episode_0023

“You, till the end…”

As Glenn’s face twisted, Briwen grinned.

Glenn felt uneasy about that face. In the first place, why did he call her like this today? He felt something was off. He couldn’t tell what that feeling, what was hidden, was right away.

‘Me too. What am I doing? Giving this guy some air.’

Briwen muttered the same thing to herself as she watched Glenn stand up and straighten his clothes. The two people who didn’t get along with each other filled the room with silence.

Oh, right. Briwen realized there was one more thing to tell her.

“That’s right, Glenn.”

“Why?”

“That…”

But at the same time, hesitation gripped her.

Why, am I trying to teach the two of you the way to success? There’s no need to do that.

I wanted to swallow the words that were about to spill out of my mouth and hold them back in my throat. However, as Glenn tilted his head and looked at me, I couldn’t help but sigh and say what I wanted to say.

“First, you should prepare a gift for the person who invited you. It would be good to prepare something suitable for a woman. Since the person you are meeting is a saint… For example, a bracelet. Or, a hairband… or something. ”

“A gift, Ira. That’s right.”

Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.

Even as she uttered the words, Briwen sighed inwardly. Why did she have to mention the headband? In an instant, she raised her hand and stroked the headband that was positioned behind her head.

Oh my, I felt something rising inside me.

Barely holding back. Shit. Shit. Somehow suppressing her emotions, Briwen said.

“That’s it. You can go out now. No, go out.”

“Oh, oh, okay. Thanks for today.”

“Okay. Just hurry up and get out. If you stay in the girls’ dorm for too long, bad rumors will spread.”

“You’re being annoying. Bye.”

With that, Glenn went out the door. The door slammed shut. Haa, Briwen sighed, and a voice muttered outside.

“Headband, La.”

Damn it. Briwen wanted to drink. She usually only had one drink, but now, just now, she wanted to down five bottles in one go. It was the worst morning ever.

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‘That guy Briwen. He’s doing things he never normally does. He’s even saying strange things. Since yesterday. Did he eat something bad?’

Glenn pondered, fiddling with the street-bought items in his arms. He had had little interaction with Briwen recently, so this felt awkward and something felt stuck in his throat.

Glenn and Briwen had barely communicated since the incident, so this meeting felt strange. I could tell that it was definitely not love or romantic feelings. It wasn’t like that. Rather… it was like…

As Glenn was thinking back on the strange events that had occurred since morning, he realized that he had arrived near the Saintess’s mansion. In the distance, he could see the familiar fence of the Saintess’s mansion.

But then, something else appeared up ahead. It was a carriage.

What is it? Who is it? No. I have seen that carriage.

Oh, I remembered. It was the carriage that Glenn rode in when he first came to this mansion. Why is it in front of the Saintess’s mansion?

As he approached closer, Glenn soon realized.

“How are you? Good morning, Glen.”

There was Milicia Airgrants, who greeted him with a bright voice, and butler Douglas, who was preparing a carriage.

Milicia was dressed completely differently today than before. Neither in her light training attire, nor in her typical saintly attire, nor in the attire she would wear when invited to her home, she was dressed in a one-piece dress with simple frills and a puffy white hat, looking like a beauty going out.

Heart pounding.

Glenn’s heart started beating again.

No, no. If you are already caught up in this charm and start fooling around, it will be a complete failure. Come to your senses. Remember mental unification again! Mental unification!

Glenn tried to remain calm as he received the saint’s greeting.

“Oh, yes. Your Majesty. Good morning. But what’s wrong?”

Even as he barely exchanged greetings, he did not forget to ask the saint his question.

Milicia answered with a bright smile. The way she answered with a bright smile was full of innocence, purity, and playfulness.

“Yes. What’s going on!”

Even though he gave such a sarcastic answer, Glenn felt like his heart was going to burst.

It’s dangerous. Seriously, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous enough to make you wonder how I ever endured contact with a saintess in such light clothing. The word ‘beauty’ is not enough to describe this appearance. This is a beauty that would make anyone nod and cheer if you introduced her as the saintess of the nation.

I realized once again that I was interacting with such a person. Now that I look at it, I think I’m a pretty calm and cautious person.

The saintess opened her mouth to Glenn, who secretly had a high opinion of himself.

“We have to get on the carriage and reach our destination from the morning.”

In a voice that was incredibly bright, the saintess said:

I nodded unconsciously. However, a moment later, when I was grabbed by the saint’s hand and forced into the carriage, when I was forced to sit down, and when Deacon Douglas started the carriage, I finally understood what the saint said and was shocked.

Where are you going? You’re not going around the capital. Where are you going? Is this a kidnapping? No, no, that can’t be happening!

“Oh, Saint? Where are we going now?”

“Hehehe. Let’s have fun when you arrive. That is, it’s a secret.”

Still smiling brightly, Milishia placed her index finger on her lips.

Even that movement was so lovely that it made my eyes dizzy.

Wow. To see such a noble scene. I am truly a lucky person… No, what is this? What is this!

‘Kidnapping? Confinement? Or… no way… no way… escaping… love, love, love… no way. Just escaping?’

My head spun at a tremendous speed. I glanced outside and saw that the carriage was moving away from the capital. As I watched the carriage moving along the built road, it seemed to be heading south.

South? What was south of the capital? The port city of Marshill? I’ve been there once. Is that where you’re headed?

Should I ask?

Gulping, Glen rolled the question in his mouth. However, the saintess clearly said that the destination was a secret. So, asking that casually felt like the wrong way to proceed with the conversation.

Oh, then what should I say? The saint’s appearance came into his eyes again. Ah. That’s right. Glenn, half-asleep, decided to say something else. He was shaking a little.

“That, Saintess. Today’s outing outfit is beautiful. Even to my eyes, who is quite ignorant of clothing and grooming, there seems to be no one who can compare to this level of beauty. Oh, no. That’s a slip of the tongue. There is no one on this continent.”

“Oops…”

At those words, a red glow appeared on Milishia’s cheeks.

Milishia looked surprised for a moment, then turned her head slightly away from Glenn. The smile on her lips seemed ready to crumble.

Oh my, what is this? Did I make a mistake?

Now that I look at it, the saint’s eyes were also shaking. What is it, what is it? Was it a big mistake? Was it the worst choice?

Glenn’s heart pounded with a different meaning. After a tense moment, the saintess opened her mouth.

“Thank you, Mr. Glen. Mr. Glen, you dressed up so nicely for me today? Thank you. You’re…you’re…cute…no, you’re even cooler than the noble children I’ve seen so far. Thank you so much.”

The words that barely came out were a word of gratitude in a tense tone.

Glenn tried to say something more, but the saint’s blushing, shy expression on her face somehow silenced him.

Ahh. I’m going crazy. I’m going crazy. My heart started beating again. This time, I knew why. It was excitement.

If you were to guess the color of your own heart, it would be a surprisingly bright red. Your cheeks would probably be the same. No, your earlobes would be the same.

‘I’m going on a journey to an unknown place in a carriage with such a beautiful person… How did I end up in a situation that only appears in romance novels? No. No. That would be less cliche than this.’

Glenn thought so, his face flushed and he barely turned his head to the window.

‘What should I do? When I first met you, you were so cool and cute, I could hold back somehow… But when you complimented me, I was so happy that I almost blurted out that you were cute. My heart was pounding. Ah, my face probably turned bright red too. Ah, did I answer correctly? Did I say it correctly? Was it my lack of expressiveness?’

Milishia thought so, her face flushed and she tried to look towards the window.

The two shy and innocent people remained silent for a long time while the carriage moved. There was someone who glanced at it and smiled.

‘You are young. It is fortunate, my lady. That you can enjoy your youth like this.’

Douglas was a seasoned deacon, and he knew very well how unreasonable and unfair the saint’s suffering was. He was so sorry that he, as a deacon, was not capable of fighting.

Of course, it might be possible for someone who had overcome considerable adversity in the past, but that was not what the master wanted. The master had already rejected all the offers from monks of similar age to himself. It was a natural consideration, but it was a regrettable decision.

That’s why he couldn’t just sit still when his master was running around with his feet off and looking for someone to help him with the duel. It was almost a coincidence that he mentioned Glenn’s name to his master who was struggling. Douglas also barely remembered the phrase ‘bare-handed duel’.

In the past, there was an adventurer who boasted red eyes and made a name for himself in countless battlefields and remote areas, but the fact that his presence had disappeared over the past year.

Douglas found out that Glenn was staying in seclusion in the guild due to some incident, and recommended him to the saintess based on a gut feeling that flashed through his mind. And the saintess, who had been struggling, seemed to realize something when she heard the familiar name and ran to the guild to meet him.

As a result, today the butler was able to see the pure saint’s bright smile, something that had been rare to see recently, or rather, almost in the past few years. And that too, despite the most terrible crisis of all time looming right before his eyes.

‘When all is said and done, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you, Glenn.’

Although it was the most unfair duel in the world, Douglas strangely felt no sense of defeat or frustration. The reason was difficult to put into words.

However, whenever I saw the saintess and the red-eyed adventurer being so shy with each other, whenever I saw them training from afar, whenever I saw them walking down the street talking at close range, I felt that way.

I feel like if these two are together, they can overcome any hardship.

It was the old butler’s thought, without any rational evidence or basis. After a while, the butler took in the scenery visible beyond the distant horizon, smiled, and spoke to the two men and women in the carriage.

To the two innocent people who still blush, try to look out the window, and only glance at each other.

“Saint, I can see the destination. I will slow down.”

“Oh, yes. Douglas!”

By the way, the carriage was running at a fairly fast speed. It was a day trip, so it had been sped up. Normally, the people inside would have been shocked by the carriage’s movement, but since both of them had trained as master and disciple for nearly 40 days, there was no major problem. Rather, they blushed in a different way because they were nervous.

‘Oh. This is…’

Glenn could roughly guess where he was headed. The blue sea in the distance. And the endless cliffs and the beach behind them. It was the coastline you could see if you ran southwest from the capital. It could be said to be the closest sea to the capital.

Of course, even though it was such a close sea, it would take at least three hours at the carriage’s top speed to barely see its outline. Butler Douglas’s carriage driving skills were clearly no joke, as he arrived so quickly. Glenn was secretly amazed that he could drive at such a speed with such a calm face.

“Mr. Milishia. Did you want to see the sea?”

“Yes. This is the only beach you can go to in a day. Do you not like the beach, Glen?”

For a moment, memories of the past flashed through Glenn’s mind. That island. That nightmare-like island flashed by. But other than that…

Memories of when I first became an adventurer came to mind. A short memory of running around at the beach without thinking about anything came back to me.

Glenn smiled and reassured the saintess.

“When I was a kid, I happened to run around the beach. Since then…at least I haven’t run around the beach, so I’m quite excited.”

“Ah, at the beach…thank goodness. Hehe.”

For a moment, he paused for a moment before answering, but it seemed as if his true feelings had been conveyed to the saintess. Oh, I guess I didn’t need to wear this today? Glenn felt a little disappointed as he felt that way.

Soon, the carriage carrying the two men and the coachman came to a complete stop near the beach. Reassuring the horses that were boasting of their long-distance travel with a gurgling sound, butler Douglas opened the carriage door.

The first thing you see is the long coastal cliffs stretching left and right. And below the cliffs, the white sandy beach and the waves blend together like a watercolor painting. The sunlight shining down from above is strong, but the cool sea breeze is taking away the heat of the sun.

In the distance, a fantastic concerto of blue sky and sea appeared before the two people’s eyes. For a moment, both the saintess and Glen were lost in the beauty of the scenery beyond imagination.

“Saint. If you go down that way, there is a beach. There is no one around. Take your time and enjoy it. I will prepare lunch on time.”

“Oh, yes. Yes. Douglas. Thank you!”

The one who brought back the two people who were blankly admiring the scenery was butler Douglas. Douglas introduced the downhill path that led down the cliff, and the saint nodded and turned her gaze to Glenn.

“Glen, would you like to come down with me? To the beautiful coastline that unfolds before our eyes.”

“Ah…”

Glenn could only stare in silence at the saintess who extended her hand and offered him an invitation. It was such a sweet, sacred offer.

He instinctively grabbed her hand. No, he stretched out his hand. Saint Milicia Airgrants, who absentmindedly grabbed Glenn’s outstretched hand, stepped forward with a slightly embarrassed expression.