50. Wizards and Knights (4)
The orphanage was soon a small church.
After the Sunday service, Mother Superior allowed the children to take a nap. Reading and meditation were her hobbies and habits. Today is meditation. The nun closed her eyes and sat upright in a chair by the sunny window. It’s called meditation, but I don’t think of anything particularly great. The meditation was personal and simple rather than pious and religious. Contemplation is colored by worries and thoughts about the future of this orphanage.
When winter arrives in earnest, more firewood will be needed.
The nun opened her eyes and saw the fireplace next to the classroom. To the left of the stove were several piles of dry wood chips for firewood. Inside the fireplace, which was coldly unlit, wood from the previous night was scattered. The poker leans against the right side of the stove and scatters scorched ash and wood chips on the floor.
Winter is a difficult time for everyone.
Churches, pastors, nuns, merchants, adventurers, hunters, herbalists. Even orphans and irresponsible parents who abandoned them. The orphanage has reached its limits. There were places to take the children, but there was no money to keep them warm and to sleep through the winter. With the support of the church, it was too much to support the children of today.
The head nun was unknowingly holding her hands together. Helpless, all she could do was pray. The prayers were not recited. I just hung my heart above the sky.
jump.
The door to the orphanage suddenly opened. The headmistress looked back with a surprised expression. A cold wind blew through the orphanage. The person standing outside the orphanage in front of the dead dandelion field was the first child he had met in two years.
“Christine…!”
Mother Superior jumped up from her seat and ran toward Christine, who was leaning against the doorway. Without saying anything, the superintendent held Christine’s cold, frozen hand tightly. The snow, which had been shining like a fresh green meadow, lost its luster as if it had withered away in the winter wind.
Whatever the case, the headmistress brought Christine into the orphanage, dragging her hands to keep her from getting further cold. It was then that Mother Abbot noticed that she was carrying a leather trunk in her hand.
“What is this…?”
Mother Superior took the heavy trunk from Christine’s hand, set it down on the floor, and seated Christine in a chair. Christine’s shoulders were shaking slightly. Christine let out a cold breath and began to catch her breath. Christine lifted her head again and had the same smile the nun remembered.
“Please accept this.”
Christine lifted the strewn leather trunk and held it out to the head nun.
“What’s this?”
Christine didn’t answer and unlocked the trunk. The head nun opened her eyes wide as she saw the gold bars shining in the leather trunk.
“This is the money I received after solving the Mage Tower’s request this time. I heard that the finances of the church were getting difficult… I thought that it would be difficult here as well.”
Christine laughed and closed the trunk again. The Mother Superior was looking at Christine with an expression of concern rather than joy.
“It’s a weekday today, isn’t the Mage Tower job okay?”
Christine smiled and nodded at the Mother Superior’s question.
“it’s okay. And this trunk, will you accept it?”
The abbot raised her eyebrows and raised her hand over the trunk. Then he pushed the bag over to Christine. As difficult as it was, it wasn’t something she could care about so much.
“…how did you work to earn it, how shame can we get this money?”
“Think of it as an offering. In fact, this place is also a church.”
The headmistress shook her head slightly.
“Christine… I don’t know what suddenly this big money looks like, but I know it’s not an amount that can come in by solving one or two things in the Mage Tower.”
Christine stopped Mother Abbot from shaking her head and handing out her bag.
“please accept this.”
Christine’s voice was trembling desperately.
“Please, please accept it. Ask nothing, write this for the children, for the director, for this orphanage.”
Saying that, Christine wandered around looking for a hole to be forgiven. It was like a person trapped in a deep cave looking for light and an exit.
“With this gold, save the children who will freeze to death on the road and the children who will be dragged to the back alley.”
Christine’s voice was shaking. The headmistress did not change her expression and listened to Christine until the end.
“Save the children, give them a warm room, feed them, wash them clean. Teach me how to read and write, teach me people, teach me love.”
Christine was somehow justifying herself. But the more I talked about people who could help with that gold, the more my heart ached, like sprinkling salt on a wound.
“therefore…”
Christine holds out her bag with a pale face. The head nun didn’t say anything more and accepted the bag. The weight of the bag, which was originally heavy, seemed to have become even heavier in her hands.
“Please, take this gold.”
The abbess nun held her bag and looked at Christine for a long time. Christine couldn’t look up straight and face the abbot. Thinking that the abbot’s purple eyes were like lightning to judge her, Christine bit her lip.
“I’ll take it.”
In a soft voice, the headmistress wrapped her arms around Christine’s shoulders.
“I won’t ask, but if there’s anything you want to say, tell me.”
Christine put her bag down and looked up. He was wearing a mischievous smile. If she confessed her feelings of guilt and burden for this money, would the chief nun be able to accept the money with the same attitude as she does now?
would refuse There is no way that she, as a cleric in essence, will receive unjust money. Maybe you could just ignore everything and accept the money. Looking back, it’s most likely the latter. And with the thought that he would put all the dirt and sins he had on his money, he would forgive Christine.
Christine, however, had no intention of ever being forgiven by anyone. He didn’t want to be forgiven by the priest, the head nun, let alone himself. Christine thanked the head nun inwardly for accepting the unspoken request to pretend not to ask further questions.
After letting Christine calm down, Mother Superior served tea. The teacup on the tray was the cup Christine always used.
For a while, Christine returned from the orphanage as a girl on the verge of being entrusted to the Magic Tower.
“I came out of the Magic Tower.”
At Christine’s words, the abbot didn’t seem surprised. He just nodded his head a couple of times.
“Was it your will?”
That was the nun’s only question.
“Yeah.”
Christine nodded. He faced the owner of the magic tower directly and rejected the invitation not to go out. Ignoring the disapproval of his colleagues, he left the Mage Tower leaving the teachers who taught him behind.
“I went out because I wanted to go out.”
It is a magic tower that I entered because I just wanted to be of help, to repay the kindness I lost to the orphanage and the nun who directed it. There were no stupid lingering feelings or regrets about magic. The title of a genius wizard was just a cumbersome weight for her. With just one year left before graduation, the genius of the Mage Tower disappeared just like that.
“Where are you going now?”
Mother Superior asked Christine.
“If you haven’t decided where to go, it’s okay to stay here for a while. There are a lot of empty rooms…”
Christine shook her head.
“it’s okay. Please bring other children to stay in the space where I will be staying here.”
had to follow
I had to follow the curse. I had to find out who the male and female of Count Leon had reached.
If you are looking for What can she do by looking for it? Christine shook her head. Being more skeptical now didn’t help.
Christine got up from her seat. The abbot’s eyes followed Christine up.
“Are you leaving now?”
Christine nodded. When I opened the door, the wind outside got stronger and knocked on the window.
Christine stood in the doorway and suddenly turned to the abbot. After two years of dating, the conversation ended like this in just a few dozen minutes. Christine chose the words from her mouth, not knowing what to say. In the end, all I could do was a promise without a promise, in other words, an excuse.
“Soon, I will be back.”
At Christine’s words, the head nun slightly raised her lips. I saw Christine off, hoping that she would find the answer. Christine closed the door, staring at the head nun’s face until the end.
—
It took too long.
There were many obstacles in finding the cursed person. Those who intentionally evaded the question, all the wizards they once knew, remained silent, and even if they conducted an investigation based on the clue that Beninga had, the number of cases where they could use curses was too many, causing them headaches.
Christine’s journey, which has continued to investigate by relying on rumors and magic, comes to fruition only after a year.
“I heard that a new blue vice-captain has joined the Jackdaw Knights this time.”
“I wonder if he was caught doing something else.”
I could hear the guards whispering.
“Can you be quiet?”
A middle-aged knight, apparently drunk, quarreled with the guards.
“That… f*ck, all you have is your body, so while you’re serving as a guard.”
daughter country.
The knight hiccupped and stumbled. The guards openly clicked their tongues when they saw such an article.
“Look at me. Even the rank and file members are managed in that way, so I wonder if a leader and vice-captain would be a decent person.”
“If we make a mess of that, we’ll only get tired.”
The guards quietly moved away from the drunken knight and stood against the wall.
“Hey! Where are you going you bastards! F*ck you, you can’t read, so you can’t even hear!”
Christine couldn’t believe that this mayhem was a place for recruiting new members. It seemed that the venue was also renting an entire empty bar, but the recruiting officer was so drunk that he spilled his glass on the floor and was messing around.
“I’m the f*ck. You look ridiculous!”
Christine seriously contemplated whether to use magic. If a fight breaks out, wouldn’t it be a situation where you have to tear it apart even if you use magic.
Bastard dog or cow, will you kill or save your parents who are still alive and well? Christine was horrified at the fact that a variety of swear words she had never heard before were pouring out of the knight’s mouth. At first, the guards ignored the words, but as the level and intensity of the swear words increased, they began to fight back, turning their faces red.
The swear words doubled, no, the exchanges quadrupled.
Son of a bitch, I want to see your parents’ faces. This old man has no teeth, so he speaks well.
Voices rose, and the distance between the two groups gradually grew closer. Two of the three knights who had already seen the announcement for recruiting new members had already run away, and the other was Christine.
“Yes, bitch. It went well today. Even if you have to retire, I will take the front teeth of you horo bastards.”
The knight rolled up his uniform and stood up, and the guards, who were already wearing armor, raised their fists. Christine secretly completed the spell and waited for the magic to manifest itself.
bang.
And then, the bar’s front door swung open with a crashing sound.
The tension between the two groups that were about to fight disappeared like smoke. To be precise, the guards quickly retreated. The knights were still screaming loudly. Christine opened the door and looked at the man entering.
With the chilly, dull sunlight of winter behind him, a young man appeared in a chaos, that is to say, at a recruiting site. A strange, handsome man. Christine thought so. Light brown hair was blowing in the wind. The lifeless golden eyes looked around. The man’s face and mouth were twisted as he fixed his eyes on the knight who was still swearing.
“Hey…! Dog…!”
“I’ll go there.”
The young man raised his chin, the man’s chin, and covered his mouth. The man, his neck thrown back, struggled and tried to open his mouth, but it seemed that he was not up to the strength of the young man.
“Sorry for the fuss.”
The young man apologized. The guards said “No” and returned to their seats. The young man hit the back of the neck of the still riotous knight.
“You bastard, you just got fired just because you were the vice-captain!”
The drunken knight fell down, leaving behind words of unknown meaning. The young man sighed and looked around the bar. It was a mess. Then, when he found Christine sitting in a corner of the bar, he put on a puzzled expression and walked towards where Christine was sitting.
“sorry. Our driver made a fuss again…”
vice-captain.
Christine looked at the man without saying anything. this is the person who would have been cursed. Christine’s eyes trembled.
“…I’ll pay you…”
“I’m not a guest here…”
The young man raised his head. It was a look of surprise.
“Then why are you here…”
“I’m here to help.”
The young man squinted his eyes and tilted his head, as if he didn’t understand Christine’s words.
“support?”
Christine took a deep breath.
“I’ve come to apply as a member of the Jackdaw Knights.”
The young man’s eyes froze wide open. For a moment, it seemed as if he was checking in his head to see if what he had heard was correct.
“Uh… really to the Jackdaw Knights.”
“I want to be a new member.”
The young man scratched the back of his head and asked Christine.
“Is there anyone else?”
“There was, but everyone ran away and I was the only one left.”
Without looking too surprised or disappointed, the young man pulled out a chair across from Christine and sat down.
“…Then, let’s have an informal interview.”
Christine sighed and nodded. Ruined Knights, Ruined Knights had only heard of it, but never imagined it would be ruined this far. And, the fact that the man she probably threw herself into was sitting across from the fallen knights, which made Christine a little confused.
What do we do. Should I start with an apology?
“My name is Maxime Appart. He is the vice-captain of the Jackdaw Knights.”
Christine’s thoughts were squeezed, and Maxim’s words penetrated.
“Your name?”
Christine raised her head. Maxim’s lifeless gold eyes meet Christine’s green ones. found. I found it, but now I don’t know what to do to atone for it all.
Christine, so I decided to tell her her name first.
Did you know that the person you probably should hate the most is sitting in front of you?
“Christine… This is Christine Watson, Vice-captain.”
At Christine’s greeting, Maxim nodded in satisfaction.
“Okay, I really like your posture.”
Christine began her interview with Maxim with a feeling of needles piercing her chest.
—
“…Are you listening, senpai?”
“uh…? yes..”
Maxim walked the street in a daze, and came to his senses at Christine’s words. It wasn’t that hot on the way back from the orphanage. Christine looked at Maxim and puffed out her cheeks a little, as if she didn’t like it.
“When we first met! I was surprised that you started the interview so calmly.”
“…it was.”
As Maxim gave an adequate answer, Christine grumbled from the side in a low voice. the sky was blue Rather than a clear night, it was a scene like a deep sky in the late evening. Their steps were getting closer and closer to Maxim’s house.
“anyway! You can’t be late tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’m back, so you’ll probably have a lot of things to help me with.”
“Maybe it’s a different situation from when I used to pamper you…”
“Because I helped you a lot, you should help me too.”
Maxim sighed with a laugh. He had arrived in front of the house before he knew it.
“Okay. Alright, you go in carefully too. See you at work tomorrow.”
“…Good night, senpai.”
Christine said in a slightly pouting voice, then turned around. Maxim sent Christine away with his eyes.
oh
Maxim saw Christine off and put a hand on her aching chest.
The condition seemed to be getting worse. Maxim tried to shake off the premonition that approached him like a shadow, but a shadow didn’t disappear like his heart just because he wanted to get rid of it.
The memory of the first day we met Christine said today was blurred as if a fog had been put on it.
Changes were creeping in on Maxim in a terrifying way.
Yeah he’s losing his memories now, fexk