3. To Evian
The original destination had been the third underground floor.
But Kayak could not, for the life of him, approve of going any deeper — not in his condition, and not in the party's.
The knight-captain, who also commanded the subjugation force, was inwardly less than pleased with him for it.
But what could he do? More than ten of the forty-odd adventurers were dead, and nearly all the rest were wounded. Dragging people who could barely move down to the third underground floor was absurd — unthinkable.
Besides, Yona — the skilled Healer the guildmaster had made such a fuss about — had apparently been hurt badly too; her right arm was wrapped in cloth.
Her Holy Shroud was nowhere to be seen. Presumably it had been destroyed in the fighting.
"…Tch."
The knight-captain reluctantly turned back.
Pushing in with just the twenty men of the subjugation force… it wasn't impossible, but neither was it a good idea. The adventurers had been brought along precisely to serve as meat shields; with the majority of them in this state, sending in the subjugation force alone was out of the question.
And there were the priests to consider, too. If the priests came to harm during an independent advance, it would be a serious problem indeed.
"Fine. Good work, everyone."
At least they'd taken the head of the demonic beast that appeared on the second underground floor. Better than returning empty-handed.
The knight-captain had no choice but to order a withdrawal.
"Oh my, unnie. You got hurt too?"
"No, Yona didn't get hurt."
"I wasn't asking you, Alec."
Mary's narrowed eyes stung a little, but Alec didn't yield an inch, standing squarely in front of Yona.
One look at the clothes wound round and round her arm, and Mary would find it strange too.
The Holy Shroud, sodden and ruined from being steeped in miasma, had been abandoned back there — but because of it, the fact that something was wrong with Yona's right arm was about to come to light. So Alec had stripped off his own top and wrapped it around her arm.
Fortunately, Kayak was hardly the flighty type to go blabbing about such things — and besides, he'd have been flat-out dead if not for Yona, which made him all the more likely to keep the secret.
The others hadn't gotten a proper look at what happened, so all anyone could do was wonder why on earth Yona had Alec's clothes wound around her arm.
"Hey, is this the birth of the first adventurer married couple?"
"Shut your mouth, you son of a bitch."
Yona's fiery spirit remained undimmed; she delivered a solid kick to the backside of Miscot, who was snickering away.
But the situation was awkward, to say the least. With Alec's clothing wrapped around her arm, no amount of denial carried any conviction.
"Alec's been chasing Yona's tail all this time, and he finally did it, huh? Wow, a triumph of the human spirit, that bald bastard."
"Emerson, you absolute— AARGH!"
Alec himself stayed quiet; it was Yona alone who flew into a rampage.
"Hey, do you hate it that much?"
"Hate what?"
"That thing. From earlier."
It was already morning.
The sun was climbing, and the day was beginning.
The shops lining the road from the guild office to the Moon & Star Inn were busy preparing to greet the newly brightening morning after a comfortable night's rest.
And through it all, Alec and Yona walked, bringing this long day to a close.
"…You mean that thing from earlier."
The married-couple business, presumably.
"Yeah. I hate it to death. I told you — I used to be a man. The memory's still vivid. How am I supposed to date a guy? No. Absolutely not."
Alec's lips parted lightly, once, twice. He'd wanted to say something — anything — but when you got rejected that fiercely, even the courage for that drained away.
He quietly studied her profile.
Bathed in the morning sun, her unnaturally pale face seemed to glow with a sharp, irritable light.
Thanks to the cursory wash at the guild office, her skin looked heavy with moisture — so dewy he half thought it might bead up if he pressed it. Her gleaming golden eyes were the same. Such golden eyes were a rare sight indeed in this world.
And her long, milk-white hair — no matter how much she oiled it, never a hint of shine.
"…What happened to your veil?"
"Huh, now that you mention it."
Yona patted the top of her head. Of course, a veil that wasn't there wasn't going to materialize out of thin air, and she scowled.
"Damn it, lost it again. Gotta buy a new one…"
"Do you really have to wear it?"
"Yes, I have to. I already get scolded every time I visit the cathedral for not looking nun-like enough — imagine if I started going around without a veil on top of that."
"Doesn't matter to me. It's not me getting chewed out."
"You little—"
Alec snorted with laughter.
Well, it probably didn't matter. As long as the rumor persisted that she was some off-kilter woman who went around insisting she used to be a man, no man would ever approach her anyway.
But Alec knew better.
She was kind, and she knew how to look out for others. Her mind wasn't broken — those words existed precisely to turn away anyone who came near her.
So Alec resolved to be satisfied with things as they were. He was the vanguard she trusted most, and the vanguard she relied on most every time they set out on an expedition. At the very least, there was no danger of things going wrong within this relationship.
"Uh — thanks for walking me back. And for the clothes."
"It's nothing. When are you going to buy a new Holy Shroud?"
"Good question."
Only after stepping into her room at the Moon & Star Inn — the one she'd been renting long-term — did Yona unwind the cloth from her arm and hand it back to Alec.
A Holy Shroud. She really did need to go buy one.
Money-wise, the reward from this subjugation would be fairly substantial, so she could manage it with that.
"I'm thinking maybe the day after tomorrow."
Tomorrow wouldn't work.
Tomorrow, she intended to visit the tower in Evian. The Holy Shroud could wait — first she had to find out what in the world this tattoo-like thing embedded across her arm actually was.
Preferably, she'd get it removed altogether. Only after it was gone would she go buy a Holy Shroud or whatever else.
"Fine, then I'll come pick you up the day after tomorrow."
"Why do you keep insisting on coming to get me? Just meet me at the guild."
"Sure, whatever you say."
Yona waved a hand at Alec, who stood there hesitating over something, and slammed the door shut.
She was exhausted. So exhausted she'd fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
Ugh, I need to wash first…
She'd rolled around in that dustbin and shoved her right arm into the body of a monster — the griminess was beyond words.
How wonderful it would be to sink into a bathtub full of hot water.
But the thought stopped there. The moment the bed was in her sights, and the moment she registered the fatigue she'd been holding at bay, there was only one option left: climb in.
Ten coppers… and they'll change the mattress…
Yona hauled herself up onto the mattress, hand over hand. Stuffed with straw, it sagged and prickled everywhere — a complete disaster — but still, where else would she find better?
The moment she hugged her pillow and lay down, sleep dragged her under.
"Nnngh…"
Yona was dreaming.
A dream of being chased by something, madly, relentlessly.
But she couldn't tell what that something was. Driven only by the single conviction that she had to run, Yona fled with her breath coming in ragged gasps.
How far she had to run, how much longer, whether she could even escape it at all — knowing none of this, she simply ran and ran, until at last she skidded to a halt at the edge of a sheer, dizzying cliff.
Something was drawing slowly closer.
No matter how hard she stared, she couldn't make out what it was. And the nearer it came, the further backward Yona retreated.
The cliff dropped away, sheer as a knife's edge.
At last she wavered — lost her balance — and fell into the depths below.
"Hah!"
Her eyes snapped open.
Her whole body was drenched in sweat. Breathing hard as though she'd genuinely been running, she swept her hands over herself, checking everywhere.
Fortunately, not a single injury — and the tattoo-like marking on her right arm was still there.
"…Is it because of this?"
Three years ago, when she'd dropped out of nowhere into this inexplicable world, she'd had a few nightmares.
But after her holy power awakened, after she was classified as a Healer and threw herself into adventuring life, the nightmares had stopped.
And yet now, here they were again. Of all times, the nightmares had to come back the very moment something strange happened to her body.
"…I had nightmares when I became a woman, and now my arm turns into this, and I'm having nightmares again…"
It seemed clear enough: whenever her body changed, the nightmares came.
"Damn it…"
Cursing out of habit, she sat up and closed her eyes.
She felt a warm energy gathering softly in her lower abdomen. It swirled through her whole body with each breath, and when she focused on it, it slid smoothly into her right arm and wrapped around it with a gentle glow.
Thankfully, there was no problem channeling her holy power.
"…Well, no need to worry about starving, then."
If even this holy power had failed her, what else would she have lived on? She'd finally made a name for herself as a Healer, and her skill was recognized as fairly good, so making a living wasn't an issue — but if her arm going like this had cost her the ability to heal, that would have been a true catastrophe.
Nothing of the sort had happened yet. That was the relief.
She looked out through the bare, uncurtained window. It was dark enough that she couldn't tell whether it was evening or the dead of night.
But glancing around — every shop shuttered, not a soul on the streets — it was surely deep night.
She'd come home in the morning and slept straight through, so by now she was ravenous.
"…Might as well go eat something."
The Moon & Star Inn was open around the clock. Even going down now, she'd be able to get a meal.
Yona rose and pulled on a spare nun's habit. Then she dug out the hooded cardigan for clergy that she'd bought ages ago and almost never wore, and put that on too.
Cumbersome, but there was no helping it if she wanted to hide her right arm.