Three men were hiding behind a tree, quietly observing Yona and her party.
The men, draped in dark blue robes, were particularly fixated on a woman with striking white hair among the group.
They exchanged silent nods while intently studying the hem of her outer garment wrapped around her left arm.
Meanwhile, Yona’s party was drifting farther away.
They were headed towards the Mage Community, and the men had their backs to the town of Cantatien.
“It’s definitely Vervaria who emerged from Lizardden, right?”
“Absolutely. No doubt about it.”
“And that woman… no, wait.”
The man who had turned to glance back at Yona’s now distant figure focused his gaze back on his companions.
“It’s certain that our Saintess is in her.”
“We’ve confirmed that, too. Vervaria is indeed connected to the Saintess.”
“Well then.”
The men silently nodded to each other.
With only their eyes exposed beneath their hoods, they finally wore satisfied smiles.
“The day the rightful Saintess arrives, our Celestial Deity will return.”
“At last, our rightful Celestial Deity will come back.”
“Finally, the Saintess has embarked on a path of trials, and the Celestial Deity will surely watch over her.”
The men recited their prayers with solemn expressions.
In the cold winter winds rustling through the forest, one of the men’s hood was blown back, revealing his face.
“I really saw it! That Lizardden is up there. The pond that flows down from there was all dark and murky!”
“Yeah! I definitely saw it, I swear! You know, the pond that the Lizardmen cherish as the Sacred Place of the Divinity!”
It was the same man who had been talking loudly at the inn in Cantatien.
*
Alex slowly crawled out of his sleeping bag, yawning widely and stretching.
But as a cold winter breeze brushed past, he quickly suppressed his stretch and let out a strange noise, “Ugh,” as he moved closer to the campfire to warm up.
Alex was someone who typically snapped to attention right after waking up. Unlike Yona, who took a while to regain her senses, Alex was able to come to his senses immediately upon opening his eyes. Yona handed him a warm stone she had been holding.
“What’s this?”
Alex received the stone absentmindedly. Whether it was because Yona had been holding it or because it had been near the fire for a while, the stone was pleasantly warm, quickly warming him up all over.
“It was cold. I’m holding you. I warmed it up for you. I’m going to sleep first.”
Yona yawned widely, waved goodbye to Alex, and crawled into her sleeping bag. Still wrapped in one of Alex’s outer garments around her left arm, she grumbled that she should have bought a nun’s outfit in Cantatien, but Alex knew the truth.
Yona was broke. She had no money, and nun outfits were expensive, so she was probably just planning to make do like that. Alex had thought about secretly buying her a nun’s outfit but decided against it. It would only hurt Yona’s pride, and he figured she’d bring it up if she truly needed it.
A faint sound of breathing could be heard. It was probably Yona, snuggled inside her sleeping bag. Listening to her breaths, Alex hugged a rock tightly.
“It would be okay to say it’s a bit tough.”
It must have been a challenging time for Yona.
Alex reminisced about the moment Vervaria had appeared. The Lizardden was being ruthlessly ravaged by a colossal monster known as a Mermaiden, and the devastation to the Lizardmen was immense. If it hadn’t been for Vervaria, they would have had no way out.
The best they could do was die, and at worst, he would have ended up wandering around as a Mermaiden’s lackey, lost and confused.
But Vervaria appeared, and like a true demon, she devoured the Mermaiden in one swift blow, allowing the Lizardmen, Alex, and Kaiyak to survive and be here now.
“…Tch.”
With such thoughts, Alex resolved that he had to make his way to the Church Region somehow.
He didn’t know what the tattoo on Yona’s right arm represented, but it hadn’t caused her any harm. So, he thought it would be fine, but after witnessing Vervaria—the demon—firsthand, he finally realized that was something no ordinary human could handle.
Back in the days when he was a trainee knight at the cathedral, even though he tried to avoid studying, he still had to endure mandatory lessons about monsters and demons. Thanks to that, he retained some knowledge. While it wasn’t precisely about the types of demons, he knew how significant a demon’s descent was and how overwhelmingly powerful their strength could be.
Living on with that burden was impossible. It would be unthinkable to live with a demon inside. Therefore, Yona would find peace only if he could draw out Vervaria from her right arm and banish her.
The best place to vanquish a demon, without a doubt, was the Infura Church Region.
Without a doubt, the best place is the Infura Church Region.
He needed to lift the ban placed on him, so there were plenty of reasons to head to the Church Region.
Alex caressed a stone.
Warmth still lingered.
‘…What the heck.’
Yona looked around.
They were camping in the woods, and she distinctly remembered crawling into her sleeping bag after switching with Alex.
Yet now, the place she stood in was not the forest but an utterly desolate ruin.
Fires flickered in various spots, painting the sky orange. Sparks danced brilliantly in the air before fading away, while gray smoke rose uselessly, exuding sorrow like a ghost.
A ruin devoid of any life. In that desolation, Yona stood alone.
“What the heck.”
Yona growled fiercely as she scanned her surroundings. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she revealed her anxiety, resembling a puppy standing in front of a lion. She growled as if to intimidate, yet her demeanor hardly seemed threatening.
Yona’s golden eyes searched for someone in the surroundings. The man she had relied on the most lately, Alex. But there was no sign of Alex anywhere.
No matter how much she looked around, he was nowhere to be found, and the hand that should have rested on Alex’s shoulder flailed aimlessly, lost.
Fear began to well up in Yona’s gaze. Fear, dread, anxiety, unease—various negative emotions started gnawing at her heart one by one, and soon that heart became shrouded in darkness.
“What’s going on?”
A sudden voice echoed unexpectedly.
Yona’s heart sank at the sound. She couldn’t even ask who it was, instead glancing around. What she saw was the ruin, and the foul smell of smoky air tickled her nose. In this desolate place, the sudden voice made Yona turn constantly.
The fear of something invisible was magnified a hundredfold, pressing down on her. Though she clearly heard the voice, the terror of seeing no one made Yona’s body tremble.
Fear and dread are synonyms, always coming hand in hand. And having fully embraced those feelings, while she had survived longer than most healers, it didn’t mean she had grown accustomed to those emotions.
“Is this your first time showing yourself?”
In the darkness of the ruin.
Someone walked out from behind the stone wall that blocked the flickering flames. It was a girl much smaller than Yona, someone who would barely reach her waist. The girl with black hair and black eyes looked incredibly familiar to Yona.
A little girl who seems like she just stepped out of a dance. The girl with black hair and black eyes looked incredibly familiar to Yona.
“Lu, Rubina…?”
Yona’s eyes widened in surprise.
In a place where she didn’t even know where she was, suddenly appeared Rubina.
“A vessel. I borrowed the form of the second human you were attached to in your memories.”
Rubina’s lips twisted into a sly smile. And with that tone, that title, Yona finally realized that this Rubina was not the real Rubina. And Yona thought, maybe—
As Rubina looked at Yona, who was at a loss for words, she smiled brightly.
Now a little over 10 years old, Rubina had an effortlessly confident smile that she could never have made.
“…What the hell is going on?”
The trembling faded away.
The fear subsided.
Yona scowled and glared at Vervaria.
Just the fact that Vervaria appeared in the form of Rubina was surprisingly enough to quell a lot of the fear.
However, Vervaria ignored Yona’s gaze with a smirk.
“Why? Are you disappointed that I didn’t appear as the first human you were attached to? But this body won’t want to become bald, you see.”
“Shut the hell up!”
Yona yelled at her.
No way was the person she was most attached to Alex—that was nonsense.
Right, complete nonsense.
It shouldn’t make any sense.
“Don’t get so worked up, just sit down.”
“Sit where… huh?”
Yona, about to get angry at being told to sit in this desolate place, was at a loss for words.
The ruins with the flames had vanished, and now the surroundings were suddenly a garden.
A rather well-kept round garden enclosed by rose bushes.
A pure white table and chairs were set out there.
“You can sit there, vessel. Oh, this way of speaking might feel a bit odd.”
Ahem, ahem.
Rubina—or rather, Vervaria—cleared her throat a few times.
“Understand? I am the Great Demon Vervaria. Every time I appear, your sister gets too startled, so I thought I’d change my appearance to be a bit more familiar. How about it?”
Yona couldn’t close her mouth.
She wished things had just gone as usual.
“…Alright, I got it. Let’s just do it as we usually do.”
Rubina then came over and sat in the chair opposite Yona.
The sight of her looking somewhat gloomy left Yona dumbfounded.
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