Ep.5 - God's Garden
Ep.5 - God's Garden
"God's Garden?"
The thief, the witch, and the wolf, who had just heard Helen's words, stared at her with dumbfounded expressions.
Had the archbishop, steeped in tobacco and alcohol, finally lost her mind? Or was she cracking a joke to toy with them right now?
"All that age and she's spouting stupid shit like this..."
Philmark in particular dismissed Helen's words as utterly preposterous.
Having endured every hardship imaginable and grown deeply cynical, all she heard in Helen's fairy-tale story was the naive rambling of someone who knew nothing of the world.
"It's just a story made up by brats lost in their delusions."
She didn't believe it.
Risk your life over a single rumor from the Demon Continent, a place you couldn't even properly cross? Risk your life to go kill the Demon King?
"Ridiculous. Tch..."
Of course, while the thief's phrasing was merely a bit rough, the reactions of the wolf and the witch followed a similar pattern.
"In my humble opinion, that seems a bit unreasonable... Your Excellency the Archbishop appears to be quite naive indeed..."
"It's impossible and unrealistic. I too must decline staking my life on a baseless rumor like that."
But Delin and Neva couldn't easily refuse Helen's proposal.
Our Delin, who was silently listening to the women's conversation, couldn't refuse because of the scene he'd witnessed in his dream,
and Neva, having believed it was true all this time, couldn't easily refuse...
'I-it was a lie?'
Like an innocent girl who'd learned from her classmates that Santa Claus didn't exist, Neva's face flushed bright red and froze stiff on the spot.
Meanwhile, our Delin was reacting as naturally as possible, hiding what he knew.
The story of the dream, and the story about God's Garden...
Both things were connected to him.
"..."
And so, nestled in Philmark's arms, he listened intently to Helen's words.
Praying that this woman called an archbishop would somehow persuade all these women...!
"Hmm."
After taking in all five of their varied reactions with her eyes, Helen spoke again.
"It seems you've all been misinformed. It exists. It definitely exists, beyond the Calis Strait on the Demon Continent."
At her confident assertion, it was the witch and the wolf who grew flustered instead.
Their gazes turned toward each other, and within that crossed gaze, both shrugged their shoulders.
But the thief, pulling Delin even tighter against her, spoke up!
"And how are we supposed to believe that?"
"Wouldn't our Holy Kingdom possess the most accurate information regarding matters related to the Demon Continent? I am an archbishop, you know, appearances notwithstanding?"
"No, how are we supposed to trust you? I get that you Holy Kingdom bastards are obsessed with the Demon Continent, but how are we supposed to trust you people who blabber on about God's will and the greater good however you please, only to stab us in the back when it's all over?"
"Oh my. It pains my heart to hear such nasty rumors are circulating."
Helen placed a hand upon her ample bosom and feigned distress, but the thick cigar wedged between her fingers made it utterly impossible for her to look like a wounded, pitiable woman.
"Cut the jokes and get lost once you've said your piece. We're busy."
"You must be busy. Since you need to hurry and discuss the ability of that adorable boy sitting over there."
The moment Helen's words ended,
the thief had already aimed her dagger right at Helen's throat.
No one knew when she'd closed the distance, but she pressed the blade against the archbishop's pale neck, at last drawing a bead of blood.
"You. How much do you know."
No woman moved to stop the thief's sudden action. The other women were also suspecting and wary of Helen.
Not a single woman welcomed Helen, who seemed to know too much. And given that Helen was also quite beautiful and alluring, the four women regarded her as a 'suspicious person' or a 'potential danger.'
Yet Helen was unruffled. So utterly serene for a woman whose neck was one second from being pierced by a blade, Delin was beginning to worry, with pity, that some part of her brain simply wasn't functioning properly.
"I know exactly up to here. This moment right now... where blood is trickling down my neck, and you are glaring at me with your one remaining eye."
"Talk straight. Before I ram this down your throat just like this."
"But I've already spoken perfectly straight."
Tension swirled among the women.
Philmark's fierce gaze and Helen's gentle gaze clashed against each other,
and between them, blood trickled steadily down that lovely neck.
"H-hold on! Stop it!"
Ironically, it was Delin, the weakest of the group, who put an end to their standoff.
"Put the knife away and use your words...!"
He wedged himself between Philmark and Helen and earnestly pushed at the body of the bronze-skinned woman who was bristling with ferocious fury.
Of course, since a man with a broken leg hardly had the strength to push her away, the wolf and the knight, seeing Delin struggling against her, came over instead and calmed the thief down.
"Don't push her too hard, let's hear the story calmly first. Let's hear more about what she knows."
"Indeed! There's no harm in listening first. You're in danger too, my dear husband, please come over here."
Well, one of the two, the wolf, simply wanted to score points with her beloved husband and hug him tight, but anyway!
The standoff between the thief and the archbishop ended just like that, and the archbishop's gentle voice began telling the story once more, keeping time with the crackling campfire.
"As you all know, a dream, by its nature, does not show clear scenes... and depending on who the dreamer is, the content and direction can change completely. The dream that came to me was no different."
"Just a moment."
Though her speech was cut off, Helen did not get angry. She simply, quietly... stared at the witch who had interrupted her.
"Before you say more..."
The witch raised her staff and deployed a small magic. Mana composed of blue threads swirled faintly around her hand.
"This is magic that distinguishes truth from falsehood, so tell us more precisely what kind of dream you had. That's the only way we can believe you. Especially... about what we looked like in your dream." Chichi extended her hand as she spoke.
Chichi had previously studied God's revelations that come through dreams.
Those with strong divine power are not born only in the Holy Kingdom. Sometimes, an insignificant girl from a rural village also receives God's will.
Having studied the phenomenon of [God's Revelations] occurring in various regions, Chichi wanted to judge by directly hearing the content of the dream, and so she made a fairly direct demand of Helen.
"Hmm..."
At the witch's demand, Helen blinked her eyes for a moment, then raised her cigar again, savored a mouthful of smoke, and placed her own hand over the witch's, speaking with utter leisure.
"This dream... that is to say, this revelation, is not some simple shortcut that gives clear and certain answers."
"And so?" the witch continued the conversation. The mana flowed calmly. That meant her words were truthful.
"In my dream, all sorts of scenes were jumbled together in a chaotic mess. About half were vague images of the new Demon King and the Demon Continent, and the rest were blurred images of you all... and the stream of blood dripping from my throat."
After listening to Helen, the witch recalled one question. That question of hers was voiced immediately, without a moment's pause to simmer.
"You still haven't said how you know about Delin's ability. It didn't feel like you were just fishing. What exactly did you see in those blurred images of us?"
"I only saw red love and blue sorrow. The small form of a boy was filled with those two colors."
Even at Helen's abstract explanation, Chichi's magic did not waver. Only pure white truth, without even the smallest lie, was exhaled along with the cigar smoke.
"What is that supposed...? Is that it? What is red love and blue sorrow?"
"Yes. That's it. Red love and blue sorrow cannot be expressed in any other words. I ask you to simply understand them as such."
"So, you don't even know which God gave you the revelation?"
"Yes. I do not."
Just as expected.
The mana did not waver.
The magic did not react.
Chichi couldn't believe it. Typically, a revelation meant seeing the form of God. If it was a revelation from Penola, the God of Light and Benevolence, you would see the pure white wings symbolizing her. If it was a revelation from Hena, the God of Wind and Freedom, a field would appear...
But the dream the archbishop described contained no such symbol whatsoever.
"And you're calling that a revelation...?"
"Yes. It is a revelation."
Mana flowed in silence.
She was dumbfounded.
That was real?
The witch blinked her eyes and laughed, but it wasn't a laugh because something was funny or she was in a good mood; it was closer to an incredulous scoff that escaped from sheer disbelief.
"So you're saying you came all the way here to meet us without knowing a single thing about what will happen next? All because of those few vague scenes...?"
"An accurate analysis. That's correct."
At the pure-white testimony untainted by even a shred of falsehood, the witch pulled her hand away again. The chaotic scenes that ordinary people would have dismissed as a mere dream seemed to Helen to be something of paramount importance.
While it's said that a clergy's divine power is determined by their blind faith and devoutness, Chichi simply could not understand the archbishop.
Of course, the inability to understand the archbishop applied equally to the other women. The wolf, the knight, and the thief, who had been quietly listening while keeping Delin close by, each chimed in with a word.
"Nothing more to hear. Let's kill her quick and get out of here."
"She knows about us, so I don't think we can just leave her and go."
"I didn't understand a single thing! Please try to speak simply..."
When the clamoring voices died down, a brief silence circled around the campfire.
Tadak, tadak-
Following the irregularly dancing flames, only the women's wordless gazes turned toward one another.
Caught among those countless gazes, Delin was truly at a loss for what to do with himself.
But he gulped down his saliva and, quite courageously, offered his opinion.
"'...Um, well... how about we all just... have something to eat first...?"
The silence, thanks to that stupid remark, stretched on for a few more minutes.