Ch.381Chapter 381 – The Laboratory, Aftermath (1)

I don’t remember clearly how I broke up with Diana.

I barely managed to turn away from her sorrowful figure and returned to the cabin to lay Chris down on the bed. During this process, Chris refused to let go of me despite being asleep, and Eve tried to separate Chris from me once but quietly withdrew from the room, saying it would be better if I spent the night with Chris.

In the end, I had to spend the night alone with Chris. Nothing extraordinary happened. Chris slept as if unconscious but held me tightly, and I simply remained by her side.

Except for occasionally checking if Chris was sleeping well, nothing special happened that day.

After such a chaotic night.

The sun rose without fail.

And as if responding to it, Chris stirred slightly.

‘She’s awake.’

Since Chris hadn’t done anything except unconsciously pulling me closer, I could immediately tell when she woke up.

Chris opened her half-closed eyes and looked up at me from within my embrace. Still in a dazed state, she began to check who she was holding.

“…Sir Kay?”

“Yes.”

Chris stared at me blankly for a moment. Soon her face turned bright red, and she spoke with slight embarrassment.

“Um, well, why are we like this…?”

“You wouldn’t let go of me yesterday.”

Thanks to that, I had only managed to remove my armor with Eve’s help.

Chris was surprised by this, looked down at herself, and then asked in a shrinking voice.

“…Nothing happened, right?”

“Right.”

“Did I just fall asleep like this?”

“Yes.”

Chris’s face reddened slightly.

“…Good heavens…”

She muttered something about smell or sweat and began to shrink away. Thanks to Chris finally letting me go, I regained my physical freedom.

In that state, I quietly placed my hand on Chris’s shoulder and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“……”

Chris, who had been embarrassed just moments ago, suddenly went quiet. Then, after quietly sitting up, she gently rested her face on my shoulder and said.

“Thanks to you, Sir Kay, I’ve calmed down a bit.”

“I see.”

“…I’m not sure if I’m okay or not.”

Chris said quietly.

“…As you know, I’m an orphan. Since my mother wasn’t there from birth, I don’t have any memories with her. …Even though she’s gone, I don’t have any memories to recall.”

Perhaps because of that, Chris seemed a little better now. But as if to say that was an illusion, Chris’s face darkened a bit.

“Still, she’s my mother.”

Chris said quietly.

“…In my unconscious memories that I saw before, my mother said she loved me.”

“……”

“…Even though I only met her in my memories, I heard those words clearly. So…”

Chris couldn’t finish her sentence. Looking at her with her head bowed, I quietly said.

“You don’t have to push yourself, Chris.”

“…No. It’s okay. I’m sorry. But I can’t. I can’t let my personal issues hold us back here.”

Chris said as if reminding herself.

“…We’re dealing with a god who, even if not omnipotent, is close to it. …I can’t hold us back just because I’m sad.”

Chris said quietly. She looked somewhat precarious as she forced herself to speak.

Perhaps that’s why. Without realizing it, I quietly said.

“When you’re sad, you cry, Chris.”

“Sir Kay.”

I looked at Chris and said.

“It’s okay to be honest. It’s right to be sad about sad things.”

“But if it’s a god…”

“Is a god great because it doesn’t cry over sad things?”

I quietly said to Chris.

“Not being sad over sad things and not being happy over happy things, to me, is just inhuman. If a god does that, I wonder if such a god could truly understand humans.”

I quietly spoke to Chris.

“To a god who has abandoned even the most basic emotions, humans would be no different from ants. But that also means they lack emotions that even ants possess.”

It was sophistry. Still, I looked at Chris and said.

“From another perspective, such a god is, in some ways, inferior to humans.”

“Is that so?”

“At least that’s what I’ll say.”

Looking at Chris, I said.

“…That’s why in my eyes, you seem like a better god than Emiris. Because you can understand the sorrow of losing family.”

“Sir Kay.”

“Somehow we’ve strayed from what I originally wanted to say…”

I smiled slightly at Chris.

“It’s okay to cry when you’re sad, Chris. I’ll be by your side.”

Chris didn’t say anything more. She quietly buried her face in my chest again.

For a while, muffled tears flowed onto my chest.

As I gently patted Chris’s trembling back, we naturally ended up embracing each other.

+

After quite some time passed, the sun rose high in the sky.

“I’m sorry. Because of me.”

“It’s fine if you feel better.”

I spoke to Chris, who had finally calmed down. Chris’s face reddened slightly. Then, she quietly asked me.

“By the way, the ship has already set sail.”

“Yes.”

We could tell the ship had departed because the cabin was already swaying.

Chris glanced around nervously and asked.

“…Um, were all the luggage loaded?”

“I’m sure it was.”

Originally, I was supposed to help after putting Chris to bed yesterday, but since Chris used superhuman strength to not let me go, I missed out on that task.

Knowing this fact, Chris bowed her head carefully and said.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault.”

No one would have been angry anyway. Rather, everyone was worried about Chris, so it was tentatively agreed that someone would definitely stay with her.

Whether she knew this or not, Chris quietly asked me.

“Then, have you decided what to do next?”

“More or less.”

I quietly said to Chris.

“First, we’ve decided to take Diana and the others who helped us with our voyage back to Florence or the kingdom.”

We couldn’t just drop Diana off anywhere. The plan was to return to the port of Florence or the kingdom, drop them off, and then retrieve the ship. Of course, we would move to the next location right after that.

“After the voyage, we plan to warp to Bistea.”

“…The country of the beast people.”

Chris said quietly.

“So we’re going to the place where the last seal is located.”

“Yes.”

Of the five seals of Evgenia, finally only one remained.

“Do you happen to know the exact location?”

“Yes.”

“As I thought, you don’t…”

I hesitated for a moment, then looked at Chris again.

“You know?”

“When I broke the fourth seal, I naturally came to know the exact location.”

Chris said quietly. Then she used holy magic to create a crude map.

Pointing to a spot on that crude map, Chris said.

“We need to go beyond the Frozen Kingdom Ruins at the northernmost part of Bistea.”

“Frozen Kingdom Ruins?”

“I heard there was a great kingdom established long after the demon war ended… but, that’s all I know.”

Chris apologized, seeming not to know more. Beatrice or Sera would surely know, so I should ask them.

But there was another issue.

“…Judging by the ‘frozen’ modifier, it seems like a very cold place.”

Chris quietly nodded. This meant we would need to prepare supplies with that in mind.

Since we started our journey in winter, we should be fine with cold weather gear, but if it’s an even colder place, that could change things.

‘I wonder if Eve will get a headache over this.’

Fortunately, Eve had happily mentioned that our financial situation was actually continuing to improve. Still, having to suddenly prepare for a very cold place meant we’d need to prepare various things accordingly. I thought Eve might get a headache over it, even if she didn’t show it.

“…I’ll need to talk to everyone again.”

“At this time, everyone should be having a meal.”

Chris said, looking at the sun. Indeed, given the time, it wouldn’t be strange to be having lunch. If so, people would likely be in the dining hall.

“Then shall we go?”

Just as I said that and got up, a loud growling sound echoed. Slightly startled by the loud sound that seemed to come from the stomach, I gently turned my gaze to Chris, who was turning bright red and placing her hands on her stomach.

“Um, well, uh…”

Chris couldn’t continue speaking and just rolled her eyes, looking around the room. If there had been a mouse hole, she probably would have quickly jumped into it.

“Sorry. I was a bit hungry.”

“…You don’t need to offer such shallow comfort, Sir Kay…”

Chris said, embarrassed. It seems my attempt to pretend it was me had the opposite effect.

I extended my hand to Chris and said.

“Shall we go?”

“…Yes.”

Soon Chris, though staggering slightly, grabbed my hand and stood up. Seeing Chris’s face, which had regained some energy, I smiled slightly and headed out of the room.

+

It seemed to be lunchtime as sailors were lined up. Greeting those sailors and ignoring their teasing comments about how our night was, we headed to the designated place and found several people gathered, including our companions.

“Kay!”

“Kay, did you sleep well?”

Sera and Eve greeted us first with smiles. Then Beatrice, with a somewhat tired face, looked at us and quietly said.

“That’s good, the nun girl seems to have regained some energy.”

“…Yes.”

Though she couldn’t be said to have fully recovered yet. Still, Chris smiled, perhaps because she was in front of others.

Sia examined Chris carefully but nodded slightly, and soon looked at me and said.

“Sleep deprived? You look tired.”

“You must be seeing things.”

Though I said that, the comment about sleep deprivation wasn’t wrong. I had woken up several times during the night to check on Chris’s condition.

However, Sia just smiled lightly and soon pointed to an empty seat with her chin and said.

“Just in time, we were about to discuss our future plans. You have a knack for timing, don’t you?”

“So nothing happened this morning?”

Sia nodded at my question. Then Sera spoke up.

“We came in late at night… we also had to set up experimental equipment yesterday, and Beatrice was organizing data.”

“They’re valuable materials left by the Saint.”

Beatrice said briefly. She looked the most tired among us, so it must have been quite intense work.

“…Thank you, Beatrice.”

“It’s for you, so don’t mention it.”

Beatrice said with a smile. As she gestured, bowls that appeared to be for Chris and me began to float toward us.

She added that she had set aside meals for us just in case.

With meals set at all places and everyone seated side by side, Eve cleared her throat slightly to gather attention and began to speak.

“Then, shall we start the meeting?”

Eve said, scanning the faces of our group. Then she slowly turned her gaze to Kara, Diana, and Kurs who were seated with us and said.

“Since Kurs and the holy knights have accompanied us… it’s not much, but I thought we should at least honor them with a meal, so I invited them here.”

“If you’re not comfortable with it, I’ll withdraw…”

Kurs said, looking at me. Following him, the other holy knights glanced at me nervously, and I quietly shook my head and said.

“No, please stay. I’m sorry we can’t take better care of you.”

“Thank you.”

Kurs bowed his head. Diana quietly spoke to Kurs.

“It seems they no longer view you negatively, so you needn’t worry too much.”

“Thank you, Lady Diana.”

Diana nodded lightly at Kurs’s salute.

Though she appeared calm on the outside, her skin looked quite poor, suggesting she had been through emotional distress like Chris.

Eve looked at Diana with pity for a moment before speaking again.

“Then the first item on our agenda is, of course, that matter.”

Eve said, looking at everyone at the table.

“Let’s start with the discussion about the monster holy knights that appeared at Gema Port.”

Eve said quietly.