Chapter 10 - Those Who Start Moving (1/2)

“Was it alright to talk about everything to that elf Miliane?”

At Alhart’s question, Syltina looked up at him.

“Are you trying to say that there’s a danger of her telling the King, Prince and Saintess about it?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s alright. When she promised not to tell anyone about our talk, she put her right hand up horizontally across her face, right? That was the elves’ oath pose. It is proof of an oath that, no matter what happens, they will absolutely never break the promises they make. It’s cool, isn’t it? Completely different from us.”

Seeing Syltina laugh enjoyably, Alhart and Kuroitsu shrugged their shoulders and gave bitter smiles.

Right now, they were in the middle of returning from the castle. After that, they completely ignored the existence of Akari who had, for some reason, appeared clad in a party dress, and the introductory meeting of the members for the purification journey was (by Syltina) forcibly terminated. Though Akari appeared dissatisfied and began to cry about something, as if she didn’t consider Akari’s existence at all, Syltina had taken Miliane from that place and left. Alhart and Kuroitsu also followed her lead.

And then, Syltina had spoken to Miliane about her “everything”. After hearing that, Miliane made an oath to never tell anyone about what Syltina had told her.

“It seems like you’ve come to like that elf.”

“Fufu. Don’t you remember hearing the name ‘Miliane Fruktor’ before? Al?”

“‘Miliane Fruktor’, is it……”

He pondered upon it for several seconds. Then, Alhart went ‘ahh’, as he let out a half-hearted voice.

“It’s a name we saw in one of the Guild’s requests.”

“Right. A ‘missing persons’ request. Though we didn’t take it because Rizolda Island was a little far.”

“Meaning that someone is searching for that elf?”

“Rather than ‘someone’, it’s her ‘family’ (friends) that are looking for her. Because she had disappeared from their tribe for a long time, they wanted someone to find her.”

“Sylti, don’t tell me you……”

“There’s no disadvantage in making her our ally, considering her magic and magical talent, right? Also, once this time’s request is over, if we take her back to her tribe on Rizolda Island, then we’ll be able to complete the ‘missing persons’ request. It’s good that it’s possible to accept and get approval for finishing the Guild’s requests after doing them. Otherwise, someone would have to go back at least once.”

It was true that she had thought that Miliane was “beautiful”. Even if there was a slight ulterior motive behind it, in Syltina’s eyes, Miliane was a very beautiful existence. It was also true for her external appearance, but her heart was beautiful. She had been tricked and used by humans many times, but even so, her existence that was still capable of using her powers for humans like this. From Syltina’s point of view, she was a miraculous existence.

However, Syltina was no longer capable of unconditionally trusting someone to speak about everything regarding herself based on that alone.

“There was ‘value’ in telling her everything. Just that. It’s not that I trust her, but at least as long as she abides by the ‘contents of the request’, then I’m willing to live with her.”

There are likely people who would say that “she was using her”. However, to Syltina right now, that was the highest level of respect she could show to someone other than those that she personally trusted.

Even if it was the same “request”, there were some people who she wouldn’t tell anything, and wouldn’t even direct any of her feelings towards at all, simply making sure that they wouldn’t betray the request’s contents. Amongst them, to tell one everything, and move in order to not betray the trust that had been directed towards her, was, to those who knew the current Syltina well, the most easily understandable proof of trust that she could give.

“Right, Sylti. This morning, a letter came from ‘them’(1).”

“I see. What did it say?”

“That everything is going smoothly. They said to finish up things on this end as soon as possible. It seems we’ve got half a year at most.”

“If it’s half a year, it should be enough time. This country isn’t that big, and it’s just a journey to defeat monsters and purify taint. Right now, the places producing taint due to monsters include 2 villages and 3 towns. Since monsters don’t appear in places where humans live, once we purify those 5 places, then the request will be complete. Well, during that time, we’ll need some countermeasures to make sure that the damages don’t expand to any other places.”

“Yeah, if it’s that, then it seems that “they” are taking some measures.”

“What countermeasures are there?”

“Seems like they’re sending the ‘Witch of Foresight’. If it’s her, well, I’m sure she’ll do something.”

“If it’s her, then there’s no need to worry. What did the Master say?”

“He said he’ll leave it to us. Well, since he’s busy gathering up everyone from all the different countries, he probably doesn’t have time to deal with us.”

“Everyone’s a free spirit after all.”

“In any case, we’ll need to purify the taint first or we won’t be able to move forward, so let’s hurry up and finish this.”

“That’s true. For that, we’ll need the Saintess to work hard.”

Just how much had the foolish and wretched people of this country realized?

Becoming the “Saintess’ guard” for the purification journey, was by no means equivalent to “Saving this country”.

The Guild’s “requests” required a suitable “reward”, and what Syltina asked of the King was merely “the request of Syltina personally”. She had purposely not talked about the “contents” and “reward” of the request that she and her party had accepted.

Just how many people had realized the significance of that hidden portion?

“By the time they realize it, it’ll be too late.”

Saying that, Syltina laughed as though she were having fun.

******

In the evening of that same day. On a single plot of land in Luran Kingdom’s Capital, there was a building under a signboard upon which the words, “The Dipterous Sword” was written. Within that building was a room furnished with a round table, around which 5 men and women sat.

“And so? Just how long will you stay here, Witch of Foresight?”

“That nickname is embarrassing, so could you stop calling me that? I have a proper name, “Clarina Hamillee”, so I told you to call me that at least amongst our comrades.”

“You’re known more by your nickname than your name, so it can’t be helped. There are hardly any people that know you’re referring to the Witch of Foresight when you say Clarina-san.”