episode_0065

Some of the external assessments surrounding the Kingdom of Alcrea inevitably include the following sentence:

That country is lucky.

This was an assessment based on the geographical characteristics of the southern part of the continent where the Kingdom of Alcrea was located. The southern part of the kingdom was completely surrounded by the sea, and the northern part was a very narrow plain (at least narrow compared to the continent) at the center end, and except for this area connecting the central and southern parts of the continent, the rest was surrounded by rugged mountain ranges.

Thanks to this, unless they use flying objects to attack from the air, the invasion of foreign enemies is concentrated only on this entrance. Thanks to this, the Southern Kingdom was able to resist the large-scale invasion of the Demon King by thoroughly blocking this entrance. Thanks to the great advantage of being able to concentrate troops, there were many instances where they were able to block the numerous attacks of the Demon King’s army over the past several hundred years.

Of course, the defense plan did not always work out as planned. There were many times when the garrison was defeated and the entrance was breached, and the Demon King’s army invaded the country. Of course, it was not that the rulers of the kingdom did not prepare for this. They built a kind of planned city in preparation for the enemy breaking through the northern entrance.

This city was called Teldam, and it faithfully fulfilled its role of preventing the Demon King’s army from advancing further south. Teldam served as the kingdom’s last bastion dozens of times, and as a result, it experienced the twists and turns of being destroyed and restored many times.

And finally, the Demon King was defeated by the warrior and the war ended. After that, Teldam flourished as the largest city in the North, fulfilling another role that it had prepared in addition to being a planned city for war. It served as a kind of first gateway for royal officials and noblemen who wanted to advance to the Central Continent, and for people who wanted to enter the Southern Kingdom from other regions.

Even now, Tel Dam has been visited by people who travel across borders or make a living from trade. The city’s economy has naturally developed tremendously, using trade and tourism as its greatest weapons.

“It’s a shame that I left that city in one day.”

Glenn muttered as he looked at the stream of water flowing beneath his feet. As he looked at the clear water trickling down, all sorts of thoughts seemed to bloom in his head.

I really wanted to visit the Adventurer’s Guild branch in Teldam. Lately, I haven’t had any reason to go outside the capital, so I’ve had virtually no interaction with other branches, which was very disappointing.

A voice came flying in, breaking Glenn’s thoughts.

“Be quiet. I can’t concentrate, so keep your mouth shut.”

“I was just talking to myself. Are you getting angry for no reason?”

“I told you it was noisy. Seriously, to have to work with someone like you. It’s the worst.”

“I understand how you feel, but it’s too much to say it out loud.”

When I answered with a grumbling voice, the other person openly frowned. It would have been cute if I had stuck my tongue out here, but the other person didn’t do that.

Instead, he held out his fist. No, he held out his hand with his middle finger firmly erect.

“Don’t talk to me. Eat this.”

“Reflection.”

“You little brat…”

Sister Esther bowed, muttering a curse word that did not match her attire.

In the hand opposite to the one that was raising her middle finger, she held a wooden bucket. It was a bucket usually used to scoop up water, and she used the bucket as it was. She scooped up water from the narrow, flowing water.

After watching that scene for a moment, Glenn turned his gaze to his surroundings again, and continued his escort mission, swallowing his irritation and grumbling, despite being insulted and sworn at.

This small river was a small stream of the great river Polyus, which ran directly through the Southern Kingdom. And if you traced the flow of this river back down, you could reach the border. In other words, it was not long before you passed through the kingdom and entered the central part of the continent.

The commotion at the last post station was already a memory from a week ago.

The next morning, the group greeted the sun with anxiety. The group, who peeped out of the tent in the noisy morning, saw Glenn, who had walked without any injuries.

However, all the customers using the nearby post stations who woke up early were muttering as if they had witnessed the appearance of a person with a scary aura.

The first person to approach Glenn was a beautiful woman. Milicia Airgrants, the saintess, warmly welcomed the knight who had properly accepted her request. And Glenn hugged the saintess who had approached him, greeted him, and held his hand.

In an instant, Sister Esther’s face distorted so much that it almost made a cracking sound. Briwen bit her lips slightly. The Benedictine monk let out a small laugh, and Alina covered her mouth and blushed.

Anyway, the passionate night passed and the party continued their journey. They reached Teldam, the largest city in the northern part of the kingdom, and surprisingly, they were able to resupply in just one day and continue their journey.

The citizens of Teldam were quite sad, and the Airgrants Church in Teldam in particular, although they could not openly stop him, seemed very sorry. It was not good to stay in the kingdom for too long. There was a rough journey ahead of them.

However, Milicia was sorry. She wanted to spend some time to meet the saint and give blessings and healing to those who wanted to see her. However, it was customary for pilgrimage trips to avoid places such as city centers as much as possible.

“I remember when you were young and went on a pilgrimage. You were trying to avoid the crowded city, so you climbed the mountain too much and almost fell off the cliff. It was hard, but worth it. Hehehe…”

The Benedictine monk laughed heartily as he recounted his memories of those days, but those in the group who had never heard of pilgrimage before simply turned pale.

And this was also the main reason why the Ergrant Church in Teldam could not ask the saint to stay. In the first place, staying in the city for distribution was almost like a special privilege, so the saint gave up after being persuaded by the two parishioners.

The group continued their journey. Most of it was smooth and quiet, but not for Glenn. Sister Esther’s distorted face was beginning to show through her attitude.

Up until now, she had been muttering behind his back and not being openly wary, but it was different behind that hug. Even if he approached within a 5-meter radius of the saint, she would glare at Glenn with a menacing gaze, which was a common occurrence. She blocked any situation where even the slightest touch or contact was possible.

Whenever the saint was about to step forward for patrolling the perimeter, purifying evil spirits, etc… Sister Esther would stick by her side.

Glenn was in a difficult position. In particular, he was extremely upset that he was not allowed to approach the saint at all. No matter what, Glenn was a knight.

Is it such a sin to just hug the saintess because you were overcome with emotion? Even though you know full well that you and the saintess have not even met yesterday or today!

‘If only Millie hadn’t been my friend…’

Glenn was ready to grit his teeth, but at the same time, he was capable of dealing with Sister Esther’s threats, so he didn’t do anything to vent his discontent.

However, he didn’t know it… but it was actually someone else who was becoming increasingly dissatisfied.

“Esther, I understand how you feel, but… isn’t that a bit much? Glenn is my bodyguard, so it’s a problem if he even holds my hand…”

“Oh, wheat…no, saintess! How can you not know that originally, you just held hands and started from sleeping and the rest of the progress went smoothly! And have you already forgotten? What the hell did that vicious brat do a few days ago! Now, leave it to me! Even that brat needs to be whipped like this so he knows his place! And above all, how can you forget about dating when you’re on a sacred mission! It’s not too late to do that after all the missions are over. It’s okay if you don’t do it at all!”

“…I’d like to go for a walk together.”

The saint complained to Esther when Glenn was away for a while, but was met with refusal when the nun insisted on the importance of the mission.

However, she only showed a slightly puffed out face and a pouty expression. It was a truly honest appearance of a saint that was hard to see, and was only shown in front of her friends. If Glenn had seen it, he would have clutched his heart and collapsed without saying anything.

‘If it turns out like this… I can’t help it.’

The saint thought of solving the problem in a different way. From the beginning of the trip, two people in the group had been at odds with each other, and if they kept it that way, it would likely cause more twists and turns.

So the saint intentionally acted with Alina, Briwen, and others, and assigned Sister Esther to Glenn and divided up the work. Both Glenn and Sister Esther were disgusted.

‘I, Saintess… no, Millie… can’t you think about it again? That Esther… seems like she obviously doesn’t want to be with me.’

‘It’s the same, but it’s not. It’s so uncomfortable that we even breathe in the same space?’

‘Look.’

I gathered the two together and gave them a little sermon(?) to try to get them to act together, but Glenn had an anxious expression on his face, and Sister Esther glared at Glenn with even more venom, as if she hadn’t expected things to turn out this way.

However, judging that this would be helpful for the pilgrimage journey that would follow for the next year, the saint decided to do so. Secretly, behind her back, she clenched her fists tightly…

“First of all, even if you tell me to act together, I don’t know what you want me to do. Seriously… I don’t even want to be in the same space as this kid, but you want me to do everything from patrolling the area to getting water and cooking together? It would be better to tell me to get married. Then I’ll at least give up. Man, we’re friends sometimes, but I can’t read Millie’s mind. It would’ve been perfect if you just broke up after a year…”

Mumble, mumble, mumble, the energy is good.

Glenn couldn’t help but admire Sister Esther, who was constantly muttering to herself behind him and was busy doing laundry and pouring water. Sister Esther, more than he had expected, continued to perform her duties faithfully. She assisted the saintess and took care of various chores. She even volunteered to do her share of the work that was originally the job of Glenn’s younger sister Alina.

And thanks to Sister Esther’s tearful(?) passion, Alina completely lost her original intention. Now, except for the occasional move, she spends all her time chattering and sticking close to the saint. Sometimes, when Glenn whispers in Alina’s ear and scolds her for this attitude, Alina shamelessly replies like this.

“Heh! Even so, I’m the one who sticks close to the saintess and shoos away all the bugs that come crawling at her! That’s because I’m the one who acts as the last shield when the saintess is in a desperate situation! Playing? If you think about it that way, then oppa just wanders around and doesn’t do anything! ”

Why don’t you just say you’re jealous? Alina slyly added something like that, and he felt resentful and wanted to punch her. Glenn was once again convinced that this shameless girl was definitely his younger sister.

Another thing that makes me feel bad is that Sister Esther never points out Alina being around the Saint. She sometimes looks at Alina with an uncomfortable gaze, but that’s all, and she never really criticizes her behavior or tells her to stay away.

Of course, due to Sister Esther’s lowered vigilance, even when Glenn approaches the saintess and asks, “Are you okay?”, he receives an intense gaze and a series of venomous remarks.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Hey you idiot, can’t you hear me?”

“What, weren’t you supposed to not talk?”

After thinking about his younger sister, the saint, and a little bit about Sister Esther, he was lost in thought about his future journey when he heard a voice calling Glenn. He turned his head slightly and saw Sister Esther, still engrossed in her work, speaking to him.

You’re good at laundry. Aren’t you from noble family?

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Whew…I don’t like standing there like an idiot…but I’ll tell you clearly.”

It was quite funny to see him still moving his hands busily and speaking coldly in a serious tone, but Glenn had the dignity to hold back his laughter.

No, actually, after hearing it, he felt like it was okay to laugh. What on earth was he talking about? Glenn listened.

“Whew, hoo…you guys are that…”

“What? I can’t understand if you say it like that. Why don’t you take a deep breath and do it?”

“Where are you nagging, honey!”

Finally, Glenn lost all self-control when he saw Esther stop her hand, raise her face, and shout.

He burst out laughing openly. Naturally, he couldn’t avoid Esther’s glaring gaze.

“When a child tries to speak with compassion…phew, okay. Let’s catch our breath…phew…”

Esther, who had been muttering in annoyance and catching herself, focused her eyes properly on Glenn this time and began to speak properly without moving her hands any more.

“Your guy… touched our noble saint’s body… no… hugged her frivolously… I’ll take it into consideration and condone it for now.”

“What?”