Chapter 46 : Escort(1)

The 2nd Prince leaned against the window of the carriage returning to the Imperial Palace and glanced once at the distant ducal mansion, then leaned back in his seat.

Dito Abalan recalled the face of the young Little Duke, who had feigned composure somehow while his eyes, stained with terror, darted around.

From the first moment he saw the Little Duke, the child grated on his nerves.

Trembling in terror was not special.

Because everyone who saw the Imperial Family felt fear.

It was a natural reaction for a human who had god before their very eyes.

All humans were like that, and would be in the future.

But that fellow called the Little Duke was different.

There was no reverence in the child's eyes.

The child, who had stared at him as if momentarily bewitched, blinked his eyes as if waking from something, then bent his knee and paid his respects.

“I see why you're so concerned.”

Dito Abalan, who muttered, rested his chin on his hand, leaning his arm on the window.

The Piteos family would disappear soon anyway.

Even if the family's people disappeared, only the name of the ducal family would remain, and would make others into Abalan's sword and shield.

By that time, the Little Duke would just be an orphan boy with nothing left.

The 2nd Prince raised his hand and tapped the carriage window.

What kind of face would he make if I intercepted the child?

***

Jing rubbed his neck with his hand at the chilling sensation that brushed the back of it.

It didn't feel good at all.

He only wanted to return to his son, but his stomach churned at the fact that to do so, he needed a little more cooperation from the opponent in front of him.

Jing steeled his heart and shook the village map that read ‘Komiel’.

“Now, you see that this is a village quite close to the capital, right? As I've said consistently and clearly before, I have to go where my son is waiting. So…… are you even listening to me right now?”

“Yes, I am listening.”

At the bland reply, Jing frowned.

“Then at least take your face out of the plate when you speak.”

“Understood.”

A polite answer returned, as expected, but his face was still aimed at the bowl.

He was a little ticked off, but it wasn't that he didn't understand.

It was because he remembered the foods from Amica's space, which were atrocious to even call cooking.

He had suspected he'd lost his sense of taste, seeing how well he ate that sandpaper-like bread, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

Seeing him pounce like that on even a simple stew.

Jing felt both pity and annoyance for him, so he just left Ratel be and picked up his spoon.

They, who had safely escaped the forest, were in the middle of a late meal at a pub in a rather large-looking village, the closest one they saw.

Ratel, who seemed to like the stew with plenty of meat and ingredients, showed he was concentrating on the contents, his eyes gleaming.

To the point where he would never raise his head, no matter what the old man across from him said.

It's better this way.

Jing, who was thinking of splitting from Ratel at this point, glanced at him, still unable to lift his face from the plate, and opened his mouth.

“Fine, then listen just like that.”

Jing let out a deep sigh.

“I plan to go to the temple when this meal is over. I haven't been able to offer prayers for a while, so I think it will take about a day. So, wouldn't it be good for us to split up for a while when we leave the shop?”

He said it, assuming it was a place those who served Amica wouldn't even want to set foot in.

If he said okay, the plan was to sneak out of the temple and naturally part with Ratel, and if he said no, the plan was to insist that the religious rituals of those who served Abalan were just as important as serving Amica.

If that side resorted to force, that was a problem to think more about.

“Why do we split up?”

Ratel, who had completely emptied his bowl at some point, lifted his face with a puzzled expression.

It was the first time he'd faced him since the meal began, but he didn't feel like looking at him calmly.

“What do you mean, why? I'm saying I'm going to Abalan's temple and will be there for about a day?”

“That’s great. I can also go and ask them to let me sleep over. Save money, too.”

What on earth is this punk saying?

“No, you can't do that.”

Ratel tilted his head at the horrified Jing.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have no knowledge of religion at all? Those who serve Amica cannot enter Abalan's temple. You wouldn't want to enter either, would you?”

At Jing's frustrated answer, Ratel nodded as if he finally understood.

“You don't have to worry about that. Because I don't serve God Amica.”

This time, Jing couldn't erase the feeling that he had been scammed all this time.

He was so dumbfounded, words wouldn't come out.

“No……!”

Jing, who was about to rebuke him for telling such an obvious lie, quickly shut his mouth.

Right, looking back, he had never once said with his own mouth that he served Amica.

He was just with Amica's priests.

Jing had never imagined that someone who didn't even believe in Amica would be living with Amica's priests.

It was an option that no Abalan person would even think of.

The injustice that lost its reason, and the reality that he now had to go to the temple with Ratel, no way out, enveloped Jing.

The anxiety that he might have brought along a punk who was even more hopeless than he thought was a bonus.

Jing had a lot to say, but it wouldn't come out, and Ratel, leaving him be, was nonchalantly ordering, saying he should order a honey-drizzled pie.

***

“Weren't we going to the temple?”

Ratel asked Jing, who was walking in a completely different direction from the tall, castle-like building.

Jing glanced at Ratel, then turned his head forward again.

“There's a place to stop by for a moment.”

Seeing Ratel's nonchalant, expressionless face, it seemed his words about following him to the temple weren't just talk.

He said he grew up under that Elder, so he naturally thought he would also serve Amica.

Just as all citizens of the Abalan Empire naturally crave Abalan's care, he thought he would be the same.

Though, looking at him now, it was doubtful whether he even believed in the existence of a god, let alone Amica.

If it were the former Duke Piteos, it was a matter that would have required him to point his sword at Ratel immediately.

But Jing the wandering merchant had no need to.

Jing frowned, finding this dramatic change within himself strange.

Ratel, walking silently with Jing, was not the talkative type either, so silence passed between them.

Jing soon stopped in front of a large, old building.

“What is this place?”

Ratel asked, finding the building with nothing written on it strange.

“You'll know when you go inside.”

Jing opened the door without hesitation.

***

The inside of the building, wider than it looked from the outside, was dim.

Ratel looked around once at the people gathered in groups of threes and fives, chattering loudly.

“Is this a thieves' hideout?”

“They aren't the best-looking people, but it's not like that.”

Jing pointed to the wall on the right, at Ratel's expression that seemed to ask what it was then.

Several memos were stuck messily to it.

“……Giant Bear extermination recruitment.”

Ratel slowly read one of them, then looked back at Jing.

“Do you take requests?”

“Exactly.”

Jing nodded.

“In city terms, it's a place like a Guild.”

Jing pointed to the interior, which had a structure similar to a pub.

“In the countryside, which is smaller than here, Guilds don't make money, so they don't form at all, but……”

Jing looked around the sizable interior once and continued.

“In a place like this, which isn't as big as a city but is quite large and has an active market, you can see them without difficulty.”

At Jing's explanation, Ratel nodded slightly and took in the request forms.

Jing, who had been thinking it would be a bit of a headache if he asked what a Guild was, inwardly sighed in relief.

Fortunately, it seemed he wasn't completely ignorant of this world's common sense.

Ratel, who had checked a few memos, seemed to lose interest and turned his gaze back to Jing.

“But why did we come here?”

“Why else? Because we need to earn money.”

Jing answered curtly, carefully examining the request forms.

“Even if we don't do this……”

“If you're going to say let's commit robbery again, stow it.”

Ratel frowned at his firm answer.

“At this rate, isn't the pay low and it takes a long time?”

That's true.

Jing nodded.

“Instead, the chances of getting stabbed in the back are a bit lower.”

Even at Jing's answer, Ratel didn't agree with his opinion, as if unconvinced.

Jing, who had expected such a reaction from Ratel, wasn't very disappointed and said.

“Aren't we traveling together from now on? I don't want to spend every day being chased. If an old man is suddenly attacked, his heart won't last. If something goes wrong, you can die.”

“A person who worries about a heart attack first, not an ambush from a sudden attack, is not a person who will die from assassination, in any case.”

Jing felt Ratel mutter and stare intently at him after looking at Jing's sturdy and thick arm once, but Jing lightly ignored it.

“Anyway, if we're going to journey together from now on, I'd like you to at least observe this.”

It was a half-lie.

He planned to ditch Ratel somehow before arriving at the capital.

Nevertheless, the reason he was teaching these things to this young man, who knew nothing of respecting the elderly beyond using polite speech... Well, for starters, the half-truth was a big reason: he had to travel with the punk for at least a few days.

The former Duke, Agoni Piteos, was processed as dead.

He didn't want to create pursuers on top of having to hide and return to the capital as inconspicuously as possible.

To do that, he had to find a job that didn't require identification and paid a decent wage.

“Guilds in the city require various certification documents, but places like this usually aren't that strict. That means making a request and taking a request are both simple. Ah, there's something suitable here.”

Jing peeled off the most high-quality paper from among those posted.

[Tinas Ritual, Temple, Escort.]

The time, date, and payment were written below the simple title.

“For this much, the money isn't bad for the work involved……”

Jing handed the paper to Ratel.

“Temple escorts are usually temple knights, but this one seems to be a bit large-scale. Nothing major ever happens at the Tinas ritual, and if it's the temple, we don't have to worry about them skipping out on payment, so it'll be suitable for a first time. What do you think?”

“……”

“Ratel?”

Jing, finding it strange that he didn't answer the question, had to call him once more.

“……Yes, it's suitable.”

Ratel, who answered after a slight pause, was expressionless as usual, so Jing ignored the small sense of dissonance he felt from him and, gripping the paper in one hand, approached the counter.

“Then I'll take it that you agree. We're going to quietly earn money and quietly leave this village. Got it?”

“Understood.”

Jing nodded in satisfaction at the obedient reply.

If he had even glimpsed Ratel's expression as he stroked the hilt of his sword with a cool look, he wouldn't have been able to.

***

“What did you just say?”

The small threat from the short, curly-bearded man, leaning in, cut through the murmuring people.

At the small commotion that arose in the middle of the line, the gazes of several people who had applied for the temple escort gathered in one place.

Though the person in question didn't seem to care about that at all.

“I said don't cut in line, did you not hear me?”

“You managed to wedge yourself in well for someone with short legs.”

“Wh-what, y-you……!”

Whether he had always been self-conscious of his legs, which were short even for his small height, the man's face turned red and he stuttered.

“If you understand, then get lost, shorty.”

At the childish but scathing line, Jing, who was watching the situation, buried his face in both hands and despaired.