Reunion (2)

Yona didn’t have a particularly good image of the so-called high-ranking people, including nobles.

For nobles, most people in this era who belong to the commoner or lower class don’t have the image of being the same human beings, and even though Yona belongs to the clergy and is treated a bit better, the treatment isn’t that good.

Amidst all this, Ceres Allkamine, a high-ranking official and noble that Yona met.

Yona had a very good impression of her.

Not only was she capable, but anyone would think so when seeing how she handled various matters.

“Have you been well, Regent?”

Yona approached Ceres with a rare broad smile.

Ceres also approached Yona with a smile all over her face, and eventually, the two women came close enough to face each other.

‘…Were those two this close?’

Alec felt a strange sense of discomfort watching the two of them.

It’s true that Ceres had a friendly personality, and Yona, along with Alec and Kaiyak, had made great contributions to repelling Berbaria, but he wondered if it was something to be this happy about, feeling a strange sense of discomfort.

“Yona, you’ve become even prettier. What have you been eating to become prettier every time?”

Hadn’t they not met again since they last parted?

Saying she becomes prettier every time, it’s as if she’s talking like someone who met frequently.

Alec’s sense of discomfort didn’t stop there.

“I heard you were coming to the church territory through Alebiang. That’s why I came out to greet you.”

“I see…!”

Ceres kept caressing Yona’s arm.

From shoulder to wrist, and in the case of the right hand, even to the fingers.

And there was even a strange energy in Ceres’s touch.

Alec just silently watched Ceres.

There was something suspicious, but it was ambiguous to pinpoint exactly what was strange or wrong.

“Now, let’s change carriages. If you ride in my carriage, we can bypass all the inspections and such.”

Ceres had a smile all over her face.

“That’s great! Hey, Alec! Kaiyak! Let’s go quickly, quickly!”

They got off Alebiang’s carriage ostentatiously and changed to Ceres’s carriage.

Although there were still some suspicious parts left, Alec thought he must have seen wrong.

He seemed to have heard that there’s a way women talk among themselves,

And he knew that Yona was feeling burdened about entering the church territory.

Just being able to pass through the inspection when entering the church territory would be a great help to Yona.

Thinking so, Alec suppressed his slight uneasiness and changed carriages.

There were three inspections at the entrance to the church territory.

Although the inspections became stricter and more thorough as they progressed, Ceres’s words that they could pass through all inspections were indeed not wrong, and they were able to enter the church territory, roughly passing through all the inspections.

The Infula Church Territory had an overwhelming presence just by its existence.

Along with the huge statue of Cheonsin visible from the front, buildings were erected in a round circle as if surrounding it like pure white angels.

On the straight main road, pure white stepping stones were well-arranged, so meticulously maintained that not a single stain could be seen, and the carriage running on top of it provided such a comfortable and luxurious ride that almost no vibration or noise could be felt.

“You say you want to erase the tattoos?”

Ceres asked in the carriage after hearing Yona’s words.

The tattoos, that is, the very sealing characters used in the Age Without Echo engraved on Yona’s tattoos, she wants to erase them—

Although she was well aware of Yona’s purpose, it was somewhat unexpected that she wanted to come back so quickly to erase them.

“Well, we’ll need to check the condition first, so let’s talk about that separately in my room later. More importantly, what’s this about there being a problem in Lizard Den?”

Lizard Den.

As soon as those words came out, a shadow fell over Yona’s face. Kaiyak, sitting next to her, awkwardly cleared his throat unnecessarily, and Alec was just watching Yona’s reaction while rubbing his face dry.

“I told you about Mr. James’s village before, right?”

“Yes, I remember. The one where black sap gushed out from the sacred tree.”

“It was a bit similar to that.”

Yona, who had been talking up to that point, closed her mouth.

Just as a bear appeared in the story of the sacred tree in James’s village, a mermaid appears in the story of Lizard Den.

The difference is that while they somehow managed to handle the bear well, it wasn’t the case with the mermaid.

How could she possibly talk about Berbaria, who had taken residence in Yona’s left arm, handling it well?

Especially in the middle of the church territory.

While Yona was hesitating, the carriage continued to run.

The carriage was running towards the main building, passing through the road that crosses the center of the church territory.

And a sudden silence fell inside that carriage.

“…Hm? Did I ask something strange? Why is everyone not talking?”

Ceres looked bewildered as everyone suddenly closed their mouths.

And Yona, who had been watching Ceres’s reaction, carefully opened her mouth.

“…By any chance, have you caught Berbaria? Or any news of his whereabouts?”

“Ah— Berbaria. That guy, well…”

Ceres let out a long sigh.

Watching that, Yona could roughly guess the situation.

How could she possibly say that Berbaria, whom they were chasing after and tracking the whereabouts of, was actually residing in Yona’s left arm?

Moreover, not even an avatar but the main body itself is residing in her, how could she say that Berbaria, who had almost destroyed Lizard Den and eaten the mermaid as a meal, is now in the middle of the church territory?

“We’re currently tracking two of them. Berbaria and the vampire Semetas. The cathedral knights are also working hard to catch and kill these two, but both of them are completely off the grid. Really, I’m at the point where I want to request help from Yona and Alec.”

“W-What about the hero’s party?”

It was an unnecessary question. Yona had also heard from Alebiang about the general activities of the hero’s party and knew that wasn’t the situation.

Yona also knew that they had found traces of the dark organization that appeared in Evian and that they had come from Kapatia Port, and were now tracking them there.

“They’re also complicated right now. It seems the roots of these dark organization bastards are deeper than we thought. Plus, the guys who summoned Berbaria last time are giving strange testimonies…”

“Strange testimonies?”

“Well, this is confidential, but. I guess it’s okay to tell you since you’re the ones who directly repelled Berbaria.”

Ceres pretended to look around.

Even though it was just inside the carriage, and the only people present were Yona’s group and Ceres.

“It’s a bit strange to call it testimony, but they’re all saying weird things.”

“Weird things like…”

“Well, um, ‘On the day the righteous saint arrives, only then will the Cheonsin return.'”

“W-What…?”

Yona’s eyes widened.

On the day the righteous saint arrives, only then will the Cheonsin return—

The righteous saint.

At that word “saint,” Yona pretended to be surprised and clutched her chest.

When it comes to a saint, it reminds her of what happened just a few days ago.

The consciousness world where Berbaria had almost kidnapped her, which he called the demon realm.

There, Berbaria had told Yona.

Become a saint of the demon realm— he said.

What Berbaria had said to Yona.

What the dark organization members had all said.

Yona felt aversion to the word “saint” that appeared in common.

At least, the saint in her mind—the small but fiery-tempered red-haired saint.

She had a feeling that it would be a saint with a somewhat different image from that saint.

*

“Sissssssterrrrr———!!!”

As soon as they got off the carriage, there was a shadow that rushed towards Yona.

The jet-black hair was flowing with an unprecedented shine and was so soft that it rippled like a curtain cut from darkness, and the plump lips and flushed cheeks seemed to radiate warmth with the slightly higher body temperature typical of children.

“Rubinaaaaa!!!”

As soon as Yona saw the little one rushing towards her, she smiled broadly and hugged her back.

In the meantime, she seemed to have grown quite a bit, as Rubina’s height, which previously didn’t even reach Yona’s chest and used to come and go around her pelvis, now seemed to have grown considerably.

“Sister, Sister!”

“Oh my, Rubina. Have you been doing well?”

Barely managing to detach Rubina, who was frantically burrowing into her arms, Yona knelt on one knee in front of her and looked at her face.

It was clear at a glance that she had been eating well, sleeping well, and receiving good care. Rubina looked much healthier than when she was traveling with her, and she had a more smiley expression.

Those big eyes were full of starlight twinkling like the dark night sky, and her face towards Yona was overflowing with longing.

Although longing often turns into resentment, there was no sign of that at all, and Rubina seemed to be simply happy to have Yona in front of her now.

“I’ve been doing well—! Sister, how about you?”

Yona silently smiled and looked Rubina up and down.

She’s so beautiful.

Their first meeting when she was wearing clothes like a sackcloth.

Kapatia, where she was given a somewhat human-like brown dress.

Compared to then, the bright and gorgeous black velvet dress with white lace trim was cute and adorable.

“Sister has been doing really well too. That’s why I came to see Rubina like this. Right? Sister kept her promise. Isn’t that right?”

Yona smiled brightly.

Just seeing Rubina again made her feel like her chest was being filled to the brim with fulfillment.