#029 Concealment
#029 Concealment
The Hero Village had been reduced to ashes, and there was nothing left to investigate.
"We can't stay here forever, though...."
There was only one survivor.
And considering that even he wasn't in his right mind and had to be fed by someone at his side, the Hero Village had effectively been annihilated.
However.
It wasn't as if there were no results at all.
"Liliez."
"You called for me, Saintess?"
"Let's talk, just the two of us."
"J-just the two of us...?"
Liliez licked her lips and scanned the area for any sign of people, and Saintess Yan shook her head side to side and snapped her fingers.
"Don't get any strange ideas about me."
"Then am I free to do as I please with other people?"
"Anyone except me and the goddess."
"Yes, Saintess."
Swish.
The surrounding space was instantly dyed in blue light.
Liliez clicked her tongue as if disappointed, and Saintess Yan whispered quietly so that no one else could hear.
"There are three survivors in total."
Three spheres began to float up in front of Yan's face.
"One is that young man we rescued over there. I thought he was someone important because the Death Knights came to kill him, but he wasn't. He was nothing more than a survivor who got lucky."
The young man, Nertio.
He was simply someone who had survived by luck.
"What should we do? If we leave him alone, others may take him."
"If we leave him alone...."
Liliez gestured with her eyes toward the people who had set up camp elsewhere.
"They'll certainly investigate him from somewhere else."
There, various factions that had noticed the Holy Sword's power had gathered all around, just as the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess had.
The Church of the Azure Moon Goddess concealed the existence of the survivor, the young man Nertio.
If there was an organization with the most information about the village, it was surely the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess.
"We cannot spread information about the Hero any further. We'll keep control of the information ourselves."
"An excellent choice, Saintess. Spreading it recklessly would only add to the chaos. Then that young man...."
"First, we'll put a robe on him to hide his identity. Then we'll take him to the Church and tell the Pope to handle him as he sees fit."
"His Holiness will handle him appropriately... no, 'handle' is a poor choice of words."
"Well, what's the difference? We're just making him a follower of the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess."
Saintess Yan let out a big yawn.
"If he were a decent person, I'd be willing to show him leniency, but I can't look kindly on someone who tried to rape someone else, can I?"
"I'll make sure the Holy Knights escorting him know not to let him try anything on the way."
"Please do."
The disposition of the survivor Nertio was settled.
No one knew what conversation he would have with the Pope at the Papal See of the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess, but his future didn't matter much in the current situation.
What mattered was the 'past' he spoke of.
Through his testimony, the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess was able to confirm three things.
One.
Droniel's survival.
"We must find Droniel."
Just before the Death Knights attacked the village, knights from a noble house had come and taken a woman away.
"The chances of her still using the name Droniel are low, but let's search for her. The knights are likely from this area, and even if they aren't, she should be somewhere in the nearby territories."
A brown-haired woman—whom the young man Nertio was presumed to have liked, though he himself claimed she was his fiancée—had left the village.
Her name was said to be Droniel, but the fact that she had left around the time of the Hero's awakening suggested there was more to it.
In the best case, she had simply gone after the Hero; in the worst case, almost anything was possible.
They had to find Droniel.
Two.
"Arthur Lucius."
Nertio had been reluctant to mention it, but after pressing him, they had finally managed to get that name out of him.
"A name you know, right?"
"Yes. It seems they had no intention of hiding it."
"It's that man we encountered, correct?"
"Correct. He was the disciple of a witch named Bel who called herself the Crimson Mage."
"Right. He was also a survivor of this village. It was said he left this village before Droniel departed."
A survivor named Arthur Lucius was born in this village, and he left the village as soon as the Holy Sword commotion broke out.
And that young man had grown up in this village?
The puzzle was far too simple.
Three.
"The Crimson Mage, Bel."
"...Slurp."
Liliez swallowed her saliva the moment the name was mentioned.
"Liliez."
"I apologize."
"Focus. ...She was an outsider, not a resident of this village. And after she appeared, goblins attacked the village. Now, doesn't that paint a picture?"
Yan pointed at the village with a confident face.
"Witch Bel brought the goblins to attack the village, Arthur Lucius awakened his Holy Sword, and then Bel approached him as though she had nothing to do with it and became the Hero's companion!"
"......I don't think that at all."
Liliez directly refuted Yan's opinion.
"Why not? Isn't this nearly perfect?"
"That's under the premise that Witch Bel is a bad woman. That's an error. You are wrong, Saintess."
"Me?"
"Isn't it because you dislike Witch Bel, Saintess?"
"Ha, what are you talking about? She's a woman I met for the first time."
"You fell for Arthur Lucius, didn't you?"
"!!"
Yan's face flushed in an instant.
"Isn't it because the man you fell for at first sight only gave his attention to that witch, not to you, Saintess?"
Liliez nodded with an understanding expression.
"It's fine. They were the very picture of a beautiful couple. It's entirely possible to fall for him."
"Th-that's not true!"
"No. You fell for him. So isn't it that you were jealous of Witch Bel and came to that conclusion?"
"......."
Yan could not refute her.
For some reason, Liliez's words felt true, and she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth.
"I... drew a conclusion and spoke based on personal feelings?"
"That's a possibility. Ah, is this what youth is? But Saintess, even if you are jealous, you must make clear judgments."
"......I learned something new again today. If Bel could hear me, I'd apologize. I was too hasty."
"She will understand well enough."
The person in question was actually elsewhere, diligently repeating vertical movements, but the two apologized and settled the matter on their own.
"But why do you view her favorably, Liliez?"
"Because...."
Liliez raised her thumb with a confident face.
"There's no way a woman with such pretty and pure eyes could be a bad person."
"...Excuse me?"
"Bel is not a bad person."
At Liliez's words, Yan's expression crumpled.
"My opinion is this. The mage Bel came to find the owner of a Holy Sword that had been dormant for a long time, and Arthur Lucius is the chosen Hero. That young man over there is just raging because he wasn't chosen, and the two we saw were hiding their identities."
"Because they couldn't trust the Saintess and the Holy Knight Order of the Azure Moon Church?"
"Because it's the Wind Holy Sword. Moreover, if you examine the traces of battle left in the village, you can tell it's that Holy Sword."
Liliez pointed at the scars on the dirt ground.
Deep gouges remained, as if a giant monster had clawed through with its nails.
"It's the Wind Holy Sword that has appeared for the first time in 500 years. It's not strange for them to be cautious."
"...That's exactly why it's stranger. The fact that the Wind Holy Sword awakened after 500 years is already a state of emergency, and yet they're going around hiding themselves. A Holy Sword Hero."
"Well, the mage probably has something else in mind. However."
Liliez raised the shield strapped to her arm.
In the center of the white shield, angular in a three-dimensional rhombus shape, was set a round blue moon-shaped gem, and the moment Liliez fiddled with it, light began to leak from the round gem.
"It seems they have no particular intention of hiding their location. Since they still seem to have what I gave them."
Liliez had gifted a holy relic to Witch Bel.
It was a tracking device that allowed Liliez to determine the relic's location using Divine Power.
"Looking at the map and the location, they appear to be in Normance. Saintess, what will you do?"
"...Liliez. Please lead the Holy Knight Order and head to the Papal See."
"And you, Saintess?"
"I will go to Normance alone."
Whoosh.
Yan's hair changed in an instant.
Her long, flowing hair transformed into a bob that reached her shoulders, and Yan adjusted the length by extending and shortening her hair.
"This should be enough."
"...Will such a flimsy disguise really work?"
"No one will know I'm the Saintess anyway."
"Will you join the Hero's party?"
"Join? No."
The corners of Yan's lips crept upward.
"Attending the Hero is naturally the Saintess's duty. As the Saintess of the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess, I will serve the Hero."
"Then what about Bel...?"
"That woman."
Yan placed her hand on Liliez's shoulder and patted it.
"Make sure you persuade her. Understood?"
"......May I use any means and methods necessary?"
"Yes."
"......."
Slurp.
Liliez Caesar Cross rubbed her clasped hands together and nodded deeply.
"After I return from the Papal See, I will join the Saintess's party. Until then...."
Liliez saluted the Saintess and smiled.
"Please take good care of the witch."
* * *
"Achoo."
"!! Master! Do you have a cold?!"
"What cold would an undead have?"
The weather was chilly.
I closed the window letting in the night air and checked the condition of my body.
"Honestly. A sudden sneeze."
"Let's stop now, Master. I'll do the rest by myself."
"We still have three more sets to do. Or is it because I'm heavy?"
At that moment.
I was sitting on Lucius's back as he did push-ups, serving as a weight.
I sat cross-legged precisely on his spine to increase the intensity of the exercise.
"Down on one: Demon King. Up on two: Down with him. One, two."
"Down with the Demon King!"
"Impressive, Lucius. You did 100 in a row."
"Right now, I could do it all day...!!"
For some reason, strength began to enter Lucius's voice.
He said he could do it all day, but this was for stamina training, not torture.
Still, since he wanted to, I decided to let him keep going until he couldn't and then put him to bed.
"One, ...Hm?"
The sound of footsteps approaching from afar.
At the somewhat familiar footsteps, I pointed outside to Lucius.
"Lucius. It's a guest for you."
"...A guest for me?"
"It's obvious without even looking."
Clap, clap.
I clapped my hands together and pointed to the entrance of our room to Lucius.
"Go open it."
"Understood."
For some reason, Lucius didn't look pleased.
Creeeak.
Beyond the door.
"Ah, Arthur! I—"
"What is it?"
A silver-haired elf stood there, frozen at the sight of Lucius, shirtless and dripping with sweat.