The Overwhelmingly Gullible
From the outside, the cottage looked like nothing more than a modest shack. Inside, it was a three-room home. Though the rooms were tiny, they were separate.
How was that possible? Magic, of course. The house had been treated with numerous enchantments. Without them, a single hearth would have had to warm every room for the whole household. Yet because the cottage served as a temple, it housed small, private quarters for the monks. Three rooms meant this place was never intended for more than two or three people. It simply was not built for a larger group.
Before each guest entered his assigned room, we slipped the stolen herb leaves into his palm. We three sat around the table in our undergarments and drank the water that had been mixed with them.
I had no intention of sharing a cup of tea with the visitor, but Pitya loved people. She treated a stranger she had only known for three hours as if he were family, just as she had once treated me like a daughter after only a week. She listened with genuine kindness to every detail of his hardships and worries.
Aaaah, how kind of her. I smiled faintly as I watched her listen to his complaints. My gaze drifted to the object he had placed on the table. It was apparently a relic from the temple of Gerka.
Did the Status Window apply to objects too? Or perhaps not. It was nothing more than pure curiosity. I opened the window.
I honestly did not expect anything, yet the relic’s information appeared at once.
A portion of the armrest of the Chair of Suffering.
And the full owner history unfolded line by line. The first owner was the First Saint.
My, what an ancient item. The First Saint… the Saint who received the love of all gods. So this was not something that had come from Gerka’s temple after all.
The history was simply overwhelming. A thousand years ago? I stared at the list for a long time. The most recent owner was the visitor himself. And the previous owner’s name was strangely familiar.
If I told him… would I not almost be able to claim everything in that backpack?
All we had received was food. But when I had taken the rations out earlier, I noticed blankets, clothes, and cloths in plenty. And there were even magic goods. Portable cauldrons especially caught my eye. I had no idea why he was carrying one, but this cottage had only one. One more would not be missed.
And the backpack itself was tempting. Haaah… shall I tell him and receive the entire backpack in one go?
Like any lady, I had brought everything with me when I arrived here. I wanted a shoulder bag more than anything else. After wandering for a week, I had found quite a few herbs that could be used as spices instead of those I had eaten.
“Guest.”
Good. I had made up my mind. If I wanted it, I would take it.
“Yes?”
“Just now, Gerka-sama gave a revelation about this object.”
“Yeesss?”
What a blatant disbelief. Of course it was a lie, but the visitor did not seem to suspect. The disbelief came not only from him. Beside him, Pitya’s eyes had widened in astonishment.
She was clearly asking in silence whether I had not received a revelation, but I simply ignored her. Why had she not received one? I had received one from Gerka. Gerka had told me about it. So it was a revelation. What was wrong with that?
“This object… is it the armrest of a chair?”
At my words, the man shot up straight. Ah, he knew the term.
From the outside it looked like nothing but a carved piece, so without precise knowledge it would have been impossible to guess the exact word. He was staring at me with the expression of a man who thought I must be joking.
What was needed here? Acting ability. I rested both hands lightly on the table, looked up at him with a benevolent smile.
“The Chair of Suffering, correct?”
“Y-you truly received a revelation from Gerka-sama?”
His gaze was full of suspicion and disrespect. I spoke calmly and solemnly.
“Even though it is called a revelation, I was incomplete, so I only heard part of it. I was told about the first owner and the recent owner. The first owner was the First Saint. And among the previous owners of the item you are now holding, there was one who would have been willing to help you.”
The visitor swallowed hard.
“The owner…?”
At that moment I turned my gaze away. The other two people did the same.
My eyes landed exactly on the visitor’s large backpack, and Pitya shot up with a cry of “A-ah, a-ah, no!”
She had seemed so honest and shameless that I had expected her to be shameless, but apparently she still had some sense of propriety. It was useless.
She shook both hands frantically, explaining that she was not a bandit. But the visitor did not even glance at her. He immediately rushed forward and slammed the backpack down on the table with a loud thud.
“I offer this to Gerka-sama!”
“The backpack too?”
To be clear, I cared about the backpack as well.
“The backpack as well! Everything!”
Oh, thank you, customer. I have received the backpack well. The name of the original owner of the item you purchased is…
“Isabel Confino.”
For a moment the visitor said nothing. Eventually he asked carefully,
“The Lord of the Magic Tower… Isabel Confino?”
“Yes, that is precisely the person.”
It was certain. Because the owner list read “Eternal Flame Isabel Confino.”
When a mage reached a certain level, he received a title. In the Status Window the title appeared as part of the name.
After all, one could not know whether the Lord of the Magic Tower was named Isabel or Elizabeth, but the title “Eternal Flame” was impossible to ignore. Titles were often more famous than names.
“So that person… is the previous owner of this relic?”
“Well, one of the previous owners, yes.”
“Ah, I see. If it is her, then she will surely tell me clearly about the parts I am curious about. Thank you. I came here for nothing else. Honestly, even if I am not a bandit, this is too much…”
Hey, even if you are a scholar, you are too honest for a commoner. What are you saying in front of a princess and a baroness (soon to be)?
“Aah, this is all thanks to Gerka-sama’s guidance. The God of Wisdom has not abandoned me!”
What I found most difficult to adapt to in this world was people’s overacting. The way the visitor was now pointing to the sky with both hands, saying “Ooh,” for example.
But Pitya went even further. She dropped to her knees, clasped her hands together, and said,
“Aah, Gerka-sama. You have sent a disciple to protect this helpless daughter. Aah, tears are blinding my eyes. I swear to serve you faithfully from now on, and to follow Gerka-sama forever and ever.”
She offered a prayer of gratitude almost as if she were howling at Gerka.
What? Just a moment ago you were wearing the face that said “You’ll get struck by lightning!”
I was dumbfounded. The emotional whiplash of the people in this world was truly unfathomable.
Since I could not bear to watch any longer, I simply stood up and went into my room. Of course I took the visitor’s backpack with me. Why feel sorry now when I could think about it later? People’s feelings change between leaving and returning.
I was still right.
The next morning, the visitor who did not know the blessing started complaining to me, “Even taking the backpack is a bit…” while glancing at my face.
Haa, customer, this is a problem. A verbal contract is a verbal contract, and most of all, there is no consumer protection agency in this world. Why are you doing this?
I took back the breakfast plate I had been about to hand him and asked, “What did you say?”
Do you want to go down the mountain without even eating breakfast?
That must have been written all over my face. He quickly changed his words.
“Taking it away was too small a gesture compared to what I had received, so I feel sorry. I would like to hear once more about Gerka-sama’s revelation,”
“Then send more.”
If you feel sorry, then send more. What is there to worry about?
Pitya tried to stand up again, but I gently pressed her shoulder and made her sit.
“Temple head, the soup is overflowing.”
“A-ah, no, a-ah, sorry. No, thank you. No, that is…”
“Sit down.”
Sit down. Even if you want to die chewing black bread, you should not do it in front of me. And I do not want to see you doing it either. Sit.
I had no idea how much of my thoughts was written on my face. Pitya hesitated, then finally sat.
The visitor’s lips were trembling as he looked at me.
“T-that… is right, isn’t it…?”
“I am fine. I told you to feel sorry.”
“A-ah, if you are fine, I suppose I am fine too,”
“Did you utter lies at the temple of Gerka? About the offering?”
The visitor’s mouth flapped open like a fish. After twitching for a moment, he finally declared defeat.
“It is impossible…”
I happily accepted his written promise and saw him off on his way.
Ah, if another such gullible person falls into my trap next time, that would be wonderful. But that would be difficult.
【 'Chair of Suffering' armrest fragment 】
Jean Corche sipped the warmed milk carefully, sniffling through his nose.
He had been robbed of his backpack by bandits who called themselves servants of the gods. He had descended the mountain without anything to eat.
Still, it was a miracle that he had survived. He had not met any bandits, and he had drunk water from the people he passed along the way.
Otherwise he might have collapsed at the halfway point and become a corpse.
‘It must have been Gerka’s arrangement.’
He thought that descending a high mountain alone and meeting only good people meant the gods had protected him.
In reality, the path he had taken was the one used by the knights of a noble family a few days earlier. They had exterminated the bandits as they descended, and he did not know that. That was why the words were possible.
Moreover, local people already knew about the path and were using it, so quite a few travelers had passed that way.
It had nothing to do with the gods’ arrangement.
But the reason Jean could not think otherwise was simple.
‘Is it really possible that Isabel Confino’s name would appear?’
Only two people in the world knew that this object belonged to Isabel Confino and was currently in his hands.
One was her disciple who had stolen it, and the other was himself, who had bought it.
That was all. Yet here it had suddenly appeared at the temple at the top of the mountain.
‘A revelation? A revelation?’
He knew the temple housed only one saint. Where had this disciple come from? It looked like a noble daughter’s disciple.
He would have to investigate.
A cold light passed through Jean’s eyes.