Meetings and Farewells with the Girls
With every last question answered, Priest Martin nodded—then abruptly bowed his head in apology.
"Good heavens… This was supposed to be a discussion of reward, and somehow it turned into an interrogation. I'm truly sorry."
"Not at all. I was the one at fault first. I'm the one who should apologize."
Thank goodness the white lie landed so cleanly…
The three of them, not counting me, were laughing as they recounted the whole incident. Priest Martin, Bel, Mani… genuinely good people to have met.
I stared down into the herbal tea in front of me and sank into thought. Reflected in the surface was my own face—hidden behind a mask and the hood of my robe.
I ran back through every connection I'd made so far. Knight Delner, the gatekeepers at the village entrance, the people at the market… Everyone in this place had been kind. Even with the mask and the robe, the people of this world only treated me as a little odd. They never made a real fuss about it.
I had worried so much about my appearance. This is a savage age… a crude age… I'd told myself that walking around with my face bare would invite all kinds of trouble. But looking at it now—looking at the people in front of me and everything I'd experienced—did I still have any reason to hide?
Ignoring everything right in front of me, wrapping my face up tight and calling it "dangerous"… wasn't that just a self-obsessed idiot drowning in his own looks?
Maybe I had simply been afraid of facing this world head-on.
I decided I would try trusting it.
"Haren? Is something the matter?"
"No. You went to the trouble of pouring this tea, and I haven't even touched it."
I slowly pulled back the robe's hood and took off the mask.
Brilliant sky-blue hair. Radiant golden eyes. Sharply defined features, a high bridge of the nose, and a quietly smiling expression. I revealed that sculpted face of mine to everyone in the room.
Slurp.
"This herbal tea turned out wonderfully. I'll enjoy it."
""…""
The office fell into dead silence.
"Pong!! Pong!!! Pong!!!"
Blanc went wild and latched onto me. The sight of me gently stroking her soft little body seemed to unlock the tension in the room; one by one, they began offering their impressions of my face.
"S-so that's why you wore the mask…"
"Haha… yeah."
"I put out the tea and you never took off the mask or the hood, so I thought you must have some terrible scar or injury on your face. I was convinced I'd committed some awful rudeness and made a terrible mistake… b-but…"
Priest Martin studied my face, then slapped his knee and burst into a great booming laugh.
"But the reason was that you're ridiculously handsome! Hahaha!! Of course there'd be problems!!! Hahaha!!"
"Haha… thank you."
Getting complimented on my face is weirdly embarrassing…
Beside the priest, Mani flushed red and could only manage little gasps of admiration.
"W-wow… whoa… o…"
Huh? Come to think of it, Bel hasn't said a word.
I casually turned my face to the side. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, and her face had gone an astonishing shade of scarlet. I didn't know a human face could get that red.
"Uh… Bel? You okay?"
"Y… yes…! I-I'm… f-f… ine…"
Yikes… the kid's completely short-circuited…
Hearing over and over how good-looking I was… well, it felt pretty great.
"Pong! Pong!"
Yeah, I get how you feel…
A handsome face was seriously exhilarating.
……………
Facing people without the mask on, I felt as though a huge weight had lifted from my heart.
"Wow…"
"U… m… uh…"
"Stealing the hearts of two young ladies already! You're terrible, Haren! Hahahahaha!!"
Leaving the two broken girls as they were, Martin rummaged around the office and brought a few things over to set in front of me.
"Isn't this a little much? All I did was save Bel and Mani."
"Not at all. Consider it payment for the grave discourtesy I nearly committed as well. Please take a look."
Laid out before me were a rosary, two sheets of paper edged in gold leaf, and a ring of some kind.
"First, this rosary has my name and a mark I just carved into it. Show it at any other church and they'll receive you as a brother."
Ah… so it's basically a church-issued identity guarantee.
"Are you sure it's all right to give me something like this?"
"The Goddess teaches that one may give anything at all to those who act with goodwill."
Priest Martin made the sign of the cross as he spoke.
"You refused to leave those two girls on a path of despair and worked to see them home safely. Therefore… you are worthy of receiving this."
Instead of a cross, the end of the rosary bore the image of a cracked skull with a mace inside it.
What the hell. That completely kills the mood.
Is the message supposed to be "smash some skulls with a mace in the name of justice"?
Martin handed it over with a warm smile, but the religious symbol looked like something out of a voodoo ritual.
"Next are the passes. I hear you've been traveling from place to place."
One of the gold-edged papers was a travel pass issued under the guarantee of a man of the cloth. The other was an imperial travel pass.
Hmm… these forms… I've seen them somewhere before.
Ah! They looked a lot like the papers that corpse was carrying when I first met Blanc. So those were travel passes…
"For the duration written on the pass we issue, you'll even be allowed to enter cities and the like while carrying weapons."
"That much?"
"Hahaha. Show it to a patrol and they'll wave you through without any real inspection."
Wow. Free pass at the gates and for random checkpoints…
It was time-limited, but still an incredible thing to receive.
"I originally only meant to give you an ordinary travel pass… but please think of this as the price for the discourtesy I nearly committed."
"Thank you so much, Senior Priest!"
"And this…"
It was a ring set with a blue gemstone. The pass and the rosary alone were already more than enough; this felt like far too much.
"I… I'll have to decline this one."
"Hm? Ah~! This isn't that kind of gift."
Priest Martin winked, slipped the ring into my hand in secret, slung an arm around my shoulders, and smiled quietly.
"Heh heh heh. I'm giving it to you as a favor, you see. Please remember me. Hahahaha."
Ah… so people live the same way even here…
""Hahahahahahahahahahaha.""
Come to think of it, they did say mages are treated like nobility in the Empire. Since I've accepted something, I should put in a good word for Priest Martin if I ever visit another church.
Still… I guess this level of back-scratching is normal here…
If a senior priest can do it this casually, what must it be like elsewhere? I'm dying to ask, but saying it out loud would make me the tactless one.
……………………
Once Martin and I had finished our little alliance-building, the girls came back to their senses—only to get enormously embarrassed the moment they looked at me again.
"Haren, when you return to the village, would you be willing to escort these two?"
"Of course."
"Hahaha. Much obliged."
"Then I'll be heading out. Take care."
"O… whoa…"
"P… rie… st… th… ank… y…"
I gathered up the stiff little girls and my animal companions and set off for the village.
I looked down at the mask in my hand and fell into thought again… Judging by everyone's reactions, my face really was extremely handsome. Walking around barefaced didn't seem like such a bad idea—but then I remembered what Martin had said and glanced at the girls beside me.
They walked without a word, stiff as marionettes. Even a brief look from me turned their faces scarlet.
Yeah… fully exposing this face is going to cause problems…
I arrived at the village with the two awkward girls in tow. There was a bit of a scuffle at the gate, but we soon reached the brick houses.
"The kids are home."
"Yes…"
"N… ge…"
Mani and Bel managed stiff little greetings, and I couldn't help smiling. Still—I had no more reason to stay in this village. Better to make the goodbye quick. I only hoped the shock wouldn't be too hard on them…
"All right, head on in. Ah—and I'm leaving for somewhere else right away."
""What?!?!?!???""
Both girls looked utterly stunned.
"No way?! Why?!"
"U… m… uh…"
Mani demanded an answer with tremendous force, while Bel looked like a girl who'd confessed to the boy she liked, gotten rejected, and had her soul leave her body.
"What do you mean, why… I'm traveling. I've already stayed here too long. It's about time I moved on."
""Ah…""
Seeing the deep disappointment on both their faces, I held out a wooden cube to Mani.
"Here. Take this."
"Huh? What is this…"
"O… oh?"
"This is the match to the cube Bel found in that storage chest during the last incident. And this one is the match to the one I just gave Mani."
I showed them each cube's pair and closed my hands around them.
"You've both experienced the magic on the wooden cubes, so you know what it's like, right?"
"Yes… it was really amazing."
"…It… made me dizzy… but it felt good…"
"Where there's a meeting, there's also a parting. But…"
I shook my closed fists as I spoke.
"Unlike the magic on the cubes, the spaces themselves aren't connected—but fate is, isn't it?"
""!!!""
"Right. It's not like I'm vanishing from this world. Whenever fate brings us together, we can meet again anytime."
I slipped the cubes into my pocket and ruffled both girls' hair.
"So don't be too sad. Take care of yourselves."
"Y… yes! You take care too, Haren!!!"
"Heh… heeung… t… ake… care… Ha… re… n…"
After saying goodbye to the two flaming-red girls, I went into the shelter, packed my things, and left the village with my companions.
I drew an enormous amount of attention walking through the village, but that was something I would have to get used to.
After walking for a while, the village was no longer in sight. I looked up at the sky and thought.
In Gelin Village I had found all kinds of experiences and all kinds of people.
So… I threw the mask in my hand deep into the forest.
A mask that got in the way of meeting people—I didn't need it anymore.
I set my feet toward the next place and kept walking.