Chapter 4
The sky was overcast.
The sun was definitely up, so why did everything look so gloomy?
“Excuse me.”
Dantellion lowered his gaze and placed a hand on the old doorknob.
Creeeeak.
The first thing that greeted him was the musty smell of dust.
An abandoned house?
For some reason…… this place gave him the strange feeling that time itself had stopped.
Clink, clink.
Cold metallic sounds rang out whenever he moved. He slowly surveyed the interior.
After a moment—
His footsteps abruptly stopped.
“…….”
He was standing before a pile of old rags, bulging slightly in the middle.
A silver-gray thread—or rather, hair?—stuck out from the edge.
At that moment, the cold, expressionless face of the holy knight cracked ever so slightly.
Without realizing it, he reached out and lifted the blanket.
Then he let out a short breath.
What his hand pulled out limply was……
A rag doll with crudely stitched limbs.
Its eyes, nose, and mouth had been drawn crookedly, and a tiny thumbs-up sticker was attached to its chest……
Why.
Why did I think there would be a dead child beneath these white sheets?
A child.
Of all things, that was perhaps the existence with which he had the least connection.
A familiar headache began to throb.
With a low sigh, Dantellion straightened his back.
His neatly groomed, long silver hair cascaded over his broad shoulders.
“Sir Dante!”
At that moment, 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 shelters shortly!”
“You’ve done well.”
“Yes, sir. But…….”
Adjutant Marc glanced cautiously at Dantellion before asking,
“Why exactly are you here, Commander……?”
“…….”
“I mean, we could handle something like aiding the slum residents on our own…….”
Dantellion was silent for a moment before replying in his polished, measured voice.
“Of course I should be the one to handle this.”
That was what he said.
But even he didn’t know.
Why exactly am I here?
He had simply heard his adjutant report that they were going to District Z, and his body had moved on its own.
Was that all?
When he came to his senses, he was already standing in front of this hut.
……It bothers me.
It was the first time he had ever failed to control himself to this degree.
He had always been moved by nothing but the temple’s laws and his duties.
As a holy knight, he was exceptionally skilled at discarding unnecessary things.
Emotions.
Desires.
Relationships.
Affection.
Yet why today……?
Was there something I was looking for?
But…… what?
An object?
……A person?
“…….”
At that moment, the core near his heart gave a powerful throb.
A stabbing pain shot through his right arm and left eye.
He endured the pain until his jaw tightened, then slowly exhaled.
My holy power…….
Why has it become this corrupted?
He had no memory of the moment his holy power had become corrupted.
He could only speculate that perhaps the monster extermination campaign in the West had simply lasted too long.
But unlike the other holy knights, purification medicine had little effect on him.
As a result, all he could do was endure the attacks of pain that came upon him like seizures.
Is God…… testing me?
He had been born and raised to serve the Goddess.
Not once had he ever gone against that calling.
If You have given me a trial, I shall accept it gladly.
The moment his hand closed around the pendant he used for prayer, the agitation disappeared, replaced almost instantly by his usual impassive, dry expression.
“Commander!”
At that moment, Marc, who had been checking a carrier pigeon’s message, called out urgently to Dantellion.
“This report just came in from Unit Two. They found illegal drugs and traces of unusual magic inside the village chief’s house!”
Dantellion’s eyes turned cold.
“And…… there’s also a report that a wagon appears to have left through the northern gate—”
So that was it.
No wonder this place had been bothering him strangely from the moment he arrived.
As expected, God has led me here.
There were signs of a crime.
A straight, steady hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.
“Pursue it.”
His expression had returned to that of a stern, ascetic apostle as he continued.
“Effective immediately, seal every entrance and exit to District Z and secure the village chief first. And—”
Dantellion added one more thing without even realizing it.
“Question the villagers as well and investigate whether anyone is missing.”
“Yes, sir!”
He had no idea why those words had slipped from his mouth.
But he had a strange intuition.
A feeling that if someone had escaped from this place, he absolutely could not let them get away.
Dantellion spun around and strode out of the hut.
His heart was pounding unusually hard.
He instinctively reached for his prayer pendant, only to realize that he was still holding the rag doll.
“……Well, this is something.”
His empty gaze lingered on the doll.
Under normal circumstances, it was something he would never have spared a second glance.
Yet for some reason, he found it difficult to let go.
I should find its owner.
He slipped the doll into his cloak pocket and continued walking.
And at that very moment—
……Plop!
The thumbs-up sticker attached to the doll suddenly stuck itself to Dantellion’s body before being softly absorbed into him.
It happened so quickly that he failed to notice.
He merely thought that, strangely enough……
Breathing had become easier.
Dantellion’s hollow gaze stared straight ahead.
Unfortunately, his sky was still gray.
“Hyup!”
Crash! Rumble-rumble-rumble……!
The wagon tumbled down the ravine and was smashed to pieces.
“No way…… Do we really have to abandon my wagon too? I could’ve gotten at least five gold coins for that!”
Uncle Paul looked utterly miserable as he stared at his corpse wagon.
He scratched the back of his head and grumbled something, but I couldn’t really hear him.
I was pretending to be fine, but my heart was still pounding like crazy!
I almost got caught……!
Just a little while ago.
“Is anyone there?”
When Daddy came to the hut—
I put every ounce of strength I had into erasing the drawings on the floor, then escaped through the little dog door behind the house.
“W-Why on earth did Daddy come here?!”
I ran madly through the alley while rubbing the back of my neck.
“Just as I thought, it’s not there……!”
There used to be a tiny mark there.
The symbol of the direct bloodline of the House of Klein, which had been faint when I was a baby and gradually became clearer as I grew.
In my previous life, an old woman from the slums who took care of me discovered the mark and sent a letter to Daddy before she died.
But now, my connection with Daddy had been completely severed.
So naturally, the mark had disappeared as well.
I don’t understand what’s going on at all…….
Anyway, after that—
I ran at full speed until I reached Uncle Paul in front of me.
Or, to be precise, the undertaker of this district.
“Mister! Please help me get out of here too!”
“Ack! You scared me!”
Uncle Paul was in charge of handling corpses, so he had relatively free access in and out of District Z.
Most importantly, according to my memories from my previous life, Uncle Paul was supposed to leave District Z today and head north!
“You brought this, didn’t you?”
I thrust a pamphlet advertising migration to the North into his hands.
“You get a house! And land too!”
“Uh, well, that’s true, but…….”
And that was how I managed to escape District Z by hiding in Uncle Paul’s corpse wagon.
Then, just a little while ago, we even disposed of the wagon to erase any traces of our escape.
We also made sure to throw our belongings, one by one, into the ravine.
This way, even if someone follows our trail, they’ll think we fell down here and died, right?
“No, but…… Do we really have to go this far just to fake our deaths?”
“You said you didn’t want to get caught by the holy knights who came to your village!”
“Well…… yeah. That’s true. I did run away from forced labor in the Imperial Palace once. If they catch me, I’ll go straight to prison.”
“Exactly!”
I told him there was no such thing as being too careful and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
Pheeeeew. That really was like a storm…….
My limbs were trembling as though all the strength had been completely drained from my body.
Still, there was one thing I could be grateful for.
“……You have to stick close to Daddy, okayyy!”
Right before escaping the hut, I had successfully left behind a holy-power sticker.
I had no idea where that burst of quick thinking had come from, but thank goodness I’d managed it.
Of course, because of that……
[(Empty) The Sticker Book is empty (Empty)]
“Whiiine…….”
I had become a real beggar child with zero money and zero holy-power stickers……
But it was okay!
As long as Daddy can be all right, I don’t mind being a little beggar!
“Whew…… Kid! If you don’t hurry up, I’m leaving you behind!”
“N-Nooo!”
I hopped onto Uncle Paul’s back.
He carefully headed into the forest, making sure not to leave any footprints behind.
I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.
“Geez…… Does this fluffy little thing even know what kind of man I am before following me around……?”
Uncle Paul grumbled.
Does he know what kind of person he is?
Of course I do.
My savior!
I had once asked Daddy about it in my previous life.
“B-But how did you know I was your daughter……?”
It was back when I still found it strange that I had a father.
Daddy held me tightly in his arms as I fidgeted constantly, yet he didn’t seem bothered at all.
“I received a letter. Children who escaped from District Z brought me a letter written by a woman named Annie before she died.”
“Reeeally?”
“They said an undertaker named Paul secretly helped them escape by hiding them in his corpse wagon. Do you happen to know anything about him?”
District Z was an isolated slum.
A place where it was commonplace 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 also became kind enough to show others kindness for no reason at all.
Thanks to Uncle Paul’s kindness, I was able to meet Daddy.
I wonder how Uncle Paul was doing after he went to the North in my previous life.
Was he happy?
I didn’t know, but……
This time, I’ll definitely repay him for his kindness!
I clung to Uncle Paul’s back like a backpack and gently rubbed my cheek against him.
“Heh heh, that tickles. You little rascal.”
Then I quietly turned my head to look behind us.
“…….”
I could see the tiny outline of District Z below the hill.
I thought I could faintly hear the rough pounding of hooves, but……
It was already nothing more than a sound coming from a distant place.
Daddy’s voice still lingered in my ears.
But I shouldn’t think about it anymore.
I don’t want to see Daddy.
I saw him way too much in my previous life. I really, really don’t want to see him at all.
So…… this is just a goodbye.
Goodbye, Daddy.
I secretly waved my hand.
This time, Hani had become independent early.
Forget everything and live happily ever after!!
And so, I left the Imperial Capital.
Then, about three weeks later—
After a long journey filled with countless twists and turns—
“Woooooaaaaah!”
“We’re in the Noooooorth! Yaaahoooooo!”
The two scruffy little travelers had finally arrived in the North!
[Errand completed! (Requester: God of Travel)]
[“Yaaahoo! Go to the North and shout it out!”]
[Reward: 10 Pure, Pollution-Free Holy Power Stickers]
[Would you like to receive your reward?]
[illu002]
