Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Open Class (5)

The first day of open class passed safely.

Meanwhile, Saintess Bernice had stopped by the village where the “blind Acupuncturist” was said to have gone.

What Bernice learned while investigating the village was that he had been called the “Blind Saint” in this village, and that the village chief had brought him there.

Thus, Bernice had come to the house of that “village chief.”

“...So Thomas does not know much detail about him either.”

“That is correct. He was such a mysterious figure...”

The village chief before her, a man named Thomas, was a remarkably young and handsome man for a village chief.

While conversing with him, I came to have many questions.

First of all, this man named Thomas was not named Thomas.

When he introduced himself as Thomas, I could tell he was lying.

I wondered if someone else was pretending to be the village chief, but strangely, the fact that he was the village chief was not a lie.

I thought using an alias was possible.

There were many people who had pasts they wished to hide.

Thomas was a man full of questions.

The luxurious interior of the mansion that entered my sight, and the fact that he was clearly wealthy at a glance yet held the position of village chief in this small village.

The information about the blind Acupuncturist that such a Thomas uttered was also mixed with lies and truths.

It was a lie that he came to know him when he happened to stop by this village.

That he did not know his name was also a lie.

That he was not close to him was a lie too.

However, that he had not known him for very long was true, and what he had said just now about not knowing detailed information was also true.

“What kind of relationship produces a result like this?”

It was such a strange relationship that I wondered whether my ability might be wrong.

However, I could not confront him simply because he had lied.

In any case, through him, I learned the information that the blind Acupuncturist carried a sword.

Perhaps the faint possibility that he had disposed of the demon in the theater had risen just a little.

Wanting to speak with him, or wanting to recruit him into the knight order, was entirely my personal thought, so I could not carelessly harm others for that purpose.

Not him.

Nor Thomas.

“Saintess. There is one thing I am curious about. May I ask?”

Thomas, who was sitting opposite me, set down his teacup and asked me.

I nodded slightly.

Then Thomas immediately opened his mouth.

“...Forgive the rudeness, but why are you searching for him?”

“The reason I am searching for him...”

I said that and pretended to think.

Judging by Thomas’s attitude so far, he was intentionally hiding the blind Acupuncturist’s existence from me.

Did he think I had come to capture the one called the Blind Saint?

Or was he simply hiding him because he had wanted to keep his identity concealed?

It was around the time I was wondering what answer would be good.

“Saintess.”

Ines, who had gone out of the room briefly, returned and called me.

“Saintess, I think you should come for a moment. There has been contact through a ‘crystal orb.’”

Then Ines approached me, brought her face to my ear, and whispered that.

“...Thomas, something has happened. If there is a quiet room, could we borrow it for a moment?”

“As much as you like.”

After asking Thomas for understanding, I immediately left the room.

Then Ines, closing the door, opened her mouth.

“Eclin has contacted us. She says there is something urgent she must tell you... It concerns the blind Acupuncturist.”

“...Is Eclin not currently at Innocence Academy?”

“That is correct. I do not yet know how this happened either.”

The vice-captain of the Silver Wings Knights.

Eclin had contacted us.

Why was Eclin, who should have attended the academy event in my place, mentioning the blind Acupuncturist?

I followed Ines to a quiet room in the mansion.

There, Ines placed a crystal orb on the table.

With this small crystal orb, as long as the other party also possessed a crystal orb, one could converse through it regardless of distance.

It was an extremely expensive item, so there were only a few even within the knight order. But Eclin, who was attending the official event in my place this time, had also taken this crystal orb with her.

The fact that she had used a crystal orb, which consumed an enormous amount of mana stones each time it was used and recharged, meant this had to be urgent.

“Eclin, are you still there?”

I spoke to the crystal orb.

Soon, the crystal orb crackled, and Eclin’s voice could be heard.

[ Saintess... ]

Eclin’s voice showed a little fatigue.

“You sound very tired. Did something happen?”

[ I spent the entire night wondering whether I should use the crystal orb or not... I apologize. ]

“We have obtained a reliable sponsor this time, so funds are ample, but there is no need to waste them. I hope this is something important.”

Eclin, being the vice-captain, was of course strong, but she had a somewhat eccentric side.

In truth, I had deliberated a great deal before sending her to the academy this time.

[ It is information about the blind man with bandages around his eyes, the one you said you were looking for. ]

“...Tell me.”

I answered Eclin that way while walking around the room.

What information had she, who had been at the academy, brought?

[...This time, at Innocence Academy, I witnessed a man with bandages around his eyes. ]

After briefly pausing, Eclin said that.

“Is that true?”

[ Yes. He was a black-haired man with snow-white bandages around his eyes. However, I am not sure whether he is the same person you are searching for, Saintess. ]

“Why do you think that?”

[ It is nothing else, but the one I witnessed was an academy student. Would it not be difficult for a student to wander outside the academy...? ]

“That is strange.”

Eclin’s words were not wrong.

As a student, leaving the academy would surely not be easy.

Innocence Academy had a rather closed-off nature, after all.

“If there is one thing that bothers me...”

At last, I stopped walking and turned my head toward Ines standing beside me.

“...Ines, roughly how far is it from this village to Innocence Academy?”

“Hmm... We would need to look at a map to know precisely, but...”

Ines, who had trailed off while touching her chin, widened her eyes.

“...I think it is fairly close.”

“Then what about the city where the demon was discovered in the theater this time?”

“It may be somewhat distant from this village... but it is close to the academy. If one rides a horse, it should be only a few hours away.”

“I see. Then... I can roughly picture it.”

Soon, Eclin’s voice came from the crystal orb after she had listened to my conversation with Ines.

[...What does that mean? ]

“Haa... Eclin... It means the person the Saintess was searching for was witnessed only in places an academy student could sufficiently travel to.”

Perhaps frustrated by Eclin, who had not understood, Ines answered with a sigh.

[ Truly...? Then that person could be Student Zeto? Goodness... ]

After those words, Eclin suddenly closed her mouth.

“Zeto...”

It was a name I had heard for the first time, but perhaps it was my imagination that I felt it had a rather pleasant ring to it.

“So what was this student named Zeto like? If he is an academy student, you must have seen him fight. Did he use a sword?”

I asked the quiet crystal orb that question.

[ He did use a sword... ]

Then Eclin, who had been silent, began rambling as if a dam had burst, starting with those words.

[...And it was not merely that he carried a sword. He handled it extremely well. He was fighting a wyvern, and something that was not sword aura ripped through the wing of the wyvern that had flown up, and after that, it went whoosh! and boom! and blood sprayed like a fountain...! ]

“Eclin, calm down and speak slowly. Is it true that he faced a wyvern? Even though he is a student?”

At last, Ines cut off Eclin’s words and calmed her.

[ Student Zeto was not the only one who defeated a wyvern... but Captain, that is not what matters right now. It was an absurd speed. If only for a moment, even I lost track of his movement. ]

“Hmm...”

Ines let out a low hum.

If Eclin, not an ordinary member but the vice-captain, said it like that, it meant his level was absolutely not ordinary.

“If he displayed that level of skill, many people must already be interested in him.”

“Though whether he is the Acupuncturist we were looking for remains unknown.”

Ines answered me and shrugged.

“What do you think, Ines? About the possibility that he is the Acupuncturist.”

“Mm... Acupuncture and swordsmanship... and an academy student on top of that... The further it goes, the harder it becomes to imagine.”

“Hmph... That is true. That is what makes it interesting.”

As if I had found an interesting problem, my mood improved for no reason, and a small laugh slipped out.

Soon, Eclin, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, opened her mouth.

Every time Eclin uttered a word, the strength kept draining from her voice.

[ Saintess, there is one more thing I must tell you about Student Zeto, whom I just explained... ]

“Yes.”

[...The “Sword Saint” expressed interest in Student Zeto. ]

“The Sword Saint? No, in the first place, did the Sword Saint come to the academy?”

At Eclin’s mention of the Sword Saint, Ines flinched in surprise.

Ines knew so much information about the Sword Saint that one might suspect she was his follower.

She often told me stories about the Sword Saint.

According to Ines, the Sword Saint had no interest in anything in the world and enjoyed wandering.

To think such a person had come to the academy.

Even I had not expected that at all.

[ I do not know why the Sword Saint came either. Judging by the situation, it seemed he was acquainted with the headmaster. In any case, as soon as Student Zeto’s battle ended, the Sword Saint started staking a claim on him, saying to arrange a meeting and so on... and it looked like others were not approaching Student Zeto because of it. ]

After Eclin’s answer, a brief silence followed.

For some reason, Ines seemed rather shocked.

Then I, still unable to let go of my regret, opened my mouth.

“To think the Sword Saint covets him. That makes me even more curious. Even if he is the Acupuncturist we were searching for, I suppose recruitment would be difficult since he is a student...”

Eclin, listening to me, voiced doubt.

[ Saintess, speaking of recruitment reminds me... ]

“What is it?”

[ Was our Silver Wings Knights not a knight order made up only of women...? No, more than that, did all knight orders protecting the Saintess not have to be women? ]

“...They did, until now.”

If there was a way to recruit him, he would become the only male knight in the Silver Wings Knights.

“In any case, we will hurry to the academy as well. It should be close, so it will not take very long.”

After saying that to Eclin, I quickly ended my conversation with her.

Whatever happened, meeting him directly and speaking with him should resolve everything.

“Though it will be important to ask naturally, so that it does not feel like an interrogation...”

I asked Ines to pack away the crystal orb, then immediately headed toward the room where Thomas would be in order to finish our conversation.

If I waited just a little longer, it seemed I would be able to meet him.

What kind of appearance would he have?

Would he truly be kind enough to be called a “Saint”?

Why did he go around doing good deeds?

Rather than simply being mysterious, or stirring interest, there was an unknown charm I could feel from him, as though he were pulling me in.

“Zeto...”

I murmured his name softly.

For some reason, one corner of my heart fluttered... surely it was only my imagination.

***

The gold dragon, who had been eavesdropping with inhuman senses on the conversation coming from the room where the Saintess was, thought.

“Zeto was an academy student?”

He had been young, but I had never once thought he would be a student.

Even as a dragon who had lived for hundreds of years, he could not easily grasp what sort of person Zeto was.

Just what on earth was this fellow doing as a student to become entangled with the Saintess?