Chapter 120
Chapter 120
Part of the Plan (2)
After quite some time had passed, the Canis who returned was unexpectedly docile. So much so that Winter stared at her strangely.
“Did something happen?”
“No~ Nothing at all.”
Instead of energetically running around like usual, Canis quietly sat on the sofa and enjoyed her contemplation.
Was getting a tattoo on the crown of her head really that shocking? Even when I asked, the answer I got back was ordinary.
“Anyway, just keep that in mind.”
I looked around the room. Worden and Aro were pressing their heads together while concentrating on creating Blood Mist.
Winter sat at her personal work desk, scribbling on documents. Commonly, despite Canis suddenly joining us, none of the others showed any disturbance.
“What are you going to tell the head of the Ulbushis Family?”
“That’s what I’m~ thinking about~”
Since everyone was doing their own work, I lost interest. Instead, I asked Canis something I had been curious about.
How exactly was she planning to persuade the head of the Ulbushis Family, an extreme doting father and notorious Duhein hater? Canis seriously thought it over as well, but no particular solution came to mind.
“I’ll just~ put it off until later~”
In the end, Canis raised both hands in surrender. Even with her sharp mind, an answer did not come easily.
Since mentioning the Imperial Princess was practically impossible, she had no choice but to claim she entered the Religious Order purely of her own accord, but Canis had no proper reason to join the Religious Order in the first place.
“So then~ what should I do~”
“Just live normally. Go study the faith with Winter or something.”
I answered Canis casually when she asked what she should do. Since she had mentioned her, Winter’s gaze shifted toward Canis.
“Shall we study the faith?”
“Huh? Um~ should we?~”
For some reason, Winter sounded unusually proactive, and Canis nodded absentmindedly. Watching Winter immediately hand her a book, I stood up from my seat.
“Where are you going?”
“Yeah. I need to get Religious Order priest robes tailored.”
At Winter’s question as I suddenly stood up, Aro abruptly whipped her head toward me at the mention of priest robes.
Her eyes were literally sparkling.
“I want to come too!”
Saying that, Aro suddenly headed toward the corner of the chapel. Then she pulled out something from her clothes that looked similar to Blood Mist.
“Wait just 10 seconds!”
After asking for our understanding like that, Aro tossed it onto the floor. Smoke billowed up thickly, and exactly 10 seconds later, Aro emerged in her human form.
“……Changing clothes in 10 seconds. That might actually be a talent.”
Leaving behind Winter’s absentminded muttering, I frowned. Even if it was the corner of the chapel, she had sprayed smoke everywhere.
“Wait a second.”
Reading my expression, Aro immediately pulled out a Talisman from her clothes. The letters on the Talisman began glowing brightly before sucking up all the smoke.
“It’s rechargeable.”
“Hah.”
I let out a hollow laugh at her explanation. The Sorcery of the Far East really had many fascinating things.
As I started walking first, Aro followed after me with quick little steps.
“Should I get you a set of these clothes too? I think they’d suit you well.”
Aro busily circled around me while asking excitedly. I examined her attire.
The black tights covered everything up to her face, revealing only her eyes. Over them she wore loose traditional clothing from the Far East.
“I’m fine.”
I declined gently. The traditional outfit resembled a hanbok enough to stir nostalgia, but it was not particularly practical clothing.
It was pretty, but cumbersome, and perhaps because of my complexion, I did not think it would suit me very well.
“This silk is extremely expensive, so it’s incredibly soft. Touch it.”
I ignored Aro as she held out her sleeve. In response, Aro narrowed her eyes and repeatedly smacked my stomach.
Annoyed, I touched the sleeve anyway, and I could understand why she had said it was high-quality silk. Rather than feeling like fabric, it felt more like touching extremely fine sand.
“Are you making the priest robes out of something like this too? If so, I can provide silk at least.”
An excited Aro asked that question. It seemed she treated this simple trip to tailor priest robes like a shopping outing.
At Aro’s offer to provide silk, I shook my head. I appreciated the thought, but the priest robes had to be made from a different material.
“I already secured the material in advance. If something happens, it needs to be able to block outside attacks.”
“Ahh. I see.”
Aro understood the circumstances. Watching her, I let out a small chuckle.
In the game, she had constantly trolled others with her airheaded tendencies and stalker-like behavior. But right now, none of those traits were visible.
“Why did you join the Religious Order?”
“Hm?”
So I asked. Honestly, I did not know why Aro had even followed us on the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary.
Since she shared part of her soul with Winter, I had no choice but to accept her, but I still felt I should at least know her reason.
At my question, Aro tilted her head.
“Just because. I like you.”
Listening to Aro’s answer, I wore an indifferent expression. It was an answer I neither understood nor sympathized with.
I simply assumed she was making up some vague excuse, but the moment Aro saw my expression, she panicked.
“No! No! I’m serious. Haven’t you ever had something like that before? Like when you see someone and you’re just drawn to them and feel comfortable around them.”
“No.”
I firmly shook my head. Winter and Worden were the same. Every person I personally recruited had their own clear strengths.
I had never evaluated people based on something that could be called instinct. The longer my answer continued, the more flustered Aro became.
“Duhein……. Duhein……. Ah! Then how do you feel when you see the sea?”
After muttering to herself repeatedly, Aro suddenly threw out a triumphant question.
“It makes me want to jump in. I want to embrace it with my whole body, and when I’m in the sea, it feels like I become healthier.”
“That’s how I feel too! I feel an intense favor toward you.”
Even then, my expression did not change, and Aro looked wronged.
“Like a bee! Searching for flowers! That’s what I mean!”
“Yes. I understand. I’m the flower.”
“Aagh!”
At my unchanging indifference, Aro let out a pained groan.
As we exchanged words like that, we soon arrived at the workshop.
“This is the place?”
“Yes. The owner lady can get a little irritated, so be careful.”
“Uh……. Okay.”
We cautiously entered the workshop. As always, it was so quiet that it was hard to tell whether the place actually did business or not.
“Oh. What? You came.”
Sensing our presence, the owner of the workshop appeared from behind the counter. After casually greeting me, a familiar face, the owner’s gaze shifted toward Aro.
“Hello?”
“Uh……. Hello.”
At Aro’s sociable greeting, the owner reacted awkwardly. I found the reaction strange, but let it pass.
“I came to get priest robes tailored. I wrote down all the measurements.”
“Hm.”
After receiving the paper I handed over, the owner made a meaningful expression. She repeatedly looked back and forth between me and Aro.
“……What is it now?”
“You strangely have a lot of women around you?”
“…….”
At the owner’s words, Aro’s eyes began gleaming. The intensity of her glare was impressive.
Both the topic the owner brought up and the way Aro reacted left me baffled.
“Your younger sister.”
“She’s family.”
“And that white one and the blue short-haired girl.”
I tightly shut my mouth. Since I had never thought of Bereninche as family, even that part pricked my conscience.
The white one was probably Winter, and the blue short-haired girl was most likely Canis.
“And there’s that Vice-Commander too. Well, would you look at this guy? Just because you’re somewhat handsome, you’ve got women all around you.”
Watching the owner start teasing me with a grin, I shook my head.
Now that I thought about it, there really were a lot of women around me. The Imperial Princess, the Vice-Commander, Soloven, Aro, Canis, Winter. As for men, there was only the second-ranked student who followed Soloven around and Worden.
“There really are a lot of women around me. At least I’m fortunate there aren’t any right in front of me.”
“……You wanna go?”
Getting pushed around was not my style. The owner glared fiercely at me with narrowed eyes. Of course, I did not shrink back.
“I may be older, but I’m not exactly someone who falls short compared to others.”
At the owner’s words, I almost nodded unconsciously before stopping myself. Anyone could tell just by looking that she was a woman who took good care of herself.
But with a personality like this. Her flaws completely erased her strengths.
“Yes. Well. The way you work hard at life. It’s admirable.”
“You little shit. Get over here!”
“S-Sensei! Please calm down!”
At my words, the owner flipped out and lunged at me, only for Aro to hurriedly stop her. I merely stood there blankly and watched.
That only made the owner even angrier, and she started rampaging wildly. In the end, it was only after Aro restrained her with a Talisman that she finally calmed down.
“……I’ll let it slide since you’re customers.”
“Well, you started it first, lady…….”
Aro stopped me from continuing to argue. She moved with desperate urgency.
Even though the owner acted like this, she actually had a pretty cool personality, so I had no reason to hold back. But Aro clearly did not think the same.
“Three sets, huh. Judging by the measurements, two women and one large man. It’ll take about a week, so come pick them up then.”
After examining the paper with the measurements written on it, the owner finished speaking. At that, Aro cautiously approached her.
“Would it be possible to custom-make a shawl too?”
“Hm? Well, as long as you pay.”
At Aro’s careful question, the owner readily nodded. Aro immediately pulled out a piece of paper from her clothes.
“Hmm. That’s quite an unfamiliar style. Are you from the Far East by any chance?”
“Wow. Yes! How did you know?”
“The Far East has its own distinct characteristics. Unlike the Empire, which makes separate parts and joins them together with seams, the Far East prefers making things in a single piece. That’s why they make them a bit loose to improve mobility. Even the armor has that characteristic.”
“Wow! Exactly!”
Surprisingly, the owner was quite knowledgeable. She knew a great deal about the Far East’s armor.
Meeting someone who knew information about her homeland made Aro even more excited. Unexpectedly, the two of them got along very well.
“And then, like this here! What do you think?”
The paper Aro handed over contained a shawl she had personally sketched. It was roughly long enough to reach the middle of the back and wide enough to cover both shoulders.
At a glance, it looked somewhat like a jeogori, but the major difference was the lack of sleeves.
“Make it black. It should match the priest robes.”
“Ah. Right. People in the Far East prefer bright colors.”
At this point, the owner had even started having a deep discussion with Aro. As the sudden girls’ talk began, I turned my gaze elsewhere.
—Thunk.
Just in case, I picked up one of the weapons on display, only for the Holy Scripture to once again smack me on the head.
Seriously, what was wrong with this Goddess?
Letting out a sigh, I put the weapon back down. Still, thinking I might at least get one decent item, I picked up every weapon on display.
“My head’s going to burst, Goddess.”
In the end, every single one was a dud. Muttering under my breath, I quietly whispered to the Holy Scripture. It showed no response at first before eventually concealing itself again.
“Please take good care of it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry.”
“Well, would you look at that.”
Aro pulled out black silk from her clothes. Just how did she keep storing all those things in such a small space?
After receiving the silk, the owner examined it with a surprised expression.
“I think this is going to turn out to be a masterpiece.”
Having said that, the owner immediately kicked us out. It seemed her creative motivation had suddenly ignited.
“Should we grab something to eat before going?”
“Should we? We should get something for the others too.”
We stood blankly outside the workshop for a moment before moving again. Aro readily agreed to my suggestion.
There was still plenty of time before the Floating Island arrived. We had also decided to receive cooperation from the Imperial House, and now I intended to properly expand the size of the Religious Order.
The thing I had worried about most, interference from other Religious Orders, would all be blocked by the Imperial House.
“I’m looking forward to it. The priest robes.”
Aro walked ahead with a bright voice. Following behind her, I let out a huge yawn.
The development of the Religious Order. Its first stage was gradually taking shape.