Ch.132Chapter 132 – The Shepherd’s Tale

We were left speechless by the Count’s sudden appearance behind us.

In the meantime, the Count calmly approached us and removed the puppet.

“It was originally meant for assassination prevention.”

The Count explained about the puppet even though no one had asked.

He seemed to be subtly bragging about it.

Eve quietly spoke as she watched the Count casually dispose of the puppet.

“…Why did you do this, Count?”

“You called me ‘Father’ when the puppet fell earlier. Won’t you do it again?”

At the Count’s words, Eve cleared her throat once.

Then, she spoke again.

“Why did you do this, Count?”

“…I was rather hoping you’d call me Father.”

The Count sighed softly as he answered.

“I just wanted to find out something.”

“What?”

“I wanted to know how much the people my daughter Eve brought with her care about her.”

After saying that, the Count looked at me.

It was somehow a warm smile.

“You’ve truly met good people, and a good person.”

“That’s…”

“Didn’t you like it? I was rather impressed seeing them prioritize your happiness.”

Eve tried to respond but stopped.

She seemed embarrassed, quickly averting her gaze elsewhere.

The Count gazed warmly at Eve before turning to look at us.

“Let’s move to another location first.”

“Where to?”

“To my home’s library. This place makes for rather stiff conversation.”

After saying this, the Count personally opened the door to his office.

“Please follow me.”

It wasn’t an atmosphere where refusal was an option.

After exchanging glances with my companions, we followed the Count.

After passing through various parts of the massive mansion, we arrived at what seemed to be a corner of the building where there was indeed a large door.

When the Count opened the door himself, we could see bookshelves filled with books and tables and chairs between them.

“Did you prepare this in advance?”

“Yes. Please sit wherever you’re comfortable.”

At the Count’s words, we moved inside, and the Count once again closed the door himself.

Then he went deeper into the library and soon returned with what appeared to be a tea set.

“I can’t brew tea as well as my wife, but I should at least offer guests a cup, shouldn’t I?”

“…Would it be alright if I brewed it?”

“It’s fine. I said that, but a father wants to do it himself.”

The Count smiled at Eve’s words.

Then he began brewing the tea himself.

Meanwhile, Beatrice frowned slightly as she examined various parts of the library.

“…How was this library created?”

“It was made normally?”

“I was too brief. Did you know there’s magic cast on the library?”

The Count nodded at Beatrice’s words.

“I’ve heard that long ago, a magician gifted our family with a magical device that periodically casts preservation and soundproofing spells.”

“Long ago?”

“I was told it was even before this family was established.”

The Count spoke again as he distributed the tea.

“Thanks to that, it’s become the perfect place for secret conversations.”

“Does that mean you don’t trust the people you employ?”

“No, Eve.”

The Count smiled at Eve’s question.

Then he put on a slightly stern expression.

“But no matter how much you trust someone, even family, there are secrets that shouldn’t be casually shared.”

The Count gestured slightly toward each of our teacups, indicating we should drink.

After briefly exchanging glances among ourselves, we picked up our cups and took a sip, which made the Count smile with satisfaction.

“It’s good tea, so please savor it slowly.”

As the Count said, the tea’s aroma was nice.

I took another sip.

‘I think Eve brews it better.’

Maybe later I’ll get some of this tea and ask Eve to brew it.

While I was thinking this, the Count smiled and spoke.

“First, let me be clear. I’ve known why you came to see me for several days now.”

At the Count’s words, Eve glared at him slightly.

“…How?”

“Eve.”

The Count said, putting down his teacup slightly.

“Your ability is not yours alone.”

The Count spoke quietly with a smile.

“As I mentioned earlier, our family is not just an ordinary noble house.”

“You said that tracing back to its origins, it has connections to the Hero.”

“That’s right.”

The Count quietly put down his teacup.

“From our ancestors until now, our family has protected and maintained the sacred site of the goddess Evgenia. According to traditions and abilities passed down to the heads of the family through generations.”

“To the heads of the family?”

Eve asked with some surprise.

The Count avoided her gaze for a moment and began to mutter to himself.

“…Where should I begin this story?”

“Story?”

“The story about the roots of our family.”

The Count looked at Eve and then at me.

“This is something I’d like to share with Kay here as well.”

“But does that have anything to do with our current situation…”

“Since you know about the sacred site and are heading there, I think it would be good for you to know.”

The Count spoke quietly.

“Just listen first. Consider it a history lesson.”

“Understood.”

After saying this, the Count looked at our group.

The Count’s lips parted.

+

“The story goes back to the very distant past, to the Demon War.”

The Count began his story quietly while sipping his tea.

“One day, in some country, on some plain, a woman looking at the stars suddenly rose from her seat. She said she needed to head to a distant place.”

“A distant place?”

“Yes. The woman was a shepherdess who entrusted her sheep to her other family members and set off on a journey with just one lamb. Despite the journey being filled with demons and monsters during the height of the war, the woman reached her destination without a single fight.”

The Count added that it was as if she had read everything in advance and moved accordingly.

“And there, the woman met a man.”

“A man?”

“Yes. A man.”

The Count paused dramatically, then looked at me and smiled.

“The very man summoned from another world by dragons, later known as the Hero.”

The Count continued his story as he rose from his seat and approached the bookshelf.

“The suddenly summoned Hero wandered despite the dragons’ welcome and tried to escape, they say.”

“Escape?”

“Perhaps because he was suddenly pulled from a comfortable life to a strange place.”

I could relate to that.

After all, I was in exactly the same situation.

The Count, who had approached the bookshelf, briefly glanced outside before returning to the table.

“In the end, the Hero successfully escaped the dragons’ sight, but soon found himself on the brink of starvation.”

“Why is that?”

The Count smiled as he answered Christina’s question.

“Since the Hero came from another world, he probably didn’t know what was safe to eat here.”

…That made sense.

If you suddenly fall into a different world, you can’t just eat any plant growing there.

Or perhaps the Hero lacked the skills to gather and eat things in the wild.

Honestly, only survival experts can roast or gather various things for lunch; it’s very difficult for an ordinary person to do so.

“Before the wandering and starving Hero, the shepherdess appeared.”

“The shepherdess you mentioned at the beginning?”

The Count nodded.

“The woman became the Hero’s shelter, they say. Traveling together, comforting him. Traveling together, calming his loneliness. And telling him where he needed to go.”

The Count took another sip of tea.

“Unlike the Hero who knew nothing at the time, the woman had swordsmanship trained through her life as a shepherdess and experience traveling around, so the two began wandering the world together.”

“A shepherdess with swordsmanship?”

“You may not know, but even now, shepherds mostly have martial skills because they need to protect their sheep from monsters and beasts.”

I nodded at the Count’s explanation.

Indeed, for people whose sheep are their wealth, they would have developed swordsmanship to protect their assets.

“That’s why the animal that symbolizes our family is the sheep.”

The Count added with a smile.

I had noticed a mounted sheep’s head decorating the entrance.

So their family began with a shepherdess.

“The Hero, who came to love this world through the woman, gathered companions during his journey, including her, and eventually saved the world, it is said.”

“That’s quite grand.”

“Do you think so? Anyway, this is one of the legends passed down in our family.”

The Count smiled as he answered Beatrice’s comment.

“This story is about the beginning of the Hero’s legend. It’s the legend of the ‘Star-Gazing Priestess’ who was always by the Hero’s side, reading the future through the stars.”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard.

“Just now, what—”

“The Star-Gazing Priestess.”

The Count said with a smile.

The Star-Gazing Priestess.

I had heard it before.

It was what my heart had said.

Follow the guidance of the Star-Gazing Priestess and seek the traces of the noble god through the gap in the boundary.

‘But to hear it here…’

This seemed too sudden. Perhaps I would have learned about it eventually, but…

“What is this Star-Gazing Priestess?”

“The Hero’s guide. Protector. One who guides the future. One who helps avoid danger. Advisor. You can attach whatever title you wish.”

The Count smiled as he answered Sarah’s question.

“But I’ve never heard of this in the Hero’s legend.”

“Of course not. The priestess herself asked that her records be minimally preserved, and later told her family to record her affairs with the Hero only for themselves and not to casually disclose them to outsiders.”

The Count smiled as he answered Christina’s question.

“But she was a real person, and indeed a member of the Hero’s party.”

“Is there evidence?”

“Yes.”

The Count said this as he pulled out a box from under the table.

When he opened it, there were what appeared to be journals and letters.

“What are these?”

“The priestess’s journals and letters she received.”

Eve showed some interest at his words.

“…May I examine them?”

“As I said, the library itself has preservation magic cast on it, so nothing will happen if you handle them briefly.”

At the Count’s words, Eve carefully opened a book.

Looking at what was written there, I nodded slightly.

‘I can’t read it.’

Christina seemed to feel the same way, looking unsure of what to do.

On the other hand, Sarah, Eve, and Beatrice seemed to recognize the characters.

“This is the ancient language from the Hero’s era…”

“Can you read it?”

“Yes.”

Sarah said lightly.

“The content of the page Eve opened is…”

“What does it say?”

“Roxanna and Lumen don’t seem to approve of me and that person… something like that.”

Beatrice answered.

Who are those two people?

However, Christina and Beatrice seemed to know who they were.

“Could it be the first Saint Roxanna and…”

“The first Tower Master, Lumen.”

“They were members of the Hero’s party.”

Eve answered and turned the page.

Sarah read and said:

“Since it’s a diary, there’s a lot of everyday content.”

“Really?”

“Like Lumen complaining about side dishes, or gossiping that magicians always act superior, or that young shepherds these days lack effort…”

“There’s also mundane content about having an argument with the Saint but being glad they reconciled…”

While the Star-Gazing Priestess might evoke a mysterious image, it seems she wasn’t really that kind of person when you get down to it.

Beatrice reached into the box and pulled out a letter.

“…My goodness.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the first Tower Master’s signature.”

Beatrice said, looking at what appeared to be a signature at the end of the letter.

“Are you sure?”

“The Tower has the first Tower Master’s signature preserved, so I’m not mistaken.”

Beatrice said this and began explaining again.

“Magicians leave their magical pattern in their signatures. Without precise authentication I can’t be certain, but from what I can see, it’s almost certainly genuine.”

It seems the Count’s words should be taken as mostly true.

Everyone put the items they were holding back in the box, and the Count closed it.

After a moment, Eve spoke.

“Then, the Metis Count family…”

“No, according to the traditions passed down in our family, the Hero and the Star-Gazing Priestess left together, but we are not descendants of the Hero.”

The Count looked around at us as he spoke.

“I believe we are descendants of the priestess’s relatives who have continued down to the present day.”

“Is that so?”

The Count nodded at Sarah’s words.

“And one day after the Demon War ended, our family’s ancestor is said to have received a request from the goddess Evgenia.”

“A request? Wait, from the goddess herself?”

Christina leaned forward in surprise.

“Of course, I don’t know if the goddess really descended or if her followers expressed it that way. But one thing is certain.”

“What is it?”

“They created the sacred site you’re looking for.”

The Count added that this much was certain.

“…For some reason, the gods of that time were fighting among themselves, and in the midst of that, Evgenia came to the people who would later form the Metis Count family and asked them to protect the sacred site.”

“Why is that?”

“That hasn’t been passed down even among the heads of the family.”

The speculation was that it was because they were relatives of the Star-Gazing Priestess.

And the Count added that the exact reason was probably intentionally not passed down.

“However, the seal on the sacred site has never been broken since then. This is the first time the seal has been directly broken.”

“You broke it yourself, Count…”

“Do you think the heads of the family throughout history never tried to break the seal?”

Probably not.

If there’s something inside, people naturally get curious about the contents.

When told not to open something or that it shouldn’t be opened, people often end up opening it anyway.

“I don’t know why a seal that hadn’t been opened until now could be opened in my generation. If I were to guess…”

“If you were to guess?”

“It’s either related to the appearance of demons, or some other key has appeared.”

The Count said he couldn’t verify beyond that.

‘A key.’

I unconsciously looked at Christina’s stone tablet.

I clearly remembered that after obtaining that tablet, Christina said there was a sacred site here.

At the same time, I recalled how she started acting strangely, saying we needed to go to the sacred site.

“But one thing I learned after releasing the seal is that it’s not designed to open immediately upon release.”

“Does it open after some time?”

“It seems to be a seal made with that much strictness.”

The Count added as he drank his tea.

“It’s just a feeling, but I think it will open by the time you arrive at the sacred site if you leave tomorrow morning.”

“Is that so?”

“I’ll tell you in advance that I don’t know why. It just naturally came to mind.”

That’s what the Count said.

“In any case, thanks to the ability passed down through generations in our family, I knew you would come several days ago, and I prepared what you wanted from days before.”

The Count added that this was why he had been busy for several days.

Then he rose from his seat and headed toward the library.

After a moment, he personally brought a box.

“I’ve organized everything you need here, including the location of the sacred site and necessary items. It was quite an effort to copy everything by hand.”

“Where did you get all this…”

The Count pointed to the ground.

“Underground?”

“Documents passed down through generations in the Count’s family are buried underground here. The method of entry is a secret, however.”

That’s what the Count said.

But since we had what we needed in hand, there was no need to enter anyway.

Then the Count smiled slightly at me.

“Ah, should Kay know in advance?”

When I unconsciously cleared my throat, the Count just smiled.

Why was I being singled out?

The Count looked at Eve.

“The reason I’m telling you and your companions this story, which is normally passed down only to the head of the family… is because I think you deserve to know it.”

“Is that so?”

“This ability faintly manifests only after going through certain traditional rituals when becoming the head of the family.”

The Count quietly looked at Eve.

“I never imagined that there would be a case of someone manifesting this ability on their own, let alone that it would be my own daughter.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

The Count and Eve just looked at each other for a moment.

Then the Count spoke softly.

“It’s something I’m saying only now, but Eve, you were originally destined to have a short life.”

“A short life?”

“…Yes.”

Eve looked at the Count, wondering what he was suddenly talking about.

The Count continued.

“The only way to live longer, as I glimpsed, was to get engaged to a certain nobleman’s son, so I believed that was the right path and carried it out.”

“…Is that so?”

Eve had mentioned that she received word about her engagement being arranged shortly before graduating from the academy.

It seemed he was talking about that time.

“So I was surprised when you ran away.”

“Why is that?”

“Why? Because I never thought you would run away.”

The Count said with a smile.

“I never considered the possibility that you, who had always been obedient, would dare to run away.”

“Is that so?”

“Your successful escape was partly due to the ability you manifested on your own.”

Perhaps he was reminiscing about that time.

There was a hint of regret in the Count’s eyes.

“Honestly, I was anxious. Wondering if the future would be arbitrarily shaken. Wondering if some calamity would befall us.”

Eve was quietly listening to the Count’s words.

The Count spoke somewhat awkwardly.

“There was no calamity after all. And the future still continued.”

She didn’t walk the path laid out for her.

But that didn’t cause any major problems, the Count said somewhat embarrassedly.

“Your action at that time was your own resistance to your future, and the fruit of that is now before my eyes. That’s what I think.”

“I see.”

“To the extent that you appeared with these wonderful friends and that young man.”

At the Count’s words, Eve seemed a bit embarrassed and averted her gaze.

They both took a sip of tea at the same time.

After a moment, the Count quietly spoke.

“Eve.”

“Yes.”

“Are you happy?”

At the Count’s words, Eve smiled.

“I am happy, Father.”

Father and daughter smiled at each other.