Opening Gambit
"Then... might I ask you to guide me to the Order? I don't know my way around this city."
Serina felt a flicker of unease. She had no telling how a woman who looked every inch a cleric would take the confession that she didn't even know where the Order stood. Finding her own way through the streets wouldn't have been hard — but, as Lartel had so kindly pointed out, not dressed like this...
"Huh...?"
Only then did Serina notice the saintess robes hanging from a rack against the wall, and she froze solid. If the man had been attentive enough to bathe her from head to toe, then of course he would hardly have spared himself the trouble of buying new clothes and dressing her in them.
Lowering her gaze, Serina found two plump mounds rising bare above the covers. And when she saw that the blanket reached no farther than her thighs, she became keenly aware of Lartel's eyes on her.
"Eek!"
He had seen. Of course he had seen. From that angle, there was no conceivable way he'd missed what lay between her legs. Trembling with shame, Serina hauled the blanket up over herself. Whatever the circumstances, letting a man see her naked body was mortifying.
"Sorry, but those are parts I already saw and touched while I was washing you. Is all this really necessary?"
"That doesn't mean you get to have me lying around naked while you watch!"
"Honestly, there's no harm in it. It's been thoroughly proven that I'm not going to jump you."
"Are you insane?! You just looked at all of it! Ogling my—my body like some degenerate!"
"Can't be helped. It was my first time seeing them, and the color is—"
Serina slipped a hand out from under the blanket, seized a pillow, and swung it with everything she had. Of the three blows that followed in a row, not one landed true — but they did the job of shutting Lartel's mouth.
"I understand being angry. But do you have to glare at me like you're about to kill me? I was going to ask about the underwear situation once you woke up anyway — it's been on my mind. Here's your chance: tell me your size and I'll go out and buy—"
The effect proved insufficient.
Serina gripped the pillow in both hands and kept swinging until his laughter finally died away.
"There. This should settle it, no? You'll accept my apology?"
"I will. Consider it forgiven — just this once."
By way of compensation, she had acquired one thick coat.
"Then turn your back."
"Is that really necessary..."
At the sight of the pillow rising again, Lartel lifted both hands in surrender.
"Like this, then?"
"You do not turn around! Am I understood?!"
"Yes, yes. I shall engrave it upon my memory."
Crawling to the foot of the bed, Serina snatched up the saintess robes, pushed her head through the collar in one motion, and worked her arms into the sleeves. The crisp, dry feel of the fabric pleased her, and satisfaction quietly welled up in her chest.
"You can turn back around now."
"Ohh. Properly washed, you're almost passable to look at."
"Hearing that from you doesn't make me happy, for your information."
"Prickly as ever. And I'm the one who helped you, remember."
Then, quick as a flash, Serina clasped his right hand in both of hers and bowed her head.
"Thank you. You've been a great help. Someday — whenever it may be — I will repay this debt in full. I mean that with all my heart."
Lartel scratched his head once, then gave her wrist a light tap with his free hand.
"Forget the debt. Just do me the courtesy of pretending to know me when we pass each other by."
Serina released his hand and tilted her head.
"Hm? Weren't you leaving?"
"That was the plan. But now that I've actually come this far, I figure I could settle in for a few years."
"Sounds like the requests have been pouring in."
"Let's call it that."
After that, their conversation turned ordinary — the usual sort of talk, like whether two people might manage to cross paths now and again in so sprawling a city. Even that was merely the Saintess extending her graces to a knight, and yet Serina felt her spirits had been genuinely refreshed.
The past ten days had granted her no room even to sit with her grief over her lost family. The thought that, without Lartel, she might well have broken down sobbing right here — where the Order's buildings had only just begun to show in the distance — made her feel faint. And so she had walked the whole way at his side, laughing as brightly as she could manage.
One thing had taken her by surprise: Lartel had known she was the Saintess before she ever breathed a word of it. Her trust in him had quietly piled up because of it — enough that, by the time the Order stood before them, a small wistfulness had already sprouted at how quickly it was all over.
"Lartel? What brings you here, of all places?"
"Brought the Saintess to you."
"Now what's this...? I was given to understand she would be arriving with the Hero."
"Our paths must have split on the road. In any case, she's been delivered safe and sound — just send word my way if any requests come in later."
Lartel gave Serina's back a single pat.
"Then I'll see you next time. Saintess."
"Goodbye, Lartel."
Whatever bewilderment the Cardinal had shown at Lartel's arrival had vanished entirely the moment his eyes fell upon Serina. The two of them went back to before her possession — he had known her since she was small — so it would have been stranger by far for him not to recognize her.
The Cardinal, who had waited until Lartel was well out of sight, called to her.
"Serina... ah — forgive me. Saintess, I should say. Do you remember me?"
"Not in any great detail. I was so very young at the time."
"Of course. Quite understandable. Ah — how remiss of me; I have yet to introduce myself. I am Frai Arium, Cardinal of this Order. As for the rest, let us adjourn to my office and speak at leisure."
Serina tipped her head back to take in the sheer scale of the Order, then followed Cardinal Frai up the stairs. The coat she had received earlier fell long about her like a cloak, and though she passed any number of people along the way, not once did she have to shrink into herself.
With that breathing room, she let herself attend to the feelings rising on the spot. Everything was finished now. All that remained was to look forward to a new daily life and carry on her mourning, pure and undisturbed.
It did not grieve her deeply. If she stood beside the Hero yet to be chosen, then someday the sorrow of that mourning would open into the joy of reunion. She believed it without a shadow of a doubt.
The Order was vaster than she had imagined. At the top of the long stair, a plaza spread out around a fountain, embraced by immaculately kept gardens.
"You see, there was simply no better ground anywhere for taking in children who need help. I do hope it finds favor in your eyes as well, Saintess."
"Yes. It is a good work, after all."
Now, at last, she understood why the Order had been placed in so outlying a quarter. Tending to many children and letting them run and play freely surely demanded exactly this much space. Told that the entrance still lay a little farther on, Serina and Cardinal Frai crossed the plaza; a short flight of steps later, the cathedral's main doors finally came into view.
"Then, let us go in."
Inside, the faithful were bustling up and down the corridors. Preparing for some occasion, perhaps? Half without thinking, Serina had already turned toward the same current; catching the Cardinal's gesture, she set her steps in that direction.
"That side is the assembly hall. It serves chiefly for worship, but today being a special day, it seems there is a great deal to prepare."
"A special day?"
"Yes. We intend to hold a baptismal rite in your honor, Saintess."
"Ah... a baptism."
She wanted to ask whether such a rite was truly necessary for someone who was already a Saintess — but the weight riding on Cardinal Frai's words sealed her lips. Watching them toil so earnestly on her behalf, even raising the question felt like an affront.
"Ah, one more thing, Saintess. You may forget all about that lowlife knight. You will not be crossing paths with him again."
She knew at once whom he meant. It was the label tacked on that gave her pause — so much so that she nearly thought she had misheard.
"...Lowlife?"
"He appears to have shown you a kinder face, Saintess, or so I am given to understand. Judging by the record of his conduct, however, he is not a man to be trusted. Driven from the kingdom — banished in all but name — I hardly need append anything further."
Serina kept her mouth shut.
The silence was deliberate. No doubt the seasoned Cardinal had already noticed what lay beneath it.
"Of course, should you wish to keep up the acquaintance, I shall not interfere. I spoke only because it occurred to me that you might not have known."
Still, she had no intention of letting it pass entirely unheeded. One thing was certain: the fact of his exile would put a certain distance between them, should their paths ever cross again. She knew full well that such a judgment was not easily handed down — not short of committing a grave felony — and for a man of knightly standing to receive such treatment left her all but certain that some ugly entanglements lay wound about it.
"...Yes. I will bear it in mind."
Serina added nothing further. As it had always been, this was a matter she would judge and decide for herself. Even the Hero, so warmly spoken of by the world, had turned out to be what he was. For Serina as she stood now, the knight Lartel — who had helped her, who had been gentle with her — inspired far more trust than that piece of trash of a Hero ever could.
Soon the two of them arrived at the Cardinal's office and took seats facing each other across the sofas.
"Please — speak first."
For a long moment, Serina chose her words. From here on out, the real game began.
As was common knowledge, it had been the leadership of the Letan Order here who placed the Holy Sword in the Hero's hands. That fact, by itself, would raise no trouble — they would hardly wish to see the Order's honor tarnished by the Hero's filthy conduct. The crux, rather, was how many people here had strings tying them to Rean.