Blindfolded and Awung-3

“…….”

Saint stared at the coffee remaining in the cup, lost in thought.

Though unproven, there was a certain intuition. And that intuition kept urging Saint on.

A wealthy Order,

A meal with Saint,

Pamphlets about Saint distributed to each parish,

The village representative who, for some reason, failed to greet Saint upon arrival,

The large box the village representative brought and the Holy Knight who took it,

The dinner banquet hosted by the village representative,

The noble who attended the banquet,

The sack with a drawstring the Holy Knight carried,

The beggars swarming near the Order,

The group of people driving away the beggars,

Things he had casually overlooked resurfaced in his mind.

The fragments of memory, once meaningless, transformed into protruding and recessed puzzle pieces when he returned to the Order from Madini.

After giving Maria instructions regarding Antonio, Saint entered his room to relieve his fatigue.

After Maria, who had brought the coffee, returned to her room, Saint continued to piece together the puzzle, staring at the already cold coffee cup.

“It’s late.”

Saint said, looking at the dark night scenery.

The night was filled with clouds. Even the moon, which usually cast a soft glow, was hidden by the clouds, barely making its presence known with a faint light.

“…There’s no time except today.”

The official schedule would begin the next day.

Saint downed the cold coffee and opened the wardrobe.

From the corner of the wardrobe, filled with pristine white robes, he took out a spare black priest’s robe.

Saint tore off the hem of the long priest’s robe.

The sound of fabric tearing echoed through the room.

Saint put on the priest’s robe and moved his body.

He was checking to see if there were any parts that were uncomfortable.

Then, he wrapped the torn fabric around his head.

The cloth covered his mouth and head.

Saint turned off the light in the room.

Everyone would think that Saint, tired from the arduous journey, had gone to bed early.

Saint briefly observed the situation outside the window. He saw a few Holy Knights periodically patrolling the area.

He timed how long it took for them to disappear and reappear.

Soon, as the reappearing Holy Knights passed their designated patrol area, Saint slightly opened the window.

Wind entered the room.

A night when even the moon did not reveal its face. Saint placed his foot on the windowsill and jumped.

Just as he felt the unpleasant sensation of falling, his outstretched hand grabbed a branch.

The tree moved once, but no one came to investigate the sound.

Saint moved through the bushes, sometimes behind statues, using blind spots in his vision.

Moving from shadow to shadow, he traversed Solarumea.

He arrived at the place where the carriages were parked.

Saint checked the carriages he had ridden in on his way to Madini village and examined the cargo hold.

He saw the sack that the Holy Knights had loaded onto the carriage.

A sack tightly bound with a blue string. Saint touched the outside of the sack with his fingertips.

The hard, bumpy sack seemed to be filled with many of the same shaped objects.

At that moment, he heard footsteps in the distance, and Saint did not hesitate to go under the carriage.

Saint grabbed onto a protruding part of the carriage’s undercarriage and pulled himself up. Thanks to this, his body was stuck to the bottom.

Along with the footsteps, he heard the clattering of armor.

“Here it is.”

Someone’s voice was heard.

“It seems so.”

There seemed to be two people who came to the carriage.

Saint put more strength into his arms.

“It’s quite heavy.”

“Of course. It’s a donation, after all.”

Like buying goods at a market, casual conversation ensued.

“The representative of Madini village seems to be a very devout person.”

The sack fell to the ground, making a heavy sound. Saint’s heart beat rapidly.

“But is there a difference between what’s in the box and what’s in the sack?”

Perhaps because he was not used to this kind of work, one of them continued to ask questions.

The man with the deep voice, who received the question, mechanically answered his curiosity.

“What’s in the box is a donation officially used by the Order, and this is a targeted donation that Pope manages directly.”

“Ah, so since the management office is different, we have to make different donations.”

The carriage rose slightly upward, as if all the sacks had been unloaded.

“Ugh, heavy.”

The sound of the people carrying the sacks faded away.

Saint stayed attached to the bottom of the carriage for another 10 minutes.

Finally, after confirming that no one was returning, he crawled out of the carriage.

“…….”

It was the moment when the puzzle that had been scattered haphazardly in his head was roughly pieced together.

“Saint…?”

Maria, who couldn’t sleep, came back to Saint’s room under the pretext of the previous errand.

When there was no answer even after knocking, Maria carefully opened the door.

A room with all the lights turned off.

Maria stepped into the quiet room.

She thought that if she saw Saint’s sleeping face, her pounding heart would calm down.

But there was nothing on the bed where Saint should have been.

Only the white robe that Saint had taken off.

Maria picked up the robe.

Then, she brought it to her face.

Saint’s scent spread through her nose to her whole body.

“Haa… haa….”

Taking a deep breath in and out, Maria let out a pleasant moan.

After smelling the clothes for a while, Maria asked a fundamental question.

“Where did he go?”

Did he go for a night walk? Maria was about to leave the room to look around.

At that moment, she heard a rustling sound from the window, and Saint came in.

“Ugh… it’s hard with this body.”

Saint, covered in fallen leaves, appeared through the window, and Maria froze in place.

“…….”

“…….”

Their eyes met, and for a while, neither of them said anything.

“Could you… put the clothes down first?”

Saint said with an embarrassed face.