Yorea, Qinna, and the others happened to be walking over, arms laden with towels and vials of alchemical cleansers. Spotting Dilovei, they bowed in greeting.

"Qinna, Lusha," Dilovei instructed, "find a bed for Miss Tiyi to stay the night."

The girls exchanged glances. Qinna spoke up first. "Sleep on the bunk below mine."

"Hmm?" Lusha and Philine showed faint traces of surprise.

"The lower bunk under me is free," Qinna clarified.

"Alright then, I’ll leave her to you," Dilovei said lightly.

Tiyi opened her mouth to protest, but the handover felt so natural she couldn’t interrupt.

"Miss Tiyi, this way," Qinna said, looping her arm through Tiyi’s just as she had during their first rescue. Yorea cheerfully took the other arm, guiding Tiyi to the innermost corner of the second-floor gallery.

"This is yours," Qinna pointed to the lower bunk of a double-decker bed. The sheets looked slightly worn but clean.

"Ah… I… oh…" Tiyi fumbled for words, the real reason stuck in her throat.

"By the way, Miss Tiyi," Yorea suggested brightly, "want to join us for a bath?"

"Eh?" Tiyi shook her head hastily. "N-no, thank you."

Today had already been overwhelming. Bathing with a group of girls—facing their bare bodies or her own—was too intense a trial. She simply couldn’t muster that courage yet.

Watching Qinna settle Tiyi in, Dilovei slipped into a small door at the far end of the second floor—her private room.

The other girls had gone to bathe. The corner of mismatched bunks was quiet again, leaving Tiyi alone.

She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of her bed.

In a single night, she’d landed amidst a fragrant garden of blossoms—who could have foreseen this?

Her eyes drifted to the rows of plain wooden bunks. Hanging between them were vibrant, alluring undergarments—like wildflowers dotting a sleeping forest of witches.

Flustered, Tiyi turned away—only to spot Qinna’s tiny pink panties and a delicate camisole dangling from the upper bunk’s edge.

A Holy Temple Knight who’d sworn off women… had fallen for her own vow-bound female knight student. And now, she’d be living in a girls’ dormitory for the foreseeable future.

Had she already lost her faith? Her discipline?

The bathing witches began returning, most in thin nightgowns. Tiyi didn’t know where to look.

Soon, Qinna and Yorea came back too, clad in colorful sleepwear.

Tiyi felt utterly adrift.

As Qinna stepped onto Tiyi’s bunk to climb up, her nightgown fluttered—revealing sun-kissed legs and a flash of brief blue fabric beneath.

Everywhere, wispy nightgowns swayed. Pale legs flashed past…

Amidst her fluster, Tiyi suddenly confronted a truth she’d desperately ignored:

*She* was wearing women’s underwear too. Black. Lace-trimmed.

*That Succubus picked it!* Of course it wasn’t decent.

Thankfully, she’d skipped the bath. What if the other witches saw?

They might not care—but *she* did.

Wearing such scandalous lingerie, with a body made for it… exposed to everyone? It would be a public trial of utter shame.

She’d sleep fully clothed.

Night deepened.

Most witches slept. The chapel glowed in cool blue shadows.

Only Tiyi lay awake.

Lusha—gorgeous, battle-skilled Lusha—slept sprawled on the lower bunk beside her, legs parted carelessly.

Above her slept Yorea.

Yorea turned in her sleep with a soft sigh, the blanket sliding off. Tiyi looked away—but not before spotting a dark, twisted scar circling Yorea’s thigh like barbed wire. Above it lay a brand.

*A witch trial brand.* Seared by a red-hot iron stamp.

Tiyi couldn’t reconcile that mark with Yorea’s bright smile. This witch dormitory—layered like a mirage—wasn’t as warm as it seemed.

Unlike her, they must fear battle. Fear revenge against the Empire. Yet none fled training. None showed fear. Perhaps they’d accepted an inescapable fate.

How many months left? The witch selection date was uncertain.

*She* had to be chosen. Could she let someone like Yorea face the Empire’s army?

Her swordsmanship should suffice. With months of training, she’d adapt to this female body and refine her techniques.

But magic… Though her elemental affinity was strong, her innate talent for sensing magic felt lacking.

The selection likely valued magic over blades.

That worried her. She’d started magic training late. Her elemental sensitivity was mediocre at best…

A dull pressure in her lower abdomen cut through her thoughts.

One problem couldn’t be postponed.

*What?*

*Relieving herself.*

The First Knight who’d faced tidal waves of demons in the Lower Realm… afraid to squat like a woman?

Tiyi’s cheeks burned crimson in the dark.

She slipped out of bed. Earlier, the girls had mentioned the toilet was near the baths. She remembered the way.

Quietly, she left the dormitory, descended the stairs, and passed through the small wooden door. Alone in the dim tunnel.

Rumors said monsters lurked here.

But after being imprisoned by a Greater Demon and turned into a woman? Nothing scared her now.

Ahead in the darkness, two gleaming eyes watched her.

"Hmm?"

The eyes moved into the firelight. A black cat.

Tiyi thought she’d seen it before.

But as she approached, the cat darted down a side passage and vanished.

At the passage’s entrance stood a heavy wooden door studded with rusted iron nails. Candlelight glinted on a copper plaque: a wizard’s hat and a towel.

*The witches’ bathhouse.*

Down the damp, shadowy corridor, a battered wooden door stood ajar. *The toilet.*

*Drip… drip…*

Water echoed on the wet stone floor.

At the corridor’s end, Tiyi pushed open the ancient square door.

Inside lay a gloomy maze of crumbling stone arches and wooden stalls—reminiscent of castle latrines, but lacking the straightforward convenience she was used to.

Tiyi’s first time in a women’s restroom.

Thankfully, empty. She stayed alert, slid open a stall door, and stepped onto the stone platform.