Chapter 86

Chapter 86

False Truth

The bandages covering the eyes of the man before me were a flawless pure white, much like my dress and gloves.

Well, except for the bandages, he was covered in black, unlike me.

Ink-black hair, easily seen in the East.

The stylish black coat draped over his shoulders harmonized with his uniform, giving him the atmosphere of a famous black-and-white painting.

I suggested to Zeto that we have a cup of tea for a short while, and he readily agreed.

Around us, a cool breeze blew together with the scent of grass.

To think we could have teatime in a quiet forest. What kind of place had Eclin found this time?

I told Ines and Eclin to guard the area for a while.

Ines tried to stop me, but I wanted to speak with him alone.

Because I had a feeling that only then would I be able to dig deeper into him.

“...I watched your sparring match, Student Zeto.”

Soon, Zeto, who sat across from me at the table, set his teacup down and gave a faint smile.

“Thank you for viewing it favorably.”

Even as he answered that, ominous energy still lingered around him, but I decided to set aside my thoughts on that for now.

“To pour purification on him the moment we met... honestly, me...”

I asked his forgiveness for the rudeness I had shown him, and he responded with the words, “All’s well that ends well.”

From the brief look I had taken at Zeto, he did not ask many questions.

From his perspective, I had come without warning, so there should have been many things he wanted to know.

As if he had been waiting for this meeting all along.

“Does he not have many questions...?”

Was a Saintess not, in her own way, a difficult existence to meet?

Even though such a Saintess was showing interest in him, he did not seem especially interested in me.

He was merely kind, just as Zeras had said.

I quietly answered the smile he wore with one of my own.

It might have been an action that held no meaning for him, but the corners of my lips had risen on their own.

“The power to put people at ease...”

My gaze went to Zeto’s eyes as he sat opposite me, tilting his head.

His eyes could not be seen.

The snow-white bandages wrapped around them had taken their place.

Even so, he was “watching” me.

It was something I had felt while speaking with him, but his head was always turned toward the other person, giving a strong sense that he was listening closely to the conversation.

“These tiny details too must all be the result of his effort...”

I had heard that he possessed a special ability called perception, but I thought it was probably not an ability he had been born with.

“This may sound somewhat obvious, but your eyes are impaired, are they not, Student Zeto? And yet your skill in handling a sword was extraordinary.”

“My eyes are... fine. And the fact that I can handle a sword is all thanks to my master.”

“Your master... You truly had a good master.”

There was nothing strange about him having a master.

However, the expression “fine” bothered me.

Fine.

Unlike a word uttered merely to reassure, a word said to mean there was no need to worry, strangely, I could tell that this word was a firm “truth.”

He was truly saying that he was fine.

“What kind of life has he lived...”

...to be able to sincerely describe losing the light of the world as being fine?

Whatever accident had happened to him, whatever caused him to lose his sight, it meant he had no resentment left regarding that matter.

When I had vaguely examined his condition from afar, I had judged that treatment was impossible.

I could not feel that it could be treated.

...Naturally, in some way, in some meaning, it had already become far too late.

“Saintess?”

When I remained silent for some time, Zeto called me.

I had only exchanged a few words with him, and yet he had sent me sinking into thought.

Soon, I squeezed my eyes shut once, opened them, emptied my head, and continued speaking.

“...I am sorry. Then shall we get to the point? The reason I came to find Student Zeto is nothing else... In truth, I was searching for one person. An Acupuncturist with snow-white bandages around his eyes.”

“An Acupuncturist... May I ask why you were searching for an Acupuncturist?”

Zeto asked me carefully.

What was he worried about, when I had not come to capture him for some crime?

Because that question of his felt cute, laughter slipped out.

“Huhu, I suppose it was to express my gratitude. I felt very thankful that you treated a sick little lamb in my place. I could not shake the feeling that I owed a debt in my heart.”

“...I see.”

“As it happened, I heard about Student Zeto from Eclin, who attended open class in my place. I strongly believe the person I was searching for is Student Zeto. Would anything come to mind regarding that?”

At my question, Zeto tapped the table.

He seemed to be thinking.

Was he wondering how much I knew?

Soon, perhaps having finished his calculations, he opened his mouth.

“...Is Miss Emilia doing well?”

Zeto said quietly.

It seemed he had decided not to hide it.

Perhaps he had judged there was no need to hide it any longer.

At that, I took a sip of tea and smiled.

“So it truly was you, Student Zeto. If you had left your name, it would have been easier, but now I finally understand why you did not. To think you were an academy student... If Antony learns of this, he will be astonished. Hah... Thanks to you, Miss Emilia was very healthy.”

“That is a relief.”

“I did not know mana depletion could be treated with acupuncture... Student Zeto, you must have considerable knowledge of acupuncture.”

“...Not to that extent. I was fortunate to have treated it once before.”

The words he spoke quietly were true.

“I know it to be quite a rare condition, but to think he has treated it before too...”

The more I learned about him, the harder it became to understand what path he had walked and what kind of person he was.

Even through conversation, his “mystery” showed no sign of disappearing.

“But how did Student Zeto come to visit Antony?”

“I merely knew there was a poor little lamb there... and thought I should treat her.”

Then Zeto showed a bitter smile.

He rarely spoke lies.

For a person, when conversing, there would be fairly many times they told lies, whether large or small, and yet he was speaking only the truth.

Like a clear shard of glass, he was revealing everything without hiding a single thing, and yet it was difficult to fully grasp him.

But with those words just now, I understood why he had been called the “Blind Saint” wherever he went.

There was one consistent point in his actions.

He treated sick people without any compensation.

He treated Antony’s daughter Emilia, and although Antony had promised to give him a reward, he had not tried to accept all of it.

Antony said he had barely persuaded him to accept payment.

The same was true in the village.

He went around the village once and treated residents suffering from small ailments. He received no compensation for that either.

Village Chief Thomas said he had never given him any payment.

“A Saint, he was like a Saint! Like the Saint in this fairy tale!”

Emilia’s words, as she thrust the fairy-tale book toward me with both her small hands, flashed through my mind.

They said it was a famous fairy-tale book.

Perhaps people saw the Saint from the fairy tale overlapping with him.

Zeto and the Saint from the fairy tale both became hope for people.

“Even his way of speaking... is a little similar...”

...Even so, that might simply be my imagination.

In any case, it was now certain that he was the blind Acupuncturist.

My meeting with him was more satisfying than I had expected.

“In any case, I thank you for doing good, Student Zeto. May the Chief God’s blessing dwell with you.”

I placed a hand over my chest and politely bowed my head to him.

“No. From my perspective, I only did what I had to do.”

What he had to do.

Did he have a mission, like me?

The peaceful chirping of birds passed by, and the grass swayed in the wind.

I set down the teacup I had taken a sip from and opened my mouth.

There was still one important question left.

“Student Zeto, by the way...”

“...Yes.”

“This is an important question for me and for the knight order as well, so I think you must answer precisely. Recently, Student Zeto...”

After a short pause, my question flew out and struck him.

“Have you ever killed a demon?”

My serious voice quietly rang through the tranquil forest.

““...””

Soon, silence followed.

Whether he was related to demons or not was an extremely important issue.

Because there was information that a man with bandages around his eyes had also been seen in the city where the demon corpse was discovered.

Zeto turned his head and looked toward the forest.

Then his lips opened.

“...I have.”

“Then the reason you did not take the demon’s horn was...”

“Because I do not belong anywhere.”

Truth.

Truth again.

“Putting aside the fact that an academy student subjugated a demon alone, what matters more is...”

I leaned a little closer toward him and asked.

“Even we had no information at all that the stage actor was a demon.”

As my words continued, the smile soon vanished from Zeto’s lips.

“He was someone I had been chasing for a long time.”

In his voice, I could feel some unknowable pain.

“...Was it a personal grudge?”

The demon corpse we had found at the scene had been mangled and cruel. If it had been due to a grudge, that too made sense.

Whatever had happened between him and demons, it was not rare to see people who held grudges against demons.

After all, there had been a war ten years ago.

There were some, from time to time.

Those who belonged to no institution, yet tried to hunt demons simply because they were possessed by the emotion called revenge.

But Zeto’s answer differed a little from what I expected.

“It would be difficult to say I have no grudge, but... what matters most is saving them....People.”

Zeto said that and tilted his head.

As if asking why I was questioning something so obvious.

He was still speaking only the truth.

“To save people?”

It was not wrong.

Demons sucked in human life force and used it to increase their own power.

Death inevitably followed wherever they were.

That was why I too tried to subjugate as many demons as possible.

“...Subjugating demons who have hidden themselves in human lands cannot be seen as an illegal act, but even so, it is best for demon subjugation to be carried out under the control of a nation or institution as much as possible.”

Perhaps because he was the one called a Saint, he may have been looking at the same place as me.

Demons harm humans.

From that extremely simple thought, he had reached demon subjugation.

I was certainly curious about the source of his information, but... asking that much seemed impossible.

He was not yet my person.

So what I had to say was decided.

It was an idea I had been keeping in mind for some time.

I gently took Zeto’s hand across from me and opened my mouth.

“...In that sense, I would like to recruit Student Zeto into my knight order, that is, the Silver Wings Knights.”

“...Recruit me?”

“Yes. Considering Student Zeto’s character and martial strength, I do not think it is especially unreasonable. I needed talent like Student Zeto.”

I said this while smiling brightly.

Soon, Zeto tilted his head, bewildered.

From his hand in mine, his emotion reached me.

He could not shake off my hand.

He scratched his head with his other hand and opened his mouth.

“You mean to bring me... that is, a ‘man,’ into the Saintess’s knight order?”

“It would be unprecedented. A male knight in the Saintess’s knight order...”

“No, more importantly, I am an academy student. I have no intention of leaving the academy.”

“Huhu... That is true. An academy student cannot belong to a knight order... so I thought about it. How about acting in ‘secret’? In any case, it seems Student Zeto has been openly leaving the academy grounds... If Student Zeto intends to continue hunting demons, would you not need a safe ‘fence’ around you?”

“A fence...”

Zeto murmured, repeating the words I had spoken.

Was there something bothering him?

At this level, I thought there were only benefits for him.

“Ah, I did hear that the Sword Saint had shown interest in Student Zeto... Is it perhaps because of the Sword Saint?”

“No. Nothing happened with the Sword Saint.”

“...Then that is a relief.”

It seemed the Sword Saint had not yet stolen the lead from me.

Considering that even the Sword Saint, who took no disciples, had shown interest in him, there was no need to mention his martial strength.

As for information on demons, it would be better to ask him once I had become a little closer to him.

“Well, there is still more time left during open class, so let us think about it slowly.”

“...Yes.”

Zeto gave a somewhat reluctant answer.

I decided to give him a little more time.

This must have been sudden for him as well, and if I pushed too hard, he might feel burdened.

Like that, we had spoken of everything I wanted to discuss, and the conversation flowed toward its end.

After that, I listened to Zeto tell me trivial stories about the academy for a while before letting him go.

The conversation was rather enjoyable.

Zeto was a mysterious person.

Until the very end, he did not tell me even the smallest lie.

That instead felt strange, but it was not as if there were no people who were truthful at every moment. Ines was like that too.

And so, at some point, I began strongly thinking that I wanted to hold him in my hand. Because of that, without even discussing it with Ines and Eclin, I arbitrarily created something like a “secret knight member”... but I do not think it will be a major problem.

“How was your conversation with Student Zeto?”

After Zeto left, Ines approached me and asked that.

Then I stretched and rose from my seat.

And with a bright voice, I answered Ines.

“...He was exactly like the Saint in the fairy tale.”

“The fairy-tale book you read that time, you mean...”

“Yes. I may have made a ‘Saint’ friend. Huhu.”

“Saintess, that is too much.”

“That is how much I liked him.”

Leaving behind Ines, who was frowning, I stared toward the direction where Zeto had disappeared.

I had to swallow the words, “Though there are things that bother me,” until the end.

“The negative energy did not disappear until the very end...”

The fact that it was so faint one could hardly notice it, almost as if the energy had been refined, bothered me more instead.

“I do not think someone who says he killed a demon would use wicked power.”

To learn more in detail, it seemed I would need to become closer to Zeto.

Closer, hmm.

At the sudden question that came to me, I stared intently at Ines and Eclin before me.

Of all things, there were almost no men around me.

Soon, they stared back at me.

Still, would they not know more about men than I did? I especially remembered seeing Eclin occasionally talking with the members about men.

“...Tell me, how does one become close with a ‘man’?”