50. Toward the Academy (1)
50. Toward the Academy (1)
A week had passed since I captured those presumed to be the culprits.
Word arrived that a punitive force was being assembled to destroy the Cult of Halphas. Karina's near-assassination had apparently sent the Church of Kalon's leadership into a fury. The Holy Knight Order and volunteer troops gathered at astonishing speed, and the Church declared that it would wipe the cult out.
It was a sudden declaration of war, but no nation tried to stop it. To put it bluntly, there was almost no country on this continent that didn't follow the Church of Kalon. If they didn't want to be branded heretics, they'd keep their heads down on their own.
Naturally, the Cult of Halphas gave no response to the declaration of war sent across the world.
That was only natural.
If those bastards were the type to fight fair and square, they wouldn't have pulled something like an ambush in the first place.
They were probably preparing to run by then.
...Or devising a countermeasure.
Perhaps they'd wanted this outcome from the beginning.
"...Not my problem."
My immediate goal was to reach Kalon Academy safely with Karina.
No matter what happened, Karina had to survive. Her very existence was the central axis of the main story. If anything happened to her... forget the academy—the entire world would be thrown into chaos.
...And personally, we were close enough that I could call her a friend.
In any case, since I had no way to return, I at least had to prevent a Bad Ending.
I didn't want a hopeless ending where I barely survived the uninhabited island only for the whole world to be destroyed.
"Yohan, Yohan!"
"...What?"
"Look at this!"
Millia spread her arms and spun in a circle in front of me. Her new priestly robes, identical in design to Karina's, fluttered around her. She clearly loved her new outfit.
"It suits you."
"Right? Right? Hehe."
"Don't spin too much. If you get dizzy and fall..."
She fell over the instant I said it. I slipped my hands under Millia's arms and lifted her. Maybe because she was so small, she wasn't very heavy. She was even smaller than Karina, who was tiny herself, so that was only natural. Her height... and her figure too. Not that she was flat.
"Try to be careful. The band around your neck is holding your head in place, but if you move too violently your head could fall off."
I'd poured a lot of care into making the band from expensive materials bought at the market, but I still didn't know how it would hold up under violent movement. She was better off taking it easy. I'd made spares just in case, but...
"Got it!"
"Don't just say it."
It felt like I was looking after a little sister. Was this what it would have felt like if I'd actually had one?
I gave Millia's head a light pat and stood. The escort preparations should have been almost finished, so it was nearly time to leave.
"Millia. Did you pack your things?"
"Yeah! Books to read, snacks, clothes, towels..."
"Did you put them in your bag?"
"Yeah!"
"Good. Now take your bag and come to the front of my room right away."
"Yeah!"
Millia left as noisily as she'd entered. Whew. She'd burst in so suddenly that I thought something had happened, but she'd only come to show off her clothes. A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
It was time for me to get ready too.
I rose from the bed, grabbed a towel, and headed for the washroom.
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"Reni. There's something I wanted to ask."
"Mm? Wai' a sec..."
Reni was eating a sandwich beside me. She swallowed the mouthful in one hearty gulp and looked at me as if asking what I wanted. I tapped the right corner of my mouth. Taking the hint, she wiped away the piece of ham with a finger, sucked it clean, then used a handkerchief on both her mouth and finger.
Normally, that would have wiped off her makeup and forced her to redo it. Apparently, Reni didn't wear any.
"What'd you want to ask?"
"Why don't they bring the professor here? Wouldn't that be faster than taking Karina to the academy?"
Wouldn't it be faster to bring one ordinary professor here than send the exalted Saintess all the way there?
"The academy houses Saintess Sabrina's remains. Apparently, removing the curse on Karina would be difficult without a holy relic of that caliber."
"Sabrina?"
"Ah, you wouldn't know. Sabrina was the first Saintess and the founder of the academy. She established Kalon Academy under the motto of preparing for calamity. By tradition, every Saintess enrolls there to deepen her faith and train for her role, so Karina was already supposed to attend. But..."
"Ah, right, that was the lore."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Since they couldn't just click an icon on a map for fast travel like in the game, it was a pretty plausible answer. If my memory was right, the holy relic protecting the academy couldn't be casually moved elsewhere either.
Of course the higher-ups couldn't possibly have overlooked something that obvious.
...They had, right?
"Hey Yohan, do you know how to ride a horse?"
...Right. Between making Millia's band and using everything I bought at the market to craft one thing after another, I had never found time to learn how to ride. I'd also assumed I could wing it somehow.
"...I'll figure it out as I go."
"No, you can't do that. Then I'll teach you how to ride, so come here for a minute."
"I wanna learn too!"
"You'll be riding in the carriage to look after Karina anyway..."
"But I wanna try riding a horse too..."
"Fine, fine. You come over here too."
Reni led a horse over to a secluded corner and gave me and Millia a crash course in horseback riding. The lecture was easier to follow than I'd expected, and I managed to learn the basics of riding, more or less.
...Though actual practice would be another story.
"...You'll have to learn the rest by doing it on the way to the academy."
"Okay!"
"Thank you."
"...It's part of my job, so there's no need to thank me."
The way Reni scratched her cheek and looked away after my thanks showed me a surprisingly new side of her. It was the first time I'd ever thought she looked cute. On the island and everywhere else, she'd usually been loud and rough. As I kept staring, her sharp gaze snapped toward me.
"What're you staring at?"
Her voice was curt, but the blush on her face made her look embarrassed.
"Reni, are you sick?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden? I'm not sick."
"We should head back soon. We'll be departing shortly."
"Right. Let's head back fast..."
With Millia giggling between us, we rejoined the soldiers who were still absorbed in departure preparations.
-------------------
"Feels like we just set out yesterday, but it's already been a month."
"Right? Time really does fly."
I handed the cup of water to Reni, who was sitting beside me. Chewing on jerky and basking in the firelight, Reni took the cup from me and gulped down the water inside. Droplets ran along her jawline and dripped onto her lap.
"Playing with the horses was so fun!"
"Still, don't give them anything besides carrots. Got it? The horses can't eat meat."
"They seemed to eat it just fine?"
"I'm sure they'll eat it. But it's not good for their bodies."
"Got it!"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for listening..."
Reni chuckled and stroked Millia's head. Enjoying the attention, Millia nuzzled into her hand like a puppy. A fond smile crept onto my face. When I glanced around, several soldiers were smiling at the sight too.
Seeing a few guys blushing, no way. Hm.
I couldn't imagine Millia dating anyone at all.
"Yohan, why're you staring like that?"
"Nothing."
"Whenever you say that, there's always something!"
"Just leave it at that."
I ruffled Millia's hair roughly to dodge the question, then stood and stretched. Dinner was over, so it was time to inspect the carriages.
The craftsman-built carriages had a lot to teach me about structure and design, so I examined them whenever I had time. I'd have loved to dismantle one, but unfortunately that wasn't an option. If I could take one apart and understand its construction, crafting or repairing a carriage with my Skill would be much easier.
"...Maybe I could take just a little of one apart."
I looked at the five carriages lined up to conceal which one carried the Saintess. Surely no one would notice if one disappeared... No. I couldn't give in to temptation. I was still staring at them, lost in thought, when—
"...Who's there?"
At the sound of rustling through the underbrush, I snapped to my senses and turned my head. Since the soldiers were maintaining an ironclad perimeter, the odds of a suspicious person being anywhere nearby were next to none, but it still nagged at me—
"...A goblin?"
A waist-high green monster. It was one of the goblins that frequently appeared as early-game trash mobs. I scratched my chin at the strange encounter. Why was a goblin here? It noticed me a moment later and stared back.
The goblin glared at me with eyes full of killing intent. A very brief standoff.
"Kill you! Human!"
Fuck, what the hell was this. Had the guards dozed off?
Whoever it was, that bastard needed a beating.
Before the shrieking goblin could reach me, I activated my Skill.
"Craft."
I raised the earth, creating a small pillar right beneath the goblin's feet. Even that simple application was enough to strike a vital point, and the goblin collapsed, foaming at the mouth. I sharpened my senses and scanned the surroundings.
For now, I could only see the one, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that there were more. Goblins were pack creatures, after all.
"...Did it just happen to slip through the perimeter and end up here?"
The area remained quiet for long enough that I'd just reached that conclusion when—
"It's an attack! Everyone take up arms and fight back!"
Shit. And here I'd thought we were gonna have a peaceful trip.
I kicked off the ground and sprinted toward where I'd left my shovel.