CH 121

Chapter 121: A battle of sincerity

“That’s right. Lady Eunice is not lacking. It’s just that it is not the best way. There must be a better way to get rid of the Darkness.”

“Oh, you’re saying the same thing as Marquis Clovis did.”

“Do you know the Marquis?”

The researcher nodded. “Most of the research funds are from him. He is the Academy’s biggest sponsor.”

Right, that was Arrendt. He must be working hard. 

Suddenly, I felt like it would not be a bad idea to have a smooth cooperation with their side. 

“In fact, we’re also conducting this research for that premise, but….”

“There is no big discovery?”

“Yes, it’s been like that so far. Well, at least we found that magic, darkness, and the divine power that saints possess are somehow related.”

Then I slowly opened my mouth. “But the divine power is the complete opposite of magical power.”

The eyes of the researcher and Eunice were focused on me.

“And it’s safe to say that mana magic is fundamentally similar to darkness.” I continued. 

“….”

“Ah, also, magic and mana stones interact with each other. I think if you study that area, you might get some new answers.”

The researcher looked at me with an interested gaze. “You know it well.”

“I think this much is normal?”

“No, the ordinary nobles are not very interested in this kind of thing—Ah, I apologize.”

I smiled. “It’s okay.”

The researcher seemed relieved by my attitude. 

It must have been a bit nerve-wracking for her. 

Then the researcher smiled. “My name is Jane. Please feel free to call me by my name. I see that My Lady seems to be very interested in this.”

It was then that I realized that I hadn’t even introduced myself properly. Well, in my defense, the researchers have been focusing on their work, and they’ve been completely indifferent to me and the other knights. So I just thought they would be annoyed if I was involved. That was why I didn’t bother to introduce myself. 

The researcher who introduced herself as Jane was a woman in her thirties with brown hair and light freckles. She gave a neat scholarly impression. It was likely that she was the head of the research group. 

“I’m Fiona Heilon. The Heilon territory is frequently attacked by monsters. So I naturally became interested.”

Jane seemed to agree. “I see. So, My Lady, what do you think is the reason why the Darkness has been active recently?”

I also want to know the answer to that question too. 

People in this world perceive darkness as similar to natural disasters. They accepted the Darkness just like how they accepted the strong typhoon that comes once or twice a year ruining the whole area. In fact, originally, the cycle of the appearance of Darkness was similar to that of natural disasters. In addition, just as the area damaged by typhoons or floods recovers after a period of time, the Dead Lands also recover to some extent after some period of time. 

However, because the Darkness became more frequent in recent years, this made people feel a sense of crisis little by little.

“Well, I don’t know.”

Jane grinned. “Some people say that the frequent appearance of Darkness is because God is angry. Well, even now, there are some people in this village saying that God has punished them for doing something wrong. Not only that, I even heard a rumor saying that there is a religion related to that.”

Well, it was quite predictable. In any world, there were many people who sought a transcendent being when they faced difficulties. 

“God… it’s an argument that is hard to sympathize with.”

“As a researcher, I am the same.”

Jane was a pretty good talker. She then talked for a while about what she had investigated. 

I decided to consider sponsoring her research more positively. 

Jane and Eunice showed a great interest in the types of monsters that I knew, and I also learned a lot about the research on Darkness. 

Because of the lack of information and new discoveries, I still haven’t found another way to get rid of the Darkness except for the way in the original story. Not that I told them that. 

Well, from this conversation, I knew that Eunice’s power has grown a lot more than I thought, so I prefer to look forward to her greatness than my path of destruction. 

I also knew how big of a threat the Darkness is in this world. This made me sigh inwardly every time I think about that. On top of that, I really couldn’t understand this change. In the original plot, the Darkness was not as threatening as this. What was the problem? 

But as much as I wanted to find the answer to that problem, I had to decide the problem that was in front of me currently. 

Since Eunice’s power was limited, we have to decide the priority of the zone that has to be cleaned up.

“It’s better to purify the village first, right?”

“I think it would be better to save the forest first. After all, no one will come to live in the village for a while….”

“What do you think, Lady Fiona?”

“I also think the forest comes first.”

Eunice nodded at the suggestion.

Eunice’s expression looked a little tired, so I declared a break. “Okay, let’s rest now.”

Then I left the barracks where the meeting was held. 

Kwonter was waiting in front of the tent. 

He was like a dog that guards a house. 

Wait, this was very rude of me to think of him like that. Right, this was all because Abel referred to Kwonter as a dog. Right, because of that, whenever I saw Kwonter, I could only think of dogs. This was all because of that spiteful Abel.

I should change the way I think. It was a pity thinking like that. He has an objectively handsome face. 

“Why do you look sorry for me?”

“Nothing.” I walked away, stretching my legs.