The Cross of Memories #3
The Cross of Memories #3
"Just the two of us?"
"Yes."
A glint of anticipation lit Kate's eyes as she looked at me. After I suggested we move as a duo, a pleased smile settled on her lips.
I honestly couldn't read her reaction.
Did she actually enjoy my company?
Or was she already gleefully scheming how to work me like a slave?
No, there's an even bigger question here.
'Why the hell did it have to be just the two of us?'
Why couldn't Rebecca join the party?
Before I could ask, Kate caught on and answered first.
"A directive came down from the Church. They've capped the number of participants for this quest at two. My partner also has to be an adventurer at Silver Tier or below."
"Why would they slap on some arbitrary restriction like that?"
"This is Church business, but it's also an examination to evaluate my capabilities as a nun. If a swarm of hired adventurers simply rushed in and completed the quest for me, it would defeat the purpose of the assessment, wouldn't it?"
Kate reached out and clutched my sleeve, gazing up at me with a look that bordered on seductive.
"...So, only Mongma-nim should come. Let go of Rebecca—the one who's always stuck to your side like your other half—just this once. If that's a problem, shall I go persuade her myself?"
Persuade Rebecca personally? Her words left me dumbfounded. Lurking beneath that offer was an obsession—a determination to move with me and me alone on this quest. She looked ready to cling to my sleeve until I gave her an answer.
"Ah, no. That won't be necessary. It's not like I need Rebecca's permission anyway. Being in a fixed party doesn't mean you literally do everything together."
Sure, Rebecca and I had stuck together for every quest until now.
But technically, a fixed party arrangement let members move independently depending on personal circumstances. No need to share a short day trip of a quest. I'd never explained that unwritten rule to the newbie adventurer, but it was common sense.
"Is that so? Even better if there's no need to persuade anyone. Then we're proceeding under these terms, correct? The two of us, searching the underground waterways."
"Yeah. Let's see how well we work together. Though I guess we should account for the inherent instability of a party made up of a mage and a priestess."
Actually, calling it a party of a mage and a priestess was generous.
Kate had already boldly declared she'd just be taking a stroll in the rear. I'd probably end up clearing this entire quest solo. As long as I could cadge the occasional heal off her, I couldn't ask for more.
"Yes—! I'll do my best! Mongma-nim!"
What exactly was she going to do her best at?
Taking a stroll?
The moment I gave her a firm answer, a brilliant, flower-bloom smile spread across Kate's face. They say you shouldn't spit on a smiling face. No need to sour the mood by bringing up that stroll nonsense.
Kate's grip on my sleeve loosened and fell away.
Still smiling, she said,
"Let's meet in front of the Adventurer's Guild tomorrow afternoon! We'll form up at the building and head out to the waterways!"
"Why the Guild? Can't we just meet right in front of the waterway entrance?"
"We'll need gear to explore the waterways. We'll stop by a general store on the way and kit ourselves out together. Truth is, it's my first time exploring the underground waterways."
"I see."
I already had more than enough exploration gear for the waterways. Stuff I'd accumulated piece by piece while clearing quests back in my newbie days. But unlike me, Kate would've had zero reason to venture into the underground waterways. A nun like her would've cherry-picked nothing but sweet, cushy quests from day one.
A first-timer for the underground waterways!
As someone who'd lived like a dungeon rat in those dark, dank tunnels, I felt a twinge of envy.
"All done, right? See you tomorrow."
"Ah, wait a moment. I have something to ask Mongma-nim."
"Huh?"
"It's not quest-related. This is just a personal question, so please answer comfortably."
Kate stopped me as I was getting up from the table.
When I glanced at her quizzically, she clutched the necklace she wore.
A necklace with a small cross dangling from the end of its chain.
"Mongma-nim, have you ever seen a cross like this?"
"A cross?"
The question came out of nowhere.
I peered closely at the cross on the end of the chain.
She'd worn it as an accessory ever since I first met her during that caravan escort quest.
Kate never let that cross leave her person.
It was small enough that it was usually buried in her cleavage.
"Nope."
I tilted my head, studying the cross. There was no chance an incubus like me would have any connection to a holy object like a cross. If I walked around wearing a necklace like that, someone might pick a fight, accusing me of blasphemy.
"I really don't know."
"R-Really? You truly have never seen it before?"
"Never."
Even as I denied it, I couldn't help but feel flustered. Kate was staring at me with an expression of pure disbelief. She squeezed the cross tight in her palm and spoke.
"That can't be! Mongma-nim should have seen a cross like this. You must have seen it at least once in your life. Like during your childhood."
"Childhood? How do you know about that?"
"...W-Well, who knows?"
At my question, Kate only pressed her lips tightly shut. Then, as if a good idea had just struck her, she clapped her hands lightly. A smile graced her features as she spoke up.
"There's no need for me to give you the answer right here! We have plenty of time. After all, we're supposed to see each other again tomorrow, aren't we? So figure out the answer before we meet tomorrow! Try to recall any memories you have of this cross!"
"Can't you just tell me now?"
"Ah-ah, no way! This is my first order as the client! I'm in a position where I've hired Mongma-nim until tomorrow. Surely you're capable of answering one simple question?"
"Hm."
Kate looked genuinely eager to hear my answer. As if she'd give no more hints, she quickly rose from the table and turned her back.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"See you in front of the Adventurer's Guild tomorrow afternoon—!"
With the hem of her nun's habit fluttering, Kate disappeared at a brisk pace. I didn't try to stop her from leaving the building. The client had called it an order, so I'd just have to follow instructions. I had to figure out the cross's identity on my own. An absolutely absurd order, though.
"A cross, huh?"
I returned to the inn, still mulling it over.
In my current state, I had no way of knowing what Kate's cross was. But if I racked my brain in my room for a day, maybe something would come to mind? If nothing surfaced, I planned to just cook up a plausible answer.
*
'Why the hell would she suddenly ask me about a cross?'
After returning to my inn room.
Night deepened, but I couldn't sleep because of the cross Kate had shown me. Her eyes had been far too serious for it to be a simple prank. Had I really seen Kate's cross somewhere before?
And how did she even know I'd seen it?
The more I thought about it, the more tangled the question became.
Lying in bed, I mulled over the cross for a long while before abruptly realizing I'd forgotten something important. I hadn't told Rebecca I'd accepted the quest. Or that I'd be moving solo this time around.
'Should I tell her first thing in the morning?'
There was still plenty of time to speak to Rebecca.
I wasn't supposed to meet Kate until tomorrow afternoon. It'd be best to come clean about the quest when morning came and then head out. I also figured I should teach Rebecca that even a fixed party can occasionally operate independently.
Once I'd made up my mind, I sank back into thought. I felt like I wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably until I'd uncovered the cross's true nature. Perched on the edge of the bed, I replayed what Kate had said.
She'd said I must have seen it at least once in my life.
Like during my childhood.
My memories from before I became an adventurer in Yoen-su.
When it came to my childhood, I barely had any memories outside of the orphanage. I'd grown up there from infancy until my teenage years.
Evergreen Orphanage.
A private orphanage run by some noble in the Central Continent. I'd been stuck there until I aged out at fifteen. After that, I'd wandered the continent, settled in Yoen-su—the most livable place I'd found—and started work as an adventurer. That was my life story.
Having spent a solid fifteen years in the orphanage, I naturally had a store of memories from that place.
'Did I ever see a cross at the orphanage?'
I'd seen crosses a few times. Religious groups did volunteer work at the orphanage fairly often. Plenty of believers wore crosses as accessories. But their crosses felt different from Kate's.
Kate's cross was incredibly crude.
I'd almost call it a clumsily whittled piece of wood. It had the basic outline of a cross, but it paled next to actual religious paraphernalia.
It was shoddy enough to be called a toy.
"A toy."
The moment the word 'toy' popped into my head, my mind jolted alert.
If it wasn't a religious item but a toy, then it *was* something I'd seen all the time at the orphanage. At Evergreen Orphanage, on every anniversary, they'd hand out shabby toys to the kids. Naturally, I'd received my share.
'I threw them all away...'
Before I left the orphanage, I'd trashed all my toys. But even after all these years, I vaguely remembered what kinds of toys they'd handed out.
The funny thing was, toys had been used as a kind of currency among the kids. The cooler a toy looked, the higher its value as cash.
'A toy shaped like a cross?'
The cross toy!
Now I remembered.
That thing had been notoriously unpopular among the kids.
Most of them looked so shoddy they had zero collectible value.
But right now, the toy's value wasn't what mattered to me. What mattered was that I had unquestionably seen Kate's cross back at the orphanage. The orphanage side had once mass-distributed crude wooden crosses that only differed in color.
Ten years ago.
I'd been given a toy cross at the orphanage.
The exact same object as Kate's cross.
"Huh?"
The moment I realized that fact, confusion crashed over me. No wonder I'd blanked on it. My childhood self had seen the toy cross was useless and chucked it immediately. But there must have been some kids who hadn't tossed theirs—who'd stowed them away as keepsakes.
Which meant?
Thoughts stampeded through my head like a raging torrent.
The toy crosses handed out at the orphanage.
Kate, who'd kept that cross.
Her eyes when she'd asked about my childhood.
Every thread connected into a single conclusion.
In that moment, I arrived at a shocking realization.
"Kate... came from the same orphanage as me...?"
That blonde nun actually grew up in the same place I did? She spent the same childhood as me at the orphanage? I couldn't believe it! It was beyond anything I could have imagined!
Yet every clue pointed to Kate being from Evergreen Orphanage.
There had been a few blonde girls among my cohort.
My memories of my fellow orphans were hazy.
Being a mongma, I'd been isolated from the others—a total loner.
I recalled there being about three blonde girls, but I'd never exchanged words with any of them.
And Kate might have been one of those three!
"Was this for real?"
After grasping the answer, I was so stunned I absolutely couldn't sleep. I wanted to hear confirmation straight from Kate's mouth that she was from Evergreen Orphanage. I lay with my eyes wide open until the early dawn before I finally managed a fitful nap.
In the haze of half-sleep, a thought suddenly struck me.
If she really was from Evergreen Orphanage, then Kate was a seriously nasty piece of work.
Because she'd kept that fact hidden from me for an entire month.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of eyes she'd been looking at me with all this time.