Ch.211Side Story: Unexpected Reunion – 2

Kartina.

An unfortunate lord whose territory and subjects were sacrificed wholesale by some cult, who herself became a sacrifice to summon a god, and ultimately ended up fusing with that entity.

After Serena resolved that incident, we parted ways in another major city where I had gone to report, and I hadn’t seen her since.

I had no reason to accompany Kartina, and more importantly, the look in Serena’s eyes when she glared at Kartina was far from reassuring.

Once you take care of someone, you must do so for life.

She wouldn’t be able to stay more than a certain distance from me, and we’d both have to remain vigilant for the rest of our lives. It was obviously going to be an extremely difficult fate for both me and Kartina.

I had half-expected Serena to handle the aftermath, but I let it be. The Serena of that time couldn’t have completely killed Kartina, unlike the current Serena.

She probably could only deplete Kartina’s power to manifest in this world and banish her to another dimension at best. Even if banished, given the opportunity, she could return to this world again.

In that case, it was better to leave her thinking Kartina was dead rather than paying special attention to her. That’s why I didn’t stop Serena.

“It’s been a while, Adventurer. Have you been well?”

However, I truly never imagined I would reunite with Kartina in a place like this.

Kartina’s voice was still calm and gentle. Every gesture and movement overflowed with dignity, and she gave off a strong impression of having a kind and innocent personality.

“I’ve been well. As always.”

Between our last meeting in the city and this reunion, numerous incidents had occurred, but rather than detailing each one, I decided to simply say I’d been well.

There was no need to mention that women had fought over me nearly causing the world to be created and destroyed, that space had been cut away into the world beyond, or that the one true god itself had descended upon the earth.

“How have you been, Lord?”

After debating between formal honorifics and simple polite speech, I opted for simple politeness, thinking she wouldn’t prefer excessive formality.

After all, the entity residing in Kartina’s body had trembled at the sight of me and fainted from fear. She might be sharing emotions with that being.

This seemed to be the right choice, as Kartina continued the conversation with a gentle smile.

“I’ve been doing well too. Um, may I ask you something?”

“By all means.”

Seeing Kartina fidgeting with a troubled expression, I told her she could ask anything, at which she squeezed her blood-red eyes shut before speaking.

“Why… why are you sitting so far away from me?”

“Ah.”

I awkwardly looked at the space between Kartina and myself.

The interior of the temple built by the cultists wasn’t as horrific as my first impression, since Kartina had cleaned it by absorbing all the blood, but the distance between us was another matter.

We were sitting as far apart as possible, practically at opposite ends. Kartina sat at the opposite side from where I had torn off the door, and I sat right in front of the doorless entrance.

It was the maximum distance I could maintain without leaving the temple.

“Well, you see…”

I couldn’t exactly blurt out, “There are four people who would come hunting for you if they smelled your scent on me with 100% certainty.”

Or maybe it would be better to tell her and guarantee her safety by saying, “If you stick close to me, you’ll definitely die.”

Especially now, when getting caught by any of the four would mean certain annihilation of her very existence.

“…”

That didn’t seem like a good approach either.

“Um, perhaps…”

As I was struggling to find an answer, Kartina murmured in a dejected voice.

“Is it because of my appearance that you’re avoiding me?”

“What?”

Hearing her voice, I immediately realized my mistake.

From Kartina’s perspective, seeing me must have been quite welcome. Everyone around her had died, she had lost her position, and then I appeared—someone whose face she at least recognized.

Yet I was acting completely unwelcoming, trying to maintain maximum distance, which must have hurt her feelings. After my surprised response, her voice sank even lower.

“No, I’m sorry. Of course. Unlike before, I’m in this state now. It’s natural that you’d avoid me.”

Droplets of blood floated around her body—blood she had absorbed from the floor.

“That’s absolutely not the case, Lord.”

“…Then why?”

Having lost her family, status, wealth, and honor, and having been physically killed once due to her connection with me, I felt a certain guilt toward Kartina.

Even if I couldn’t help her, I didn’t want to make her feel dejected.

“Before that, could you perhaps call out the one who shares your body?”

“The god? Why?”

“Because they fainted upon seeing me. I’d like to clear up any misunderstandings.”

“Hmm… they’re terrified right now and refusing to come out… Just a moment. I’ll try.”

Kartina closed her eyes to concentrate, but began panicking almost immediately. After barely ten seconds, she opened her eyes and shook her head.

“They absolutely refuse to come out. They want me to stay instead.”

‘Serena, what exactly did you do to kill Kartina?’

I wondered how horrifically she must have died to be so terrified of me, not even Serena who had actually killed her. Was she flayed alive or something?

It was difficult for me to justify keeping my distance from Kartina, and I needed that god-like being’s cooperation, but things weren’t looking promising.

‘Ah.’

A good idea crossed my mind.

“Lord, I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

“If you tell them that if they don’t come out right now, that former Royal First Knight Captain will come here again—”

“No! Anything but that! Please!”

Before I could finish, Kartina prostrated herself on the floor. What? I thought they had completely separated their consciousnesses, but apparently they were listening all along.

I mentally apologized to the lord’s side of Kartina for the sudden interruption of consciousness.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Hic, hiccup.”

When I greeted her with a smile, Kartina—or rather, the entity that had taken residence in Kartina’s body—turned pale and kept hiccupping.

“Why so startled? Relax. The threat about bringing Serena was just a bluff. They can’t come here. I’ve made sure they can’t peek in.”

“Th-thank you…”

Unlike the lord Kartina who had complained about me keeping my distance, this Kartina was deliberately increasing the distance between us.

When her back hit the wall, her expression froze, clearly disappointed that she couldn’t move any further away.

“So, why do you think I called you? No, let’s clarify how to address you first. What should I call you? I call the other Kartina ‘Lord,’ but what about you?”

“J-just Kartina is fine… We’ve become one entity now…”

Two becoming one. Their souls had successfully merged. Whether it was because Kartina had exceptional talent or because they had sacrificed so many people, I wasn’t sure.

“Alright, Kartina. The reason I called you is because I need your help. I can assure you it won’t be disadvantageous to you.”

A hint of curiosity appeared in the blood-red eyes of Kartina, who was cowering in the corner of the temple. Strange, I didn’t remember Kartina being this timid.

“You heard the lord being disappointed about why I’m keeping my distance, right?”

Nod.

“Well, as you know very well, the people around me are a bit… jealous.”

Adding the qualifier “a bit” pricked my conscience. If their jealousy was just “a bit,” what would constitute extreme jealousy?

“If even a trace of your scent gets on my body, they’ll definitely come here to kill you. This time, it won’t end with just your physical death. I’m certain of it. They’ve already ascended to beings that can barely be called human.”

Kartina’s already pale face turned even whiter. Her desperate eyes looked at me, asking what she should do.

“Since you and the lord can communicate with each other, please help convince her to stay away from me. I don’t think I can persuade her alone.”

Kartina quickly closed her eyes.

It was hard to adjust to her rapidly changing behavior. Before she recognized me, she had been full of dignity, but her current actions were far from dignified.

Perhaps the trauma of being killed had deeply embedded itself as their personalities merged.

More importantly, she went inside without even hearing what I wanted her to do. I wanted to believe she would handle it well, but I couldn’t help feeling anxious.

“Hmm…”

Shortly after, Kartina opened her eyes again. Since she didn’t tremble upon meeting my gaze, it seemed to be the lord’s side of Kartina.

“Are you back, Lord?”

When I greeted her, Kartina started to nod but then noticed her own awkward posture pressed against the wall. She quickly composed herself and cleared her throat.

Then, as if wanting to change the subject quickly, she immediately continued.

“I heard from the god. The reason why you’re keeping your distance from me.”

I had been a bit worried since the other one was trembling so much, but at least this seemed normal—

“They said it’s because you have a betrothed fiancée, so you’re avoiding contact with other women as much as possible?”

Wait, what on earth did they tell her?