Volume 6 - CH 3.5

「Uuuuu… I can’t stand it any more…」

Blank papers and an inkwell were placed in front of Nacho Puyol-kyou, who had been groaning continuously with a grave expression since some time ago. He was ordered by the prefectural governor to write a prose on his behalf to apologise to the king for his carelessness regarding the attack on Valeria Costacurta that had happened yesterday, but because a flowery prose like that didn’t come to mind at all, he was groaning even at such a time.

Since Valeria’s party was attacked inside the administrative district of Romarikku, the prefectural governor must bear responsibility for that. It was a consolation that there wasn’t any casualty in the party, but nevertheless, there was no way that there wouldn’t be any blame.

「…In the first place, if His Excellency had the intention to apologise to His Majesty the King, shouldn’t he write it by himself? Why do I have to write it…」

Nacho Puyol, who was still eighteen years old this year, succeeded his father, who had died suddenly a few years ago, and started to serve the prefectural governor. Although he studied in the magic academyMonasteria Marefikos of this town since his early childhood, got fairly outstanding results and also obtained the qualifications as a Hiera Glaphicos, he was working as one of the houseboys of the House of Dzeco now. It sounded nice if one were to say that he was being favoured by the prefectural governor, but in reality, all sorts of troublesome miscellaneous matters were constantly foisted on him, and every day was full of worries.

「—Puyol-kyou」

「Yes!?」

Nacho was suddenly called by the name in the deserted library, where even the illumination from the lamp was scattered, and he jumped up from his chair in surprise.

「You’ve been studying until this late at night? I’m deeply impressed」

「G, Galarina-sama… no, I’m not studying」

「You’re not studying? Then, are you cleaning up Prefectural Governor-kakka’s mess?」

「Y, you really know well…」

「Well, I’d know at least that much. It’s very easy to understand, you see」

「Though Galarina-sama says so, why are you here…?」

「I’ve also come to study a little」

This library took over the library of the old royal family, which had avoided being burnt down during the civil war one hundred and fifty years ago, roughly as it was. Although the quantity wasn’t that much, it stored many old and valuable documents, and Nacho also depended on them often.

Galarina stood in front of the innermost bookshelf without hesitating, opened the book she had selected and started reading while standing; she then asked Nacho over her back.

「Come to think of it」

「Y, yes?」

「—Puyol-kyou possesses the qualifications of a Hiera Glaphicos, so that means that you’re a devout God believer, right?」

「That’s, of course, I believe that I revere God as much as anyone else…」

「But I wonder, to what extent is your doctrine true? This is a very interesting question」

「I see…」

Nacho’s cheek twitched; he didn’t know how, and with what kind of expression, he should reply. As he had continued to dip the pen nib into the inkwell meaninglessly, there were plenty of black blots scattered on the brand new paper.

It seemed that this visitor had been coming to Romarikku frequently since before Nacho started working here. According to what he heard from a senior maid, she’d come from a place on the other side of the mountains several times a year, leading a caravan fully loaded with various rare articles.

Considering the colour of her skin, she was, in all probability, a person from Bigelow. The fact that she used an ambiguous expression like “a place on the other side of the mountains” was because there wasn’t any diplomatic relation between Ahmad and Bigelow; on the contrary, they were long-time enemies that had been at war over and over again.

Although Galarina’s party were people from his mortal enemy country, so to speak, Nacho didn’t fully understand the reason why they’d received a warm welcome from Dzeco.

Although he didn’t fully understand, the atmosphere here was one where he couldn’t bring that up. Therefore, Nacho received Galarina’s party while hiding his doubts deep in his heart.

「—To put it in terms of your doctrine, the ones who can obtain God’s grace, which is called magic, should only be the God believers who believe in Reduntra, but in reality, there are people who can use magic even if they’re barbarian believers. Like me, for example. It’s very contradicting」

「Even if you say that it’s contradicting…」

Nacho wanted to cry, wondering why this eccentric woman challenged him to such a debate.

「For example, um… Galarina-sama isn’t really a barbarian believer」

「That’s an interesting opinion. However, that’s impossible」

「Then, what Galarina-dono uses isn’t magic but sorceryFata Malefica?」

「That’s interesting too. However, it’s a far-fetched argument. It’s illogical. Even though the ways of calling them are different, they’re most likely fundamentally the same thing. In that case, a contradiction will arise in the doctrine of God’s teachings, so they call the magic we use “sorcery” and simply assert that it was different from magic」

「Um… I don’t understand what Galarina-sama wants to tell me at all—」

「Sorry about that. There isn’t any profound meaning to it in particular. It’s just that I always want to grasp things from multiple points of view. I who is a barbarian believer and you who is a God believer; in order to conduct a research on the thing called god, the points of view of those two are necessary at the minimum」

「C, conduct a research on God…? You, who isn’t a God believer, is conducting a research on Reduntra?」

「It’s just you guys who are using “Reduntra” as a synonym for “god”. As for us, multiple gods exist. —However, the one that I’m talking about is neither Reduntra nor Marido. It’s just god. The thing that can only be called god for everyone」

「…As expected, I don’t understand. For us, our God is Reduntra, and the others are nothing but false gods」

「False…huh. On the contrary, does a real god exists?」

「…Eh?」

Nacho trembled at Galarina’s words. For him who was devout, doubting God’s existence was equivalent to doubting the existence of the land, the sea, the sky and this world itself; in other words, it was nothing but a complete denial of everything.

Feeling that the woman before his eyes was somewhat frightening, Nacho changed the subject, his voice sounding shrill.

「—C, come to think of it, where’s Fatih-sama? Is he sleeping already?」

「Ah, if it’s my younger brother, he’s probably hunting for men」

「I, I see. Hunting for men—men!?」

「You can’t tell by looking? No matter how you look at him, he’s not the type to hunt for women. I thought it was obvious though?」

Galarina looked this way over her shoulder and grinned, and Nacho felt his spine shivering again.

「…Puyol-kyou」

「Yes?」

Nacho, who had begun to half-rise to his feet, drew back his head at a voice that came flying abruptly again.

「Thank you for working hard until late at night」

Dzeco, who had joined his hands together behind his back and entered the library with composed steps, looked at Galarina fleetingly and spoke to Nacho.

「…Sorry, but I need to talk to Galarina-dono for a little while. Rest now for tonight」

「Yes… b, but the draft of the aforementioned letter of apology still isn’t—」

「I said that it’s fine. …Leave」

「I, I’m sorry. Then, e, excuse me!」

Nacho tidied up the documents on the desk hastily, then carried them under his arm and rushed out of the library.

Although it wasn’t the case that Nacho wasn’t interested in what those two were going to discuss in the dead of night like this, his instinct was giving a warning that it wasn’t something he should know.