CH 455

“There you are, Reny.”

“Ah, Hilda.”

I’m on the roof of the cathedral, feeling the night wind with Hipota. It’s a dangerous situation we’re in, so I’ve been given a room in the church.

“I was looking for you because you weren’t in bed. Oops.”

Hilda climbs up here using her own transmuted beast, but it’s too dark to see what it’s like.

And with a small jump, she comes near me.

“Ah.”

“Watch out.”

She stumbles a little, but I grab her hand. The inclination of the roof is steeper than it looks.

We look at each other, laugh, and both sit down.

After a while, a breeze passes between us.

“…Is it about your mother and father?”

“Yes. Are you sure about this, Hilda? Are you sure you want to come with me?”

I ask, as if continuing what we talked earlier today.

Her eminence Taula’s great oracle talked about the coming of an evil goddess called Araysla.

Monsters attacked the capital, and my parents are missing.

According to the main god Rose, the evil goddess Araysla is behind all that.

According to the great oracle, I have to go west. And Hilda and Chita are coming with me.

The west… That land is related to my mother, but right now…

“It’s the land of war, isn’t it?”

Says Hilda, as if putting my anxiety into words.

There are a few small countries fighting in the west, and civil wars here in there. It’s a dangerous place.

“That’s right. And Hilda, don’t you want to stay with your father?”

“I guess I do, but I have to help just as much as I’ve been helped. My father is so careless. He took that curse instead of me, and even took away the restrictions of my scrolls.”

She says while holding my hand tightly.

“Now I want to help my father, so I’m going to help you find your parents.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure.”

We stay here for a bit more, as we get deeper into the night, feeling the night wind.

◇◆

The next day, we get ready and say goodbye, and head to the big gate in the outskirts of the capital.

Hilda is coming along, and so is her attendant Pentacles. Apparently she’s from the west too. Not from the same area as my mother’s people, but it’s nice to know we have someone that can guide us.

And we have Chita too, sent by the church.

That’s four people, including me.

But then, two people dressed like palace guards appear with riding beasts, and announce something loudly.

“We herald the arrival of the protector of the key and bottle, Queen Kalin Roux Admiral!”

And then a boorish looking wagon appears. It’s like an embodiment of the words rustic and sincere.

The door opens from the inside before one of the guards has the chance to open it, and a short woman with bright red hair comes down from it.