To the Infula Church Territory (3)
"The Crusade Knights aren't going to pursue?"
Breakfast was barely over before they set out again. Ceres stretched in a long, lazy yawn and blinked the sleep from her eyes as she posed the question to Scarlet, who sat in silence for a while before deigning to answer.
"The culprit is a vampire, or else a lich. Given the absence of any magical residue, the findings point to a vampire with high probability. That much is settled. And whether it be one or the other, the Crusade Knights as currently deployed are in no position to contend with it. Besides, watching the fiend a while longer will make its intentions all the easier to read."
Listening to that blunt answer, a thought occurred to Yona.
If they simply gave up the chase and went home, wasn't there a chance that vampire would attack some other village next? And then ordinary people would suffer enormously, wouldn't they?
But asking that out loud was… well. Terrifying.
Scarlet still scared her half to death.
"Hey, Baldy."
"Hmm?"
So in the end, she decided to ask Alec instead.
"Couldn't you just pursue while calling for reinforcements? Vampire or lich, what happens if it hits another village?"
Alec scratched the bridge of his nose. He understood, at least to some degree, the hidden intent buried in Scarlet's words.
It was true that the investigation had produced results. It was also true that the Crusade Knights' current forces couldn't handle the thing. And as for this business of "watching it a while longer"—if his reading was right, then the moment Yona heard it, she'd raise holy hell about it.
Waiting and watching meant, in plain terms, waiting for the vampire to raid another village. Watching its path of movement, that was all.
"…Ah, mm. He means they'll bring in extra troops first and then take it down."
Said honestly, Yona was bound to start cursing again. Crude-mouthed as she was, at her core she took her calling as a priest seriously—there was no way she'd sit still for the idea of letting civilians come to harm.
"Is that so? Well then…"
Yona shut her mouth. Only now did she act as though the matter no longer concerned her, and Alec stole a sidelong glance at her.
The nobles of this era went without saying, but even priests rarely troubled themselves over the welfare of commoners. Alec was one of them. Yona was not.
She'd insist with her own mouth that her own life came first, that her safety took priority over everything—and yet when the moment actually came, she never acted that way. It had been the same when she saved Rubina.
"So we just mind our own business, that's all. Got it, Yona?"
"Who asked you? Once we reach Infula, I'm heading straight to the Community."
Yona answered listlessly and turned her gaze to the window of the carriage.
Clunk—
The sound of the fixing stake being pulled free, and the carriage began to roll.
For a village supposedly swallowed by a tide of the dead, it looked far too intact. There were occasional collapsed stone walls, likely from shambling zombies or skeletons barreling into them, but nothing beyond what could reasonably be expected—and beyond that, hardly a single collapsed house anywhere in sight.
"There's no life in it at all…"
"The people will return soon enough, and it will recover, Lady Saintess. Please don't worry yourself so. If you are this concerned, then surely once we reach Infula, you need only ask that more care be given to the matter."
Vigrind, who had murmured this without thinking, turned in surprise at the reply that came back. Ludwig was looking at her with an easy, gentle smile.
"I… I suppose so."
"When you reach Infula, you will be formally ordained, will you not? Once that is done, you will rank among the most exalted in the Heavenly God Church—equal in standing to His Holiness the Pope himself. Every word you speak will carry weight. If you say that Semek must be restored with the greatest of care…"
"I… suppose."
Evian—a small city on the remote frontier. Vigrind had been a priestess attached to its humble cathedral. Her total reservoir of holy power had certainly been exceptional, but that alone was all she had ever been. And now that same girl had become the Saintess, said to stand in the same rank as the Pope himself.
"It doesn't quite feel real."
"The miracles you have shown on the road here are more than enough. No one will doubt your exalted station."
Ludwig spoke slowly, as if to console her.
"I gu…"
Vigrind couldn't finish, and fell silent.
The carriage was moving. Slowly, very slowly, toward the Infula Church Territory.
"Excuse me, Lady Regent."
Ceres looked up from her seat and over at Yona, who was standing awkwardly beside her, calling out to her. Scarlet sat not far away, and Yona kept darting furtive glances at the knight's helmet as she spoke—which, for some reason, looked rather endearing. Ceres nearly laughed aloud.
"What can I do for you, Yona dear?"
"I was hoping to have a quick word."
"Oh? Of course. Anyone else and I'd have told them to say it right here, but if it's you doing the asking, I suppose I can come to you. An adventurer summoning the Regent of Carpatia hither and yon—no one but you could even dream of it."
"Eek."
Yona had agonized over this conversation for ages, and now that Ceres responded with exactly the teasing she'd dreaded, it only made it more embarrassing.
"I'm only joking. Now then—where shall we talk?"
"…O-on the carriage roof."
Yona had noticed that Scarlet's helmet was tilted, if only slightly, in her direction. Her lips trembled as she forced out a smile. The sight was rather pitiful, and Ceres nodded readily.
"Ugh, it's cold."
Winter had well and truly arrived. One need only feel the wind to know it. Though the carriage wasn't moving especially fast, the wind was colder and sharper than it had been even yesterday, biting like a blade. The chill knifed through their clothes, and both Yona and Ceres shivered.
"Let's see…"
The instant Ceres gave her fingers a light snap, the wind stopped. The branches visible from atop the carriage were still thrashing violently, which made it plain enough that some barrier against the wind had been drawn up around the two of them alone.
"That's better. Almost livable now."
"Isn't it…"
Yona hadn't said anything, but in her nun's habit she was every bit as cold—she'd come out wrapped in a coat borrowed from Alec. Even with the wind cut off around her, she hadn't taken it off.
"You and Alec are quite close, aren't you?"
"Oh—yes. I suppose."
Ceres had plunked herself down on the carriage roof without ceremony and asked with a sly grin. Yona, thinking it an obvious question, answered yes and settled herself a careful distance away from her.
"Come to think of it, you two worked together for three whole years, didn't you?"
"We did. Well—two and a half, to be exact?"
"That's long enough for real feelings to develop, wouldn't you say?"
"F-feelings? Absolutely not. None whatsoever. In the first place, I'm—"
Oh, no.
Yona bit off the words. There was a side of her that hesitated to tell Ceres the truth, and she truly did not want to say this particular thing. Ceres was staring at her with a look that said how odd, and Yona smiled awkwardly yet again and smoothed it over.
"Anyway, it's nothing like that between us. I don't have even a shred of romantic feeling toward Alec. None."
Because I'm a man, to begin with.
I have zero interest in romance with another man. It will never, ever happen.
"Isn't that rather cruel to Alec, though?"
"Huh?"
That remark came completely out of left field. Cruel? What did she mean by cruel?
Yona turned it over, wondering what Ceres could be getting at, but nothing came to mind.
"Alec is already twenty, you know. And yet he stays glued to your side. And then there's the fact that you block off any woman who might ever approach him, don't you?"
Unlike Ceres, who kept chattering away with that easy smile, Yona had gone completely mute. She had no idea what she meant—and no idea what "blocking off any woman who might approach him" was supposed to refer to. It had never once happened, so from where Yona stood, it was a statement she simply could not make sense of.
"I've… never done anything like that, though?"
"Hee. Is that so? Well, we'll let it stand, then."
This from the girl who, every single time Ceres's gaze drifted toward Alec, had quietly intercepted it. Blocking it with her own body—or, failing that, like this very morning, dragging the milk pitcher across the table to wall off Alec whenever Ceres so much as looked at him. And she claimed to have no romantic feelings whatsoever. Ceres could only marvel.
"Well, either way, it's no concern of mine. So—Yona dear, what was it you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh, right. It's about our schedule after we reach Infula. I wanted to let you know in advance…"
Once they arrived in Infula, Yona intended to refuse whatever request Ceres made of them. So she would lay out their plans beforehand—forestalling any awkward situation where Ceres, unaware, asked for something and had to be turned down on the spot.
"When we reach Infula, first thing—we're planning to leave Rubina at an orphanage."
"Leaving Rubina at an orphanage… Yes, I understand. I'll arrange for her to be placed in a Church Territory orphanage under my direct guardianship."
There's kindness like this in the world?
Yona's heart dropped with relief. She knew all too well that after everything that had happened, Rubina called her "big sister" and trailed after her everywhere—but the time had come to part ways. Simply that had weighed on her heart, and if Ceres—the Regent of Carpatia Port, and senior elder of the Carpatia branch of the Heavenly God Church—took Rubina under her wing, the girl's future would be guaranteed. She might even live a far more peaceful life than Yona ever could have given her.
"Th-thank you."
"Think nothing of it. I've grown quite fond of Rubina myself. Now—was there anything else?"
"Ah, and after that… um, how to put it. James is heading back to his homeland, and me and Alec and the liza— I mean, Kayak are planning to go to the Wizard Community."
"The Wizard Community. Hmm."
Ceres stroked her chin, seemingly thinking something over. All the while she kept glancing at Yona with an ambiguous little smile, and Yona felt a fresh sheen of cold sweat breaking out down her back.
"Y-yes, the Wizard Community. So from that point on, we probably won't be able to take any further commissions. It seemed better to tell you ahead of time…"
"I see, thank you. Truthfully, we'll be staying in Infula a few days before returning to Carpatia, and I had been hoping to request your escort again from there. What a shame."
Good thing I said something in advance. But—an escort…
"James will be passing through Carpatia on his way home, so you might consider commissioning him on his own. He's an exceptional archer."
"Yes, I'll certainly keep that in mind… So in short, Yona dear—you're going to the Wizard Community."
"That's right."
Her chest had finally settled a little. Ceres had a strange sort of charm about her; talking with her made Yona feel easier in some undefinable way.
"That is—in order to return to being a man, yes?"
Her heart seized up all over again.
"You have the look of someone about to ask how I knew."
Hohoho—Ceres let out a soft laugh, her eyes curving into a gentle crescent as she smiled.
"Well, naturally. Alevian told me everything."
At that name, surfacing for the first time in ages, Yona's skin crawled.