"Hey there, Negi. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

Surprised to hear the smooth, familiar voice, Negi turned to face his visitor.

"High Priest Takahata! I... I wasn't expecting you..."

"Relax. I'm not here as the High Priest, so just call me Takamichi like the old days."

Unsure, Negi replied, "If you say so... Takamichi."

With a sad laugh, Takamichi said, "You used to be such a relaxed kid, Negi. You need to learn to lighten up again."

"I know, but it isn't very easy. It seems that whenever I close my eyes, I see destruction rain down from the sky..."

Looking for a way to break the awkward silence, Takamichi eventually asked, "So, Negi, any ideas what road you're going to take?"

Startled out of his reverie, Negi paused for a few minutes before he said, "For a time, I had thought about becoming a bounty hunter like my father. However, I don't even know what kind of man he was supposed to have been. Lately, however, I've been thinking of taking the road to Paladin."

Surprised, Takamichi said, "Hardly anyone aims to be a Paladin these days. It's quite a hard life, the one you've chosen. Forever going from mission to mission, battle to battle. Do you really think you've got what it takes?"

Sounding quite tired, Negi said, "Even though I can't remember the life I had there, Merid was a tragedy that I wouldn't wish on anyone else. So... I want to do whatever I can to make sure that it never happens again. And from what I can see, becoming a Paladin is the best way to go about that."

Smiling like a proud father, Takamichi said, "I see. Well, at least you're determined. Although, doing it this way will take you considerably longer to get the authorization to use enough resources to make an effective search for your father. Nevermind that the Twilight Empress herself has made repeated attempts to no avail."

Then, as though his words had only just dawned on him, Takamichi's face contorted into an expression of pure terror.

"Takamichi?"

"Speak of the devil... in three, two, one..."

No sooner had Takamichi finished his countdown than there was a flash of light as the Twilight Empress of the Holy Ariad Empire appeared before them.

An angry blush on her face, the young woman gave Takamichi a light glare as she demanded, "High Priest Takahata! Why have you been hiding from me?"

With a heavy sigh, Takamichi replied, "If I may say so...?"

Blinking her dichromatic eyes, the Unmaker said, "Of course! You can tell me anything and I won't get mad! (at you...)"

"You've been stalking me."

"... And?"

Unable to believe that a Goddess could be so dense at times, the former Captain explained, "The knowledge that you're continually watching me, day and night, subtly manipulating minor events in my life so that random chance always works out in my favor... To be blunt, it's unsettling."

"... I don't really understand why it bothers you so much, but if it's really that big of an annoyance then I guess I can tone it down a bit..."

A strong gust of wind blew at that moment, causing the bells in her hair to ring.

Closing her green eye, the Unmaker added, "But if you want me to quit 'stalking' you, then you might be a bit more..."

Here, she licked her lips as she finished, "responsive to me..."

Then, she seemed to suddenly notice Negi and said, "Oh, you're that one kid, whatshisname. No, don't tell me, I'll remember it. (eventually...). You remember that rich chick from Ostia? That blonde who keeps making massive donations to your chapter ever since you were ten? You know she fantasizes about molesting you, right?"

After taking a moment to digest that, Negi said, "I didn't really need to know that, Empress."

Waving it off with an exaggerated shrug, she said, "Puh-lease. A friend of Takamichi's can just call me Asuna. Got it?"

Freezing up, Asuna swore.

"Stupid brown-nosers... Look, I've gotta go make the kiss-ups happy for a while as I just sit on my butt and look important. Takamichi, expect me to be coming for you tonight unless a sudden emergency pops up. Noogie, you just go do whatever with my blessing."

With that, the Twilight Empress vanished in a flash of light, much the same way she'd arrived.

After braving an awkward pause, Negi ventured, "She looks and acts younger than I do."

"Yep. And yet this current iteration of the Unmaker is still five times older than I am. Apparently, she's just extremely fond of her form and doesn't want to change it."

A grin creeping its way onto his face, Negi asked, "So let me get this straight... the Goddess whom we serve... wants to be your girlfriend, am I right?"

His glasses shining ominously, Takamichi coldly said, "Never speak of this again if you know what's good for you."

Properly intimidated, Negi nodded.

Affecting his friendly expression again, Takahata attempted to steer the conversation back where it had been before one of the galaxy's Gods had derailed it.

Then he realized that the God-Empress had gotten him so far off track that he couldn't remember.

"Where were we before... that... happened?"

"You were remarking upon my career choice of being a Paladin and how it relates to my personal goals, sir."

"... That sounds about right. Ahem. While roaming the galaxy as a Paladin, spending your days righting wrongs, is a noble calling, it won't exactly help you too much when it comes to looking for your father. Time and again, you will be made to abandon your quest for your father in place of upholding justice. You will be a man of solitude, more often than not. A life without a proper home, forever passing through..."

His tone and expression hardening, Takamichi demanded, "Tell me, Negi Springfield, do you believe that you are prepared for this? Do you honestly think that you capable of tossing away everything you desire in the name of what must be done for the sake of harmony, if that sacrifice is demanded of you?"

Negi paused for all of one second before delivering his answer.

"I am more than prepared, sir."

Takamichi relaxed again.

"Then by the power vested in me by the Holy Ariad Empire, and with the blessing of the Twilight Empress, I, High Priest Takamichi T. Takahata, declare you a Knight of the Church. Go forth into the galaxy, Sir Negi. Fight while others flee, pursue while others retreat, conquer where a lesser Knight would quit, and make right all in your path that is wrong! ... I'm proud of you. If I had ever had a son, I wish he could've been half the young man you are."

Tearing up a bit despite himself, Negi said, "Well, you're the closest thing to a dad that I can remember having, so..."

Finding himself overcome with emotion for the first time in years, Negi stepped forward and embraced the older man.

Awkwardly patting Negi on the back, Takamichi was reminded of the innocent little kid Negi had been before Merid's destruction. "I've prepared a shuttle for you in the hangar - it should serve you well enough until you can find something better."

After separating and regaining his composure, Negi turned and left, heading for the hangar.

On the way, he was met by a pair of cadets from the Hellas Confederation.

"Heya there Negi- holy crap, you seem happy today. What happened?"

Blinking in surprise, Negi asked, "Something the matter, Collette?"

"Well, it's not like you're usually depressed or anything, just... really reserved. But today, you're... you're actually smiling."

Confused, Negi asked, "Aren't I usually smiling?"

"Well, yeah, but it normally it kinda stops at your mouth, like one of those fake smiles. But this smile reaches the rest of your face. Especially your eyes. Makes you look more handsome than usual."

Turning to her comrade, she demanded, "Isn't that right, Em?"

The irritated reply was "My name is Emily. But yes, Negi, your beauticious countenance is even more radiant than usual."

"If you say so. I'm off to the hangar to find my shuttle."

At their confused faces, he explained, "I'm now a Paladin. ... Are you two alright?"

When they failed to respond but seemed otherwise fine, Negi shrugged and continued on his way.

The vessel he'd be using to venture into space was a small craft, designed for only one or two people. However, it was stocked with enough supplies to last those few people for several weeks. It wasn't equipped with a decent trans-stellar drive, though, so the range of places he could go within the six-week limit was limited.

"Hrm... There's a shipyard of some repute orbiting Aquitar, perhaps I could find something there..."

Just before disembarking, however, Negi stopped himself.

"Wait a second, I'm not trained to fly this thing. I need a pilot."

At that moment, a man stuck his head out of the door and said, "You coming or what?"

Surprised, Negi asked, "In a moment. I'm guessing High Priest Takahata brought you on?"

"Yeah, I'm a mercenary and pilot. Name's Kotaro Inugami. You were muttering something about the Aquitian shipyards, right? I've been there before."

Negi paused, shrugged at the camera, and said, "Never expected to get it handled that easily."

Turning back to his newly recruited pilot, Negi said, "All right then, Kotaro, let's go ahead and launch."

"Roger that. Reversing magnetic field, engaging thrusters. Launching in three, two, one."