Ch.115Chapter 115

“D-Deputy Commander! It’s an emergency!”

Marenne, who had been spacing out with the Knight Commander at the Knights’ headquarters, was startled by a knight who suddenly burst in.

However, to avoid showing her surprise outwardly, she cleared her throat to mask her reaction and calmly looked at the knight.

“What’s the matter?”

“Suddenly, throughout all of Rondan, there’s an abnormal phenomenon…!”

“What kind of abnormal phenomenon are you talking about?”

Judging by his stammering, he must have seen something quite shocking.

Seeing him fidgeting as if wanting to guide her somewhere, the Deputy Commander decided to follow the knight outside.

And as soon as she stepped outside the building, the Deputy Commander was horrified.

All the plants within Rondan had withered.

The grass was drooping as if it would break at any moment.

“What in the…!”

Not understanding the situation, the Deputy Commander quickly ran toward a tree to examine its condition.

But something was strange.

Up close, the tree’s condition looked extremely precarious, but apart from its strength, everything else seemed fine.

The color of the tree, its hardness, and even the vitality of its leaves.

“What’s going on here?”

The Deputy Commander couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

But suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

All the plants looked similar to disappointed humans slumping down.

#

The moment The Gardener began her story, the expressions of the Outer Gods present brightened immensely.

Were they so pleased that The Gardener, who had only been listening to their stories until now, was finally sharing something personal?

The problem was that I couldn’t just smile after hearing that story.

It was because what The Gardener was saying now was quite disconcerting.

First of all, given The Gardener’s personality, she wouldn’t ask such things even if she had friends, and even if she had heard it, she wouldn’t talk about it here.

Zap.

For a moment, The Gardener’s gaze flew toward me.

Though she was smiling for appearance’s sake in front of the Outer Gods, her blazing eyes were quite painful to meet.

Ignoring me as I was thinking about what to do, The Gardener’s story continued to flow.

“The male kept giving the female reasons to trust him. He’d let her lean on him when things were tough, and he’d help her when she had difficulties.”

“Yes, yes!”

“But one day, that male was openly flirting with another female right in front of her, confessing his feelings.”

“Whoa, isn’t that crazy?!”

Gulp.

The words thrown by the Outer Gods to sympathize with The Gardener flew and pierced my heart like daggers.

The indescribable tightness in my chest seemed to express the pain, and it was agonizing.

But since this was indeed my fault, I could only bow my head.

“What would you do from the human female’s perspective?”

“I… first, I’d take that male aside and ask why he did it. He might be being blackmailed by the other female, you know.”

“Blackmail… and if it’s certain that’s not the case?”

“Then first, I’d castrate…”

Gasp.

Hearing such a frightening statement, I involuntarily flinched.

This caused the table to shake, drawing the attention of all the Outer Gods to me.

“Ah, haha! Suddenly had to sneeze… please continue with what you were saying.”

“You startled me.”

Fortunately, the Outer Gods didn’t think much of it and turned their attention back to The Gardener.

…T-to take revenge in this way.

It felt like facing an incomprehensible cosmic horror.

“Moderator, is that human female’s story related to your friend?”

“Uh, what?! No, that’s not it… I just heard it in passing.”

And yet, when faced with a sharp question, even she looked flustered.

Are you trying to kill us both?!

At that moment, the glass bead Outer God abruptly stood up.

“Imprisonment!”

“…What?”

At the Outer God’s words, The Gardener looked at the glass bead Outer God in confusion, who then continued with great confidence, even puffing out their chest.

“Think about it. In the end, it’s because that male was living promiscuously that he didn’t know his place and cheated, right?”

“Y-yes?”

“Then, if you lock him in a room, take away all his freedom, leave him alone for about a week, and then start taking care of him again, wouldn’t his head be filled with gratitude for that female? Then he would dedicate both body and soul to her!”

You crazy woman!

What nonsense are you spouting?!

And meanwhile, The Gardener was actually listening intently to what the glass Outer God was saying!

Suddenly, I remembered what the Saint had said about the Great Outer Gods.

‘Nobles have strong possessiveness. Even if Lord Tanthyn says he dislikes them later, nobles would show excessive obsession and never let him escape.’

Shudder.

I felt goosebumps all over my body.

Right now, I couldn’t handle anything from the Great Outer Gods.

If the Great Outer Gods lost their reason and snatched me away, I would have to endure it.

And if The Gardener listened to that Outer God’s words, made a decision, and then came to me…

‘This is your home.’

‘B-but this is a flowerpot?’

‘So?’

“Aaaaargh!”

As I rose from my seat with an almost convulsive tremor, all the Outer Gods’ gazes fixed on me again.

Even The Gardener was looking at me with a ‘huh?’ expression, but I didn’t care.

I ran straight to The Gardener, grabbed her wrist, and left the conference room.

“W-wait!”

The Gardener tried to stop me in confusion, but perhaps due to the sudden situation, she was simply dragged along.

#

“D-Deputy Commander! Something terrible has happened!”

“Don’t report one by one! I can see it too!”

The Deputy Commander was left with her mouth agape at the absurd phenomenon occurring now.

All the plants in Rondan were drooping and then suddenly regaining vitality, repeating this madly.

Faced with this maddening sight, the Deputy Commander experienced a fear she had never felt before.

“Where is Tanthyn!”

“We’ve looked, but he’s nowhere to be found! The Black Lion was definitely seen entering the branch!”

“Damn it!”

Plant-related phenomena.

This must surely be related to The Gardener.

After all, she had recently received reports that The Gardener’s true identity was a Great Outer God.

And from what she heard from the White Mask, Tanthyn was quite close with The Gardener, to the extent that The Gardener seemed to be relying on Tanthyn.

“What on earth is happening!”

The Deputy Commander clutched her temple as she watched the trees still bobbing up and down as if dancing.

#

Outside the conference room, in an area surrounded by trees.

I racked my brain as I stood before The Gardener, who was looking elsewhere with a somewhat prim expression.

What should I say?

I had dragged her out, but if I went back in without saying anything, the situation would only worsen.

My heart was beating wildly.

My body seemed to be pumping out excessive adrenaline, feeling a threat to my life.

“I-I’m sorry!”

“…?”

As I apologized while bowing my head, The Gardener only rolled her eyes to look at me.

At first, I thought she wasn’t listening because there was no reaction.

But the moment I glanced at her face, I realized my assumption was wrong.

Despite her expression still showing dissatisfaction, I felt that her eyes had softened a bit.

…Indeed, a sincere apology was an action that must be made to the wronged party.

“At first, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what calling your names symbolized. I was too pathetic. I kept acting thinking, ‘Since I’ve already called you that, isn’t it okay?’ That’s what I did.”

By the time I finished speaking, The Gardener’s face was turned toward me.

With a slightly surprised, strangely pleased expression.

“…So it wasn’t forced.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, I didn’t say anything.”

The Gardener said that and then lowered her face.

I could tell that her anger had subsided to some extent.

What could she be thinking?

Maybe she would forgive me now.

As I was thinking that, The Gardener suddenly flinched and slowly raised her head.

As soon as I faced her, cold sweat began to run down my back.

For some reason, The Gardener was looking at me with a much colder expression than before.

“…But why don’t you call our names?”

“Eek!”

After hearing The Gardener’s words, I could be certain of one thing.

That the second act had begun.

#

The group of Outer Gods who watched the two leave looked at each other with sly smiles.

“Hey, it seems like that, doesn’t it?”

“Exactly. It doesn’t make sense not to know. It’s obviously about that human and our moderator, right?”

“This is 100% certain. Just now, when that human dragged her out, she didn’t try to resist even though she wouldn’t lose in strength. Doesn’t that mean she’s expecting the human to do something to her?”

“Ugh, really. It’s so sweet it’s making me sick.”

The Outer Gods laughed amusedly as they shared their predictions.

“Has she fallen for that human?”

“Hehe, how cute.”

…It is said that all the Outer Gods had already somewhat figured out The Gardener’s words, while only Tanthyn and The Gardener remained unaware.