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“You called, Bishop.”

Marianne answered the call and stood behind Bishop Andrei on a summer night when the grasshoppers buzzing was loud. He was sitting on a pew in the church, exhaling the smoke from his cigarette. In recent years, there have been no large-scale heresies that would require a large number of inquisitors. However, she wondered if that would change today.

“Sit over there for a moment.”

Andrei gestured to a chair across from him. As Marianne obediently sat down, he extinguished his cigarette, put it in the ashtray, and then turned to her.

“I have a new assignment for you.”

“I’m at your command.”

Andrei looked at Marianne, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

“You must be curious about the mission I’ll give you.”

“No. All I need to do is to accomplish it.”

Andrei let out a small laugh and leaned back in his chair.

“This mission has nothing to do with hunting down heretics. It will be a long-term mission and a potentially dangerous one. You may have to risk your life.”

Marianne sat as still as a stone. “Since when did I give safe missions?” Andrei muttered and rose to his feet.

“I’m thinking of sending you to the Hero’s Party. Iris… the Saintess, has been forced to withdraw from the party. I’m sending you to fill the void for now.”

Marianne nodded, very faintly hesitant.

“Is there anything you wish to ask?”

“No.”

Just do as you’re told, when you’re told, how you’re told to. Marianne had no reason to question his orders. Andrei turned on his heel and strode to a corner of the church.

“I have a new weapon to lend you.”

He picked up a cloth-wrapped spear from a table in the corner and handed it to Marianne. At first glance, it was an unremarkable weapon. Marianne’s expression changed slightly in confusion for the first time. Andrei grinned in amusement.

“That’s the Holy Spear. It hasn’t found a suitable owner for a while, so I wasn’t sure who to give it to, so I decided to lend it to you this time instead of letting it rot in the warehouse.”

“…Is that so?”

Marianne replied as she unwrapped the cloth around the spear. As it unwound, the spear began to glow with Holy Mana. Marianne stared at the spear with emotionless eyes.

“I’ve warned him well enough. He’ll make a scene if he finds out later, so I’ll take refuge in the Kairos Kingdom for now.”

Andrei’s way of referring to the Pope could send believers into chaos. He looked at Marianne and nodded solemnly.

“You’ll need it if you’re going to be a part of the Hero’s Party. You’ll face battles you’ve never faced before, so be prepared for anything.”

A different battle. Marianne didn’t know what that meant. Looking at the Bishop’s gentle smile, Marianne nodded.

***

It had been five days since Elroy had entered the Mist. Marianne found herself in his room, not hers. Pulling her knees together in the corner of the chilly bed, Marianne blew a cold breath. She didn’t want to go outside. She didn’t even bother to eat. Light came in through the window, darkness, then light again.

“…Hero.”

Marianne looked at the compass at her feet. The compass had been hovering in the same place, pendulum swinging, pointing to the same place for days, and its motionlessness was unsettling her.

The needle would twitch slightly every hour, filling the noiseless room. Then it would stop again. ‘What’s going on? Is Elroy okay? What am I doing here?’

Marianne hovered her finger over the compass. The atmosphere in the palace was quiet, subdued. Everyone waited anxiously for news of the Hero. No one went to wait at the entrance of the fog, for it would be far easier to forget about him than to wait for him.

A knock was made on the door of the room. It opened, and Marianne saw Georg standing in the doorway with a plate of food.

“You’ve been sitting like that, too.”

Georg sighed, stepped into the room, and set the plate on the desk. Marianne glanced at the steaming plate, then turned her attention back to the compass.

“Daphne has been reading the Book of Maccabees for days now. Her eyes were red, and she might faint from exhaustion soon. You also look the same.”

Georg gently placed the cutlery on the table.

“Elroy wouldn’t want you to be so worried.”

Georg set down a glass of water next to the plate.

“He’d want us to believe in him and wait for him. Just like we did when he rushed to save Archduke Quenor.”

Georg said self-deprecatingly.

“…He even left us behind then…”

Georg pulled Elroy’s letter from his pocket and shook it.

“My best bet now is to trust him and wait for him. It’s the only way I can repay him for the loyalty he’s shown me and the only way I can help the Hero trying to save the world.”

Georg patted Elroy’s chair and walked back to the door.

“…Eat your meal and wait. It won’t do Elroy any good to hear that you and Daphne have been starving in his absence.”

The door closed with Georg’s words. Marianne buried her face in her knees again.

***

“…Thank you, Marianne, for protecting our castle.”

Then, for the first time, Marianne realized she was fighting a different battle. It was when Karin, with an embarrassed blush, thanked the members of the Hero’s Party one by one.

It was a fight where she didn’t kill anyone. Marianne looked down at her hands as the realization hit her. There was no human blood on her hands. There was no groan of hatred and contempt filling her ears.

“Yes, we did it together.”

Marianne turned her head to see Elroy sitting in a wheelchair; it was the first smile she’d ever seen on his face. It wasn’t the nervous, awkward, or bitter smile he always did. It was a proud smile from the purest joy that excluded all other emotions.

“Is that so?”

The answer Elroy said made Marianne’s heart skip a beat. It was a sensation she didn’t want to miss. She didn’t understand why the Hero’s pride struck her so firmly. Was it because he was running towards something so different from her, or was it because of the noble goals he was after…

“I’ll be right back.

Maybe it was because he had the eyes of someone who could vanish at a moment’s notice, showing her light and warmth and then disappearing like a piece of tinder.

“What’s wrong?”

Elroy looked at Marianne, and she shook her head.

“Take good care of yourself.”

Elroy’s eyes narrowed, and he looked down at his wheelchair-bound body and smirked.

“…Thanks for the concern.”

***

“As you saw, Marianne is one of our strongest Inquisitors. She’s a great asset to us and will play an important role in rounding up the heretics.”

The Bishop wants her to kill heretics again. Marianne had to do as she was told. The Holy Land saved her life, and it was theirs to keep.

Elroy was different from them.

He saved someone and then walked away, unwilling to calculate the cost, even if he suffered.

“There’s too little information for me to decide right now, so give me some time to think about it.”

If a sacrifice had to be made, he would be the first to throw himself, unwilling to let anyone get hurt.

Sacrifice. Marianne was starting to hate the word.

Marianne staggered out of her seat, grabbing the compass. She couldn’t follow Elroy’s command to sit and wait. She would find him, grab him, and tell him one thing.

Don’t leave. If you want to sacrifice yourself, let us at least carry some of the burden.

“…”

Marianne picked up the Holy Spear leaning against the wall. She circulated mana through her body to gather strength. Tucking the compass in her arms, Marianne left the building. Total darkness enveloped the world. There was only one destination in her mind. Step by step, she made her way toward the ominous presence of the fog.

“Why are you here?”

Marianne came face to face with an unexpected figure.

“I thought some fool might try to break Elroy’s orders and enter the Mist, but your mana has been flowing uncontrollably.”

Daphne spoke in a hoarse voice as she stood alongside paladins of the Holy Land. It seemed to be the after-effects of sitting in her room alone and crying non-stop. Her hair was disheveled, and her face, like Marianne’s, was haggard from not eating and sleeping well.

“Go home, Marianne. We haven’t even gotten to the deadline Elroy promised, and if you go in there now, you’ll only interfere with his task.”

Marianne pursed her lips.

“Do you believe he’s fine?”

“…I have faith in him.”

Marianne lowered her Holy Spear and clenched it.

“He’s going to need help.”

“I’m holding myself back as it’s the only thing I can do.”

Daphne said in a pained voice, her face contorting. Again, tears filled her violet eyes.

“If I step in there, I’m afraid I’ll be a distraction to him. A nuisance.”

“If Elroy thinks of me like that…”

Daphne looked at Marianne with determined eyes, drawing on her mana.

“I can’t let you in, Marianne. You can call me a coward, but I can’t do anything that might stand in Elroy’s path.”

Marianne gripped the Holy Spear with both hands. Golden energy coursed through her body and swirled at her feet.

“…Why can’t you listen.”

Daphne’s tear-filled eyes sparkled in the light of her magic. Marianne pointed her spear at her, feeling the pressure, now much more potent.

“…I can’t let you enter.”

Translator’s Corner

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. There were supposed to be two chapters today, but I’ve been surprisingly busy. The same might happen tomorrow, but I can guarantee the double on Sunday.

-Ruminas