Chapter 49

I know it’s wise to turn back while the visibility is still clear.

However, today is a rare day without other adventurers around. If I were to meet the bird, I wouldn’t have to worry about our intimate time being interrupted this time. The problem is that just because I think this way doesn’t mean there’s any guarantee the bird will appear so conveniently. Still, I entered with the mindset of performing a rite of prayer, hoping it would appear.

After a while, I stopped my feet again. From here on, the path is completely unknown. It might be dangerous if I go any deeper. Worries naturally arose because the means to protect my own body were so meager. But circling around only near the boundaries would be a waste of time, too. On a day like today, with the visibility being so clear, I didn’t think the bird would come out near the areas adjacent to the outside. Even if it had a nature of its own, it’s more natural to want to stay in the deepest places when it’s not easy to hide one’s body on a day like this.

After much deliberation, I eventually decided to go deeper into the woods.

By the time the full moon that had been floating high began to tilt and the blue dawn began to arrive, I was regretting that I should have turned back long ago, but since I’d come this far, I couldn’t stop my steps because it had also become difficult to retreat.

I stubbornly persisted to myself, saying I absolutely had to see the bird, even if it was just out of sheer defiance. While wandering among the trees like that, I discovered a spring. It was a small spring that wasn’t particularly special, but after having only similar scenery continue on and on, I felt as if I had suddenly dropped a different color, and only then did I finally come to my senses. Only then could I finally stop and stand.

I caught my breath and wiped away my sweat before sitting down.

Suddenly, I felt a resonance that seemed to pass through my skin and make the blood in my body ripple like waves. I lifted my head. The crystal bird was flapping its wings and descending onto a tree branch near the spring.

The anomalous phenomenon began with the resonance this time as well. The song, still soundless, rang out not in my ears, but throughout my entire body. I, as the Messenger, must be the only one who could properly understand what that bird was singing.

A young kin, born without the connection it should have rightfully had due to the absence of God. A contradictory state where it had no leash, yet its Master was already decided. It seemed that because it was born as an existence unable to understand freedom, a world where it couldn’t feel its Master was nothing but agony.

My God. Where are You? I am here. I am waiting for You here.

That must be why it was crying out so foolishly.

Actually, it would make no difference to me if I pretended not to know about that bird. I had intended to ignore it from the start. Since I couldn’t use much power at the point where the Master was sealed, I couldn’t find a reason to pay much attention to it.

If I leave it be, the adventurers will handle it on their own eventually. Right now, they can’t touch it because they haven’t found a way to conquer it, but I believe it will be solved eventually. As long as at least one person doesn’t give up, an answer is bound to emerge.

Moreover, it’s the same for that bird, unable to replenish its consumed power because the Master is gone. If it keeps wasting its power meaninglessly like that, there was a sufficient possibility it would eventually die of sheer exhaustion.

Even up until I heard it from the Saint, it felt just like, “Let’s just check it out.”

I had come this far keeping only in mind that I should take responsibility and find a way to conquer it if there were significant damages nearby. And I had intended to share the way to conquer it that I found with the adventurers to resolve the anomalous phenomenon.

I hadn’t considered the direction of doing anything for it beyond that.

Right now, I don’t really know. Just how far should I stretch the scope of my responsibility? Is the miserable fate of that bird also my responsibility? But I am not a person with such a large capacity. I had no ability to save it, either. In a situation where we are both growing weaker together, who am I to sympathize with whom?

But looking at it, I also felt a pang of pity on the other hand. Thinking about why it cries like that when the Master’s leash isn’t even anything good. It finally became free, so it could just mingle with its surroundings and live, couldn’t it?

While I was soaked in complex feelings, the resonance subsided. The bird soon began to preen its crystal feathers, which looked quite hard, with its beak. It seemed to be taking a break because it was exhausted.

By the way, it didn’t cause any noticeable surrounding phenomena this time. Does it change its performance method according to its mood at the time? It finished with a quite tame song.

I sat there pondering before lifting my body. Just then, the bird began to sing again.

I raised divine power with my index finger. Since it’s a waste, just one drop.

One drop of divine power soon met the bird’s resonance and resonated. Whoosh— A light wind stirred. The song that had just begun was cut off abruptly. The leaves that had been riding the rhythm also quieted down along with it.

The bird, which hadn’t shown any interest in me until just now, finally looked straight at me. How long had we been facing each other without avoiding that gaze? Suddenly, the bird spread its wings wide and took flight from the branch. The bird, which had been flapping and slowly rising into the air while watching me, suddenly seemed to feel something; it aimed its beak at me and folded its wings. It dropped in an instant.

I was staring blankly at the sight, unable to even react in time. The bird rushed toward the center of my chest as if to tear out my heart. I braced myself automatically, anticipating pain and impact. Reflexively, I clapped my hands together. Light burst before my eyes, and a circular formation emerged. The bird was sucked straight into it and vanished.

I stood there blankly, stiffened, blinked my eyes, and clapped my palms together once more. The circular formation that had swallowed the bird disappeared.

Only then did I feel around my stomach and chest area for a moment. Only after confirming that there wasn’t a single place torn away could I finally regain my senses.

I was so surprised! Why did it rush at me just now? I couldn’t understand the bird’s intention at all, but at least I had the realization that I was alive. If my reflexes hadn’t been triggered just in time, my heart might have been ripped out and I might have died.

I had only intended to make the bird slightly aware of my existence. Since we are both kin to the same God, I thought my presence might be a little bit of comfort. That there is no Master, but since I, their Messenger, am here, it should stop crying.

But to think it would just rush at me without a word. Once the surprise subsided, anger surged up this time.

“Gah…!”

You repay my compassion with a preemptive attack? It was a beast truly devoid of any gratitude. Well, I suppose it acted like a beast because it had a beast’s brain, but still! Anyway, it was abominable.

Even if we are kin to the same Master, I am the first in the hierarchy! This is an act of insubordination!

Of course, I might not be the one to talk, having sealed the Master away! Anyway, since I just decided it was insubordination, this bird was a bad bird.

After that, while exiting the woods, I fumed because my anger wouldn’t subside, but then I suddenly looked at my left hand. Come to think of it, I had unintentionally caught the crystal bird.

What should I do with this hot potato now?

Before inserting the key, I grasped the doorknob and applied force, hoping for a chance. It turned smoothly. He’s home! My mood immediately brightened, and I pushed the door open with a grin.

“Fel!”

“Ah, welcome back.”

Felix, standing there with a bundle of blankets, greeted me with a clear face.

“Are you washing the blankets?”

“I just took them down.”

I see. But that wasn’t a matter of great importance.

“Feeel—”

I dropped my bag and spread both arms wide. As I rushed forward, Felix was startled and took a step back.

“Wait, these are clean blankets…!”

There is no “wait.” I hugged Felix tightly, along with the blankets. After being flustered for a moment, he softened his voice and asked calmly, “Was the trip fun?”

“Not really. It might have been fun if you had been there.”

“Then you should have waited until I returned.”

“How was I supposed to know when you’d come? There was no promise.”

Even if I’d said I would wait, it would have been the same. I asked if he might have to leave again soon, and I lifted my face, which had been buried in the blankets. Felix looked down at me and smiled bitterly.

“…That’s true.”

“Yes.”

“I was worried.”

“I didn’t do anything dangerous.”

Even if I look like this, I’m a person with a knack for living in this world in my own way. Even in the days when Felix wasn’t by my side, I had managed to look after myself well enough. It was fine to stop treating me like a noblewoman who truly doesn’t know the ways of the world.

“True danger isn’t something you can avoid just by being careful yourself.”

“That may be so, but.”

Thinking back to the moment the crystal bird flew toward my chest, I felt dizzy even now. If my reaction had been even a split second late, this moment might not have existed at all.