Chapter 39

There isn’t. I can’t find it no matter how much I search. As I was rummaging through the clothes, Vivina asked curiously.

“Miss Lian, what are you looking for?”

The clothes I was rummaging at were the robes I had been wearing from the Dark Age. After I healed the ladybug, I found out that there were more herbs I had after rummaging around. There were vials, rubbish and, at least, crumpled pieces of parchment, but only one was missing.

“Did you not see the pendant in the pocket here?”

Damian’s pendant. Abel doesn’t like it – he insists that I take it out every time he sees it – but I can’t hang it around, but when I want to send the letter to the Cherkopian priest I want to post it with a picture of Damian, and I can’t find it anywhere. I must have put it deep in the pocket.

“Because I didn’t organize these clothes…… Perhaps the saint’s maids arranged it. Shall I go and ask them?”

“Um, no. I’ll go and ask.”

I had something to tell anyway, and I thought it would go well. When I asked where the shrine of the saint was, Vivina said that she would guide me, and she went ahead with an anxious face.

“She is a special person. Didn’t I tell you to get rid of that disgusting antenna last time?”

However, there were only Lucia’s maids in the temple. Whether it’s break time, they are sitting around the floor and chatting while holding drinks that are supposed to be honey.

“What do you mean, I was born like this? It’s really not funny…… Oh!”

I missed the timing to intervene, and my eyes met with a person standing in the doorway. Hu, human! The fairies opened their eyes and hurriedly put away the refreshments.

“No, just take it. I’m here to ask you something. Hey, have you seen the pendant in the clothes I wore on the first day?”

Pendant? The fairies, who were busy wiping up the spilled tea and hiding their arms and antennae, blinked their eyes, and then shook their heads in unison.

“We don’t organize human clothes, so I don’t know.”

“We didn’t see anything because the saint said that she would change the clothes and take care of you!”

“Because she sent us all out!”

Is Lucia doing my clothes? The fairies frowned at what they were saying. Come to think of it, when I first opened my eyes, Lucia was in my room. In order to help out, all the maids for Lucia are women, and her healing powers do not work, so there is no reason for her to stay in my room with the pretext of nursing.

Did Lucia really take the pendant? However, the pendant isn’t something from the original story, and there’s a picture of Damian as a child, so there’s no way to know if it’s Damian or not. Why did she take it? Biting my words and folding away any rising doubts, I eventually decided to ask the person herself.

*

Lucia was said to be in the temple of Assand. She’s there every day! With the voices of the maids murmuring behind me, we entered the uselessly high-quality temple. The sound of laughter was heard from the entrance.

Half-naked maids splashing in the pool in the backyard of the temple, almost like a lake, armed guards standing around the pool. In the middle, there was Assand, who was sitting alone, dressed as if bored, and Lucia, who was clinging to him. Are the preparations for the mass already over?

“Saint. There is someone who wants to see you.”

“Yes? Who?”

Wait a minute, at the whisper of the guard who had gone first, Lucia finally looked at me. Our eyes met and she raised her hand awkwardly, and the slightly wet eyelashes fluttered in an instant.

“Oh!”

Soon after, Lucia, who had a smile on her face, sat down and cried out.

“Priest, what are you doing?”

“I have something to tell you! Can we talk for a minute?”

“I’m a little busy…… May I listen here?”

Tell you? It’s quite far away, and you wouldn’t hear it properly. I need to shout because of the sound of the water. I was taken aback for a moment, but looking at Lucia’s expression and the people around her, do I still want to talk to her alone? It was an atmosphere like if I did, she would be driven into a spoiled girl who was told to come and go. I couldn’t help but cry out loudly.

“There was a pendant on the clothes I wore before, just in case have you seen it?!”

“…… Why are you asking me that?”

Yes? It was me who was puzzled by her voice, which suddenly subsided. Lucia’s pure white face was so bright that it could be seen from afar.

“You think I took it!”

“It’s not that, the saint arranged my clothes… ”

“Yes. I arranged it. I thought it would be better for the same person to arrange the clothes, so I took care of them…… I didn’t know you would doubt me. Really… I’m sad.”

“Not doubting, just.”

I was just asking, but before I could add more words, Lucia sobbed loudly. Lady, don’t cry! I hate all your pretty faces! The maid who went straight to the garden patted Lucia and looked at me.

No, why is she crying about that? Standing in absurdity, I quickly apologized to Assand’s gaze, which took turns looking at the sobbing Lucia, who came out expressionlessly on his lap.

“Otherwise, I must have lost it somewhere. I have no doubts, saint. I apologize for causing concern.”

“Sniff, no… … I did something suspicious.”

No, there is nothing wrong with the saint. It must have been that this person didn’t know what she was saying. I nodded my head and backed away, leaving behind the cries of the maids.

*

Or is it not? Was that something to cry about? I was called here and there for nothing, and I felt very uncomfortable with the feeling that I didn’t get anything. I took a deep breath and went out to the temple.

Yes, I might have dropped it on the way. I thought it would make my head more complicated if I thought about it more, so I roughly came to an agreement on my own.

Still, it must have been an important item for Damian, but I was concerned. Will he get angry if I say I lost it? Scratching my hair softly, Vivina asked anxiously.

“I think it’s a very important thing.”

“Just, a little…… ”

Was Lucia originally the type to cry like that? It wasn’t like this in the original story, but it seems that her personality is strangely sensitive. I was seriously troubled, and as she continued to rummage through my clothes, she said, “Oh,” and I heard something.

“Miss Lian, what is this?”

It was an elongated green seed. What is this? When I received the glass bottle, I realized it later when I saw a small ‘Verse Cell’ written on it. This is the hair that Verseppo had pulled out when I left Lemda Village to plant it later.

“It’s like a seed… … A friend gave it to me.”

“Shall we plant it in a pot?”

“Well, yes.”

He said it would be helpful when I need it, so it must be some kind of herb or fruit tree. That would be fun! Vivina, whose eyes twinkled, handed over the glass bottle to me. And I went to bed early because of the rushing fatigue.

*

‘Where did my pendant go? This traitor.’

Damian with a cold face stared at me. The purple eyes that looked like he was about to cry change to blue, and it turns into Saint Lucia.

‘How can you doubt me? Sniff, sniff, sniff!’

If you dare make the saint cry, kill her! Kill her! Terrified by the crowds of monsters, ‘Take this!’ A sudden appearance of Verseppo throwing a seed. As soon as I accidentally received it, the seed grew huge in an instant, defeating the maids.

“…… Miss, Miss Lian, wake up! Wake up!”

Ah, another dog dream. Dreams partially reflect reality and ideals, but what was I thinking about in my life? I stare blankly at the ceiling, and a certain shadow flickers. A shadow on Luce, it’s nonsense. I see all the fuss now.

“Look at that, Miss Lian! Look at that!”

As I blinked my eyes, Vivina came and lifted me up. Oh, I’m dizzy, so please don’t shake me.

“Ahh, the seeds planted yesterday……!”

“…… Ah.”

I looked out of the window involuntarily and lost my words. Branches as thick as my thighs fluttered in the window. I looked out the window and peeked out after removing Wazowski, who had been crawling in the shade below, with the happiest expression on its face since it came to Luce, to see the pieces of pottery, believed to have once been a flowerpot, lying on the floor below. For reference, my room is about 5 stories high. Vivina stuttered with a pale white face.

“I planted it and put it by the window, but when I woke up, it was like that! It must be the devil’s tree!”

What tree is this? Reaching out my hand and tapping the branch that reached the window, I saw pine needles falling like thorns, which I remembered belatedly. Verseppo was a pine spirit.

No, it’s still too much. Growing this much in one night? What, is this Jack and the Beanstalk? It’s a little bit embarrassing. Bang, bang! I quickly hid Wazowski and opened the door to see the soldiers standing there.

“What the hell is that tree outside!”

The soldier resembling a Doberman in front of me wheezes as he pushes a pinecone.

“I found out that the fairy borrowed a flowerpot, potting shovel and fertilizer from the supply room yesterday!”

“Ah, I planted a tree there, and it grew overnight… ”

“What?”

The soldier questioned as if it was ridiculous. I’m speechless too, so please don’t look at me like that. While fiddling with a pine cone the size of my palm, the soldier with a wrinkled brow scrawled on a red parchment that looked like a seizing tag.

“I don’t know if it’s a curse or what. Anyway, come to the morning meeting in an hour! I must tell Assand about this.”