Suspicion
The hardest thing to find in Paradise for the Saintess was the paradise.
A Saintess showed up, and a lady knight, and a witch besides. The illustrations were pretty enough that I figured I could just romance whichever heroine caught my eye.
Once I actually played it, the first thing I had to do was make money.
By day I ran commissions, by evening I tended my gear, and whatever time was left I spent calling on people. It was a game faithful to the protagonist's trade: a mercenary in the Church's employ.
I lost count of how many wolves I had to kill just to manage a single date.
The problem was that if you neglected someone because you were busy, disaster broke out on their end. A few days later you would find the house empty, or the person you were supposed to meet sitting in a cell. There were things you could not undo, no matter how much money you spent or how many enemies you cut down.
To avoid that, you had to read a walkthrough. And once you started reading, the other branches stirred your curiosity, and the empty slots on the list of remaining endings began to itch.
That was how my two hundred hours disappeared.
In that time, I watched a great many people die.
Leona was one of them.
Commander of the Dawn Knights.
On combat strength alone, she ranked among the best of anyone you could meet in the early game. She cleared ordinary enemies by herself, and when the protagonist made a mess, she cleaned that up too.
Do wrong, and she scolded you. Do well, and she gave you the credit. She never said she could not pay because there was no money, and she never told you to think of it as service to God.
A good superior.
So I had thought she would live a long time.
In her route, the trouble was the people siphoning off the Church's supplies. Leona gathered evidence and meant to denounce them, but they moved first and pinned a charge of treason on her.
If the player failed to find proof that would clear her name in time, she was executed.
Ethan Lowell was executed alongside her, as the accomplice who had been trusted to keep that evidence.
"Sir Ethan."
The woman in front of me was calling my name. Beneath the long fall of her hair, red eyes were studying me.
"Can you not hear me?"
"I'm sorry. My mind wandered for a moment."
Leona's gaze dropped to the back of my hand.
"Are you hurt?"
"I've been treated. It's only the blood that's left."
She looked at Ceria. Only when Ceria nodded did she turn toward the carriage.
The bound coachman opened his mouth.
"Commander, I—"
"Check his belongings first."
The two knights standing behind her moved. One seized the coachman; the other searched the inside of the carriage.
"I was told the Saintess drove the carriage herself."
"We ran into trouble on the way."
"I'll see you inside. We can hear the details there."
I glanced around. People were staring our way. A saintess, a knight-commander, and a bound coachman besides—as spectacles went, we were hardly lacking.
At Leona's gesture I shut the carriage door and fell in behind her.
There was no need to run just yet. The treason affair was a mid-game event. If this were that time, it would be another matter, but having someone who knew how to use a sword beside me right now was a good thing.
Watching the white cloak walking ahead, I felt a little easier.
Right. For today, at least, I'll stick close to her.
The place where the knights were staying was not far from the gate. They had finished their patrol and were on their way back to the Holy City; tonight, they said, they would lodge in Roen. Had we gone to the monastery as planned, these were people I never would have met.
Lucky.
When we entered the reception room, Leona offered us seats and asked the knight outside the door for water and a meal. The mere mention of food made me hungry. Still, there were things to settle before I could eat.
"We were on our way to Brennan Monastery."
I began with how I had tried to change our route—that the coachman had lied about Roen, fled when I ordered him to stop the carriage, and drawn a dagger when I tried to catch him.
Only after I finished did Leona examine the dagger on the table. It had been brought in with the coachman's belongings.
"You confirmed with your own eyes that the bridge was sound?"
"Yes. We crossed it."
"And the coachman said he took his orders from the monastery."
"After delivering the Saintess, he was to lure me out separately."
Beside me, Ceria spoke.
"I heard it too. They meant to trick him with a story about an injured horse and take him behind the well."
Leona's hand stopped. She set the dagger down.
"Did you hear who gave the order?"
"He only said it came from the monastery."
I knew the abbot was behind it. Say that, though, and the only thing that would multiply was the question of how I knew. Better to pass on nothing beyond what the coachman had said himself.
Leona thought for a moment, then called to someone outside the door.
"The prisoner will be interrogated separately. See that he does not cross paths with the Saintess's party, and confirm everything from the moment he made contact with the monastery."
The knight bowed his head.
"How many should I send to Brennan Monastery?"
"Only two. They are not to go inside. Have them watch who comes and goes, and do not send word that a visit was expected."
"Understood."
The door closed.
I looked at Leona, and our eyes met, hers asking why.
"I thought you would go yourself."
"When we don't even know what the enemy has prepared?"
"...That's true."
"If this really was aimed at the Saintess, they may have prepared for our coming as well."
Someone I could actually reason with.
This time Leona looked straight at me.
"In the first place, why did you try to change the destination?"
Here it was.
I wanted to lie, but Ceria was right beside me. I chose my words with care.
"I had a feeling it would be dangerous if we went to the monastery."
"The reason?"
"I have no grounds I can give you right now."
Even as I said it, I felt stranded. If someone reported to me like that, I would be frustrated too. That much was certain.
"You mean you altered the Saintess's schedule on nothing but a vague suspicion?"
"In the end, yes."
Leona did not answer at once. I would rather she had scolded me; at least then I could have replied. The silence was worse.
Then Ceria spoke.
"If it hadn't been for Sir Ethan, I would have gone to the monastery."
Leona looked at her.
"He was even hurt going after the coachman."
I dropped my eyes for no good reason. Put like that, it was a little embarrassing.
"I am not trying to deny the service of protecting the Saintess."
Leona answered calmly.
"But if there is any further danger you know of, we must know it as well, so that we can prepare."
"The only thing I can say with certainty right now is that it is better not to go to Brennan Monastery."
Leona watched me for a long moment.
"Very well."
A shorter answer than I had expected.
"If anything else comes to mind, report it at once. And distinguish between confirmed fact and your own conjecture."
"...Yes."
"I will verify the coachman's statement separately. There will be more questions for you as well."
So she did not entirely believe me. Still, it was something that she was not cornering me on the spot and demanding I name my source.
She rose.
"Saintess, please rest here today. Tomorrow you will depart for the Holy City with us."
I let out a silent sigh of relief. At last, an escort worthy of the name. All I had to do was stand beside them and keep a proper grip on my scabbard...
I quietly checked the quest again.
Escort Saintess Ceria safely to the Holy City.
IN PROGRESS
Reach the Holy City with these people, and I would be able to use Divine Power as well.
Leona started for the door. I moved to rise, but she lifted a hand and stopped me.
"Eat first."
"Is there nothing more I should report?"
"If I need you, I will call."
Even after the door closed, I looked that way for a moment.
Just as I remembered her. Someone like this ought to live a long time.
"Sir Ethan."
Ceria pushed a cup of water toward me.
"Were you nervous?"
"A little."
She smiled faintly.
"You weren't like that in front of the coachman earlier."
"That's because I had a sword in my hand then."
Ceria covered her mouth. A small laugh slipped out, and I laughed with her.
As the tension eased, my hand began to tremble again. I moved to drink, then set the cup down and spread my fingers.
Ceria's laughter faded.
"Does it still hurt?"
"No. I just got a little scared."
I had been about to say I was fine, and told the truth instead.
She asked nothing more, only steadied the cup from beneath. Once the cold water went down, I realized how dry my throat had been.
A little later the meal arrived: soup, bread, and thinly sliced meat. I lifted my spoon, then looked at Ceria. She was not reaching for the food easily either. After what we had been through today, that was only natural.
There was a knock at the door.
Leona had returned. She glanced at the table and drew up a chair.
"You haven't started yet?"
She picked up a piece of bread and bit into it.
"Our own cooks are using the kitchen. The ingredients are ones we brought."
She said it as if it were nothing, and swallowed the bread. Ceria carefully lifted her spoon. I took a mouthful of soup as well.
It was warm.
I had not known a supper eaten while I was still alive could feel so welcome.
When I emptied the bowl and set down my spoon, Leona spoke again.
"Sir Ethan, stay a little longer."
So she had not simply been feeding me out of kindness.
"What is it?"
Her gaze settled on the sword at my waist.
"The coachman said something strange."
The well?
I schooled my expression.
"He says that while you were catching him, you never once used Divine Power."
Ah.
"And that, with your hand wounded."
I lowered my hand beneath the table and opened my status window.
In that instant, from across the table, Leona asked.