Ch.120Chapter 120 – Course of Action

I followed Eve for about 5 more minutes.

It seemed she had set up something like a camp inside a cave.

There, I saw another familiar face.

-Moo

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen this one too.”

“I always bring him along on long journeys.”

I said this while looking at Moo, Eve’s livestock.

Thanks to his thick fur, he didn’t seem cold at all and was slowly chewing on what looked like hay.

“His fur looks so soft…”

Beatrice started staring at Moo intently.

I’m a bit suspicious she might be eyeing his hide because she’s cold.

For now, I decided to ignore Beatrice since Eve came first.

“Eve, how did you…”

“Let’s eat first. I’ve already prepared the ingredients.”

Eve said with a smile.

Looking at her feet, I could see neatly prepared ingredients including meat and cheese.

Clean cooking utensils were also ready.

-Growl

“Ah.”

I saw Christina quickly lower her head with a blush.

Come to think of it, we had used a lot of energy running away earlier.

“Let’s eat first.”

Hunger, once acknowledged, tends to feel much stronger.

Everyone silently agreed to eat, and Sera picked up the cooking utensils with a smile.

“I’ll make something simple and quick.”

Sera started cooking with a smile.

Soon, delicious aromas began to spread around us.

+

“First, we should organize our current situation.”

“Before that…”

“Let’s assess our situation first, Kay.”

Eve said with a smile.

As our meal was ending, she served tea, which she must have prepared in advance.

“You probably heard the outline from Haven, but first of all, Kay, you were sentenced as a heretic this morning.”

“That’s right.”

According to the information Haven shared while hiding us, that’s what happened.

It was incredibly fortunate that this coincided exactly with our return timing, and since it had just spread that morning, it hadn’t become widely known yet.

Judging by the bounty, if it had spread widely, even ordinary people would have been chasing after us.

Although knights and some adventurers came after us like a pack of dogs, the actual number of pursuers was significantly reduced.

I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if more had gathered.

“First, the Emiris Order claimed that you, Kay, are a dragon’s agent who came to spread false beliefs in the human world, and declared you a heretic.”

“What!”

Christina stood up in surprise.

Eve gently looked at her and raised her hand, causing Christina to blush and quietly sit back down.

“That’s too…”

“Yes. It’s too much.”

Eve smiled as she looked at me.

“I don’t know exactly what happened there, but I’m sure Kay fought hard.”

Eve said this while looking at me with slightly sad eyes.

“Anyway, the battlefield situation and testimonies were compiled yesterday. The heresy sentence came this morning. Due to political entanglements among the religious orders, essentially all orders except the Hati Order and Evgenia Order have acknowledged it.”

“Even the Zeolei Order.”

“It seems opinions were split initially, but the faction opposing you was stronger, so it couldn’t be helped.”

Eve carefully opened her mouth after looking at Christina for a moment.

“The Evgenia Order is too weak, so the only powerful order supporting Kay is the Hati Order. That’s not enough to overturn the heresy claim.”

Eve took a sip of tea after saying this.

I followed her lead and drank my tea as well.

“Next. The royal family initially planned to arrest Kay, accepting the Emiris Order’s opinion.”

“What?!”

Sera shouted in astonishment.

Naturally, this was news to us.

I thought the royal family wouldn’t be so influenced by the religious orders…

“The First Prince, I assume.”

“You know about it.”

When Diana was helping us escape, she mentioned that the knights who came after us were the First Prince’s men.

It must have been his faction that planned the arrest.

Eve nodded and said:

“Yes, they did plan to arrest you. Lady Zerenna personally informed me. She heard it through her husband.”

But, Eve added:

“As you know, Kay undertook the dragon subjugation at Princess Liriel’s request.”

“That’s right… Ah.”

I looked at Eve questioningly, and she nodded with a smile.

“Yes. Thanks to Princess Liriel’s political connection with you, the royal family decided to cancel your arrest.”

“That princess must be quite powerful.”

“She’s competing for the first or second position in the line of succession. She even represented the royal family at the dragon countermeasure meeting.”

Christina seemed to have finished her tea and started looking around nervously.

Eve smiled and poured more tea into her cup, then continued as she brewed more tea:

“Several factors overlapped. While her political rival, the First Prince, has the support of the Emiris Order, the Princess herself views being swayed by the Emiris Order negatively. She’s cautious of the religious orders and would never compromise with them.”

Steam began rising from the teapot.

Eve checked the temperature and continued:

“In this situation, since it was the Princess herself who hired you, she could have been implicated if things went wrong.”

Eve smiled as she poured more tea into her cup.

“When the two people competing for first and second in succession took opposing positions, the royal family concluded they couldn’t mobilize the knights for just one adventurer.”

That was fortunate news.

I don’t know exactly how large the knight order is, but it certainly isn’t small enough to ignore.

If they had come after us too, it honestly would have been much harder.

“That’s fortunate.”

“Yes, it was. I had taken some precautions as insurance, and fortunately, they worked well.”

“Huh?”

Eve took another sip of tea after saying this.

“…What kind of insurance did you take?”

“Hmm.”

Eve thought for a moment.

Then she smiled mischievously and said:

“Let’s just say that people become incredibly small in the face of debt.”

Alright.

Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.

What matters is my situation.

“Still, according to Diana, those with close ties to the Emiris Order would be moving.”

“The same goes for nobles in the provinces and the capital. In the end, thanks to the deal with Princess Liriel, we avoided turning people who aren’t involved with the Emiris Order into enemies.”

I suppose it’s better than having people who don’t need to be enemies become enemies.

The deal with Princess Liriel turned out to be unexpected good fortune.

“Of course, Princess Liriel might be secretly cursing Kay for bringing such an outrageous bomb to her.”

“Ah.”

Even if everything gets resolved, I might never be able to set foot in the capital of the Mikea Kingdom again.

Eve smiled as she saw me breaking out in a cold sweat internally and continued:

“Anyway, Princess Liriel is your backer now. She might be under some attack because of this, but her position won’t be easily shaken by just that, so you don’t need to worry.”

If Eve says so, I probably don’t need to worry about the royal family for now.

“The royal family is settled, but what about guilds, associations, or unions?”

“There’s no need to go into detail.”

Beatrice nodded at Eve’s answer.

“So everyone except the Magic Tower is our enemy.”

“In the case of the guild, they’re technically in a position to arrest you if they want, but they’re not being proactive. They figure adventurers with time on their hands will track you down anyway.”

If the guild had been proactive, I would have been ambushed the moment I set foot in it.

Or if the staff member in charge hadn’t been Nina, who has a connection with me, it really would have been a disaster…

‘Hmm?’

Something seemed strange.

“Things have turned out surprisingly well for us, haven’t they?”

The heresy judgment happened this morning.

Nina just happened to be the guild receptionist this morning.

And thinking about it, Nina had even prepared identification documents in advance.

‘Wait a minute?’

Haven guiding us to what appeared to be a hideout today.

But Haven wouldn’t normally have such a hideout. If he had that kind of money, he would have settled down long ago.

Then there were Kaal, who seemed to be acting on Ludger’s instructions, and Asam and Eina from the Magic Tower.

And finally, Eve waiting at our destination after our escape.

“…Eve. I have a question.”

“Yes.”

“By any chance, you…”

I took another sip of tea before continuing.

“You knew we were coming today, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Eve smiled and said:

“I knew everything.”

“I see.”

I wondered just how much she knew.

And I realized she must have been working hard behind the scenes all this time.

“You must have pushed yourself.”

“It was difficult. Today was the deadline.”

Beatrice and Christina looked at each other, seemingly unable to follow our conversation.

Meanwhile, Sera lowered her head with a serious expression, lost in thought.

“Um, I’d like to ask something.”

“Yes.”

“Was it all thanks to this lady that Helmet survived the crisis today?”

“Yes.”

Eve confirmed with a smile.

It seemed Beatrice couldn’t grasp the scale of what was happening and let out a hollow laugh.

Of course, such a reaction was natural since they didn’t know.

“Actually…”

“Ms. Eve. Please tell me one thing clearly.”

Sera interrupted Eve and spoke:

“Can you see the future, Ms. Eve?”

“Why do you think that?”

“There have been many instances where I couldn’t figure out how you obtained certain information… and to prepare for today, you would have had to know that Kay would be in danger today.”

“That’s correct.”

Eve answered while drinking her tea.

“…It’s been quite a while now.”

“A while?”

“The day I saw this moment.”

Eve said with a smile.

“The date was… yes, it was a bit before the meeting at the Magic Tower.”

“That long ago?”

Around that time, I was struggling in various ways after Somnus’s terror attack, bound by the master-servant contract with Beatrice.

‘No wonder she said she was busy from that day on.’

Although she attended the Magic Tower meeting, Eve was too busy to meet properly many days after that.

Was she preparing for this day since then?

“You really worked hard.”

“Yes. It was something I couldn’t easily consult with Kay about, and no one could appreciate it… I felt very lonely.”

Eve leaned slightly against me.

I noticed Sera’s face darkening.

“…Wait a moment. Then, if we hadn’t sent Master to the fortress…”

“When I saw it, Kay eventually confessed that he was forcibly dragged there due to surrounding pressure. So going to the fortress was inevitable in any case.”

Eve quietly looked at me and said:

“Unfortunately, I can only see the future from my perspective, and it’s quite arbitrary… I don’t know anything about what happened there.”

“What? So you don’t know everything after all.”

“Yes. What I see is quite arbitrary.”

I had heard about this before, but Eve explained it calmly.

Sera listened carefully, Christina with excitement.

Beatrice seemed somewhat deflated, as if disappointed that her expectations weren’t met.

Her eyes were full of regret.

“So now I’d like to hear from you. What happened at the fortress?”

“…I’ll tell you slowly.”

Though I wasn’t confident in my storytelling, I organized and shared what had happened at the fortress.

+

“……”

Eve silently drank her tea, seemingly quite shocked.

The others, who had already processed the information at the mountain fortress, reacted calmly but their expressions weren’t good.

“That’s what happened.”

I quietly tapped my chest.

The red lightning indicated my heart, which was being forcibly kept moving.

“Kay.”

“I don’t regret it. So I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me like that.”

Eve quietly nodded at my words.

“Besides, I’m not ready to die just yet.”

More than that, I didn’t want to die.

I had realized there were many things I didn’t want to let go of.

Still, seeing everyone’s gloomy expressions, I forced a smile.

“Don’t be too sad. There will be ways.”

“…Yes. There will be ways.”

Sera smiled at my response.

As in the mountain fortress, her face still looked sad, as if she hadn’t fully processed everything.

“Thank you, Kay.”

“Huh?”

“For being honest with us.”

Eve also smiled somewhat painfully.

“Now that things have turned out this way, we need to add one more goal to our objectives.”

“Add? Goal?”

“Yes. We need to set major goals to guide our actions.”

Everyone focused their attention on Eve as she spoke.

“Saving you completely. That’s our top priority.”

“…It doesn’t necessarily have to be the top priority.”

“It is the top priority.”

Sera and Christina nodded strongly at Eve’s firm tone.

It seems I have no say in this decision.

“And the second is to prove your innocence.”

“That heresy sentence is just absurd.”

Christina clenched her fist as she spoke.

She seems quite indignant about it.

“If we don’t somehow overturn the heresy sentence, Kay could suddenly be attacked.”

“I’ve heard that extremists often attack or criticize people associated with the accused as well.”

Eve and Christina’s words left me momentarily speechless.

‘That’s quite problematic.’

In the most extreme case, I could just go home and be done with it, but that’s not the case for others.

I honestly couldn’t bear the thought of others suffering because of me.

In fact, since I don’t know when I’ll be able to return home, resolving the heresy sentence would be beneficial not just for those around me but for myself as well.

“Do you have any ideas on how to approach this?”

“The best way would be if a saint with stronger holy power than the current saint of the Emiris Order appeared and declared you’re not a heretic.”

It seems that would be quite straightforward given the sensibilities of the people here.

However, Eve quietly spoke, suggesting she didn’t think things would flow so easily:

“That’s too dreamlike, so we should look for other methods first.”

“We’ll find something if we search.”

Beatrice said lightly.

Unfortunately, it seemed no one had any specific ideas beyond that.

Overturning the heresy sentence would likely take more time than expected.

For now, finding alternative approaches should be the priority.

‘Come to think of it, there is one place we could go.’

Given the circumstances, it might be better to set our course in that direction.

“I have a suggestion.”

This time, everyone’s attention focused on me.

“What is it?”

“I want to go search for information about the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“The Philosopher’s Stone.”

“It’s the reason the Emiris Order is targeting Sera.”

It was also what Somnus was obsessed with.

Everyone adjusted their posture to listen to what I had to say.

“Actually, I heard something from old man Ludger at the fortress. It’s about Sera’s grandmother’s hometown.”

“My grandmother’s hometown?”

“Yes.”

I shared the location I had heard from Ludger at the fortress.

“He said it’s a small rural area in the northeast of the kingdom. Apparently, no one lives there now.”

Eve’s expression changed slightly at my words.

Just then, I remembered one more thing.

“…He said it’s far past Metis County, at a point where you’d reach the Firenze Kingdom if you keep going up.”

“So, you’re saying we should go to the northeast of the kingdom… and Metis County…”

Listening to Eve’s muttering, I judged that in the future she had seen, there must have been content related to me heading northeast.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t Eve the eldest daughter of the Metis County family?’

Since she had left home, her feelings must be quite complex.

“The Firenze Kingdom…”

Beatrice quietly murmured the name.

“…What you’re saying is…”

“I don’t know what they’re planning, but I suspect they keep targeting Sera to obtain the Philosopher’s Stone.”

After looking at Sera once more, I continued:

“We need to find out something about that stone, even if we can’t get it.”

If it’s something they persistently target Sera for and want to get their hands on, there must be something to it.

Eve nodded, seemingly convinced by my words.

“Let’s look for it.”

“Yes, let’s search.”

Sera also quietly nodded.

With this, finding that stone became another goal of our journey.

Just when I thought that would be enough:

“Um, excuse me!”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“About our destination, if we’re going to Metis County, there’s a place I’d like to visit…”

“You mean the holy site you mentioned before?”

I remembered when Christina suddenly talked about needing to go to a holy site, in a strange state.

It was such a surprising moment that I still remember it clearly.

“Yes. There might be something about holy power or heresy there…”

“Hmm.”

For some reason, it seemed like a good idea to listen.

At the very least, there might be some lost information at a holy site.

“Let’s go there.”

“Is that okay?”

“We’re close enough that you don’t need to be so formal about such things.”

Christina blushed slightly at my words.

“Our course of action is set then.”

Eve said with a smile.

“Yes.”

I answered as I finished the still-warm tea.

I felt there was much to be done.