Chapter 91: The Witch's Lingering Fragrance
Generally, when Noah woke up in the morning, Artoria would have already been up for a while, having tidied up and donned her armor, then waiting as his guard for him to rise.
The reason for this lay in Noah and Artoria's biological clocks.
Noah's biological clock was fixed to wake him at a specific time in the morning. Barring any unusual circumstances, even if he had only slept for two hours or even one, he would automatically wake up when the time came.
Artoria's biological clock, however, was calculated based on duration.
Perhaps it was a lingering effect from her training under Merlin before becoming a guard, when her schedule was packed so tightly that she only had two or three hours to rest each day—and even that time was often used by Merlin for continued instruction through dreams. In any case, after Noah met Artoria, on the first night he held her in his arms, she slept for six hours.
From then on, as long as she slept for six hours, Artoria would wake up. That was her biological clock.
Under these circumstances, Artoria usually woke up about an hour earlier than Noah.
But today, when Noah woke up at his usual time and saw the figure still sleeping beside him, a gentle smile spread across his face.
He wasn't surprised by this scene.
After all, Artoria had a fixed six-hour sleep schedule.
Last night, they had been up almost until morning, so naturally, she wouldn't wake up so early today.
So Noah controlled his movements, carefully dressed himself, then pulled the blanket up a bit for 'Artoria.' He gently tidied her already loose and somewhat messy hair and lightly kissed her forehead.
Only then did Noah leave his bedchamber.
Afterward, he made a special trip to the kitchen to prepare some hot water for 'Artoria.' Using Magecraft, he maintained it at a suitable temperature and placed it on the table in the bedchamber. He also arranged for the kitchen to keep breakfast ready for her. Since he had official duties to attend to, he slightly drew back the curtains he had crafted using Alchemy, allowing sunlight to stream into the room without shining directly on 'Artoria.' Without disturbing her sleep, he tried to make the room as warm and bright as possible, filled with a clean, fresh scent.
Then Noah headed to his study to begin the day's work.
He had thought he might not see Artoria at all this morning.
But to his surprise, not even half an hour had passed on the Alchemy-crafted desk clock he had placed on his study table when Artoria, clad in her armor, appeared at the study door.
Artoria knew she was late, so she had rushed over.
It couldn't be helped.
Last night, sleeping in her elder sister's room had been somewhat restless, so it took her some time to finally fall asleep. The quality of her sleep wasn't great, and she had gone to bed late.
As a result, when Artoria woke up today, she immediately sensed that the timing felt off.
After hurriedly putting on her armor, she confirmed that she had indeed overslept and rushed straight to Noah's study.
"Sorry, I overslept."
Seeing that Noah had already begun working, Artoria, feeling somewhat derelict in her duties as a personal guard, sincerely apologized.
Noah looked at her and shook his head with a smile.
"It's fine, you could have slept a bit longer."
Seeing Noah like this, Artoria felt even more guilty.
So she outright refused Noah's suggestion to rest on the sofa and instead walked straight to the door, standing guard for him as usual.
Watching Artoria like this, Noah shook his head slightly.
He was well aware of Artoria's stubbornness and rigidity in certain matters.
However, seeing her steady and completely unaffected steps, he found it a bit strange—but quickly understood.
After all, Artoria was half-human, half-dragon, so it seemed normal for her to have a stronger constitution.
Thinking of this, Noah recalled the events of last night.
Although he was still dealing with these tedious tasks, he couldn't help but smile under the sunlight—a smile warmer than the sun itself.
If possible, he would have liked to set aside his work, go to the door, bring Artoria inside, and take care of her while she rested, perhaps even discussing matters between them.
But unfortunately, he couldn't abandon these tasks.
After all, he had spent three days in the Land of Shadows, and these tasks had been left unattended since then. If he neglected them further, some issues would be delayed for too long.
Moreover, after obtaining the Holy Lance and becoming a god, he hadn't yet properly examined his current condition.
Morning was Mary's rest time; unless he actively called her, she wouldn't wake up on her own.
Fou was also sleeping on the windowsill.
Once Mary woke up in the afternoon, he would have her examine him to see exactly what his condition was like after becoming a god—how much stronger he had become, how much Divinity he possessed, and what effects it might have.
So.
No matter how reluctant he was, it was best to finish these tasks as early as possible in the morning.
By the afternoon, after lunch, Fou finally stirred on the windowsill, and Noah took the opportunity to contact Mary through his thoughts, informing her about his acquisition of the Holy Lance.
...
As for what had happened in the Land of Shadows and the realm of Rhongomyniad, Mary remained unaware.
Unless Noah permitted it, Mary couldn't direct her gaze to his side. In the Fairy Realm, she especially avoided doing so, as they were equipped with thorough anti-Merlin measures, making it easy to be detected.
Most of the time, unless Noah called her or assigned her a task, she used her Clairvoyance to investigate distortions and search for Manaka Sajyou's location.
So, upon learning that Noah had become a god, Mary was quite startled.
After hearing Noah's request to examine his current condition, Mary helped him set up and conducted a comprehensive checkup.
At the beginning of the examination, Mary was shocked by the Divinity emanating from Noah.
She had never expected the intensity of Divinity within him to be so high!
If one had to assign a rank, and if the divinity of normal deities ranges from C to A, while that of powerful deities is A+, then Noah's divinity would be EX!
An overwhelmingly powerful divinity that cannot be measured by normal means!
With divinity of this level, "he would be perfectly qualified to become a divine king even during the peak of the Age of Gods."
So, after detecting Noah's exceptionally powerful divinity, Mary became even more interested in his other data.
But...
Before she could even check Noah's other data, she detected a faint lingering fragrance on him.
It wasn't a specific scent but rather something left behind after engaging in certain activities with certain beings—also known as the lingering fragrance of a Witch.
This could be considered a kind of label a Witch leaves on her man.
Normally difficult to detect, unless investigated carefully like Mary did, it only becomes noticeable under special circumstances and is highly distinctive. Once detected, it can even reveal the identity of the Witch.
This made Mary's gaze toward Noah turn complex at first, but it quickly returned to its usual calm. She simply spoke in her typically unemotional tone.
"I only thought you had a good relationship with that Artoria, but I never expected you to have been intimate with that Morgan. This is truly an unexpected situation."
When Mary spoke the first half of her sentence, Noah didn't think much of it.
After all, his relationship with Artoria had progressed further, so of course it was good—nothing to hide.
But when he heard the second half of Mary's sentence, Noah had to admit he was stunned!
Intimate with... with Morgan?
Huh!?
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