Chapter 33 – Blasphemous Thoughts

&R;​eà​d​ ​ο&n; Kat‌R̈eädiｎ​ɡ​C‍​ａ&f;ë

“Maybe she went out somewhere?”

“That’s impossible.”

Yuika shook her head at Hanna’s words as she followed her inside.

“I’m very close with the owner of this house, whom you visited last night. Knowing her, she wouldn’t have been able to leave the house so easily after what happened last night.”

It was an incident where a stranger knocked on her door in the middle of the night, while she was alone. For someone as timid as Mari, it would have been enough to cause a panic attack.

But Hanna, who didn’t know Mari well, tilted her head slowly and asked,

“Is it really that bad?”

“You’ll understand once you meet her. What I said isn’t an exaggeration.”

Yuika said this as she fully opened the half-open bathroom door and peered inside. Seeing that it looked no different from the last time she had been here with Mari, she closed the door and asked Hanna,

“You said you spoke to her through the door, right? How loud was your voice?”

“About the same as I’m speaking to you now.”

‘As expected.’ Yuika unconsciously tried to press her hand to her forehead but stopped herself and nodded instead.

Hanna had said she spoke to Mari as soon as she knocked, but that was only from Hanna’s perspective. In reality, it was unlikely Mari had even heard her.

Because Hanna’s voice was extremely soft. Even Yuika, whose hearing had improved after becoming a dryad, could hear her well no matter how softly she spoke, but ordinary people often struggled to hear Hanna during conversations.

If they had a normal conversation, they’d often ask her to repeat herself, so there was no way Mari could have heard her through the door.

Yuika searched the house, looking for places where Mari might be hiding.

Her movements were filled with certainty that Mari must be hiding somewhere inside. Instead of standing still, Hanna turned her head and looked at the coat rack.

There was a bit of dirt on the floor, and it trailed all the way to the door.

After a moment of thought, Hanna spoke to Yuika, who was checking inside a pot.

“I don’t know how small she is, but I doubt she’s in a place like that.”

“Huh? Ah, haha… you’re right.”

Yuika put the pot down with an awkward expression, and Hanna asked,

“One thing I’m curious about—does this Mari person always wear something extra when she goes out?”

“She always wears a long robe that goes down to her calves when she goes out.”

“Even when she goes to the dungeon?”

“Both in the dungeon and when she’s just walking around the village. Honestly, I don’t know why she bundles herself up so much. She has such a cute face…”

As Yuika complained, Hanna’s mind pieced together everything Yuika had said and done so far.

A cute face and a body so small that Yuika checked inside a pot. Could the owner of this house be a petite girl? Hanna had known from the scream that it was a woman, but she hadn’t thought deeply enough to realize it was a child.

‘This could be a problem.’

Considering what Yuika had said, it was clear that Mari was quite timid. Even though Hanna’s actions last night were well-intentioned, they must have been terrifying for Mari.

That’s why she screamed when Hanna knocked. Hanna had unintentionally done something quite frightening to Mari.

Hanna groaned and scratched her head, prompting Yuika to ask curiously,

“By the way, why did you ask that?”

“This coat rack. There’s dirt on the floor beneath it. She must have hung it up without shaking it off or washing it after coming back from the dungeon.”

“Now that you mention it, that does seem likely…”

“But there’s nothing on the coat rack now. Did you happen to see a robe while searching the house?”

“No, I didn’t. I saw what looked like underwear, but… ah!”

As if realizing something, Yuika clapped her hands and said,

“The robe is missing?”

“If she always wears it when she goes out, and it’s not being washed, then she must be wearing it now.”

“That makes sense…”

Yuika nodded at Hanna’s words, then slumped her shoulders.

Seeing Yuika’s suddenly deflated expression, Hanna tilted her head and asked,

“You look upset all of a sudden.”

“It’s just… I realized I’ve been making too many assumptions about Mari.”

It was undeniable that Mari was a timid girl. She was passive and easily swayed by others.

But that didn’t mean she was incapable of doing anything on her own. If she were truly that timid, she wouldn’t have tried to go into the dungeon and would have instead stayed at U.P. to continue her life.

U.P. would have taken care of Mari until the end of the Floating Island even if she did nothing. U.P. was an organization created to help those in need, and even those who gave up on going into the dungeon were eligible for assistance.

Realizing that while outwardly cheering Mari on, she had inwardly viewed her as someone she needed to take care of, Yuika sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Anyway, that means Mari is out.”

“That’s likely. The robe isn’t here, and she’s not in the house.”

“I doubt she went to the dungeon… So she must be at the cathedral.”

“The cathedral?”

“Mari is close with Sister Andreina. In fact, the first time I met Mari was at Sister Andreina’s request.”

So, Mari was undoubtedly at the cathedral. Where else would she go after such a bizarre incident last night?

“Let’s head to the cathedral.”

–

Sister Andreina carefully laid Mari, who was sound asleep, on the bed.

Having just finished bathing, Mari’s body was warm to the touch. On the other hand, it meant she had been so deeply asleep that she hadn’t woken up even after the bath.

“What on earth did you do last night to sleep so deeply, Mari?”

“Mmm…”

Instead of answering, Mari mumbled in her sleep. Sister Andreina pulled the blanket up to her chin, patted her head, and stood up.

She wanted to stay by Mari’s side until she woke up, but it was still a busy time with many people hunting in the dungeon. She couldn’t stay by Mari’s side when there might be others who needed to be resurrected.

‘If only it were night.’

If it were, Sister Andreina could have changed her clothes and slept by Mari’s side without any worries. With a regretful expression, Sister Andreina headed to the chapel. As usual, she knelt before the statue, clasped her hands, and closed her eyes.

Then, a question suddenly arose.

‘Why did the Lord entrust such a heavy responsibility of saving the world to someone like Mari?’

Sister Andreina hadn’t had deep conversations with all the summoned individuals. But generally, those summoned here had the will to fulfill their responsibilities and a strong attachment to their world.

But Mari? It might be unfair to say this, but Mari seemed more in need of saving herself than capable of saving the world.

Of course, seeing how she kept going into the dungeon, it seemed she was subconsciously aware of her responsibility, but her outward appearance was still incredibly unstable.

That’s why Sister Andreina couldn’t help but wonder. Why, out of all the people in Mari’s world, was Mari the one summoned?

Surely there were others in Mari’s world more qualified to save it.

After pausing her thoughts for a moment, Sister Andreina voiced a thought that was uncomfortable to say out loud.

‘…Perhaps there was some mistake.’

A saint doubting the omniscience and omnipotence of God. In Sister Andreina’s world, such a thought was unthinkable.

But on the Floating Island, there were no believers to scold her for such thoughts. Only her eternal master, the one and only God, had the right to do so.

And the God she believed in wasn’t petty enough to punish her for a slightly blasphemous thought.

After offering a brief prayer of repentance for her blasphemous thought, Sister Andreina continued her train of thought.

‘If it wasn’t a mistake—’

Knock knock. 

The sound of knocking from behind made Sister Andreina open her eyes.

Thinking there had been an unusual number of visitors to the cathedral today, she stood up and walked toward the door.

“Hello, Sister Andreina.”

“Ah, Yuika. And this is…”

As she opened the door, she saw a familiar face. After greeting Yuika, Sister Andreina’s gaze shifted to the woman in black behind her, and Yuika quickly introduced her.

“This is Hanna. She’s also a member of U.P.”

“Nice to meet you, Hanna.”

Most of the summoned individuals were part of U.P., but Sister Andreina nodded in greeting to Hanna, who bowed slightly, then turned her attention back to Yuika.

“What brings you two to the cathedral?”

People didn’t often visit the cathedral.

As mentioned before, their robust bodies rarely fell ill, so there was little need for healing.

Most injuries from the dungeon were minor scratches, so people usually treated themselves without coming to the cathedral.

But the two women didn’t look like they had been injured in the dungeon. They were too clean for that.

At Sister Andreina’s question, Yuika answered with a slightly nervous expression.

“We’re looking for someone.”

“Looking for someone?”

“Yes. Has Mari come here by any chance?”

“She did come. Not on her own, though—she was brought here by Ulrika after collapsing.”

“What? She collapsed?!”

“Collapsed…”

Sister Andreina noticed the guilt-ridden expression on Hanna’s face behind the startled Yuika.

Realizing the two were connected to Mari’s situation, Sister Andreina gestured to calm them down.

“Don’t worry. She was just sleep-deprived and fell asleep. I’ll let her know you came by when she wakes up. For now, why don’t you head back?”

“Is she still asleep?”

“She hasn’t been asleep for long. She’ll probably sleep until morning.”

‘At the very least, she’d wake up late in the evening’, but Sister Andreina deliberately exaggerated the time. Otherwise, these two might come back in the middle of the night.

At Sister Andreina’s answer, Yuika muttered with a troubled expression.

“So we won’t be able to see her until tomorrow morning?”

“That seems to be the case.”

“Ugh… I guess there’s no choice. We’ll have to come back tomorrow morning. Hanna, let’s head back for now. Sister Andreina, we’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, see you then.”

With a smile, Sister Andreina saw them off, then closed the door and let her smile fade.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Aha! I completed the minimum of the challenge!

I’m glad the hard-written product of this 4-week challenge wasn’t in vain!

Isn’t this all thanks to the readers? Of course, I did well after writing 32 chapters in 4 weeks. (Seriously!)

Anyway, thank you and please have a good day!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
It’s not a Gyeoul but good enough.

Let’s cook and eat Mari!