Carlothian growled. However, the mysterious man did not respond. If he were going to answer, he wouldn’t have attacked in the first place.
I slowly backed away from him.
“Maicher!”
“Yes!”
“Protect Ariadeline!”
“Yes!”
Sir Maicher rushed toward me. I extended my trembling hand towards him.
“Calm down.”
He looked at my neck with a serious expression.
It seemed that another wound had appeared on my neck, where the bruises had almost faded. His brow furrowed tightly.
“Excuse me.”
He tore a bit of my dress and pressed it against my neck. I hadn’t realized it was a deep cut. The cloth he applied quickly became soaked.
“Take her down!”
Carlothian shouted, and Maicher swiftly picked me up.
“Don’t let go.”
I nodded, enduring the pain in my neck. What I had thought was just a sting had grown hotter and more intense.
‘My voice, it can’t be affected.’
I was afraid the injury might affect my voice. It was a voice I had fought hard to find.
As I struggled to control my trembling body, Sir Maicher held me even tighter.
The branches brushing against me hurt. My vision spun, but I tried not to lose consciousness. If I lost my senses here, it would be a real disaster.
Sir Maicher ran down for a while before hiding behind a large tree, then looked down at me.
“Are you okay?”
I managed to nod despite everything. I had to be okay no matter what in this situation. We both remained hidden behind the tree, trying to stay silent.
How long has it been?
Rustle.
The sound of someone approaching was heard. Sir Maicher held his breath. The footsteps grew louder as they approached.
Thud, thud, thud—my heartbeat was pounding loudly. I held my breath to stop the blood seeping from my neck.
“Come out now.”
It was Carlothian’s voice. Maicher stood up and revealed himself.
Carlothian looked displeased and glanced around before turning his head.
“How is the wound?”
“It seems it will need treatment. What happened to the attacker?”
“He escaped.”
“Is that so?”
“What kind of person was he?”
Maicher responded, “He was targeting Miss Ariadeline. I suspect he was after the sacred relic, though.”
“I see. Since he was injured in the thigh, he probably couldn’t go far.”
“Should I inform the knights?”
“Do that. And Ariadeline.”
Carlothian examined my condition with the cloth on my neck, then furrowed his brow deeply.
“The wound looks serious.”
“It should be okay if we hurry down and get treatment.”
“Understood. And…”
Carlothian asked, “Why haven’t you said anything since earlier?”
Well, it’s because I had the relic in my mouth! I opened my mouth with a look of grievance. But then…
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Uh-oh?”
“Why?”
“T-the holy relic is gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I… I must have swallowed it?”
Could it be that in all the commotion, I accidentally swallowed it? Since I hadn’t opened my mouth, that was the only explanation I could come up with.
“Wait, wait, put me down.”
“Y-Yes? Okay.”
I clumsily got out of Sir Maicher’s arms and grabbed a nearby tree. I shoved two fingers into my mouth.
“Ugh!”
“What are you doing?”
“W-wait… Ugh.”
I started to induce vomiting, thinking I had swallowed the artifact, but all that came up was the lamb I had for lunch.
Sorry for the mess. But it’s the truth.
I wiped my mouth and said to them, “What should we do?”
“….”
Carlothian and Sir Maicher looked at me like I was a fool. But seriously, what do we do now?
“Well, if it’s in your stomach…”
“Stop!”
I interrupted immediately.
“…Let’s just go down for now.”
So, the three of us had no choice but to trudge down the mountain together.
We asked the knights we encountered on the way down if they had seen the wounded man with the thigh injury, but unfortunately, no one had.
“Since we have an injured person, we’ll hurry back to the lodging. Everyone else, withdraw.”
“Yes.”
We returned to the lodging safely. I received treatment from a healer, blinking slowly as I lay there.
Oh, I’m so tired. More importantly, where on earth did the relic go?
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
We gathered in my room: Carlothian, Sir Maicher, and I, the three of us.
“So, you’re saying that after putting it in your mouth, it disappeared?”
“Yes…”
“Realistically, the most probable explanation is that you swallowed it.”
“I didn’t find anything even after vomiting.”
I said gloomily. Carlothian and Sir Maicher looked at me with bewildered expressions.
“I had assumed that we might not find it, but I never thought you’d swallow it.”
“Don’t tease me!”
I clutched my head. I really don’t remember swallowing it, so where could it have gone?
“It’s not like candy that could have melted away.”
Making a distressed noise, the two men sighed deeply and stood up. When I clumsily got up as well, Carlothian gently sat me back down on the bed.
“You might be anemic, so stay seated.”
“But…”
“We’ll look for other solutions. We might need to check the archives about the relic in the temple.”
“So, that means there’s nothing we can do here.”
As I hung my head, feeling dejected, Carlothian picked me up and laid me down on the bed.
“Rest for now. We’ll set off for the capital first thing in the morning.”
“Okay. Thank you…”
“It’s alright.”
Feeling a bit guilty, I closed my eyes and settled into the bed. The two men quietly watched me for a moment before leaving the room.
No matter how the situation unfolded, my body was exhausted, and soon my eyelids grew heavy.
Oh, losing the relic and still managing to sleep…
Unfortunately, sleep came. I closed my eyes and surrendered to slumber.
That night was remarkably peaceful. I didn’t even have any nightmares.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The next morning, there was a commotion outside the lodging. The priests were controlling the stairs leading to the temple.
People were gathered, whispering among themselves.
“What’s going on?”
“They say someone died in the temple.”
“Someone died?”
“And apparently, there was a sword stuck in the statue of the god.”
“A sword in the statue of the god?”
“Everyone is keeping quiet right now, but there is talk that the priest stabbed the statue of the god and was punished by heaven…”
Since I had a room close to the stairs, the gossip floated on the breeze.
I tidied my hair blown by the wind and looked up at the temple.
With the sudden appearance of a strange man, neither I nor Sir Maicher could clean up the aftermath, so it was likely that the priest’s corpse and the sword stuck in the statue were still left at the scene.
‘But I didn’t expect the story to be twisted like this.’
At that moment, Carlothian, who had finished preparing to leave Anrize, approached me.
He looked tired again today. Does he have that much work?
“We can leave now.”
“…”
“What’s on your mind?”
“It’s the priest.”
I said to him, unable to tear my gaze away from the temple.
“If we leave it like this, he’ll end up being remembered as a heretic who died from divine punishment, won’t he?”
“That’s right. That’s more convenient for us.”
“I know. But…”
The priest seemed to be someone who genuinely tried his best at the temple. He had been kind to me as well. It’s too unfair for him to be falsely accused and disappear like this…
I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them, turning back to Carlothian.
“Wait a little! I’m going to the temple for a moment!”
With those words, I dashed forward. However, my sprint was more like a crawl compared to Carlothian’s.
“Ah!”
Carlothian quickly matched my pace and picked me up.
“If you have something to do, get it done quickly and come back.”
“Alright.”
Carlothian lightly jumped over the priests who were blocking the way. The priests, taken aback, shouted at us.
“You can’t go up there!”
But the knights of the Denaves Order, who had followed Carlothian, detained them. Showing the emblem of the Denaves Order, they spoke to the priests.
No matter how authoritative the priests were, they could not stop the Duke of Denaves. I saw them cease their resistance.
Carlothian carried me up the stairs as if we were flying, and soon we arrived in front of the temple.
“Who are you to come up here without permission?”
One of the priests, who had been handing out flowers in front of the temple, stood in our way. Carlothian stepped forward and looked down at him.
“We are from the Duchy of Denaves. We heard there is an issue at the temple?”
“D-Duke?”
“We need to inspect the situation to determine if it should be reported to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“T-That…”
The priest, unsure of what to do, hesitated. I stepped forward and joined my hands in a pleading gesture.
“We’ll only take a moment to inspect. I will take full responsibility for any consequences. Will you allow us?”
“…”
The priest hesitated for a moment. Given the commotion from yesterday, he likely recognized me. Seeing me clasp my hands and make a desperate expression, he eventually agreed.
“Just inspect the situation and leave.”
“Yes.”
So, we followed the priest into the temple. As soon as I entered, I could only widen my eyes at the scene before me.
“Oh, no, why…”
The body that had been stabbed and collapsed on the floor the previous night was still lying there. How could they not have even moved the body by now?
“Why is the body being left unattended?”
aw poor priest. he seemed nice too😔