episode_0166

Clop clop clop clop

…Clunk!…Clunk!…Clunk!

The leisurely sound of horse hooves at regular intervals.

Occasionally, small stones scattered along the roadside hit the carriage wheels, shaking the carriage.

Apart from this, there is no sound coming from inside the carriage.

Only a heavy and extremely uncomfortable silence envelops the inside of the carriage.

“….”

“….”

Inside the carriage were the archer, Piria, and the nun, Noren, who were in former hero Leon’s party.

After meeting Leon in the Holy Kingdom, Piria was shocked by Leon’s cold declaration of separation and stayed in her room for several days without coming out.

Those few days were a time of considerable hardship for Noren as well.

Noren was already receiving disapproving glances, but when hero Leon declared his separation from Noren more directly, Noren was treated as almost non-existent.

In this situation where she could neither do this nor that, Piria barely managed to get out of her room and headed straight for her hometown.

Noren, under the pretext of guiding Piria safely, left the Holy Kingdom and headed to Piria’s hometown with her.

And during that time, Piria hardly said anything.

Like someone whose mind had been broken by dark magic, she just stared blankly…. She just moved on, staring blankly into the air.

Because of this situation, Noren couldn’t easily talk to Piria either, and they continued on their uncomfortable journey together.

Knock knock knock

“We’ve arrived.”

“Ah…, yes. Thank you. Ms. Piria. We’ve arrived.”

“…Okay.”

The road from the Holy Kingdom to her hometown was very long.

And Noren felt a little relieved that she had finally arrived at the end of it, and got out of the carriage with Piria.

“This is Ms. Piria’s hometown?”

“….”

“Hmm….”

Her hometown was secluded.

Well, it would be stranger if an ordinary rural village with nothing special was crowded, but anyway, this place felt pleasantly secluded. However, despite returning to this hometown, Piria did not express her joy at being back in her hometown after a long time, nor did she complain about the fatigue of the long journey, and instead moved her feet.

“Ms. Piria….”

She didn’t even have a proper meal during the long journey.

She barely ate a few bites even after being begged.

As a result, her steps were very precarious.

To put it extremely, she looked like a dead person resurrected by dark magic.

The place Piria arrived at was an old wooden house located in a corner of the village.

“Ms. Piria?…. This place is?….”

She wondered if it was her house, but she quickly erased the thought from her mind.

This was because the house was very old, as if it had been neglected for quite some time, and there was no sign of anyone inside.

Noren knew that Piria’s parents were still alive, so this was definitely not Piria’s house….

“Leon….”

It was hero Leon’s house.

Piria opened the door of the old wooden house as if she was familiar with it and went inside.

Noren hesitated for a moment, then followed Piria into the house.

As she had seen from the outside, the house was full of dust, as if it had been neglected for quite some time.

“….”

Inside, there was a small table and two chairs that could seat two people. And an empty kitchen and a bed in one corner of the room.

An old wooden sword was hanging on the wall.

Piria, who had entered this small room, slowly looked around as if trying to engrave the scene in her eyes, and then sat down on a small chair.

“Leon…, Leon…, Leon….”

A small Leon appeared before Piria’s eyes.

It was Leon, an unblemished, still young but pure and cute boy.

He was trying to live hard without being frustrated even though he had lost his parents at a young age.

She liked that side of Leon very much. But that Leon is no more, and she can’t see Leon anymore.

“Ah…, Aaa…, Aaaaa!!!”

Piria screamed as she was.

* * *

This place, where a fierce cold is raging, is Snow Mountain.

Hero Ragna and his party, who came here to find the by following his trail, had been looking for the for several months, but far from meeting him, they couldn’t even find a proper trace, so Ragna couldn’t help but be annoyed.

“Haven’t you found a proper trace yet!!!”

Bang!!!

Ragna, shouting while slamming the table roughly.

His party members flinched and tried to avoid his anger from being directed at them.

Ragna clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like his party members, and roughly poured wine into his glass.

Then, before even enjoying the aroma, he drank it all in one gulp, and Ragna’s gaze turned to a girl.

“Marie!”

“Yes, y-yes!”

“Even you haven’t found out anything?!”

“Ugh…. Yes, y-yes….”

Marie flinched and answered at Ragna’s angry voice.

Marie’s face was very pale with dark circles under her eyes, but Ragna clicked his tongue as if he didn’t care about that.

“Incompetent thing….”

“Ugh….”

“Now Leon has left for the Western Continent to subjugate another fragment of the Demon King, but me! Hero Ragna! Is it even right that I’m stuck in this corner, searching for the , who may or may not even exist!”

Clang!!

Ragna couldn’t stand his anger and smashed the wine bottle, shouting.

The wine flowed down like red blood, staining the floor, but no one even thought of saying anything about it.

They just quietly…. hoped that this moment would pass.

Marie was no different, trembling and looking at Ragna.

If she didn’t look at Ragna because she was scared, he might use that as an excuse to inflict violence on her again.

“Hoo…, Hoo…. Well, fine. Let’s stop looking for the for now. Wasting any more time than this doesn’t seem like the right choice. Everyone, please hurry and prepare to leave.”

At Ragna’s words, the others secretly sighed in relief and nodded.

Marie also heard Ragna’s words and was about to get up from her seat to pack her things, but Ragna said to Marie, looking at her.

“Marie, what are you doing now?”

“Yes, yes?…. I, I’m trying to pack my things….”

“Who told you to pack your things?”

“…Yes?”

Marie tilted her head and asked back, as if she didn’t understand the meaning of Ragna’s words.

Ragna sighed at the sight and said.

“You have to find something here, don’t you. The , I mean.”

“B-by myself…, you mean?”

“Who was the first to find information about the ?”

“I, it was… me.”

“Then shouldn’t you see it through to the end?”

Marie felt a chill run down her spine for a moment.

“So you stay here and continue looking for the . If you find any proper traces, just let me know then.”

“Ah….”

While Ragna and the others were packing their things and preparing to leave, Marie just blankly stared at Ragna and his party.

And in the end, everyone left, and Marie was the only one left there.

A quiet sense of isolation.

“Ha…, hahaha…, hahahahaha!!!”

Realizing for sure that no one was there…, that only she was there, Marie started laughing like crazy, as if she had gone insane.

* * *

A pure white palace-like place.

There were people moving around busily in this place.

They all had rather thick horns and took on the form of a human close to that of a cow.

“Hurry, hurry mo!”

“Just now, we received word that our little sister has discovered a human mo!”

They were diligently decorating the palace and making food, doing everything they could to welcome the precious guest who would be arriving soon.

And one place inside this palace.

There were two women in this place, which took on the appearance of a throne room.

One was a woman with white hair.

And the other was a maid attending to her.

“I’m…, nervous.”

“Well, I guess so.”

“I don’t smell bad, do I?”

“Of course not.”

The woman entrusted her hair to the maid, looked in the mirror, and continued speaking in an excited tone, and the maid combed the woman’s hair with a brush with a expressionless face and nodded.

“The preparations are going well, right?”

“It’s not like we’re doing this for the first time, so we’ll be preparing without any problems.”

“What do humans like?….”

“Our tastes aren’t that different from humans.”

“But wouldn’t there be something they personally like?”

Despite spewing out countless worries, the maid matched the woman’s words with amazing mental strength without showing any signs of dislike.

“Haa…. This is the 350th betrothal ceremony…, will I always be this nervous every time I do it?”

“A betrothal is always something new. It’s only natural.”

“I guess so, right?”

The woman said that and looked out the window.

There was a clear sky spreading out there.

“I hope my sister…, comes soon.”

“I agree.”