she carefully caressed his forehead, the shaking stopped instantly. Watching him slowly open his eyes, she worriedly called his name once more. “Egret, are you all right?”

“Hmm...?”

He looked up at her blearily with sleepy eyes before slowly sitting up and looking down at the blankets. Yuni turned her head to follow his gaze. She let out a strange squeak, forgetting how worried she was, and started pointing at who she saw.

“You, you!”

A hiccup close to a sob came from where she was pointing. There was a small spirit with the same wings she had plopped down on the bed. It looked like a boy with ochre-colored hair that had grown thick and over his eyes. He cried into the blankets, his shoulders shaking.

Taking this in, Egret kindly put out his hand toward the spirit.

“Welcome, Tony.”

“Oh... E... gret... Wahhhhh!”

The spirit shining in ochre clung to the outstretched hand and sobbed with deep sorrow. Yuni raised her hand to her forehead with an expectant expression. Tony, the king of the earth spirits, was the second spirit to answer Egret’s summons.

***

Tony wept for quite a while. Suddenly facing a sobbing spirit right after waking up, Egret waited for him to calm down with a troubled smile on his face. Tony grew tired of crying so much and just whined while he clung to Egret’s hand.

“I missed you so much, Egret.”

“I missed you too. Haha.”

“I waited for so long, but you didn’t call. I thought you had forgotten about us...”

He looked and behaved like the youngest of the four spirit kings of the elements. Egret shook his head at Tony, who was still looking distraught with tears welling up in his eyes.

“That is impossible. You were all friends I will never forget, even in death. But that being said, does everyone know that I have not passed away?”

“Hm?”

“Of course, Egret. We are bound together by contract. We can’t come to you unless you summon us, but we can still sense your presence,” Yuni cut in and answered instead of Tony, who was tilting his head in confusion.

His face brightened as he finally noticed her.

“Yuni?!”

“Um, yeah.”

“I was wondering what had happened to you!”

“I’m fine. I was here before you.”

His wings flinched at her dismissive answer. His eyes were obscured by his thick hair, but his lips were twitching, showing his discomfort.

“Yuni came first?”

“Oh, what? Are you jealous that I was the first spirit Egret summoned?”

“What! You wanted to see Yuni more than me?” Tony shouted while Yuni smiled victoriously.

Watching the two spirits bicker like childish siblings, Egret gently calmed them down.

“Now, both of you calm down. I didn’t summon you later because I missed you less, Tony.”

“Then why...?”

The prince’s golden eyes looked at the spirits with warm affection.

“Because I knew you would never want to leave my side if I called you.”

For him, the spirits were his best friends. They had remained with him as friends and family when he was distraught from the betrayal of his own kind. Therefore, he wanted to delay summoning them as much as possible so they could have some freedom. In that respect, he felt sorry for summoning Yuni first, right after he’d woken up in Judas’ body.

Yuni recognized Egret’s thought process without a need for an explanation and shook her head vigorously.

“Of course that’s the case.”

“Haha...”

Egret buried his head in his pillow again, cradling the spirits in his hands. His tired body was having a difficult time resisting the pull of sleep. He felt very relieved to have two friends he could trust next to him. He was sorry that he had summoned Tony without planning to, but the spirit was here now and would never leave his side again.

Egret let sleep come, hoping he would not have another nightmare.