The Auriphani Sky Council is the most powerful authority in Heaven, second only to the Heavenly Throne. In fact, in most of the time when the Goddess of the Light does not intervene in the affairs of the Angel race, this is the center of power in Heaven, overseeing the economy, politics, military, and other aspects of The Realm.

That being said, Heaven has a population even smaller than a human city-state, and everything is maintained in the simplest form. In addition, the Angels do not have a strong desire for power, so even with such centralization of power, there has been no corruption or oppression.

For the Angels who live leisurely day by day, the only thing that can make them nervous is probably threats from the outside world. Most council members are often off doing their own things due to their relaxed nature, and the only one left at the council hall halfway up the holy mountain is Miss Andraea, the current council head.

Even if she is alone, the council is so quiet that it borders on boredom. Miss Andraea feels that even if she were to go away for three days and come back, no one would come looking for her.

It's really starting to envy her juniors. Though they have been given tasks full of uncertainty by the Goddess herself, at least they get to go to the mortal world. Not too long ago, the task of vanquishing demons was directly taken away by the legions, and by the time she received the message, the battle had already ended.

As fellow Radiant Angels, even though they cannot travel the world like the seniors of The Age of Legendary War did, they certainly shouldn't waste their time in an empty council hall all day long.

"Ugh, I wish there was something to do here!"

"Council head! Council head!"

The heavy, towering doors were pushed open by gusts of wind, and with their massive wings furled up, Library and Lully stepped into the hall in a frenzy, causing the decorations and papers on the tables to flutter about.

Andrea seemed accustomed to the scene. She propped her chin with her left hand, staring at them, and with the tip of her index finger emitting a holy light, she swiftly wrote a spell in the air, freezing the scattered items and gently floating them back to their original positions.

"Cololo, Luly, this is the second time this month. I've emphasized many times that you're not supposed to use your wings inside the council hall. If it happens again, I will lock both of you in the small black room at the back."

"No, no! This time it's not intentional! Cololo and I found something strange!"

The sister who had rushed in first hurriedly waved her hands, trying to explain.

"Well, let me think. This excuse has been used by both of you the last few times you were locked up in the black room. Plus, telling me you saw demons distracting me and secretly using divine arts on humans, if you weren't already sent to the legion's prison due to your young age."

Andrea gave a smile that chilled both sisters, though the last part of her threat was more impactful. The legion's prison for Angels had been empty for hundreds of years, usually only being reserved for enemies that even the Angel legions couldn't permanently kill, sealing them away instead.

However, the two troublemaking young Angels did seem quite intimidated.

"No, Auntie Andrea, please don't!"

Lully quickly hid behind her sister, who hadn't completely retracted her wings yet, peeking out cautiously, "It's true this time! We saw something we've never seen before! It was a super... um, a super..."

"Shark." Cololo finished her sister's sentence.

"Yes, a shark! No wait, it was actually a whale! Sister, don't mislead me!"

Pinching her sister's soft cheeks, Lully frowned. "Whale or shark aside, Lully, what did you just call me?"

"Auntie Andrea!"

"It's actually 'Auntie'... Hmmm." Cololo, having her mouth covered, struggled a bit before giving up and letting her sister cover her mouth.

"Ah, you two... If you had shown a little more respect, maybe you wouldn't have been given only the rank of ['Power'] in the last assessment of the War Angels?"

Andrea sighed. "Alright, calm down. What exactly is the matter you were referring to earlier?"

"A big whale! Over at Matia Island, it floated up from the clouds below earlier, so we came to tell you."

"Matia? Isn't that already at the border? Why did you two run off to a place like that?" Andrea glanced at the two sisters, staring them down until they looked guilty.

"Never mind. I'll deal with you two later. As for Matia Island..."

Sitting at the center of the hall, Andrea summoned a virtual screen made of holy light to project images of the area near Matia Island.

Half an hour later...

"So, where is this thing you mentioned?"

After thoroughly searching the nearby airspace and personally inspecting the site to ensure the surveillance spell was working correctly, the Council miss with growing concern caught the two sisters attempting to sneak away in an alarming predicament they saw no signs of.

***

Back on the ground,

As the days passed, Tiran's birthday drew closer. With September underway, although the daytime weather remained hot, there was a hint of coolness in the early mornings and evenings.

"Is autumn approaching already?"

On the streets of Beacon City, Aya leaned against a bench, licking the cone of ice cream in her hand, occasionally glancing up at the lush trees overhead.

The leaves were still a lush summer green, but there were now signs of curling and yellowing compared to before.

"Mm, Bugi Island... $%@#*"

Beside her, the little Angel enjoyed cream puffs and ice cream in her hands.

"Finish eating before talking, Sofie."

"Gulp, I mean, Heaven doesn't experience changing seasons, so I don't really know." Sofie struggled to swallow her mouthful of puff and ice cream, then crossed her legs comfortably, looking pleasantly surprised at Aya. "By the way, Senior Aya, I heard that in autumn, sheep start getting fatter, their meat becoming better. How about going for some mutton at night?"

"You seem to know a lot about that..."

Aya looked at the little Angel with some regret. This child was hopeless, thoroughly captivated by human food despite being from Heaven, a dignified and pure Radiant Angel.

Today was Aya's day off – rather, to be precise, her off-duty day as a maid. Miss Tiran had impulsively taken Chirp to the Magic Guild to have their magic levels appraised, leaving the castle empty. Aya decided to bring Sofie along to Beacon City for a stroll.

The main purpose was to improve their meals. Vivian's cake-making business was ongoing, but the normal temperature was causing a bottleneck in the strange taste in the mixed jam that could not be suppressed, so progress had stalled.

She had been helping taste Vivian's cakes during this time, but if she didn't eat some good food soon, Aya's palate might end up getting strange...

Of course, there was another goal aside from that.