Chapter 34 – Hope Theory

“And? What has the Saintess done this time?”

“She declared that she was the Saintess out loud.”

“Haaaah!?”

The surrounding people aim strange looks at Syltina as she unconsciously stops, and lets out a surprised cry.

“Syltina-sama, please hurry!”

“Ah, yes, sorry.”

Syltina, who was urged by Tyrtinkle to hurry, started running again as she shook her head at the slight dizziness she felt because Akari’s antics had caught her off guard once more.

“What kind of situation is it?”

Deciding that it was necessary to grasp the current situation at the moment, Syltina asks Tyrtinkle who then sighs while wearing an embarrassed expression.

“We were quite far when it happened so I don’t know the details, but the Saintess was arguing with a man, and when she noticed the master coming over to arbitrate between them, she revealed her identity in a loud voice.”

“Uwah……”

“Unfortunately, the place where she revealed herself was in the middle of a busy street, so she was immediately surrounded by many people and it was impossible to move.”

“And, so, Tyr came to get me.”

“Yes.”

“By the way, the townspeople also quite easily believed her. Don’t people normally doubt even for a bit?”

“Well that’s… at first there were definitely a lot of people who looked disbelievingly at her after she revealed that she was the Saintess. I don’t know if it’s because he couldn’t forgive that they were looking at the Saintess with such eyes, but the Prince immediately identified himself as one of the Royal family and raised the sword with the coat of arms……”

“That blockhead prince, I wonder if he could die just once…… Really now, I didn’t go through all that trouble trying to hide their identities just for it to come to this. In the first place, wasn’t there somebody with her nearby? What about Kuro and Yuto?”

“Kreutz took on the form of a raven and was sitting on top of a tree. Yuto was nearby, but pretended to be a bystander……”

“A bystander……”

“Yes. The master scolded him, but he merely said, ‘this is fine’.”

“Ah, I see. So, that’s how it was……”

“Syltina-sama?”

Syltina realized something about Tyrtinkle’s story and burst into laughter.

“Yesss, well, it seems like collecting them will be difficult in this situation, but certainly, it’s just as Yuto said, ‘this is fine,’ Tyr.”

“Haa…?”

“Fufu. You’ll understand later. For now, let’s hurry.”

And so, Syltina hurriedly went by speeding up, but by the time they arrived at the scene, the place was in a state that was overflowing with people, and at the center of it were Akari and Yuto, while Alhart and the others were nowhere in sight.

“Whoah……”

“You finally came, huh.”

Kreutz landed in front of Syltina, who exasperatedly called out as she was swept into the crowd of people.

“Kuro. Where are the culprits?”

“They’re in the middle of that.”

“Just as I thought……”

Changing from crow to human form, Kreutz pointed to the crowd with his eyes.

Now then, what shall I do? Shoulders slumped, a disappointed Syltina considers what to do next.

“Hmmm… a way to extract those people quickly, huh…… ah!”

“Have you thought of something?”

“Kuro, Tyr, lend me your ears for a bit.”

The two approached Syltina who beckoned with her hand to come closer, and the contents of what they heard produced two different emotions in their responses.

“As expected, Syltina-sama!”

Impressed, Tyrtinkle exclaimed.

Conversely, Kreutz replied,

“Certainly, it’s not like it can’t be done, but……”

Kreutz, for some reason, sighed as if he were truly tired.

“If you can do it, then don’t hold back. I’ll be in your care, Kuro.”

Sighing, Kreutz said, “As you wish, my liege*.”

Syltina laughed, as Kreutz exaggeratedly bowed and proceeded to disappear into an alley.

“Let’s go, Tyr. Shout as loud as you can.”

“Leave it to me.”

After taking a huge breath, as soon as they were out of Syltina’s sight, Kreutz, who called out to Tyrtinkle, turned into a being completely different from a human in a flash.

Confirming that Kreutz had indeed changed form, Tyrtinkle took in a huge gulp of air and simultaneously yelled as she exhaled.

“Eeeek!!! Demon!!!

“……”

“……Demon?”

After a few beats of silence, all eyes turned to Tyrtinkle, who was the source of the shriek, and behind her was the strange form associated with the black mist.

The moment they saw him, panic ensued.

“Now, this is how you raise hell.”

Tyrtinkle watched from above as the humans scrambled to escape while pushing each other. Moving her line of sight to the humans at the center, she murmured, “Oh my, look at how the Saintess and the Prince are like the kid and making stupid faces!”

Tyrtinkle giggled mischievously at the sight before her, as Akari and Frackt stupidly blinked and gaped like fish just like Mars, who could not grasp the situation.

Meanwhile the other three, Tedla, Yuto, and Alhart, reacted to the word demon and held onto their weapons while being vigilant of their surroundings.

Immediately after, a deeply hooded figure rushed out of an alley closest to the 6 of them, quickly headed to Akari and Frackt, and ran away once more while pulling them from behind.

“Eh, wai– Whaaaa!?

“Who the hell are you!? Unhand me!!”

“……”

It was Alhart who quickly understood who the stranger was and ignored the 2 who had shouted after them.

So, that’s how it is, Alhart exclaimed, and, at the next moment, similarly took Mars’ hand and ran, while Yuto, who also made the realization, also took Tedla’s arm, and followed suit.

“Mission success, I say.”

Tyrtinkle, who watched everything unfold from the sky, descended to the roaring monster, flew around it in a circle, and after a few seconds, both figures were gone without a trace.

ーーーーー

ーーー

ー

“And…?”

“……Huh?”

After running for a while, they arrived at a small square, a little farther away from the center of the town.

The person who was pulling Akari and Frackt’s hands finally stopped, and the two who started to breathe deeply also stopped.

And then, the question that was thrown earlier was raised again.

“Are you satisfied now that you revealed yourself in such a manner?”

“……Wh-what?”

“Hey…… you, who the hell are you!?”

“I’m surprised. You still don’t know who I am?”

The hooded figure shrugged nonchalantly at Frackt’s question and removed the cloak, revealing a seemingly displeased Syltina whose eyebrows were drawn together.

“The Prince-sama and the Saintess sure are dense. We realized right away, you know?”, said Alhart, who carried Mars under his arm.

Following him was Yuto, who pulled Tedla by the hand from behind.

“What do you mean?”

Akari, who finally caught her breath, asked while glaring at Syltina, whose answer was accompanied by an exasperated sigh as if she were truly tired.

“The 3 of us — Tyr, Kuro and I, made a plan to save you from the ruckus you caused.”

“?”

“Therefore, the monster that you saw earlier was Kuro who transformed, and the shrieking voice you heard earlier was Tyr’s.”

“Why did you do such a thing?”

“……Well, you see…”

Syltina became speechless toward Akari’s response for a moment, and proceeded to carefully piece her words with a tight smile.

“If you were surrounded as you are, then, it would be inevitable that someone will impose their wishes against you. We don’t have time to listen to individual wishes in this purification journey, so we rescued you before it became any more troublesome. Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t think I understand.”

“Ha?”

“Don’t you think they might have given us something as thanks for the purification? Like they might give us a place we can stay in this town for free, or they might give us a town treasure or something. Why do you only think bad of people? All the citizens of this country are very considerate and kind-hearted people. They understand that this purification journey is tough, so they won’t let us do anything more.”

“……”

“Your mouth is hanging open, Sylti.”

“Oh my, pardon me. The Saintess has such overly optimistic thoughts, so… ”

“What is overly optimistic about it? Why don’t you try to believe in others!?”

“I do believe.”

Syltina smiled sweetly.

“Ah, right. If it’s the people of this country, then the right word would be believed.”

“Believed? Why is it in the past tense?”

“….. Well, I wonder why? At least for me, the people in this country are not worth believing in anymore. That’s why I always doubt them.

“That’s strange! The people of this country are nothing but good people after all!!”

“…… Even if you tell me something like that…”

Syltina, whose smile had disappeared, took a long breath, and pointed to the direction that they were previously running from.

“It’s better if you go back there and try to confirm. I’m sure you’ll get magnificent results.”

“Fine, I get it! I’ll see it for myself!! And if everyone is as kind as I just said, then you have to apologize in front of everyone!!”

“Akari!?”

“Big sis!!”

Fighting fire with fire*.

Following her sharp comeback, Akari returned the way they came from first, as a flustered Frackt and Mars followed after her.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……Umm, is it alright if Yuto-san doesn’t come along?”

“Ah, yeah. He needs to come along after all……”

Quietly seeing the two figures run off, Tedla conservatively voices his concern and nominates Yuto, who sighed and walked after them.

“I hope the Saintess understands how reality actually works after this.”

Syltina merely shrugged at Alhart’s statement.

Translator’s Notes :

* “ As you wish, my liege” – the original Japanese text is, “あぁ、ご随意に我が主よ” (Aa, gozuii ni wa ga omo yo), which is extremely polite speech, or keigo. Kuro usually calls his master “Sylti”, but he used polite speech sarcastically in response to Sylti’s order. In this case, it is not keigo, but baka-teinei, or polite speech used in a sarcastic way.

**Fight fire with fire – the original version, “売り言葉に買い言葉” (uri kotoba ni kai kotoba) is a Japanese idiom which means “to be provoked by the opponent’s quarreling words and reply appropriately”. Simply, it is ‘tit for tat’, or ‘(fight) fire with fire’