~Chapter 17~
**—Next time you meet me, you will absolutely not leave alive.**
‘I have to lie no matter what. I can’t be found out as Ivyn Kinzello.’
Once her thoughts reached this point, Ivyn quickly lowered the pitch of her voice.
“……I, I-I came to help incinerate the bodies!”
“A volunteer?”
“……Yes, well, something like that…”
At Ivyn’s answer, the sharp edge in the holy knight’s gaze softened considerably.
“Who dispatched you? The Rose Cross Association? Judging by your attire, that doesn’t seem right. Are you from the medical relief team sent from the neighboring territory?”
She let out an awkward cough and spat out an answer.
“……Yes, that’s right.”
Ah, whatever. I’ll just make something up for now.
“But why are you alone?”
“D-due to supply issues… the main group is waiting at the village entrance for now, and I came in alone first to check the village situation.”
*Thump thump.*
Ivyn anxiously watched Theodore’s face.
Would she really be able to pass through safely like this…?
“So are you a doctor? From your attire, you don’t seem to be one.”
Theodore raised an eyebrow and asked.
He still didn’t seem to have completely let go of his suspicion.
“Ah… I’m an assistant.”
“An assistant?”
“……I volunteered to be in charge of transporting supplies.”
Ivyn’s cheeks flushed red as she lied.
At this moment, how fortunate it was that she was wearing this beak mask.
“I see.”
Theodore nodded obediently.
‘*Whew.* Seems like I’ve gotten past the crisis for now.’
While feeling momentarily relieved…
“But…”
The holy knight’s heavy baritone was heard again.
“……Yes?”
“I haven’t heard any report about a new person passing through the quarantine checkpoint.”
“Ah, perhaps because the situation here has been moving so urgently, there was an information omission? I definitely passed through…”
Ivyn forced herself to maintain a calm tone and retorted.
Then she quickly changed the subject.
“How did such an epidemic spread to this remote mountain village…?”
At Ivyn’s words, Theodore suddenly turned his gaze toward the corpses sprawled beneath his feet.
“We are also searching for the cause.”
Scanning the patients with sorrowful eyes, he picked up a wooden box from the ground and handed it to Ivyn.
“……?”
“This is holy water that has received blessings. There are still those breathing among the corpses, could you pour a little into their mouths?”
“Me…?”
Ivyn said, startled.
No, I was just about to finish collecting corpses and head back…?
Why am I suddenly being given chores…?
While she hesitated to answer…
“What’s this? How long are you gonna stand around like this! Aren’t we going?!”
*Flap flap.*
O-Bok, who had been observing the situation from the side all along, spat out a sulky remark.
Seeing the guy swaggering around so blatantly, it seemed O-Bok was invisible to Theodore’s eyes.
—If you don’t know, just stay quiet. The situation is ambiguous right now.
Ivyn properly reasoned with O-Bok through intent.
‘First… I’ll first say I roughly understand, then watch the situation and make a run for it.’
If she showed any strange signs now, it was obvious she’d be captured immediately.
“……Understood, Sir Knight.”
“I’m sorry to put you to work right after you arrived from a long journey. But we’re short on hands, so there’s no choice. I’ll have to ask this of you.”
Just as Ivyn was nodding her head while accepting the box from Theodore…
“Here.”
Theodore took the canteen hanging at his waist and handed it to Ivyn.
It seemed he felt sorry for being too stiff with a volunteer who came to volunteer in a remote place from the start.
“Take sips while you work.”
“……Thank you, Sir Knight.”
Ivyn carefully accepted the canteen while looking at Theodore through the eyeholes of her mask.
‘Right. Theodore originally had a warm personality like this. The reason he’s been acting so obnoxious and hostile towards me all along was because I’m their enemy.’
“Then I’ll see you later.”
After a brief farewell, Theodore soon moved on to another area.
Around the time his figure was no longer visible, Ivyn looked down at the box of holy water in her hand.
‘Should I just ditch it and run…?’
It was true she could secretly throw the holy water box away in some corner and run off. There was no one around specifically watching her.
“What you doing? Let’s go quickly.”
O-Bok urged Ivyn, who was standing dazedly.
“There are still living people here.”
“……So?”
“Our work is done anyway, so let’s just distribute this holy water and go.”
“Heeh…”
O-Bok looked at Ivyn, blinking his large eyes. Her cute pink nose twitched.
“Owner, you crazy?”
“…….”
“This O-Bok truly cannot understand Owner.”
O-Bok shook his head side to side.
Ivyn’s conflicted figure seemed pitiful to him.
‘Well. It’s not normal.’
Trying to help a Holy See figure who’s desperate to capture her and her family.
But what could she do?
Her innate nature just wasn’t that cruel.
*Glug glug.*
As Ivyn poured holy water between the dried lips of a nearby patient, the light returned to the eyes of the patient who had been in a stupor.
“Ugh…”
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“A- a demon! A demon is trying to drag me to hell…!”
As soon as the patient saw Ivyn, they twisted their body and screamed as if having a fit. Seeing someone suspicious wearing a leather mask with a long beak right after opening their eyes, it wasn’t a particularly strange reaction.
“I’m here to volunteer to help you all… practice material… I mean, volunteer…”
“St-stay away! Save meeee!”
“…….”
Ivyn suddenly felt something welling up inside her.
Who does this because they want to?!
“There there, relax and drink it all. It’s holy water imbued with the holy knight’s sacred power.”
“No… glub glub!”
Ivyn forced the holy water into the mouth of the complaining patient.
*Gulp, gulp.* As the sounds were heard, the patient’s writhing body gradually began to stabilize. The holy water seemed to be taking effect immediately.
How long had it been since she started administering holy water to the patients?
Feeling her whole body heavy like water-soaked cotton and her head foggy, Ivyn straightened her back and stood up.
“Aigoo… my back.”
*Pat pat.* Patting her waist and looking around, the sun had already begun to set in the western horizon.
*Caw, caw.*
Evening time when the crows wandering over the corpses were heading to their nests.
Before she knew it, the holy water container was also completely empty.
‘Finally finished my quota. Ha… Now I should watch for an opportunity and attempt an escape…’
Just as Ivyn’s thoughts reached this point…
“Hey! Hey!”
Someone was quickly approaching Ivyn through the hazy smoke rising from the incinerator.
Judging by the attire, it seemed to be a soldier from the Holy See side.
“Are you the one from the newly dispatched medical relief team?”
“Me?”
No, I’m not.
Ivyn reflexively shook her head, but the soldier persistently held onto her.
“Sir Raitner mentioned someone wearing a strange beak mask.”
Ah.
Damn.
‘That’s totally me.’
Ivyn pointlessly resented her great-grandfather Green Kinzello.
**—Heh heh, my precious great-granddaughter. Wear this cute protective suit your grandpa specially made for you.**
Cute my foot.
I shouldn’t have accepted and worn it then.
But it was already too late for regrets.
“……Yes, well, you could… say that, I guess…”
Ivyn answered with a sigh mixed in.
“That’s a big problem.”
“What is?”
“Bad news that the medical relief team’s carriage was attacked by a band of nearby bandits! All supplies were looted, and it seems the main group was taken prisoner to the bandits’ den!”
“Oh dear, that’s terrible.”
“…….”
“How could such a regrettable thing happen.”
“…….”
The soldier’s expression upon seeing Ivyn’s reaction wasn’t very good.
Their main group was attacked, yet she can be this calm?
This person is reacting as dryly as if hearing news that ‘the neighborhood kid Dong-ttongi pooped his pants.’
However, the soldier who delivered the news was skilled at rationalization.
He quickly convinced himself, ‘Right, when people are too shocked, they sometimes become this calm,’ and began speaking again.
“So Sir Raitner is urgently looking for you.”
“For me? No, I…”
“He’s already waiting in the makeshift canteen set up next to the intensive care unit. I’ll guide you to the disinfection room. Please enter the canteen after preventive measures.”
The soldier mercilessly cut off Ivyn’s words.
“No, I’m okay… No, it’s not that I’m okay, I’m not mentally prepared yet…”
“Ah, I don’t think you know where the makeshift canteen is. Let me guide you.”
“Wait! Just a moment!”
She resisted fiercely, but…
By the time she came to her senses, she was already entering the makeshift canteen.
‘Wow, is this how it unfolds?’
*Creak.*
Opening the crude wooden door and stepping inside revealed a cramped space.
It was a place furnished only with the bare minimum essentials, barely any furniture.
Theodore was already seated at the table.
Sitting impeccably without a single strand out of place, he had his hands clasped in front of his chest and his eyes gently closed.
He seemed to be saying a prayer before the meal.
‘Should I run even now?’
While Ivyn was sizing up the situation with impure intent…
“You’ve come.”
“…….”
“Sit.”
“Yes…”
Ivyn quickly gave up on her escape plan and obediently sat in the seat he indicated.
On the table were a plate of steaming soup, slightly hardened bread, and a small portion of vegetable salad without dressing.
“For a grieving heart, warm food comes first, right? The temporary shelter situation isn’t ample, so this is all we could prepare. Still, please don’t refuse.”
