Ch.486Heart-Stopping Shock

The last part of the previous chapter has been modified!

Instead of Haschal going up with Lena, it was changed to separate them for a while!

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“I’m back. Were you worried about me?”

I opened the door to Lacy’s room.

She was half-sitting on the bed in her nightgown, looking as if she had just woken up.

“Uh…”

The moment I faced her, I couldn’t hide my shock.

Though it hadn’t been that long since I’d seen her, Lacy’s face had become half of what it used to be.

…No, Millia, this goes beyond mere worry. She must have been through tremendous emotional distress.

Dark circles hung heavily under Lacy’s eyes, and her cheeks had sunken in.

Had she not been a candidate for sainthood, I would have mistaken her for someone gravely ill, so weakened was her appearance.

“Hey, Lacy. Are you really okay…?”

I voiced my concern as I stepped into the room.

Lacy stared at me with an expressionless face, then very slowly turned to look at Ceylon who followed behind me, before turning back to me again.

Silently. Repeatedly.

“Lacy…?”

Only after I called her name did she seem to come to her senses, her wandering gaze finally fixing on me.

A gaze that contained both lethargy and devastation.

It was like looking into the eyes of a terminal patient whose life was hanging by a thread.

“…You’ve returned, Lord Median.”

The moment Lacy spoke softly, I felt a chill run down my spine as if someone had stuffed snow down my back.

What’s this? A curse from Frosting?

But Frosting hasn’t reacted since it burned up…

“You’ve returned. Yes. You’ve returned. With Lord Ceylon. I see. With Lord Ceylon. You’ve returned with Lord Ceylon.”

Lacy began muttering like a broken radio.

She slowly opened her right hand.

“I thought the rumors about you abandoning our church’s holy orders to sleep with Lord Ceylon were false information. But here you are, visiting together.”

I might be mistaken, but I thought I saw a blue flame flicker in the center of Lacy’s palm.

“Ah, about that…”

“Didn’t you tell me to trust only you?”

– Whoosh!

That was no illusion—it really was holy fire!

Facing the blue flames that blazed with holy light, I frantically waved both arms to calm her down.

“Wait, Lacy. It’s all a misunderstanding! Just a false rumor! Yes, we slept together, but not like that!”

We just literally slept in the same place!

In the cathedral, or while camping in tents!

“No, Lord Haschal, if you say it like that…!”

Ceylon, who had stepped forward to protect me at the sight of the holy fire, turned to me with an urgent look.

He appeared just as flustered as I was.

Right, I understand that feeling.

I regretted my words the moment they left my mouth.

“So you did sleep together…?”

– Whoooosh!

With Lacy’s muttering, the holy fire in her hand intensified.

It now covered almost her entire hand.

“It’s a misunderstanding! I’ll explain everything, so please stop first!”

Sweating profusely, I quickly approached and grabbed both her arms.

I had to stop her before she could hurl holy fire at Ceylon, as she seemed to have lost half her mind from emotional distress.

“Hyah…?”

Lacy let out a strange yelp as her arms were suddenly restrained, forcing her into a hands-up position.

Keeping a firm grip on her arms, I signaled with my chin for Ceylon, who was hesitating whether to intervene, to leave the room for a moment.

“…Will you be alright, Lord Haschal?”

“Never mind that, just get out for now. Stay here and you’ll become a fireball.”

Ceylon nodded and immediately slipped out the door.

Only then did Lacy seem to regain her senses somewhat, flinching violently before extinguishing the holy fire.

After confirming the flames had completely disappeared, I released her arms with a sigh of relief.

…What a mess this is.

—-

Lacy let out a long sigh before bowing her head deeply in apology.

Her attitude was completely different from before—calm to the point of seeming dejected.

Her ears were bright red with embarrassment, and her shoulders, visible above her nightgown, trembled slightly.

“…I showed you something shameful. Having just woken up, I thought it might be a dream… I don’t know how to apologize.”

So if it had been a dream, she would have burned Ceylon to a crisp?

Thank goodness I grabbed her in time—that could have ended badly.

“It’s fine. No one got hurt. And it seems you’ve been through a lot emotionally.”

I pulled a chair from near the desk and sat down beside the bed.

Looking at Lacy’s face, I couldn’t bring myself to be angry. What good would it do to scold her when she looked so worn down?

Lacy only stopped apologizing after I reassured her five times that it was okay.

She wasn’t usually this fragile… but then again, when the body weakens, so does the mind.

It’s understandable, especially since she clearly hasn’t been sleeping properly.

“So… may I ask what happened? Why are you with Lord Ceylon… and moreover, why did he call you Lord Haschal…?”

Lacy raised her head and asked, having calmed down a bit.

…Where should I begin explaining this? I suppose chronological order would be best?

“First of all, it’s true that I stepped down from my position as a paladin of the Church of Elpinel. I had no choice. If an Elpinel paladin interfered in Church of Astraea matters, it would create new conflicts.”

“…So that’s why you insisted you quit. That’s just like you, Lord Median…”

Lacy sighed, pressing her forehead.

…I didn’t insist—I really did quit.

Well, let’s move past that.

The truly important part comes now.

I moistened my throat with water from the pitcher beside Lacy’s bed and continued my story.

The conflict between the two churches in Arad, the suspicious Archbishop Radenis, Fritz who became Valkers’ underling, and how we repelled Wilhelm’s forces.

“Valkers…! That maggot-like blackguard still lives and dares to…!”

Lacy seemed to regain some energy when I mentioned Mein.

Though her reaction was rather extreme, it was much better than seeing her so dejected.

“It’s not just Valkers. According to Archbishop Radenis’s speculation, Valkers, Eljur, and other heretics have gathered in Arvil to form some organization called the Reverse Advent Society…”

“They should all be burned to death.”

Lacy’s eyes trembled with rage. Her gaze looked as if it might shoot flames.

Killing intent was flowing from between her sunken eyelids.

…Good, she seems energetic enough now that I can tell her about the stigmata.

She seems to have regained her spirits somewhat.

“Hey Lacy, there’s something very important besides Valkers that I need to tell you.”

“More important than Mein?”

“Yes. This is actually the main point… the part you’re most curious about. The reason why the Church of Astraea withdrew after just one duel, and why Ceylon followed me all the way here.”

“Ah, that’s right. I wanted to hear an explanation about that, but almost forgot because of those heretics. What happened?”

I placed my left hand on the bandages on my chest and carefully chose my words.

Rather than showing the stigmata right away, it would be better to explain verbally first.

“Um… calm yourself and try not to be shocked when you hear this.”

“I doubt anything could be more shocking than the rumors I’ve heard.”

…I guarantee it will be more surprising than that.

I moistened my throat once more with the holy water from the pitcher, and finally spoke.

“…I received a stigmata. Astraea’s stigmata.”

“…Pardon?”

Lacy tilted her head.

Her expression was full of incomprehension and doubt, as if wondering if what she heard was actually in the Imperial language.

Her lips, which had been smiling lightly, were now frozen like a stone statue.

“I think I misheard you. Could you please say that again?”

“I said I got Astraea’s stigmata. After fighting Wilhelm.”

“…Could you say that one more time?”

“……”

It would be faster to just show her.

She might find my words hard to believe, but she’ll have no choice but to accept what her own eyes see.

“Look, right here.”

I pulled down the bandage on my chest with my left hand, revealing the clear scales symbol engraved underneath.

Astraea’s stigmata. Undeniable evidence was presented before Lacy’s eyes.

“Well? Do you believe me now?”

Her face contorted like a child who had seen a ghost.

“…Lord Median, could you please… call Menesilia…?”

After a long silence, Lacy spoke in a trembling, whisper-like voice.

It wasn’t an answer to my question, but a completely unrelated response.

“Agnes? Why her all of a sudden?”

Is she trying to get another saint candidate to verify because she can’t trust her own eyes?

When I asked this, Lacy trembled and barely managed to lift her head, which had been fixed on my chest, to meet my eyes.

For just a brief moment.

“…Because I’m about to faint.”

With that quiet statement, Lacy collapsed onto the bed with a thud.

Her eyes rolled back and her mouth hung open.

Though her heart was still beating, her consciousness had already flown far away.

…She really did faint.

I was too dumbfounded to speak.

—-

In the end, I was only able to continue with a proper explanation after gathering all my companions except Demian and Ceylon in Lacy’s room.

Agnes, who had been praying in the next room; Hush, who had quietly descended from the ceiling; and Millia and Lena, who had been waiting on the first floor—everyone.

Before Lacy woke up from Agnes’s treatment, I first showed my stigmata to all my companions.

They were all shocked to the point of nearly fainting… but at least none of them actually passed out like Lacy.

“Um… is this real?”

Millia poked at my stigmata with a disbelieving expression.

As if poking would reveal anything beyond its softness.

“…This is unprecedented. The scales of justice. It’s a stigmata that suits Lord Haschal well… but even so, for a stigmata to be bestowed upon someone who isn’t even a church member…”

Agnes tapped her chin while carefully observing my stigmata.

As someone who would understand the meaning of stigmata second only to Lacy, she seemed utterly unable to comprehend the fact that I had received one.

…To be honest, I don’t understand it either.

“A stigmata! That’s amazing, sis! Though it’s a shame it’s not from Lady Saulite!”

Lena simply clung to me with sparkling eyes, expressing her admiration.

She seemed more delighted by the fact that I had been acknowledged by a deity than by the stigmata itself.

And as for Hush…

“Stigmata? Lord Haschal as a saint candidate? …Is this the end of days?”

She was muttering nonsense in a voice as quiet as crawling ants.

I left her alone since what she said seemed somewhat accurate.