Ch.121Ill Fate (4)

“I appreciate your words, but I cannot accept.”

I carefully push her away. I guide Elisabet, who offers mild resistance, back to sit on the bed. Surprisingly, Elisabet remained impassive. It was difficult to read what she meant.

“May I hear your reason?”

“First of all, that leather strap—Maria specifically instructed me never to give it away.”

Elisabet looks up at him and shakes her head. Her shoulder-length hair sways gently.

She twirls a strand of hair that had fallen beside her cheek with her finger, twisting it slightly.

Sunlight breaks through her golden hair, sparkling like dust. Without realizing it, Kain’s gaze becomes entangled with Elisabet’s.

“Isn’t that enough?”

She offers an excuse when no one had asked for one. Elisabet brushes her side hair away with a genuinely puzzled expression.

“I don’t understand. Because of my daughter’s instructions when she wasn’t in her right mind, you would give up everything you could gain. Ah, perhaps you’re upset about yesterday’s… prank?”

“I am upset, that’s true, but I think I should endure it to some extent. As I told you yesterday, I was the one who ambushed Maria first.

What I’m curious about is why you offered the whip yesterday but hold out a carrot today. Why are you willing to give up so much to fully release Maria’s power?”

“That’s between me and my daughter. And it’s very important to me. Well. If that’s your decision, fine. Let’s leave it at that for today. I’m tired.”

Elisabet lay down on the bed and pulled up the covers. Kain helped her. Smiling, Elisabet placed her fingers on Kain’s wrist. The touch was so light it could barely be called contact.

“My offer still stands. Besides that, if there’s anything else I can do for you, feel free to ask. I’ve seen and heard things too. Don’t feel burdened. There are plenty of other things besides the leather strap.”

Kain smiled faintly and shook his head.

“You’ve already told me too much for that.”

“I have? When?”

“You told me at the monk’s hut in Berta Village.”

“I don’t recall… what was it?”

A subtle gaze. A seemingly regretful tone. An excuse to draw out conversation. Her intention was clear. No, she wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“You told me not to carelessly ask favors from a witch, nor treat her recklessly. You said neither to only receive nor to only give. Because good deeds are repaid threefold, as are evil deeds.

I’m truly grateful for all the ways you’ve helped me, Lily, and Maria. I actually think I should be the one repaying you.

But what confuses me now is how different your current demeanor is from what you showed me then.”

Elisabet covered her face with her palm and laughed. She laughed so hard she coughed lightly.

“Ah, right. That’s true. Oh dear… I only showed an angry face to my daughter’s friend. I must have frightened you quite a bit. Right?”

‘Yes. Exactly this.’

Kain wanted to nod. When she emerged from ‘inside’ Maria, Elisabet’s words carried fear and authority. In some ways, she was mysterious and even archaic, like priests from ancient texts.

But the current Elisabet is completely different from then. It wasn’t just because she had Maria’s appearance. She was much more gentle and… more dangerous.

Logically, he should have been afraid long ago. A powerful witch. Power that could easily repel even the Knight of the Scabbard’s magic.

But while he had thought her strong, he had never felt she was dangerous. Until now.

Because Maria was there.

Kain startled as he realized the answer.

That was it. In all those moments, Maria was fully Maria. By her will, she had drawn Elisabet out from within. Naturally, a question arose.

“…Come to think of it. When I first met you, the leather strap certainly wasn’t broken. And it isn’t now either. Are there conditions attached to that as well?”

“You.” Elisabet slightly closed one eye. “You’re quite cunning. Surprisingly so.”

“…What do you mean?”

“If I tell you that, wouldn’t I be revealing why the leather strap is so important to me?”

“That wasn’t my intention at all.” Kain waved his hands in embarrassment. “I absolutely had no such calculation…”

Elisabet covered her face. A bright smile was visible between her spread fingers.

“Another joke…”

“Ah… ah… this is… really.” Elisabet was even shedding tears.

“Oh. What should I do, this is too funny. Too… too funny. It’s because of you. This. This is because of you. With reactions like this, how can I… hahaha!”

“I don’t find it amusing at all.”

“Ha. Ha.” Elisabet cooled her flushed face with her hand like a fan. She was even sweating quite a bit. “I don’t know how long it’s been since I laughed like this. It feels refreshing. Really. Really… how long it’s been since I felt this refreshingly stiff.

Since you made me laugh, alright. I cannot come to the forefront without Maria’s permission. That would make sense. This body is Maria’s body. And since the power is also Maria’s power, I too need permission to use the power contained in this child’s body.

So, when you dared to swing a club at my daughter’s forehead, I could easily move this child’s body without the leather strap. I was moving the body, not using the power.

But at Masada, I needed to unleash the power. That’s why Maria made such… an unreasonable request.”

The story about stabbing the heart with a knife. Kain remembered. No matter how much she said it was fine, that chilling sensation was hard to forget.

“Maria dislikes her other half, her witch lineage. Thoughts affect the body, and she consciously suppresses that part. So for that child to truly unleash a witch’s power, she needed a shock strong enough to completely blow away that consciousness.”

“…To the point of near death?”

“It couldn’t be helped. There were more leather straps then. As each leather strap falls away, Maria will get closer to her essence. But now…”

Elisabet elegantly covered her mouth halfway and yawned. She glared at Kain with satisfied eyes as she spoke.

“Now this child’s body and soul are exhausted. Would it be more intuitive to say the well has been depleted? That’s why I can’t fully control this child’s body either. When my daughter regains her strength and the well fills up again, I’ll return.”

Her tongue became slightly loose. Her voice grew thinner. Yawns became frequent. Elisabet struggled to keep her eyes open. Despite her evident fatigue, she seemed to have more to say.

But her voice became too quiet to hear clearly. Frustrated, she made persistent gestures toward Kain. Reluctantly, Kain brought his ear close to her mouth.

“Don’t… worry… nothing…”

Something hot and soft briefly touched his earlobe.

Shuddering, Kain stepped back. Elisabet was already asleep. His heart was racing wildly. It was because of the distress.

“Please don’t do that with Maria’s face. I beg you.”

Kain murmured as if in prayer. With a quiet sigh, he opened the door of the hospital room and left. Shortly after, two female nurses entered through the door.

They confirmed that Elisabet was asleep and performed a simple examination while undressing her. They carefully wiped her with a wrung-out towel. It smelled nice with herbs mixed in to boost energy.

As befitting nurses from a knightly training institution, their skills were good. The monastery training was quite rough. It was because of the policy that one should learn to fight while enduring pain rather than fighting without getting hit at all.

Maria, with no fractures or dislocations, just light abrasions and exhaustion, was an easy patient to handle.

Since they didn’t need to fully concentrate, chatting became natural.

“Wasn’t the patient an inquisitor? And they said the man who just left was a mercenary.”

“I think so.”

“But what did they have to talk about for so long?”

The nurses giggled.

“Why, it’s not unusual to have a lover, is it?”

At a tender age still harboring sweet fantasies about romance. Imagination keeps stretching out. As they’re being trained as combatants rather than clergy pursuing asceticism, there’s nothing to hold them back.

That’s why the nurses didn’t see Elisabet snap her fingers.

Snap. As she snapped her fingers, the nurses’ movements froze.

“That man is just an ordinary mercenary. He just came for a simple check-up and left the room quickly.”

Snap!

The nurses moved their hands again. As soon as they were released from the hypnosis, the two nurses resumed their chatting.

“Wasn’t the patient an inquisitor? And they said the man who just left was a mercenary.”

“I think so.”

“Are all mercenaries like that? Even though they must have worked together for some time, he just coldly looked at her face and left.”

“People who live for money are all like that…”

The nurses began a light massage. It was a refreshing massage that loosened up tense areas here and there.

With her eyes closed, Elisabet recalled what she hadn’t told Kain.

What the Two-headed Eagle did to the Life Tree was terrible. They burned records, killed priests, and incited people to accuse others of being witches and wizards.

But even they couldn’t do anything about the Life Tree Order’s great buildings and holy sites.

So they used another method. They designated the Life Tree Order’s holy sites as their own.

Buildings with too strong a Life Tree color were destroyed. Instead, they built monasteries on those sites. But there are places where the color is even fainter.

Right here. Places like the Crown Fortress remain almost entirely as designed by the Order.

‘Beyond death, a priest returned to the holy site…’

It was more reassuring than an army of a million. Just by returning to the holy site, this land empowered Elisabet.

This building. The people of this land. All would fall under the influence of the powerful witch.

She’s too weak now. She can barely enchant one or two people. If only that wretched leather strap were gone. She would be free.

At least time is on Elisabet’s side. Maria hasn’t emerged yet. The strong-willed Liliana is also not here. Only Kain remains.

As tough as tree roots, but isn’t that better? The pleasure of finally uprooting, conquering, breaking.

But that requires time. So during that time, unnecessary gossip must not spread. Silencing the nurses who love to talk about others’ business is one of those tasks.

Unnecessary irritation wells up. In the past, she could erase memories from everyone even while roaming big cities. Now she’s reduced to casting simple hypnosis.

‘…Should I be a bit more aggressive?’

Anticipating the coming opportunity, the witch fell into a deep sleep.

* * * * *

The grounds of St. Georgios Monastery are as long as its name.

No matter how small and bare it may be, it’s still a building that wraps around the middle of a rocky ‘mountain’. Training grounds, prayer halls, practice areas… buildings are scattered here and there, and the paths are a repetition of hills and steep slopes.

As if that weren’t enough, the central monastery is not near the entrance but closer to the mountain peak. They say ‘the higher one is on earth, the closer one can get to God,’ but Kain suspected the architects simply wanted to make the monks suffer somehow.

Otherwise, why would they make a rule that one must carry water when going up to the central monastery?

It wasn’t physically burdensome. But for Kain, whose heart had just been severely crushed, everything felt tiresome.

“Sigh.”

No one rebuked him for irreverently sighing in the monastery. At least ten monks were catching their breath along the big uphill path to the central monastery, and more than twenty others were taking laborious steps.

Though quite wide, the path narrowed and widened as it pleased. Because of this, Kain didn’t find it strange when someone slipped up beside him.

“I haven’t seen you before.”

Turning his head, Kain saw a middle-aged man. His head was almost completely bald with wrinkles covering his face, but his body was enormous. If he had been just a bit taller, he would have been perfect for the Imperial Guard.

“…Ah. Yes. I’m a visitor.”

“Ah… I see. You’re not used to the slopes here, are you? Shorten your stride just a little more than now, and keep your posture relaxed. Your body is too stiff—you’ll get leg cramps when you reach the top.”

Kain bowed his head to the monk offering unexpected advice. Regardless, it was helpful advice.

A moment later, Kain looked at the monk with different eyes. There was no disturbance in his breathing. He was only sweating a little. As if he were just taking a stroll.

But before Kain could ask anything, the monk moved with an “Oof.”

“I’ll go up first.”

The middle-aged man abruptly went ahead without waiting for a response. What a strange man, Kain thought as he followed with his eyes.

There was nothing special about the man’s movements. He just took one step, one step slowly. As if there was no need to hurry. Before taking a step, he didn’t hastily lift his other foot from the ground… that’s about it.

No. That’s not all. The man’s movements were rhythmic. With each slight bend and straightening of his knees, he twisted his body slightly. Kain decided to try imitating the man’s movements.

Though awkward and somewhat embarrassing, his steps became lighter. His legs felt nimble, but Kain didn’t rush. Like the middle-aged man, he took one stable step after another.

At the top, that is, at the monastery gate, the man received Kain’s water yoke.

“You walk well.”

“I learned a lot from watching you.”

“Learned…” The man smiled slightly and opened a shelf next to the gate. Small ladles were placed there, well-cleaned, for scooping and drinking water. The man handed one of them to Kain.

“Have a drink. Water is scarce here, but we should allow ourselves this much luxury, shouldn’t we?”

Kain accepted it gratefully. He tilted the water container and scooped up a ladle. “Ah, ahh…” The man made an indistinguishable sound as he gulped down the water. The man was standing with his back to the monastery, looking out at the plain.

What was he looking at? Curious, Kain followed the man’s gaze.

The surrounding wasteland was visible at a glance. Artificial waterways cut through the yellowish-reddish land. Somehow, they resembled withering leaves.

But that wasn’t all. The high, cloudless sky was clear and bright. Far beyond the wasteland was an abundance of greenery.

With the blue sky and green horizon as a backdrop, even the wasteland didn’t look completely worthless. Though barren, it seemed like if one tilled the land and planted something, one could pull in that green horizon.

“I wonder if it’s worth the trouble of coming up here.”

“It’s enough.”

Even though the wind was dry, it felt cool and pleasant while his body was soaked with sweat.

“It seems my eye for people is the same now as it was before. That’s why the ancients built this here too. I don’t know how they built it or why, though.”

“Is that why the knightly order settled here as well?”

The sturdy monk chuckled at Kain’s question.

“Well. That’s part of it… but actually, we were deceived.”