Kays Translations

57. Prayers and the Past (3)

Considering the Duke of Ziemeld’s health, the conversation was wrapped up quickly. Following the direction of Priest Sydney, Gilbert and the others made their way to the knights who had been rescued from the undead slime. Dolph and Barbara, in the end, didn’t say a word and wore difficult expressions.

Meanwhile, Gilbert pondered for a moment what to do about Flora’s hand, which he had involuntarily held just moments ago, but he casually let go as they were leaving the Duke’s room.

Flora turned to him with a gentle smile, almost as if to say thank you, but there still seemed to be a slight shadow in her expression. Gilbert followed behind, clutching  his hand to confirm the lingering warmth.

The knights were being housed in a large servant’s room that had originally existed in the residence. As you’d expect from a duke’s household, even the bedding for the servants was top quality, prioritizing the practicality of being able to care for multiple people at once.

Since the internal undead transformation couldn’t be determined from external appearances alone, they split up to ask those who were conscious detailed questions about their condition and each person examined to see if there was anything unusual.

“I found a way to determine the internal undead transformation…!”

　One of the young clergymen, who had been trying to discern the difference, raised his voice.

Until now, the immortal beasts referred to as undead were typically large, and any wounds requiring purification were surely external.  So the act of searching for mutations inside the body was a first for the team.

“If we have them take off their clothes, and then use purification magic while directly touching them like this…! It may be intuitive, but the caster should be able to tell.”

“I see…  but it seems like it’ll be tough unless you’re good at purification magic. I can barely sense it myself.”

Priest Sydney was a master of barrier magic but mentioned that his skills in purification and healing were only average.

“…Ugh, I-I’m sorry, a little… it hurts.”

A knight who had undergone the spell let out a small groan, hunching over in pain.

The priest who had been casting the spell on him turned pale..

“My apologies…! It seems applying strong purification magic directly on the body puts a lot of strain on it… It would be best to just limit ourselves to confirming the presence or absence of any affected areas.”

“How purification magic is affecting the undead-affected areas isn’t visible to the naked eye… There’s no other means to understand the inner workings of the body. Maybe we should use it hand in hand with healing magic…?”

　As Sidney was deep in thought, his expression grim, Gilbert, who had been watching from nearby, blurted out an idea that had just occurred to him.

“How about giving them holy water to drink? That has purification effects too, right?”

“true… As I said before, holy water is primarily a medium for blessings, but… in a way it’s the same as purifying a weapon, isn’t it…?”

“Let’s give it a try. It shouldn’t cause harm, but a little at a time just in case.”

The clergy nodded and began to administer holy water to the knights who showed signs of internal undead transformation.

Upon returning to the carriage, Flora and Barbara started preparing dinner. Although Gilbert wanted to continue his prayer work, he found himself still worried about Flora’s state, so ended up peeling potatoes next to her.

“…Flora, about what we discussed earlier. The Duke’s son hates the goddess and what’s happening with the holy knight in the royal capital…”

Unable to hold back his concerns in the silence that fell between them, Gilbert spoke up. As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt regret swirl within him.

“Sorry, forget I said anything. You probably don’t want to talk about this…”

“No. Thank you. Because of your concern, Gilbert, I felt like I could breathe easier just now.”

As she said this, Flora looked up, smiling, but it still seemed that there was some pain hidden behind her eyes. 

Desperate to dispel that shadow, Gilbert racked his brains as he tried to form words.

“Well, since we’re headed to the royal capital anyway, why not check in on them, and if things look bad, I could just, you know, pretend to be oblivious and help them out. Then we’ll just nonchalantly leave.”

“Fufu. Pretend to be oblivious, huh…?”

Seemingly amused by Gilbert’s wording, Flora let out a soft laugh.

“That sounds good. If it goes well, we could act like it’s no longer our concern and come back!” 

For some reason, her shoulders seem to relax, and Gilbert nodded enthusiastically.

“When I’m with you, I feel like my heart is getting stronger and stronger.”

As Flora said this and smiled, the shadow in her expression completely vanished. Gilbert felt warmth rush to his ears, delighted by her words and her smile.

After they had finished with the potatoes and moved on to preparing the meat and vegetables, Priest Sydney approached the carriage.

“How did the holy water work?”

“Well… it seems to have some effect, but… it’s still not very efficient.”

With a sigh, priest Sydney glanced down and eventually froze, his gaze fixing on one spot.

“…What is this pot?”

　Sydney’s eyes land on the pot with the ivy relief on the rim. He traced the rim of the still unheated pot with trembling fingers.

“Ah! This is, um, after the battle with the undead slime the other day, for some reason, it ended up like this…”

Flora explained in a slightly flustered tone. As he watched her, a strange idea suddenly struck Gilbert.

“Hey, remember when we were in the city of Kelvim, you said that if everyone prayed together, it would create holy water with strong blessings, right?”

　Priest Sydney nodded, looking as if he had realized something.

“Also, if we were to cook with that holy water, wouldn’t the strong blessing transfer from the water to the ingredients, making it even stronger…?”

Gilbert’s tone trailed off, almost embarrassed by his outlandish idea. However, Priest Sydney smiled broadly.

“That’s it! What a great idea…! Moreover, this pot now surely must grant a powerful blessing…!”

With an excited voice, Sydney declared, his eyes sparkling. Flora’s eyes widened in surprise. In the background, Barbara and Dolph could be heard bursting into laughter.

“Gilbert, you sure have some interesting ideas.”

“Soup with the goddess’ blessing, that sounds fantastic!”

Encouraged by the enthusiasm of Dolph and the others, Flora quickly began to prepare the soup. Since he had been the one to propose this ridiculous idea, Gilbert resolved to get fully involved and asked Flora to  teach him, helping with the cooking.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter