I Became a Landlord (3)
The gist of it was that the dungeon had responded to the boss creature's magic stone. I couldn't be certain. But it was worth testing.
I looked down at the key resting on my palm. Though it was nothing more than an empty husk now that the Original Piece had been retrieved and its energy drained away, it still served as a vessel. Recalling the sensation from when I'd infused energy into the symbol, I slowly poured Heal into it.
A brilliant light bloomed from my fingertips and poured into the magic stone.
There was no response.
Was I wrong?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a faint vibration pulsed against my palm. Thump. Thump. It wasn't my imagination. The magic stone, which wasn't even alive, had begun to beat like a heart. At the same time, the faint red glow grew steadily more vivid.
I'd thought maybe — but it actually worked.
Even after I withdrew the Heal, the pulse didn't stop. I turned my gaze. The portal that formed the dungeon entrance had already begun to fade — it had been growing fainter ever since the boss died. Left alone, it would vanish completely before long.
Clutching the magic stone, I stepped through.
In an instant, the scenery before my eyes transformed. Every trace of the fire was gone, and the landscape that unfolded was no different from when I'd first arrived.
The dungeon's collapse had stopped, too.
The fading portal was reclaiming its sharp, vivid form. But it was too soon to relax. Stopping the collapse wasn't the end of it — if the monsters started respawning, we'd have a problem. Even after a considerable amount of time had passed, however, there was no sign of them returning.
"I believe it worked," I said to Charlotte, who had followed me in.
"Is that true?"
"The dungeon's collapse has definitely stopped, and no new monsters have appeared. ...Of course, I can't be completely certain, so we'll still need to post some guards."
The moment I finished speaking, Charlotte's face lit up. Compared to her usual composure, the reaction was rather unguarded.
Well, for the lord's daughter, it was a natural reaction.
The nearest ocean was roughly two hundred and fifty miles from the city. Being able to skip that entire distance and harvest marine resources directly — of course she'd be happy. I didn't know the details, but they'd be able to make a considerable amount of money.
If they have any conscience, they'll make a donation to me as well.
I hid that thought and offered my congratulations with a warm, pleasant smile.
We returned to the city around noon the following day.
"Well then, I'll be heading to the clinic."
"Why don't you come to the lord's manor with me and have a meal first?"
Charlotte made the offer as if she couldn't possibly let me leave like this, but I shook my head and firmly declined. A good meal would have been nice, but I had no desire to choke on it.
The lord was just too much to deal with.
That distinctive stare of his was uncomfortable enough, but more than anything, that rough face of his was a lot to take.
"I see. That's a shame, but I understand."
Faced with my stubborn refusal, Charlotte seemed to realize there was no point in pushing further. She gave up with a look of genuine disappointment.
After we parted ways, I headed for the clinic. The moment I opened the door, a familiar voice reached me first.
"So you're back."
Margaret spotted me and let out a sigh of relief.
"I was starting to worry you'd never come back."
"Surely you didn't think I'd gotten myself injured."
"No." Margaret snorted as if the very idea was ridiculous. "I was worried you'd run off to another city."
"..."
"I'm joking."
It didn't sound like a joke.
Margaret stared at my face for a moment, then waved a hand.
"Anyway, what's this about showing up for work the second you get back? Rest up today. Come in tomorrow."
"Are you sure that's all right?"
"I was handling all of this myself before you showed up anyway." With that, she leaned back in her chair. "And I'm not so cruel that I'd put a man to work the second he gets back from a field trip."
Well, if she insisted. There was no reason to volunteer for work.
"Then I'll see you tomorrow."
I'd been inside the clinic for less than five minutes and was already heading back out when—
"Ah, come to think of it, I hear your church is almost finished."
My feet stopped.
"Already?"
Wasn't that a bit too fast? That sounded like shoddy construction. My brow furrowed on its own. It had only been a few days since they'd agreed to give me a church. Even if they'd started work that same day, putting up a building in less than a week was hardly feasible.
"They renovated an existing building and gutted the interior so it could be used as a church."
"I see."
That made a bit more sense.
"From what I can tell, they'll be done by the end of this week."
Even so, it still seemed too fast — but this was a world without labor laws. I decided to just accept it.
"That's faster than I expected."
"That should tell you how serious the lord is about this."
That wasn't entirely welcome news. Since we'd already said our goodbyes, I left the clinic without adding anything more.
Come to think of it, tomorrow was the day I had to vacate my room.
The week I'd booked was almost up, as luck would have it. I wasn't thrilled about it, but I'd have to impose on the Church of the Earth Goddess for a few days. Margaret would grumble about it, but she'd give in eventually.
Of course, if I explained the situation to the innkeeper, they'd probably let me stay a few extra days. But I wasn't so shameless as to ask someone who made their living off lodging to let me stay for free.
Ding-a-ling.
"Father!"
The moment I opened the inn door, a familiar little figure bounced up to greet me. The innkeeper's daughter, who'd been wiping down tables, tossed her cloth aside and came running.
"Have you been well?"
"Hehe, yes!"
The child beamed and nodded. I'd only been gone two days, but the atmosphere was as if she were welcoming someone who'd been away for ages.
"Oh!" Something seemed to occur to her, and her eyes went wide. "Father, Father! You have a visitor!"
"A visitor?"
Someone looking for me? If it were someone from the Church of the Earth Goddess, Margaret would have told me herself rather than sending them to the inn. And it hadn't even been half a day since I'd parted ways with Charlotte. That didn't leave many possibilities.
The lord, then?
But the person who came out of the child's mouth was someone I hadn't imagined at all. And simultaneously, the last person I wanted to meet.
"It's a priestess of the Flower Goddess!"
"..."
My mind went blank.
Am I screwed?
It wasn't an unreasonable thought. I could bluff my way past priests of other faiths somehow, but I had no confidence I could fool an actual priestess of the Flower Goddess.
...Should I make a run for it right now?
The door was only a few steps away. If they hadn't spotted me yet, I could still slip out quietly. I was seriously mapping out an escape route when—
"The flower-patterned clothes!"
An excited voice rang out from deeper inside the inn.
"You must be Father Plawi!"
Damn it.
Too late.
Is this even possible?
The religion with the fewest priests and the fewest churches in this entire land — and a priestess of that religion had come looking for me. And I'd only started this impersonation barely a week ago.
If this wasn't the worst luck in the world, I didn't know what was.
"Wooow...!"
The priestess, who looked to be around thirteen, sat down and continued staring at me as if I were some kind of marvel. More precisely, she was staring a hole through my clothes.
"There are so many flowers!"
"...Is that so."
"Yes!"
The girl's own attire, by contrast, was rather modest for a priestess of the Flower Goddess. Unlike my shirt, which was covered in gorgeous floral patterns, hers had nothing but a single small dandelion modestly embroidered near the chest. If not for the symbol pinned there, you could easily have mistaken her for an ordinary village girl.
For a priestess of the Flower Goddess, her fashion sense is a bit lacking.
The thought that adding about thirty more dandelion embroideries would look nicer crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. That wasn't what mattered. Getting through this situation was.
First of all, she's young.
The one silver lining was that the priestess looked young. She still had some baby fat, and her head barely reached my solar plexus.
At least I could take comfort in the fact that it wasn't some elderly, seasoned priest who'd come calling. Being so young, her knowledge and judgment were likely still immature compared to an adult's — which meant there was room to bluff my way through this.
"If you don't mind, might I ask you something?"
"Yes! Please, ask me anything, Father."
I had more than a few questions. And the one I wanted answered most was this: how on earth had she found me? As I considered how to ask naturally without raising suspicion, I fortunately found the right approach.
"Coming all this way alone without a guardian, for one thing — what brought you to me, and how did you hear about me?"
The girl flinched and glanced at me nervously.
"This isn't an interrogation. I'm asking as an adult who's concerned about you, so please answer."
For the record, it was absolutely an interrogation.
"Well, first... I heard a rumor that you were here, Father."
The word "rumor" gave me pause. I'd only fallen into this world — and started staying in this city — about a week ago. This was a world where riding a horse was the fastest means of travel. The idea that a rumor had spread to another region in just a week was hard to swallow.
"It was a merchant who comes by often who told us. He said an incredible priest of the Flower Goddess had settled in Millers."
A merchant, huh.
That explained the method. If there was a merchant traveling between villages and cities, the news could certainly have gotten around. But a week for a merchant to carry the rumor to another territory, and for the girl who heard it to travel all the way here — that was an absurdly short amount of time.
If the girl lived in a nearby village close to the city, it wouldn't be entirely impossible. But as far as I knew, there wasn't a single Church of the Flower Goddess anywhere in this area, let alone the city itself. I'd already confirmed that through Margaret, so I was certain.
"But as far as I know, there's no Church of the Flower Goddess in this city, or even in this territory. Did you come all the way from a neighboring territory, then?"
"Ah, um, not a neighboring territory. There isn't a church, though." The girl flushed a little, as if embarrassed. "...There was a priestess, though. Grandmother recognized me as a priestess, too..."
"Without a church?"
"What did Grandmother call it... a priestess without a parish, I think? Yes."
"..."
Without a parish — meaning she held the qualifications but wasn't assigned to any particular church or post.
So there were priestesses who practiced without a church.
They'd said the Flower Goddess faith was a tiny religion, but I hadn't expected clergy operating without even a church. I hadn't accounted for this possibility, and my head was starting to hurt. But not all my questions had been answered, so I pushed through the headache and pressed on.
"There's still one thing you haven't told me, though."
"Pardon?"
"You still haven't explained why you came looking for me without a guardian."
I understood that she'd heard a rumor. I understood that she'd been living as a priestess without a church in a nearby village. But I still couldn't understand why a young girl had crossed the territory alone to find me.
"Well..."
The girl placed both hands neatly on her knees. Then, with a face caught between anxiety and hope, she carefully opened her mouth.