Chapter 236 : Chapter 236
Chapter 236: Agitation (5)
Kubel cooked well.
That did not mean he grilled meat well. It was just that Ellen particularly liked meat, so there were many occasions to grill it.
Kubel was good at any dish.
There was no recipe he did not know, and his touch in cooking was also first-rate. To the degree that his past as a hunter became questionable.
"Pork today."
In cold lands, pork was more precious than beef.
"Ah. Sir Gullen shared it this morning."
He said he had stopped by while running an errand for 1st Knights Commander Toremot.
Kubel, who added that, sat beside Harad.
Northerners gave generously to their comrades.
There was even a famous story of a knight stranded at the boundary who tried to cut off his own arm to give as food to his comrade, only to be kicked away.
Kubel was a comrade of the 1st Knights recognized by everyone. If stranded at the boundary, he would receive not pork but even arms or legs. Though he would not eat them.
"Please eat quickly."
Kubel smiled brightly before the fully laden table.
However, he showed signs of tension. It was the reason Shura was not present at this gathering.
Harad picked up his utensils first.
It was what he had to do.
Today was a banquet.
It was to the degree that one would be troubled over what to eat first. Harad ate vegetables first. He ate anything well, but Ellen found meat more delicious.
"Oh."
The already excellent skill was even more excellent today.
It meant he had put in that much effort.
That was when it happened.
"You are thinking it is delicious!"
Ellen suddenly shouted, pointing at Harad's face.
"Right?"
It was guessing thoughts just by looking at his face.
Ever since guessing his thoughts just by looking at his face a few days ago, Ellen had started deducing Harad's thoughts at every opportunity.
"You are thinking you got it right just now."
"Am I wrong?"
"You are right. But of course you should get it right. Kubel made it."
Harad said while offering the meat before him to Ellen.
"That is true."
Ellen accepted it grumpily and ate, then smiled.
It was a meal that could not taste bad.
"Seria, eat quickly too. It is delicious."
"……"
"Probably more excellent than any restaurant in Premont. No, than any restaurant in the Empire."
Shura had gone out to play in the alley early, and it was the reason Kubel had put in exceptional effort.
The monumental first meal between priest and Demon.
"No poison. No magic either."
"……Harad is always mischievous."
"What is there to hesitate about. We are already sitting face to face."
Food made by a Demon was less dangerous than the Demon before one's eyes.
Seria was sitting face to face with Kubel and was not agitated. There was no reason she could not eat food Kubel made.
"That is true."
Seria smiled bitterly and put vegetables in her mouth.
She closed her mouth and chewed, then opened her eyes wide.
"Just as Ellen said."
"……"
"It is delicious. Very much so."
Seria smiled brightly.
What was important was that the target was Kubel. Kubel let out a sigh he had been holding in secret. Then Seria immediately stood up and bowed her head.
"I apologize. I showed disgrace then."
Seria had wanted to apologize directly all along, and had finally done it. It was the result of training.
"It is alright."
Kubel laughed heartily.
That bear-like man was good to the point of being foolish.
"My child saw nothing. That is enough."
At that temperament, Seria smiled bitterly.
It was not intentional, but he had touched upon Seria's guilt.
"To that child, Shura…… Ugh."
Seria, who had been speaking, suddenly furrowed her brow.
"It is fine. Go ahead."
When Harad nodded, Seria immediately went outside the Annex. Crunch. A crushing sound was heard faintly. It was the sound of a head bursting.
Ellen clicked her tongue, and Kubel made a pitying expression. Seria, who came back in, smiled awkwardly.
"I apologize. May I postpone the apology to Shura?"
"I will wait anytime."
"Thank you."
Seria bowed her head briefly and sat at the table. Only after Ellen and Kubel picked up their utensils did she follow and eat.
Thus, the agitation was half relieved.
She did not become agitated toward suspects, but she became agitated toward those confirmed to be Mages.
However, she did not become agitated immediately.
Her patience had increased, and time to burst her own head by herself without a partner had been created.
That was what was important.
Thanks to that, enough leisure had been created to sit face to face with a Mage and eat like this.
"It is alright, Ellen. I like it very much?"
As long as Seria did not miss the timing to burst her head, everyday life with Mages had become possible for her.
It was just that she could not play with Shura because of the problem of having to leave her seat to burst her head.
That child was quick-witted, after all.
"I am very satisfied. It is thanks to Harad and Ellen."
Both the fact that leisure had been created in her agitation, and the fact that she was eating with a Demon.
For Seria of not long ago, it was a moment she could not even have imagined.
"It is warm. Truly."
Seria smiled throughout the meal, as if she liked this moment very much.
"Thank you for teaching me."
Warmth belongs to neighbors.
"You will end up being taken advantage of somewhere acting like that."
"That will not happen?"
Seria was a smart priest.
Just a very special one.
* * *
Now Seria did not become agitated toward suspects, and had gained the patience to endure before Demons and burst her own head.
It meant training was over.
Everything to be gained from the bug called Cassion had been gained. Now she had to cultivate patience through other bugs.
Anyway, excluding Cassion, there were no Mages in Serzila who could deal with Seria.
The sight of a head bursting alone at every turn was not something that could be shown to anyone.
To Harad, it was just an ordinary sight, but Seria did not become agitated toward him.
She could not stay longer in the first place.
Seria had to inform the Church of her disappearance and return, and of Badelots's death.
It meant that from now on, she had to refill and cultivate patience alone.
Compared to training with Cassion, it would be easy.
Everything is difficult at first, after all.
Ellen began the postponed introduction to the Inner Fortress. She walked side by side with Seria, and Harad followed behind them.
Ellen's steps already showed excitement.
To her, Seria was her first, or perhaps second, friend.
"That is where the Grand Heir lives."
"That Sir Elaine Serzila?"
Suddenly Ellen's eyebrows twitched.
"Not to the degree that requires 'sir.' Want to go in?"
"Is that alright?"
"Of course. It is me."
Ellen puffed out her shoulders, but Seria declined with a smile.
She was not shameless like Ellen.
"I felt it then too, but…… it is different. A very good place."
"Cold, though."
"To someone, it would rather be warm."
Seria smiled gently.
It was an affectionate expression befitting a priest.
Kubel and Shura also entered the scope of that affection. Other Mages too.
"As you know……"
"I have no intention of disclosing it to anyone. Because I am a heretic."
Seria interrupted Harad's words and affirmed.
A priest who even made Demons her neighbors.
To the Church, she was clearly a heretic.
If caught, Seria would be hung on a cross like any continental Mage.
"I intend to help in secret as much as possible. Only neighbors."
It would mean she would only help good Mages.
Seria, while saying she would help Demons, drew a line.
It was also what Harad and Ellen had hoped for.
If they were going to save all Mages, there would be no need to fight the Otherworld.
"If it is burdensome, just turning a blind eye is enough."
Just pretending not to know was a great act of charity toward continental Mages.
The number of Demons one excellent priest killed in their lifetime was considerable, after all.
"At this point?"
It was meant to be consideration, but it did not seem so to Seria.
"It is too late, Harad."
There is a saying that ignorance is bliss.
Seria had swallowed poison. And she had concluded that that poison was not poison.
"They are neighbors. I must repent."
Repentance is originally a painful act.
But Seria's smile was bright.
"You two may laugh at me, but I consider this moment enlightenment. That you are illuminating the path I must walk."
That making Demons neighbors was God's will.
Harad let out a hollow laugh. It was a thought unbecoming of a priest, yet at the same time befitting one.
"I consider my connection with you two fate. If not for you two, this enlightenment would not have shone upon me."
She had become Ellen's friend, and yet it did not extend only to the Mage closest to such an Ellen.
Seria called that convenient story fate.
"Not a very good fate."
Seria, who had a peculiar constitution particularly sensitive to Mages, did not react.
Rather, she even mistook it for enlightenment.
If it was because the real sun was a special Origin.
Then…….
"Wimar would have died anyway. Even if I met him now."
Then Ellen spoke.
Her face was utterly resolute.
She had immediately realized what Harad was thinking.
Ellen was only quick-witted at times like these.
"Even if your Origin were not special, Seria would have accepted it."
She was right.
Jis, Shura, and the Mages she had been shown were proof, if anything.
Seria had not been hostile toward them.
She had been agitated, but her new head had held curiosity.
"Because we are special."
Even if Harad were not special, Seria would have accepted it the same way someday.
Because Ellen had no intention of giving up.
Harad's sun had merely hastened that timing.
"May I ask next time to go together to choose a gift for Shura? On the way to meet priest Wimar."
Seria, who had been converted by Ellen, said.
She was comforting Harad, who had thought of Wimar.
Indeed, Seria was rather kind, befitting a priest.
"Then could you introduce the Saintess at that time too?"
"Pardon?"
"You are the next Saintess's aide."
"……Was that your purpose from the start?"
Seria's eyes narrowed.
It was an expression that said she had comforted him for nothing.
"Because it would be good to convert the Saintess too."
"As if that would work."
Seria snorted.
It seemed she did not know anything about the Saintess.
"You should be careful of the Saintess. The Saintess is probably……"
"I intend to decline the aide position. I have no face to show."
Laan's proxy.
The Saintess was the most noble name in the Church.
Seria thought that she, who had become a heretic, should not be beside the Saintess.
'It would be fine, though.'
His guess was that the Saintess was a Mage.
Harad did not say it out loud.
It was a guess, not a fact, in the first place.
If he spoke carelessly, it would only incite Seria's agitation.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly a shadow surged up from the ground.
"Not true!"
When Seria flinched, the shadow grinned broadly.
It was the cunning yet cute smile peculiar to young children.
Duke, who had once brought an ice sword as a surprise gift for Shura, had smiled like that.
"Hermia will like it!"
"Who is she?"
Ellen asked.
Harad's eyes gleamed.
They had been talking about the Saintess.
"Is the Saintess's name Hermia?"
"Yeah! My friend."
Jis's surprise gift was information.
"Hermia is a Mage too!"
Information that the Saintess was Jis's friend and a Mage.
"You Demon!"
Seria shouted.
It was not agitation. It was anger at daring to treat the Saintess as a heretic.
"Yeah! Hermia is a Demon too!"
Jis countered with innocence.