Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Saint and the Orphanage

The next morning...

“Ah, Rentt and Lorraine. I got a message from the guild saying they wanted you there.”

As we were having breakfast, the innkeeper walked past us, leaving us with that brief notice.

“You think it’s from Jean?” I asked Lorraine. My mind had immediately jumped to him since he’d made such a strong impression on me yesterday.

Lorraine shook her head. “No, I doubt it. It’s probably about the other matter. You know, from a few days ago?”

“Oh! You’re right...”

I’d been confused for a moment when she’d said it wasn’t Jean, but then I quickly realized what she was talking about. It wouldn’t do to keep our client waiting, so we quickly scarfed down our breakfasts and left for the adventurer’s guild.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Welcome. It’s good to see you two,” the guild employee said. “Now, as for why we sent for you...”

“We know,” Lorraine replied. “Elza’s request, yes?”

“Ah, you’ve already talked to her? Yes, that’s exactly it. I must say, it’s terribly rare to receive a direct appointment from an abbess of the Church of the Eastern Sky, much less one who’s also a saint. I do hope you’ll see to the request with the utmost care.”

The guild employee sounded a touch nervous. I couldn’t see the need to feel that way, but then again, we’d met Elza in person. Maybe this was the normal reaction when dealing with a saint.

That’d qualify Lorraine to be a saint too then. Sadly, she wasn’t much of one, since the divine spirit that had blessed her had been pretty shabby. Or perhaps the competition was just too stiff. Being upper management in a religious entity that spanned the entire kingdom was kind of hard to beat.

“Of course,” Lorraine replied. “Are we picking her letter up here, or...?”

“No, you’re to accept it from her directly. I apologize for the inconvenience, but please go to the Ephas Abbey.”

It felt like we were being given the runaround, but I supposed that just spoke to the letter’s importance. In the first place, going through the guild for this let us earn merit to advance our classes. If anything, the abbess was working around us, so I had no right to complain.

Lorraine and I gave the guild employee a nod, and left for the Ephas Abbey.

◆◇◆◇◆

When we reached our destination, an elderly cleric came running over as soon as he saw us.

“Lorraine and Rentt, I presume?”

We nodded, and he continued.

“We’ve been awaiting you. Please, come in.”

He guided us smoothly inside and, unlike our previous visit, took us straight to the back. Elza must have instructed him to do so. He showed us to a familiar drawing room, bowed deeply, and left. After a brief lull, there came a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Lorraine said.

“Pardon me.” The door opened, revealing Abbess Elza. “It’s good to see you two again. Have you enjoyed your stay in the capital these past few days?”

We stood to greet her, and she beckoned us to sit back down, taking a seat for herself as she did so.

“I’m afraid we didn’t really get the chance,” I said. “Most of our time was spent working, so we had little to spare for strolling around the city.”

Augurey had been enthusiastic about taking jobs for us. Not that I was complaining, since the end result of his efforts was us getting a payday.

The jobs had bumped me past the requirements to take the Silver-class Ascension Exam too—something that would’ve taken me a decent amount of time to achieve otherwise, since I mostly took solo Bronze-class requests if left to my own devices. To nobody’s surprise, higher-ranked jobs came with more benefits.

“That’s a shame,” Elza said. “To tell the truth, I was wondering as to your whereabouts. I, in fact, wrote the letter a little while ago and informed the guild to contact me upon your return.”

That figured; writing a letter wouldn’t exactly take up a whole day. I felt bad we’d made her wait.

“About that,” I began. “I’m sorry we—”

Elza hurriedly shook her head, cutting me off. “Oh, no! It wasn’t my intention to criticize you! I’d simply heard tell of violent disturbances lately, so I was worried that you might have been implicated. I’m relieved to see you’re both okay!”

We had actually been implicated in a violent disturbance—almost died from it, even—but I wasn’t about to tell her that.

Or, wait, was Elza already aware of our circumstances and trying to bait us somehow?

No, that was too paranoid of me. The Church of the Eastern Sky was a vast religious entity that spanned Yaaran, but that hardly made them an all-seeing intelligence organization. And anyway, gathering information on the kingdom, nobles, or big-name merchants was all well and good, but I doubted intelligence on Lorraine and I was worth much.

Our skeletons in the closet aside, we were, for all intents and purposes, regular adventurers. Not the kind of movers and shakers who’d be involved in momentous events. Although, it was getting harder to say that by the day...

“Our apologies for worrying you,” Lorraine said. “But as you’ve seen, we’re hale and hearty. We’re returning to Maalt tomorrow too, so your letter came at the perfect timing.”

“My, tomorrow? Then you truly have lacked the time to see the city’s sights.”

“I’m afraid so. We do plan on spending the rest of the day going for a stroll though. We need to pick up some souvenirs for our friends in Maalt, and since one of them used to reside here, her requests were rather particular...to the point where I hope we don’t end up running in circles trying to fulfill them. Quite honestly, it’s enough to make me want to hire a guide.”

I was a little concerned too. Lorraine had been to the capital a number of times and had a rough grasp on the lay of the land, but Rina’s requests—as expected of a former local girl—had been highly specific. I didn’t know if we could get everything for her and our other friends in a single day.

Elza seemed to pick up on our unease, because after a moment’s consideration, she said, “My, my. Hmm. In that case, shall I be your guide around the city?”

◆◇◆◇◆

“You really think this is okay?” I asked.

Lorraine and I were standing in front of the Ephas Abbey, waiting.

She thought to herself for a moment, before saying, “No, not really. But if she says it is...”

I didn’t think that was very reassuring. What were we talking about, you ask? Well...

“Oh, there you are! I’m awfully sorry for the wait.”

From the vast entrance of the Ephas Abbey came...nobody. She actually stepped out of the small door to the side, her head on a swivel as she walked.

“She” was, of course, Abbess Elza Olgado, the person in charge of the very abbey she’d just left. She was dressed in the clothes not of the clergy, but of a regular pedestrian. They were a little out of fashion with the current trend in Yaaran, but they were simple and ubiquitous.

I was far too scared to ask what her actual age was, but in her current getup, she looked the perfect part of a young lady in her early twenties. Despite the fact that I was pretty sure she was in the same generation as Lillian. Which wasn’t to say Lillian was old—I genuinely thought she was on the younger side. It was just that her plumpness and motherly aura didn’t exactly scream “young” to the senses. If the two walked side by side, I thought they’d come off as similar in age.

“You were in there for quite a while,” Lorraine said. “Was everything okay?”

“Oh, I just...had a harder time giving them the slip than I expected. I left word that I’d be leaving though, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. Anyway, come on you two. We should hurry before they find us.”

Elza grabbed Lorraine and me by the hand and set off at a brisk walk.

Wait, “giving them the slip”? I was sure Lorraine and I were thinking the same thing right now.

That doesn’t sound good.

◆◇◆◇◆

“So...you shook off the clergy members who were looking high and low for you and snuck out of the abbey?”

Lorraine was holding her head while we walked, as though she were in pain. She sounded like she was in pain too.

“No, no, you’ve misunderstood me,” Elza replied. “I left a letter stating that I would be out on business for a brief time and did my best to ensure that I didn’t obstruct anybody’s work on my way out. I’m sure that everybody’s quite grateful for my consideration right about now.”

To me, that sounded an awful lot like “they’re agonizing right around now because they realized they abjectly failed to notice my brilliant escape plan.” I was tempted to say as much, but Elza seemed to know already, because she continued.

“Joking aside, it’s not uncommon for me to step out and go about the city alone from time to time. It’ll be fine. I’ve taken care of all my work, so my absence shouldn’t be missed.”

I took that to mean they’d be fine with it since she’d completed her responsibilities. Part of me was still unsure about this, but I was far from an expert on the inner workings of the Church of the Eastern Sky, so I decided to take her word for it.

“That’s good to hear then,” I said. “But, and I don’t mean to be rude, can we really count on you to be our guide around the city?”

Since she was in charge of managing the abbey, I figured there was a chance she wasn’t too familiar with the more ordinary parts of the city. Big shots didn’t get to go on many outings without their retinue. Her Highness the princess, for example, had likely never walked the streets alone. Just because Elza had been born and raised here didn’t necessarily mean she could play the part of guide.

However, Elza said, “Trust me. We’ll be fine. I practically lived on these streets as a child. I know them better than anybody...except perhaps Lillian.”

“Lillian’s from the capital too?” Lorraine asked.

Elza mulled it over for a bit. “More or less, yes. We were childhood friends, her and I. Always together since we were little. And though the timing was slightly different, we chose the same path in life too.”

So the two were of a similar age. That aside though, I was impressed that two childhood friends had both turned out to be saints. Divinity was considerably rare—not that I’d felt that recently, since I’d been running into its wielders like I was at a divinity bargain sale. Two close friends both being blessed with it barely ever happened. I couldn’t talk though, given Lorraine and I both had it. But in our case, it was mostly that the divine spirit who’d blessed us had been the sloppy type. Weak too. Whatever Elza and Lillian had was unmistakably more impressive than ours.

I was about to ask more about their childhood, but Elza spoke up before I could.

“Oh, come to think of it, where did you want to go? I haven’t asked yet.”

I suspected it had been on purpose, and Lorraine was looking at me and shaking her head too. I didn’t feel the need to press the issue, so I gave up on asking my question and handed Elza the small notebook Rina had given us.

It would technically be classified as a dubious tome penned by an undead, but at least no evil spirits would come rushing out to attack when you opened it. I’d already checked the contents and confirmed there was nothing in there that was problematic. Unless you counted the sketches of skeletons and vampires scattered throughout it.

“This is rather...blasphemous. A hobby of the two of yours?”

“Definitely not.”

“No way.”

Both of us denied it, but while Lorraine might have gotten away with that, I was wearing a skull mask, so I didn’t really have a leg to stand on. Elza stared at me, and I had to avert my eyes.

It was my loss.

“Not that I mind, really,” she said. “That aside, these instructions are quite detailed. It will take us until evening to get to all of these places.”

So even with a born and bred city girl’s help, it’d take some time. I wasn’t too bothered though. We had the whole day free. If there was a problem, it would be...

“We’re fine with that, but are you?” I asked. “Do you have the time?”

“It’s no problem at all. There is one place I’d like to stop by after we’re done though. Could I ask you to accompany me?”

In all likelihood, she didn’t need us, but she’d volunteered to be our guide and we had no reason to refuse, so we agreed.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Oh, I couldn’t. Are you sure? This is so much!”

“Go ahead. Consider it a thank you for helping us out. Though, I’m not sure this really makes up for it...”

“It’s plenty! Thank you! I’ll dig right in!”

With eyes sparkling so brightly you’d think they were a pair of stars, Elza pressed her hands together and then got to work—by which I meant the task of single-mindedly ferrying what was in front of her into her mouth.

We were at a confectionary shop that apparently had a reputation for the deliciousness of its treats. I say “apparently” because we were here based on the information Rina had given us. It was a secluded, hole-in-the-wall establishment, but all the cakes were exquisitely handmade by the shopkeeper.

Rina wanted treats from here as a souvenir, but she’d written that it would be impossible to preserve them, so we shouldn’t go to the trouble. The note had read as extremely reluctant though, so Lorraine had sighed and purchased some anyway. With her storage magic, she could keep perishable food fresh for a week. She’d said it wasn’t very practical since it used a lot of mana, but this was a special case. After all, Rina was kind of her pupil too, and probably seemed every bit as adorable to her as Alize. I could sympathize with the feeling.

Elza had never heard of this shop before, and after she’d been given a sample as a taste test, she’d proclaimed to be delighted at the new discovery.

She’d said she wanted to have a proper meal here, so as thanks for her being our guide, we’d seated ourselves in the dining area and offered to treat her. She’d hemmed and hawed over the wide selection of cakes for a while, but after we’d told her she could have as many as she wanted, she’d ordered seven.

Weren’t restraint and abbesses meant to go hand in hand? Actually, in the first place, it had to be some kind of sin that an abbess of the Church of the Eastern Sky lost herself to gluttony and sugary temptation, but when I brought the topic up to ask her...

“Lying to oneself is what the Angel hates the most. As long as there is no lie in my heart when I say I wish to eat cake, then I may eat cake.”

I got a self-serving excuse as an answer. What was the world coming to, if this was an abbess? From the look on Lorraine’s face, she was pondering the question as deeply as I was.

“Whew! I’m full to bursting. I think I could still fit a little more...but I’ll save the ones I didn’t try as something to look forward to the next time I come here!” Elza patted her stomach and sipped at her remaining tea.

She reminded me of a very pleased-with-itself raccoon dog.

“So long as you’re satisfied, I suppose...” Lorraine murmured. “Very well. Shall we call it a day? The sun’s beginning to set.”

Elza straightened as though she’d recalled something. “Oh, there’s still one more thing to do. You said you’d accompany me, remember?”

So she remembered. I thought she’d fall for Lorraine’s trap, go with the flow, and leave.

Lorraine smiled. “You’re right. Could I ask where we’re going, though? You haven’t told us.”

“You’ll find out when we get there—it’ll be a surprise. Oh, hold on, I’m going to buy some more cakes as gifts. I’ll purchase them myself this time. Thank you again for treating me, by the way.”

“Gifts?” I asked.

I wondered who she could be giving them to, but it didn’t seem like she was going to answer me. The most likely candidate was whoever we were about to pay a visit to, but she was buying a lot of cakes.

“Where do you think we’re going?” I whispered to Lorraine.

“Hell if I know. We’ll find out when we get there.”

She looked drained. Probably because of Elza and how very much not like an abbess she was being. Lorraine wasn’t even bothering to speak formally. Then again, we’d decided as we left the abbey earlier that it was more natural to be casual outside anyway. We’d had to mind our manners while we were inside though, or risk coming off as disrespectful. Strangely, Elza was highly respected in the Church.

“Sorry for the wait! Let’s go!”

Having finished her purchases, the mountain of cakes in her arms made Elza look like a young mother holding too many children. I could already feel the dirty looks I’d get on the street if I left her to her own devices.

“I’ll carry those,” I said, taking the cakes from her.

“Oh! I’m really okay...but if you’re offering...” Elza smiled, and her absentmindedness vanished in favor of an almost tangible maternal benevolence.

I guessed she wasn’t a saint for nothing. The “saint” I was more familiar with, on the other hand...

“Hmm? Is there something on my face?” Lorraine tilted her head at me.

“No... Okay, let’s get going.”

◆◇◆◇◆

“We’re here!”

Our destination was an open space deep into the alleyways of the city. There was an old but tranquil building there, lit up so refreshingly bright that it drove back the gloomy atmosphere of the surrounding alleys.

A number of kids were playing out in front.

“Is this...?”

Before I could finish my question, one of the kids noticed Elza and ran straight for her.

“It’s Elza!”

He leaped and clung to her when he reached her, and all the other kids followed suit. In moments, she was practically buried under them. I thought her slender limbs wouldn’t be able to support them, but to my surprise, she planted herself firmly on the ground.

Apparently, she was used to this.

“Hey, everyone. Have you been well?”

A chorus of yeses came from the kids.

“I’m glad to hear that. Guess what? I brought you gifts today! Could you all let Sister Mel know that I’m here?”

“Mm-kay! Let’s go, everyone!”

A boy who seemed to be the leader of the group led everyone inside the building—an old church, from the look of it—in an energetic scramble.

“This is an orphanage, isn’t it?” Lorraine asked.

Elza nodded. “Yes, it is. Lillian and I grew up here.”

◆◇◆◇◆

A short while after watching the kids dash inside, Elza turned to us. “Shall we go in?”

She’d probably decided it would be faster than waiting to be greeted. Since she seemed to be familiar with the cleric who ran the orphanage, at least we wouldn’t be barging in as complete strangers.

Elza had been raised here a long time ago, and now that she was abbess, she had another, different kind of connection to the place. She had to be quite comfortable here. That was what I’d gathered from what she’d said, at any rate, along with the general mood.

“Sure,” Lorraine and I said, and we went inside.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Whoa?!”

Upon entering, I abruptly got a faceful of something large and heavy. I’d considered dodging out of the way, but my decision had come too slow since whatever it was didn’t seem hostile. It had also been faster than I’d anticipated.

I wondered what it was. I adjusted my head to look, and—

Pant. Pant. Lick. Lick.

Hot breath hit my mask along with a wet tongue. Strangely, I didn’t feel grossed out. I’d been caught by the tongue of a common gigantes rana before—a giant frog, basically—and this ranked way above that experience.

Its tongue had been extremely sticky, and I hadn’t been able to escape no matter how hard I thrashed about. Eventually, I’d been rescued by a stronger Bronze-class adventurer whom I’d been partied with at the time.

Frog-species monsters were fearsome, despite their comical appearances, and there were theories they’d once been priests in the service of the gods a long time ago. Take them lightly, and they’d make a light meal of you...by licking you to death. What an awful way to go.

Anyway, moving on. Something was licking my face.

“Hey, hey! Pochi! Down, boy!” a gentle voice said.

The large creature backed off from me, and I got my first clear look at it.

“A dog...?”

It was a dog with long white fur. It was huge too—in terms of size, it had Lorraine and me beat. Maalt’s guildmaster Wolf came to mind. Yeah, it was about as big as him.

And yet its eyes were friendly and pure. Kind, even. It was adorable. For the record, I was a dog person more than a cat person, so it was no wonder I found it cute. In case you were wondering, Lorraine, like most adventurers, was a cat person. They were less work to take care of, and in some cases, cat-species monsters that were friendly with humans could even make for useful partners.

Meanwhile, dogs were...extreme. There were the obedient breeds that could live happily in a family home, but they had little fighting ability, so if that was what you were after, you’d have to go for the high-ranking monster species.

There was no in between. It was a bit of a frustrating problem, but if you could gain one’s loyalty, it would follow you until the day you died, no matter what. There was a sense of security in that.

Cat-species monsters, on the other hand, were fickle, and would abandon you at the first sign of trouble. Either choice left you with a mixed bag of problems and blessings.

A young woman stood by the dog, peering at me and looking concerned.

“Who might you be?” I asked.

Unlike Elza, she was clearly a genuine young person.

“Hey.” Elza glared at me, but it only lasted a moment.

Had she read my mind?

“Are you okay?” the young woman asked. “I’m sorry about Pochi. He’s usually very docile...”

Hmm. She had a gentle demeanor, a calm air, and a neat and maidenly appearance. Taking everything into account, it would be fair to describe her as a very splendid young lady. She was a little off the mark from my type, but if you asked any group of guys whether they’d want to court her, you’d get an almost one hundred percent thumbs-up rate, Rentt Faina guarantee. The remaining guys would put up a front and say, “Sure, I guess, but only if she confesses first.”

We men are stupid like that.

Shaking myself free of silly thoughts, I said, “Are you...sure it’s a dog?”

“You know, I’m honestly not quite sure.”

“Not sure...?”

“Well, he’s just been with us since forever. Since before I came here, even, which was over twenty years ago. He’s lived too long to be a normal dog...so he’s probably a species of monster.”

Ah, so that was what she’d meant. Since I was undead, I’d stopped paying much attention to that kind of thing, but regular animals—creatures with hardly any mana—usually had very fixed life spans. It was generally proportionate to their size within their species. Mammals, for example, tended to live longer the larger they were. This wasn’t a hard rule though, and a lot of exceptions existed. Whales lived over a century and dogs around fifteen years, but I’d heard medium-sized dogs lived longer, and that some birds could make it to seventy or eighty, despite their size.

It was a field of study that was ripe for a biologist to harvest. How long one could extend one’s life was the eternal question on the minds of living things everywhere.

On the other hand, when it came to monsters... Well, I doubted I had anything like a “natural life span.” I was undead. Still, even if I wasn’t, monsters tended to live longer than animals on the whole.

It was said that mana prolonged a creature’s life, but the reality was that it was uncertain.

Fanatical scholars had bred animals in mana-dense environments, injected their blood with mana-dense liquids, and conducted all kinds of mad experiments. Lorraine had done some of that herself. However, despite many such trials being carried out through history, the current prevailing answer was still “results undetermined.”

In the end, nothing was known about the definitions separating people, animals, and monsters.

If you told that to a scholar, they’d attempt to prove you wrong by pointing out differences here, commonalities there, that kind of thing. But though their faces would grow red and their voices would become scathing as they pointed to obvious scientific research and evidence, their theories wouldn’t hold up for a decade before being proven wrong.

This process had been repeated dozens, hundreds of times over history. So what were monsters, really? Nobody knew. But something told me that this huge “dog” which had lived healthily for over twenty years was one.

“Woof, woof!”

[Hello!]

So you could understand my shock when it began talking to me.

◆◇◆◇◆

Did the dog just talk? Technically speaking, I supposed it was actually a dog-species monster. But even then, it was strange that it talked. Civilization wasn’t unheard of among monsters; goblin species established settlements and occasionally even learned human speech.

It stood to reason that humanoid monsters also had humanoid organs, so if they made the effort to talk, they probably could. Aside from myself, Isaac and Laura would also fit in that category. Nevertheless, matters were different when it came to animalistic monsters. Only the higher-ranked ones were capable of speech.

It was said that, in such cases, they either used their own vocal cords or spoke through an ability called telepathy.

The one in front of me—Pochi, was it?—had clearly barked like a dog vocally, but...I wondered which method he’d used.

Surprised, I said, “Did anyone else just...?”

“Hmm? Is something the matter?” the young woman who’d stopped Pochi earlier asked.

“Well, yeah, I mean... Hmm?”

From her reaction, she didn’t seem to have noticed the dog talking. Had it just been me?

“Rentt,” Lorraine said. “For the time being, why don’t we introduce ourselves first?”

So it hadn’t just been my imagination.

There was a lot of power in the phrase “for the time being.” It would have sounded normal to everyone else, but I’d picked up on the hidden implication. That we could communicate like this just went to show how long Lorraine and I had known each other. She’d heard the dog speak too.

“You’re right,” I said. “Where are my manners? I’m Rentt, and this is Lorraine. We make a living as adventurers.”

I left “And you are?” unsaid, but the young woman with a firm grasp on the dog recognized the cue.

“I’m Mel Patiche, the director of Vistelya’s Third Orphanage, which is where we are now. This is Pochi. And these are...”

She looked at the kids, and they began to introduce themselves, one by one.

There were more than a dozen of them, but I managed to remember their names...or at least, I thought I did. It was an invaluable skill for an adventurer. If you couldn’t get a handle on it, you’d be in trouble whenever you joined up with a random party for a job.

It went without saying that Lorraine had learned the kids’ names by heart within moments. She was nothing like me, who struggled to memorize mnemonics. Sometimes, I wished she’d share some of her brains with me.

“And I’m Elza Olgado,” Elza said, concluding the introductions. “Though, you already knew that. Now, come on everyone, I brought gifts. There’s enough for everybody.”

She pointed the kids toward the stacks of cakes, which had at some point transferred from my arms to Lorraine’s. They immediately surrounded her and began taking them from her hands as though they were bandits robbing her of all her worldly possessions.

“Even bandits would show more consideration,” Lorraine muttered after they were done. Her hair was tousled and her breathing was ragged.

She was joking, of course. Real bandits would be in for a nasty surprise if they attacked her. Nevertheless, she’d been mobbed so enthusiastically that the comparison had been appropriate.

The kids that had swept over Lorraine like a storm disappeared elsewhere with their spoils.

“I think they’re headed for the kitchen,” Elza explained. “They’ll bring some back out for us, with tea too.”

That they went to prepare the food showed that they were fairly used to this. I wondered if Elza always dropped by with gifts.

“What’s the occasion today, Sister Elza?” Mel asked. “You don’t have any companions with you.”

I figured she wasn’t including Lorraine and me in that because we’d introduced ourselves as adventurers.

Elza was an abbess. Her companions would obviously be clerics and attendants from the Church of the Eastern Sky. Most adventurers were rough around the edges, so they’d never make the cut to become an attendant of a member of the nobility or clergy. Bodyguards, sure, but then the client would still need their attendants.

That was especially true for a high-ranking member of the clergy like Elza. Nonetheless, she was currently unaccompanied. No wonder Mel found this strange.

“If I’d brought them, they would’ve never stopped nagging me about the time,” Elza said. Then she grinned. “Just kidding, of course. I just wanted to bring these two here today. They’re acquaintances of Lillian from Maalt.”

“What? Really?!” Mel turned to us. “How is Sister Lillian? I write to her, but she never replies.”

Elza had said something similar.

Lillian hadn’t replied to Elza because she’d been dispatched to the frontier due to a power struggle in Vistelya’s Church of the Eastern Sky. If she’d written back, it could have meant trouble for Elza. The same likely applied to Mel too.

“That’s not a concern anymore,” Elza said. “Lillian has regained her strength. She even sent me a letter.”

Elza held out the letter we’d brought from Maalt to Mel, whose eyes widened before she reached out to touch it.

“It feels familiar...” Mel murmured.

“Lillian’s divinity is in it,” Elza explained. “Most of it faded after I opened it, but there’s still a little left.”

“Really? Thank goodness she’s well. Does this mean she’ll be returning eventually?”

“I’m...not sure. But should she choose to, nobody would be able to object anymore. And even if she doesn’t want to return, she’d be free to come and go for visits. I’m sure you’ll see her again.”

“Oh, I can’t wait!” Mel hugged the letter to herself.

She seemed to adore Lillian, and I found myself curious. I wondered what their story was.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Mel came to this orphanage as a child just before Lillian left for the church,” Elza explained. “After joining the clergy, both Lillian and I still made regular visits here to help out. Mel’s something of a sister to us, or maybe a daughter.”

So Lillian, Elza, and Mel were essentially sisters. In which case, they must have felt terribly sad about not being able to keep in contact.

Since Lillian’s orphanage was under the authority of the Church of the Eastern Sky and Elza held quite a high position, the latter could check whether the former was still alive any time she wanted. But that was nothing compared to seeing that your sister was okay with your own two eyes.

Elza wouldn’t be able to go to a remote area like Maalt, and Mel wouldn’t be able to leave her duties at the orphanage. Unlike the Church of Lobelia, the Church of the Eastern Sky didn’t have deep pockets. The number of orphanage employees they could maintain was limited. And while Eastern Sky clerics were beloved in Yaaran and the people assisted them in all manner of ways, there was some orphanage work that outsiders couldn’t handle.

Making the trip to see Lillian would mean leaving the orphanage unattended for weeks. Maalt wasn’t exactly close to Vistelya. Lorraine and I could make the trip in an instant via teleportation circles, and part of me really wanted to help the sisters, but there was too much risk of the secret getting out. Elza herself seemed trustworthy, but she was a high-ranking member of the Church of the Eastern Sky. I couldn’t discount the possibility that she’d be willing to put the church’s benefit first if the time ever came.

“It’s a shame Lillian didn’t write you a letter too, if you’re that close,” I said. “Not that I don’t appreciate your circumstances. And Lillian herself was pretty sick until recently, anyway.”

Mel’s expression grew concerned. “What? I-Is Sister Lillian okay?”

“We’ve told Elza already, but she had Accumulative Miasma Disease. Not anymore, though. She’s okay now.”

“Isn’t that quite difficult to cure? If I remember right, you need...”

“Dragon Blood Blossoms, yeah. I picked some for her, and a great herbalist turned it into medicine for her. She’s in the clear now, up and about and running the orphanage.”

“Really?! Then Sister Lillian’s in your debt, which means I am too! Thank you, Rentt!”

“No, well...”

It really wasn’t that big a deal. The request had been a good experience for me, and it was how I’d met Isaac, and then Laura. Maybe I’d have come across them at a later time regardless, but who knows what kind of trouble I’d have run into if I hadn’t met them early on? It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I was who I was today because I’d taken Alize’s request.

I turned to Elza. “That aside, did you bring us here so we could talk about Lillian?”

“Yes. I was wondering if you’d be willing to tell us about her life in Maalt. I could have asked you earlier, but I wanted Mel to be here too.” Elza smiled. “Also, I wanted you to help carry the shopping.”

I was pretty sure that last part had been a joke. Maybe her true thoughts had leaked in a little though. It definitely would have been tough for her to carry all those cakes alone. Less because of the weight, and more because of the bulk.

“Sure, I can tell you about Lillian,” I said. “Lorraine can too.”

She’d taken Alize as her apprentice too, so Lorraine had her own relationship with Lillian. She’d occasionally donate surplus magic items and potions, stuff like that. There was a good chance she saw Lillian more than I did.

“I’d be happy to,” Lorraine said.

We spent a while chatting happily about Lillian. It wasn’t just us—Elza and Mel joined in with stories about her time as a child at this orphanage, as well as her time in the church. However, the topic of why Lillian had been driven out of the capital was never broached. I supposed it was an internal church matter.

According to Elza and Mel, Lillian had been quite active as a girl, to the point she’d basically made them her lackeys. At the same time, she’d been a caring older sister that everybody in the orphanage had loved.

I’d sensed that at Maalt’s orphanage too. When you were inside, it felt like you couldn’t disobey her. The kids never acted out against her either. These days, she was always mild-mannered and friendly, and it seemed as though her rascal side was gone, but maybe the kids had sensed it still lurking inside her.

After a pleasant time spent laughing and chatting...

“I think we’ll have to call it a day. Oh, and I completely forgot. Here.”

Elza produced a letter from her breast pocket and held it out to me. It was firmly sealed and gave off a faint aura of divinity. It was no surprise, but Elza had sealed her letter just as Lillian had.

That meant they’d find out if I opened it to take a look. Not that I would, so they really didn’t need to go to the bother.

Sniff. Sniff.

Pochi, who had been lying down behind Mel doing his best couch impression, had gotten up and was sniffing the letter. I watched him, wondering what had caught his attention, but evidently a few sniffs had been enough to satisfy him.

“Woof, woof.”

[Good.]

I knew I hadn’t just been imagining things.

“You don’t have to worry yourself so much, Pochi,” Elza said. “My seals aren’t so easy to break.”

“Woof?”

[You think?]

“I do.”

Was it just me, or were they having a conversation? Some of my doubt must have shown on my face, because Elza suddenly spoke to me next.

“I knew it. You can hear him, can’t you, Rentt?”

◆◇◆◇◆

“H-Hear wh-wh-what?”

I trembled as I spoke, because I’d just seen something extremely shocking. That was why I was stammering too. Yep, I was definitely shocked at—

“You can drop the act,” Elza said calmly. “I’m talking about Pochi’s words. You understand him, right?”

I sighed. “I guess. I thought it was my imagination, but apparently not. How can a dog talk...?”

I’d tried to play dumb when she’d first asked me, but one look at her gaze had told me it wasn’t going to work. Despite seeming irresponsible, she really was a high-ranking clergy member when it counted. I knew a lost battle when I saw one.

As for my ridiculous act, I’d thought a little goofiness would be fine since things didn’t seem like they were going to get heavy, and I’d also wanted to draw attention away from Lorraine, since Elza seemed to have noticed only me.

In fact, Lorraine was utterly composed. Her mildly curious expression screamed, “Oh, whatever is going on? I’m not quite sure.” What an actress.

“Um, is something wrong? What do you mean ‘Pochi’s words’?”

As for Sister Mel, she looked genuinely clueless.

I’d thought she could hear Pochi too, but maybe I’d been wrong. In which case, what separated those who could and those who couldn’t?

Elza turned to Mel. “I’ve been telling you since forever, haven’t I? Pochi can talk. Only Lillian and I could ever hear him though.”

“What?! That was real? I thought you two were just teasing me...”

Oh, that made sense. It wasn’t that Mel hadn’t known, but that she hadn’t believed them. Family messed with each other wherever you went. Getting tricked into believing a tall tale by a parent, sibling, or another relative only for them to come to you later and say “Got you!” was exactly what Mel had thought was happening here.

“That dog can talk!” was the textbook example of a lie like that. Eventually, Mel would’ve started rolling her eyes and brushing it off, saying, “The usual, huh? Sure, sure.” It was a ritual as old as time.

“Sure, I teased you about other things, but never about Pochi. He really can talk.” Elza leaned her ear toward Pochi. “Hmm, what was that?”

“Woof, woof, woof woof, bark. Bark bark, bark bark, woof woof woof. Woof.”

[Get this. Mel snuck some sweets for herself the other day, and then later on she got worried about whether she’d put on weight. Isn’t that hilarious?]

I felt guilty that I could hear all of this. Also, wow, this dog had a bit of a twisted personality, didn’t he?

“Mel,” Elza said, “you should stop sneaking sweets for yourself. Also, you haven’t gained weight. You’re just...a little rounder.”

Mel looked aghast. “H-How do you know that?! I made sure nobody saw me! Only— Wait, Pochi?! It was you?! You can really...?!”

I took the yelling to mean that she finally believed what Elza had been trying to tell her for years.

Mel grabbed Pochi’s face. “Was it you who told them about the other thing too?! Remember?! I’d never told anybody about it, but somehow Elza and Lillian knew anyway!”

She was interrogating Pochi ruthlessly. You’d never think she was the director of the orphanage with the way she was acting. The initial gentle and maidenly demeanor she’d had was completely gone. Or maybe that was just a testament to how frantic she felt. It was hard to tell.

Ignoring the ongoing dispute between dog and orphanage director, Elza turned to Lorraine and me. “There you have it. Pochi can talk, but only some people can hear him. From this orphanage, it was only ever Lillian and I. Do you know why?”

I honestly didn’t have an answer for her. There were a number of points in common between Elza and me, but that got messier when you added Lorraine into the mix.

Actually, I did have one idea that seemed likely. However, it would mean spilling my own secrets, so I decided to give a wrong answer on purpose.

“Was it when you two became clerics of the church?”

“That’s...close, but not quite it. I don’t think dragging this out would do any good, so I’ll just tell you. It’s because—”

“Hey! Why am I the only one who can’t hear you?! Pochi! I’ve been with you way longer than Sister Elza and Sister Lillian! Who do you think feeds you, hmm?! And I’ve always been the one to give you baths since I was little! So why?!” Mel was getting more and more heated, clinging to Pochi as she aired out all her grievances.

Pochi looked extremely fed up. He glanced at me, then made eye contact with Eliza.

Eliza sighed, thought for a moment, and said, “I suppose there’s nothing for it. This was going to happen one day anyway. I’ve climbed quite high in the church, and Lillian’s back too. We should be able to deal with the consequences.”

She turned to Pochi and nodded.

Just as I was beginning to wonder what was happening, Pochi suddenly began to glow faintly. The light was tranquil, pure...and familiar.

When Lorraine saw it, she murmured, “Rentt. That’s divinity.”

I realized she was right. It was never very strong when I used it myself, and I’d taken to hiding even that ever since I’d learned how to, so these days mine was invisible. The last time I’d seen divinity on this scale was that saint who’d come to Maalt and showed off her healing magic as a form of advertisement.

I’d seen Nive’s divinity too, but hers didn’t really shine. Probably because she was well practiced with it.

But was this dog doing what I thought it was doing? After a short time, the light transferred to Mel and was absorbed into her.

“Woof?”

[How is it?]

Mel opened her eyes. “I-I can hear him! I can hear Pochi!” Then she hugged him.

Elza watched them as she said, “There you go. Pochi’s...what people would call a divine, or sacred, beast, which makes him akin to divine spirits. Only those who have received the blessing of divinity can hear him. That includes you, doesn’t it, Rentt?”