Ch.85Chapter 85 – Is This a Holy Relic?

Following the priest’s guidance toward the door, Christina was indeed standing outside.

“Ah, you really are here!”

Christina smiled brightly as she approached me with quick steps. Her complexion looked so good that it was hard to believe she had been lying pale-faced in bed just a few days ago.

“Are you fully recovered now?”

“The church folks said I should rest for a few days just to be safe.”

Christina smiled and said they were kind people who worried a lot.

“But how did you know I was here? Even the guild wouldn’t have known exactly.”

“I went to the inn first, then to the Lavencha Merchant Company. Eve told me you’d be here.”

Hearing her explanation, I immediately understood the situation. I wasn’t sure how they had met, but it seemed Eve had seen the future and told her. I had been planning to visit Christina tomorrow to check on her condition and then tell her about my visit to the Jeolei Order, so Eve must have seen that future.

Sera, who had been listening to our conversation, suddenly interjected.

“Excuse me, but didn’t you say you didn’t stop by the Lavencha Merchant Company before coming here?”

“That’s right.”

“Then how did Eve know that we came here?”

Sera asked with a puzzled expression. Come to think of it, I hadn’t properly explained Eve’s abilities yet. I had been considering when to tell them, but I felt it was more appropriate for Eve to explain it herself, so I hadn’t mentioned it. It seemed Sera was only now beginning to question it.

‘Still, it wouldn’t be right to explain it here.’

It didn’t seem proper to reveal the truth in the absence of the person concerned. If she asks again later, I’ll decide whether to explain based on the situation.

“She’s a merchant, so she probably gets information through various means.”

Of course, Sera wasn’t satisfied with my answer and tilted her head in confusion. Feeling the need to change the subject, I turned to Christina.

“So, why were you looking for us?”

“Oh, right! This!”

Christina held out a tablet.

“Is this something you bought for me, my benefactor?”

“I’ve never seen it before.”

I looked at the golden tablet Christina was holding. It was a tablet I had never seen before. Hearing my response, Christina seemed confused as she looked at the tablet and said:

“Well, someone left this by my bed, and I was wondering what to do with it.”

“If you don’t know who it belongs to, why not just keep it?”

“I can’t do that. If it were a gift, that would be one thing, but how could I keep something when I don’t know the owner…”

I thought she could just assume it was a gift if someone had left it there, but Christina seemed determined to find the owner. First at the cemetery and now this—I wasn’t sure if I should call it diligence or just a troublesome personality.

“Sera, are there any tools that can help find the owner of lost items?”

“Alchemy has endless possibilities, but even so, it can’t do something like that.”

“What should I do? Even if someone asks me to pay for it or buy it, I don’t have the money…!”

Being from a poor church, Christina seemed more worried about getting entangled in financial matters. It looked like a high-quality item with an artistic appearance and some kind of sacred aura—something neither Christina nor her church could afford. If they had that kind of money, there wouldn’t be mending marks on the skirt of Christina’s priest robe. They would have bought her new clothes before purchasing something like that.

“I think there’s only one solution here.”

“What is it? Should I borrow money from Eve?”

“Hiccup!”

Sera suddenly started hiccupping. It seemed she had some issue related to the workshop, something I’d need to carefully inquire about later.

“First, erase the idea of borrowing money from your mind.”

Even if you could handle it, borrowing money is something to be careful about, and borrowing money you can’t repay is obviously out of the question. Besides, Eve sometimes emits a kind of dark aura when it comes to money. She probably wouldn’t cross the line, but borrowing money from her could lead to unpredictable consequences.

“Then what should I do?”

“Just keep it and move on.”

Christina’s mouth fell open at my words.

“What?”

“Just keep it. If the owner shows up and confronts you, you can deny everything. What can they do?”

Christina seemed to be seriously considering my words for a moment. But soon she shook her head vigorously and exclaimed:

“Isn’t that a crime, benefactor?!”

“It’s the fault of the person who couldn’t keep track of their belongings in the first place. And if they left it there, it might really be a gift.”

Though I did think it was strange to leave a tablet as a get-well gift. Christina was fidgeting, seemingly troubled by her conscience.

But what other solution was there? She couldn’t just forcibly borrow money either.

Besides, thinking about it a bit more, it didn’t seem likely that someone would appear claiming ownership. Such an artistic, obviously expensive tablet—if it were simply a lost item rather than a gift, the owner would have appeared immediately. If they hadn’t shown up yet, they must have given up on it.

Of course, it was unlikely that anyone among Christina’s acquaintances would lose something like that.

‘But it feels strangely familiar.’

I kept sensing something from the tablet that felt like I’d experienced it before. Yes, it was similar to the energy I was starting to feel from Ludger’s waist…

“Huh?”

Thinking about it, it felt similar to the holy relics of Ludger and Aria.

“Christina, could that possibly be a holy relic?”

“What?”

My sudden question caught Christina off guard. She looked at me and quickly smiled.

“No way, our order doesn’t have any inherited holy relics.”

“Did it just appear suddenly?”

“It wasn’t hidden deep in some storage… Besides, if our order had something so valuable, we wouldn’t have built our church in the slums…”

Christina’s voice grew quieter toward the end. While other churches were all built in the church district, her order’s building was in the slum district because they lacked funds, which must have been embarrassing.

The nun’s habit with visible mending marks.

The poor atmosphere suggesting they didn’t eat well.

A body that seemed to lack any curves.

Poor and meager.

That was Christina.

“So, this really doesn’t seem to fit our order…”

“But I feel like it is a holy relic.”

Ludger, who had been silent until then, suddenly interjected.

“Hehe, Paladin, our order couldn’t possibly have a holy relic.”

“No, it feels exactly like this sword. I really think it might be a holy relic.”

“I think so too. It seems to have the same essence as what Aria has.”

Beatrice, who was somehow referring to Aria of the Harti Order familiarly, approached. She had some kind of magical circle floating above her eyes.

“What’s that?”

“An appraisal spell. I’ve worked as an appraiser before when I was hungry for money.”

Beatrice said this and moved closer to Christina’s tablet.

“I only remember the composition of Aria’s, not its age… but this seems similar in composition to that sword. The age looks similar too. Isn’t it really a holy relic?”

Though I wasn’t sure if we could trust her, with the mage’s appraisal added, it was becoming increasingly certain that the tablet was a holy relic. Just as she placed her hand on the tablet for a closer look:

-Crack!

“Gyaaah?!”

A spark suddenly erupted from the tablet, and Beatrice pulled her hand away with a strange scream. Seeing this, Christina approached Beatrice in alarm.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. It didn’t hurt so much as it startled me.”

Beatrice said this while blowing on her hand. Seeing this, Ludger commented:

“So it prevents those without qualification from touching it. That’s almost exactly like this sword.”

“So it really is a holy relic?”

Christina scratched her cheek slightly as she spoke. She kept looking down at the tablet, as if unable to believe such an item had suddenly come into her possession.

But with all the evidence piling up, she seemed to finally accept it.

“I’m… the owner of a holy relic…”

A small smile began to form at the corners of Christina’s mouth. She probably hadn’t had much connection with nice things before, so she must be feeling quite happy.

“I’m glad I came to consult with you all about this. It gave me quite a shock.”

Having finally acknowledged it, Christina bowed her head to us in gratitude. I smiled slightly at the sight.

“By the way, don’t the people at your church know about this? Didn’t you consult with them?”

“Unfortunately, I forgot.”

Christina was quite confident in her response.

+

Despite everything, Christina had been a patient. Though her condition seemed to have improved, the church people had advised her to rest for a few days, as she had mentioned.

“Even so, you shouldn’t have rushed all the way here after hearing that.”

“Well, I was so surprised that I wanted some peace of mind somehow.”

I had been planning to visit her tomorrow anyway. Christina had acted hastily due to her anxiety.

Ludger’s business had temporarily concluded anyway, except for one piece of information that had been conveyed.

“Your schedule has suddenly become busy.”

“Indeed.”

It was a visit to the Magic Tower. With the preparations for the Origin Festival and the recent terrorist attack, the situation was chaotic. It was decided that we should properly deliver the jewel found in the columbarium to the Magic Tower before things became even more confused. That was scheduled for two days later.

“Since Christina is a patient, maybe we should exclude her.”

“Visiting the Magic Tower is a rare experience. May I accompany you?”

Christina looked up at me as she spoke. Holding the tablet tightly with both hands and looking up, she somehow appeared cute.

“I don’t see why not. You seem to have recovered fully, judging by how you’re walking now.”

Beatrice, who had been quietly smoking while walking, interjected. I might have wondered why she was butting in, but I had been thinking the same thing. Aria would be coming along too. If any problems arose, we could send her back immediately.

The issue would be the church people, who were very protective of their members.

“In exchange, you’ll have to convince the church people yourself.”

“Yes.”

“And Sera, I’m sorry, but let’s stop by the Lavencha Merchant Company today as well.”

“Yes. The schedule is tight anyway.”

Since Eve was also planning to go to the Magic Tower, it would be good to inform her right away so she could prepare. I was concerned that she might suddenly become busy, but that’s how work is—one thing leads to another, and things come up suddenly.

Eve herself seemed to be looking forward to the opportunity to potentially make connections at the Magic Tower, so it would be good to give her as much time as possible to prepare.

Still, Christina had been a patient. We decided to escort her back to the church first.

“Oh, right. Benefactor, there’s one more thing I wanted to mention.”

“What is it?”

“Well, ever since I woke up, something has felt strange.”

Christina looked at me as she spoke.

“What feels strange? Your body?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s like I keep getting the feeling that I need to go somewhere.”

Christina closed her eyes quietly for a moment, as if choosing her words.

“…For some reason, I feel like there’s a place I need to take you to, benefactor.”

“Why specifically K?”

“I don’t know either, Sera.”

Christina looked down at the tablet for a moment. Then, she quietly closed her eyes.

“I can sense the direction too. If I had a map of the continent, I think I could point to where it is, but I don’t understand why we need to go there.”

“Did you perhaps have a strange dream? Like, a dream about traveling?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Christina’s voice trailed off. Her previously bright demeanor suddenly darkened.

‘Why is she acting like this?’

Should I ask her?

“Christina?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I just thought you might understand what this feeling is, benefactor.”

“How would I know something like that?”

Well, if she meant the feeling of your body moving on its own accord, I did know. That’s how it felt during my time as a test subject. It was an infuriating memory that I had been trying to suppress for some time. As I was trying to forget that unpleasant memory again, I noticed Christina staring at me with a slightly dazed expression.

“What’s wrong?”

Christina continued to stare at me without answering.

‘This isn’t like her.’

Confused by her sudden change in behavior, I stopped walking and looked at Sera.

“Sera, do you know why Christina is acting like this?”

“I don’t know either.”

Despite her words, Sera was rummaging through her belongings for some medicines. It seemed this was a symptom she hadn’t seen before, and she was worried about what medicine to give. Then Christina suddenly grabbed me.

“Christina?”

“…Must go to the holy land…”

Something felt off. It was as if something had entered Christina. Sensing that something wasn’t right, I tried to grab her.

“Ah.”

At that moment, Christina’s eyes returned to normal.

“Oh, why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Don’t you remember what you just said?”

“You mean about feeling like I need to go somewhere?”

Christina answered as if she had no memory of what had just happened. She started talking about our conversation from earlier.

It seemed she had no awareness of her own behavior just moments ago.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Christina’s state from earlier troubled me. I couldn’t help but worry that something might be wrong with her.