Ch.141Chapter 141 – The Five Seals

Sarah began wiping Christina’s sweat.

“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with her body?”

[Her life isn’t in immediate danger.]

When I glanced at Sarah, she nodded as if confirming this.

[Still, it would be better if she could rest in a bed. Unfortunately, there’s nothing like that here.]

“That’s obvious.”

Regardless, Christina needed to get plenty of rest today.

It would be better to take her somewhere more comfortable than the floor.

Meanwhile, Eve looked at Christina and said:

“It seems the stigmata hasn’t appeared yet.”

[Just forcing it in is actually quite inefficient. For the stigmata to appear, she’ll need to absorb power from other seals as well.]

“Can’t we just do it all here?” Beatrice asked.

The priestess shook her head.

[Most of the divine power from that fragment is used to maintain this place. There’s a certain minimum amount that’s essential.]

After saying this, the priestess continued quietly:

[The amount of divine power used in today’s ritual would take months to gather.]

“That takes a long time.”

I hadn’t expected it would require several months’ worth of power.

The area seemed to have darkened considerably after the ritual, which must mean a significant amount of divine power had been used.

There’s inefficient, and then there’s this.

[Fortunately, there are four more seals like this sacred site.]

The priestess quietly spoke up.

[If you visit those four places and absorb divine power, I believe the stigmata will certainly appear.]

“I see.”

Considering my heart condition and the heresy charge, it would be impossible to stay in one place for months.

She was saying that rather than visiting here periodically, we should find other locations.

That would actually be the faster method.

“As for traveling, if the distances seem too great, we could try pressuring the Magic Tower for help,” Beatrice interjected.

“Is it too selfish of me to hope we might get something useful out of visiting these places?”

The priestess seemed to remember something and spoke up.

[Now that you mention it, there is one treasure.]

“What?” Beatrice reacted.

The priestess quietly continued:

[It’s not particularly impressive in itself, but it likely has tremendous historical value.]

“What is it?” Eve asked.

The priestess waved her hand, and suddenly the floor rose up, revealing a box placed on top.

“This is…”

[Open it.]

Everyone except Christina exchanged glances with each other.

Eve carefully stepped forward and opened the box, revealing something that looked like white cloth.

When unfolded, it turned out to be a hooded long cape.

[This belonged to the first saint, Lady Roxanna.]

“What?”

Eve responded with wide eyes, and the priestess smiled slightly as she explained:

[It’s a cape made from the hide of a holy beast that died fighting against demons, created under the direction of the dragon mage Lumen… Unfortunately, Lady Roxanna often stood on the front lines herself and rarely wore it because she found washing it too troublesome.]

“Washing?”

[White garments are difficult because bloodstains don’t come out easily.]

The reason was so simple that I was momentarily at a loss for words.

It made sense, but couldn’t magic take care of that somehow?

While we were looking at the cape, Sarah and Beatrice quietly began touching it.

“I’ve never seen this material before.”

“It must be a material that’s difficult to reproduce now. It seems to have a spell that reduces magical attacks?”

After the two finished their analysis, the priestess smiled proudly and said:

[They say there were even better items back then, but this is still quite an excellent artifact.]

According to the priestess, this was worn by a legendary figure, so its historical value must be enormous.

Assuming it’s genuine, of course.

[I think it would be best to give it to that nun.]

“Really? Why?”

I had been thinking of giving it to Christina anyway, but I asked to hear her reasoning.

The priestess quietly replied:

[…If I were Lady Roxanna, I would want to pass it on to a distant junior as encouragement.]

The priestess smiled as she spoke.

Then her gaze turned to Christina.

[You should leave now, if only to let that child rest.]

“Right.”

“Shall I carry her?” Sarah asked.

I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

“I’ll carry her myself. There are a lot of stairs.”

I had considered asking Beatrice or Sarah since they’re women, but we’d have to climb an enormous number of stairs from here.

Considering overall stamina, it would be better if I carried her.

I approached Christina, carefully lifted her onto my back.

She was lighter than I expected.

[Oh, I can send you to the entrance. There’s a warp.]

“It would have been nice if you’d mentioned that earlier.”

Why do these things always come up after we’ve finished preparing?

I grumbled as we moved forward.

Beatrice seemed to remember something and turned to the priestess.

“This warp isn’t going to suddenly explode or send us somewhere strange, is it?”

[I swear by the gods, I won’t do anything like that.]

The priestess answered with a pout.

Beatrice didn’t seem to be serious either, as she just smiled.

We stepped onto the warp, and the priestess looked at us with her hands clasped together.

[I think I need to repair the damage done to this place now.]

She smiled as she spoke.

[I wish you all good fortune.]

“Thanks for everything.”

[Travel safely.]

The priestess spread her hands, and our bodies were surrounded by light.

I closed my eyes slightly as it became too bright.

When I opened them again, we were at the entrance.

+

Naturally, once we had visited the sacred site, we had no further business there.

We returned to the carriage with Christina and traveled until nightfall.

By the time we quickly set up camp with a tent for the night watch and prepared dinner, Christina woke up.

“Are you feeling better now, Chris?”

“Ah, yes.”

Sarah, who was cooking, welcomed Christina with a smile.

Christina smiled weakly.

She seemed to be struggling after the ordeal, which worried me.

Perhaps because of this, the atmosphere felt slightly different.

“Am I the reason we’re stopping…?”

“Of course not. We would have needed to camp once anyway before reaching the next village.”

“I see.”

Christina seemed hesitant.

It felt like she had something she wanted to say.

“Let’s eat first.”

“Um, well…”

“We can talk comfortably together afterward.”

When I said this, Christina hesitated briefly before smiling.

“Thank you.”

Shortly after, Sarah brought out the food with a delicious aroma, and we all sat down together to eat.

Eve was the first to speak.

“Finding the sacred site was certainly productive.”

“We unexpectedly found a way to counter the heresy charge, after all.”

It had been a possibility, but we’d discovered unexpected secrets and methods.

Of course, the Emiris Church could still interfere through various means besides the heresy charge, but at least we wouldn’t be treated as criminals in places under their influence, which would make movement easier.

“This story is getting bigger than I expected. The idea that a god has died…”

“As if we don’t have enough to deal with in the present,” Beatrice replied grumpily to Sarah’s comment.

“Our next destination, as previously mentioned, will be Miss Seraphina’s grandmother’s hometown.”

“How far is it from here?”

“It will take several days. Due to time constraints, we’ll minimize stops in villages.”

I nodded at Eve’s explanation.

“By the way, Helmet, are you alright?” Beatrice asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Earlier during the fight. You seemed to be in pain, like your heart was hurting.”

I quietly nodded.

“It seems the longer I fight, the more strain it puts on my heart.”

Both Baphomet and that priestess were formidable opponents beyond ordinary.

Fighting such enemies requires significant exertion from me, and prolonged battles seem to put considerable strain on my heart.

Sarah looked at me with concerned eyes.

“I’ll try to make a medicine for you.”

“Thanks, Sarah.”

“Please don’t push yourself too hard, Kay.”

I nodded quietly at Sarah’s words.

Then Christina, who had been watching us nervously, quietly raised her hand.

“Excuse me…”

“Go ahead, Miss Christina.”

“It’s about the stigmata and… well…”

Christina hesitated.

After we exchanged glances, I spoke up.

“We need to visit the other sacred sites too.”

“That’s right. For Miss Christina to obtain the stigmata, she needs to visit other seals and absorb divine power.”

Christina stared at us with a blank expression.

“You… already knew?”

“The priestess told us everything while you were unconscious.”

What concerned me more was how Christina knew these facts despite being unconscious at the time, but I let it pass for now.

There was no need to press for all the answers right away.

“I should contact the Magic Tower to see if they can prepare warps to other locations. Asam and I have long-distance communication methods.”

“And we’ve received the general locations,” Beatrice added.

The priestess had provided us with a map along with the treasure and basic information.

“She said the rest of the seals would work out somehow when you go there.”

Christina’s eyes wavered slightly.

Then she sighed and spoke.

“I had no idea you already knew all this…”

She seemed quite deflated.

I guess she had been nervous about having to reveal that we needed to visit other places too.

It made sense for her to feel apologetic, since the problem we were trying to solve wouldn’t be fixed in one go but would require traveling all over the continent.

‘Five seals.’

The one we just visited and four more to go.

When all five are done, that makes five seals.

What will happen when all five seals are broken?

“The priestess mentioned that Evgenia had made some arrangements.”

“I suppose we’ll find out at the end,” Eve said.

So we’ll only know once we break them all?

I hoped it would be something that could be used against the Emiris Church.

After finishing her meal a bit early, Eve brewed tea and distributed cups to everyone before speaking.

“Let’s rest now and depart early tomorrow.”

“Let’s decide on the night watch. Who’s scheduled to drive the carriage tomorrow morning?”

“I am,” Eve replied.

Eve was naturally excluded from the night watch.

“Um…”

“Ah, Christina. You should rest.”

“Chris must be very tired after today.”

When Sarah and I said this to Christina, her expression stiffened slightly.

“I can’t be the only one not doing anything…”

“Resting today is your way of helping,” Beatrice said.

Shortly after, everyone except Sarah, who volunteered to take the first watch to make medicine, went to their rooms.

+

I dozed off briefly after entering my room, and when I woke up, it was already my turn for watch duty.

And I noticed something odd.

‘Why didn’t Sarah come to wake me?’

We had agreed not to enter each other’s rooms for privacy, with one exception: when it was time to wake the next person for watch duty.

But Sarah hadn’t come to me yet, it seemed.

Feeling slightly anxious, I quickly put on my armor and went outside.

“Oh my.”

In the watch tent outside, there was a large cauldron that had appeared from somewhere.

It was Sarah’s alchemy cauldron.

There were traces of a fire having been lit underneath, but the contents were empty.

I carefully went around to the back and found Sarah curled up asleep.

Next to her was what appeared to be a test tube containing liquid, probably my medicine.

“You worked hard.”

I carefully tried to lift Sarah.

As soon as I touched her, she woke up.

“Huh? Ah? Oh, I wasn’t sleeping… just resting my eyes…”

I smiled at Sarah as she denied having fallen asleep with a face still heavy with sleep.

“Go inside and sleep.”

Sarah stared at me with dazed eyes.

She seemed unable to grasp the situation after waking up from dozing off.

“Night watch… need to wake Kay…”

“Yes, I’m right in front of you.”

Whether because it was dark or she was still drowsy, Sarah still couldn’t recognize me.

She looked at me and said in a sleepy voice:

“Carry me…”

Sarah spread her arms as if asking to be picked up.

My eyes briefly went to her chest before I quickly looked away.

I immediately suppressed whatever was welling up inside me.

As I carefully tried to support her back and legs to lift her, Sarah wriggled slightly and broke free from me.

Then she picked up the test tube beside her.

“Need to take this too…”

“Yes, yes.”

Since Sarah was clutching the test tube while still drowsy, I carefully lifted her up.

This time she didn’t resist as I carried her.

I took Sarah to her room and placed the test tube she was holding onto the desk, while Sarah removed her coat by herself.

Then, like a zombie, she headed for the bed and flopped down.

“Sarah. You should change into comfortable clothes before sleeping.”

There was no answer.

With no other choice, I took out comfortable clothes that Sarah usually wore from the hanger and placed them beside her.

I saw her fingers fidgeting as she picked up the clothes, and I quickly left the room.

I had to leave, as staying inside could have led to a major disaster.

As I left Sarah’s room and was about to go outside the carriage for my watch duty, I encountered someone.

“Christina?”

“Ah!”

I came face to face with Christina, who was lighting a fire in the watch tent.

“What are you doing there?”

“Well, I didn’t feel comfortable just resting alone… When I came out, there was no one on watch…”

It seemed she had left her room while I was occupied with Sarah.

“You must be very tired.”

“I am tired. But I couldn’t sleep.”

Christina smiled as she spoke.

I sat down beside her and took the kindling she handed me.

“Then stay for a while, but go back inside to sleep as soon as you feel drowsy.”

“Yes.”

Unexpectedly, we became watch companions.

I threw a dry branch into the fire as kindling and stirred the flames while Christina quietly watched me.

“Do you have something to say?”

“…Yes.”

I put down the kindling and looked at Christina.

After briefly averting her gaze from me, Christina soon spoke up.

“When I was absorbing the divine power…”

Christina calmly began to tell me about what had happened then.

After waiting for her to finish, I quietly said:

“So Kara saved your life.”

“Yes. During the terrorist attack.”

I hadn’t heard any news about her since that day.

I had thought our paths had merely crossed briefly and that we might meet again someday.

“…The reason the priestess said I had divine power mixed in me was because Kara saved me with her own divine power.”

“So you absorbed that divine power?”

“It’s more like Kara used too much power and the excess flowed into me. That seems right, though there might be other reasons too.”

I sighed involuntarily.

“So she sacrificed her life to save you.”

“Yes.”

We silently stared at the fire for a moment.

Then Christina spoke again.

“Kara always said she would be by my side. But still…”

“You want to honor her memory, is that it?”

“Yes. It was difficult to bring it up since some of you don’t know Kara.”

Christina folded her hands and quietly spoke.

“…I’d like to say a prayer for Kara.”

I smiled slightly as I watched her.

Then I imitated her gesture and said:

“Two is better than one.”

“…Thank you.”

Though she had been particularly prickly toward me, I had no reason to be cold to someone who had sacrificed herself for Christina.

I quietly prayed for her soul, and when I lowered my hands, Christina smiled.

“Thank you so much, my benefactor.”

“This is nothing.”

Christina smiled slightly.

After looking at the fire for a moment, she spoke again.

“According to what Kara inside me has told me, it seems Kara’s mother and siblings are still alive.”

“So she wasn’t an orphan.”

“She seemed to be hiding something… She asked me to save her mother and siblings.”

Christina spoke quietly.

Unlike her usual self, there was strength in her words.

It showed a determination that suggested she would do it regardless of any attempts to dissuade her.

“If the opportunity comes, I…”

“I understand what you’re saying.”

She must be saying she would act to save Kara’s siblings and mother.

Christina bowed her head.

And I quietly said:

“Then shall we consult with Beatrice about this tomorrow morning?”

“But this is my problem…”

“She’s the type who would listen carefully and help with all her might.”

Beatrice has an extreme dislike for the Emiris Church.

It was clear she would help wholeheartedly, if not out of pure intention to help Christina, then certainly as a way to strike at the church.

“Besides, once we’ve come this far together, there’s no distinction between your problems and mine.”

I was confident that Eve and Sarah would also be willing to help Christina if asked.

I smiled at Christina, who seemed somewhat dumbfounded.

Though she probably couldn’t see it because of my helmet.

“Actually, thinking about it, this journey is causing everyone trouble because of me, isn’t it? I’m indebted to everyone. Sorry, but will you let me repay that debt?”

“…You don’t need to repay anything.”

Christina smiled as she spoke.

“I would have helped you anyway, my benefactor.”

“I’ll return those words. I would help you no matter what too.”

Oh, I made a mistake.

Caught up in the moment, I said something embarrassing without thinking.

After saying it, I felt so embarrassed that I rolled my eyes inside my helmet.

“No matter what…”

I glanced slightly at the soft voice.

I could see Christina turning her head to avoid making eye contact with me.

“…Say such things to Sarah. Or perhaps the guild master.”

“Look, what I just said was honestly really embarrassing, and I’d rather not repeat it two or three times.”

Besides, I was already planning to help both of them with whatever they needed anyway.

As for Beatrice… well, I’ve grown fond of her despite everything, so I’d help depending on the situation.

“Ugh, I’ll keep what you said a secret.”

“You do that.”

Christina looked somewhat shy.

After a moment, she spoke again.

“There was something else I didn’t mention earlier.”

“From now on, speak up when you need to. What is it?”

“…According to Kara’s speculation…”

Christina paused briefly.

Then she quietly said:

“The being that swallowed Evgenia, or swallowed the god who swallowed her, is either the Emiris god or something that absorbed that god too.”

“What’s the evidence?”

“Kara said she was a follower of Emiris. The fact that I could accept Kara’s divine power was possible because it fundamentally came from the same being. So there’s only one conclusion.”

She was saying that Emiris either swallowed Evgenia or swallowed the being that had swallowed Evgenia.

“So the gods devoured each other?”

“It’s a creepy way to put it, but that might be how we should see it.”

These are beings worthy of being called gods, after all.

It seemed likely that a terrible cannibalism had occurred among them.

“How did the gods come to devour one another?”

“I don’t know.”

We still don’t know anything.

But somehow…

I had a feeling that the day would come when we would learn the reason.