After finishing the mopping, Dehan straightened his bent back and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Back in the Northern Temple, he went about his usual routine, praying, cleaning, praying, reading the scriptures, cleaning, praying… nothing different from his daily life.
However, the only thing that changed was Yuriel’s attitude.
Yuriel, who always prayed with him in the prayer room for a long time, had since returning from the Margrave’s estate, significantly shortened his prayer time and, apart from the morning prayer, didn’t enter the prayer room at all. He didn’t go into a private room either.
Is something going on?
Dehan was worried about Yuriel.
“Priest!”
So he deliberately went to where Yuriel was. Dehan tightly grabbed Yuriel’s sleeve.
“Oh, Dehan…! Wh-what brings you here? It’s almost meal time…”
“I noticed that the priest wasn’t eating. I brought some bread.”
“Oh…! Thank you… I’ll eat well.”
Dehan stared intently at Yuriel’s face as he took the bread.
Compared to before, Yuriel’s complexion was dark, and his eyes were dim. Clearly, something was wrong.
“Is something the matter?”
“What? Uh?”
“Recently, the priest seems a bit different.”
“…Ah.”
Yuriel lowered his gaze and bit his lower lip hard.
Here, the only one who cared about him was Dehan. The other priests didn’t care whether he came out of the prayer room or not and some subtly ignored him.
Yuriel was barely breathing in this situation.
“It’s just…”
So, without realizing it, he started to talk to Dehan’s kind words.
“The Pope… I can’t contact him well… And there are strange rumors from the Central Temple… Ah, no. Why am I saying this… Sorry…”
He quickly shut his mouth, but Dehan, quick-witted, immediately sensed something was wrong.
“Is something happening in the Central Temple?”
Yuriel hesitated, then shook his head.
“I’m not sure… but it doesn’t feel right… Ah, no… it’s fine…! Let’s just do our work…”
Dehan frowned as he looked at Yuriel. Seeing Yuriel talk like this, it didn’t seem like a light matter.
But he was just a child and not strong enough to protect Yuriel.
Feeling helpless, Dehan lowered his eyes.
“Next week, I’m going to the Margrave’s estate… There’s a temporary residence we can use until the construction is complete… You’re coming with me, so… I’m glad…!”
So, they’re going to see the people of the Daimon Margrave’s family again. Dehan nodded.
“Yes. I’ll be ready.”
“Yes… But…”
Yuriel, blushing, hesitantly asked.
“What do you think about those people…?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s just… they don’t seem as bad as I thought…”
Before, Yuriel was scared and suspicious of them. So why the sudden change?
Dehan was about to say that he didn’t think so,
– It would be good if you take my world.
But Shekina’s words came to his mind.
“………”
Was that a confession?
Do you like me, perhaps?
Dehan’s face turned slightly red.
“Well…”
He fumbled, then wiped his face with his palm and turned his head sharply.
“I’ll keep an eye on them for now.”
You shouldn’t judge people harshly without knowing them well…
Dehan tried hard to deny his excitement.
***
In the end, the ones going to the ice wall were Shekina, Yurian, Didi, and the cat.
Yurian, with his excellent magical abilities, was to go, but Didi made a fuss, saying she’d cry if she wasn’t taken along, so they had no choice but to include her.
Well, if Yurian could be persuaded to extract the ‘Demon King’s power’ from Didi, it would be beneficial, so it’s understandable.
But,
‘Why are you coming along?’
Why the cat?
Shekina looked down at the cat in her arms and sent a thought.
– Calvin tried to give me a bath!
‘Yes, you should bathe. You smell.’
– I am very clean! There’s no smell! I won’t go to Calvin! He’s annoying! I hate him!
Haa. A cat making a fuss about bathing.
Really, living long enough, you can see everything.
“Shekina. Are we going now?”
“Are we going?”
Yurian and Didi asked with sparkling eyes. Shekina tightened the knot of her cloak and nodded.
“Yes. Arthur said he’d go ahead. Let’s go; he’ll have things roughly sorted.”
“What do we do when we get there?”
“What do we do?”
“You guys don’t have anything to do, just help me out if something happens. We’re just going together because I wanted to.”
“Something? Are you worried about something?”
“Something?”
“It’s not something I can talk about yet… Didi. Why do you keep repeating what Yurian says?”
Shekina asked Didi, who was clinging to Yurian.
Then Didi grinned and whispered to Shekina.
“They say repeating the same thing raises your favorability. It shows you’re empathizing with what the other person is saying.”
“…Where did you learn that useless thing?”
“It’s from ‘I’m the Strongest Villainess but I’ll Die If I Don’t Marry the Protagonist’!”
“……..”
Oh. I almost called her an otaku.
Shekina shook her head a couple of times and stepped into the teleport circle that Arthur had made.
“This teleport circle connects to the ice wall. You just need to put your magic into it.”
“Sir Arthur made this?”
“Yeah, he made it earlier and then left.”
“Amazing… Even though Sir Arthur’s abilities aren’t in this area, he made it very precisely.”
“Well made!”
Shekina looked at Didi with pity, then tapped Yurian’s shoulder.
“Activate this.”
“You’re not doing it?”
“I need to save my magic.”
Then what about me…?
That’s Yurian thought but couldn’t say. He felt pressured by the guilt of having to be nice to Shekina for a while.
“Alright, I’ll do it now. Everyone gather around.”
“Gather around!”
Shekina hugged the cat tightly and looked down.
Yurian, who was awkwardly looking around,
Didi, who was following Yurian around like a parrot repeating his words,
The cat, who was flicking its tail to show its displeasure.
This group, is it really okay?
She felt worried for some reason.
***
Pwaaah!
A bright white light from the teleport magic filled their vision. Shekina rubbed her eyes, which still felt prickly from the afterimage, and looked around.
A blizzard was raging.
“Didn’t they say the demons were training? Why is there no one here?”
“There isn’t?”
As Yurian said, there was no sign of people.
– I can make those guys run around in circles?
– Train them so hard they’ll throw up and won’t even think about Shekina?
– Or knock them out completely?
Which one did Arthur choose?
What did he do for there to be no one here?
Shekina shivered, feeling a chill down her spine.
“Shekina. Didn’t you say we were going to search for the monster corpses earlier?”
“Didn’t you?”
“Right. We’re here to see the corpses.”
“Hmm.”
Yurian tilted his head to one side.
“There are monster corpses at the ice wall… but why? Why are they here?”
“Why are they?”
I can’t just say it’s because I’m a game expert, so Shekina just shrugged.
“I don’t know either. It’s just what I heard.”
And then she quickly changed the subject.
“For now, stay here. I’ll go with the cat. If something happens, I’ll scream, so come running. Got it?”
“Is it okay not to go together?”
“Is it okay?”
“Yeah. I think it’s better to check alone. And Didi, it would be great if you shut up a bit.”
“No way! I want to do this!”
“…….”
Shekina looked intently at Didi’s black hair covering her face, then turned to Yurian. She looked at him with a pitying expression. How did he end up with that…?
“Hang in there, Yurian.”
“…Okay!”
Yurian clenched his fists and nodded. Meanwhile, Didi clung tightly to Yurian’s arm.
“Yurian! The view below the cliff is beautiful! Shall we go over there together?”
“No, I want to see where the other demons are.”
“Me too!”
“………..”
Let’s get out of here quickly.
Shekina shuddered and ran away.
