“Oh, it’s you from earlier.”
She greeted him with a gentle smile.
“I’m okay. It wasn’t really a big deal.”
Ariadeline’s calm voice seemed to pierce his ears. He was well aware of the villainess who had cursed the saint.
A malicious witch who used black magic. Yet the witch of his imagination bore no resemblance to the woman sitting right in front of him.
“If, if it’s okay with you…”
Silv Baselon spoke without thinking.
“May I explain more about the temple to you?”
At this, she brightened up.
“Of course. I’d appreciate that.”
As she stood up, Duke Denaves stood up as well.
His height made it feel like he was endlessly towering over them.
Silv unconsciously swallowed hard.
“If, if it’s alright with you as well, Duke.”
The duke was looking at Silv with a disdainful expression, not responding. Silv began to wonder if he had done something wrong.
“Carlothian, don’t do that.”
At that moment, Ariadeline grabbed Carlothian’s arm. Duke Denaves shifted his gaze away from Silv at her words.
“Do you want to explore the temple more?”
“If that’s possible.”
“Then, please lead the way.”
Silv nodded nervously.
“P-please follow me.”
A surprisingly long line formed behind him: Ariadeline, Duke Denaves, and their attendants and knights.
The clanking of the knights’ armor had an oddly ominous sound. Silv swallowed hard again and stopped at a certain point.
“Please take a look at the ceiling.”
At his words, everyone looked up. A massive mural covered the entire ceiling.
On one side, there was bright light, and on the other, there was immense darkness, depicting people fleeing from the shadows.
“What scene is depicted here?”
“It was created seven thousand years ago, and there are no accurate records of the painter or the painting itself…”
“Oh, no records?”
“It’s more accurate to say they were lost.”
“Lost?”
“Yes, about five thousand years ago. A group tried to loot the temple in search of relics, and it’s said that lightning struck from the sky, as if it were divine punishment.”
“Was that when the records were lost?”
“Yes. A fire broke out at that time, and many records were burned. Our ancestors tried to restore them, but they couldn’t recover everything.”
At this, Ariadeline nodded and looked up at the ceiling.
Silv pointed to the mural that extended from above him.
“The black represents evil, and the white represents good. The most credible theory is that it depicts humans fleeing from evil and running into the shadow of God.”
At that, Ariadeline asked,
“Does that mean visible evil has manifested?”
“It’s more likely symbolic. The continent’s first royal family emerged about ten thousand years ago. It’s possible that the artist was symbolizing an external force as evil…”
“Were there any external forces?”
“There are no records of that in the temple. You would probably need to go to the imperial palace to confirm.”
“I see.”
“Now, in lands that belong to the empire, there are instances of excavating remnants of past external kingdoms, but I believe there are no clear conclusions about them.”
At Silv’s words, Ariadeline stared at the ceiling. The immense darkness and light.
The reason it was described as immense darkness here was because,
‘The light is depicted a bit smaller.’
Ariadeline lowered her gaze and then spoke to Silv.
“I want to know more about the temple. Could you guide me further?”
Silv nodded.
“Of course.”
“Thank you.”
When Ariadeline smiled brightly, Silv’s ears turned slightly red. The one who noticed this change was none other than Carlothian.
With his arms crossed, he looked at Silv with a displeased expression.
Whether she was aware of Carlothian’s mood or not, Ariadeline followed Silv and listened to his explanations quite enthusiastically.
However, the subsequent topics were more recent and had no noteworthy stories to reference.
Ariadeline licked her lips in disappointment but listened attentively to all of Silv’s explanations and expressed her gratitude.
“Thanks to you, it was a very enlightening time.”
“It’s nothing. The temple is always open to someone like you, Ariadeline.”
At those words, Ariadeline’s eyes widened, and she smiled again as she said,
“Thank you so much.”
Silv momentarily lost his composure and slapped his own cheeks with both hands, making a sound.
“Um, Priest?”
“Haha, no, it’s nothing. Are you planning to head down now?”
“Since I’ve seen the entire temple, I think I should.”
“I see. I hope your path down is filled with blessings.”
Ariadeline bowed to Silv and turned to leave. Just as she was about to exit the temple, she noticed the back of a statue that she hadn’t seen before.
“…What is that?”
“Ah, that’s a language that was used about ten thousand years ago.”
There was something written on the pedestal behind the statue. However, it was difficult to read, as the language seemed to have a slightly different structure from the current one.
“It looks somewhat similar to our writing.”
“Characters do evolve over time. Are you curious about its meaning?”
Ariadeline nodded at this.
“Yes.”
“It says, ‘He who makes the body of a god bleed shall receive his tears’”
“Hmm, that’s a rather puzzling phrase.”
“It’s presumed to be an inscription made after the statue was created, but there’s no record of who inscribed it, when, or why.”
“I see.”
Ariadeline stared at that part for a moment before leaving the temple.
As Silv watched her figure disappear down the stairs, he smiled bitterly.
Perhaps that label would follow her for the rest of her life. He wished her nothing but blessings in her future, as she seemed genuinely repentant.
His prayer followed her as she departed.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Rustle.
Carlothian, who was holding me, carefully ascended the mountain path after clearing away some branches.
It was the middle of the night, and I couldn’t see my feet properly.
“Are you okay?”
“More than okay.”
We began our search only after nightfall, avoiding the eyes of others.
Since we had brought only a minimal number of people to avoid drawing attention, there weren’t many following us.
“I’ll check the mountain peak with Ariadeline and Maicher. The rest of you will search the mid-slope.”
“Understood.”
“If it’s a relic, it should be noticeable. Report anything suspicious immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
I remained in Carlothian’s arms as we climbed the mountain. I had tried to say I would walk on my own, but he didn’t budge an inch.
‘Well, it wouldn’t do good to exhaust my strength before the search even begins.’
The knights silently dispersed in an instant as they moved through the forest toward the mid-slope.
‘What’s this? Are they ninjas?’
While I was watching them with curious eyes, Carlothian quickened his pace up the mountain.
Although there wasn’t any special guard at the temple late at night, we had received information that patrols occurred periodically, so we tried to keep our presence to a minimum.
“Are you really okay?”
“The madness has quieted down, and I’m perfectly fine.”
We ascended the mountain relying solely on the moonlight, without any lanterns, and soon reached the temple.
The white temple was glowing softly under the moonlight. Carlothian and I paused in front of the temple for a moment.
“Are you really sure about this?”
“Yes, of course.”
I pulled out the dagger I had brought with me. It was a two-palm-length dagger I had bought at a general store before coming to Anrize.
“I even brought this for self-defense.”
Carlothian looked at me with an expression of disbelief before turning to Sir Maicher.
“Keep an eye on her.”
“Yes, sir.”
The reason for this exchange was simple: Carlothian and I had decided to split up for the search.
Carlothian believed the sacred relic would be outside the temple, while I thought it would be inside.
He gave me a look full of doubt before disappearing into the darkness.
I nodded to Sir Maicher and headed straight toward the temple.
In fact, Carlothian’s reaction was quite typical. Many scholars and explorers had searched the temple but failed to find the relic.
However, as I listened to the explanation about the statue earlier, I thought,
“I need to examine that statue more closely.”
“Understood. It seems there aren’t any priests patrolling the temple right now.”
“Great.”
I entered the temple with Sir Maicher, trying to keep our presence as low as possible, and began searching the statue.
