by Funa
Chapter 8: Visitors
Fernand, crown prince of the Kingdom of Brancott, had a glum look on his face. After Fabio and Allan visited the restaurant Kaoru had worked at the day after the prince’s disastrous party, they came saying they didn’t see her. The staff there said she may not be coming back at all since she received a summons from some big wig, so the two had given up and went home so as to not cause any trouble.
She actually skipped town? Is that really how far I drove her into a corner...?
After looking into where she could have gone, there were several eyewitness accounts of a girl covered in blood heading toward the city gates. The guard by the gate confirmed the story, adding in his testimony that the girl didn’t have much in the way of baggage as she left.
Did she make it to another town all right? Would she be able to find more work with a wound like that?
The more he thought about it, the heavier his heart became...
“I heard something interesting, Fernand,” Fabio said as he entered the room, a tinge of excitement in his voice. Considering how calm and collected he usually was, it was rare to see him like this.
“What are you talking about?” Fernand asked, his curiosity slightly piqued.
“Try not to be too surprised, all right? This is something I heard from a merchant who just got back to the capital from Grua. Apparently, there’s a girl there who claims to be a friend of the Goddess Celestine who can create miracles and has been helping people. She also did quite the number on the temple and the king.”
“What the heck is that all about?” Fernand balked. He couldn’t believe that Fabio was actually taken with that story. It was outrageous enough that even calling it gossip seemed far-fetched.
“So, about that supposed friend of the Goddess...”
He doesn’t know when to quit...
“She looks about eleven or twelve years old, with black hair and black eyes.”
...Wait, what was that?
“And it appears her name is ‘Kaoru.’”
“Think up a reason for us to go to Balmore! Government affairs, a courtesy visit, I don’t care what! Just make it so we can get going now!”
“I thought you might say that, so I already took the liberty of making preparations beforehand...”
Way to go, Fabio!
“All right, then let’s get out there and bring her back! Things are probably pretty dicey for her if she’s managed to pick a fight with both the temple and the king. This is the perfect chance to make our move!”
Though he had more or less reflected on what he did wrong before, it seemed like Fernand’s habit of jumping into action when things looked good only for him wasn’t going to be fixed anytime soon.
“Man, it sure is peaceful around here...”
Life for me was pretty quiet and uneventful after the dust had settled. I was a little worried that some of the more thick-headed people were going to come after me after that little public event. Like nobles, or... Well, just nobles, really. It looked like my threats worked though, seeing as I wasn’t really getting any unwanted visitors.
Even if someone captured me or tried forcing me to do anything, there wasn’t any point. Miracles had to pass through the Goddess, which meant she would find out what was going on in a heartbeat. There was no one out there who thought the Goddess would let anyone get away with taking me hostage.
I did say that Celes might come down and decimate the capital and everyone in it if they tried pulling anything, so I’m sure the higher-ups must have been pretty clear on drilling the idea into everyone’s heads that no one better lay a finger on me. I figured that after the royal family and the nobility weighed the pros and cons and considered the risk versus reward of forcibly getting into contact with me, they must have realized it just wasn’t worth it.
The same went for the temple as well. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t know who they were, which meant they couldn’t just drag me away with them since I made it clear I didn’t belong to their religion. The average citizen saw me as a normal girl who just happened to receive the favor of the Goddess. Though they were respectful of me, they didn’t go out of their way to give me any weird special treatment or anything—and that was just what I wanted. I don’t know if you could call me a “normal girl” if I received the favor of the Goddess though. Those with friends or family suffering from disease or other injuries may not actually be so composed on the inside, but they couldn’t try any funny business since they knew trying to extort or pressure me meant calling down the wrath of the Goddess.
There may be some people out there who wanted to see me or come meet me in person if I was working as a salesperson, but, unfortunately for them, I had nothing to do with the business side of the workshop. I just stayed in the back doing stuff like cooking meals and cleaning up, which meant there wasn’t any guarantee they’d see me if they tried paying a visit there. Even when I was out and about, everyone who knew me didn’t seem to mind if the Goddess liked me or not. They saw me as me, and treated me the same as always. The same went with everyone else I met too, since it actually didn’t seem like too many people realized who I was.
Though black hair wasn’t the most common trait in this world, you could find more than a few other people with that color in a place as densely populated as the royal capital. That wasn’t even mentioning that the crowd who had gathered for that public Q and A session only represented a fraction of the people living in the capital, and an even smaller fraction of them had been close enough to see what I looked like. They didn’t exactly have photos here either, so I didn’t have to worry about my face being plastered all over the news by the media. The only thing people seemed to know about me was that I was a girl “with black hair.” No one had caught a glimpse of my eye color or anything, so they didn’t know what I looked like besides that.
So that’s why I was here, casually strolling about town.
I wasn’t always going to the marketplace or the library, or even to see the kids at the rundown house or anywhere like that. Sometimes I would just go take walks by myself, and maybe do some shopping or grab myself a bite to eat.
As I was busy stuffing my face with the meat skewers I had just bought from a food stall, I spotted a real stunner of a woman walking toward me. She looked young enough that I should be calling her a “girl,” but any foreigner over fifteen looked like an adult in my eyes. You were considered an adult once you hit fifteen in this world, so maybe that wasn’t too far off anyway...
She stood tall, cutting a rather gallant figure. She walked at a brisk pace and wore a sword on her waist. Judging from her garments, she looked to be a knight, or at least a knight-in-training.
As we were just about to walk by each other, the girl stopped dead in her tracks as she stared directly at my face. The expression on her own turned into one of shock before she cried out, “Oh my... Goddess!”
Well that definitely sounded like the title of a certain long-running manga...
“...Who are you again?”
I was a little confused being called out by a girl I’d never seen before. The people around us seemed to think she’d just heard a wrong version of the rumors floating around, and paid us no mind.
“I-It’s me! Francette, the knight!”
“...Again, who?”
That was the moment Francette realized she’d never even given the girl her name the last time they met. Even if she did, however, Kaoru probably would’ve forgotten it by now.
Things could get complicated if Francette kept calling Kaoru a goddess, so Kaoru dragged her off to a restaurant, since there weren’t any cafes or coffee shops here.
There was still some
time before lunch, so the inside of the shop was basically empty. The two sat down in a corner where they wouldn’t stand out and randomly picked something off the menu.
Kaoru asked again, “So...who are you?”
Francette frantically began explaining everything.
She reminded Kaoru how they’d met in the forest, and how the potions Kaoru gave them not only healed Hector and Yunith’s grandmother, but what had happened when she used the other two potions at the royal palace. Kaoru could only stare on in blank amazement.
“So that’s why the palace was so quick to spring into action... But, that aside...” Kaoru leaned over and stroked Francette’s face. “I never would’ve thought it’d turn out this perfect... I guess that’s what you get when you receive weird powers from a higher being who rivals God themself...”
“Uh... What?”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing. Just talking to myself.”
After trying to play that off, Kaoru sank deep into thought.
Well...now what? Do I pretend like I’m not the “goddess” from before? Nah, that’s probably a no-go... Even if my hair is a different color, my face is still exactly the same. Might be pushing it to say it’s just a coincidence I look similar, too... It seems like she totally reveres me, so maybe if I play this off just right... Okay, let’s do this!
“Francette, there’s something I wish to ask of you.”
“Y-Yes, of course! Please make use of me however you’d like!” Francette responded with a whisper, mimicking the same hushed tone Kaoru had used.
There was plenty of distance between them and the other customers, but Kaoru kept her voice down low as she explained her request.
“...And that’s why I’m going around saying I’m Celestine’s friend. To be honest, that isn’t very far from the truth. All I’m doing is pretending to be a normal girl who... No, wait, that’s not a lie either. I’ve come down here in the form of a human, after all. I just happen to be a girl with some healing powers.”
“I-I see...”
After what had happened to her, Francette had returned to the territory under Earl Adan’s control to get her personal affairs in order, and had only just made her way back to the capital a few days ago. She’d been living at an inn while she waited to be called into work at the royal palace, which was why she knew next to nothing about what had happened with Kaoru and the others in the central plaza.
“Anyway, I’m enjoying my life as a normal human girl, and I don’t want anything getting in the way of that.”
“O-Of course! I would never do anything to let your secret out!” Francette swore, her back straight as an arrow.
“Oh, and while I appreciate you doing that, that’s not exactly what I wanted to ask you...” Kaoru answered as she began explaining.
Though she was living a peaceful life at the moment, it was difficult for her to give her blessings to the people the way things were now. She wanted to become allies with someone who held some sway here. They had to be someone she could trust to protect her secret, and had enough power and influence to make sure they’d protect both themselves and Kaoru.
On that point, she was wondering if Francette could stealthily put her into contact with the head of the household of the brother and sister she had met before. An earl should hold a pretty significant amount of power, and she’d already brought about a miracle for them with their grandmother—not to mention how the family and a good number of the king’s ministers had born witness to Francette’s own miraculous transformation. As well, there was probably a much smaller chance of them trying to pull anything compared to other nobles. She also didn’t want to risk the chance of having to cut ties with any of her previously made relationships because it would otherwise put them in danger.
However...
“Oh, I resigned from working for Earl Adan. I’ve already moved out of his domain and transferred here to the capital...”
“Huh?”
Kaoru found herself dumbstruck once more when she found out the plan she’d just managed to put together was all for naught.
“...That is why, starting tomorrow, I will be working under the employ of Roland, the king’s brother, as his personal guard.”
“What?!”
It looked like it was time for a change of plan...
That same time, at the royal palace—
“So our best course of action would be to reconcile with her, Roland?” King Serge asked his older brother.
“Right. We won’t push our luck, and instead just do our best to win her over and gain her trust.”
“Then let’s have the Lyodart family handle this for now. After that, it’s just a matter of using their influence to slowly expand the scope of people she’ll speak with until it includes us. Should we raise Viscount Lyodart to the status of earl and assign him a post so the other nobles won’t try to interfere?”
“Then he’d no longer be an ‘unimportant’ noble, right?” Roland replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Ah...”
Also at that same time, at the royal capital’s main temple—
“So, should we be thinking of a way to bring her to our side, Archbishop?”
“Correct. We will slowly grow closer to her until the day comes where we can finally invite her to the temple,” Archbishop Saulnier declared to Bishop Perrier. “She has already abandoned her home country, and she isn’t in possession of friends or acquaintances who belong to the same religion as her. I should think it only be a matter of time before she joins us in worshiping Celestine with the Temple of the Goddess.”
When he was finished, he turned toward the elderly oracle waiting patiently nearby.
“We shall be counting on you, Oracle Shaela. You are the one Goddess Celestine wished to speak to and deliver her divine revelation to the masses. I’m sure if anyone can earn the trust of a friend of the Goddess, it would be you. I shall have some others join you as well, so I leave it in your capable hands.”
“Yes, you can leave it to me,” Shaela respectfully answered.
Suddenly, a question popped into the archbishop’s head and found itself being asked on his lips just as quickly as it had appeared.
“Incidentally, Shaela...it has already been over fifty years since you last spoke with the Goddess. Do you think you could share what you talked about with her back then? I couldn’t help but wonder just what that could have been for these past fifty-three years, and I was hoping I might be able to know before I pass on, if at all possible...”
But the oracle only smiled and shook her head. “Not every word from the Goddess is a revelation for the masses, I’m afraid...”
“Is that so... Well, I already knew that was the answer I was going to get...” Archbishop Saulnier was smiling as he answered, but still seemed a little disappointed to hear it.
I can’t say it! I can’t just tell the archbishop that the only thing we discussed together were plans on how to get the attention of some guy she liked! That’s the only thing we did that whole time!
This was definitely a secret Shaela knew she had to take with her to her grave...
Back at the Maillart Workshop—
Everyone there was treating Kaoru just about the same as they usually did. The only things they asked from her were to help cook and clean. They weren’t trying to use her to get in the Goddess’s good graces, as they were more than happy just having a cute girl there with them. After all, it wasn’t like the Goddess herself would come down to help them cook and clean, or come help with the metalworking in the shop or anything like that.
Today, another member of the temple had come to pay a visit to the workshop. The oracle Shaela came every day to invite Kaoru to come to the temple so they could chat, and every day Kaoru would refuse because she didn’t want to go to any temple that was of a different religion than her own. This time, Shaela had come suggesting they meet at a restaurant instead. When Kaoru looked into the restaurant in question, she discovered that it was
supposed to have a completely soundproof room way in the back...
A shiver ran through Kaoru’s body, and she immediately shot down that particular idea.
The next time she heard from Shaela, it was to ask if she’d like to meet in a place of her choosing. Kaoru figured Shaela wasn’t going to give up until the oracle got a chance to see her again, so she resigned herself to visiting with Shaela—but not in any secret back rooms or anything. She wanted to meet in a place where everyone could see them.
A few days later, at a certain restaurant—
Kaoru had some free time between cleaning up after making lunch at the workshop and getting ready to make dinner. She set aside some of that time to give in and meet up with Shaela.
“My apologies for keeping you waiting.”
The oracle in question had appeared, along with an assortment of boys and girls following after her. There were five of them total, three boys and two girls spanning anywhere from ten to sixteen years old, each one of them more handsome or beautiful than the last.
A long, drawn out sigh escaped Kaoru’s lips.
“These are some of the children who are studying at the temple. When they heard I was coming to meet with you, they insisted on coming along as well...” Shaela explained as she took a seat, a smile playing on her lips.
“Right, sure...” Kaoru gave a listless reply. “So, why did you want to see me?”
Shaela panicked slightly after seeing how Kaoru had zero interest in the kids, switching the conversation to something they shared common ground on: Celestine.
“So, Kaoru...did Lady Celestine, erm...say anything about the other God she wanted to get along with?”
Though it was in front of the children, this was the only conversation she could bring up to talk to Kaoru about. She was hoping it would make Kaoru think Celestine was a close friend of hers as well.
“What, Celes talked to you about that, too? Yeah, she seemed pretty happy about having a chance to talk with him.”