Chapter 245

Chapter 245

“Lately, the bishop has been acting strange.”

“Ah, is it okay to tell me that?”

“You’re a teacher, so it’s fine.”

“Feels like you’re skipping something.”

Gio sat on the bed of Aram, the Moon Lady Religion’s saintess.

“If you want to ask this teacher for advice, you can do so as much as you like. Listening to a disciple’s worries and finding a path for them to grow is also one of my roles.”

“Then I won’t hold back. I’m just flustered, so it’s hard for me to judge the situation objectively. But it’s also hard to carelessly gossip about the bishop’s affairs, when she’s a pillar of the Moon Lady Religion...”

“How earnest of you.”

Aram made a face as she forced back a sigh.

“My point is this: the bishop has changed.”

“For example?”

“First of all, she’s been excluding me from important events.”

“When you say important events, what do you mean?”

“I was left out even of the meeting to prepare countermeasures for the newly appeared dungeon. Normally I was called to those meetings often, but the bishop wouldn’t so much as say a word to me—strangely enough.”

“She probably wanted you to rest because you haven’t fully recovered.”

“I think so too, but...”

As Aram hesitated, Gio spoke for her.

“It just feels off, right?”

“...Yes. She’s often spoken about how important it is to manage one’s health, but this time it feels like it’s lasting a long while. Aren’t I a lot healthier now?”

“If a child you thought of like a daughter suffered for years in a state that was neither properly human nor properly holy, I’d set a long rest period too. It wouldn’t be just me.”

“Even if that could be the case, lately she’s been watching me especially often. She’ll tense her hand as if she’s about to pat my head, then relax it again. This, this—what do you even call it...”

“Hmm.”

After putting on a show of thinking, Gio asked.

“Unsettled?”

“Maybe.”

The bishop had always been calm and serene. Put another way, she had excellent self-control. Yet lately, her expression hadn’t been good at all.

“She looks very tired, like she’s been tossing and turning at night, and she’s been roaming the libraries all over the Moon Lady Religion as if she means to comb through every last one. And then one day she’ll go into her bedroom and not come out at all... and when she sees me, it’s like she’s uncomfortable, somehow.”

That stung.

“To feel hurt over something like this—my training must have been lacking.”

“When someone you were close with, someone you were comfortable with, seems like they’re about to become an uncomfortable relationship, of course you’d feel hurt.”

“I want to ask what’s going on, but maybe it’s just my imagination—still, it feels like she’s avoiding conversation. And she seems to be getting worse and worse, so I’m so worried...”

“It’s certainly something worth worrying about.”

At that, Gio thought.

‘This is hopeless.’

Aram did not understand in the slightest why the bishop was acting that way.

‘She doesn’t even suspect it’s because the child she’d thought of like a daughter has begun to be seen with human concern. Well, the bishop herself doesn’t seem to be acting with awareness, so in a way it’s only natural...’

If the Moon Lady Religion’s system collapsed, Aram wouldn’t need to become the next Moon Lady. The premise that started from there was making the bishop anxious and restless. The evil god Argio had guided it that way.

Even so, it was absurd.

‘But even so, the fact that showing little signs of affection ends up looking like behavior meant to create distance is pretty serious. The priests of the Moon Lady Religion really do have no social skills. They really do.’

Gio patted Aram’s back.

“I’ve never gotten the impression that the bishop wants to distance herself from you. Maybe she felt worried about you, but because she’s clumsy at expressing it, it looked unfamiliar to you.”

“That would be something to be grateful for—and a relief, but...”

“The bishop really has looked quite unwell lately.”

“Right?!”

“Is she doing some research on her own?”

“...”

Aram’s expression fell.

“...I feel uneasy.”

“What made you uneasy?”

“It feels like so much is changing. Like I’m standing on the floor of a high-rise that’s about to collapse, and like I’m sitting on a tree branch that might snap.”

“That’s remarkably specific.”

Is this what they call a saint’s intuition?

‘Sharp of her to notice.’

How did she know I’m trying to tear the Moon Lady Religion up from the roots?

“Do you have any guesses?”

“Not really.”

“Then?”

“...I think I’m even more uneasy because lately I’ve been feeling my master’s absence so strongly. My master used to be away often, but at least I could still have small conversations with him. Lately there’s been no word at all...”

“You talk like you’re looking for parents who went off on a long business trip.”

“It’s not that different for me. We’ve been together since I was very little.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

She’d pinpointed it quite accurately.

‘She’s young, but she’s a saintess chosen directly by the Moon Lady, so in a way it’s only natural... but she might notice something strange within the Moon Lady Religion faster than I thought. If so, then even if I put in just a little effort, there won’t be any problems with what comes next...’

Gio grinned.

“Still, I really like how you’ve been lately, Aram.”

“...Me?”

“The bishop is an adult, isn’t she? I was more worried about your condition than the bishop’s. You were in quite a state when we first met, so you can imagine how shocked I was.”

“B-back then... I didn’t know it would get that bad either...”

“I’m happy that it seems like you’re doing what you want now. Of course, you were already walking the path you wanted, but the view you had then and the view you have now are probably a little different, even to you.”

“...That’s true.”

After hesitating, Aram nodded.

“Back then, I didn’t know there was so much more I needed to learn than I could even imagine.”

“I know how hard you were trying, but sometimes it isn’t bad to turn your gaze outward.”

Gio took his hand off Aram’s back and said.

“It would be good for you to have more conversations with the brothers of the Moon Lady Religion, too.”

“They’re all busy, and I don’t want to bother them for no reason.”

“This is another chapter where you share knowledge and wisdom with your brothers. Aram, didn’t you only realize the joy of eating, and the wisdom related to it, after you first ate the rice gruel I made for you?”

“Is it the same kind of thing?”

“Yes. The knowledge and wisdom humans can build aren’t found only in complex theories and unrevealed mysteries. From what I see, the priests of the Moon Lady Religion are instead missing the most basic lessons.”

“...I think what you’re saying is right, too.”

“Aram.”

Gio asked gently.

“Do you want to become the Moon Lady?”

“Yes, I...”

For how quickly she answered, the rest came a beat later. Aram continued.

“...I’ll make the world more peaceful.”

“So that’s your dream.”

“That’s right.”

Chosen by myself, my pride.

“I can do it.”

“Of course.”

Gio affirmed.

“You can do anything.”

* * *

Ather often felt that his current daily life was unreal, like a lie.

“...”

“What is it? Are you hungry?”

“...If I blank out for even a moment, you ask that. I trust you don’t truly believe the only reason a human breaks down is because they’re out of fuel.”

“From how long-winded you are, you’re clearly hungry.”

“It does seem to be mealtime, but—no, it’s not because I’m hungry... ha...”

Even this situation, trading nonsense with the evil god Argio.

“This is bread I made before. Will you eat it?”

“...It’s soft and sweet. But usually, isn’t this something you eat as dessert?”

“Just because your tongue got a bit of sweetness doesn’t mean you can’t eat a meal. What’s the problem?”

“It’s not really a problem...”

And the fact that the bread he made himself was so delicious.

“Do you like the room you’re staying in?”

“Ah, yes. Thanks to you, I’ve been doing well.”

“If you wish, I could even arrange a place for you not in these ruins, but in the Black Forest or the village of beasts...”

“As I told you before, the Black Forest is too damp, and I still don’t have the courage to approach that new world you spoke of. This room you prepared suits me best right now.”

“How brave of you.”

And the fact that the evil god had personally set aside a corner of his tomb for him, too.

“I thought you wouldn’t like this place very much. You don’t have any memories of seeing anything good here, do you? I worked hard to polish it, stack it up, and fix it, but your nerve is something else.”

“This is also where all my comrades died.”

Of course, even now, just thinking of the days he was trapped in that narrow crown of thorns sent chills down his spine. But that was the past he had to overcome, not something he could simply avoid forever. And it would take quite some time to properly lay his comrades to rest, too.

Above all, his feelings about the ruins weren’t entirely bad.

“...To be honest, the time we were treated most decently was when we explored these ruins and tried to subdue you, the Demon King. Even the memories of chatting or eating together with my comrades back then can’t be called bad, can they?”

“I’m very pleased you’re so positive.”

“I never even imagined you’d be like this, yet you’re so generous with praise.”

Nothing like his appearance at all.

The corner of the tomb the evil god had given him was comfortable. Even though it ought to have been deep underground, sunlight came in. When he asked how, he said he’d made use of the authority of the sun.

What had happened while he was sealed?

‘And there’s the fact you took human form, too.’

The evil god Argio that Ather remembered was closer to a beast—more wicked and mysterious than a human. That being was so enormous he couldn’t take it in at a glance, as if human and beast had been mixed together. It looked clearly different from that form back then.

‘You said your current personality is that of the saint who was sacrificed last. If so, that body must also be the last saint’s... yet I can’t quite understand why you’d go so far as to bend yourself to human eyes.’

But the bedding he provided was soft. The meals were warm and delicious, and the conversation was, absurdly, quite enjoyable. Argio was good company. Ather was curious about the process—how he had come to take a form closer to a human, from an evil god.

“...”

Not right now, though.

“...Thank you for helping me bury my comrades here.”

“You seemed completely out of your mind when you buried them, but it looks like you’ve sorted through your thoughts and feelings a lot while you were alone.”

“I apologize once again for the rudeness I showed then...”

By a god’s power, Ather became a person again from meat porridge. But even the mind of a strong hero sometimes collapsed before the afterimage of the past. Even as he could think and act perfectly fine like now, if he was stabbed by a dagger he would repeatedly thrash like a beast.

‘So that’s why you gave me time to be alone.’

Argio returned to the ruins after quite a long time. In the meantime, Ather had been frantic, recovering his comrades one by one. Fortunately, the evil god returned their bodies in presentable condition, sparing him some of the work.

‘If it hadn’t been for that, I probably wouldn’t have been in my right mind for much longer.’

He felt sorry and embarrassed.

“...We ‘heroes’ are people of the old era. Now that a new era has opened, it’s right that we be buried with the old era. So I wanted, with my own hands... to bury their bodies in the land of the old era.”

“I’m not sure it’s right to bury them in an evil god’s tomb, but.”

“I thought it would be better than the Black Forest.”

That damp and wretched land would be dug up quickly even if you buried bodies there. These were the bodies of comrades restored by a miracle a god granted. He didn’t want to ruin them in such a short time like that.

“Then will you be staying here for a while?”

“Probably.”

Gio nodded.

‘And Aram’s condition has definitely stabilized, too.’

In truth, she had been healed long ago.

Even so, the reason Gio had remained by her side was nothing but his own desire. But lately, because he’d gotten busy with the matter of the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams,’ it had become awkward for Gio to stay, so he simply packed up again and came out.

“Is there anything you want to eat today?”

“...Um...”

After deliberating for a long time, Ather said.

“...I want jerky soup.”

“I make that very well.”

“You don’t look like you would at all.”

“Could a wanderer who has lived almost his whole life in the Black Forest not manage that much? More to the point, jerky soup—seems you’re thinking of your comrades.”

“Even if it’s a bit clumsy... yes, I am.”

“Food filled with memories is special.”

At how readily he went along with him, Ather pressed his lips together.

“...”

He couldn’t help thinking.

‘...Is that face fake, or real?’

Such a pointless thought.

(Continued in the next part)