After hearing all the stories, Vera could understand why Hodrick looked at him and said, ‘It resembles the old me.’
This is because, since he said he would live for René, the things he had built up one by one were just like his life.
I swore to my heart that I would live for Renee.
I swore once again that I would always be by my side so that René would not be sad.
In addition, an oath to wield the sword for the right was engraved on the holy sword.
There were already three.
Besides that, most of the oaths are still being used once, but there is no guarantee that you will always use only one-time oaths in front of an enemy you can’t handle.
Hodrick’s life is a future that Vera might face.
Sitting on the funeral chair in the dimly lit chapel, Vera unwittingly posed such a question to Hodrick, who spreads fraud.
“… Are you not resentful?”
[What do you mean?]
“The gods who have stigmatized you. Are you not resentful?”
It was a tragedy that would not have happened without the stigma. With that thought in mind, Hodrick answered the question with a sudden smile.
[I do not resent you.]
“Why?”
[Why should I complain? I made a promise, and it was me who was crushed by it.]
Vera was irrefutable. It was because his words were pinching a really obvious fact.
In the meantime, there was one emotion that came to mind, and that was admiration.
Vera knew. Even if you know in your head that you are responsible, it is another thing to convince you emotionally. It’s a hundred times harder to blame yourself than to blame others.
Hodrick shook his head at Vera’s look of surprise.
[It was not possible from the beginning. I am so stupid, I actually resented the gods even after I became a dead person as you said. However, I think the years will eventually make even me realize it. I have come to feel that denying the consequences of my choices is no different from denying the life I have lived.]
Hodric raised his head, which he had been bowing down until then, faced the cross in front of him, and continued as if muttering.
[I’m sorry. Thank you. For listening to this ghost’s story.]
“… no. What I asked you to tell me.”
[Isn’t this what you wanted to hear?]
Vera kept his mouth shut. It was an unspoken affirmation.
If you’re looking at the facts, that’s why. If there is a proper use of power, I am here to hear it, so today’s conversation was not of much real benefit to Vera.
However, in the end, as learning comes from what you feel rather than what you see, Vera said so, thinking that he could create an opportunity to change his mindset in Hodrick’s story.
“It helped a lot. at that time… The Lord actually pointed out something I had overlooked.”
[I’m glad you heard that.]
Hodrick held back his laughter at Vera’s sharply polite demeanor, and added another word.
[Well, there’s something I’ve been thinking about since I became this dead.]
“… What is?”
[I think that the power of the oath may not be the power that gets stronger by increasing the number of promises. Isn’t it the power to deal with one in depth rather than the number? Isn’t it the power to realize what a promise in the true sense is? That’s what I think.]
Vera’s head flashed. And turned to Hodric.
[It’s been so long since the stigmata fell off me, there’s no way to check, but you aren’t? I’d like to think about it for a moment. What is the correct form of promise.]
Hodrick said so and got up.
[Relax, if you need a showdown for proof, come to the castle gate instead of here. But please understand that we can’t get along too often.]
Seeing Hodric’s back, limping away, Vera shed tears of gratitude.
“… thank you.”
It was unknown to Vera whether Hodrick heard those words.
*
At the same time, Renee and the party were gathering in the reception room and putting the prepared items on the table.
“Now, is everyone ready?”
At the words Renee had said with a stiff face, the party nodded or answered them one by one.
“like. Shall we explain them one by one?”
When asked what the situation was, Renee would answer, ‘This is the place to choose a present for Jenny.’
The reason we reached the moment we didn’t know whether it was a discussion or a fight was, ‘Let’s hand over a present to get to know Jennie.’
For some reason, while the space was filled with tension, Norn opened his mouth first.
“I made a stuffed toy with leftover cloth and cotton. When Hela was the size of Aisha, she loved the dolls I made myself.”
Words uttered with confidence in a voice that seems to be immersed in memories. At that, Hela made an ‘oh’ sound, and the party nodded with smiles as well.
“It’s good.”
“thank you.”
Renee touched the doll with her hand and praised Norn.
Good start. I wonder if the father who raised his daughter is different? Choosing a gift is no different.
Today, for some reason, the thought that the discussion is going to end in a smooth atmosphere makes my heart feel more relaxed.
It was Hela who spoke next.
“I prepared candy. Since the place where the Apostle of Sabbath lived is the cradle, I thought that there would be few opportunities to eat these snacks, so how about it?”
“Great!”
Renee’s expression brightened even more. Hela also thought about it for a while and thought that she had prepared good things.
“Now, who is next?”
“It’s me!”
Miller’s turn followed in a good mood.
Miller smiled at the gaze focused on him and held out the box he had prepared.
“What?”
“Hey, don’t be surprised to hear that! It’s a ‘Necromancer Kit for Kids’!”
And the atmosphere was cheap.
While Renee was seriously considering ‘why do children need necromancy’, Miller continued to speak in a confident voice, unaware of René’s sign.
“Who is the apostle of rest?! Isn’t he the one who deals with the powers related to the soul! It would be great for that little boy’s education~ This!”
A word you say with your arms crossed when you’re obsessed with yourself.
Renee still couldn’t criticize the things he had prepared, so he just praised Miller with an awkward smile.
“It’s okay, it’s okay… .”
“It’s overrated.”
It was a real exaggeration, but Miller didn’t know.
The atmosphere is getting a little weird.
Aisha, who was the only one in the group, shaking her head and demonstrating her beliefs, added a bad review to Miller’s gift and pushed her own things.
“The chattering man has no thoughts.”
“What is this bastard?”
“ruler! This is the gift you should choose!”
What Aisha confidently held out was a belt with three daggers attached to it.
When a look of absurdity appeared on Miller’s face, Aisha chuckled and said. Her ears were pricked up.
“You lack sensitivity! All girls my age love these weapons!”
It could have been said by the least sensitive person, but… As a matter of fact, it was
For Aisha, who has been the daughter of a blacksmith all her life, this is natural.
However, from the point of view of the party, it was also said that they did not want to lash out at a teenage girl, and Aisha only tilted her head as if she did not understand.
Renee thought.
Something is getting weird right now. I don’t think this is the atmosphere.
Following that thought, while he was about to introduce the gift he had prepared to evoke the atmosphere, the twins opened their mouths one step ahead.
“Look at what we have prepared.”
“right. Everyone here is just an idiot.”
Behind the remarks that could not be objectified, the twins showed a lump of slime on the palm of their hand.
“Girls love cute animals.”
“Slimes, children’s friends.”
The slime’s true identity is the slime that I had been forced to buy the other day. Vera had sneaked in some spares he had not disposed of.
The twins’ only luck was that Vera was not present here as a ‘children’s friend’ who knew what the twins were up to.
“Five… .”
Aisha let out a curious exclamation. Norn and Hela looked at the twins in amazement, and Miller closed her eyes in anger.
“It’s okay!”
Renee, too, made her expression bright at the thought of bringing something that was not as good as the twins.
Strength entered the twins’ shoulders.
“What did the saint prepare?”
“right. Show the saint too.”
At the words of the confident twins, Renee blushed in embarrassment and opened a small iron box the size of which could fit in her hand.
“Like Hella, I am a snack. Salt-flavored candy that I eat when I’m bored! Marie made it!”
As expected, he confidently brought it out at the thought that there was nothing more enjoyable than eating, but the reaction was the worst.
Sure enough, there is no one here who doesn’t know that Renee’s taste is twisted.
“It’s okay, it’s okay… !”
“Rene is the best… !”
“Wow… .”
Even in the midst of it, the compliments from the party, who could not say anything as bad as Renee, continued, and Renee blushed and smiled.
Perhaps, not being able to see their faces for this moment might be beneficial to Renee.
*
After the preparation of the gift was finished, the action that followed was quick.
Jenny’s room arrived after asking the dead.
Rene, who walked there alone with Hela, knocked on the door with a nervous expression, thinking that Jenny might feel burdened if many people come at once.
A crackling sound was heard, and after a short time Jenny stuck her head out through the door.
“hi?”
When Renee greeted him in a soft tone at the sound of the door opening, Jenny shuddered and responded.
“… No girl.”
A voice that gives you strength just by hearing it.
Jenny, who was rolling her black eyes and looking at Renee and Hela alternately, immediately posed such a question.
“Why did you come… ?”
A word asking for a job.
Renee responded with a very happy face as she saw Jenny not refusing to talk.
“ah! I want to give you a present! Would it be okay if I could accept it?”
Jenny’s head tilted. In the meantime, curiosity began to take place little by little.
A very small answer came out.
“… yes.”
Jenny approached and took Renee’s hand.
Immediately after, the door opened with a creaking sound and Renee and Hela entered the room.
“It’s a cute room. Unlike other rooms in the castle, colorful wallpapers are painted, and objects such as dolls and ornaments are scattered throughout. It is clear at a glance that the dead care for the Apostle of Sabbath.”
When Hela entered the room and explained what she could see to Renee, as Vera had usually done, a response came from Jenny.
Jenny’s face turned bright red. The corners of his lips began to twitch.
Renee, who was holding Jenny’s hand, said with a soft smile as Jenny’s hand was getting hotter and trembling.
“envy.”
“Yes… .”
In the midst of the warm atmosphere, Renee handed Jenny the gift she had prepared, and Jenny’s eyes twinkled.
In an instant, Renee and Hela felt tension build up inside them.
Even though it’s a gift we all prepared together, it’s because there’s something inside that we don’t know whether it’s confidence or wish, ‘Would you still like what I prepared the most?’
The atmosphere before the storm.
Sadly for the two of them, Jenny’s favorite gifts were slime #1 and necromancy kit for kids. No. 3 was the dagger that Aisha had prepared.
… The heart of an adolescent girl would not be completely unknown to women who had already passed that period.