Chapter 142 - Chapter 141: A Nonsense Report
Above the capital city of Istora.
Late at night.
"I finally made it...."
Mika, still carrying Nerisfeene, hovers in place for a moment.
"Well, if we go down like this, do you think we won't be spotted?"
"...Absolutely, we will be spotted...."
It took a full five days to successfully break Nerisfeene's curse.
Considering the one-week deadline, it was an extremely tight timing, so Mika forced his way back to the capital immediately.
If the curse hadn't been broken, he would have had to openly skip the academy.
Nerisfeene's body had improved considerably, but she was still quite bent over.
She was in a state where she couldn't even get up on her own.
Still, compared to the beginning, it was a world of difference, and thanks to the slightly less strained posture, it seemed she could talk more easily.
Also, it seemed her appetite had increased just a little bit.
While relieved that she was returning to a normal human state, it still seemed to take a long time to fully recover.
Mika looked down at the capital, then shifted his gaze to the wings of light, thinking, "Hmm...."
"...Well, if it happens just once, it might be a misfire."
"What is that...?"
"It means it might have been an optical illusion!"
"Kyaaah...!"
Mika began a steep dive toward the capital.
Since no magic power was needed to suppress the curse, he tried carrying Nerisfeene with the normal "Absorb" spell instead of "Absorb Wing," but it didn't work.
It seemed barely possible to fly, but the state wasn't stable.
Since flying too unsteadily would scare Nerisfeene, he decided to use "Absorb Wing" to fly.
"Absorb Wing" takes the shape of very beautiful wings of light.
It is exactly as imagined, but its only drawback is that it stands out.
If they flew high enough, anyone who saw them would probably think it was a shooting star.
But landing in the capital with such a thing strapped to his back could cause a huge commotion.
It was late at night, so probably not many people were awake, but being seen a little was unavoidable.
Mika landed on a rooftop-like area of a concrete building a little away from his home.
Then, he immediately switched "Absorb Wing" back to "Absorb."
He set "Physical Enhancement" to four times and quickly began moving.
"I'm going to take a detour before going home."
"Y-yes...."
He wasn't sure if there were any witnesses, so he decided to create some decoys and then head back.
Thus, he ran around various parts of the capital for about fifteen minutes.
Mainly District 4.
He entered the entertainment district, used narrow alleys, and moved across the tops of buildings.
After repeating such things a few times, he headed for home.
"Oh, my nostalgic home."
Well, it was a rental.
He found his modest home at the edge of a high-class residential street lined with quite large mansions, and let out a sigh of relief.
The lights were on inside the house.
Was Kistil awake, or was that fool "Fee" doing something incomprehensible again?
Mika turned the doorknob of the entrance door while still holding Nerisfeene.
But it seemed the door was locked.
Impressive, impressive...
Given the time, it was good that she had properly secured the door. He felt a little relieved.
Just as Mika reached into his Magic Bag to take out the house key, the door creaked open.
"Mika-kun!?"
Kistil, looking somewhat exhausted, jumped out from the entrance.
And then, Fee came out following her.
"I'm back, Kistil. But you shouldn't open the door without checking who it is first. It's dangerous."
Mika gave a light warning, but Kistil looked confused as she stared at Nerisfeene.
Seeing Kistil like that, Mika let out a bitter smile.
"...I'd like to explain various things, but first, let me inside. Also, sorry, I'm going to use the bath."
Saying that, Mika entered the house and headed straight for the bath.
"Fee flew to the entrance, so I thought Mika-kun had come back...."
Kistil followed behind Mika and explained.
It seemed Fee knew when Mika was returning, and she often took such actions.
...Now that I think about it, I've heard that dogs do such things.
Fee didn't always greet him, but it did feel like she was often near the entrance when he entered the house.
"Were you awake until this time?"
When Mika arrived at the bath, he set Nerisfeene down.
"I thought Mika-kun would be coming back... Um, Mika-kun. What about that person...?"
Kistil asked timidly from the changing room.
"This girl is Nerisfeene. I'm sorry for the suddenness, but she will be living here too."
"Eh!?"
Kistil let out a loud voice in surprise.
Well, of course she would be surprised.
"Sorry. There are various things I need to explain, but right now I don't have the time."
While saying that, Mika tried to take off Nerisfeene's clothes, but... he gave up.
It still seemed impossible to put on or take off clothes normally.
"Nerisfeene. Sorry. I'm going to tear your clothes."
"...Eh."
"...It seems difficult to get replacement clothes right now too."
"Un, I understand."
Mika whispered "Thousand Edge" softly and made cuts all over Nerisfeene's clothes.
Carefully cutting the clothes so as not to hurt her skin, he then tore them apart bit by bit.
He wrapped the torn clothes in a bath towel and put them away in his Magic Bag.
"Are you going to wash that child...?"
"Yes."
Kistil asked as if she was wondering if she should even ask.
"Because I want to make her clean."
She had been in that catacomb or stone chamber for three months.
He wanted to wash off the dirt.
"I'll help too."
Saying that, Kistil entered the bath.
As expected, three people in the bath was a bit cramped...
Looking closely, Kistil had eyes that expressed strong will.
Mika thought it would be rude to refuse, so he decided to let Kistil help.
"Waterball."
Mika put water into the cauldron that wasn't boiling yet, and put water into another cauldron.
Seeing that, Kistil's face showed a moment of surprise.
But soon, her expression turned as if she understood.
"Is that also a [God's Miracle]?"
"Well, something similar... but keep it a secret."
"...Yes."
It was usually Mika's duty to prepare the bath.
But there was no sign of him boiling water in the stove, yet the water was properly prepared.
She must have thought something was going on.
Thus, cooperating with Kistil, they managed to wash Nerisfeene.
They assigned an empty room to Nerisfeene and used the bed left by the previous tenant as is.
As expected, there were no bedding, so they had to make do with the bedding Mika used.
Mika would buy more bedding later.
After putting Nerisfeene to rest in the bed, Mika told Kistil what had happened.
He kept the story about the church vague, as leaking it could be problematic, sticking to the idea that she "had been cursed" and "was locked underground."
"...Such a terrible thing."
Hearing the reason for Nerisfeene's physical condition, Kistlet seemed to grieve as if it were her own problem.
"So, Mika-kun broke that curse for her?"
The impossible story of breaking a curse was somehow accepted by Kistil without hesitation.
Was it because she had seen the two nicknames before?
"Yes. As for the curse, it's fine now. But living with that body would be hard, right? She is getting better little by little, but I couldn't just leave her as is...."
When he said that, Kistil smiled sadly.
"I understand. I will take care of Nerisfeene-san."
"...Yes. Sorry."
Mika bowed his head to Kistil.
He had thought she would say that.
Even though he knew, he had brought her home to rely on Kistil.
Even if Mika said he would take care of her life, it was actually impossible.
There was the academy.
He had to earn a living.
If Kistil could take care of herself, it would be different, but Nerisfeene couldn't even do that now.
In that case, someone had to watch over her constantly.
"It's fine. I'm happy that you relied on me, Mika-kun."
"That's always the case... I always rely on you...."
Kistil looked at Mika with gentle eyes.
But Mika shrank even smaller.
He was leaving all the housework to Kistil.
Even though he was already relying on her more than possible, he was trying to push the matter of Nerisfeene onto her as well.
"I'll hire a servant. If you have any preferences, tell me...—"
"There's no need."
Saying that, Kistil smiled.
"A servant is enough with just me."
"That's... Kistil isn't a servant...."
Since that day, Kistil had been acting that way.
She seemed to draw a line, thinking she was a servant, bought by Mika.
That was why Kistil didn't go against Mika.
As if to say, "I am Mika's property."
Mika felt a little sad seeing Kistil's attitude like that.
■■■■■■
On the Day of Wind, Week 4, Month 3 of Fire.
Mika strictly ordered Fee, "Wake me up at the usual time no matter what you do!" and took a nap just before dawn.
And, despite the unreasonable scene where Fee woke Mika up with intense light as ordered, causing Mika to scold her, he somehow managed to go to the academy as usual.
Drinking two bottles of stimulant medicine from the 'Adventurer's Essential Set,' he managed to get through the academy, and then headed to the Adventurer's Guild to report.
By the way, regarding this stimulant medicine.
When purchasing it, the shopkeeper had warned him, "Don't drink it continuously too much. Also, drinking too much makes it addictive."
Is it a [Pipon]?
As soon as Mika entered the guild, he was led to the more luxurious reception room.
Chirensta was surprised by the speed of Mika's request completion report, but when Mika said, "I ran really hard," he didn't press further.
However, he could hear Chirensta's mutter, "Just like Mr. Yaroibarov...."
Mr. Yaroibarov (that person), can he move that fast? I'm more curious about how he makes such movement possible.
When there is a precedent, it's easier for successors not to have to give unnecessary explanations.
Well, Yaroibarov would probably say, "I just went and came back normally."
Mika said he "ran" because he had calculated he could get away with it.
Assuming the distance to Runesarm was roughly four hundred kilometers, running at an average speed of twenty-five kilometers per hour would take sixteen hours.
"Using [God's Miracle], I arrived in one or two days?"
But if they told him to try it, he absolutely wouldn't!
Once Chirensta and Yunressa were gathered in the room, Mika began the report.
"In conclusion, the Saintess had become a 'Defiled One'."
"...As I thought."
Chirensta muttered with a gloomy expression.
Yunressa also looked extremely pained.
Both of them might be surprisingly devout believers of the Church of Light.
"This might serve as evidence; these are the clothes worn by that 'Defiled One'."
What he took out then were the clothes of Nerisfeene that he had torn in the bath yesterday.
Mika opened the bath towel, placed the dirty, tattered, and torn clothes of Nerisfeene on the table, and showed them.
It looked like a nun's habit, but it seemed higher class than the habit Radia wore.
Perhaps there was a specific one for Saintesses.
As soon as Yunressa saw the tattered habit, she made a gesture of prayer and wiped away tears.
Mika decided to treat Nerisfeene as dead.
Nerisfeene, who had learned of the Bishop of Runesarm's corruption and was nearly killed.
If it were revealed that she had escaped the mine alive, what would happen?
There was no need to think about it.
In this country, household registration and such were still unreliable.
Small villages like Rish Village might be well-documented by the Village Head, but in places with heavy traffic like Yaunasun, or crowded places like Sarbengeal and the capital, they probably couldn't keep track of everyone.
Especially since it was a country where one could live normally even without identification documents, there were plenty of ways to deceive.
"So, what about that 'Defiled One'...?"
"I exorcised it. With [God's Miracle]."
"I see... Thank you, Mika-kun."
Saying that, Chirensta also made a gesture of prayer.
"There were several curses. I exorcised everything I found, but there might be others."
Saying that, he took out the Bronze Mirror from his Magic Bag.
"This one had a very strong curse. Probably, the curse that attacked the Saintesses was this one. Of course, it is already exorcised."
Mika placed the Bronze Mirror on the table.
"However, unrelated to this curse, there might have been other factors causing the proliferation of 'Defiled Ones'. I have cleaned up most of them for now, but they might appear again as time passes."
"Fumu... But if that's the case... there are some troublesome aspects to handle."
"Yes. I understand that too. However, this request is 'Rescue of the Saintess' and 'Exorcism of the Altar'. It is not the elimination of curses in the mine and the catacombs...."
"That's true. Since the locations are the same, they might be confused, but they should be separate requests."
Chirensta showed understanding of Mika's opinion.
Well, it's basically a nonsense report.
He didn't think it was okay, but various tricks were necessary to hide Nerisfeene's existence.
First, Mika's basic stance was "The Saintess had already died long ago."
If that were the case, it would be strange if the mine and catacombs were not overflowing with 'Defiled Ones'.
The reason there were no 'Defiled Ones' was because of Nerisfeene's 'Purification'.
But then, "Why does the Saintess's 'Purification' work even though the Saintess is dead?" would be the question.
So, he had to say, "There were 'Defiled Ones'. But they aren't there now because I cleaned them up."
And, since Nerisfeene disappeared from the stone chamber, there was a possibility that 'Defiled Ones' would appear again.
So he also needed to prepare an answer to the question, "If all curses were exorcised, shouldn't 'Defiled Ones' appear?"
Trying to prepare a plausible answer without contradictions to this series of situations inevitably resulted in a story far removed from the facts.
Well, since he had overturned the fundamental premise of "the Saintess's life and death," it was unavoidable.
"I exorcised the cursed items related to the altar, but if any others appear, I would like to exorcise them for free."
"For free!? But is that okay? ...If so, people might try to ride on your coattails."
"Maybe... But the altar-like object was half-buried in dirt. So, it wouldn't be strange if there were other cursed items in that dirt."
When Mika explained, Chirensta made a complicated face.
"I see... No, this is also a problem for the guild."
Chirensta muttered such things.
"We accepted the request based on uncertain information. From the information 'a curse came out of the altar', we assumed there was only one curse. That is not your responsibility, Mika-kun."
Saying that, he looked straight at Mika.
"If other cursed items appear, we will check them thoroughly at the guild first. If they are recognized as related to this case, the guild will prepare a reward."
"Eh? Is that okay?"
He had heard that the guild sometimes did such things, but it was a bit heart-wrenching to make the guild follow up on his fabrication.
If truly related cursed items appeared, should he bring some fancy gifts?
"As expected, I can't give a reward like a named request. But I'll make them give a little, just enough to say 'Let's eat something delicious and go home'."
With that phrasing, it would be a few gold coins?
Mika intended it as after-service, but it seemed the guild would bear some burden too.
"Sorry. You went out of your way."
"No, I should apologize for the lack of verification on our part. The content of the request was such that the guild got a bit flustered."
They both apologized to each other and bowed their heads.
In his salaryman days, this happened often.
On his way back from the guild, Mika stopped by Yaroibarov's inn to thank him for the past week and ask about Kistil's condition.
"Oh, you're back."
When Mika entered the lobby, Yaroibarov was giving instructions to a child who looked like an employee.
"I returned safely."
Mika saluted casually.
Seeing Mika like that, Yaroibarov smiled and guided him to the dining hall.
While drinking the juice served for free, he asked Yaroibarov about Kistil's condition.
"Well, nothing special happened."
Saying that, Yaroibarov made a somewhat complicated face.
"Nothing special, but... something...?"
When Mika asked that, Yaroibarov shrugged his shoulders.
"Really, nothing happened. But, you know."
"But...?"
Yaroibarov scratched his head vigorously.
"I asked her, 'Will you work at my place again?' and made her sad. Well, that's all."
"Oh..."
Kistil, in a way, was trying hard to be Mika's servant.
So, she probably thought she couldn't work elsewhere.
"I was thinking I'd like you to do that again too."
When Mika said that, Yaroibarov let out a bitter smile.
"Well, it can't be helped. This time it was my slip of the tongue. I said something unnecessary. I'm sorry."
"That's..."
Rarely, Yaroibarov showed a depressed look.
I hope we can all laugh together again...
Like when we celebrated Mika's two nicknames, if the three of us could laugh together again.
He couldn't help but think that.
■■■■■■
[Great Cathedral of Runesarm]
"Defiled Ones have started appearing in the mine?"
The Bishop of Runesarm was receiving a report from the Knight Commander of the Church Knights Order in the bishop's office.
"We sent a few sensible guys to try and deal with the 'Legion' that possessed that Saintess, but they turned back halfway. They said they couldn't reach it no matter what."
"So, you haven't checked the inside?"
"It seems there were quite a lot in the catacombs. Judging from the report, if we want to deal with that, it will be impossible unless we enter formally as the Church Knights Order."
There were quite a number of people gathered, those skilled in combat against 'Defiled Ones' and those who could use [God's Miracle].
The Knight Commander continued with a complicated expression.
"If we consider the Saintess as the reason why 'Defiled Ones' hadn't appeared until now, the reason they started appearing is—"
The death of the Saintess.
However, considering that 'Defiled Ones' hadn't appeared for three months, it couldn't be said that the Saintess was the only cause.
People cannot survive without food or drink for three months, let alone a week.
That was the same for the Saintess, no matter how much [Blessing] she received.
A troublesome existence had created a troublesome situation.
"There seem to be those in the Church Knights Order who are growing suspicious. I think it's best to cut our losses at an appropriate point, don't you?"
At the Knight Commander's words, the Bishop fell into thought.
"A little girl makes me worry so much. Whether she was alive or dead..."
Donations increased with the birth of the Saintess, but so did the troubles.
Especially since she disregarded their convenience, preaching doctrine and faith, which was extremely annoying.
To make matters worse, she started saying they were neglecting faith.
They could have just said it directly, but instead, they sent a letter of accusation to the annoying Archbishop of Sarbengeal.
Even for a tolerant person like me, the rope of patience snapped.
Fortunately, I was able to check letters and such before she made any unauthorized visit arrangements.
"...But, was it really good to cut ties with the Saintess? Wasn't there a better way to use her?"
"If you say so, you can tame her yourself. Originally, things ran smoothly without a Saintess. Money flowed better thanks to the little girl, but there were too many troubles. It's refreshing to be rid of her."
"But, is it okay with that...?"
The Knight Commander looked slightly worried.
"I said it. Originally, such a little girl was unnecessary. That way, I can rise up. I tried to tame her as she seemed to have various uses, but if she can't be tamed, she is useless."
The Bishop snorted angrily, breathing heavily through his nose.
"Upstairs has reported that 'The Saintess arbitrarily accepted petitions from residents and left on her own with some Church Knights Order who followed her faith'. Even His Holiness the Pope cannot stop the Saintess's actions, so how could I stop them?"
Saying that, he flashed a nasty smile.
"Making the Saintess die won't be a stain on my record. I have taken measures to ensure that. Don't worry."
Saying that, the Knight Commander's expression calmed down a bit.
"I spread rumors to the residents about the last moments of the Saintess, full of loving kindness, as if she were a beloved Saintess. Thanks to that, donations increased ridiculously?"
"Last-minute profit grabbing."
After smoothing things over with the superiors, they spread several variations of rumors to the residents.
All the stories were beautiful tales that highlighted the greatness of the Saintess.
Thanks to that, there were still residents offering high donations.
"It's like a consolation payment for the trouble we've been through. Shouldn't we be punished for taking that much?"
Saying that, the Bishop snorted through his nose.
"Anyway, seal off the mine for a while. However, there is no need for the same level of vigilance as before. If 'Defiled Ones' appear, the 'Defiled Ones' themselves will take over the role of the Church Knights Order."
Until now, there were no 'Defiled Ones' in the mine, so they couldn't place people at the entrance, but from now on, just standing at the entrance should be enough.
The Bishop took a bottle of red wine from the cabinet and poured it into two glasses.
Thus, the Bishop and the Knight Commander toasted with red wine.