CH 329

Immediate action was taken in the Imperial Capital.

Though the festival itself had ended, the Temple, which was supposed to remain open until the end of the weekend, began controlling the number of visitors at once, and immediate measures were implemented throughout the entire Imperial Capital.

As the military controlled all the gates of the Imperial Capital, efforts were underway to restore order.

Of course, since all these events were taking place outside the Temple, it felt to me as if the remaining day of the Temple festival had ended a little earlier than planned.

"It's quiet."

"Yes, it is."

Ellen and I were strolling through the now peaceful Temple once again.

Even though she had been elected Miss Temple, Ellen was still just Ellen.

Nothing had changed significantly, and it seemed that she didn't place much importance on it. If anything, she found it bothersome.

The festival was over.

Since the tournament was over, he would have an audience with the emperor, but given the circumstances, there might not be an opportunity for that to happen.

The issue of embezzlement of orphanage support funds would be resolved later.

Although she couldn't participate in the contest, Ellen became Miss Temple, and Cliffman said he made it into the rankings.

I'm not sure if his self-confidence or motion sickness problem was resolved.

It seemed like Liana scolded him for not being able to win like Ellen did.

Could this be, instead of recovering from motion sickness, he just gained a responsible bully?

There was also the matter of Lydia Schmitt.

Lydia Schmitt was missing. Regardless of her impending graduation, Lydia Schmitt was still a Temple student and an Unrestricted tournament winner.

The issue of her disappearance would soon come to light.

Eleris, who was holding her, would take measures, but Lydia Schmitt was a member of the Nameless Monastery. She would undoubtedly be a key witness in this case.

For now, I could only hope that Eleris would keep her well hidden.

So,

"It's vacation time."

"Yeah, it is."

Winter vacation had begun.

Although the royal family would be in turmoil, I had completed my task of killing Riverrier Lanze.

"What are you going to do during this break?"

Ellen looked at me and asked.

"Well, I don't have anywhere to go, so I guess I'll stay at the Temple."

There's a lot to do.

Negotiations with the Vampire Council.

Re-establishing contact with the Black Order.

Gathering information on Cantus Magna.

Deciding Adriana's whereabouts.

Contacting and taking action against the revolutionary forces.

Although it's not my responsibility, there's also the work of the Magic Research Society.

Rather, I felt like I had been postponing things that I couldn't do during the semester for after the break, so even if I couldn't tell her, I was busier now than ever.

Ellen walked quietly beside me.

"I'm going home."

"...Home?"

"Yes, home."

Naturally, Ellen's parents were alive and well. She hadn't been able to go home all year, so it seemed like she wanted to go back during this winter break.

I hadn't set up the details of Ellen's family background or such matters. Ellen was neither a noble nor a commoner.

Hero Ragan Artorius was an adventurer who grew up in an ordinary family in an ordinary village.

And so, Ellen, the younger sister, was also a girl raised in an ordinary family in an ordinary village.

Ellen was already a girl of few words, but she never spoke about her hometown. Of course, it wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it, but more that she didn't see any reason to bring it up.

To begin with, I never asked her about it either.

If I started asking her about it, she would ask me questions in return, and then I'd have nothing to say. So, I intentionally didn't ask her.

Anyway, if she goes back home, she'll be with her family after a long time. Is she planning to stay there for the entire vacation?

"…When will you be back?"

"I don't know."

It seemed she had no thoughts or plans beyond going back and spending time with her family.

Does she intend to return when the new school year starts after the vacation?

That would be a few months, right?

Even if she returns in March, that's two months without her at the temple.

"…Why?"

I don't know what my expression was, but Ellen tilted her head as she looked at me.

"Do you wish I came back sooner?"

No, it's not that!

Why are you suddenly asking that?!

Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?

Do you think I'll miss you if I don't see you for a long time?

You look at me with such a piercing gaze.

You…

You really…

"…Yeah."

In the end, I said it with a feeling of being sick and dying.

No.

I would worry if I didn't see you for too long.

Even if you're staying at home, you never know what could happen to a person.

Isn't that right?

It's not because I might miss you without you here.

It won't be… probably.

Ellen seemed to ponder for a moment before tilting her head again.

"Then, do you want to come with me?"

"…What?"

"To my house. Do you want to come with me?"

Once again, I was speechless at her sudden question.

Is she asking me to go with her because she thinks she'll miss me while I'm not around?

What does she mean by that…?

Now, I don't even know what's going on between her and me…

Although I told her I had nothing to do, I had no words for her invitation to go with her.

I had no right to say why I would go there, considering I had entered Arunaria without Harriet, too.

"If you don't want to, that's fine."

Ellen continued walking calmly. She didn't seem angry or anything like that…

She's not angry, right? Her lips usually pout when she's angry, but she doesn't seem like that now.

But still.

Meeting Ellen's parents…

The parents of Hero Ragan Artorius.

It did pique my curiosity.

I just casually set up the characters as a hero and the hero's younger sister, without needing to explain what their parents were like.

Who could their parents be to have both their children turn out to be monsters?

No, leaving that aside, I'm just…

I'm curious about the environment Ellen grew up in.

However, I had so much to do during this vacation.

I couldn't afford to be away.

"…I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

There's no reason to apologize for not going with her.

It seemed as if Ellen was okay with it, and she shrugged her shoulders.

------

Adriana had been bewildered these past few days.

Of course, it was quite different from the embarrassment she experienced while being held captive by the Nameless Monastery.

"Hey, do you need anything?"

"No... I'm fine, sister."

After Reinhardt had left, the mysterious leader of the organization seemed to be constantly hovering around her whenever she had a spare moment.

"Heh. If you need anything, just let me know. I'm always here."

At the top floor of the building, she lounged on the sofa in a place that could be called her office, doing nothing. Adriana spent the entire day in the room behind her.

"But if you give me a room... where do you sleep, sister? Last time, you slept on the floor..."

"Me? I don't really care about that sort of thing."

She barely used her own room, only staying near the office.

Just yesterday, Adriana was startled when she went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

She saw the boss, who had given her a room, sprawled out on the floor of the office, fast asleep.

Giving her a room, and sleeping on the floor.

Shocked, Adriana told her not to sleep in such a place, but the boss simply scratched her belly and said, "I always sleep like this," before lying back down.

She didn't seem like a bad person.

Adriana felt strange every time Loyar, a person of a type she had never seen before, hovered around her.

'What are you doing?'

'Don't you get bored?'

'Want to go for a walk?'

'Don't you want to eat something?'

'Are you comfortable here?'

Whenever she tried to meditate in her room, Loyar would keep circling around her and striking up a conversation.

Adriana didn't find this annoying.

Rather, Loyar's constant circling and curiosity reminded her of a puppy.

Knowing that it was impolite to think so, Adriana couldn't help but imagine a large dog circling around her. Loyar's behavior was oddly endearing, and Adriana felt strange every time she saw her disheveled boss.

'What kind of person is she...?'

Adriana didn't know what kind of place this was, nor why the boss looked the shabbiest of all.

While the others wore decent clothes and kept themselves clean,

Loyar always looked unkempt, her hair sticking out in every direction, like a dog that had been out in the rain and hadn't bathed.

Adriana had lived in a monastery.

Her life focused on self-cultivation, personal care was a given, and she was extremely strict about cleanliness and keeping her surroundings tidy.

Having lived the neat life of a monk, Adriana realized for the first time that she had a strange compulsion when it came to Loyar.

Regardless of who Loyar was,

and how scary she might be,

it was unbearable to see someone living in such a state.

"Um... Sister."

"Huh? What? What's wrong?"

As Loyar quickly approached, Adriana stepped back, slightly startled.

"Um... How about taking a bath...?"

"A bath? Why?"

"Well, it... it looks nice when it's clean... and... it doesn't smell weird... don't you think? Oh, no! I don't mean you smell weird! I, I just... thought it might not be good for your health..."

Loyar tilted her head, then sniffed her arm.

"Does it smell? This is just my body odor."

"No, that can't be your body odor... Um, um."

Claiming that there was no smell was a lie.

But Adriana couldn't bring herself to say that it smelled like a wet dog, so she pursed her lips.

Adriana's moment of hesitation on what to say didn't last long.

"Then I'll just wash, right?"

With that, Loyar hurried off somewhere.

"..."

When Adriana saw the white-haired woman reappear, her wet hair dripping water, she stared at Loyar.

"I washed. Does it still smell?"

It was obvious that she had merely splashed water on herself.

Worse still, she was still wearing the same soggy clothes. And yet, she claimed to have washed, so it should be fine.

Adriana felt as if something important inside her had been shattered.

She thought she could understand, to some extent, why Reinhardt sometimes charged in without thinking like a madman.

So this was what it felt like.

Smack!

"Ouch?"

"Follow me."

Adriana began to drag a bewildered Loyar along.

------

Splash!

“I, I don't like this smell!”

“What do you want me to do if you don't like the smell of soap!”

“Eek! Don't apply it! It's slippery!”

“Just stay still for a moment!”

The members of the Rotary Club all craned their necks at the sounds coming from the shower room.

"What's going on?"

"You know, the lady Reinhardt brought in a while ago."

"What about her?"

"It seems like she's trying to wash the boss."

"The boss?"

“Come here, will you!”

“No! I said no! I'm leaving!”

“Where are you going, naked like that?! Get back here quickly!”

Thud!

The club members passing by in the corridor all gaped.

Someone was actually trying to forcibly wash their leader, who was as stubborn as a wild dog. From the sounds of it, it seemed like the boss was the one being caught, not Adriana.

Their boss hated anything bothersome, and washing or changing clothes was also very annoying to her.

She would claim to have washed after just dabbing water on her face.

“Stop it! I said stop!”

“Are you coming or not?”

And now, this mysterious lady from the temple was forcibly washing Loyar. Loyar made noises like a dog being caught, trying to avoid it, but in the end, she was captured and forced to be washed, groaning all the while.

"It seems the Temple really is something."

"You're right. The boss can't even budge."

Everyone commented on how amazing the Temple must be, each adding their own remark as they passed by.

Washing a large dog gone crazy was a grueling task. Naturally, the one doing the washing would end up drenched.

Adriana was soaked, from her hair to her clothes. Of course, the washed subject, Loyar, had changed into new clothes, and her wet hair was being diligently dried with a towel by Adriana.

"See? It feels so much better when you're clean."

"…Does it?"

Loyar looked at his reflection in the mirror with a sullen expression.

After drying her disheveled hair well, Adriana began to carefully comb through Loyar's hair with a brush.

Loyar didn't know about anything else, but the feeling of the brush gently scratching her scalp and hair was pleasant, so she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to Adriana's touch.

The tangled and scruffy white hair was reborn under Adriana's hands.

Of course, since it hadn't been maintained at all, it wasn't silky and shiny like fine silk, but it was no longer sticking out in all directions like an unkempt wild dog.

"From now on, please wash yourself regularly."

"Uh… I don't know."

Loyar tapped her own head.

"Comb my hair some more."

"…"

In the end, Adriana combed her hair for quite some time.

Upon seeing Loyar looking like a human for the first time, the club members were dumbfounded.

“She actually looks like a person.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

"What are you guys talking about?!"

Everyone agreed that she indeed looked like a person, nodding blankly.

------

Tourists throughout the Imperial Road were quickly evacuated under control. The sense of crisis still lingered in the air, but the chaotic atmosphere gradually subsided.

The Imperial family had no choice but to make an announcement to prevent indiscriminate rumors from spreading among the people.

Demons appeared in the southern region of the Imperial Road and massacred the former Holy Knight Commander, Riverrier Lanze, and other believers of the Five Great Churches, who were holding a gathering in a nearby abandoned monastery.

The identity of the attacking demons was unclear, and the Imperial family was investigating the incident with all their efforts.

Although it was an emergency situation, people should not be confused by baseless rumors related to the Demon King.

In summary, the announcement from the Imperial family went like this.

There was no lie in the content. There was no reason to mix falsehoods.

In a situation where a large-scale rebellion might erupt if they clashed with the Five Great Church forces, the demons had taken the heat off for them.

The animosity of the Five Great Churches toward the Empire would now be redirected toward the demons.

At that moment, I was sitting quietly in the dim underground waterway.

With a small bonfire lit.

-Splash

Someone appeared in the distance, accompanied by the sound of footsteps.

The figure that revealed itself was Count Argon Ponteus.

Sarkegaar.

"Have you arrived?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Sit down."

"Yes."

Sarkegaar sat down opposite me.

It wasn't long before Eleris revealed herself out of thin air.

"Where's Lydia?"

"She's in my room. Don't worry, she won't run away."

Eleris quietly sat down next to the bonfire as well.

I had called all of my subordinates to the place that used to be a base for the Rotary Club, as we had to discuss the recent incident and some other matters.

Once Loyar arrived, we could start the conversation.

After waiting for some time, someone appeared with the sound of footsteps.

"…?"

"?"

"What's going on?"

Upon seeing the person who revealed themselves, the three of us couldn't help but tilt our heads in confusion.

"…?"

With all of us displaying bewildered expressions, the person who had arrived tilted their head too.

"Loyar…?"

"It doesn't seem like it."

White hair wasn't that common.

It was indeed Loyar, but she was so different from her usual self that the three of us couldn't help but be taken aback.

Usually, Loyar looked like a beggar, so people tended to keep their distance when she approached. But now, Loyar's attire and hair looked perfectly fine.

No.

Did Loyar always look like that?

Surprisingly, she looked quite decent, didn't she?

"Did you wash?"

In response to Eleris's question, Loyar nodded her head.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"But why?"

Sarkegaar and Eleris were astonished just because Loyar had washed and changed her clothes.

Loyar.

What kind of life have you been living?

And why did you wash?

It's absurd that someone would be surprised by something as simple as washing.

Loyar slumped down.

"The child entrusted to me by His Highness washed me."

"…Adriana?"

"Yes."

The feeling of hearing someone confidently admit they were washed by someone else was quite odd.

Is she actually a dog or something?