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Published at 23rd of May 2023 05:38:03 PM


Chapter 24

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“The books on Urla are here.”

The amount of books on the history of the temple and the saints is, even at a cursory glance, quite large. There are rows and rows of high stacks of books, and I felt a little daunted at the thought of having to search through all of this just to find anything about Urla. I know most of what happened while I was alive, but I don’t know what happened after I died. The more information I have, the better, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to open all these books one by one. I read so much during my confinement that I hated it. I’m fed up with it.

The sheer volume of books lined up in a row has made me feel a bit weak, but if it’s for the sake of my precious benefactor, I have no choice but to read them. I believe in repaying a favour three times over. I’m not the kind of person who would just stand by and let the Great Saintess be made to look like a fake.

I was determined to do so, but the task of following in Urla’s footsteps proved more difficult than I had expected. None of the books clearly state where Urla went and what happened to her. Was she such a mysterious person?

Percival and I spent a considerable amount of time reading books together, and it was around the time when the library was completely dark. The sound of papers being turned suddenly stopped.

“Sapphiras, may I have a word?”

“Did you find something?”

The book Percival was holding is a record of the location of temples in different parts of the country. I don’t think many people have read it. It’s undamaged considering how old it is.

“Look here.”

“……Great Saintess Urla, after the adventurers’ party disbanded.”

Oh, Weathervane disbanded? Even without me, they would have been able to handle the high reward requests on their own. Or maybe they didn’t like the name of the party after all. Urla complained about it at every opportunity, saying that the name of the party doesn’t have credibility.

“She returned to the temple where she was born and laid down her beloved sceptre……”

“The Great Saintess’ birthplace was Rubens, wasn’t it?

“No, that’s wrong. She was born in a small village in the country of Natura.”

“What?”

Apparently, a hero needs a certain background. Rubens is the city with the largest temple in the country. The city is also said to be blessed by a goddess, but only she knows if this is true or not.

In other words, the temple probably needed people to believe that Urla, a holy magician who is called the Great Saintess, had appeared from Rubens.

Urla was a war orphan. At that time, war was still raging everywhere. The young Urla, who had lost her parents, was sheltered by a temple priest in a poor village in the small country of Natura. Because of poverty, there were no donations and it was too remote to receive any assistance from the centre. She said she was brought up in a temple that was about to collapse.

Perhaps because she lived in a poor village, Urla was greedy for life, very strong, with a bad mouth and a bad attitude. But she was a compassionate and reliable woman.

Urla was only recognised by the High Priestess after she had been active as a holy magician for quite some time. In the first place, when the Great Temple of Rubens recognised her as a Great Saintess, she was already a part of Weathervane.

Because of the temple’s intention to keep her origins as Rubens, it was difficult to find Urla’s footprints after the party disbanded. Utterly annoying.

“Percival, I’ve got somewhere I want to go. It’s a bit far, so even if I go now, I won’t be able to come back until tomorrow.”

“I’ll go with you. If you’re looking for something, the more hands the better.”

“Eh,”

“I know it will be a burden for Sapphiras if we go by transfer. But I might be able to go with you and be of some help.”

That’s a very welcome offer. In fact, if it wasn’t for Percival, I’d still be turning pages now.

“But we’ll have to cross the border, is that alright?”

“No problem.”

“I see, yes, that’ll help.”

I’ll have to miss class, but it’s an emergency. This is a high priority matter. However, I don’t want people to think that I’m just slacking off, so I decided to tell His Excellency the Duke that I’m heading to the Great Saintess’ true hometown with Percival.

“I’m sorry, but could you relay another message?”

When I tried to ask Cait Sith to relay a message, he looked displeased for some reason and wagged his tail nervously. He doesn’t seem to be happy.

“What’s wrong?”

“……I don’t mind, but I want to do something interesting like the other day.”

“Sorry, next time I’ll be sure to ask you to do something interesting, just do me a favour.”

I put my hands together and bow my head to Cait Sith.

“……I got it nya.”

Cait Sith grudgingly accepted. He jumps out of the window of the library.

“You get on pretty well with him.”

Percival, who was watching Cait Sith’s back off, said admiringly. It’s rare to get on so well with a summoned beast. It’s connected to the summoner by magic, so it listens to what the summoner says, but that’s basically all it does.

“Yeah, Cait Sith was the first summoned beast I ever summoned. We’ve known each other the longest.”

When I was reincarnated and found out that I couldn’t use the transfer targets, I gave up on the idea that even if I summoned a summoned beast, my relationship with it might be from the very beginning. But when I actually call it up, Cait Sith’s attitude has not changed at all from before. It seems that even though my appearance has changed, I am still just me to him. It’s one of the things that I thought was quite interesting.

“Well, let’s go.”

I went outside and summoned Unisus.

“We’re going on Unisus?”

“Yeah. I can only go to a place I’ve been to once, or as far as I can see, so I’ve developed a few new tricks……For now, you’ll understand if you get on Unisus.”

With me and Percival on its back, Unisus soars high into the night sky.

The difference in physique between Percival and I is felt again with Percival behind me. The sense of stability from being supported on my back is amazing.

“I’m going to transfer like this. Tell me if you feel sick on the way.”

“What?”

I looked at the end of the dark horizon and made the first transfer.

I then continued to make transfers, aiming for Natura. I didn’t have much time, so I was in a hurry to get there. I had experienced stepping stone transfer, so transferring with Unisus was nothing but comfortable, but it was tough for Percival to make continuous transfers without a break.

As soon as we arrived at our destination, Percival, who has been given the nickname of the Knight of the Sun, turned pale and fell to his knees. This is transfer sickness.

In this state, I think it’s a quintessence that he didn’t make a sound until the very end.

The slightly emaciated Percival is somehow a little bit sexy, and I thought that he would be liked by older sisters.

I feel sorry for the Percival who was feeling unwell all over, but I must immediately look for the temple where Urla was said to have stored the sceptre. I lend a hand to Percival, who still seems to be in pain, and get him to stand up somehow, and we head for the village where the temple is located, illuminating our feet with magic light.

It was more than 100 years ago that Urla delivered the sceptre to the temple. Her footprints beyond this point have been completely lost. If the village had been abandoned or the temple had disappeared, we would certainly be in over our heads.

“Why the Sceptre of Caeres Ais?”

“Ah, that’s right. A sceptre like that one can’t withstand the magical power of the strong Miss Aurora. The magic will stagnate in the sceptre, and become stuck. So, it has to be a sceptre that matches the magical powers……hmm? Wait a minute.”

I stopped in my tracks.

“In other words, the Second Prince knew that he could suppress Miss Aurora’s power by using the national treasure sceptre, right?”

If I didn’t have the memories of my previous life, it would have been difficult for me to realise that the sceptre was jammed with magic. That second prince knew that. I always thought he was a fool, but is he surprisingly a schemer?

“I wonder about that. It’s more likely that it was just an idea. He hasn’t actually seen Miss Aurora healing, so he doesn’t believe in her power, right?’

“If that’s the case, to what extent is he a foolish Prince. I thought there was a bit of cleverness in him, but I take it all back.”

“As expected, that’s irreverent.”

Even though he says that it’s irreverent, Percival’s face doesn’t show that he thought it was irreverent at all. Rather, his mouth is smiling.

“I don’t know how difficult it is for me, but I’m sure Miss Aurora will have a hard time if she gets together with that prince. It’s a good opportunity, so I think it would be good to hand over the fiancee’s position to the daughter of Marquess Stiard. Every jack has his jill1.”

“I think so too, but I suppose it wouldn’t be easy.”

While we were talking like that, I could vaguely see a building come into view. But no matter how I look at it, I can’t feel any sign of people. From the crumbling house in the darkness where not a single light could be seen, it feels as if a ghost could wander out at any moment.

“It looks like there’s no one here.”

“Yeah.”

This doesn’t look promising. When we half gave up and went towards the back of the village, we found a dark, towering temple. The door was rotting away, so I went in and found that the ceiling had collapsed and I could see the starry sky. On the deserted altar, a small, dirty statue of a goddess stands alone.

This is where Urla grew up.

The image of her smiling face passed through my mind, and I felt a little sad. The temple where Urla grew up has been abandoned, even though she has been hailed as the Great Saintess. What would the goddess think of this?

……Well, she probably wouldn’t think anything of it. Goddesses don’t pay attention to such trivial things. In this world, if we don’t do anything out of the goddess’s reason, she will just watch and do nothing.

Percival and I searched the half-collapsed temple and its surroundings until the sun was high in the sky, but Caeres Ais’ sceptre was not to be found. Had it been stolen, or was it not in this temple that Urla had delivered the sceptre?

“……Shall we go back?”

“Yeah.”

Even though we crossed the border, in the end we didn’t get what we wanted.

I have to think of a way to make that prince say ‘gyafun2’, but right now I’m so discouraged and exhausted that I can’t think straight.

After we were transferred to our dormitory room, Percival and I collapsed on the floor and fell asleep like mud.

割れ鍋に綴じ蓋: putting a mended lid on a cracked pot, means that there is a suitable spouse for everyone

an onomatopoeia, imagine the ​​appearance of being overwhelmed and unable to say anything




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