Episode 45
At those words, the murmuring Alex fell silent. Tears welled in his parched eyes.
They streamed down his cheeks. Endlessly, they streamed and streamed.
“No! It's possible. If we use magic… this plague can be…!”
“It's impossible. They are already dead. These children.”
“……!!”
Alex shook his head in disbelief. And he looked at the children inside the prison.
—Father! Father!
Still, the children's voices seemed to echo in his ears. But those auditory hallucinations were buried beneath the howls of the children who had become monsters.
It was not the children's whispers. It was the monsters' chee
The truth he had refused to believe was dragged into reality by those words.
The strength left Alex, and he sank to the floor.
Covering his face with violently trembling hands, he cried out.
“I… believed it… was possible! I believed it was possible. If only I could save these children, we could return to that time before. If only we could return to that happy time, I… had the confidence to do anything! I wanted to do so even if it meant selling my soul to the devil. And yet…!”
“I do not know how you feel.”
“…….”
“Nor do I know why you are so obsessed. But….”
Loki raised his sword.
“Please free the children who cannot rest in peace because of your obsession.”
Alex fell silent.
Alex looked at the children who had become monsters.
Yes, he knew. What he was doing now only made things harder for the children.
“But I cannot. You must not forget the children. I have run ceaselessly until now. And yet! To stop here…!”
“I did not tell you to forget.”
“…….”
“But do not cling, either.”
Loki entered the cell. He cut down the dead wearing the guise of children as they rushed at him, one by one.
The bound Wights perished.
Alex watched the sight with trembling eyes.
There were no cute children there. There were only hideous monsters in word alone.
“…Think of the children and live the rest of your life for them.”
He slew all the Wights. Loki poured purification potion over the piled corpses of the Wights.
“That is the path the children wish for.”
As the green liquid in the bottle trickled down and touched the corpses, they turned to ash and vanished.
“Otherwise, only emptiness will remain.”
Emptiness.
That single word was one that resonated all too painfully with Alex.
He had striven for years, and the fruits of that labor vanished in an instant. The life he had forcibly clung to, nursing hope, had collapsed.
Even so, he felt something that had knotted in the emptiness of his heart beginning to unravel.
Feeling guilt, yet simultaneously having the thought *Thank goodness* force its way in, Alex could only shake his head.
It was a priest's duty to serve the Constellation and discipline the mind and heart. But Alex was realizing anew how selfish and insidious the human heart could be.
Some time passed.
“……,”
Seeing Alex staring blankly into the air from a corner of the monastery's reception room, Loki let out a small sigh.
He had acted on his own accord.
He could have moved more cautiously, but the moment he saw the children who had become Wights, he was consumed by a strange rage and ended up acting on emotion.
“Do you resent me?”
When Loki approached and asked that, Alex stared at him blankly. After a few seconds, as if the meaning of the words had finally reached him, Alex spoke powerlessly.
“To be honest, I resent you.”
“You may resent me.”
“…I am sorry. I hate myself for saying this even though I know you took on the villain's role for this old man. It is very rare to find someone who does such a thing knowing they will be hated.”
“Not at all.”
Even at Alex's frank words, Loki remained composed. Seeing that, the resentment in his heart diminished somewhat.
“You are kind. Thank you for humoring this old man's tantrum.”
“…….”
He fell silent at Alex's words.
Alex brushed back his hair with both hands.
“Please. I would like some time alone, even if just for a short while.”
“…Do so.”
Loki, who was far from comforting, left the room.
***
It was the next morning.
They were preparing to leave, but in truth, there was little to prepare.
Most things were in the inventory, and the only items needed were Sallet's belongings, but even she had little to pack.
Before leaving, they wondered if they should say goodbye to Alex, but he had not come out of his room since yesterday.
The shock must have been that great.
'…It no longer has anything to do with me.'
Just as Loki was about to leave the monastery.
“Wait! Please wait a moment!”
Alex burst open the monastery door and came running out in a fluster.
He looked as though he had been crying the whole time; his eyes were red and clouded with fatigue. Yet there was an oddly relieved look on his face as he held out a large pouch.
“P-please take these.”
“……?”
“They are bell peppers. Freshly picked. I'm not sure how they will taste compared to others, but they should be much better than what you ate before!”
At the word bell peppers, Sallet's mouth twitched slightly.
Loki accepted the pouch.
Next, Alex held out a small pouch to Sallet.
“My lady. Take this….”
“……?”
Sallet accepted it and sniffed it. A pungent smell stung her nose.
'Medicine?'
And it was the very herb she had compounded herself.
“It seems you have injured your leg; please take this.”
Sallet was startled and looked at her own leg.
She was wearing knee-high boots, so it was not easily visible. Moreover, unless one looked closely, one wouldn't notice her limping, so it was difficult to perceive that her leg hurt. The fact that Alex knew meant he had taken that much interest and observed her closely.
“It was an excellent compounding skill. I learned a thing or two as well.”
Alex said this while looking not at Sallet, but at Loki.
He hadn't seen Sallet making the herbs, and because Loki was the one who had been holding the purification potion, he thought Loki was the herbalist.
“No. This brat made it.”
When Loki pressed down on Sallet's head, she made a disgruntled expression.
Her pride was hurt.
“Ah, i-is that so?”
Though Alex said that, he did not quite believe it.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. I cried in my room all day, so I feel quite relieved!”
However, there was a faint tremble in his voice, proving that psychological pain still remained.
“What do you plan to do now?”
“I must put things in order.”
'All of it,' muttered Alex.
Alex looked at Loki and took a small token from inside his robes.
Carved from wood, the token bore the shape of the character [木]. It was the symbol representing the Azellan Constellation. Beside it, Alex's name was engraved.
“This is…?”
“You are a Nord, are you not? Most of those who wear beast masks are Nords. Furthermore, you seem to have not long come to the continent…. This signifies a conversion.”
“Conversion?”
At Loki's bewildered voice, Alex spoke as if to dissuade him from misunderstanding.
“Please take it. In truth, there is a process of memorizing scriptures and sprinkling holy water, but since those are mere formalities, I will skip over them. Besides, I am a priest serving the Azellan Constellation, but I have no intention of forcing my faith on you. Among the teachings of the Azellan Constellation, there are the words, 'Respect all beings.' I know that the Nords have their own Constellation that they serve. So I could not do something as dismissive as ignoring that. Please take it. As long as you have that token, there will be no friction with other priests.”
“…….”
As it happened, Loki needed proof of conversion.
“Thank you.”
“Yes… please forgive this old man's disgraceful conduct.”
Alex bowed his head to Loki and Sallet.
“And… please be careful on your travels. May the blessing of the Azellan Constellation be with you….”
***
Alex looked at the spot where Loki and Sallet had already disappeared. Only regret remained, as if the lingering feelings had not yet faded.
“Father~!”
Alex opened the door to the voice coming from outside the monastery.
There were a donkey and a cart, and on it sat the general merchant Yuan and a woman who appeared to be his wife.
The woman was very beautiful, and her stomach bulged as though she were with child.
“Yuan! What brings you here?”
Alex asked in surprise, and Yuan scratched his head.
“What happened to those travelers?”
“They have left.”
“Ah, is that so? Hmm… that's a pity.”
“Why is that?”
Alex couldn't help but find it odd. Why would Yuan be sorry that they had left?
“Actually, we are thinking of going on a journey as well.”
“A journey?”
It was a sudden story. Moreover, a journey with a pregnant wife? Was that not far too dangerous?
“It may sound grand, but in truth, I'm thinking of going to the nearest city up ahead. I thought if our destination was the same, we could go together.”
“But… won't it be a bit dangerous?”
Times were not good these days.
A civil war was taking place. Above all, outside villages and cities, there was a chance of encountering monsters. It was a remote village, so there had been no such signs yet, but the effects were gradually reaching even here.
“It should be fine. It just so happens I've run out of goods, so I thought I'd buy some more and show my wife the city.”
In Yuan's case, he had been traveling back and forth to the city frequently. It had been almost over ten years, and until then, there had been no dangerous incidents. The most ill-fated incident was meeting bandits the day before yesterday and being robbed clean, but the chances of meeting them again were now virtually nil.
“It just so happens other merchant caravans are going as well, so there are mercenaries hired for escort. It will be safe.”
“…I see. When will you return?”
“I'm thinking of staying there for about a month.”
“Is that so? Well, be careful… Ah, right!”
Alex took a letter from inside his robes and held it out to Yuan.
“Could you send this along the way? I'll pay for it.”
“Hmm? Where to… Ah, it's for the Great Temple of the Sacred Order. Yes, understood.”
Yuan nodded and accepted the letter.
“Safe travels.”
“Yes, of course.”
Even Yuan had left.
Alex made a bitter expression.
He put on the bird-beak mask and leather gloves once more.
He went underground and cleaned up everything he had done until now.
'Everyone is leaving. Well, Yuan will return… but it's still a shame. Maybe now I should leave this monastery and return to the Order?'
He still did not like the idea. But it was not entirely unwelcome.
The Azellan Order was peculiarly divided into the 'Black Faction' of the Holy Emperor and the 'White Faction' of the Pope, both serving the Constellation.
'…Should I go see the Pope? That person would be able to save many more people.'
It was when Alex came up to the laboratory holding all his luggage and a lantern.
“……!”
Someone was there.
And not just one or two.
Two men and one woman.
They were all wearing chain mail, and over it, surcoats engraved with a black emblem: the character [木] on the chest.
A group of entirely unfamiliar faces were in the Worm Plague laboratory hut.
Only one person was familiar.
Fifty years ago, he had been a subordinate of the vanguard unit called the 'Black Judges', gathered to bring about the fall of the Hanes Empire.
He now appeared to be in his early to mid-seventies.
Sitting in a chair with his legs up on the table, he was slowly reading a book, as if intrigued.
“…Remarkable, Lord Alex.”
“…Yuma.”
Alex called his name.
Yuma folded the book slightly and observed Alex's appearance. He had a leather bag hanging on his back, and at the sight of him wearing the bird-beak mask, Yuma's eyes widened in surprise.
“…To think a former Holy Knight would have carried out research to this extent. You didn't even have specialized knowledge to begin with.”
“…….”
Alex looked at the two men and women standing.
They were in their mid-thirties, glaring at Alex in a motionless posture. Furthermore, they had placed their hands on their sword hilts, ready to draw at any moment.
Alex removed the bird-beak mask. And with a benevolent expression, he smiled.
“Whatever brings you here? Yuma! It really has been a long time!”
He faced him as brightly as possible, with the widest smile, but he did not let down his guard against the two men and women.
Seeing Alex like that, Yuma grinned and closed the book. He turned his head to the subordinate behind him and muttered softly.
“…Gather everything.”
At those words, his subordinates began to move.
They started gathering the books in Alex's laboratory and the specimen Worm Plagues into one place.
“Haha! What are you doing? It will be hard to clean up after this.”
“Clean up… don't worry. If it is cleaning, I shall do it for you simply.”
Yuma snapped his fingers. Then a subordinate took out the candles in the hut and threw them onto the gathered materials, lighting them on fire.
The flames roared and the fire spread to the hut, but no one paid it any mind.
Alex clenched his fist. He barely suppressed the feeling as if his reason were about to snap.
“…You are doing something pointless. The Worm Plague can only be researched by priests belonging to the Order. Furthermore, without the Holy Emperor's permission, no one can do so.”
“On the continent, isn't it something all healers and herbalists can research?”
“The Continental Law changed quite some time ago.”
“Did the Holy Emperor send you?”
“It was the Holy Emperor who sent us.”
Yuma emphasized the honorific.
“Heh, would he need a powerless old man?”
“We do not need you. We merely want to know.”
Alex asked, puzzled.
“Something you want to know? About the Worm Plague?”
“No. The Order has far more information on that. What we want is….”
Yuma laced his fingers behind his head and looked at Alex with an arrogant gaze.
“The whereabouts of the imperial princess of the ruined Hanes Empire.”