Chapter 82. Called the path the Saintess passed (2)
BOOM-!
“So I told Father. How can you make me work as soon as I return. My brother-in-law might not know, but my Father has a side that treats people roughly.”
Franz threw another reagent bottle as soon as he finished speaking.
Wherever his hand reached, a massive explosion sound was heard without fail.
“There are many enemies and I only have two hands, so I’m too busy!”
Franz handed a few reagent bottles to Simon, who was escorting him nearby, as if throwing them.
“Gasp!”
Simon received the reagents Franz handed over in fright, and threw them away quickly as soon as he received them.
“That one doesn’t explode!”
“It’s a failure!”
Franz was a promising alchemist, but his skills were still insufficient to inherit the title of Explosion Mage from the previous life.
“Wait a moment!”
Franz remembered the labels of the reagent bottles he handed to Simon and quickly wrote them down in his notebook.
Perhaps he would create a greater explosion using this failure as experience.
“Lord Franz!”
However, the reality facing them right now was too urgent to think about the future.
It was unavoidable that the firepower he was emitting would leave a gap when Franz moved his hands for other things.
“I am busy right now!”
It was a very short time that Simon met Franz, but he could know for sure that the handsome alchemist in front of his eyes was someone strange just with that time.
“Uwaaaah!”
Therefore, Simon chose to move directly rather than persuading and warning Franz with conversation.
Simon took out reagent bottles directly from Franz’s robe and threw them at the charging animals to make a path.
KWA-A-ANG-!
A massive explosion sound that had not been heard until now came from the reagent bottle Simon threw.
“Ah! That one is extremely expensive! The one I debated whether to use or not and eventually couldn’t use!”
“How much is it?”
“It would cost at least 30 gold!”
Simon trembled his hands realizing he had just turned 30 gold into ashes.
“You should have said so!”
“As expected of someone resembling the lord he follows, you are incredibly bold!”
Franz was enjoying himself.
Although he looked sloppy, he was remembering the range and direction of the explosions bursting out now in his head without omission and writing them down in his notebook.
“Since I haven’t had a chance to explode things to my heart’s content like this!”
Franz’s reagents were expensive, but since their nature was to explode, they were not something that could be easily tested anywhere.
It was a matter of course in a territory with a lord, and finding a place with few people was also a task.
However, just for now.
“Didn’t I say I would use all of this today?”
No one noticed.
“Since Father permitted it, there is no chance if not today!”
Nor worry about money.
“Since he permitted it, he will give the next budget generously!”
He could explode everything solely for his research.
“Clear the path!”
The knights led by Bauer formed an awl-shaped breakthrough formation and were stretching forward without hesitation thanks to Franz’s rear support.
“I see the exit of the forest!”
From the place Hansen pointed with his hand, the green light of the meadow was visible.
From there, it was the territory of humans, not the forest.
“Do not lower your guard!”
The knights of Cadmus and Tolome did not slow down their momentum and broke through, picking up even more speed.
Although countless animals created a huge wave and followed close to them.
“Eat this!”
They only tumbled down with a massive roar.
“We have escaped!”
The knights and the young Saintess finally escaped from the clutches of the evil thing.
“Ah! There were still a few left to test!”
Franz’s sigh of regret was heard from behind Blanc’s back.
***
“Let me greet you formally once again! I am Franz of the Neudorf family!”
“I am honored to meet you. Brother-in-law.”
Blanc grasped Franz’s hand with gladness coming from his heart.
Because he not only appeared at a truly appropriate moment to save the group from crisis, but he was also one of the heroes who played a part in the Liberation Front as the Explosion Mage in the previous life.
“Originally, I thought I would see you when recapturing Norington, but I never dreamed I would see you in such a sudden situation.”
“This is all thanks to the guidance of the Goddesses.”
Not only the guidance of the Goddesses but also Berger’s brilliant move made it possible.
Berger had also noticed that Blanc was trying to protect Iselin from unknown threats.
That was why he sent Franz, the only person he could confide in and discuss everything with, to Blanc’s side as soon as he arrived.
“Then is this person the one who will become the new voice of the Goddesses……?”
Franz looked at Iselin with a smile full on his face.
Franz had a shining appearance befitting a child of Berger blessed by God.
As he smiled, the surroundings became bright and the atmosphere brightened naturally.
Iselin, who was still a young child, might have been swept away by such an appearance of Franz, but instead, she was more interested in something else than Franz’s appearance.
“Can’t you give me one too?”
CHIRP!
Iselin was more interested in his reagents that blew away the crazy animals than Franz’s shining appearance.
“Oho! For the Saintess to take an interest in my invention, what an honor!”
Franz purposely drew Iselin’s interest with exaggerated expressions.
He was a person who had a great strength in breaking down the barriers of the heart that people had.
“If you promise to support me in the name of the Order later, I can give you as much as you want!”
Moreover, befitting a child of the clever Berger, he was also quick with calculations.
Franz, who was trying to put popping candies into a naive child’s hand while hiding huge interests in words spoken like a joke.
Seeing him, Weird, who was next to him, shook his head.
‘He is a robber.’
Even with a merchant’s eyes, Franz was someone who would succeed.
However, Iselin was not as formidable a girl as Franz thought.
In her blood flowed the blood of a lion symbolizing the Tolome family, and she was the only daughter of Weird, a prominent merchant in the Kingdom of Felix.
“To receive investment, there must be a prototype first.”
“Hmm?”
At Iselin’s unexpected strike, Franz ended up flustered.
Iselin instantly seized the initiative of the conversation using her position as a Saintess.
“What kind do you want?”
Iselin smiled brightly and answered when she finally heard the answer she wanted.
“Is there one that explodes in purple?”
***
Everyone in the group could clearly feel the existence of the evil beast targeting Iselin.
Therefore, they decided to enter Moirai quickly if possible.
To avoid any potential threats, the knights moved avoiding people, ignoring the villages and cities around them.
Blanc’s intention was correct.
While they approached Moirai, there was no movement of Evil interfering with the knight order.
“Only about a day’s distance remains.”
“We must not let our guard down until the last moment.”
As Hansen said, they had reached a position where they could enter the entrance of Moirai in just a little while.
“Camping out is fun too?”
Iselin was sitting on Blanc’s knees while basking in the campfire.
Weird did not hide his disappointed expression seeing her finding Blanc even though her father was sitting right next to her.
“Until when are you going to be like this? Once we enter Moirai, you will have to show the appearance of a Saintess.”
Blanc scolded Iselin, but his heart was not at ease either.
Until now, he had poured all his nerves into protecting her from the evil things threatening Iselin, but thinking that she would really become a Saintess, he couldn’t help but feel compassion along with worry.
Blanc was even feeling pangs of conscience thinking about the heavy position of a Saintess being placed on the frail shoulders of the girl named Iselin.
‘……Is it because of me.’
It was true that Iselin had the qualities of a Saintess, but if not for Blanc, perhaps she might have lived a normal life.
“That’s why I should stay like this more right now. When would I ever sit on a knee like this?”
Iselin smiled and looked up at Blanc sitting on his knee.
Iselin was a clever child.
Although she hadn’t accepted it deep in her heart, she understood with her head that she had reached the fate where she had to become a Saintess.
And with her brilliant intellect, she vaguely guessed even the weight of the fate she had to shoulder.
“They say Lady Monica, the 16th Saintess, couldn’t leave Moirai her entire life.”
Iselin spoke calmly while looking at the campfire.
The red aura of the campfire clung to the young girl’s silver hair.
Blanc and Weird could not easily answer Iselin’s words.
“But you know what?”
Iselin smiled brightly and looked at Blanc.
“The 13th Saintess passed down the Saintess position in her early 20s and returned to secular life. They say other Saintesses also passed it down to other Saintesses sooner or later and lived ordinarily!”
Just like Iselin said, it was true that the 13th Saintess passed down the Saintess position at an early age and lived the life of an ordinary woman.
The Saintess, the vessel conveying the voices of the Goddesses, was passed down through chaste and pure girls.
Because it was difficult to contact the divinity of the Goddesses the more one was stained by the secular world.
Not only the 13th Saintess, but all Saintesses usually passed down the Saintess position before the age of 30 and returned to the world.
Rather, the case of Monica, who could not lay down the Saintess position until the age of 60, could be called a very special case.
“I intend to step down exactly by my mid-20s.”
“Ha!”
Blanc ended up chuckling at Iselin’s bold declaration.
Indeed, she was a child worth being chosen by the Goddesses.
“Would that go as you wish?”
Weird knew that his young daughter was overdoing it on purpose to improve the atmosphere.
Actually, Blanc could feel Iselin’s small hand holding him trembling a little.
She was intentionally showing a childish appearance to reassure others, but Iselin must be the most anxious one in this situation.
Because even if she escaped from the clutches of the evil things surrounding her, what awaited her next would be unfamiliar environments and people.
‘…….’
Blanc noticed Iselin’s large eyes looking at the campfire shaking a little.
So he held her hand tightly.
“Do not worry.”
“Huh?”
And told her.
“I will protect you.”
“…….”
Although it was a dry tone, Iselin knew that Blanc was speaking with sincerity.
“……Yeah.”
Iselin answered while digging deeper into Blanc’s embrace.
It was a peaceful scene.
Weird Tolome poked the campfire with a poker with a pleased smile watching the close brother and sister.
“Baron.”
However, that peace did not last long.
“What is it.”
“There are troops surrounding us.”
Iselin’s body trembled slightly at Simon’s words.
It was a very brief peace.
Just enough to take one breath.
Blanc carefully handed Iselin over to Weird and stood up from his seat.
“Lead the way.”
To protect the young girl’s peace, he had to defeat many things crawling up from that thick darkness.
And Blanc was prepared to do that.
He was a Regressor who returned for that.
Blanc moved to see the group surrounding them following Simon’s guidance.
“They boldly requested to the knights responsible for our watch.”
“What.”
Simon’s mouth opened with difficulty.
“They said.”
Blanc made many efforts to protect the young girl.
“They say they will serve Lady Iselin, who will become the 17th Saintess, themselves.”
However, despite Blanc’s efforts, the veil called secrecy eventually failed to hide Iselin.
However.
“To take the Saintess from the Seeker of the Blue Star.”
Blanc promised.
That he would protect her.
“They are bastards I can answer with a sword.”
Blanc was someone ready to walk into the darkness himself to kill the things threatening this world and Iselin.
Pitch-black darkness where the campfire could not reach.
From within it, a faint green wave spread out from Aselheit’s sword that he drew.