Chapter 45

“Huh? What?”

“You were so eager to come here suddenly. Has what was bothering you been resolved?”

“Well, I suppose.”

“That response sounds a bit fishy.”

“I know it would be shameless to complain, considering all the trouble you went through for me.”

“I wasn’t asking you to praise me or anything. I just wondered if you were satisfied. But looking at how you’re talking, I guess not.”

I shook my head.

“To be honest, my heart doesn’t feel clear. Even so, I think coming here was the right thing to do.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

“Yeah.”

I lifted my head to meet Felix’s eyes.

“Thank you for coming here with me. If you hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have even been able to reach the bottom of the traces.”

Even if I had reached it, it would have been incredibly difficult to climb back up. Felix chuckled softly and stroked my hair.

“As for me, I’m happy just as long as you take me with you wherever you go.”

He told me to be sure to let him know if I wanted to go anywhere else next time. Felix looked more serious than usual at that moment, which made me feel a bit shy.

What’s with him all of a sudden? Why is he changing the atmosphere on his own? I fanned my heating face with my hand.

“Why are you like that? Are you hot?”

“Hm? Yeah—I’m suddenly a bit hot. Do I have a fever?”

“Is that so? You might be tired from the sudden long-distance travel.”

Felix moved the hand he had placed on my forehead to my cheek and said.

“You do seem to have a slight fever. How about we rest in the village for about two days before moving on?”

I nodded at his suggestion, as he advised that leaving a slight fever unchecked could cause it to worsen for no reason.

“Mm. Okay….”

“Now that I hear it, your voice lacks strength, too. Are you having a hard time?”

When he asked if I wanted a piggyback ride, I shook my head vigorously this time and quickened my pace.

I wasn’t particularly ill, but I followed Felix’s advice and rested in the village for two days before returning to the capital. Since he had already confirmed I had a fever, it felt pointless to stubbornly insist I was fine afterward.

Anyway, our first trip ended without any major mishaps. However, starting the very next day after we returned, Felix was called away by a messenger and had to leave his post.

Usually, there is a separate shop for receiving messages, but they also use messengers when it is urgent.

I heard that the mercenary unit’s schedule had changed while Felix and I were traveling. It seemed the messenger was sent directly because Felix hadn’t shown up at the shop where he was supposed to be contacted.

Felix immediately soured when his colleague, acting as the messenger, appeared at my house. He grabbed his colleague by the collar and shook him, asking how he found the place. If it hadn’t been an urgent matter, he looked ready to start throwing punches right then and there.

The messenger expressed his own frustration, asking where on earth Felix had been, saying he had already visited three times while we were away. Felix seemed to decide to check the urgent matter first; he left with the messenger and returned alone before long. Then, he packed some simple luggage and left immediately.

I waved goodbye to him as he departed and looked around the suddenly empty house. It was silent. I hadn’t realized it much until then, but the realization that being alone is lonely struck me anew.

While Felix was away, I visited the Temple. Was it because I had stepped inside with a clear intent this time, unlike the impulse of last time? From the entrance of the front gallery, I could feel a tingling sensation, as if my skin were being pricked.

It felt like I was being treated as a heretic who had carelessly stepped into holy ground. Even though it wasn’t new that I was an apostle of Master, the fact that it felt different now could mean they had treated me as a guest last time, or perhaps it was because I had recently received a tribute from Felix that profaned the Main God.

Either way, I felt considerable hostility. At this rate, I couldn’t even dream of entering the main hall. It was when I was standing at the entrance, unable to go back or forth and feeling perplexed.

“Countess Lallanne.”

I turned my head to find the Saint bowing with her hands clasped demurely.

“It is honey tea.”

The Saint placed the teacup down.

“Thank you.”

I smelled the faint flower scent rising with the light steam and took a sip of the tea. As I lifted my head, the Saint was also taking a sip of her own tea before setting the cup down.

Although I had come to meet the Saint on my own, I had also thought she might not be there. I had heard from Felix that she sometimes followed the mercenary unit for Temple-related work.

If so, perhaps Felix’s urgent matter this time had something to do with Temple business. Or maybe he just hadn’t followed her this time. No, that didn’t matter.

I stroked the teacup, which was slowly cooling along with the tea, and slowly brought up the topic.

“I visited the ruins of Lallanne this time.”

“How were they?”

I lifted my gaze, which had been fixed on the tea. The Saint was watching me quietly.

If she had said, ‘I see,’ I would have thought of her as nothing more than a hypocrite playing the role of a transcendent being. Furthermore, if she had the audacity to pretend she didn’t know anything, even though she had been the one to call for me through Felix in the first place, I had no words for her and intended to leave right then.

That’s how important the first sentence is.

Anyway, she asked how it was. I laughed a little.

“There wasn’t much there yet.”

The Saint blinked her eyes slowly, lost in thought, and then spoke.

“It is said there is a strange bird in an eastern village called Miruen.”

Miruen. I had indeed lived in a village of that name for a while.

“They say that bird is made of crystal and sings the song of a god. However, the melody seemed too high-level for ordinary people to listen to. They say there is no one who can properly hear it yet.”

I took another sip of the honey tea and closed my eyes gently.

“But if it receives the proper help, I believe it will surely play a beautiful song. A bird that sings of a god—there would be no existence more suitable for proselytizing.”

In the Saint’s voice, which seemed monotonous at first glance, there was surprisingly a lot of trembling. More emotions were visible than I had thought. At the very least, it was certain that she was treating me very cautiously.

“However, conversely, if the current state continues, the damage caused by emotional disturbance will spread. It might become a target for subjugation. Since it is not yet clear whether it is a phantom beast or a monster, I believe that will be decided depending on one decisive event.”

That was enough. I opened my eyes, lifted the teacup, and asked.

“Do you want that bird?”

“No.”

“You said it might be helpful for proselytizing.”

“It just means it has that kind of utility as well. Perhaps a god passing by might take it in because of that utility, you never know?”

“That sounds like a dangerous topic to bring up inside the Temple. A ‘passing god,’ of all things.”

That is heresy. What else could heresy be?

I shrugged my shoulders, feigning fear. The Saint, unbothered, lowered her gaze to the table and spoke.

“The bird’s situation is truly pitiful. I feel a terrible misery, as if looking at a child who lost its parents.”

I didn’t reply and finished the remaining tea.

F.

It was the day after I returned from the trip. The unit leader, who had tracked down the home I and Iel had kept hidden so well and even sent a messenger there to summon me, dismissed those around him the moment I appeared.

Even after we were face-to-face, the unit leader kept silent for a while. Then, suddenly, he pulled out a large beer glass, filled it with rum, and shoved it toward me. I was dumbfounded.

“Are you telling me to drink until I die?”

“Drink first, then listen.”

“Just how insane is the thing you’re about to say?”

I snapped at him to stop posturing and state his business quickly. Unlike you, a widower, I have a rabbit-like lover waiting for me at home.

“You said you were from Nervas, didn’t you?”

“So what? I told you a long time ago that I don’t have the ability to bridge you with the Temple.”

I complained, asking if I had to tell him again that I was nothing more than a beggar rolling in the streets there. The unit leader waved his hand lightly.

“Forget that part. What I need right now isn’t connections, but someone who knows the roads of Nervas well.”

“It’s been quite a while since I left there. I don’t even know how much the current geography overlaps with my memory.”

“Still, you’d know better than an outsider.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

The unit leader was silent once again, then spoke in a voice that sounded like it was about to fade away.

“Five members who entered Nervas are currently missing.”