episode_0193

Let’s Rest First

“I can’t believe it…. Akada never drew patterns like this…. Why did she mark points on the map like this?” “How would I know? But it’s clear that major and minor events occurred here. If the Order was behind them…. then it might make sense. Because it also makes sense that that abominable fairy obtained the Sphere of Heavenly Light from the Order.” “….So they’ve been watching us and causing trouble? What is this…..” When Aria said that if the Order was truly behind all the events that occurred in the places Akada marked on the map, then it would explain why Eli had the Sphere of Heavenly Light, I realized something and was startled. Come to think of it, Eli had also manipulated people in a similar way….!! Back then, Riera had said that Eli’s abilities shouldn’t have allowed her to control so many people, yet she did, which made no sense…. So if, as Aria speculated, Eli received help from the Order to even master the Siren’s Song….. then perhaps…. “Village Chief-nim Kelly…!! Is the village of Sabra in the Herlos Region currently under the Order’s brainwashing too?!” “Hmm… I haven’t traveled far into the Herlos Region, but… I have heard news that the village of Sabra was dominated by the Order. Did you have some business with the Order there?” “Ha…. It seems some fairy dared to join hands with the Order to claim Zeke-nim. Considering that the Sphere of Heavenly Light, an item of the Order, was in that fairy’s hand….” “Village Chief-nim…. Though you are not a Melodian fairy, do you know if the Siren’s Song can be amplified more powerfully by the Order? If that’s true, it seems Eli really did join hands with the Order….” “Unfortunately…. we have very little knowledge of songs. So I won’t be able to answer that….” When I asked about the connection between the Siren’s Song and the Order, Kelly apologized, saying they didn’t know about it either. Haaah…. If Eli really did join hands with the Order… Eli… Why, of all groups…. why did you join hands with such a group…. Damn it…!! I should have asked Eli who was behind her back then…. The shock was too great to think about such things….

“Anyway…. it’s certain that the Order has placed statues in the areas marked on this map. If the Order is placing statues to complete some kind of pattern, as Saintess Aria-nim says…. then destroying those statues right now….” “That would probably be futile. I’ve examined the statues that Esti broke before, and it seems those statues release the divine power they possess into the ground the moment they are placed.” “So… even if we destroy the statues that have already fulfilled their role, the divine power seeped into the ground is acting as the points marked on the map….?!” When Aria said it was too late to destroy the statues, Kelly and I were astonished that the already placed statues had completed their roles, and the divine power seeped into the ground was replacing the statues’ function. Aria then nodded at my words, pointed to a marked spot on the map with her finger, and said, “Yes, Zeke-nim. It’s likely that the divine power seeped into the ground is now disturbing people’s minds. So to solve this problem….” “….!! We’d have to turn over all the land…!! To remove the divine power…. But that’s….” “Impossible, Village Chief-nim….. In a place like Sabra, which is a village, there are too many structures on the land…. And we don’t even know how much ground we’d have to dig up….” Realizing that solving this problem would require digging up the entire land, Kelly and I were even more astonished that removing the divine power was virtually impossible. And we all instinctively knew. To solve this, we truly had to fight the Order. The Order, emitting divine power…. And beyond that, perhaps even Goddess Camilla would have to be defeated…. It truly felt overwhelming. If we fight them, we might also have to fight the people brainwashed by them….!!

“Hoo, hmm…. I have no problem fighting the Order. If it’s about killing the Order, which is daring to eliminate one by one the places where Zeke-nim can safely stay in this world…. then I’ll gladly do it!!!” “But what about the people brainwashed by them, Saintess-nim?!” “Of course, we must kill them all…!! Hmm…. But aren’t there still people in this world who oppose them, like Dio V Runner or Yuria? Though my methods are different…. how about asking them for help, Village Chief-nim?” “….!!!” The moment Aria suggested to Kelly that there might still be people in this world who oppose the Order, like Dio V Runner or Yuria, and that they should ask them for help, even if her methods were different, I suddenly remembered something and was startled. Come to think of it, the reason we were heading to the Crito Region was to find out about the elves…!! Elves surely wouldn’t have been brainwashed by the Camilla Order…!! Because they had already been manipulated by the World Tree and her children, the Alraune…!! “Village Chief-nim!! We were on our way to Proserpina, but are the elves safe?!” “What? Elves? Hmm…. It’s been a long time since I’ve contacted the elves, so I don’t know if they’re safe now…. We’ve had so many things to do, avoiding the Order’s eyes, investigating the Order’s activities…. But now that you mention elves, I somehow think they might not have fallen into the Order’s clutches.” “Why? The elves I saw before were manipulated by the World Tree and dared to harm Zeke-nim.” “Ah… It seems they’ve become quite suspicious now. They don’t seem to be tempted by sweet words unless sincerity is shown. Anyway, elves… elves…. Hmm… They certainly seem like they could help us. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, always thinking we had to solve it ourselves….. Especially when they’re practically in the next town over.”

“….? Next town over? Isn’t this the Magrion Region?” As Kelly seemed flustered with herself for not having thought of asking for help from the elves, who were practically in the next town over, I questioned her words, as Proserpina was far from the Magrion Region. Aria also didn’t understand Kelly’s words, and Kelly, looking at us, smiled faintly and said, “Ah…. I forgot to explain. You have already arrived in the Crito Region.” “What….?! What do you mean?! Then what was that passage earlier…. And Karijan was clearly moved somewhere….” “It was moved, yes. But isn’t there a saying? That the darkest place is under the candlestick [a proverb about hidden things being in plain sight]. Akada, amusingly enough, moved Karijan to the opposite side, based on Proserpina. So… the Order thinks we’ve moved to a different place, not the Crito Region, and to amplify that idea, we created several passages in other regions and sent fairies out from there to track or explore the Order’s movements. Of course, this was also Akada’s idea. Anyway, to cut to the chase, you arrived in the Crito Region by moving through that passage to this place.” When Kelly explained that they intentionally created multiple passages to other regions to confuse the Order, and that we arrived at this Karijan, which is still in the Crito Region, by taking that passage, Aria and I were greatly astonished. We still had a long way to go, but we ended up in the Crito Region by some twist of fate….?! No, more than that, Akada….!! How many steps ahead did you see, exactly?! “Aria…. I don’t know if it’s just me, but…. wasn’t former Village Chief-nim Akada… a prophet or something?” “She was called a witch to begin with, wasn’t she…. And she lived for over a thousand years, so… I guess she had plenty of time to design something like this….”

“Hohoho…. I helped her with some tasks back then, so I quickly figured out why Karijan suddenly moved. Of course, when I immediately headed to the workshop, Akada was already dead…. *Ahem*…. Anyway, everyone’s thoughts seem complicated because of the Order right now…. How about resting well in Karijan for today and then heading to Proserpina? I’ll guide you.” Kelly, who had been thinking about Akada, coughed dryly and smiled at us, asking if we’d like to rest well today. Aria and I couldn’t help but look bewildered at her words. The Order was running rampant outside; there was no time to rest…!! “But the Order is still….” “The Order is disturbing our minds in various ways right now. So if we don’t calm our minds immediately, we might fall into their strategy and be defeated. Saintess Aria-nim, you don’t want Zeke-nim to be distressed to the point of getting a headache, do you?” “You understand my feelings somewhat. But Zeke-nim is anxious right now….” “Anxiety only interferes with decisions and thoughts. So it would be best to rest well today and then visit the elves…. And I’d like to specially guide the two of you to a place with perfect soundproofing…. where no one outside could possibly know what you’re doing inside….” “Alright. I will rest with Zeke-nim right now.” When Kelly subtly offered to guide Aria to a place where no one would know what was happening inside, Aria was enticed by her words and immediately asked to be guided there, saying she would rest with me right away. K-Kelly Village Chief-nim…. Did you just instantly grasp what Aria wanted most right now?! Could it be that you had noticed Aria’s extreme love earlier and thought of this….?! I sighed deeply, intuitively sensing that I would be subjected to incredible things by Aria tonight, and Aria’s eyes sparkled, seemingly anticipating what we would do together at night. Kelly then let out a wry chuckle and said,

“Then I’ll guide the two of you to a place where you can rest….? Oh…. Just a moment? Would you all like to look outside through the window?” “What? Why the window all of a sudden….?! Ru…. Rubaea?! Saphia?!” “Oh my~! This is exactly the sight I wanted to see~!” As Kelly, who was about to guide us to our lodging, noticed something and smiled, telling us to look out the window, we turned our heads. Then, Rubaea, Saphia, and other fairies were roaming the streets with their heads bowed, wearing strange wooden planks around their necks. I was horrified by the sight, while Aria was satisfied, saying it was exactly what she wanted to see. Wait a minute… on that wooden plank…. ‘We ruined the atmosphere of Karijan by disobeying the Village Chief-nim’s words’….? “Akada also terribly dislikes breaking rules. Especially fairies who break rules that could harm Karijan’s atmosphere. I’m the same way. So we created a punishment to prevent them from doing so again. Roaming the streets with a wooden plank stating their crime hung around their necks…. It’s a terrible punishment.” “….Well… it’s true they tried to ruin Karijan’s atmosphere with strange ideas…. But isn’t that a bit… cruel….?” “Hehehe…. To see Rubaea, who dared to harm Zeke-nim, in such a state…. I feel completely refreshed….!!” I was horrified that Rubaea, Saphia, and the other fairies were being publicly shamed as punishment for deliberately doing what they were told not to, thereby ruining Karijan’s atmosphere, while Aria said she felt refreshed and truly… wore a satisfied expression. So that’s why she was instantly satisfied earlier…. Just as I was horrified by the wretched sight of Rubaea and Saphia outside, someone knocked on the front door, and Kelly headed to the entrance, saying,

“Oh, guests…. You all should come too. I’ll guide you to your lodging right away.” “What? The guests outside are….” “Because you are more precious guests, you see. Well…. I’ll just check who it is first….?” “Oh…!! It’s open!!! There they are!! Saintess Aria-nim, whom I’ve heard rumors about!!!” The moment Kelly opened the door to see who was outside, many fairies beyond the door started buzzing loudly at the sight of us. More precisely, it felt like… they were buzzing with welcoming faces? What is this? Earlier, the fairies seemed a bit afraid of us…. “It’s Saintess Aria-nim!! I only caught a glimpse before…!!” “Zeke-nim is here too!!! They say you have many stories!! I want to hear them!!!” “W-What in the world is going on….” Unlike the fairies we had seen when returning to Karijan, the fairies outside the house welcomed us, and Aria and I couldn’t understand what was happening. Then, I suddenly remembered Rubaea and Saphia, who had been roaming the streets just now, and had an intuition. Ah….!! Those fairies who were too scared to come forward earlier are now belatedly welcoming us like this…!! Kelly seemed to have a similar thought as me, as she awkwardly laughed with a troubled expression and said to us, “Ho… hohoho…. It seems that because the ones who claimed you were bad received their punishment, the fairies who had been hiding their true feelings are finally properly welcoming you. Actually, after you visited this place, the fairies were curious about you but also a little scared because you were outsiders they hadn’t seen in a long time. Then, when I told them that since Akada trusted you, you would absolutely not harm Karijan…. their curiosity about you seems to have grown a bit more…. I didn’t know it would be this much…. So even I can’t handle all these fairies….”

“Saintess Aria-nim!! Didn’t Rubaea and Saphia teach you how to do makeup before?! If you come to us, we can teach you how to do even prettier makeup….” “Zeke-nim!! Could you tell us some adventure stories?!” “…. Aria… It doesn’t seem like they’ll back down no matter how much you shout…? And we can’t use force against the fairies in front of Village Chief-nim Kelly….” “…. What?! I was going to use force to drive the fairies away if Zeke-nim was in trouble…. So what will you do?!” “Well…. since they don’t think we’re strange, I think it would be good to at least answer one of their curiosities….” “Huh?!” When I argued that we shouldn’t use force against the fairies carelessly in front of Kelly and that it would be better to answer their questions one by one, Aria was greatly bewildered and disapproved of my choice. And at that moment, the fairies began entering the house one by one and rushing towards us. We were astonished by how many fairies welcomed us and were curious about us, and we were completely surrounded by them. So we answered the fairies’ questions one by one, and at the end of it all, we had satisfied the curiosity of all but three fairies…. Ugh…. It felt like over 40 people had asked questions….

“I’m sorry, Aria…. This was a bit difficult too, after all….” “I… I just wanted to fulfill Zeke-nim’s wishes…. By the way, why are you three still here….?” “Well, you see. We’ve been looking at Saintess-nim’s clothes since earlier…. Hmm…. We think we can make them even prettier, what do you say? If you follow us….” “Absolutely not! These are the clothes Zeke-nim personally gifted me! I don’t want them changed any further!!” When the fairies asked Aria to follow them, saying they could make the clothes I had gifted her even prettier, Aria vehemently refused. The fairies, looking disappointed, lowered their heads and made bitter expressions. Indeed… Aria especially cherished the clothes I gave her… But Aria could become prettier…. Hmm…. “Then there’s nothing we can do…. We apologize for the trouble, Saintess Aria-nim… Then….” “Aria could become prettier…. That’s not bad…..” “….!! Wait a moment. You said you could make my clothes prettier, right? Can I follow you?” “Yes? Ah… yes!!” As if Aria had heard my muttering, she was startled and then changed her mind, saying she would follow them. The fairies smiled brightly and nodded. I then realized Aria had heard my muttering and blushed, while Aria looked at her clothes and began to anticipate something. “Zeke-nim… wants to see me change….!! Fairies have excellent artistic sense, so they can surely help me steal Zeke-nim’s heart….!?” “….I think I said something unnecessary….” As Aria believed the fairies could make her prettier and looked forward to what would happen next, I regretted having muttered those words just now and sighed deeply. But…. why did I mutter something like that earlier…? I, who hadn’t even complimented Aria’s makeup before….