Chapter 17
From the moment he was born and lost his mother, and even his father was imprisoned in the abandoned tower afterward, the only family he had was Elcai.
There were no warm words or actions, but just by existing, Elcai had become his mental pillar.
So, this sudden tragedy was utterly unbelievable to him.
It was so bad that he even thought, ‘Maybe because I laughed a few days ago, this tragedy came as punishment for that.’
Asil, who had followed behind, looked at Edinber with worry.
‘Husband….’
She had come out to at least comfort him, but it didn’t seem like comforting him would lift his spirits.
Asil recalled the dream where Viante’s massive bear beastman had sent Edinber and Elkai flying.
And she also remembered herself being surrounded by humans holding swords and torches after the two had weakened.
‘The leader of Munlepe without grandfather and husband isn’t good.’
There was only one way to solve this problem.
‘I need to find that human called the heroine.’
Apprentice priest, pink hair, around the same age as the male lead.
Fragments of information about the heroine that she had heard from her mom came to mind.
She didn’t know if her birthday was the same as that god guy’s, but since it was said in the original story that she fixed it, she could probably do it.
* * *
The next day, Asil woke up early and packed two strawberries in a black cloth bundle, tying it securely on her back.
Just as she was about to set off with confident steps.
She realized one very important problem.
‘Where does the heroine human live?’
She didn’t know where the heroine was. She knew she was around here somewhere….
Moreover, even escaping outside the castle was impossible without someone’s help.
Because she didn’t know the way.
“Ppi….”
Asil’s tail drooped limply in despair.
Asking her husband to help find her was out of the question, as the heroine human might not be able to treat grandfather. She didn’t want to give him false hope.
But the other humans were scary. What to do-
It was then.
“Where are you going?”
A human passing by the corridor happened to speak to her.
At the appearance of a familiar face, Asil’s eyes sparkled.
“Ppiiya!” (Knight human!)
At her extremely delighted appearance, the knight human, Dylan, flinched.
The atmosphere was already ominous, and with a bundle on her back, he had spoken to her wondering where she was trying to go.
But upon seeing her, his reptile phobia revived. That small black lizard was scary.
But Asil, completely unaware of that, nodded and placed both front paws on her waist.
‘He’s a good human who helped scold the bear friend together.’
Thanks to him, she had been able to become the leader of Monrepe more easily. She should ask for help with this matter too.
“Ppiiyat-ppi ppiya?” (Do you know where the priest humans live?)
“Unless there’s something special, most of them stay at the temple. But why is that….”
Ah, the temple! Asil’s eyes sparkled at having found the answer.
“Ppiiyat-ppi ppiyaa.” (You need to come with Asili somewhere.)
“Yes? Where to….”
“Ppii.” (You’ll know if you follow.)
Then, she started walking briskly. It was quite the sight, leading the way even though she didn’t know the road.
Dylan looked at her glossy back of the head with shaking eyes. What was she planning to do this time?
At that moment, Asil turned around and urged him.
“Ppiiyat-ppi!” (Hurry up!)
“……Yes.”
Was it just his imagination that he felt like he was getting dragged into a headache-inducing matter that would make even the bear beastman seem tame?
With a deep sigh, Dylan moved his feet sluggishly.
Just in case, he didn’t forget to stop by the lodging briefly and grab a fellow knight’s cat toy.
* * *
Theodore was a priest managing the apprentice priests at the Monrepe territory’s temple.
Today as well, he was irritably glaring at the list of the children under his charge.
“How can there be not a single source of money like this.”
Apprentice priest.
It literally referred to young children before their divine power manifested, not yet full-fledged priests.
Priests managing apprentice priests were mostly the object of others’ envy.
Because eight out of ten apprentice priests were young nobles, and their parents offered numerous bribes asking to take good care of our child.
However, unfortunately, Theodore did not belong to that group.
The apprentice priests under him were children from slums, orphans, and other impoverished classes with no connections.
The empire gave great benefits just for having one’s name on the apprentice priest list, even if one didn’t become a full priest.
From minor things like tax reductions to major ones like bonus points on the imperial palace management exam.
It was to help children in difficult circumstances in the name of God.
In line with that purpose, only children from impoverished classes could become apprentice priests.
However, a few money-grubbing priests started accepting noble children as apprentice priests, and the issue snowballed.
Once one starts, everyone follows.
Apprentice priest had now become an essential course for entering the imperial palace.
“But why did I end up in charge of kids like these!”
If nobles didn’t occasionally come to take children away to use as servants, there was absolutely no money-making opportunity.
Theodore pounded his innocent chest.
At least yesterday, it was fortunate that a certain perverted noble had paid a small sum to take a girl away.
It was then that a low-level priest under him came running.
“A guest has arrived!”
“What guest. Did someone cause trouble or something?”
“No, they say they want to take Selena away.”
“What?”
Theodore’s eyes widened.
Selena? Was he talking about that unpromising, sassy pink-haired orphan?
She was the type to glare fiercely with wide eyes and snap back at every word, so he had been planning to send her to that perverted noble who came yesterday, but truly, all sorts of things happen.
“Who on earth?”.
“They say they’re from the Munlepe Duke’s household.”
At that, Theodore was even more surprised.
No matter how much the family was declining, a duke’s house was still a duke’s house.
They would give far more than the noble who tossed a pittance yesterday.
He jumped to his feet and shouted loudly.
“What good is it to keep the guest waiting. Let’s go quickly!”
Then, with swift steps, he ran and arrived at the reception room in an instant.
* * *
Apprentice priest, pink hair, around the same age as the male lead.
Fortunately, there was exactly one human matching the conditions at the nearby temple. Her name was Selena, right.
Relieved, Asil covered herself with the black cloth and sat on the sofa, munching on the strawberries she had packed as a lunch.
“You must have had a hard time coming a long way. You want to take Selena away!”
“Yes.”
Dylan answered in place of Asil, who was hiding her identity.
He was currently barely hiding the expression of ‘What am I doing here.’
Just before entering the temple.
The one animal and one person had consulted with each other.
“I don’t know why you want to take an apprentice priest, but….”
“Ppi?”
“It would be best to hide your identity from the priests. If the divine beast comes directly saying they’ll take her, things could get complicated and not go as planned.”
“Ppii.”.
She thought it was a reasonable opinion, so Asil agreed.
But she refused the suggestion to wait in the carriage until Selena was brought.
‘I don’t want to be alone in an unfamiliar place.’
Being left alone in a remote area was more than enough just from coming to the human world after leaving the forest.
It was better to be with a familiar human than to be alone in the carriage.
Thus, she was now pretending to be the beloved pet of the Monrepe Duke, covered with the cloth.
“Hahaha, how do you know our Selena.”
“It’s something that happened when the Duke visited this place.”
Dylan gestured toward Asil, who was eagerly eating strawberries.
“He said the sight of her playing well with Ppippi was impressive.”
“Ah, so that guy’s name is Ppippi. Well, Selena is indeed a very kind and gentle child.”
Theodore, blinded by money, chimed in without verifying the facts.
“But unfortunately, someone else has already said they’ll take her— would you perhaps need another child?”
“Yes, it has to be Selena.”
“I see. Hmm, since both parties want the same child, what should we do.”
He dragged out the end of his sentence and put on a pretense of worry. Of course, his mind was only on money.
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By Anna 💓
