Chapter 05
Samuel did not betray the temple’s expectations.
He had found me so easily that the temple, trusting in his abilities, would confidently open the city gates, and the strict inspections would return to normal. The loosening of the city’s checkpoints was welcome news to me as well.
As if to prove my guess correct, the impromptu inspections that had been conducted on the streets were nowhere to be seen.
Now I would be able to secure a carriage to secretly ride out. Even if not, anything was fine—my options had increased.
Fingering the temple treasure hanging around my neck, I calmly organized my thoughts. It was possible to remove this and divert Samuel’s attention, even if only briefly.
The problem was that the time I’d gain wouldn’t be long, and despite that, I had to make a clean escape from this city within that short window.
Contacting a back-alley broker to arrange a carriage or horse would take too long.
Honestly, I’d expected there to be at least a rat hole in the city, but I never thought they’d manage the city walls so thoroughly. Should I look for an underground sewer instead?
As I mulled over a few alternatives, I arrived at a grocery store. Perhaps surprised by the unexpected location, Samuel, who had been quiet all along, spoke to me.
“Do you cook your own meals?”
“Why, do you think I’ve never gotten my hands dirty?”
In truth, I had never cooked a meal with my own hands.
However, I was confident in my ability to pretend to be familiar with anything. As a daughter of Roam, I should naturally be able to deceive everyone.
Like my mother’s flamboyant act, which was rumored to have made her bedridden from missing her daughter.
“You don’t need to do such laborious tasks yourself.”
“It’s a hobby.”
I picked up a basket of acorns and casually lifted my eyes. Glancing up, I saw a bird, appearing as a mere dot in the high sky, circling round and round. I nonchalantly shifted my gaze to the display stand.
“…I wonder if the meat from this shop is fresh.”
To find fresh meat with blood still dripping, I visited dozens of butcher shops.
Samuel seemed puzzled by my incomprehensible behavior, but perhaps because it was too trivial to accuse as suspicious, he offered no objections. He might even think I genuinely enjoyed cooking.
My hands had the power to produce the worst possible outcome from anything, but that fact was completely unknown even during my time at Roam.
The handkerchief I’d gifted to Maxel had been commissioned from a master embroiderer, and everyone believing it was my own handiwork was also part of that.
I heard Lilia was good with her hands. She was said to be skilled in housework and had a talent for making simple crafts, often gifting handmade items or snacks to acquaintances. The handkerchief Maxel used was also Lilia’s work.
In many ways, Lilia was a woman completely opposite to me.
She came from a fallen family but happened to gain acquaintance with a lower noble, came up to the capital, happened to catch the eye of some mediocre count and received patronage, and then happened to obtain the rare opportunity to attend an imperial palace banquet.
Her life, as told by rumors, was made entirely of coincidental good fortune. Unlike my life, which had been tightly woven without gaps from birth.
“Resurrected One?”
A low call brought me back to my senses. The butcher, who had wrapped the fresh meat still dripping with blood, stood awkwardly, glancing at Samuel. I was about to belatedly receive the meat from his hands, but Samuel reached out first.
“Let me carry it for you.”
He seemed to think I was hesitating because I was reluctant to take the meat myself.
I was about to snatch the meat from him but then changed my mind. It was a large, heavy load and smelled fishy; I didn’t really want to carry it myself anyway. Since he was offering help based on his own misunderstanding, there was no reason to refuse.
“Then let’s head back to the room now.”
“Aren’t you going to cook today?”
“Yes. I’m tired from just buying the ingredients.”
“You intend to leave raw meat in the room?”
“Why?”
Leaving raw meat in a cramped room would naturally fill the place with a fishy smell. The freshness of the meat would also decline, and it might even spoil.
Having witnessed my struggle to find freshly caught meat, it was natural for him to find my actions completely incomprehensible.
But unfortunately, I had no intention of explaining. Furthermore, I secretly hoped he would misunderstand in a different direction.
“What, are you afraid I might use it to perform some dark magic?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sir Knight knows that can’t be the case. Evil beings delight in fresh life, they say—what could one do with dead meat?”
As I muttered carelessly, a cold emotion flickered across Samuel’s face. It wasn’t intimidating at all.
“I’m just doing this to make you work hard. I’m tormenting you, right now.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I plan to serve you a dish made with that meat.”
I went around to butcher shops to find fresh meat I didn’t need, deliberately let it spoil, and then feed you what I make from it. Because I want to torment you.
My words were easy to understand. They were filled with malice that anyone with a grasp of language would notice.
I gazed at Samuel, hoping to see even a hint of disgust on his face. His gray eyes were calm.
“God sends trials in many forms. Submission is only natural for His servant.”
“…Let’s hurry back. I want to rest.”
Ah, I’m tired.
Perhaps my emotions were plainly written on my face, as Samuel asked with a hint of curiosity.
“If tormenting someone consumes unnecessary mental energy, do you need to go to the trouble of doing it?”
“Are you asking me if I have a reason to torment you, right now?”
“Yes.”
“Evil is evil; it doesn’t need a grand reason. You must not have heard my reputation. I was famous for my wickedness.”
“Now that you are a Resurrected One, you may cast aside whatever worldly name you once had.”
“Like you did?”
Even my sarcastic mood had vanished. In its place, a cold chill settled.
Samuel did not answer my retort. Since I knew it would be an affirmation even without hearing it, I didn’t slow my pace and replied in an indifferent tone.
“I haven’t devoted myself to the temple, you know.”
“But you are the Resurrected One.”
I felt as if bile was rising within me. I did intend to cast aside my worldly name, as Samuel said, but not because I was the Resurrected One.
“My name isn’t Resurrected One, Sir Samuel.”
Right after speaking, I felt a slight regret.
It was a sense of futility—why was I even trying to converse with a religious fanatic who would even accept incomprehensible malice as God’s trial?
Judging by his mindset, he clearly wouldn’t even know my name.
“God…”
“If you keep preaching.”
I had been walking looking straight ahead, but I stopped abruptly. Pointing with my chin at the package in Samuel’s hand, I warned him seriously.
“God will send a trial where you have to eat raw meat.”
Samuel fell silent.
It seemed even he didn’t want to eat raw, dripping meat. Thanks to that, the walk back was at least a little quieter.
It was the first moment his piety had proven somewhat useful.
—
The night wind was cold. It had been over an hour since I’d left the window open, so the air in the room had cooled to match the outside.
I was waiting with the raw meat draped over the windowsill. Was I hoping for too much, wishing this bloody smell would spread all the way to the high sky?
I was inwardly on guard, fearing that the one I was trying to call wouldn’t come and some useless beast might be drawn instead, when a large, dark shadow flapped in.
[Aneli!]
The squirrel, who had been nibbling on an acorn, startled and jumped onto my knee. I stroked the squirrel’s back with my fingertip and looked toward the window.
As a white bird’s head suddenly poked in from outside the window, I let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re late.”
At my whispered reprimand, the eagle flapped its wings.
[Did you wait for me, Aneli?]
“Yes.”
When I nodded readily, the eagle’s fierce eyes turned to me.
Its bulging eyes made it look angry, but in fact, the eagle had a rather gentle disposition.
Though it had once attacked the squirrel, after I started giving it meat, it never attempted such a thing again.
[How did you know I’d arrived?]
“How could I not know?”
A chuckle escaped me at the unexpected question. You were flying all over the sky, calling my name so loudly.
[You heard me?]
“Yes.”
Even knowing that I was the only one who could hear that voice, my heart raced with anxiety that someone else might hear it. I was so flustered that I kept unconsciously glancing toward where the eagle’s cries came from.
“You came back to help me, right?”
[Aneli gives me meat! Thanks to you, my chicks are growing well!]
This father eagle had appeared in the main temple’s front yard to find food for its young.
This was also why the eagle was especially grateful for my diligent efforts to provide meat. Because I kept its chicks from going hungry.
…Even a beast knows to care for its young like this.
Pushing away the sentiment that suddenly arose, I leaned my upper body toward the eagle’s head.
“Is there a way?”
[I spoke to an older brother I know!]
The eagle raised its yellow beak triumphantly.
An older brother?
[He said he could carry you away, Aneli.]
“What?”
My voice involuntarily rose in disbelief. Immediately clamping my mouth shut, I glanced toward the door and held my breath for a moment.
Samuel would still be outside that door. Biting my tongue and composing myself, I asked in a whisper again.
“Is there a bird that big?”
[Yes!]
With such a confident look, it didn’t seem like a lie.
“When would it be possible?”
[Hmm, the older brother needs to be in a place where he can snatch you up.]
Certainly, if it was a bird large enough to lift a person, it wouldn’t be possible to meet in a narrow alley.
Then would the central plaza be good? As I took a deep breath and pondered, I glanced toward the door. I also needed to shake off that Samuel.
Fingering the magical tool around my neck, I suddenly looked down at the squirrel sitting on my knee. Truth be told, there was no creature as nimble as this one.
“Alright, this is the final operation.”
The squirrel, clutching its acorn, looked up at me with bewildered eyes. Meeting the squirrel’s gaze, I smiled faintly.
I could see my face faintly reflected in the squirrel’s clear eyes.
