Good Friends (14)

[Sister Ashuria.]

At that time, Ashuria finished her prayer and stood up. She brushed off the straw and dirt from her knees, stretched, and then sat down next to me again before answering.

[What is it?]

[Will you pray like this even on the land of the Empire people?]

Ashuria tilted her head as if wondering why I was asking such a thing and said:

[Of course. The deaths of Empire people are deaths too.]

[So, even if there’s a tremendous sinner among the Empire people, will you pray for their death?]

[I can pray even for pagans, but I can’t give you a definite answer because I can’t gauge the tremendous sin you’re talking about. God is fair and just, but I, who act on His behalf, am shamefully not a perfect and fair being.]

---

They said Ashuria was taken away by guards after assaulting a priest who exercised his right to remain silent during the trial, claiming he knew nothing. The priest hit by Ashuria’s fist was urgently treated on the spot, but it was said he was showing abnormal symptoms due to the impact to his head that couldn’t be healed.

Ashuria’s position as a nun was immediately suspended.

“Fool.”

Lena frowned and said that upon hearing the news. Mille shook her head and asked me:

“It doesn’t make sense that they arrested her for hitting a bad person.”

“Well, Ashuria isn’t free from this issue either.”

Lena said that while scratching her head. As she said, Ashuria couldn’t escape from this incident. Wasn’t she the woman who retired as a heresy inquisitor after being involved in a violent incident? If someone were to dig around looking for faults, she was a person who would certainly have parts that could be problematic.

Lena asked the hero, who was rubbing his chin at the opposite table:

“Hero. So what are you going to do? Ashuria’s been taken away by the guards. You’re not just going to save someone else instead, right?”

“I don’t want anyone but Ashuria.”

Mille said firmly. Lena nodded at those words and added:

“If such things happened in the church, anyone who comes in will be similar. Could someone better than Ashuria come?”

The hero looked at me. I nodded and said to the hero:

“I also think it’s better if Sister Ashuria comes. Haven’t we been together for a long time? It would take too long to get in sync again.”

The hero sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. Then he said:

“…For now, I think we need to see what happens next.”

Even as the hero, he’s not in an extralegal position. In a way, Ashuria’s fate had left our hands.

---

Several more days passed like that. Ashuria was in prison, and the church false accusation case was still ongoing. It was revealed that quite a few people, including priests, heresy inquisitors, and corrupt local lords, had been involved in this false accusation case and had been profiting from it, and that there were several more victims besides those testifying.

“What about Ashuria?”

“She wants to be punished herself, but it seems like it’s giving the court a headache.”

Despite her background as a former heresy inquisitor, public sentiment towards Ashuria was currently good. This was because she had personally brought the victims to the capital, and the victims were demanding leniency for Ashuria.

Hitting a priest in court, even if justified, is a serious crime that should be severely punished.

However, immediately punishing a capable person who is a member of the hero’s party and needs to continue carrying out operations was also a considerable burden for the court.

At other times, they could have suspended the punishment and then, when everything was over, let it pass without compensation or punishment. But in this case, they couldn’t use such an expedient method. It was because her own will was firm. The hero scratched his head and continued:

“…It seems Ashuria thinks it’s better for her to stay in prison, but… what should we do.”

Lena frowned and said:

“What’s that about? That’s too irresponsible. Is she going to stop catching demons with us like this? Is she telling us to find a new person?”

“When I talk to her, she just keeps apologizing, so I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t want anyone but Ashuria…”

Mille grumbled. Lena added:

“She’s not even listening to the hero. What can we do?”

“I know…”

The hero trailed off. Perhaps within the “sorry” that the hero summarized were many conversations. The emotions she felt while working in the hero’s party, the admonitions she had spoken to others, all of it must have come back as guilt, leaving her unable to move.

Sin is like a swamp. When faced with the consequences, people freeze up. It takes a long time to escape from that sense of powerlessness alone. Either finding an escape or pulling oneself out.

I didn’t want to wait for that.

We didn’t have that kind of time.

I carefully nodded to the hero. The hero noticed my signal and nodded, going outside. Lena and Mille were sprawled out with dejected looks on their faces. I naturally followed the hero out and said as I closed the door:

“I’ll try talking to her.”

“You, old man?”

“Don’t we have a lot in common? I’ll talk to her somehow and try to get her to cheer up again.”

The hero stared at me. She smiled as she tucked her hair behind her ear and said:

“…I’m always getting help from you. I wanted to do it myself this time.”

I’ve always lived receiving help from the hero too. As much as the hero feels sorry towards me, I too only wanted to repay the many helps I’ve received from the hero.

“Don’t we each have different things we can do? I’m the person who carries luggage, and you’re the role that leads everyone. If I bring Sister Ashuria back, you lead us.”

The hero carefully extended her hand. Fingers calloused from gripping the sword. I grasped her hand in return and nodded. The hero’s face reddened, and her hand brushed the back of mine. The rough parts touched each other, making a rustling sound, and shadows fell in the corridor.

The hero said:

“Take care, old man. I’ll explain things here.”

“Yes, Hero.”

Coincidentally, the sun outside was covered by clouds. Our figures disappeared along with the shadows as the corridor darkened.

---

The atmosphere of prisons was the same no matter where you go in the world. The Empire’s prisons weren’t gloomier, nor were the kingdom’s prisons brighter. When I opened the door, the guards bowed their heads in greeting, and Ashuria was sitting in a corner of the prison.

Her face looked haggard even in the darkness, and her black hair and black eyes emphasized the shadows, making her look even more gloomy. Ashuria ran her arm down her body and asked:

“…Why did you come? I should have said everything I needed to say to the hero.”

I sat down on the chair placed opposite her. Blue walls and black bars. The prison was enveloped in navy-colored air as no light entered. I looked at her and said:

“I came to ask you to come with us.”

Ashuria looked at me again. She shook her head and said:

“…Don’t you despise me? I am that sinner I always talked about. I tortured innocent people and took pleasure in killing them. And finally, I laid hands on a priest and fell into the abyss.”

“Everyone is a sinner. There’s no one anywhere who can be blameless in the face of sin. Me, Lena, everyone is like that.”

“Isn’t it different? I… I can’t accept the fact that I pretended to be righteous. I can’t accept the fact that I was dragging people to hell and participating in this evil. I acted noble while calling others sinners, but in reality, I was committing wicked deeds while in the embrace of the devil.”

“Are you going to just sit here like this then? We have a task. Orders will come down soon. We will advance towards the demons. Where are we supposed to find someone like you, Sister Ashuria, who is well-versed in both civil and military affairs?”

Ashuria’s face contorted. She was a woman with more expressive features than expected. She finally turned away from me and turned her back.

“I would be grateful if you could tell Lena I’m sorry. I should face my sins and move forward, but I just can’t. I don’t have the face to see you or Mille. You can think I’m selfish. But how could I walk around with my head held high as a member of the hero’s party? I will be a flaw for the hero as well.”

“We need you.”

Ashuria’s shoulders trembled. But she didn’t move. It seemed she had no intention of turning her head until I left.

The sound of sniffling and slender arms.

Ashuria didn’t try to unburden her heart but hugged herself even tighter. As if she might run away somewhere if she didn’t.

She was just hoping for me to leave quickly.

Because no one likes to show themselves crying.

But I couldn’t back down here. I grabbed the iron bars and said:

“Didn’t you promise? That you would go to the Empire’s capital together.”

Ashuria didn’t turn her head at those words either. But judging from the crying sound stopping and her breathing calming, she was clearly listening to my story.

“Didn’t you say you would pray for the dead people of the Empire when we got to the capital?”

Ashuria opened her mouth again.

“You’ll have to ask someone else to pray. I’m just a sinner.”

“Does a sinner not have the right to pray for someone?”

“That’s…”

“I have sinned too. Lady Lena, Lady Mille, they must have sinned somewhere too. Can none of us pray for others?”

Ashuria looked at me again. Tears were flowing from her eyes, and her face was a mess. She was looking at me with pitiful eyes through the bars.

“…Do you remember the love I dreamed of?”

[What on earth is the proof of love? We can feel satisfaction through the bruises and cuts engraved on our bodies in pain, and we can fulfill our possessiveness through the act of cutting the other’s body with a knife.]

I knew.

And I knew why she was trembling so much.

“…Yes. I know.”

Pain is love. That’s the logic she had used to torture and execute people until now. If there were innocent people among them, her very foundation was no different from being filled with evil deeds that tormented those innocent people.

“The love I dreamed of and pursued, everything I did while enjoying it, was sin. My life, everything I experienced while living, was the axis of evil. How can I pray, and in what way can I atone? This is not an area of the heart that can be resolved in the realm of prayer.”

She turned her body again. Her back looked particularly small. Her figure, which had always been reliable, was now sagging and shrinking.

“…I’m sorry. For saying bad things about you before. I was a person who had no right to do so.”

I raised my head. She was so stubborn.

But this party needed her.

Ashuria was blunt and a bit odd, but she was someone who was kinder than anyone and tried hard to be good. She believed that the church’s justice was real justice and had lived her best to fit that sense of justice.

The firm will and force needed to catch the Demon King.

She was a woman who had all of that.

“…Will staying here wash away your sins?”

Ashuria turned to look at me.

I took a deep breath and spoke to her again.

“Let’s make a promise from now on. If your feet won’t move, I’ll move you. We’re going to meet each person you punished one by one and apologize to everyone. Until we receive apologies from everyone. That’s how we’ll travel.”

Ashuria’s eyes wavered. She knew the right answer too. Because there was no one to go with her, she was just waiting here for someone to punish her.

“I, I…”

“If you need someone to pray, I’ll pray for you.”

Ashuria looked at me with a surprised face. It was a face that wanted to say something but didn’t know how to express it.

“If someone needs to whip you and push you, I’ll do it instead.”

“Th-that… I mean…”

“This isn’t just saying I’ll do it.”

Ashuria’s breathing stopped. Her face seemed to turn red.

“In return, please pray for the Empire people. Let’s go to the Demon King’s castle together, recite prayers for those people, and shed tears for them. As much as you take on my guilt and sadness, I will be with you too. Didn’t we promise?”

“…I’m not someone who…”

Ashuria’s mouth barely uttered words of refusal. But that refusal was meaningless. I was the only man in this world who could represent the Empire.

“We need you. The Empire people need your prayers. Can’t you?”

“I… That is…”

Ashuria finally couldn’t find words to say.

Instead, she reached out her hand through the bars. I took her hand and brought it to my forehead. I put my hands together and knelt down. Ashuria also silently knelt and bowed her head.

With the bars between us, we fell into silence with our foreheads touching.

Ashuria’s sobbing and my breathing.

Those faint sounds passed between us, and Ashuria wiped her tears.

The world was navy blue.

Even after finishing her prayer, Ashuria couldn’t stop crying for a long time.