RNFB 4

Chapter 4

The sky was overcast.

The sun was clearly up, so why did everything look so gloomy?

“Excuse me.”

Dantalion lowered his gaze and placed his hand on the handle of the old door.

Creeeak.

The musty smell of dust was the first thing to hit him.

‘Is this place empty?’

For some reason… this place gave him the strange feeling that time itself had stopped.

Clink, clink. A cold metallic sound rang out whenever he moved. He slowly surveyed the inside.

After a moment.

His steps suddenly stopped.

“…”

In front of a pile of old rags with a bulge in the middle.

A silver-gray thread sticking out from the edge… No, was that hair?

At that moment, the slightest crack appeared in the holy knight’s cold, expressionless face.

Without realizing it, he moved his hand and lifted the blanket. Then he let out a short breath.

What came limply into his hand was…

A rag doll with awkwardly attached limbs.

Crookedly drawn eyes, nose, and mouth. A tiny thumbs-up sticker stuck to its chest…

Why.

Why had he thought there would be a dead child beneath those white rags?

‘A child.’

As if that were anything but the one existence he had the least connection with.

A familiar headache came pounding back.

With a low sigh, Dantalion straightened his back. His neatly groomed long silver hair flowed over his broad shoulders.

“Sir Dante!”

His adjutant came running over.

“As you ordered, we’ve dispatched all the holy knights to District Z. We’ll be transferring the residents to the temple shelter shortly!”

“Good work.”

“Yes, sir. But…”

Adjutant Marc glanced at Dantalion before asking cautiously.

“Captain… Why exactly are you here…?”

“…”

“We can handle something like helping the poor among ourselves, you know…”

Dantalion remained silent for a moment before answering in his refined voice.

“Of course I should take care of this myself.”

Those were the words he gave.

But even he didn’t know.

Why exactly he was here.

The moment he’d heard his adjutant report that they were going to District Z, his body had moved on its own.

That was all.

Yet when he came to his senses, he was standing in front of this hut.

‘…It’s bothering me.’

It was the first time he’d ever been unable to control himself to this extent.

After all, the only things that had ever guided him were the temple’s doctrines and his duty.

As a holy knight, he was skilled at discarding anything unnecessary. Emotions, desires, relationships, affection, and so on.

But why today?

‘Was there something I was looking for?’

But… what?

An object?

…A person?

“…”

At that moment, the core near his heart throbbed violently.

A piercing pain struck his right arm and left eye. Clenching his jaw as he endured the pain, he let out a thin breath.

‘My divine power…’

Why had it become so contaminated?

He had no memory of when his divine power had become contaminated. He could only guess that perhaps the western monster extermination campaign had gone on for too long.

But unlike other holy knights, even purification agents had little effect on him. As a result, he had no choice but to endure the pain whenever it came upon him like a seizure.

‘Is God… testing me?’

He was someone who had been born and raised to serve the goddess. He had never once gone against that mission.

‘If You give me a trial, I’ll gladly accept it.’

The moment he gripped his prayer pendant, his agitation disappeared, replaced by his usual indifferent and dry expression.

“Captain!”

Marc, who had been checking the carrier pigeon, urgently called out to Dantalion.

“This just came in from Squad Two. They found illegal drugs and traces of strange magic in the village chief’s house here!”

Dantalion’s eyes turned cold.

“And… there’s a report that a wagon seems to have left through the northern gate…”

So that’s what it was.

He’d felt strangely bothered by this place from the moment he arrived.

‘As I thought, God guided me here.’

There were signs of a crime.

A straight, well-kept hand tightened around his sword.

“Pursue them.”

His face once again became that of a stern and ascetic apostle.

“Effective immediately, seal all entrances and exits to District Z and secure the village chief first. And.”

Dantalion added another command without realizing it.

“Question the villagers and investigate whether any of the residents are missing.”

“Yes, sir!”

He didn’t know why those words had come out of his mouth. But he had a strange intuition.

The feeling that if someone had escaped from this place, he absolutely couldn’t let them get away…

Dantalion abruptly turned and left the hut. His heart was beating unusually hard.

As he instinctively reached for his prayer pendant, he realized he was still holding the rag doll.

“…Oh.”

His empty gaze lingered on the doll. It was something he normally wouldn’t have spared a glance, yet for some reason, it was difficult to let go.

‘I should find its owner.’

He put the doll into his cloak pocket and walked on.

And at that exact moment.

…Snatch!

The thumbs-up sticker attached to the doll stuck to Dantalion’s body, then was gently absorbed into him.

It happened so quickly that he didn’t notice.

He only thought that, strangely… breathing felt easier.

Dantalion’s hollow gaze stared straight ahead.

Unfortunately, his sky was still gray.

* * *

“Ungh!”

Crash, rumble-rumble-rumble…

The wagon rolled down the ravine and broke into pieces.

“No… Do I really have to throw away my wagon too? I could’ve gotten five gold coins for that if I’d sold it!”

Mister Paul looked miserable as he stared at his corpse wagon. He scratched the back of his head and grumbled about something, though I couldn’t really hear him.

I was pretending to be fine, but my heart was still pounding!

‘I almost got caught…!’

A little while ago.

“There, is anyone inside?”

When Dad came to the hut.

I used every ounce of my strength to erase the scribbles on the floor, then escaped through a hole behind the house.

“W-why did Dad come here?!”

I ran madly through the alley, rubbing the back of my neck.

“As I thought, it’s not here…!”

There used to be a small mark here.

The ‘symbol of the direct line of house Klein,’ which had been faint when I was a baby and gradually became clearer as I grew.

In my previous life, the old woman from the slums who took care of me discovered this mark and sent a letter to Dad before she died.

But this time, the bond between Dad and me had been severed completely. Naturally, the mark had disappeared too.

‘I don’t understand what’s going on…’

Anyway, after that.

I ran at full speed to Mister Paul, who was right in front of me…

In other words, the undertaker of this district.

“Mister! Please take me out of here too!”

“Gah! You scared me!”

Mister Paul was responsible for handling corpses, so he had relatively free access in and out of District Z.

‘More importantly, according to my memories from my previous life, Mister Paul was leaving District Z for the north today!’

“You brought this, right, Mister?”

I thrust the northern relocation pamphlet toward him.

“They give you a house! And land!”

“Uh, yeah, they do, but…”

And that’s how I was able to escape District Z hidden inside Mister Paul’s corpse wagon.

And just a little while ago, we even disposed of the wagon to erase any traces of our escape.

We didn’t forget to throw Mister’s belongings and mine into the ravine one by one, either.

That way, even if someone followed our trail, it’d look like we’d fallen down here and died, right?

“Seriously, did we have to fake our deaths this thoroughly?”

“You said you didn’t want to get caught by the holy knights who came to your village!”

“Well… that’s true. I once escaped while doing forced labor at the imperial palace. If they catch me, I’ll be going straight to prison.”

“Exactly!”

I told him it was better to be safe than sorry and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

‘Phewww. That really was like a storm…’

My limbs trembled as if all the strength had been drained from my body.

Still, there was one thing I was relieved about.

“…You gotta stick right onto Dad, okay!”

Just before leaving the hut, I’d managed to leave the divine power sticker behind. I had no idea where I’d gotten that kind of quick thinking, but thank goodness I did.

Of course, because of that…

[(Empty) Your Sticker Book Is Empty (Empty)]

“Eep…”

I had become a real beggar child with 0 money and 0 divine power in my possession, but…!

It’s okay!

‘As long as Dad can be okay, I don’t care if I’m a little poor!’

“Phew… Kid! Hurry up or I’m leaving you behind!”

“N-no, wait!”

I hopped onto Mister Paul’s back.

Mister carefully headed into the forest, making sure not to leave any footprints.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

“Geez… Does this little puffball even know what kind of guy I am before following me around…”

Mister grumbled.

‘Does she know what kind of person I am?’

Of course I do.

‘My savior!’

I’d once asked Dad in my previous life.

“B-but… how did you know that I was your daughter?”

It was back when I still found it strange that I had a dad.

Dad held me tightly in his arms without seeming to mind how much I fidgeted and said,

“I received a letter. Children who escaped from District Z brought me a letter written by a woman named Annie before she died.”

“Reaaally?”

“They said an undertaker named Paul secretly let them escape by hiding them in his corpse wagon. Do you know anything about that?”

District Z was an isolated slum.

A place where it was normal for the youngest and weakest to die first.

When you lived in a place like that, some people became villains who stole other people’s bread.

But some people became kind enough to show kindness for no reason at all.

Thanks to Mister Paul’s kindness, I was able to meet Dad.

‘I wonder how Mister Paul lived after going to the north in my previous life?’

Was he happy? I didn’t know, but…

‘This time, I’ll definitely repay his kindness!’

I clung to Mister’s back like a backpack and gently rubbed my cheek against it.

“Heh heh, that tickles. You little rascal.”

Then I slowly turned my head to look behind us.

“…”

I could see the tiny District Z below the hill.

I thought I could faintly hear the rough sound of horses’ hooves, but… it was already nothing more than a sound from far, far away.

Dad’s voice still lingered in my ears.

But I shouldn’t think about it anymore.

‘I don’t want to see Dad.’

I’d seen him so much in my previous life that I really, really didn’t want to see him anymore. So… this was just a goodbye.

‘Goodbye, Dad.’

I secretly waved my hand.

This time, Haniel had become independent early.

‘Forget everything and live happily ever after!!’

And so, I left the capital.

About three weeks later.

After a long and eventful journey.

“Woooooah!”

“The north! We’re in the noooorth! Yee-haw!”

The two grimy kids finally arrived in the north!

[You have completed the errand! (Requester: God of Travel)]

[“Yee-haw! Go to the north and shout it out!”]

[Reward: 10 Pure, Unpolluted Divine Power Stickers]

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