Cantatien and Evian

Although it was called a double room, upon entering, it was clear that this was not originally a double room but a single room that had been converted.

The room’s width couldn’t be hidden, so it remained as it was, but a bed had been forcibly added, making it a cramped room that would clearly be uncomfortable to move around in.

There were two beds instead of one, and they weren’t even placed together but against opposite walls, which was at least fortunate for sleeping comfortably.

Instead, there was a properly built shower room, exactly as Yona wanted.

‘This atmosphere seems familiar, like I’ve seen it somewhere before…’

Alec thought as he looked around the room.

This sense of déjà vu made Alec recall that scene from the past.

The only difference was that Rubina was there then and not now, but it was clearly the same situation as back then.

“What are you doing not unpacking?”

Yona looked back at Alec while taking clothes out of her backpack, sorting out things that needed washing, things that could be left as is, things to throw away, and utensils that hadn’t been washed yet.

When out on an expedition, you can’t do these things, so when you get an inn room, you tend to do it all at once, and although some people do it themselves, most give a few copper coins to the inn’s servants to do it, so it’s convenient to gather everything beforehand like this.

“Ah, yeah. Right, I should do that.”

At Yona’s urging, Alec also slowly put down his backpack and started unpacking.

The tidying up is finished once the servant is called and given two copper coins along with the laundry and dishes to be washed.

The laundry won’t be back until tomorrow evening, so they’re inevitably stuck staying at this inn until then.

“Oh my, but it’s nice and soft.”

After sleeping on hard ground with just a sleeping bag for days, the whole body was aching and screaming, but lying down on a mattress stuffed full of straw was at least bearable.

Yona lay on the bed and stretched languidly.

If you listen to the noise coming from outside the window, you can hear the bustling voices of people from here and there.

Although the festival is the day after tomorrow, people already seem to have entered the festive mood, fully enjoying themselves with those sounds.

Yona, who had been lying on the mattress, suddenly sat up.

Alec, who had been sitting awkwardly, was startled when Yona suddenly got up and looked at her.

“Baldy, let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”

“Oh, yeah. Let’s do that.”

Alec smiled with an expression that anyone could see was awkward.

“Come on, let’s hurry. Quickly.”

Yona reached out first and grabbed Alec’s hand to pull him along.

Led by that hand, Alec stood up, and the two naturally held hands as they went down to the first floor via the stairs and sat at a table.

“Looks like there’s an adventurers’ guild here too.”

Yona whispered to Alec as she looked around.

Even before Yona spoke, Alec was already looking around, and there were quite a few people who looked exactly like adventurers, both in their attire and way of speaking.

Among them, Yona and Alec looked quite neat in comparison, to the extent that the others’ equipment maintenance and overall appearance were so unkempt that they seemed to be low-ranking adventurers without a doubt.

“I’m telling you, I really saw it. You know that Lizard Den up there? The pond coming down from there was dyed pitch black!”

“You mean that big pond?”

“Yeah! I definitely saw it, really. You know, that pond the Lizardmen cherish as the sacred place of the water deity!”

“Why is it black?”

“How should I know, kid?”

“You must have seen wrong. Maybe there was ink in your eyes making everything look black?”

At those words, the people around burst into loud laughter.

Only the man who had been seriously asserting this turned red-faced as if about to explode with anger, looking flustered and not knowing what to do.

“That’s a place humans can’t even enter, how could you have gone in? You need to say things that make sense.”

“That’s what I’m saying! It’s a place humans can’t enter, but I was able to go in! And the water was pitch black!”

“This guy, he’s still not sober. You passed out up there and got rescued, so you’re saying this because you’re embarrassed, right? Just drink, just drink.”

“I’m going crazy. It’s not like that!”

“Then is this outside, not inside? I said drink quickly.”

No one paid any attention to those words.

The Lizardmen’s sacred place, a deep pond that extends past Lizard Den and goes through one turn.

That pond is always full of clear blue waters, and it’s a place that always maintains its water level, never overflowing no matter how severe the drought or heavy the rain.

No one believed the fact that it had turned pitch black.

However, Yona couldn’t laugh off those words.

And Alec couldn’t laugh them off either.

They had already experienced several times phenomena that no one cared about or believed in.

As one of those, a demon resides in Yona’s left arm.

Thinking that this might be a harbinger of another troublesome event, Yona gulped.

Adventurers are basically people who move for money, and money was a value that took precedence over anything else.

For example, even if Bigrind were to warn about an impending disaster, unless it actually appears before their eyes, they wouldn’t realize its seriousness and would rather respond with “So how much will you pay?”—that’s the nature of the adventurer profession.

“The cathedral should provide some funding.”

Bigrind sighed, showing the still empty volunteer application forms.

Bishop Pobby, sitting across from her, sighed with his enormous body sunk into the sofa.

It was clearly an exaggerated sigh, obviously meant for Bigrind to hear.

“That’s not easy, Saint. As you know, this Evian diocese is an absurdly small diocese, isn’t it? The Kingdom of Lucasia, to which the diocese belongs, is always on a war footing due to its proximity to the Katus Empire, and the Marea Republic is always on the back burner. It’s truly difficult for such a small diocese to provide enough funding to hire adventurers.”

If Yona were here, she would have immediately retorted, suggesting he cut down on his food expenses instead, given his hateful tone of voice.

Although it was clearly an excuse, Bigrind couldn’t refute his words.

Being unfamiliar with the ways of the world and having rarely ventured outside of Evian while growing up, Bigrind could only assume that what Pobby was saying must be true.

The adventurers’ guild was also suffering greatly due to the fog that appeared in the Catacombs.

So the adventurers’ guild had provided funding, and thanks to that funding, some adventurers had volunteered.

However, after Rudvik interviewed them, all of those adventurers were rejected.

Rudvik’s words were that taking these people would only increase the number of corpses to clean up, and Bigrind didn’t argue with his words.

And she could only sigh at the cathedral’s outrageous behavior of absolutely not tolerating damage to the relics in the Catacombs while refusing to provide funding.

‘At this rate, I won’t have the face to meet the Hero…’

At this rate, they might really have to enter the Catacombs with just Rudvik and Bigrind, along with the cathedral’s priests and the Order of Knights.

Whatever is in there, it’s not an ordinary monster.

They’re guessing it’s probably not as severe as a demon, but that’s just a guess, and no one knows what’s really in there.

‘Even though the Hero is strong, he’s not invincible. If I could be of even a little help…’

As the Saint, as the closest companion to stand by the Hero’s side.

Consumed by the thought that she needed to show some usefulness, Bigrind could only resent Pobby, who kept refusing support with one excuse after another.

“Oh my, Saint. Were you here? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Rudvik burst through the door without even knocking.

Pobby glared at him with his eyes full of irritation, but that was only for a moment before it melted away like snow, replaced by welcoming warmth.

“Th-the He-Hero just suddenly…”

The priest who had been ordered to guard the door had apparently tried to stop Rudvik, as he stood awkwardly at the doorway, flustered.

Then, receiving Pobby’s gaze, he quickly straightened his posture, bowed his head, and left, closing the door.

“I wanted to give this news to the Saint first, but this is even better. Since the Bishop is here too.”

Rudvik plopped down on the sofa without even asking for the Bishop’s permission.

While doing so, he subtly shielded Bigrind from Pobby’s gaze.

“What news is it, Hero? Since you’ve come in so urgently, it must be good news.”

Pobby silently watched as Rudvik crossed his legs nonchalantly.

He also silently watched as mud that hadn’t fully dried fell from his boots, dirtying the red carpet.

“Well, it is good news. It’s the news that instead of the cathedral, which should be providing the most comprehensive support to me, Hero Rudvik, and Saint Bigrind, not giving a single coin in support, Viscount Cartein has lent us his knights.”

“What— Is that true?”

Pobby almost shouted, “What are you talking about?”

His lack of support for the Hero and Saint was quite intentional. Of course, he hadn’t openly said this to Viscount Cartein, but judging from how they had always shared opinions and proceeded until now, he thought the Viscount wouldn’t want the Hero and Saint to be active either.

So, the news that Viscount Cartein had lent knights like this was like a bolt from the blue.

At the very least, it was certain that Pobby alone would bear the stigma of reducing support for the Hero and Saint.

“It’s true. I said that if it can’t be resolved in Evian, we’d have no choice but to request support from the Kingdom of Lucasia. If I were to appear in the Kingdom of Lucasia, which is growling at the border with Katus, and demand troops… wouldn’t it cause a big problem for the security of the Capatia Empire?”

“So, you’re saying that when you said that, the Viscount lent you knights?”

“That’s right.”

Rudvik simply put his feet up on the table, boots and all.

Mud fell off, dirtying the table, but Pobby no longer had the luxury of caring about such things.

“He’s such a patriot that when I just mentioned that the Purification Knight Order country that checks Katus and the Kingdom of Lucasia might be weakened, he immediately lent us knights. Wow, that’s what you call a patriot, a true patriot.”

“I, I see.”

Pobby couldn’t understand Rudvik.

More precisely, he couldn’t understand how this foreigner knew about the political situation of the Northern Continent.

How on earth did he understand that the Katus Empire and the Capatia Empire were at odds, and that the Kingdom of Lucasia and the Purification Knight Order country were at the forefront of this?

Pobby couldn’t understand.

“This all happened because I did as our Saint instructed. The Saint is so wise, it’s as if she’s reading this entire grand plan.”

Rudvik said, shrugging his shoulders.

Pobby’s gaze turned to Bigrind, and Bigrind was at a loss for words.

It was Bigrind who had explained to Rudvik roughly how the relationships between countries on the continent were.

But it was just that level of explanation, the level that one learns in the cathedral.

So Bigrind was bewildered that he had understood that and managed to draw support.

But it was also an awkward position to say she hadn’t done it, so Bigrind kept her mouth shut.