To the Place Where Stars Flow (2)
About three weeks remained until the Academy entrance ceremony.
If I spend time recovering until the muscle pain fully heals, plus another week until I can use the Pale Hand Demonic Art properly in real combat…
That left roughly two weeks.
A short time if you called it short, a long one if you called it long.
Can I make the trip and return in that window?
Even if I somehow arrived without being late, I had no idea how long it would take to forge a sword from a dragon’s horn.
I would need actual experience making swords to know that.
I didn’t have any yet. In other words, I was still a virgin at it.
What happens if I’m late for the entrance ceremony?
Would they prevent me from enrolling? Probably not—the tuition was already paid in full.
Maybe they’d simply label me a delinquent student who skipped the entrance ceremony?
Given the circumstances, I wouldn’t be a full-blown delinquent… more like a low-altitude flying delinquent?
A sword was absolutely necessary, so it couldn’t be helped.
I had dabbled in all kinds of weapons out of curiosity in the past, so I could handle others decently, but…
The martial art I had trained as my primary focus was swordsmanship. Asking me to abandon the sword now was out of the question.
Beating people up with other weapons or my bare fists is fun too, but…
Still, nothing looked cooler than a sword.
It wasn’t for nothing that protagonists in countless web novels and manga wielded swords above all else.
They used them because they were the coolest.
“Ah, now that I think about it, Miss.”
“Hm?”
Bella, who had been peeling an apple beside me, spoke up as though something had just occurred to her.
“Did you know we currently have guests at the castle?”
“Guests? I had no idea. Who?”
“I’m not sure who exactly, but they said they came from the Church… They wanted to congratulate you on repelling the Mad Dragon.”
So Master Honcheon Noeje was someone so insignificant that he didn’t even warrant a mention…
More importantly, the Church… the Holy Church?
“Yes. The Church maintains a reasonably good relationship with His Majesty the Demon King. To defeat their common enemy… it’s an atmosphere of ‘let’s protect what needs protecting from each other,’ I suppose?”
“I see.”
People who had once hated each other more than anyone else were now slapping iron plates over their faces and networking for the same goal.
During the Human-Demon War, the Holy Church had killed the largest number of demons.
Naturally, demons would charge like rabid dogs and tear apart any Holy Church member they spotted.
Somehow they still manage to keep a decent relationship.
If the day ever came when they completely drove off the Outer Gods… would the human and demon races begin tearing at each other again?
Probably… I wasn’t sure, but from everything I had felt while living until now, humans needed an enemy to exist.
Just as the entire world now treated the Outer Gods, they needed something to hate and despise.
It can’t be helped.
From the beginning, no one had stood in the heavens. Not the Demon King, not the Hero, not even the Outer Gods…
That was why things had turned out this way.
So from now on…
I would stand in the heavens.
I would become the strongest and make everyone live together in harmony!
“So? Why exactly did the Church send guests?”
“Ah, that’s the thing, Miss.”
Bella suddenly looked at me with a serious expression.
“I forgot to mention it, but the guests from the Church said they wanted to meet you once.”
“…….”
“I told them to wait at the door… They’re probably still waiting there, aren’t they?”
“Why are you only telling me this now…?”
“Do you have any idea how difficult and mentally draining peeling an apple is? I could forget something.”
My head started throbbing. Was this girl really a maid? How could she forget something so important?
“…Tell them to come in.”
“Yes!”
Bella answered cheerfully, set down the half-peeled apple, and walked off. The moment she reached the door, her expression shifted completely into a calm, collected mask.
She opened the door and said in a cool tone, “The young lady says you may enter.”
Seen like this, she was the perfect cool-type maid character.
But why does she act so differently normally?
That question lasted only a moment. Soon three people slowly entered the room.
An older man whose hair was beginning to turn white, and a beautiful girl and boy following behind him with swords at their waists as if guarding him.
…? That girl looks familiar.
All three wore the Church’s uniform.
The middle-aged man wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and spoke.
“Haha… I didn’t realize we would be kept waiting this long.”
What was this, a subtle jab? Still, it was my fault. I had left guests standing outside for a long time.
…No? When I thought about it, this was all Bella’s fault, wasn’t it?
“She didn’t tell me there were guests waiting outside.”
“Miss!”
What. Why. What.
Bella puffed her cheeks like a pufferfish. Was she sulking? But you were the one who messed up.
I turned my attention away from Bella and bowed my head as politely as I could toward the visitors.
“I hope you’ll understand that my body hasn’t fully recovered yet, so I can’t stand to greet you properly.”
“Haha, I understand. I heard you faced that Mad Dragon head-on, even if only briefly.”
He waved his hand lightly and nodded as if it were nothing.
Briefly? Hm… I was the one who beat it.
Whether he hadn’t heard the full story or the uncle simply didn’t believe it, I didn’t bother correcting him. That would hurt my pride.
“His Majesty the Demon King mentioned that Miss Regina would soon head to the Heavenly Star Furnace. So I brought these children along, thinking it might be good for you to take them with you.”
The uncle gestured to the boy and girl standing behind him. Both had golden hair and light green eyes. Twins?
“They are outstanding children. Despite their young age, they can wield numerous divine spells, and above all, Leona has experience visiting the Heavenly Star Furnace.”
“Leona…?”
The Leona I knew?
When I glanced in the girl’s direction, she subtly avoided my eyes.
Since she wasn’t wearing inquisitor attire, I had thought she was someone else, but it really was that Leona.
“You quit being an inquisitor?”
“…Yes. That’s how it turned out.”
“Hm? Are you two not meeting for the first time?”
At the bishop’s question, Leona silently nodded.
Of course. The memory of meeting Leona remained quite intense for me as well.
“We’re in a relationship where we’ve shared a passionate exchange of bodies.”
At my words, all three people froze, then their gazes snapped toward Leona in unison.
She glared at me with a look of pure disgust before denying it.
“…Bishop. There was no such thing.”
What! You’re denying that we exchanged swords and built a friendship together…
Silence filled the room for a moment. The bishop cleared his throat and continued.
“In any case, these two know the path to the Heavenly Star Furnace, and Miss Regina possesses experience the two of them lack. I thought it would benefit everyone if you traveled together and built some rapport.”
“Aha.”
“What do you think? Would you go with them?”
Hm. From the flow of conversation, the place called the Heavenly Star Furnace seemed to be the “place where stars flow” that Bella had mentioned.
I had been confused about exactly where that was anyway… going together should be fine, right?
Having more companions on the road would keep things from getting boring.
“I’m fine with it. How long will the round trip take?”
“It should be enough with about two weeks round trip.”
“Perfect.”
I sprang up from the bed and stretched luxuriously. Since it had been a while since I last got up, loosening my stiff body was important.
My cramped muscles loosened with a refreshing sensation, and tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
“Kwaaaang!”
Stretch——!
As I stretched with all my strength, the boy’s face flushed bright red and he whipped his head away. Why was he acting like that?
I’m covering everything that needs to be covered.
These were pajamas. The length was a bit short so my thighs showed slightly, but blushing at this level…
You’re a pervert!
A boy who had eaten all the years he should have, blushing at a girl who had simply gotten out of bed, could only mean he was an unimaginable pervert.
It wasn’t like I was completely naked!
After shaking my head internally, I asked the bishop, who now wore a somewhat awkward expression.
“Then can we depart right away?”
“…Didn’t you say your body hadn’t fully recovered yet?”
“It just did. Wow, the timing is perfect! Right?”
“…….”
He stood there dazed for a moment before letting out a hollow laugh, as if he had given up on thinking any further.
“Yes, I see. Then depart whenever you wish. These two have excellent skills, so they should serve well as escorts while you lack a sword. You needn’t worry.”
“Escorts?”
I quietly observed the pair.
Hm… honestly, I felt like I could win against them even bare-handed.
Assuming Leona had the same skill level as last time and the boy was around that level.
Their bodies are growing incredibly fast because they’re still in their growth period.
I probably wouldn’t even need to release my limit to handle these two.
However, from the bishop’s tone, it didn’t sound like simple escort duty. It seemed more like I could use them however I wanted comfortably…
I should put them to work handling various chores.
“You two. I’ll be in your care.”
“Yes.”
“…We’ll be in your care.”
But why was this one so shy? Did she avoid strangers a lot?
Anyway, we would have plenty of time on the road, so I would get to know her through conversation.
“I’ll just change clothes and we can leave immediately.”
I didn’t want to be late for the entrance ceremony if possible.
The three said they would wait outside and left the room. Bella naturally approached, saying she would help me change.
“Bella. Are you coming too?”
“Of course, Miss. I’ll follow you all the way to the Academy.”
“Really? Are you enrolling as a student with me?”
“As if. I’m simply going as your exclusive maid to attend to you.”
Eh. Then there was no need for her to follow.
You’re terrible at that sort of thing anyway….