Chapter 4. Escape and Service (3)

It’s a bit hazy now, but I still remember the important developments of the novel to some extent.

Based on the main story, the Saint had been the Saint for a long time, and I don’t know if she infused the protagonist with her power like I did with Ria to help him be active, but at least she was much closer to him than I am now.

In that sense, I can say that I have at least avoided the developments of the original work to some extent.

I’m not that close with Lee Si-yoon, am I? If anything, he’s an acquaintance, and frankly, not even a very close one among acquaintances.

However, there are more incidents I need to be wary of besides those related to Lee Si-yoon. The Saint was already a highly respected figure in the main story, and that’s why Lee Si-yoon harbored a bit of admiration for her.

Is this incident also related to the main story?

I concluded that it was.

Of course. If I had completely derailed the main storyline of this world, it might have caused political turmoil in the other world due to the butterfly effect, but I haven’t done anything like that.

It’s before the main story even begins, and if the relationships before the main story are still being formed, this incident might be one of those events.

Who is it?

Since there’s a path to a place that can be called ‘another world,’ there is naturally a heroine from that ‘another world.’

And it would be a shame to leave out elves among them.

The reason I know a certain amount about the ‘Elf World’ is also because I read it in the novel.

“However, there wasn’t a princess.”

Hmm.

I tilted my head.

“Why are you asking?”

“It’s nothing.”

“I know that what you think is ‘nothing’ is often far from common sense?”

That assessment is a bit unfair.

I am a perfectly sensible person, and I act rationally and logically within that common sense.

If anything, it’s this world that’s nonsensical, not me. Well, I’m willing to view it from a culturally relativistic perspective.

“Is this your first time going this far?”

Ria made a strange guess.

“Even if I live inside the church, I sometimes have to go out for volunteer work or things like that, right? I’ve even been to Chungcheongbuk-do.”

As I said that, puffing out my chest, Ria let out a small sigh with a slightly subtle expression.

“Yes, that’s certainly… you’ve been quite far.”

Come to think of it, someone like Ria might have even been abroad. Her father, a Hero, is busy but the family is well-off. They have a lot of money. Even if they couldn’t visit often, they must have at least one memory, right?

If this car was the path for us to go to another world, in a sense, it was going ‘very far,’ but the church, and the government of this country, had no intention of sending a Saint Candidate beyond it.

It was a bit unfair to me, but didn’t the Saint Candidates themselves point me out as not being the Saint? The government, which had already heard about the power from the Hunters, wouldn’t have wanted to send such a talented individual to another world.

As a result, we head to a gate somewhere in Gyeonggi-do.

Isn’t the party at a disadvantage in a negotiation usually the one who needs it more? Since the country was on the verge of losing its princess without our power, they were the ones who needed it.

“That aside.”

I said, looking around.

The bus we were on was different from the minivan we took before. This time, it’s almost the size of a regular bus. Of course, the interior feels like a highway bus used for long-distance travel.

The exterior was just black without any special markings, which made it somewhat intimidating, but the interior wasn’t particularly so.

And inside that bus, there were people packed in.

Ria and I were sitting side-by-side in about the third row from the front, and behind us were the priest and the Nun Superior.

There were a few people who seemed to have been sent by the church, and a few nuns who worked at our church were also on board.

However, the people with the most alien atmosphere among them were not those dressed in clerical clothing like us.

“Why is Lee Si-yoon over there?”

To my question, Ria gave a sly smile.

“Why? Do you like him?”

“No.”

I said firmly to Ria’s remark.

It’s not you who’s in danger, it’s me.

In this world, I wasn’t emotionally invested in Lee Si-yoon.

However, my belief that if there’s a childhood friend, they should end up together, hasn’t changed at all.

The probability of me falling for Lee Si-yoon is infinitesimally close to zero, but the possibility of Ria falling for Lee Si-yoon is very, very high. After all, it’s not strange at all to like someone handsome.

……You two just live happily ever after somewhere I can’t see. Well, if it’s necessary for the story, I might have to run into you, but still.

“Haa.”

“Heung.”

As I sighed deeply and turned my gaze out the window, Ria let out a snort.

I glared at Ria once and looked out the window again.

It was a night with a beautiful moon.

*

The gate was not much different from the one I saw at Bukhansan.

It looked like the surface of a lake made of mercury, slightly lifted and propped up. Honestly, the person who first thought of going beyond it is quite strange.

After all, at first glance, it just looks like a peculiar object. Until you see something coming from beyond it, it usually just looks like a liquid that could be very harmful to the body.

When I asked Ria about Lee Si-yoon’s presence earlier, she teased me so much that I forgot to ask the reason, but it seems his role is to escort me.

“Hunters are the most capable of responding when something unexpected emerges from beyond the gate.”

According to Ria, that’s why.

It’s not an unreasonable explanation. Well, the Knights Order was also created to deal with beings beyond the gate, but Hunters have overwhelming practical experience.

They say it’s due to a tangle of interests, but honestly, I don’t want to know the details, so I just nodded.

Cook.

“Kkik!?”

I quickly suppressed a scream from the pain that dug into my ribs after a long time.

However, there are few people nearby who can’t hear the metallic sound that escaped through my teeth.

Seeing the hunters looking at me with expressions of “What’s going on?”, I forced a smile.

Seeing their gazes return to normal, I glared at Ria.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I was just wondering if you had any intention of going to talk to him.”

“Who, Lee Si-yoon?”

When I asked in an incredulous voice, Ria shrugged.

Why does she think that?

However, without much thought, the conclusion was immediate.

Although not as much as ordinary nuns, Ria has also been separated from men for a long time. It’s not that she can’t see men at all, but the men she can see in the church are usually devotees with whom conversation is forbidden, or elderly priests.

Although it’s clearly described that Ria has no ex-boyfriends, and she’s not really a guy-crazy person-you know, when people go to the military, they suddenly watch girl groups they didn’t watch before, and the beauty of passing women seems to increase by several levels.

But if he’s a ‘really handsome’ man, and he’s the same age as us and we’re even friends, she might want to say hello, even if she doesn’t have any intention of seducing him.

However, as if sensing Ria and I glancing at him, Han Yu-ri stared intently at us, then quickly grabbed Lee Si-yoon’s wrist next to her.

And she dragged him as far away as possible.

Good, she’s very perceptive.

I nodded with a satisfied expression and turned my body.

“Oh, hey.”

Ria, slightly flustered by my actions, followed me.

I’m sorry, Chae-eun.

I have no intention of pairing you with Lee Si-yoon.

So, a golden sun… no, a red sun? Hmm, I’m not exactly tanned, but let’s think of it that way.

In any case, I don’t want that.

Although Ria’s slightly hardened face was scary because she seemed displeased that I didn’t talk to Lee Si-yoon, I tried not to look directly at her face and headed towards the gate.

*

“…She’s making us wait an awful lot.”

One of the hunters grumbled.

“They say she’s a princess. It seems it takes some time to sneak out. There seem to be political rivals too.”

“Still, isn’t it too late for someone who came for help? Are they perhaps looking down on us…?”

“Hey, hey.”

Seeing the church people looking at them, the hunter who was speaking tapped the arm of the hunter who was talking.

The hunters who saw me quickly shut their mouths.

Hmm, do they think my feelings were hurt by those words?

I don’t really care.

As I was blankly staring at the gate, thinking that-

“Wait a minute.”

For some reason, Ria reacted.

Ria’s expression hardened, she quickly got up, drew her sword, and stepped in front of me.

It wasn’t just Ria. The hunters who were chatting about various things also immediately went into combat readiness.

“Ria, what’s hap-“

However, before I could finish speaking, a human face popped out from beyond the gate.

At first, I thought it was a neat-looking Caucasian woman, but only after her body fully emerged did I realize it wasn’t ‘human.’

Long ears, clearly visible even from a distance.

In that person’s arms-was a woman whose body was rotting black in various places.

“My goodness.”

As I tried to step forward, Ria moved her foot to block me.

“Ria?”

But before my words were even finished-

Flick.

An arrow flew from beyond the gate.

Although it grazed near the woman’s ear and stuck in the ground, it would have been instantly fatal if it had hit.

The woman’s body was also covered in blood. Arrows were stuck in her back like a hedgehog.

It was to the extent that I wondered how she even got here.

Before anyone could shout anything, people moved nimbly.

People rushing to the woman hit by the arrow. People carefully receiving the person from her arms. People guarding the front of the gate.

“Don’t you dare step forward first.”

Ria said, glancing back at me slightly.

Her expression was a little scary, so I couldn’t help but nod.