Episode 98
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 98
Three days later, in the morning.
Elysia rubbed her sleepy eyes and checked the clock. 5:30 AM. After a long yawn, she slipped into a shirt and pants and crept down the stairs, muffling her footsteps.
For a while now, Elysia had been starting her days by waking up at this hour for a light walk in front of the shrine.
The people here, with their conservative views on women, would never tolerate a ‘woman’ ‘walking aimlessly’ ‘alone’ with ‘no destination.’ Naturally, she chose this time, when the priests were in their dawn prayers and the students were still fast asleep.
After circling the shrine a few times until her mind cleared, Elysia was about to step quietly back inside when…
“Agh, fuck! You scared me!!!”
“Eek!”
…she was. She would have, had she not run into a small, frail figure.
A boy in shabby clothes gasped and stumbled backward. On instinct, Elysia grabbed the shoulders of the person before her, trying to get her bearings.
Wait, he looked familiar… Tilting her head, Elysia called the boy's name in a quiet voice.
“…Ted?”
“Oh, uh, hello…”
“What are you doing here? At this hour.”
She let go of his shoulders, a bewildered look on her face, and he mumbled a reply.
“I came to pray.”
“Do you come every day?”
“W-Well, I came because I wanted to see the mural again, and then the sound of the hymns was so fascinating…”
“At this hour? Alone?”
The boy’s silence was his answer. Kneeling down to meet his eyes, Elysia asked.
“Why?”
Ted was dressed as neatly as he could manage, as if he'd made a special effort.
The boy avoided Elysia's silver-gray eyes, fiddling with his blond hair, which had been clumsily combed, and muttered.
“…too.”
“What?”
His eyes, wide with desperation, were clear. As if forcing out a difficult confession, the boy said, trembling.
“I… I want to be saved, too.”
Speechless, Elysia slowly reached out to lift the collar of the boy's beige shirt. Just like Zenia, would this child have scars beneath his clothes?
Ted flinched and immediately pulled away, then ran off toward the prayer room. Elysia glanced down at her empty hand, then whipped her head around, feeling someone's eyes on her.
What was that?
The persistent stare was unsettling. Her sharp, silvery eyes scanned the area beyond the staircase.
Stomping up the stairs, Elysia found the upper floor deserted and tilted her head slightly. Strange. I was sure someone was there. I felt a presence…
“…Was I just imagining things?”
Leaning against a wooden door, Elysia lightly tapped the back of her head against it and shrugged. Well, it was about the time students started waking up… Maybe I just saw someone passing by.
Stretching her arms out wide, she headed back to her room with light steps.
“Hoo…”
And there, on the other side of the very door she had leaned against, stood a man. He was also leaning against the wooden door, his expression frozen as he stared down at his feet.
His platinum blond hair, usually neatly swept back, was a complete mess. His face, stripped of its usual leisureliness and filled with anxiety, looked just as it had that time she'd unintentionally exposed his deepest shame.
Something he had buried, wanting to forget it, something he had believed was forgotten. A memory Elysia had unintentionally awakened.
“I want to be saved, too.”
♥ SYSTEM: ‘Cain Ror’s’ Favorability +500 ♥
♥ SYSTEM: ‘Cain Ror’s’ Favorability -286 ♥
♥ SYSTEM: ‘Cain Ror’s’ Favorability +297 ♥
His fingertips trembled as he roughly swiped away the static-filled status window, which looked like it might fall apart at any moment. He covered his mouth with the back of his deathly pale hand, hiding his agitated expression. Though it wasn't very effective, as beads of cold sweat dotted his skin.
What was that woman trying to do? And why am I even thinking about it? No, no, what's important is, the one in control is…
His mind was growing hazy, as if he'd downed a drink. Shaking his head, Cain forced the corners of his mouth into a smile and reminded himself.
Nothing changes. The naive days of losing his heart to hypocrisy and yearning for another were long gone. The favor he held for that woman was as light as a feather.
The man would not be swayed again.
He took a pipe from his inner jacket pocket, stuck it crookedly between his lips, and smiled. Beneath the messy platinum blond bangs covering his forehead, his languid red eyes closed. A shimmering trail of smoke drifted up along the line of his face and dispersed into the air. Like poison.
And like an error that had long since taken deep root in the game.
*
The tasks Elysia was in charge of changed daily. This was only natural; since she'd skipped her studies every day, she had no specialized knowledge to speak of and could only be assigned menial tasks.
She was so busy she didn't even have time to lament, So this is why they tell you to learn a skill.
One day, she had to count the medicinal ingredients that came into the warehouse; another day, she had to sort mixed-up herbs by matching them to pictures.
The skin under her eyes grew hollow, but she was in no position to be irritable. Adrian and Evan's conditions were just as bad, if not worse. Elysia found it amazing that they hadn't lost their kindness.
One day, two, three, and then four… Just as she was starting to worry the entire student council might be wiped out from overwork, something changed.
“Is this everyone?”
Staring blankly at the sparse number of people waiting compared to the day before, Elysia covered her face with her hands, overcome with emotion. We're saved, we're saved…! Adrian stumbled out, blinking his eyes.
“Am I dreaming right now?”
“I guess everyone who was going to come has already been here…”
Adrian turned to Elysia with a dazed look and mouthed, Really? Elysia mouthed back, Really. As she watched Adrian jump up and down while covering his mouth, she thought of the boy she'd been running into every morning, including this one.
It wasn't intentional, but her morning walk coincided with the time Ted visited the shrine to pray. Elysia had realized the boy came to offer his prayers every dawn. All because he wanted to be saved.
“Let's close the infirmary early today and get some rest! Ah… Senior Evan probably still has work to do. Should we go help him out?”
Unlike Adrian and Elysia, who were now free with no new patients, Evan still had to check on the patients who had come in with injuries. Elysia pulled a watch from her apron pocket and checked the time. Should I go see him now?
“I have to go somewhere for a bit. Grab me some disinfectant and a simple ointment.”
Adrian grabbed Elysia as she hurriedly prepared to leave, asking with a bewildered expression.
“Whoa? Huh? Where are you going?”
“I'm going to check on that patient who came here before. I was supposed to go two days ago, but I was too busy.”
“By yourself?”
“What, should I go with a whole crowd?”
“Ah, Elysia! It's dangerous.”
Stunned into silence, Elysia looked down at her hand, turning it over this way and that, before carefully aiming and bringing a karate chop down on the crown of Adrian's head. With a cry of "Ack!", he bit his tongue and started squawking.
“Aaargh! What'd you hit me for?!”
“And you're worried about me when you can't even dodge this…”
“It was a surprise attack, that's why I couldn't block it!”
Adrian said, huffing as he grabbed his coat.
“Weirdos will bother a woman from out of town if she's walking around alone. Where are you going? Is it far?”
“No, just the outskirts of the village.”
“Then let's just go together, get it done quickly, and come back to help Senior Evan.”
“No, it's fine. That would leave him all alone. I'll just check on the patient and come right back, so until then…”
“Until then, what?”
Evan, who had been walking briskly somewhere with a folder in his hand, was peeking his head through the doorway, staring at them. The two of them stood at attention, like people caught doing something wrong, and looked at him.
Evan furrowed his brow suspiciously, pressing the back of his hand to his fatigue-blurred eyes as he asked.
“What's going on?”
“Elysia says she's going out for a bit.”
“Busted. Alone? Where?”
The cat was out of the bag. Elysia answered, glancing repeatedly toward the exit.
“You remember that patient I said I should go check on to see how their wounds were healing?”
“…Ah.”
“We're going back to the academy tomorrow, and we were too busy to go before, so I thought I'd at least go by myself. Besides, you… you look exhausted, Senior.”
As soon as he heard her, Evan began to quickly flip through the papers in his folder. Elysia waved her hands, trying to stop him.
“I know a fair bit about bruises and external injuries, so I can go alone—”
“I promised, didn't I? That I'd go with you.”
Evan pulled about five pages from the thick stack of documents and smiled.
“Can you wait for about forty minutes? I'll make time.”
“You don't have to push yourself—”
“I want to.”
Seeing the stunned, speechless look on Elysia's face, Evan let out a soft chuckle and turned away. Watching his retreating back as he examined the dense text and strange diagrams on the papers, Adrian started teasing.
“Wow, you two are getting along great.”
“Shut up…”
“What's there to be shy about~? This is the best part! Ack!”
“You're noisy.”
Adrian, who'd been smacked on the back out of nowhere, didn't back down and continued to needle Elysia with a silly grin.