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149
Clop, clop.
The rhythmic sound of hooves tickled their ears. A cool breeze blew through the slightly open small window. Feeling the chilly air gently tousling his hair, Rohan recalled the conversation he had with Lexia as they wrapped up their meeting.
‘By any chance, has the imperial family ever believed in a god?’
Lexia’s eyes had widened at that question. It seemed he had reflexively shown such a reaction to the unexpected query.
Although Lexia quickly regained his composure, he didn’t immediately answer. Rather than opening his mouth, he met Rohan’s gaze for a long time with inscrutable eyes, as if trying to gauge the intention behind such a question.
Rohan had his reasons for asking. The ‘god’s provision’ he had heard about from Casia. If that was truly the cause of all this, it meant that the imperial family, no, the emperor, could freely wield that god’s provision.
He quietly raised his hand to touch the purple jewel embedded in his ear. If it was the same god’s provision, it too was an object directly bestowed by the god, yet the imperial family was a place that acknowledged the existence of gods but did not follow them.
He thought it wouldn’t be bad to know if there was some history he was unaware of that had led to this situation. He might be able to understand what power the god’s provision held by the imperial family had, and why the power of the world contained in it obediently followed the emperor’s evil deeds.
‘There are no such records.’
After a brief silence, Lexia opened his mouth and shook his head. It was a rather firm answer, but fortunately, his words didn’t end there.
‘However, if it was an era with no remaining records…’
It might have been possible.
What Lexia offered was a new possibility. He added advice that while he knew nothing, the High Priestess might know something. As the one closest to the god, she might have heard related stories.
With those words, their conversation ended, and Rohan left the tea house with Arpel, who had been waiting for him.
And now, the two were traveling together in a carriage towards the temple.
“Does Arpel know?”
He asked casually while habitually fiddling with Arpel’s hand. Although it was a question that cut off all context before and after, proving he had been lost in deep thought all along, Arpel somehow understood what he wanted to say.
“You mean about the era with no remaining records, right?”
He asked back, idly fidgeting with his fingertips that felt a faint tickle. Facing Rohan, who slowly nodded, Arpel recalled the settings of the original novel after a long time.
A lot of time had passed since he fell into this world. Although it might be just a fleeting moment for Arpel, who was a ‘sword’ rather than a complete life form, it was enough time to gradually forget things about the ‘original work’.
His memories became increasingly hazy. Now, all that remained were the major plot points that drove the story.
‘An era with no remaining records…’
In this situation, it was impossible for him to remember what Rohan had mentioned. He felt like he might have heard such an expression before, but also felt like he hadn’t.
He closed his mouth for a moment and racked his brains hard. After a while, he finally couldn’t recall anything about the ‘era with no remaining records’, but he was able to find a fragment of the distant past that remained faintly in his memory.
“I’m not sure. If it’s a story from a very distant past… I know a little bit.”
“That’s fine too.”
Rohan nodded as if that was enough. For his sake, as he seemed willing to listen, Arpel slowly organized his thoughts.
“Long ago… when specters didn’t exist in this world.”
People fought against ‘monsters’, he said.
Then a vague story began. He continued speaking while gazing into Rohan’s wide-open eyes. His memories were already hazy, so he also intended to speak as quickly as possible about the things that suddenly came to mind.
“Rohan. Do you know when specters first appeared?”
“…I remember it was after the evil god appeared.”
“That’s right. That’s why people consider specters to be traces of the evil god. But… even before the evil god appeared, the world wasn’t peaceful.”
Before the god fell, humanity’s enemies were ‘monsters’. This was the only fragment of memory about the ‘very distant past’ that Arpel could recall.
“I’m not sure if that was the answer you wanted.”
“This is enough.”
A faint regret tinged his voice, which had grown quieter towards the end. It was lingering disappointment from not being able to tell more.
Arpel’s true form, the ‘sword’, was born into this world borrowing the god’s power. Hundreds, no, perhaps even more years might have passed since then. So originally, he should have been able to tell Rohan more.
For him, who had fallen and had his soul mixed up, causing all his memories to disappear, this was the limit. It was natural since he had only started seeing and learning about this world from the point he met Rohan. If he didn’t have memories of reading books, he wouldn’t have been able to teach even this much.
“I should have asked when Leriana was here too.”
Rohan casually dropped a playful remark, as if to lighten the serious atmosphere. Arpel, who had been pondering whether what he said might be related to this incident, was momentarily distracted by the bright smile forming on Rohan’s face.
It was a little while later that he understood the meaning of those words. Belatedly turning his eyes to the seat opposite, Arpel looked anew at the empty space.
“…Indeed.”
Now that he thought about it, it felt a little, just a little… empty. Because whenever Rohan and Leriana started arguing, the inside of the carriage would become lively. Such a thought occurred to him unconsciously as he looked down at his held hand.
Leriana and Casia had changed direction at a village they stopped by midway. Just as Rohan was heading to the Demon God’s Temple after hearing Lexia’s suggestion, she decided to go to the Celestial God’s Temple where she needed to be. Although her voice, saying she wanted to meet the priestess of the Demon God’s Temple after a long time, was full of lingering attachment, her steps moving away from the carriage seemed light and firm.
“What do you want to do when we return to the temple?”
With those words, the atmosphere completely loosened. Arpel moved his hand without avoiding Rohan, who was gently leaning on his shoulder. He stroked the round head, gently ran his fingers through the light brown hair…
Then, with a faint smile, he answered.
“Whatever you want to do.”
It felt like just yesterday that he was excited about leaving the temple, but now he was thinking about things he wanted to do upon returning. Perhaps because he knew that what was faintly etched on Rohan’s face was longing, the return journey felt somewhat new.
***
Until then, he had thought it would be a fairly peaceful journey back.
“Hah…”
A big sigh escaped from Rohan’s mouth. The transparent emotion permeating it seemed to prove all the hardships they had gone through so far.
<Are you tired?>
“No, it’s more like…”
I’m a little, no, very annoyed.
Arpel, who had transformed into a sword and was held in Rohan’s hand, closed his mouth. He wanted to comfort and soothe Rohan’s mood, but unfortunately, he didn’t have hands to console him right now. Suppressing his regret, he turned his gaze.
Masked figures, lightly dealt with by Rohan’s hand, were sprawled in front. They were all those who had just moments ago rushed at the carriage, launching a sudden attack.
Despite their brazen approach, their skills were ordinary. It meant they could be handled sufficiently without much effort. If you think about it that way, it might seem out of place for Rohan to express such anger, but…
The problem was that this was being repeated multiple times. This was exactly the fifth time. With predictably tedious attacks constantly blocking their path, his nerves were gradually wearing thin.
Moreover, there was one more thing that displeased him.
“Ugh…”
“You’re not going to move your hand?”
The fact that these people kept targeting Arpel.
One man who hadn’t yet breathed his last reached out with a trembling hand. Rohan gritted his teeth at the blatant movement trying to grasp the sword.
Eyes filled with a chilling killing intent stared at the man sprawled on the ground. Gripping the sword tightly, Rohan unhesitatingly plunged it into the man’s neck. Along with the light of life extinguished in an instant, the hand that had been suspended in the air also fell to the ground with a thud.
<Rohan.>
Even after extinguishing everyone’s breath, Rohan’s expression didn’t change. To be precise, he couldn’t relax his hardened face. Only when the hand gripping the sword tensed to the point of causing a small tremor did Arpel, who had been silently watching the situation, call out to him.
The fifth attack was over. After meticulously confirming that there were no remaining signs of life around, Arpel immediately changed his form.
Surrounded by a brief light, Arpel returned to human form and stood opposite Rohan. As if to catch his wavering gaze, he reached out and gently tapped near Rohan’s pale cheek.
The trembling lingering in Rohan’s eyes subsided slowly but surely. As if the cool warmth spreading on his cheek had soothed his anxious heart.
“Thank you for protecting me.”
Arpel whispered, facing Rohan whose agitation was gradually fading. Although it was a plain statement without any particular rhetoric, Rohan seemed more reassured by it than ever. Arpel had said those words precisely because he knew this fact.
Shortly after, the carriage carrying Arpel and Rohan started moving again. Suddenly looking out the window, Rohan recalled one by one the people who had attacked them so far.
Skills that were not exceptional in any way, attitudes that seemed desperate… even movements that seemed to target Arpel. Although he had searched the bodies of the dead, they were clean without a single clue, as if they had already known their fate.
However, Rohan could easily guess their affiliation.
‘Salvation Church…’
The behavior of jumping in like moths to a flame even knowing they would die, along with their eyes filled with madness. Such attitudes were things he had encountered countless times while destroying various branches of the Salvation Church.
Were they coming out in desperation now that they were cornered? He quietly bit his lip, suppressing the anger that suddenly welled up. He didn’t want to cause any more worry to Arpel, who would also be feeling his emotions.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
