What Can Be Obtained from the Labyrinth (2)
“Sister. I have something I want to ask.”
“…Something you want to ask?”
Just what kind of question was she about to throw at me now? The curiosity sparkling in my little sister’s eyes felt strangely burdensome.
“Speak.”
The moment she received permission, Reciel fired off her question without hesitation.
“What exactly is the relationship between you and the priest?”
“…Where on earth is this nonsense coming from?”
“You two are way too close.”
Close?
“When you say priest, you mean Priest Arthur, correct?”
I had expected an odd question, but as always, my sister’s imagination went far beyond anything I could anticipate.
“Since he’s the only priest you ever meet, it has to be him.”
Was there anything I could even describe as a relationship with Priest Arthur?
“We are healer and patient. What else would there be?”
“That’s a lie!”
“???”
Why in the world was that a lie? We, the people involved, were the ones saying so.
“Actually, I’ve had a pretty good idea for a while now. There’s definitely something between you two. Can’t you at least be honest with me, of all people?”
“There’s nothing to be honest about. What else could there be besides healer and patient? He is a priest, and I am merely his patient.”
My sister kept pressing with doubtful eyes, clearly harboring her own separate suspicions.
“At this point, I’d like to ask you the same thing in return. Just what exactly do you suspect is going on between the priest and me?”
“You kept a man who isn’t even one of your subordinates so close, got incredibly friendly with him, and even smiled while talking to him! Is that normal? You’ve never done anything like that before.”
“……”
“You used to be the Ice Flower of high society, yet I saw you having gentle conversations with him and even laughing. How am I supposed to believe there’s nothing between you?”
Listening to Reciel, I had to admit it did sound like something that could easily be misunderstood. It was true that talking with him felt comfortable.
Still, I wasn’t pleased that my sister had jumped to such a ridiculous conclusion.
“Am I not allowed to have normal conversations with people? He isn’t some imperial noble I need to be wary of. He’s the priest healing my body. Of course I’d feel more at ease with him than with anyone else I’ve met.”
“Do you think I don’t know you? Even if he is a priest, you’re being excessively friendly with him.”
…Excessively friendly?
Since our interactions had only ever taken place inside the sickroom, I hadn’t considered how others might perceive us.
“Anyway, there really is nothing between us, right?”
“That’s right. So don’t go around saying things like that anywhere. You’ll be struck by divine punishment.”
After my sister, who had thoroughly disturbed my thoughts, left, I remained alone in the sickroom, lost in contemplation.
Until now, I had never once thought I had grown too close to the priest.
Do I really look that close to him?
As I recalled the past days, I realized that lately I had indeed been smiling quite often whenever he visited.
How did it come to this?
It probably happened because instead of simply treating me and leaving, he would stay and chat about all sorts of trivial things for a long while.
At first, when I was still wary of him, I found it bothersome and wondered why he acted that way. Later, I came to understand without needing to ask.
Talking with me must have been part of the treatment.
I was constantly under mental attacks due to the curse. The priest had been providing “mental therapy” through conversation. Even if he started with ordinary topics, the discussion would eventually lead to ways of coping with hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.
Moreover, perhaps because he was a priest, he knew exactly how to soothe a person.
Whenever I talked with him, I felt refreshed inside and my mind grew lighter.
Although I believed I was holding up well, I wasn’t completely unshaken. The hallucinations and auditory hallucinations constantly rattled my mind. If I had tried to endure them alone, it would have been incredibly difficult. There was no denying that his treatment had been a tremendous help.
Even after organizing my thoughts, the unease my sister had planted refused to settle easily. That unsettled feeling lingered until Priest Arthur arrived.
“Did you eat well today?”
“I’m sick of patient meals. I want to tear into a big, juicy piece of meat. I can’t even remember the last time I did.”
In truth, just as my sister had pointed out, having casual conversations about whether I had eaten, how my health was, or what I had been thinking about was not something that happened often. In fact, aside from Reciel, I had probably never spoken of such things with any other family member.
“It seems you have a particular dish in mind. While I do recommend patient meals, I never completely forbade you from eating meat.”
“Other meats don’t appeal to me. There’s a restaurant I used to visit often, and I want the meat they serve there.”
“So you had a favorite regular spot.”
“Yes. Nowhere else suited my palate quite like that place. I never imagined the last time I ate there would truly be the last.”
I wondered if this priest knew about that. He probably didn’t. That must be why he could so casually engage me in everyday conversation.
If even my sister thought our relationship looked strange, then to outsiders it must appear odd indeed. But did I really need to change it just because of other people’s gazes?
The idea of altering my relationship with him simply because of how others might see it didn’t sit well with me.
“So, are you going to tell me a story today?”
I didn’t dislike the ordinary conversations he brought whenever he visited. Even though I would be more restrained now that my sister had said those things, I didn’t think my relationship with Priest Arthur would change dramatically.
Spending the entire day trapped in this sickroom was already tedious enough. Losing even this small source of entertainment would be too cruel. If the gods were truly watching over me, I could only hope they would grant me at least this small mercy.
“This isn’t working, Priest! Please help me!”
“Pardon? You mean me?”
Princess Reciel had suddenly come looking for me and was asking for my assistance.
“She’s almost there, but she just can’t make up her mind. So I want you to help with that part!”
Princess Canaby was well aware that the Labyrinth’s shifting paths had completely changed the situation and that the difficulty of locating monsters had skyrocketed. However, while the circumstances were unavoidable, allowing Reciel to enter the Labyrinth seemed to be an entirely different matter.
“If you wait a little longer, won’t she decide on her own?”
But Princess Canaby would have no choice but to accept Reciel’s proposal in the end. Who else but Reciel would desperately scour that vast Labyrinth as if it were her own personal mission to find the monster?
“Just how long am I supposed to wait? The road ahead is endless. I can’t afford to waste time like this. I’ve already waited plenty!”
From Reciel’s impatient perspective, Princess Canaby’s hesitant behavior must have been driving her nearly insane. It was only natural for her heart to ache, watching her beloved sister’s condition deteriorate day by day.
She had tried to handle it alone, struggling desperately, but eventually concluded it was impossible and came to me for help.
“If we had enough time, I would have convinced my sister myself. But to save time, I had no choice.”
“I’m willing to help, but do you really think Her Highness will listen if I try to persuade her?”
It was already a mistake to ask me when even her own sister’s persuasion had failed.
“Were you also failing to grasp the situation, just like my sister?”
“Pardon?”
I was failing to grasp the situation?
“Could you please explain what exactly I’m missing?”
“It won’t come for free.”
“???”
This wasn’t just robbing someone while they watched—it was daylight robbery. I stood there stunned, as if struck by lightning out of nowhere.
“Maybe it’s more comfortable not knowing?”
There was nothing more infuriating than someone starting to speak and then stopping halfway. If the girl standing before me hadn’t been a member of the imperial family, I would have given her a thorough scolding. I would have told her she shouldn’t behave so rudely.
“It has nothing to do with the current matter, so I’ll tell you later after I see how things go. Right now, the important thing is convincing my sister! You’ll do it, right?”
She turns me into an idiot in an instant and then asks me to persuade someone? As expected of imperial royalty, her personality was utterly terrifying. Though the more surprising fact was that she could still be considered one of the gentler ones among them.
“…You’ve made me incredibly curious and then refuse to say anything.”
“Just tell me whether you’ll do it or not!”
“You did come here to ask for a favor, didn’t you?”
“I’m not asking you to do it for free.”
Ah… why did I have to be a priest? I really wanted to flick her forehead just once.
“I’ve prepared compensation that includes the reward I promised you last time plus payment for this request. If it were anyone else, I would have simply paid with money, but I heard that handing money to a priest is considered bad manners. So I put a lot of thought into this!”
With a confident smile, she held something out to me. I accepted it for now.
“What is this?”
“Open it without another word.”
When I unwrapped the golden cloth, items far simpler than her confident demeanor suggested emerged. I looked at the princess in bewilderment, and she began explaining.
“The fundamental reason people hesitate to enter the Labyrinth is concern for their safety, right? So I brought something that can protect your body.”
It was a rugged-looking stone bracelet. But it was clearly no ordinary bracelet.
“It’s a protective bracelet that activates a barrier upon receiving a strong external impact. It’s a consumable that can be used about ten times, but it’s also one of the most overwhelmingly popular items inside the Labyrinth. Quite a few people have survived thanks to this barrier.”
She said that demand was currently so high that the item was completely unavailable. Even if you brought a fortune, you still couldn’t obtain one.
“From now on, I’ll keep supplying you with additional protective items once these are used up, so please use them without hesitation.”
If even the princess called it expensive, then for me it must be a price beyond imagination. The items that had looked like cheap junk just moments ago now seemed to sparkle brilliantly after hearing the explanation.
“What about this one?”
The items Princess Reciel had given me weren’t limited to the expensive stone bracelet. There was also a long object reminiscent of a staff. However, its silver gleam and the ancient-looking characters engraved on it suggested it possessed a special function, just like the bracelet.
“This is actually the truly valuable item. It’s a tool that reduces the burden of using abilities. It works with any kind of power, so it can be used with divine power as well!”
A tool that reduces the burden of using abilities?