~Chapter 46~
I tilted my head at Tete’s sudden question.
“Huh? Where to?”
“The battlefield.”
I didn’t realize he had been listening to that.
I scratched my cheek a little and shook my head.
“Hmm, I did think about it briefly, but I don’t think I can do it after all.”
But it’s the battlefield. I think I was being too careless. As Shine said, who knows if I could even do anything properly.
However, Tete didn’t seem to think so.
“It seems like if you went, you’d run around more diligently than anyone else.”
“Me?”
I’m not that diligent of a person, you know? Besides, isn’t that kind of statement usually a flag?
*’That’s a rude thing to say to someone who wants to laze around all their life.’*
I made a thoroughly absurd expression. Seeing me like that, Tete let out a subtle sigh.
It seemed like he was surprised as if asking if I really didn’t know, and also somehow relieved…?
*’What does that mean?’*
I was pondering deeply to grasp the hidden meaning in his face when Tete slowly shook his head.
“It’s fine if you don’t go. Cierra, you’re scared of blood, after all.”
“Ah… That’s right?”
I let out a dazed exclamation at the unexpected words.
*’What a fool I am.’*
To think I was considering the battlefield while leaving out such an important detail!
“Huh? But Tete, how did you know? That I’m scared of blood?”
Usually, there isn’t much chance to see blood, so it was my own secret that even my family didn’t know.
*’Did I ever say something like that to Tete or Arte-nim?’*
Even after carefully retracing my memory, I had no recollection of saying such a thing to either of them.
I don’t even have a memory of being startled while seeing blood…
*’Huh? How did he really know?’*
The more I thought about it, the stranger it became. As if demanding an explanation, I stared intently at Tete.
In response to my question, Tete just blinked his eyes for a while before slowly opening his mouth.
“…Well. Cierra, you just told me.”
“Me?”
When on earth? I don’t remember ever saying such a thing!
“Try to remember.”
“Ugh, I’m saying this because I can’t remember.”
Hundreds of question marks floated above my head. It’s not like I’ve truly lost my short-term memory.
*’Ah! Did I talk in my sleep?’*
Ugh, since I don’t know my usual sleeping habits, how could I possibly know.
After holding my head and groaning for a while, I secretly made eye signals to Tete. I don’t remember at all, so just tell me!
But Tete just smiled at my gaze and ultimately never gave me the answer.
Then, as if sensing the situation was turning unfavorable, he had transformed into a cat at some point.
*’At times like this, he’s not cute at all.’*
“Meow.”
…No. Cat Tete is cute no matter what he does. Yes, absolutely!
“You’ll let it slide just this once, right? Understood?”
“Meow.”
As I picked Tete up and pretended to be angry while muttering, he immediately rubbed his face against my hand.
Defeated by that soft sensation, I ultimately lost.
Well, being scared of blood wasn’t a huge secret anyway.
*’Rather, I’m grateful that he remembered it and worried about me.’*
If I can’t remember no matter how hard I try, ignorance is bliss, and letting it go ambiguously was the most comfortable for my mind.
“Meow.”
As if sensing my thoughts, Tete cried out as if in agreement. That cry was annoyingly…
*’Ugh, so cute…!’*
It was cute enough to make me break into a wide smile!
This time, I gently stroked Tete’s head as we walked.
When I was walking to avoid Shine, it felt so long, but…
Walking with Tete, we arrived at the Arte Sect in the blink of an eye.
***
**Part 2**
Meanwhile, at the church of Envy, the ‘God of Water and Benevolence’, in District 1.
“Sigh.”
Shine Adiel, who had just arrived from District 11, slumped into the chair in his office.
Whether it was because of the earlier incident or the month-long schedule away from home, his body felt as heavy as lead.
As a headache surged, he habitually pressed his temples firmly with his fingers.
*Rustle.*
Perhaps because his arm was raised, the candy bag he had placed in his inner pocket made a rustling sound.
Opening his eyes, which he had closed, he slowly pulled out the candy.
*Clatter.*
Three pieces of candy in a bag came into view of his green eyes.
They might look ordinary to others, but to his eyes, the candies seemed to glow faintly.
“…And she said it was okay to throw this away?”
How could he discard it when it so openly contained divine power?
Cierra Eisen forgot that he wasn’t an ordinary human in the strangest moments.
“Before, she said it was creepy to face me because I was a mermaid hybrid.”
Especially the mermaid trait of being able to visually perceive divine power gave her the creeps, she said.
Despite that, now she treats him like an ordinary person… It can’t help but be bewildering.
He pondered for a moment, then undid the ribbon and took out a candy to put in his mouth.
Perhaps because his body was exceptionally sensitive to divine power compared to others, the effect was immediate.
*Whoosh—*
Vitality instantly surged through his body, which had been utterly exhausted from the accumulated fatigue.
That wasn’t all.
It recovered to the point where he could distinctly feel all the places that had been subtly damaged here and there.
“…Huh.”
Shine Adiel let out a small exclamation. He knew Cierra had gained divine power, but he didn’t know it was to this extent.
“So this is why I received a separate divine revelation.”
Upon entering the empire, go straight to the streets of District 11, it said.
Of course, because of that revelation, he had been tormented for nearly a month, but ultimately, he gained an unexpected harvest, so it worked out.
Moreover, he managed to stop Cierra Eisen’s absurd plan.
“Volunteering as a medic on the battlefield, tsk.”
He clicked his tongue while thinking about the earlier incident.
When he first met Cierra on the street, he was a little bewildered. Envy had told him to go, so he went, but he really didn’t expect to meet her.
However, the words that followed from Cierra immediately pushed away his bewilderment.
> “Hmm, it might be okay. I wonder if they’d accept a saintess as a medic too.”
Hearing that, the headache that was already throbbing became dizzyingly more intense, more than he could describe.
Shine recalled Cierra from a few months ago at the emperor’s birthday celebration banquet.
She had been staggering, exhausted in less than an hour.
Her pale, drained face was still vividly etched somewhere in Shine’s retina.
> ‘And what did she say?’
That frail person is going to the battlefield? That’s nonsense.
Forgetting that he had hesitated for a moment upon seeing her, Shine approached Cierra and uttered words bordering on harsh criticism.
Even while speaking, he couldn’t understand why he was saying such things.
It wasn’t exactly worry, as Shine still disliked her. But it wasn’t purely negative emotion either; there were too many conflicting parts.
By the end, it didn’t matter what emotion it was.
After all, it was just giving a sharp word to a thoughtless, reckless lady.
But then.
> “You’re right. I was thinking wrong.”
He never imagined Cierra Eisen would so readily admit her fault.
No matter how docile, even simple-minded, she had become since her revival, he never thought she’d calmly listen to such words.
What was the feeling he had then?
It was anger, absurdly enough. That much he could clearly recognize.
Why was she nodding silently at such unpleasant remarks? He even found her a bit frustrating.
The very person who had poured out those words was him, Shine Adiel.
Just how much more does this lady intend to make a fool of people?
Even after hearing such words, Cierra readily handed over candy imbued with divine power. As if expecting nothing in return, she passed by him nonchalantly.
The thought to immediately run and grab her flashed through his mind. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
*’What would I say if I went and caught her?’*
The words he blurted out were left unresolved with just a request to forget them, and now was he going to thank her for the candy she gave?
Even he thought that was utterly shameless. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
Since when was it?
Without him even blinking, as if by ‘magic’ from a fairy tale, a man stood by her side.
A man with hair like a piece of the deep night itself, black.
The moment Shine Adiel saw the man turn his head slightly and look back at him, he couldn’t help but stiffen.
“…”
“…”
The unidentified man—an immense, fearsome divine power was felt from him.
For a moment, his breath caught in his throat.
