Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Volume 2, Chapter 18: Unexpected Arrivals
These people did not belong to the Church, because Leticia had seen the Church's emblem before.
The Church's emblem was made with something similar to a traditional round shield as its base. As a symbol of the Church's majesty and authority, the pattern they chose was a slender silver cross-shaped sword sheltered by holy white wings. Around it were carvings of flame and light, displaying the power and status of this religious organization that believed in the one and only god, as if there was a natural sense of superiority to it.
As for the people before her, the silver-and-gold-flower crest they wore on their chests very clearly belonged to the noble side rather than the religious side.
Of course, it was also possible that they belonged to some other sphere...
But when it came to this, it fell into Leticia's blind spot of knowledge. Even if one did not say she was completely baffled, she was still utterly lost and could not understand it at all. She could not even say what species that flower was.
All right, none of this had anything to do with why Leticia froze. The main reason she reacted this way was because among these people, there seemed to be someone she knew.
"Ilo, let's go."
"Eh?"
Without any explanation, Leticia grabbed Ilo's small hand, scratched at her own messy black hair, and walked into the crowd without looking back.
This was a natural obstacle and cover. In a crowd, two little things like them were nothing more than two blades of grass on a prairie.
"Hey, hey, what exactly happened?"
Not understanding at all, Ilo grabbed Leticia's hand in return. "Tell me!"
When she held Leticia's hand, that overly soft feeling made Ilo let out a faint sound of surprise. But because the surrounding environment was so noisy, Leticia clearly did not hear it.
She nearly dragged Ilo away by force. Only after arriving somewhere where those people could no longer be seen did Leticia let out a breath of relief and smile apologetically at Ilo. "Are you all right? I used a bit too much strength just now."
She could feel the fluctuations in her emotions gradually growing stronger, as if her human mind was fully returning. Even her expressions became more vivid.
The medicine's effects were about to end. It was just that the drowsiness still had not faded. If the stimuli had not been coming one after another, Leticia probably would have yawned outright.
"I'm fine."
Ilo glanced at the marks on her wrist and shook her head. "Rather, what exactly happened with you?"
"..."
After a slight hesitation, Leticia still sighed and laughed. "Nothing. I just ran into something a little unexpected. I was slightly surprised, that's all."
She truly had never expected to meet someone she knew in a place like this.
Leticia's eyesight was unbelievably good, so she could point out with great certainty that among those people who looked as if they wanted to keep a low profile but were actually as conspicuous as if they were running naked, there was someone she had seen before.
He was a peer from the same place as her, that Innsmouth Village. His name... She remembered it was Diego, right?
That boy who had quite the air of a child king about him should have been obediently staying in the chapel at Innsmouth and acting as a tool, so why had he appeared here?
Moreover, at a glance, he was clearly mixed in with a group of people of no low status.
What was going on?
Although there were many questions in her heart, she could not ask a single one, and she would not receive a response to a single one. After all, both of their identities had already changed long ago. If the current Leticia stepped out, it would be no different from courting death.
So, although it was regrettable, she could only avoid him first.
"Heh... I see..."
Ilo answered with a smile that was not quite a smile. She directly grabbed the hand of a young man who had stopped nearby and asked softly, "Sir, may I ask who those people are?"
Her aim was very precise. She had directly chosen a young male whose face still carried innocence and immaturity. His appearance was quite ordinary, the kind that would never be found again once thrown into a crowd. But his temperament was very attractive. One could sense a kind of simple sincerity from him, enough to make people unconsciously feel favorable trust.
Feeling the girl's soft, boneless little hand, the young man's face flushed at once, and he stammered.
He isn't angry. It looks like he'll answer us...
As Leticia observed this, she could not help admiring Ilo's eye for people. Naturally, she also noticed the young man's hands, which did not know where to go. To be honest, the softness of Ilo's hands surpassed imagination. They were completely unlike what a child from a rural background should have.
Even a few fine scars and thin calluses could not conceal that fact.
It was as if she had never touched farmwork at all...
Even Leticia herself, because of her weak constitution—she had suffered a serious illness before crossing over—had stayed away from this sort of work, yet traces of calluses and scars had inevitably appeared on her hands. As for Laila Bliss, who had a pretty good relationship with her, her hands were actually quite hard too...
She wondered what other girls' hands felt like... To state a sad truth, in her previous life, aside from her own mother's hand, Leticia did not seem to have ever held hands with any other unfamiliar woman...
She had been like a complete female insulator. Sad.
Could it be that because she had no chance to touch any in her last life, she had simply come to be one herself in this life...
She really had to fucking thank that god who might or might not exist! Annoyed.
Just as Leticia's thoughts were gradually drifting toward some inexplicable, strange place, the young man's voice pulled her back in time.
"Those people should be a traveling group heading to the Intis Royal Capital."
The young man looked at the people filing into the Solon Chamber of Commerce and said somewhat uncertainly, "But they don't look as if they came from the same place. They seem to be the result of many people gathering together... Ah, I remember what that crest represents!"
He directly took a small handwritten booklet from his clothes and flipped through it with a rustle. After a while, the young man raised his head again to confirm the crests those people were wearing, looking somewhat excited.
"Do you know?"
He lowered his head and said to Leticia and Ilo, "That is the crest of the Pilgrims!"
Pilgrims?
What was that?
It sounded like something related to religion, related to the Church...
But the meaning was unclear! She had never heard about it from Priest Marshall before either...
Wait, wait, wait wait wait...
Leticia suddenly remembered that she seemed to know about Pilgrims!
And it was information she had seen and heard in Priest Marshall's office!