Let's Train Heroine

"Finally! This temple is mine for the week!"

Taro, a stand-in priest with a tendency to over-dramatize everything, threw his arms into the air in the middle of temple. The real priest, Lucan, along with the Saintess Maris, had gone off on some trip, leaving Taro in charge of the place.

"This is my chance! I can do anything I want!" Taro exclaimed, completely missing the point of being a responsible temporary caretaker.

He started by glancing around the empty prayer hall, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "First, I'll... clean! Yes! I'll show them who's the real master of cleanliness!"

He grabbed a broom and began an overly enthusiastic sweeping spree, spinning around the room like he was auditioning for a musical. Dust flew everywhere as he chanted, "Begone, foul specks of dirt! Thou art not worthy of this sacred place!"

A mother and her young child, who had just entered the temple to pray, quickly turned around and left, whispering, "Let's come back next week when that strange man is gone."

Unfazed by the dwindling number of visitors, Taro continued his cleaning crusade, mopping the floors with the precision of a surgeon and the speed of a caffeinated squirrel.

"Hah! The floors are so clean you could eat off them!" he boasted, though the idea of eating off a floor didn't sound appealing to anyone else.

Once the prayer hall was spotless (and eerily quiet because everyone else had fled), Taro moved on to his next task: healing the sick.

A nervous-looking man entered, holding his head. "I've had a headache since yesterday, but maybe I should wait for the Saintess to return..." he muttered to himself.

Taro, with a gleeful grin, swooped down on him. "Nonsense! I am here to heal you!" He grabbed the man's shoulders and forced him onto a nearby bench, ignoring the look of sheer terror on the man's face.

"Now, let me just... figure out how this healing magic works... is it this hand or that one?" Taro muttered, waving his hands in various mystical patterns that looked more like he was practicing for a hand-jive competition.

The man squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the worst.

"...and voila!" Taro declared, placing his hand on the man's head. A tiny spark of magic fizzled from his fingertips. The man blinked and, miraculously, his headache was gone.

"Huh. That actually worked," Taro said, genuinely surprised. "I mean, of course it did! I'm amazing!"

The man scrambled to his feet, bowed quickly, and bolted for the door, deciding his headache was much preferable to whatever else Taro might have in store.

With his confidence sky-high, Taro decided it was time to check on the inner sanctum of the temple. He strolled into the kitchen, humming a tune, only to find it already spotless.

"Well, I'll just... polish the stove a bit more!" Taro announced to no one, vigorously scrubbing a stove that already shone.

The kitchen gleamed, but Taro still felt a need to meddle further. He moved on to the Saintess's bathroom, imagining all the extra cleaning he could do. He opened the door with a dramatic flourish, but the bathroom was cleaner than he could have ever expected.

"Who cleaned this? Some sort of cleaning fairy? No matter, I'll just... uh, polish the faucet! Yes!" He pulled out a rag and started polishing, but there was nothing to clean.

"Well, that was easy," Taro muttered, leaving the bathroom untouched.

Finally, he approached the door labeled 'Maris,' his eyes sparkling with curiosity. "This is it, the Saintess's room. The very air in here must be pure and divine!"

He slowly opened the door, half-expecting to be blinded by heavenly light. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of... a very normal, neatly organized bedroom.

"Oh... it's just a regular room. Where's the magic? The secret passage? The... the..."

Before he could finish his thoughts, a pillow flew out of nowhere, smacking him right in the face.

"Take that, intruder!" shouted a tiny, squeaky voice.

"Who dares—ouch!" Another pillow hit him, followed by several more.

Taro flailed wildly, trying to defend himself from the surprise attack. Finally, he spotted the culprits: a group of tiny, mischievous temple mice, apparently very protective of the Saintess's room.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Taro shouted, making a hasty exit as the mice chased him out with surprising ferocity, pelting him with more tiny projectiles.

He slammed the door behind him, panting. "Okay, maybe I'll just stick to cleaning the guest rooms..."

With his adventurous spirit slightly dampened, Taro decided to take a nap in one of the guest rooms. He flopped onto a bed, fully clothed, and promptly fell asleep, dreaming of magical cleaning spells and heroic battles with dust bunnies.

When he awoke, it was nearly sunset. He sat up, stretched, and grinned. "All in a day's work! This temple has never been cleaner... or more chaotic!"

Little did he know, the townspeople had decided to avoid the temple for the rest of the week, leaving Taro to his antics in peace—or perhaps to the amusement of the temple mice.

Those mice were small stuff toys that becomes alive due to Maris's spirits.

---

While Maris and Lucan were on their trip, Sarina, who was finally free from all the Saint's studies and her mother, was enjoying a happy time with her friends.

Julia, Olive, and Hima were in a new dungeon, full of fresh items and things to discover.

Rina was also there, and by coincidence, she met Julia, Olive, and Hima.

When Julia, Olive, and Hima lived at Lucan's place, Rina saw them but never talked to them. Today, they talked and became good friends, deciding to explore the dungeon together.

Prince Kai, Alec, and the other love interests were also spending their summer vacation as they liked. Though each had different ways of spending their summer, one thing was common among them: they all missed Maris and hoped the academy would start again soon so they could see her.