Jet Black
“Did you really think I wouldn't know you helped him while he was in this castle, Sister?”
Dito looked down at Mentil's slightly pale face, then stood up and walked over to Tollin, who was writhing on the floor.
“Ever since the day Rasiah coughed up blood, I haven't taken my eyes off him. I verified everyone who visited my brother, and I received reports on who he was moving and what he was plotting. Yet, I somehow failed to notice that half-blood making contact with Rasiah.”
He ground his foot down on Tollin's neck as if venting his frustration. Even in this life-threatening moment, the unconscious Tollin lay motionless, completely defenseless. At that sight, Mentil hurriedly stood up. Reading her anxiety, Dito looked at her.
“You hid it from me because you didn't want him to die, didn't you?”
Mentil stopped meeting his gaze and turned her head away.
“My conditions for helping you were twofold. First, that you would not touch my family. Second, that I would not give birth to a daughter until I was satisfied.”
Dito nodded.
“That is correct. And I promised that once I became Emperor, I would grant those wishes without hesitation.”
“Ran was my family. Out of all the imperial family, he was the one my abilities worked on the least. Of course I couldn't just let him die.”
“So you just stood by and watched him get in my way?”
Mentil's lips trembled under Dito's glaring eyes.
“I didn't know about anything else. I only found out by chance that Ran was trying to save Rasiah. That's why...”
“And look where that got us. I still haven't found a way to control this power, and you, Sister, have lost the chance to find the holy relic's location.”
Dito stared at the silent Mentil, then slowly lifted his foot from Tollin's neck.
“Extract everything you can from this bastard. I don't care if he ends up a complete cripple this time. Make sure he understands that the son of the Feedus family could end up the exact same way at any moment.”
“I told you, the Feedus family is...”
Mentil's eyes widened at the mention of Flin Feedus, but once again, she was cut off.
“The Feedus family is no longer needed in Abaran. So, for your own sake, think very carefully before you act this time.”
Dito gave Mentil's frozen hand a firm squeeze before walking out of the room. Mentil stared blankly at the door where Dito had vanished, remaining frozen in place just as she had been when he first entered.
“Traveling without horses makes a much bigger difference than I expected.”
Lia panted as she pushed herself up the steep slope. Jing stared blankly at her back, only snapping out of it and nodding hastily when she turned around to look at him with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, right. Having horses certainly makes things easier.”
Lia narrowed her eyes at his half-hearted reply.
“What is it? If you have something to say, just say it. My back has been burning from your stare for a while now.”
Since Jing had indeed been staring at the back of Lia's head as if trying to drill a hole through it the entire way into the mountains, he let out a sigh and spoke.
“I just... have a few things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
At Lia's straightforward question, Jing hesitated for a moment before beginning to voice the source of his anxiety.
“Aren't you worried, Miss Lia?”
As Lia stared back at him as if his question was absurdly belated, Jing let out a low groan before continuing.
“I mean, didn't you hear what the temple priest said? That this sword is a holy relic left behind by the first emperor, Sierra the Great.”
Jing recalled the Young Jing he had met on the road from Comiel Village to the capital. The man, who claimed to love children, had transformed in an instant the moment a child capable of using Manis appeared. Jing's stomach churned as he superimposed the image of that simple, smiling face talking about his son over the cold, hardened face demanding the immediate execution of 'that trash.'
Such was the absolute authority of the imperial family in the Abaran Empire. Whether due to brainwashing or centuries of tradition, people reacted with extreme sensitivity and fierce hostility to anything they perceived as a threat to the imperial bloodline. That was why Jing couldn't comprehend the current situation. Lia had clearly heard that the sword Ran intended to destroy belonged to Sierra the Great, yet she was still trying to help Jing and Ratel.
Watching Jing struggle to mask his conflicted expression, Lia spoke up.
“You don't believe those words either, do you, Jing?”
“Huh?”
Jing asked back, caught off guard by her unexpected response.
“I mean, it's just strange. There are easily over ten holy relics left behind by Sierra the Great, and every single one of them is guarded by the imperial family. Why would this one be completely isolated, hidden away in the basement of a temple in some random city instead of the capital? It makes no sense for that to actually be Sierra the Great's holy relic. It can't be.”
Lia's voice grew quieter toward the end. She was desperately searching for any shred of proof that the thing which had devoured her villagers and her family was not the will of a benevolent god.
“You're not just an ordinary person, are you, Jing?”
Lost in his complex thoughts, Jing couldn't find a quick response to her sudden question, but Lia continued as if she already knew the answer.
“Your manner of speaking is far too refined, and your spending is excessively lavish. At first, I thought all city travelers were like that, but after visiting Limis, it became glaringly obvious. You, Ran, and Ratel are... unusual.”
Lia paused, shifting her footing, and began to push her way up the steep incline. Jing watched her struggle and lightly followed behind. Finally, the slope leveled out, and Lia gasped for breath on the flat ground.
“It seemed like all of you were targeting that sword from the very beginning. But why would someone who wants for nothing, like you, go out of their way to destroy a holy relic of Sierra the Great? So, I've reached only one conclusion.”
Stamping her sore feet to ease the numbness, she turned around to face Jing, who had just reached the top of the slope.
“It isn't Sierra the Great's holy relic at all. The temple priests were keeping a false relic. Either that, or the relic has been defiled. I read in a book once that a long time ago, the priests of Amica used to steal the holy relics left behind by Lord Sierra.”
“There's a book that says that?”
At Jing's bewildered question, Lia bit her lip, realizing her slip of the tongue.
“I-it's absolutely not a strange book! It was just an old book tucked away in the corner of a bookstore, and it didn't contain anything bad. It was just a book detailing the deeds of the evil god's priests!”
Though she had done nothing to warrant punishment, Lia hastily finished her excuse and quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the relic might have been defiled during that process. Amica is a deeply wicked deity, after all. And I don't think you would ever betray the gods, Jing.”
Jing was left speechless by Lia's sharp yet completely misguided deduction. But his bewilderment was short-lived; he had to admit that this conclusion was the only way she could make sense of everything without turning the people she cared about into villains.
Under her theory, the priests of Limis, the priests of her village, and even himself, Ran, and Ratel could all simply be victims.
Jing looked at Lia, silently praying that Ratel, who was currently trapped inside the sword, couldn't hear their conversation. It was at this moment that Jing resolved to send Lia back to her hometown the second they made it out of these mountains.
“Jing, look at this. Aren't these hoofprints?”
Lia asked, bending down to point at the ground. Jing examined the path where her finger pointed. Though faint, just as she said, there were horseshoe impressions pressed into the soil between the fallen leaves.
“Could someone else be crossing the mountain besides us? Or maybe it's Ran, who went ahead. What if he runs into the Orcs?”
“Something might have already happened.”
“What?”
Leaving the startled Lia behind, Jing brushed away the fallen leaves around the hoofprints. A dark red stain soaking the earth was revealed beneath.
“Is this... blood?”
Jing nodded.
“Orcs have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell... This person is going to be a prime target.”
Jing nodded at Lia's anxious expression.
“But at least this gives us a clear direction. If we follow the horse, we're bound to cross paths with the Orcs.”
The wound wasn't actually that deep compared to the amount of blood the beast had spilled. Of course, I had to get drenched in water several times just to figure that out.
Neighhh.
The horse let out a pitiful whinny and limped, the wound clearly stinging after being washed with water.
“Squeak, but I applied some herbs, so it'll feel better in a few days.”
I said, shaking off the water the beast had splashed all over me. Fortunately or unfortunately, washing away the blood had also masked its scent, reducing the immediate risk of an Orc ambush.
“Squeak, now that you're done crying, let's move. There's no point in lingering here.”
As I stood up, the injured beast limped along behind me. It wasn't pleasant watching it struggle with its hurt leg, but we couldn't afford to rest any longer.
We were already quite far from the Orc Den, but it was time to position ourselves near the exit that Ratel's group had discovered in the book. I needed to at least verify if they were on the right track to put my mind at ease.
I wasn't particularly worried about them failing to find the location. Just in case, there was someone I had informed about the next holy relic's location. He was persistent enough, and certainly someone who would risk his life for Ratel, but no matter how I looked at him, he wasn't exactly trustworthy. I had to double-check.
“Miss Lia, now that I think about it, I don't see that squirrel anywhere.”
“What?”
Walking alongside Jing, Lia asked in confusion, but her face quickly drained of color.
“Ah! I must have left it behind in our rush! It was definitely with me in the room right before I fell asleep...!”
She panicked, only just realizing El's absence.
“W-what should we do? Ran treasures that little thing so much. What if those people catch it and kill it...?”
“Calm down, Miss Lia. From what I've seen, that squirrel isn't a creature that dies so easily.”
It was practically swinging people around by their hair back in the capital. Jing swallowed his past experiences—details Lia didn't need to know—and tried to soothe her.
“Was there a window in the room?”
“Yes, there was. But it must have been locked. It was a room meant for holding prisoners, after all.”
“Calm down. We can't turn back now anyway. Are you absolutely certain it was left inside?”
Lia took a deep breath at Jing's question, but the overwhelming guilt on her face remained.
“Where else could that tiny thing have gone? It didn't seem like it could go very far unless it was riding on someone's shoulder.”