82. The Saint and the Shoveling Knight (End)
82. The Saint and the Shoveling Knight (End)
"Whoa..."
That was Karina's first reaction when she entered my workshop, carried on Reni's back.
Had she never seen my workshop on the uninhabited island?
It hadn't even been half a year since we escaped the uninhabited island, and my memory was already getting hazy.
"He built this in a single day. No, not even a day. He finished it in under half a day, so..."
"What is this one?"
I looked at the object Karina was pointing at.
"An anvil. You hammer metal there to shape things."
"So that is an anvil."
Had Karina never been to a smithy?
Well, it made sense. Someone in a position like hers, the spiritual leader of a religion, would never have had a reason to visit a smithy. She might have heard the word, but there was nothing strange about never having seen one in person. After that, Karina asked me about all sorts of items in the workshop.
Molds, a furnace, a tanning workbench, work clothes for handling gunpowder...
We must have gone back and forth maybe seven times before Karina sat down on a chair I'd improvised, layered with several hides, and watched as I disassembled and repaired the wheelchair. Millia and Reni came as a set, of course. Though it was a shame Elisa had left because she had homework.
Tch. Gotta find a way to get closer to her somehow.
I needed to hurry up, earn some Trait Points, and strengthen either a stat or a Skill. The difference a single rank made was greater than I'd expected. The sheer amount of information I could take in had increased, which made crafting much easier because I could spot defects immediately.
I was seriously craving Trait Points. They were practically a drug.
If the difference between B and A was this big, how huge would the gap be from A to S?
What if my Craft Skill, currently stuck at A, became S?
Just how would my Craft Skill... change?
"That should do it."
I took my hands off the rebuilt Patrasche prototype—the wheelchair that should now be called Unit 2—and stepped back. From a short distance away, the cleaner finish was immediately obvious.
And the finish wasn't the only thing that had improved, of course.
A more precise manufacturing process had shaved off a feather's worth of weight. I'd added a wolf-hide safety belt that fastened around the waist and, after finally bringing myself to tan the bear hide from the uninhabited island, transformed it into an avant-garde wheelchair with even softer, plusher cushioning.
Avant-garde really was the trend.
Wait, what did avant-garde even mean again?
"Yohan, Yohan, can I sit in it?"
"No. This is Karina's seat."
"Tch."
She shouldn't have been puffing her cheeks out like a little kid. She was the oldest one there.
Even all our ages combined didn't add up to half of hers.
"I want to ride it too..."
"I'll give you a ride later, so hold on for now."
As if soothing her, I lightly stroked her head and then looked at Karina. Karina was examining the Patrasche Unit 2 I'd produced as if it fascinated her, then turned to Reni and asked her to help seat her in it.
The pink-haired Saintess, cradled in the arms of the brown-haired, tanned knight, sank into the wheelchair's backrest. I'd even fitted a stop to keep it from tipping backward, so there was no danger of Karina falling over when she leaned against it.
Fortunately, the size seemed just right.
Karina's large butt—no, her pelvis—wasn't pinched, the crown of her head aligned precisely with the top of the backrest, and her feet just barely brushed the floor. Seeing the comfortable look on Karina's face confirmed the size was about right.
...Apart from one thing that bothered me: it made her chest stand out.
But there was nothing I could do about that. Sitting with her back straight naturally made her breasts stand out, and with two watermelons attached to Karina's chest, any upright posture was bound to emphasize them.
Naturally, I had no choice but to avert my eyes from Patrasche Unit 2. Reni's piercing stare was boring holes into my face.
Reni had a tendency to overprotect Karina... No, she had to stop looking at me like that. It was terrifying.
"I'm going to check the wheelchair's condition, so stay still."
I examined the wheelchair while doing my utmost not to stare at Karina's large and lovely chest. A wheelchair behaved differently before and after a patient sat in it, so I needed to inspect it carefully.
Because Karina could get seriously hurt if a design flaw made it fail under her weight.
Normally, as a Saintess blessed by the gods, she would not have been hurt by something like that. But she was severely weakened now, so even the smallest accident could lead to a critical injury.
With my Insight deepened a stage further, I thoroughly swept my gaze over the wheelchair.
"Stay exactly like that."
"Ah, yes."
Following the checklist in my head, I began inspecting the enviable Patrasche Unit 2, crushed beneath the Saintess's large butt, one item at a time.
Was the center of gravity holding? Had any parts collapsed under the weight? Were all the elements functioning correctly...?
After circling Karina for nearly five minutes performing the inspection, I stepped three paces back and straightened my back.
"For now, it supports the weight just fine. Karina, I'll take you around Dawn Hall once in the wheelchair. If anything feels uncomfortable, tell me immediately. I need to fix anything that causes trouble."
"I understand."
"Yohan, I'll push."
Reni, who'd been quietly observing us, stepped forward and spoke to me. I shook my head immediately at her words.
"I need to push it myself to identify defects more easily. You stay ready for any unexpected trouble. A sudden malfunction could throw Karina out."
She was supposed to be guarding Karina. Fortunately, Reni accepted my reasoning immediately.
"Okay."
"Yohan! What about me?"
What could she do?
I looked at Millia, who gazed up at me with an expectant face, and sank into thought. I didn't really have anything for her to do, but she'd probably sulk if I gave her no task at all. I had no choice but to consider what I could assign this childlike older woman.
"Hm? What should I do?"
"Fufu, Millia. Would you keep me company?"
"Hm? Sure!"
Nice assist.
Millia took Karina's hand, practically wagging an invisible tail at the request. As I watched the heartwarming sight, Millia turned her head 180 degrees and looked up at me.
That was a look asking when we'd be going.
She was telling me to hurry, so I should get moving.
I restored Millia's head to its proper orientation, grabbed the handles of Patrasche Unit 2, and pushed.
It was the start of the second walk.
---------------------
"...and so Yohan just started digging a burrow..."
"Oh my, really? That's amazing."
Yet another attentive response. Karina had long since lost count.
Listening to them, it was just a repetition of the same stories, but Karina was simply happy. This sort of ordinary, everyday chatter was truly rare for her.
Saintess.
The spiritual leader of the continent's largest religion.
Having shouldered a heavy responsibility at a young age, talking openly and intimately with someone had been a near impossibility for her.
Especially talking to someone who did not use an honorific with her.
The distance embedded in that respectful form of address. Karina disliked it.
A relationship where one was revered above all others, yet could never become close.
A person with whom one dared not build a private friendship.
Because it always seemed to emphasize that fact.
That was why she treasured Yohan and Millia.
People she could talk to without the wall of her station as Saintess. Something even Reni had been unable to do, the two of them had accomplished so simply.
"You should come with us next time, Karina! The decorations hanging from the ceiling of the Magic Department building are really pretty!"
"Fufu, let's be sure to go together sometime."
She never wanted to let this go.
Before she knew it, that tiny bit of selfishness had swelled in size and filled Karina's heart. That was why, when she heard the news that Millia had enrolled in the Academy alongside her and that Yohan had become her Escort Knight, she had been genuinely happy.
She would not have to lose her friends.
A small, selfish desire held by a girl who had lived her life for everyone.
That desire was gradually growing, but she was not yet ready to confront it.
"Karina. Is there something you want to say?"
"Ah... no. I was just... wondering if it was hard for you."
At Yohan's question, Karina mumbled her words and turned her head away. She felt somehow embarrassed.
"My body isn't so frail that a single lap will exhaust it."
"You really don't need to worry about this guy. A normal person wouldn't even think of digging all night to make a secret passage to the main building. What kind of freakish stamina does he have, anyway?"
"It's not hard. You just have to keep shoveling."
"A normal human gets tired before they even dig from one end of Dawn Hall to the other, you know?"
Karina laughed softly at Reni and Yohan's banter. The moment she did, everyone looked at her.
The first to speak was Millia, who was crouched right next to her, watching a caterpillar crawl by.
"Karina, you look su~per happy!"
"Fufu, I am."
Her body felt heavy and every breath was uncomfortable, but Karina genuinely enjoyed strolling together as a group of four. At moments like this, she felt like a girl her own age rather than the Saintess.
'How wonderful it would be if things could stay like this forever.'
It was a wish that was difficult to fulfill as long as she held the office of Saintess.
But wasn't it okay to enjoy it, just for this moment?
'Wouldn't Kalon forgive such a small transgression?'
Allowing a somewhat irreverent thought to surface in her mind, Karina opened her mouth.
"Thank you, everyone."
For staying by my side.