Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows

With everything at the Royal Institute of Healing settled, Zenos, Lily and Carmilla return to their routine at the clinic in the ruined city. As Zenos reminisces about his mentor and his past, the three demi-human leaders announce the slums' first-ever night festival to foster camaraderie and provide people with much-needed entertainment. Of course, the three of them being who they are, the festival also ends up turning into a "friendly" competition for Zenos's heart. In a shocking turn of events, the peaceful festival is very nearly ruined by the sudden appearance of a certain underground faction of the slums...

With the crisis in Zagras averted and the S Rank beast defeated, Zenos returns to his life in the slums, juggling his duties at the clinic while occasionally teaching at St. Carmilla Academy. Still, these peaceful days don't last for long. All of a sudden, a group of oddly desperate military officers pop up in Zenos's part of town, running a mass recruitment drive to build out the nation's border patrol. It seems they'll conscript anyone-even children. Around the same time, Lily goes missing. And when witnesses report seeing her forced inside a military convoy alongside a child in fancy clothing, Zenos knows what he's got to do next-get recruited himself! It seems once again, life is about to take an unorthodox turn.

Thanks to Zenos and Lily's time at an academy for noble children and the assistance of several of its students, the gang is able to successfully establish St. Carmilla Academy, the first-ever school in the slums. There, the shadow healer meets Roa, a young girl with big dreams of adventure and bold claims of being the daughter of a legendary swordsman-the former Sword Saint. When Roa runs into trouble, she finds herself face-to-face with the current Sword Saint and resolves to become the woman's apprentice. Between this fateful meeting and a little push from a certain meddling wraith, Zenos finds himself dragged back into the adventuring lifestyle for the first time in a long while...