Chapter 491 - Episode 12: The Role Model
I haven't yet mastered the magic control to repeatedly cast ultra-high-level spells, so I limited the direct treatment to only one person.
"I will draw a magic circle to create magic water, so I apologize, but please have the others use that. It should be effective for two weeks, so in the meantime, please warm your bodies by getting into hot water mixed with the magic water produced. You will surely get better."
The one person I illuminated thanked me with tears, and I was practically worshiped by the surrounding patients.
It was also the first time Lloyd-sama had seen it directly. While I was illuminating them, and again afterward, he knelt and offered a prayer to the Goddess for the patients' healing, and Sianya and the priest in charge followed him in chanting.
"What can I say, it is truly a miracle."
Duke Harmonia said this, but magic was originally a miracle bestowed by the Goddess.
"At some point, when the time is right, would you be willing to have an audience with the King of our country?"
"No, well, such things must go through the Church..."
It would be troublesome if it became a grand affair. I thought to refuse, but I regretted it the moment I spoke.
"That is a good idea. Then, I shall send a letter to the Great Cathedral in the Royal Capital of Medioland. Although we are at war, this is a discussion between churches, so there is no problem."
"Indeed. Uncle. I apologize for the trouble, but please do so."
This is bad. I've completely dug my own grave.
"No, well..."
I looked at Sianya, trying to gloss it over somehow.
"Archbishop Lloyd."
"What is it, Bishop Sianya?"
"Jeanne is a priest with no church affiliation."
"What, is that so!"
He was quite surprised.
I learned later that there are no 'strays' in Sertogne.
"Therefore, in this case, I believe we must also speak with the Kingdom of Sertoria. As you know, Jeanne is a citizen of the Kingdom of Sertoria. Furthermore, since Sertoria has a state church system, it is all the more so."
As expected of a candidate for a national advisor. Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama aside, there's no way the current King would agree.
"Duke. In that case, it becomes a bit troublesome."
"Hmm. This time, she has come specially through the arrangements of Archbishop Cadogan."
"Yes. Should we instead pass through the Henry Party who are with her?"
That's dangerous. I absolutely want them to stop.
"No, let us refrain. We will likely be able to invite her without political circumstances eventually, so shall we wait for now?"
"Is that so? Then, let it be so."
That gave me a cold sweat. Sianya. You're looking composed as always, but thank you so much.
After being seen off by the patients, we also parted ways with Duke Harmonia and Edward-sama and went to another building.
It was a tower at the end of a passage, with a good view of the sea.
"My senior disciple is in this tower. His condition was particularly severe, and he was in a state where he was just... no, feeling the sea breeze while waiting for death."
Not only was he Archbishop Lloyd's senior disciple, but he was also a person of merit in various epidemic measures, including Just a Disease. He was moved to the tower by special arrangement. He apparently loved looking at the sea.
"Thanks to Bishop Jeanne's magic water, he has somehow pulled through and is now able to take normal meals. As I have already told you, he himself cannot see and cannot hear. By writing characters on his palm with a wooden stick, he can barely manage a conversation by feeling them."
A conversation with Archbishop Lloyd once a day is likely his only consolation. His passion for epidemic measures has not faded, and they are reportedly always discussing new herbs and research results.
"Actually, I have not informed him that Bishop Jeanne is visiting. Nor about Thought Communication. This is not the White Island. I was considering the 'what ifs'."
"I appreciate your consideration."
It wasn't just consideration for me, but likely consideration for his disappointment if I failed. I understood that feeling painfully well.
"Since I am inexperienced, I cannot manage ultra-high-level, but I can release high-level spells repeatedly. First, I will release Anti-Sepsis, and after that, I will release Thought Communication. If I am touching a part of the other person's body, the things I am thinking in my head will be transmitted."
"What a wonderful magic. I sincerely thank the Goddess, and Bishop Jeanne."
"Thank you."
Truly, I wish he would just thank the Goddess, but if I start saying that, the conversation will derail.
"He will likely be confused."
"I might be confused too."
I want him to do his best there.
"I will release Anti-Sepsis like I did for the patients earlier, so please briefly explain that to him. And please ask him to chant a prayer praising the Goddess even before I release it."
And then, I release Thought Communication.
I will tell him that with the wooden stick after releasing it. After that, I'll have him experience it and set up a place for the two of them, the Archbishop and him, to talk. That was the plan.
"Then, please."
I was given the signal by Lloyd-sama, who held a short wooden stick with a pointed tip in his hand.
With a slight nod, Bishop Lloyd opened the door to enter the tower.
Inside the tower, a person who appeared to be a man was sitting in a chair looking out at the sea. He was wearing a robe like gray work clothes.
The difference from normal patients was that he did not have his face or hands covered with cloth. He was exposing his face and hands, which were swollen and covered in scabs, to the sea breeze as they were.
"Lloyd?"
To my surprise, he was the one who spoke first.
It wasn't loud. But it wasn't weak either. It sounded a bit raspy, but he must be on the road to recovery.
"I visit at this time every day. When I am not here, others take turns."
In other words, he knows the time.
How on earth...
"Yes. Lloyd has come."
As Bishop Lloyd said this, he lightly tapped the man's left shoulder twice with the stick he held.
"Oh! As I thought. Lately, I have come to distinguish between you and the others. This too is thanks to that magic water."
Apparently, tapping the left shoulder twice was the signal. For other people, they would tap the right shoulder or change the number of times.
"You said you were going to the small island offshore, and you haven't shown your face for these past two days. And today you came. Was there some new discovery?"
Bishop Lloyd taps the right shoulder once.
"Oh! Is that so. Then you must tell me. I look forward to it."
His voice was bouncy. I could tell his heart was leaping. He was clearly enjoying himself.
When the man slowly held out his left hand, which had relatively light symptoms, in front of his body, Bishop Lloyd stood beside him. He slowly wrote characters on the man's palm with the pointed end of the stick.
"White... Island, guest... came. Ho ho, so a guest has come from the White Island. No doubt it is regarding support during the war. You were the one in charge of the treatment center on the small island. But was there something that affected your research? Did you perhaps get your hands on a rare scroll?"
What a brilliant person. It's surprising enough that he already knows there's a war, but considering the situation, he deduced the general content from just three characters.
Furthermore, Bishop Lloyd continued to write characters.
"What, what... Jeanne... Bishop. Bishop Jeanne has come? Is it true?"
Bishop Lloyd taps the right shoulder once.
"W-what a wonderful thing. The one who healed this old man's illness. This illness of mine, which was incurable. And she is saving many patients..."
Suddenly, the man began to shake his head back and forth.
"Lloyd, surely you don't mean that Bishop Jeanne is right here now..."
Bishop Lloyd taps the right shoulder once.
"I-is it true? N-no, there is no way you would lie to me. But what a thing. Is this not truly a miracle? Oh, Great Goddess. I thank you. And Bishop Jeanne, you are the one I have been seeking!"
He probably didn't think I was right beside him. At the same time he was told, he began a prayer to the Goddess while in a state of semi-excitement.
◆◆◆◆
"That person didn't lose his composure as much as I thought."
He seemed quite excited when he learned I had come here, but as Sianya said, he calmed down while chanting the prayer to the Goddess.
Even when I actually released Anti-Sepsis, he wanted to know the situation when the magic was activated, told Lloyd-sama what kind of changes were occurring in himself, and wanted to know how he had changed.
He already had knowledge about Thought Communication as well, and as soon as I brought it up, he requested that I release it. When I actually released it, his curiosity—or rather, his spirit of inquiry—became even more prominent; he wanted to know in detail about the effects of the magic and asked various questions. Perhaps because he was excited, he asked questions in rapid succession, and I was the one who almost lost my composure.
"He's a researcher to the core. He was asking all sorts of things about Anti-Sepsis."
She was giggling.
"He resembles my father... the King of Primordia."
The King of Primordia works enthusiastically on the management of his territory. He has no attachment whatsoever to things like authority or power. On the contrary, there are even signs that he feels it is bothersome to be involved in such things.
"But now, the two of them are..."
The sound of Bishop Lloyd sobbing and the man's voice speaking as if to encourage him could be heard fitfully from beyond the door. I feel like the roles are reversed. When the man was asking me questions in rapid succession, his voice was reaching Bishop Lloyd as well. He had broken down in tears and the hand he had on the man had come away, but when the question time ended, the man spoke to Bishop Lloyd, and since the two of them started talking, we stepped away.
"Let's walk a bit."
It's not that we were eavesdropping, but it's better if the voices can't be heard. Just like that, invited by Sianya, we went out of the tower and walked toward the sea.
The sea breeze felt pleasant.
Since the sun was setting considerably, the undulating sea surface was tinged with a bit of red.
It wasn't that far to the cliff by the sea. In this area, there are sandy beaches below the small cliffs. There are places that slope gently, and there are small paths. If you go down those small paths, you can get to the sandy beach. We went to a place overlooking one of those small paths and sat down together to look at the sea.
"Hey, Jeanne. Why did you become a priest?"
As we were chatting while looking at the sea for no particular reason, Sianya suddenly asked me.
"I became a priest by my father's instructions. It was to put Edward, the orphan of the previous King—my father's older brother—on the throne. That's why my older and younger brothers also became priests."
It was to avoid a succession struggle. The one before the previous King, who culled the Demon Lord along with Henry-sama, and the previous King, who repelled the great army of Engrio with Primordia alone. If Edward-sama, who could be said to have brilliantly inherited the martial prowess of those two, became King, he could hold his own against the great nobles like the Prime Minister who held great influence in the royal palace. That must have been the judgment.
"That's why all three of us were told that once Edward is enthroned, we can return to secular life and get married."
That's the first I've heard of that. If other countries got wind of it, wouldn't they scramble to arrange marriage partners? In a sense, it's at the level of a state secret.
However, it's better for royalty to have children. Even if Edward-sama is extremely healthy, there's no guarantee that nothing will happen to the King's children. If there are children in the royal family, the royal house will not die out. Perhaps because the Kings of Sertoria have been henpecked for generations, there are no mistresses, but I've heard that normal royalty keep mistresses and have them bear children. What they call illegitimate children.
"But you know, although I didn't become a priest because I wanted to, since I started helping with my father's work from a priest's position, I've started to think that maybe it's okay to keep working for poor people like this. My quiet older and younger brothers also say they like the peaceful life spent in the church, so they might remain priests forever."
Sianya is a talented woman expected to be a future national advisor. No, she already serves as a consultant to the current King, and there are signs that she serves as a tutor rather than an assistant to Crown Prince Edward. She must think about many things on a daily basis, and she likely has many worries as well.
"The reason I became a priest was..."
She trusted me and confided in me, ignoring our positions. I must answer properly.
"When I was born, it was in exchange for my mother's life. That's why I don't know my family. But you know, thanks to the teachers at the orphanage, I wasn't lonely. And you know, the teachers at the orphanage who delivered me apparently swore a covenant to the Goddess in front of my mother that they would raise me properly, so she should rest assured. At the last moment, my mother apparently had a peaceful smile. That's why I thought I wanted to become a person like that... a priest."
"Hero Catherine, right?"
"Yeah."
In addition to that, the other one is the Princess of Sertoria. I heard this after I learned her true identity, but Jennifer-sensei apparently told my mother that. Well, I can't tell anyone this.
"I see. The best role model. Like that person is for Archbishop Lloyd."
I see. That's true too.
The Headmistress is, although a monster, still human. If the time comes, maybe I'll become like that too. At that time, the Headmistress will surely encourage me gently.
"And like the King of Primordia is for me."
Sianya. If he heard that line just now, he might cry with joy.
"Ufufu. It's a secret."
Saying that, Sianya laughed.
Sianya stood up, saying it was about time to go back, so I stood up with her. The sun was starting to set. I have to rejoin Archbishop Lloyd and the others before the effect of Thought Communication wears off.
"I see, Catherine-sama, huh."
Sianya said, looking at me. It was a smile with a bit of hidden meaning, something I've never seen before.
"That's why Jeanne is so strong against alcohol. Even though you're always drinking with that man who's complaining, I've never seen you drunk once."
What!
I-I, you know, I keep my own pace, and with the Headmistress...
"Ufufu. I'll pretend I haven't noticed."
What do you mean by that! Listen to what people say until the end...
"I have to make Edward keep his mouth shut too."
Saying that with a laugh, she left me standing there in a daze and walked briskly toward the tower where Archbishop Lloyd and the others were.
Honestly, really. A priest has to listen to what people say properly!