Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 5: Meeting

As I expected, lunch still had a meaningful queue. We hadn't waited long enough, but it was quite alright. We simply queued up, waited our turn and eventually got to eat. Sayuri looked to be starving by the time we arrived, so I was glad she finally had food to satisfy herself with. Once done, we left.

Sayuri asked if we could go to our room to rest for some time, but I had another plan. Instead, I asked her to come with me to the Judges' meeting place, as I had things I wanted to check up on. She reluctantly agreed and we headed out.

Before coming, I check the bell tower to see if some kind of clock adorned its side, as I never properly checked. It did. It was nearly one in the afternoon so I figured it was a perfect time to check on whether there was a meeting to attend to or not.

As we arrived, I noticed the door was closed and sounds were coming from behind. Unsure what the proper etiquette would be, I took the safe route and knocked.

"Yes?" I heard from inside.

"It's Lilia and Sayuri, can we enter?"

"Come on in, good timing."

We entered and saw that everyone else was gathered already. My hunch was right, some kind of meeting was taking place. We head straight for whatever seats were available and Lynn started.

"So, now that we're all here, let's start the weekly meeting."

A weekly meeting, likely held every monday at lunch. She asked us about what we had seen happen from each person. Most didn't see anything happen so it was relatively quick, some had a few instances of students behaving badly near them. Nothing to particularly report about.

Julle, on the other hand, took it to another level. He had meticulously remember in details every single thing he might have noticed, including spots of interest where students could be up to no good. He singlehandedly took longer than everyone else combined.

"Well, I didn't expect that much but that's fine. Would adding those spots to your daily route be too much?"

"I believe I can take these areas if Lilia-san and Sayuri-san patrol wider!"

"Understood. Let's do that for this week to see if your hunch was correct. On that note, Sayuri-chan."

"Ah! Y-Yes?"

"I don't know if you continued patrolling while Lilia was absent. Did you?"

She seemed shy, likely because she didn't and felt bad about it. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do except cheer for her in my mind. She looked over at me and I gave her a thumbs up, which seemed to make her feel better.

"I...I did!"

I was surprised. Quite surprised. And so was Lynn, though in her case a bit of concern also adorned her face.

"Diligent aren't you? Anything to report?"

"N-No, I didn't see anything. I was careful to look properly but I couldn't see anything. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. The fact there is nothing to report on is a good thing. You did your job."

She seemed happy at the praise, though still shy about it. She ended up getting a bit closer to me almost trying to hide herself, though to no avail.

"Lilia-san."

"Ah, yes?"

"Why were you absent for so long?"

"Nothing good. Was being taken care of by the army's medical facilities."

"The army again, huh... Well, either way, don't overwork yourself. If you need time to rest, take it. You don't have to patrol for some time until you feel better."