Ch.5656. Out of Necessity (2)

This man frequents the Kingdom of Kairos as if it were his own home.

Even for the head of the Inquisition, who has a wide range of activities and relative freedom, I thought he seemed too free. I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. I gazed at the view of the royal capital through the open window. The morning streets smelled of baking bread.

Marianne was quietly pouring coffee beside me. Though I’d grown accustomed to living together, I wondered if I should find her a separate place to live. She might be uncomfortable continuing to stay with someone else.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable staying here?”

Marianne paused while pouring coffee and looked up at me. Her rosary swayed gently in the morning sunlight. She kept looking at me with those golden eyes, then shook her head and answered my question.

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

“Is there anything you need? This place is spacious, but it’s not very practical, so there must be many things lacking.”

“The Holy Nation provides sufficient financial support separately.”

Marianne answered with a slightly more resolute voice than usual. I wasn’t sure if I was noticing subtle changes better as I became more familiar with her, or if her personality had gradually changed while staying with me, allowing her to express more emotional variations. Marianne handed me a coffee cup and sat down across from me.

“I’m not uncomfortable at all.”

“…If you really feel that way, then that’s good.”

I couldn’t tell if she was saying that because she truly wasn’t uncomfortable, or if she had other complaints causing her attitude. It seems there’s still much I need to learn about her. I cleared my throat, pretending to get to the main point, and brought up the topic.

“Should I look for a separate house for you? As long as you’re part of our party, you’ll need to stay in the royal capital.”

Marianne received my question, then looked down at the rosary hanging around her chest, lowering her eyes slightly.

“Perhaps my presence in this house is bothering you, Hero.”

…This was another difficult question. I shook my head without making elaborate excuses.

“Far from being a bother, you’ve been nothing but helpful.”

“Then, I have no reason to leave here.”

Marianne answered while looking into my eyes again. She drank her coffee with a proper, upright posture. The atmosphere had become subtle. To change the subject, I picked up Bishop Andre’s letter and fiddled with it as I spoke.

“By the way, I wonder why Bishop Andre wants to meet again.”

The issue with Isis leaving our party was resolved well, and there shouldn’t be any other incidents. Since he mentioned meeting with Marianne too, perhaps he wants to see me while seeing her.

“Perhaps…”

Marianne looked at me with a troubled expression. More precisely, she was looking not at my face but above it, at my head. Head? My head and Bishop Andre? A fact I had momentarily forgotten flashed through my mind.

“Ah, the crown…”

“Yes. I think the holy relic might be one of the reasons the bishop is coming here.”

I sighed deeply and put a piece of buttered bread into my mouth. The bread crumbled with a crisp sound in my mouth. As I chewed the bread, I recalled the broken crown. The crown fragments, which had turned into thorny vines, were carefully placed back in their original box.

“I suppose I should at least return the fragments.”

Marianne nodded at my words. I wasn’t sure how the bishop would react. He probably wouldn’t be simple enough to get angry just because the crown was broken, but the crown was only lent to me, not given.

“It’s a relic with great historical value, rather than power in itself.”

So I broke a relic of great historical value. I scratched my head with mixed feelings.

“He probably wants to see you too because he has business with you?”

“Yes. I can’t exactly guess what it might be, but…”

I vaguely thought it might be Inquisition business. Marianne was not only a Holy Knight but also a member of the Inquisition. I recalled the original story and thought about incidents related to the Blue Orthodox Church one by one.

“Well, we’ll find out when we meet him.”

I concluded and started clearing the plates. There was no point in worrying about it now, and Bishop Andre surely wouldn’t try to harm either me or Marianne. As I was about to fill the sink with water after putting the dishes in, I suddenly felt Marianne’s gaze and turned around.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Marianne shook her head. I stared at her silver hair glistening in the sunlight. The late summer morning was passing by like that.

==

Bishop Andre, whom I met again after a long time, wore the same gentle smile I had seen before. Perhaps not feeling the heat, he was dressed in a long-sleeved black priest’s robe despite the late summer.

“It’s been a while, Hero.”

The bishop greeted me cheerfully, approached me, and firmly grasped my hand. I stepped back, startled by the bishop’s unexpectedly strong grip.

“Congratulations on defeating the fourth Calamity. No,”

I was almost forced to shake hands with the bishop due to his strength. Gray eyes flickered subtly between the bishop’s narrowed eyes. It was a somewhat burdensome gaze.

“Thank you for defeating the fourth Calamity.”

“…It was nothing.”

The bishop, having released my hand, returned to his usual self and turned to Marianne, clasping his hands together. When Marianne met the bishop’s eyes, she greeted him with a slight nod. The bishop returned her greeting with a gentle smile.

“Marianne, you’ve done an excellent job helping the Hero defeat the fourth Calamity. I’m very proud of you.”

“You flatter me.”

Bishop Andre looked at us with a pleased smile, then nodded and began walking. I didn’t need to ask where we were going. Well, who would refuse a free meal? The bishop ordered the chickpea salad he had eaten before, then lightly clasped his hands and placed them on the table.

“I heard you sustained significant injuries while defeating the fourth Calamity. Are you recovering well?”

“Smoothly. I can now do simple training without any problems.”

The bishop’s narrow eyes examined me. Then he let out a small sigh.

“The injuries must have been serious. Looking at you, I can still faintly sense the aftereffects.”

“It’s a small price to pay for preventing the world’s destruction.”

I’m fortunate to be able to recover at all. I said with a bitter smile.

“A small price, you say. Perhaps that’s true.”

The food arrived. The bishop looked at his salad plate with pleased eyes.

“The fifth Calamity hasn’t been detected yet, so it would be good to prepare slowly this time. There are also matters to resolve in between… Well, I’m sure you know what to do, Hero.”

“…No. Please tell me more. I’d like to hear more opinions about the Calamities.”

It would be good to consider one more person’s opinion. Bishop Andre stared at me for a moment, then began speaking in a low, deep voice.

“The Seven Calamity that will bring about the end of the world. They were like contingency plans of evil gods, created in the mythical age. If they were defeated by the light, the seven Calamities would awaken to do what they couldn’t—to set out to destroy the world.”

The bishop was rubbing the tip of his dinner knife.

“With the end of the mythical age, the gods’ contingency plans began to awaken one by one to fulfill their missions. The remaining humans are facing the Calamities with the legacy of the mythical age. In fact, the current era is essentially an extension of the mythical age.”

‘Snake,’ ‘Locust,’ ‘Kraken,’ ‘Giant,’ ‘Fog,’ ‘Comet,’ and ‘Origin.’

“I believe you know the Snake, Locust, Kraken, and Giant very well. After all, their names clearly reveal their identities from the start.”

The Snake, a serpent so enormous it could coil around the world once. The Locust, a swarm large enough to blacken the sky and devour all crops. The Kraken, a monster that would drive humans away from water forever along with aquatic demons. The Giant, a pilgrim who would freeze the entire world and flatten the frozen world with its footsteps.

“From the fifth Calamity, ‘Fog,’ the concept of Calamity shifts from living beings to phenomena. That’s why they’re even harder to detect. How they move, where they are, when they will come—we can only vaguely predict through magic.”

Magic towers around the world must be sharing information to find traces. According to the original story, the Holy Nation also formed a separate organization to track the Calamities, so they must be cooperating with other countries.

“Perhaps the fifth Calamity might not appear in our generation, in your generation. Hoping for that would be very irresponsible to our descendants, though.”

No, that can’t happen. I shook my head firmly. According to the original story, ‘Fog’ would suddenly appear at the Holy Nation’s border in winter, as Christmas approached.

“We must not take the Calamities too lightly.”

My voice was harder than I expected. Bishop Andre seemed surprised by my tone and raised his head to look at me.

“The Calamities can appear suddenly, anywhere, anytime. They don’t care about human convenience. Hypothetically, fog could emerge from the forest outside the royal capital right now. Or,”

Bishop Andre opened his mouth to counter, saying he knew that of course, but after seeing my expression, he seemed to realize something and closed his mouth again, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to want me to continue what I was saying.

“…It wouldn’t be strange if it suddenly appeared on some winter day in the Holy Nation.”

Bishop Andre’s expression hardened as he put down his fork and clasped his hands.

“Do you know something?”

“…A little.”

Bishop Andre asked while watching my reaction, and I similarly watched his as I moved my lips. Fortunately, a good excuse to deflect the situation came to mind, so I quickly handed him the box containing the crown. Marianne looked at me with worried eyes from beside me.

“[Have you come up with another strange scheme?]”

The Holy Sword asked in a voice that sounded like it was about to pop popcorn, and I nodded slightly. Meanwhile, the bishop furrowed his brow as he received the box, seemingly confused as to why I was suddenly presenting it.

“Ah, yes. Thank you. Did you make good use of the crown of thorns I lent you? Since you defeated the fourth Calamity, I hope the Holy Nation’s gift was helpful.”

“Yes. Somehow.”

More than just good use. I looked at the box with a subtle smile. Bishop Andre watched my expression with a suspicious gaze, then lowered his head to the box. The bishop’s hand holding the lid of the box hesitated, rubbing the joint of the lid. Bishop Andre furrowed his brow.

“So you passed the crown’s test? What happened that made you say such things…?”

Clunk.

The bishop opened the lid of the box and froze. Inside the box he opened would be only the shell of the crown, shattered into pieces, placed on a red cloth. The bishop’s narrow eyes opened wider than ever before, then stared blankly at the contents, becoming stiff.

“What… is this?”

He must have been quite shocked. Bishop Andre stammered as he picked up a fragment of the crown. The fragment he picked up collapsed its barely maintained form and broke into three more pieces. The bishop called out to me in a voice mixed with bewilderment and raised his head.

“Hero, what happened to—?”

And then, Bishop Andre’s eyes widened as if they would pop out when he saw the halo floating above my head.

“Ka,” his unfinished word ended with a faint gasp.

“Oh, my God…”

The bishop’s voice trembled as he looked at me.