A Picnic for the Cat (1)
A peaceful evening.
In the small dining hall set into one corner of the convent building, the children and I were having our meal at the usual hour, just like any other day.
"Levi, can I go swing my sword in the garden after I eat?"
"Yes, but don't stay out too late practicing."
"Okay! Got it!"
Even though the second demon raid had happened only recently, thanks to our quick response and some skillful smooth-talking, the atmosphere now was worlds apart from last time.
Impressed by my subjugation prowess, Eisen had thrown himself into training far harder than usual. Iris, insisting she refused to be a burden, had taken to rereading the magic tome I bought her over and over again.
Thinking back to the funeral-house gloom that hung over everyone after the first raid, I could clearly feel that this one had brought positive change to every one of the children—everyone except me, that is.
"Ellie, you've barely touched your food today."
"...Yes."
Yet even amid all this wind of change, exactly one person sat radiating gloom, utterly sullen and downcast.
It was Ellie.
"What's wrong, Ellie? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
I asked carefully, gently wiping a smudge of sauce from the corner of her mouth with my handkerchief.
Ellie quietly shook her head.
"No... I'm fine..."
She looked anything but fine to anyone with eyes. Something was clearly weighing on her mind, some worry she was chewing over, but no matter how many times I asked, she wouldn't give me an answer. Watching her like this, I couldn't help but feel my heart twist.
"I'm finished—!!"
In the middle of all this, Eisen was the first to finish eating, clattered his spoon down noisily, and dashed straight out the door.
"Thank you for the meal."
Iris, who had been eating quietly behind him, set down her spoon as well, rose politely from her seat, gave me a small bow, and left the dining hall.
And so, quite naturally, only Ellie and I were left at the table.
Some inexplicable tension began to bloom in the air, and an awkward silence settled over us in an instant.
"...Ellie?"
"Yes..."
I had no idea what to say to her. If I at least knew the cause, I could have thought of something—but as it was...
"Sometimes, rather than stewing over something all by yourself, it's better to share your worries with someone and work through them together."
"......"
"I don't know what's troubling you right now, Ellie. But please at least know that I'm always here beside you."
With those words, I slowly rose from my seat and began gathering the empty plates from the table, moving as unhurriedly as I could manage.
Because Ellie might just find the courage to open up, now that I'd said my piece.
"...Sister."
"Yes?"
"Am I... doing well right now...?"
At Ellie's question, my head tilted slightly before I could stop it.
"At what?"
"It's, it's just... Eisen and Iris are both working so hard at something... and all I ever do is pray..."
Come to think of it, Ellie had been a little withdrawn lately.
I'd noticed it for a while, but I didn't know the reason, and it hadn't seemed serious enough to warrant intervening—so I'd simply been keeping an eye on her. I never imagined she was agonizing over something like this.
It hadn't crossed my mind.
"Do you feel like you're being left behind?"
"Eisen keeps getting more dependable... and Iris keeps getting smarter..."
"They certainly have changed since we first met, haven't they."
"Compared to them, I feel like I'm still exactly the same... The only thing I know how to do is pray..."
It was a surprisingly grounded, worldly concern, but one I could understand well enough.
Because just as Ellie said, Eisen and Iris were each working hard down their own paths—and showing real results for it.
"Hmm..."
In fact, over the past few days Iris had grown to the point where she could cast basic magic entirely on her own. For a child carrying the title of Messiah, it was indirect proof that her talent was every bit as remarkable as expected.
Considering all that, perhaps it was only natural for Ellie to feel impatient.
But that was, in the end, simply a matter of each person's talent being different.
Considering the nature of her class, Ellie was quietly bringing her own flower to bloom, no less surely than Eisen or Iris.
"It's been a few months since we all started living together, hasn't it?"
"Huh? I think it's been about three months..."
"Mm, that's right. It feels longer than that, somehow, but it's only been three months."
"Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden...?"
"No particular reason. Just feeling a little sentimental, I suppose. It's barely been three months, and yet everyone's grown so much more dependable, like they've become different people."
Three months. A laughably short span of time in which to notice any real change.
And yet they were already showing results—which, compared to others their age, was simply unthinkable.
And I had never pushed them or pressured them once.
"But it's still only been three months. What I'm trying to say is, it's far too early to feel this impatient."
"Yes...? But Eisen and Iris have already..."
"Everyone simply grows at their own pace. That pace can never be an absolute standard. They may be ahead now, but I promise you, one day both of them will find themselves worrying over the exact same things you are."
Ellie is not slow.
If anything, she's perfectly ordinary.
She may show no striking achievements right now, but the day will come when the three of them form a party and faithfully fulfill their roles as the Messiah—and on that day, Ellie will shine brighter than anyone.
Because that is exactly what a healer and a priestess is.
"In short, Ellie, you're doing wonderfully right now. Even just watching you makes me proud."
"R-really...?"
"Yes. And here's a secret I haven't told a soul—honestly, of the three of you, Ellie is the one I have the highest hopes for."
"Why...?"
Ellie asked timidly, her voice trembling with an anxiety she still couldn't quite hide.
And I answered in a low, warm voice, smiling brightly without a moment's hesitation.
"Because I know you so very well, Ellie. I'm truly proud of you—of how hard you work even where no one can see it."
It wasn't some lie I'd invented on the spot, nor had I meant to say it with such gravity. I'd simply picked out, word by word, the most encouraging things I could think of, hoping to bring her spirits back, and said them lightly.
But by the time she heard them, Ellie's eyes had already turned red, and tears were welling up in them.
"S-Sister..."
"Oh? Did I take that too seriously?"
"Thank you... thank you for saying you're proud of me..."
"Ahaha... you don't have to—"
"You've given me strength... I'm so glad I talked to you, Sister..."
Well, either way, as long as Ellie's spirits were back, that was all that mattered.
I'd rarely listened so earnestly to someone's troubles or offered advice like that, so I'd been quietly nervous the whole time I was speaking—but it seemed to have gone even better than I'd hoped. Thank goodness.
"Is that worry settled, then?"
"Yes! My heart feels so much lighter now."
"I'm glad. Now finish your dinner."
"But, Sister? Why do we eat meat every day?"
"...I'm sorry?"
"It's not a complaint! I was just curious. Is there a special reason we only ever eat meat?"
At Ellie's sudden question, I flinched and faltered, a flustered expression creeping onto my face.
In this warm, heartwarming atmosphere, I had absolutely not expected a question like that to come flying out of nowhere.
"W-we do have vegetables here, you know...?"
"We do, but aren't those just things you eat alongside the meat?"
"...That's true, isn't it."
That hadn't occurred to me either.
I'd assumed I was serving up a generous variety of different dishes every day for the children's nutrition—but now that I thought about it, the main dish had always been meat. The realization came far too late.
"Maybe I should have bought bread or something like that..."
"Oh no, meat-only is fine with me. I was just curious, that's all."
"It's not that... the food doesn't suit your taste or anything, is it...?"
"No! Everything you make is delicious, Sister!"
I felt relief wash over me at Ellie's sunny answer—but at the same time, a faint, inexplicable sense of crisis flickered through me.
Meat was simply the ingredient that could be gathered most easily in this forest by my standards, so it couldn't be helped. But if the children kept eating nothing but meat and gradually all grew plump and round, it would be a disaster of the highest order.
"Shall I make something other than meat tomorrow? Mostly vegetables and fruit, maybe..."
"Meat is better!"
"...Then what about bread?"
"I ate plenty of that back when we lived in the village, so I'm good!"
Ellie was stubborn about it.
Apparently the fact that she got to eat meat every single day was a source of considerable satisfaction for her.
Given the atmosphere of the village they'd lived in before, I could understand where she was coming from. Even so, feeding growing children meat every day surely couldn't be good for their health.
It looked like I had no choice but to start adding one new vegetable and one new fruit to every meal from the next one on.
"Oh, Sister! There's nothing I want to eat—but there is something I want to do."
"And what would that be?"
"I want us all to go out somewhere together. On a trip."
"Out?"
"Yes! I want to pack food in a basket and go play and have fun all day long."
A single innocent remark, brimming over with Ellie's pure-hearted simplicity.
Perhaps it was the sight of her—beaming from ear to ear, practically bouncing in her seat, hope radiating off her in waves—but my two lips refused to part easily.
If I'd had an ordinary human body, I wouldn't have needed a single thought; I'd have accepted on the spot.
Regrettably, however, I am a poor vampire who cannot walk abroad in the daylight.
Normally I don't feel particularly pessimistic about being a vampire. But every time I'm confronted with a situation like this, not only does it become a real problem—it makes me feel infinitely small.
"Uh... Ellie? As I've mentioned before, I don't do very well with sunlight..."
"Not during the day—at night! Then you can come with us too, Sister!"
I thought she'd forgotten about my distaste for sunlight—but no, Ellie had already thought it all through, right down to that part.
"Wandering around at night is dangerous, but... with you there, Sister..."
"Of course. Let's go tomorrow, first thing."
If it was at night, there was no reason to refuse.
Besides, I'd always felt a little sorry for the children, playing nowhere but the church garden. Ellie's picnic plan seemed like a truly wonderful opportunity.
"As it happens, I know just the place."
"Really?"
"You can look forward to it."
"Yay! Then can we invite that big sister too?"
"...Which big sister would that be?"
"Big sister Priscilla!"
"Ah. Right."
Speak of the devil, as they say.
Before Ellie's words had even finished leaving her mouth, the closed dining hall door creaked slowly open, and someone cautiously poked a face inside.
"Um... could I... help clean up after the meal...?"
It was Priscilla.
I'd assumed she'd go straight home that day, but a string of incidents had drained her body and spirit so completely that she'd ended up staying at the church for a while, until she'd recovered to some degree.
And I had completely forgotten that fact.
I'd known it as recently as this afternoon, no less.
"Huh? Did everyone eat except me...?"