Chapter 231 : Chapter 231
Chapter 231: Neighbor (3)
There is no power in the world that can distinguish people.
Where could such a convenient ability exist, one that avoids people and attacks only demons?
That is why the Church passes the burden of judgment onto priests.
Even while calling it the power of the gods, that power is not omniscient.
Of course, that was Harad's interpretation.
Wimar's interpretation had been different.
Seria's interpretation would be different from both Harad's and Wimar's.
Interpretations of the gods and the words of the gods are diverse.
Because the believers are human, and insufficient.
How could the insufficient understand perfection and completeness?
Put differently, they do not practice the will of the gods, but rather each their own interpretation.
What each person thinks is right.
'Then is there meaning?'
What meaning is there in serving the gods?
At least, Harad had thought such things.
However, he was not so oblivious as to speak it aloud right now.
It was a hot land.
No wonder it was called the Sanctuary of Fire. Compared to this place, a desert would be cool. Harad dripped with sweat. Ellen silently waited for Seria.
Seria knelt and quietly looked up at the sky.
There was no sun above. Harad's magic had disappeared long ago. Seria seemed to be seeking the real sun hidden behind the sky of the barrier.
Whether she found it or not, Harad did not know.
However, Seria made the holy sign. Her lips moved in a language all her own. He did not know what prayer it meant either.
'What have I been killing all this time?'
However, those words alone he clearly understood.
If demons were not demon-like.
If they felt the same things as people, and if people regarded demons as people.
Then.
What difference was there between demons and neighbors?
That possibility, Seria had realized through Harad and Ellen.
Although it was a possibility, it was a doubt a priest must never have.
It was why Ellen could not give up on Seria. Just from the fact of realizing that possibility, Seria truly was a special priest.
Old Wimar had died unable to dare accept that possibility.
Because it was no different from denying his past faith.
"Um."
Suddenly Ellen poked his side.
Her gaze was fixed on Seria.
"But."
Her voice was small.
It seemed she wanted to say something without Seria knowing. Ellen was not a person with long patience.
Why.
Harad responded with his lips.
"Were we caught?"
Harad nodded.
Following that gesture, his sweat-soaked hair dropped beads of sweat.
"When?"
This he could not answer with a gesture.
Harad opened his mouth.
"On the great plain."
"……?"
"You know, back then. When we were killing the Rebellion Faction of the Liberation Tower."
Harad spoke somewhat breathlessly.
This land was far too hot.
"I felt like we were caught. Well, that makes it more certain."
The instincts of continental Mages about the Church were generally accurate.
Because continental Mages who were not accurate were all dead.
"I felt caught at sea too. At that time, the Torch's magic was mixed in, but anyway."
Seeing the fire that killed the waterspout, Seria had mistaken it for another priest's Divine power.
It was a similar context to when she had misunderstood Harad's Projection on the great plain as radiance.
"……Why did you not say anything?"
"You did not ask."
Her eyes became fierce.
"I am joking."
"Then."
"Because it is my judgment."
"Still, you could have given a hint."
"If I had, you would not have become friends with Seria."
Seria's first impression had certainly been the worst.
She had screamed demon at a child on the street.
And Harad was caught too?
"If I had told you, it would only have interfered. The situation would have made the judgment, not you."
If Ellen's subjectivity was water, the single phrase 'we were caught' was like a drop of ink.
Even if just one drop, the moment it enters, the water becomes dirty. It inevitably leans toward the ink.
"It is you who wants to make her a friend, not me."
Friendship is not built when someone else builds it for you.
"Whether Seria died or lived, I had no concern."
Even that was actually softened.
For Harad, killing her would have been more comfortable.
That is why he had not shown it.
The person Harad had to be included, but his subjectivity had to be excluded.
Would she believe in a priest because there was nothing to believe?
The regressed Harad was already a person soaked in all kinds of prejudices.
"I told you, I had given up long ago."
"……From now on, tell me."
Ellen said in a low voice.
She understood, but seemed to dislike that he had kept it secret.
"I will."
Harad nodded readily.
"No."
But Ellen shook her head.
"No. Cancel. I will cancel. Do not tell me from now on either."
"……?"
"You just show me your face. I will figure it out."
At those words, Harad laughed without realizing it.
"Indeed."
"Why?"
"So this is how you seduce someone."
Harad understood exactly what Elaine and Ellen meant.
"What?"
"My body is itching. I feel like doing something. To you."
Is this why people kiss?
Harad stared intently at Ellen.
"……"
Her face was extremely red, and her eyes slowly closed.
"Kuk."
A laughing sound was heard then.
Seria was holding back laughter. Even though they had spoken quietly, it was within hearing distance.
"……Why."
Ellen, who opened her eyes, spoke bluntly.
"Because the rating seems to be going up."
"……"
"Did you not come here to grill me?"
Ellen's face became even redder.
Seria laughed more. That honesty was Ellen's charm. If she wanted to do something she did it, if she wanted to speak she spoke, and if she could not speak she asserted with her body.
"Ellen is so transparent."
"I am not."
"Really?"
"I am very good at lying."
Her acting ability was indeed excellent.
Of course, the Magical Item was more responsible for that.
"Was even just now a lie?"
"……"
Ellen could not answer.
To answer honestly would hurt her pride, and the situation was not one for lying.
Seria smiled brightly as if she had heard the answer.
It was unmistakably the gaze toward a neighbor.
"Harad."
Seria turned her gaze.
Harad felt that gaze was uncertain.
"It sounded like you did not kill me because of Ellen."
"You heard accurately."
Serzila.
If Ellen had not been involved, he would have killed her when caught.
"Are you disappointed?"
"Yes."
"How unfortunate."
"But I feel you are human-like."
Seria made the holy sign.
"Could you tell me about Priest Wimar?"
"If it is Wimar, I will……"
Suddenly his mouth was blocked.
It was Ellen's hand.
"I will tell her."
"……"
"Because I am the one who wants to make her a friend."
"……"
"Answer."
She had to let go of his mouth for him to answer.
"……"
Instead of answering, Harad licked Ellen's palm.
"What the……"
Ellen was horrified.
"Ha."
She seemed to like it.
From Serzila to Premont, from Premont to Alfenor.
Ellen's bundle was small but bigger than anyone else's.
Her speaking skills were not good, but she was more detailed than anyone.
She vividly remembered every moment Wimar had been present.
To Ellen, he had been such a grandfather.
"Priest Wimar said such things……"
While Ellen spoke, Seria kept stealing glances at Harad.
It was a look of disbelief.
It was a passage showing just how strict that old man had been normally, and in the past.
At the same time, how old and weakened Wimar had become, and how heavy and frightening faith was.
"Enna Tegen of Alfenor, Hila Tegen……"
It was when Ellen's mouth paused briefly.
Seria spoke of those elf mother and daughter.
"Those two accepted Ellen and Harad."
"Yes."
"Ellen."
"Speak."
"What would you do if I reported those two elf heretics to the Church?"
Those elf mother and daughter were priests.
Priests who had condoned Harad, a Mage.
Not enough with that, following Wimar's last wish they had even urged her to try persuading another priest.
"……"
"You had not thought that far."
Seria smiled brightly as if she had expected it.
"From now on, you must, Ellen. There are many things in the world that are not transparent. Ellen especially must be careful."
Seria said while glancing at Harad.
Was she pointing out he was not transparent, or that she must be careful because she had a Mage at her side? Harad thought it was both.
"……Because it is Seria that I told you."
"Because you can kill me anytime?"
Seria looked around exaggeratedly.
It was a barrier, and Seria had gone missing to the Great Devil of fire. If killed here, there would be no aftermath. A more perfect crime than a locked-room murder.
"What nonsense……"
"Thank you."
When Ellen flared up, Seria deflected it with a smile.
It was a harsh joke but a valid point.
"I know. You are Serzila."
Location or status was meaningless.
In fact, Grand Duke Aratus had destroyed the Imperial family.
"Priest Wimar died in an un-Wimar-like way."
Seria used the expression died.
Not martyrdom.
'Because Wimar took my side?'
If that were the case, she would have used expressions like condemnation or purification.
Because Wimar had died as a demon worshipper.
"He was not that kind of person. Harad must be very attractive."
Seria said with a smile.
She did not look like she had fallen for his charm.
"Ellen is more attractive."
"To Ellen, you are more attractive."
Embarrassing, but both were correct answers.
This place had been made for that reason.
"Why did the Great Devil of fire drag me along?"
"Because I am treating you as special."
Seria blinked.
"Do you think of me as special?"
"Hardly. He misunderstood."
He had been aggressive toward Badelots, and not toward Seria.
For Harad, it had been because of Ellen, but in the eyes of the Torch Aten, it would have looked different.
"He wanted to make you, whom I treat as special, discover I am a Mage and kill me with your own hands. That kind of thinking. Like Iagar."
Aten had expressed it as kindling.
Emotions like rage or hatred become a means to make people stronger quickly and easily.
"How demonic."
Ellen flinched.
"There are quite a few such people in the world."
Harad shrugged.
"On the sailing ship, Badelots was the demon."
"……You do not hold back a single word."
"Because he is so hot-tempered."
"I do not know how you endure it."
Seria was uncharacteristically aggressive.
"Do you not yield to Ellen?"
"She is special."
Ellen flinched again.
"Where is that person from the Shadow earlier……?"
Seria asked while looking around.
"Here!"
Jis, who had been disguised as Harad's shadow, suddenly popped up.
Not his true form, but a small doll-like appearance.
"I was sorry earlier."
Seria bowed her head toward the small Jis.
Apologizing to a demon for calling him a demon.
"It is okay. Because you are Ellen's friend!"
As expected, Jis was kind.
Seria, who had been meeting eyes while bowing her head, tilted her head slightly.
"By any chance, how old are you?"
"Young but old."
"……?"
"Hing."
The small Jis became gloomy.
Ellen stroked his head.
"He is under a curse. A demon…… rather, a bad Mage."
The expression demon did not seem likely to be good for Jis's feelings.
"Because the same kind are not all on the same side. People too."
Mage against Mage.
Seria did not ask such a trite question. Because she had just seen Harad kill Aten.
"Unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to die."
"I……"
"Cannot break it. The level is different."
Harad stated firmly.
"To break it, you must kill the Mage who cast the curse. Or this child must become 6th Rank."
Seria quietly looked at the small Jis.
Jis did not hide. He did not seem very afraid of priests. Because she was Ellen's friend?
'He was shy with strangers. Is it because he is used to priests?'
Jis was a Mage who had reached 5th Rank on the continent.
Priests like Seria were not scary.
"Are you very hot?"
Seria turned her head and asked.
Harad was dripping with sweat.
"It is hot."
"Did you not say you are the sun?"
"Originally, the area around fire is hot."
Seria tilted her head.
The previous life's Harad had been the same.
The area around fire is hot. How does fire feel? It cannot be hot. It is originally in that state.
However, now he understands.
Origins are tools. The past king said so.
Harad, who keeps the tool called the sun closest, cannot help but be hot. As long as he is not consumed by the Origin, that will be so.
"Then shall we go?"
Seria stood up, straightening her kneeling knees.
Her pure white habit was a mess with soot. The aftermath of the Torch and the sun. Seria did not brush it off.
"Where to?"
"You must return."
Seria looked toward Serzila.
The cooled Torch Aten would have crossed the barrier.
Although there was the burden called Seria, it would not have been difficult.
He was a bastard who deceived even that terrible Inquisitor.
Avoiding the eyes of the barrier knights would not have been very difficult either.
'I will have to expand the Examination scope.'
Such secretive Mages also existed in the world.
Knights stationed at the barrier had to be well-versed in this.
Knights must no longer be ignorant about magic.
'Because that Elaine permitted it.'
If told to do it, it must be done.
"This place is……?"
"It is called a tunnel."
Ellen guided Seria not to the barrier but to the tunnel.
"It is a path dug by continental Mages for asylum. Harad discovered it."
"Asylum……"
"Yes. On the continent, if caught being a Mage, you die."
Seria had apologized to Jis.
Ellen seemed to consider this an opportunity.
Or perhaps she had already succeeded in evangelism and was thinking she must someday introduce Seria to the Tegen mother and daughter.
"They call it heaven."
"……Is it really heaven?"
"They say that because they have not been there. The Otherworld is not safe either."
The Otherworld does not accept just any Mage.
One had to have a remarkable Origin or exceptional Rank.
"Then what happens to those who seek asylum?"
"They die, usually."
This time Harad answered.
That carried more credibility. An Otherworld Mage, the barrier, the continent, Harad was a Mage who had experienced everything.
"But dying that way is better. While trying to do something. Anyway, staying on the continent means dying just the same."
"Has Harad ever decided to seek asylum?"
"No. I am fortunate."
However, Harad had been lucky.
"But if not for Serzila, I would have."
Harad recalled Duke.
That boy Mage with Glacier as his Origin would have sought asylum in the Otherworld in the previous life. Revenge would be the reason. Harad thought he and Duke were not much different.
When returning through the tunnel, it was the rule that Harad be positioned at the very back. Ellen jumped into the tunnel and extended her hand to Seria.
Seria looked at that hand and smiled.
"Will you go first?"
"Why."
"Because this land is fascinating. I want to observe it a little more. Even better if I can spread radiance."
It sounded like she would go kill Magical Beasts.
Ellen nodded while feeling uneasy.
"Alright. You must come back soon……"
"I refuse."
It was then that Harad cut off her words.
"You are planning to die."
Like Wimar.
"One mistake is enough."
"A priest's thinking is obvious."
She had acknowledged Harad and apologized to Jis.
It meant she had forsaken her faith.
And that did not simply mean power or prayer.
Faith is life.
Seria had lived that way.
She did not know how to live without faith.
"Regrettably, you must not die. Regardless of your will."
The fruit of Ellen not giving up was right before their eyes.
Harad had no intention of letting Seria die.
"If you die now, it is not suicide but Ellen and I who killed you."
Harad pointed at Ellen.
Her face was shocked. That complexion was familiar. She had made such an expression in front of Wimar.
"Ellen spilled everything, even secrets. And the price for that is betrayal."
Ellen had given her sincerity.
So Seria had to as well.
It could be selfish, but it was none of Harad's concern.
What mattered to him was that Ellen was sincere.
"If I return like this, I will report to the Church."
"Wimar already did that. Come up with a different excuse."
"……"
Seria wanted to die like Wimar.
But the reason for wanting to die was different.
"And you and Wimar are different."
That demons might not be different from neighbors, that young and special priest had already acknowledged it.
"……My acknowledgment of Harad is because of Ellen."
"No."
Because she is a friend.
Harad very much liked that reason.
Influenced by a friend.
It is a common thing.
But how much could she have seen?
Though called friends, they were closer to being nothing than best friends.
"That is why I am stopping you."
That person, Seria had listened to.
It meant she was special before being a friend.
"Originally, I would not have stopped you."
Of course, even so, if she were not Ellen's friend, he would not have stopped her.
"I would have sneered in the time it takes to stop you. Is that not so? Killing everyone you could kill and now evading."
Wimar could not completely abandon his faith.
Because doing so would deny his life. Because doing so would bring filth rushing in.
So he had died only for Harad and Ellen.
Seria.
That young and special priest was different.
"……With fire for neighbors. I have been killing demons. Even Mages who might be neighbors."
She had denied her past life.
"I am merely paying the price with my head."
She could not overcome the contradictions rushing in.
"Is your head that valuable?"
Harad scoffed.
"What is so expensive about a mere priest?"
Lives have no weight distinction.
Laan says so.
"Not knowing how to repay sins, so dying. A very easy method. Very trite."
"……"
"So I will also give trite advice. No, I will make it a threat."
Lives have no weight distinction.
Nobles or slaves, one person is one person.
"If you killed one, save one."
"……"
"Try saving as many as you killed, and if you still feel it is insufficient then, pay the balance with your head at that time."
"Are you telling me to save you people?"
"Do you not want to?"
Her face looked unwilling.
She had merely reached the conclusion that they might now be neighbors.
She had not decided how to treat demons newly included as neighbors.
"Even so, you must, this is a threat."
Harad looked up at the sky and made the holy sign.
That gesture had not an ounce of sincerity.
Nothing came through except irreverence, let alone respect.
Naturally, nothing happened in the sky.
"Laan also condones it."
Harad, who finished his prayer-like mockery, looked down at Seria.
The light still protected her from the barrier.
"So do it."
That light, Seria looked anguished.
She twisted her face.
"Originally, repentance is an agonizing act."
Harad smiled brightly.