47. Port City Lorelei (2)
47. Port City Lorelei (2)
Hmm, greens weren't half bad.
The dressing really was the key. It made even tasteless weeds somehow palatable.
I was enjoying a reasonably satisfying meal when the strange atmosphere made me quietly look around the dining hall.
I felt curious glances from all over. They didn't seem to be watching us or anything... but why did that old man cover his mouth and tear up every time he saw Karina chewing?
Was it something like, 'The Saintess ate right in front of me...!'?
Even I'd probably make a fuss if a world-famous celebrity was eating nearby. All the more so when she was beyond celebrity status—the Saintess was practically an object of worship in the world's largest religion.
"Priest Rowan?!"
...Ah.
He collapsed.
I understood all too well why Karina had wanted to keep quiet about it. When the dining hall erupted into noise, I looked over and found her wearing the expression of someone whose food had suddenly stopped agreeing with her. Poor thing.
It had to be hard to eat with people doing that every day.
"Ahaha... I'll go check on that priest."
Karina gave an awkward laugh and rose from her seat. As I helped myself to more food, I watched her hurry over to the priest. Was it really safe for her to approach him? If she got any closer, wouldn't he drop dead from a heart attack? Then again, she could just shower him with healing magic...
"Reni, Reni, why did that old guy collapse?"
"Mmm, think back to the first time you ate Hydra snake meat."
"It felt great!"
"That's what happened. He liked it even more than you did, so he passed out."
"Oh, is that it?"
That explanation was perfectly tailored to her.
Who knew Reni was capable of that kind of insight? I stared at her, surprised to see this side of someone who got confused by double-digit arithmetic. She must have felt my gaze, because she turned and met my eyes.
"What're you staring at?"
"...Nothing."
"Boring."
I liked boring. I hated needlessly spectacular things. I quietly shoved some weeds into my mouth. Mmm, tangy. What was this dressing made of? Maybe I'd ask the cook later.
And so our dinner ended peacefully—though one more person had fainted.
-----------------
"Yohan! Let's go to the night market!"
"Millia. Look at the sky."
The sun was directly overhead. What kind of night market opened now? Did people here call day night and night day? When I looked at Millia questioningly, she tilted her head as if she had no idea what was wrong—then her head fell off.
"Ah!"
"Careful."
Before anyone could see, I swiftly picked up her head and set it back on her neck. This was why she should have worn her neck band. No matter how stuffy it felt, she still needed to keep it on.
If you drop it at the wrong moment in front of people, there'll be a huge commotion.
Of course, even if she got showered with holy magic, it would only make her healthier, so that part was no problem. Losing this comfortable life would be the real disaster.
I got meals, a room, and more money than I knew what to do with after exchanging the gems. I could even go out for extravagant dinners. I was living through the golden age of my life, and I wasn't about to lose it all over one accident.
...Though after a week of living this comfortably, even that was starting to get old.
Sometimes, while cutting into an expensive steak at a fancy restaurant, I found myself missing the pungent bite of a plump grub.
Whenever I got buried under table manners, uncomfortable clothes, and all the attention that came with being part of the Saintess's entourage, I sometimes missed the uninhabited island. It had felt like the shittiest place alive while I was there, yet now that I was gone, I missed it. People really were fickle.
Not that I had any intention of going back.
People needed to live around other people. Living alone drove you insane. I should know—I had once spent my days talking to empty air.
"Yohan? Yohan?"
"What is it?"
"What do you think Karina's doing right now?"
"People are probably keeping her busy."
Karina was an important person, unlike us. The Saintess's reputation was so enormous that a mountain of people wanted to meet her. Until we left for the academy the day after tomorrow, she'd be busy talking to people and treating the sick, so we probably wouldn't see much of her.
"Karina sure is popular, huh?"
"Saintesses are always wildly popular."
"Seems like a hassle, though."
"Exactly. It's a pain. That's why nothing beats keeping a low profile and living a long life."
"Keeping a low profile and living a long life?"
"Living without standing out."
Maybe fame was harmless in modern society, with its public safety and reliable safeguards. Here, though, being well known was practically synonymous with having a higher chance of getting killed.
Think about it. This world had an assassins' guild, bandits, goblin hordes capable of sacking a small village, and, most importantly, cults that sacrificed people wandering around as soon as you left the city. In a world like this, a famous person without enough power was nothing more than easy prey.
I didn't remember every detail of Survival Academy's story and setting, but even the scraps that came back to me made it clear this was no peaceful world. The route I remembered most vividly was the Traitor Route, where the player realized humanity had no chance of winning and joined a cult that worshiped an evil god.
Even the Good Ending had ended on an uneasy 'good enough for now' note, with the true mastermind still uncaught.
The True Ending would probably require catching that mastermind too... I supposed.
Who was the mastermind?
My memory was full of holes, but even back then, all I remembered was wasting hours in keyboard wars over who the mastermind was.
"...Well, it'll work out one way or another."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Just talking to myself."
"Yohan sure does love talking to himself."
"When you live alone, you don't have anyone to talk to."
"Then I'll be next to you and talk with you!"
"...Thank you."
Seriously.
Millia planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin as if daring me to say anything at all. I patted her head at the playful pose, then turned toward the window. The city outside was quite a sight. Since it was a proper city, almost every house was made of brick and they all looked similar, but the view still had plenty of charm.
A European coastal city probably felt just like this.
Not that I had ever been to one. Videos were all I had seen.
"Hey, why aren't you talking to me? I'm all ready to answer anything!"
"Did you finish your homework?"
"...That's dirty."
So she hadn't.
She had to at least master the language before she had any hope of entering the academy. She couldn't exactly communicate using a script from centuries ago.
I watched Millia's back as she trotted off, saying she was going to do her homework, then looked out the window once more.
It was a fine way to pass the time.
---------------------
'I was tired.'
For the seventh time, Karina thought something she could never say aloud while keeping a smile on her lips.
It was a contradiction. On the uninhabited island, she had longed to be surrounded by people all day. Now that she was surrounded by them, she found herself thinking of the island.
It was a feeling that had taken root little by little whenever she spoke with people over the past few days.
"Saintess Karina! Greetings! I am..."
"Now, now, I was first! Saintess Karina!"
"Saintess Karina!"
"Kari..."
Desperation, joy, awe, curiosity, lust. Countless gazes bored into Karina's body.
The Saintess was the symbol of the Church of Kalon, the world's largest religion, and the one who conveyed God's will—the very embodiment of hope. These were gazes she had endured until she was sick of them before the shipwreck.
She should have been completely accustomed to them.
...Until she was shipwrecked, at least.
From the moment she returned to the continent, a feeling of suffocation had begun to coil inside her heart. With people watching her every single move, she couldn't utter even a single careless word, and her expression had to wear a benevolent smile at all times.
No other expression was permitted. That was what it meant to be the Saintess.
'It hadn't been like this before...'
In the end, Karina had no choice but to admit to herself that she had changed. Once she had tasted sweet fruit, it was hard to forget it.
But she couldn't let that show in front of others. Listening to the prayers of countless people, Karina recited a plausible-sounding prayer, as she always did.
"Kalon taught us..."
A prayer so trite it induced drowsiness.
Yet when the speaker was the Saintess, the story was different. The numerous people who had come to see her sat down in unison and looked up at her. With hundreds of people staring intently at her face, not a single mistake was allowed.
Karina recalled the prayer's content and recited it smoothly.
Even that alone was enough to move countless people to tears, to the point where some ended up losing consciousness.
Sneaking away quietly afterward with the help of other priests was her daily routine.
Karina had been reading the prayer, certain that today would go the same way, when a sudden chill behind her made her flinch.
'There was something behind me, but I couldn't see...'
Without realizing it, Karina subtly twisted her body to the side. The slightest movement she could manage. That movement saved her.
Thunk.
"Saintess Karina!"
'It hurt...'
The sudden pain sent Karina's slender body crumpling to the floor.
Agony blurred her vision. Even as she fell, Karina fought to keep the pain in her back from twisting her expression. Cold sweat poured from her as she hit the floor and looked behind her through unfocused eyes.
Who had shot an arrow at me?
Who had...
Karina's consciousness sank into darkness.