I had prepared to leave the village, but there was nothing in particular to pack.
“Is it okay to walk?”
“You’re the patient.”
Isabel insisted on walking herself, but the Demon King wouldn’t let her.
Instead, we decided that I would carry her on my back.
“Ririan is getting bigger, so it’s quite helpful.”
“I’m not a porter.”
I carried Isabel and moved out of the cave to the village entrance.
At the village entrance, Solche was waiting for us after finishing her work.
“Is everyone here? The captain is…”
Aila took off the hood she had been wearing, revealing herself.
“Are you perhaps the captain?”
“Due to accidentally drinking a transformation potion…”
“So that’s why you requested assistance.”
The transformation potion was specifically for demons, and werebeasts would experience side effects if they consumed it.
Aila decided to deceive Solche by using that fact.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Aila’s magical side effects were the same as those of the transformation potion.
“You’ll have a tough time.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess.”
As we emerged from the village, a new raid team was carrying out their mission.
“Is it okay to move at night?”
“It shouldn’t be too dangerous. I heard that Ririan took care of a large monster, didn’t she?”
“It was the Demon King who took care of it.”
Solche glanced at the Demon King and had a look of understanding.
It takes about a day to get from Paison village to Kant.
However, we had set out in the evening.
We decided to stop by the Lakeside Hut to rest on the way.
“Blade of the Wind!”
Whoosh!
The monsters that appeared on the way to the lakeside were easily dealt with by the Demon King’s sword.
Even though the raid team had taken down the monsters near Paison village, there were still quite a few wandering about.
“Why is this raid taking strangely long?”
“How long does it usually take?”
“On the short side, about a week, and at most, it wouldn’t take more than two weeks.”
It was probably due to the absence of a large monster named Paison, which was supposed to be protecting Paison village.
I felt a little guilty as I had some responsibility in that regard.
Nonetheless, thanks to the Demon King and I taking care of the large demons, the number of monsters had noticeably decreased.
Thanks to the Demon King, we arrived very safely at the Lakeside Hut.
“When did this come to be?”
“It hasn’t been long. Monsters have been coming close to Kant.”
Soldiers were stationed by the wooden barricade around the Lakeside Hut.
Even as we approached, the soldiers didn’t particularly try to stop us.
“No inspections?”
“They’re out here to block the monsters.”
The Lakeside Hut is a place where the citizens of Kant often come for outings.
Additionally, it seemed to serve as an outpost in case something happened in the city.
Upon entering the hut, we found more soldiers resting inside than we expected.
Since they didn’t charge for accommodation, we found a spot and rested.
“Will you leave right away when you return to Kant?”
“Hmm?”
Aila seemed to be in no rush until her condition returned to normal.
“Isabel can’t move on her own right now, either.”
“I can walk.”
“If you move, your wounds will reopen.”
Whenever Isabel showed her strange stubbornness, the Demon King emphasized that it wasn’t okay.
That night, we all fell asleep without even realizing when, chatting away uselessly.
I woke up to the sound of soldiers’ boots.
It was far too bright for morning.
When I looked at the clock on the wall, lunchtime had already passed.
It seemed like I had quite a good long sleep after a while.
The sleep wasn’t comfortable, but I felt very refreshed.
After a late lunch at the hut, we returned to Kant.
Solche went back to the intelligence department, and we went to find the place we had stayed at.
It had been quite a while since we last returned, so we had to retrieve the items we left there.
The things we left behind were just the books that Isabel and I had bought.
Our old room was already occupied by other guests, but thankfully, the owner of the place had set the books aside while cleaning the room.
I hastily bought a bag to put the books in and slung it over my back.
“What are you going to do now? If you’re going back, I can take you.”
It’s quite a distance from Kant to Sarita, but with the Demon King’s magic, we could travel in an instant.
“Well, not just yet.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go to Sarita? Even if we go to the capital, we’ll have to hide anyway, right?”
In her current state, Aila couldn’t act freely at the Order’s headquarters in the capital.
“Neither one seems good…”
It seemed neither option appealed to her.
If we were to stay longer in Kant, we would need to find accommodation, so we decided to discuss what to do at a nearby café.
“I can’t even wander around with two patients.”
“I’m not a patient!”
“Then what? You can’t even handle a monster, let alone a child.”
Aila couldn’t refute the Demon King’s words.
“How weak have you become?”
“Probably similar to a human child.”
Taking a sip of the coffee he ordered, the Demon King looked at Aila and spoke.
“How about trying some magic practice, considering the situation?”
“Should we?”
“Isn’t there a risk of side effects?”
“Right now, this is Aila’s level of magic, so she won’t shrink any further from here.”
Not all werebeasts seem to experience side effects when using magic.
There were werebeasts among the mercenaries, but they used magic just fine.
“But why are there side effects?”
“We’re still researching it.”
The Demon King stared intently at Aila and carefully examined her.
He mentioned that she was a unique case among werebeasts.
“Based on speculation, it could be that her mana control is lacking, or that the mana doesn’t suit her body. In the latter case, divine power is required.”
“Divine power, you say?”
“The divine power used by the priests of Latnia. In other words, you would need to worship the gods.”
As for mana control, there’s plenty of room for improvement through training.
Divine power, on the other hand, posed numerous issues.
There were no religions in Roran that dealt with the divine power worshipped by the gods of Latnia.
In other words, for Aila to handle divine power, she would have to go to Latnia, which was realistically impossible.
“Then why not worship an angel?”
Isabel suddenly chimed in.
“That’s a different religion.”
“Does it have to be that specific god?”
“Because it’s the power given by that god.”
When asked what god Latnia worshipped, Isabel opened her mouth.
“It’s the goddess Diana. She is said to be the guardian deity of knights, and she bestows magic, or rather, divine power, to the priests. Apparently, this religion was established alongside the founding of the nation by the king of Latnia long ago.”
The history of Latnia spans over two thousand years.
It is a religion that has firmly established itself as the state religion of Latnia for quite a long time.
“You seem to know a lot about it.”
“Because they sometimes give out food if you go there.”
On a religious level, they engage in missionary activities, distributing food to children and vagrants, encouraging them to believe in their religion.
Isabel mentioned that she had heard stories from the church while eating food there.
“Isn’t there a religious facility here as well?”
Kant is a neutral area between Roran and Latnia.
If a religion has been around for over two thousand years, it’s likely there’s at least one religious facility in each region.
“Should we check it out, just in case?”
“I don’t really want to go.”
Neither the Demon King nor Aila seemed particularly eager to go.
“They generally don’t like demons much.”
“What? It’s a religious facility!”
“Because it’s a god for humans.”
I began to understand why the two were reluctant to go.
“If Aila had divine power, wouldn’t that be strange?”
“That’s the reason. They don’t want to accept that fact.”
The idea that a god who only serves humans grants divine power to a different species like the werebeasts is something they could never tolerate.
Of course, it’s still just speculation; there’s no evidence that Aila has received divine power.
To be certain, we might need to visit that church at least once.
“Well then, I’ll go take a quick look.”
“Where?”
“To that church.”
Currently, I was maintaining a human form.
Moreover, Isabel also looked no different from a human on the outside, so we decided to go together.
“Can you guide me?”
“Sure.”
Since I was carrying a bag filled with books, I picked up Isabel and left the café.
As we walked slowly down the street, Isabel began to look around, searching for the symbol of the Diana Order.
Every religion has its own symbolic patterns; Isabel knew what the design looked like but couldn’t explain it.
“It’s not as easy to spot as I thought.”
“It wasn’t a fancy building.”
When one thinks of religious facilities, grand architecture typically comes to mind.
Thinking back, even when we were in Tolris, not many people went to visit religious facilities.
“There, I think.”
Isabel pointed toward a small building nestled between other structures.
At first glance, it looked more like a shop than a religious facility.
A sign hanging above the door depicted a deer, and where the antlers should be, a crescent moon sat as if it were a bow.
“What a unique pattern.”
“This is the symbol of the goddess Diana.”
Carefully opening the door and stepping inside, the interior was surprisingly ordinary.
Chairs were neatly arranged, and there was an altar at the front.
On the altar rested a deer skull, giving off a somewhat eerie vibe.
“Who are you?”
Upon hearing a voice from the back, we turned to see an elven woman standing there.
“We just stopped by because we saw it while passing by.”
“I’m sorry, but our order does not welcome demons. However, if you need to rest, we will provide assistance.”
It was surprising that she immediately recognized us as demons just by looking at us.
“As you can see, we are human.”
“I apologize, but I cannot see. However, the aura I sense from you is closer to that of a demon. If that’s not the case, I’m sorry.”
The elven woman bowed her head and apologized to us.
Since we were the ones telling lies, a part of me felt a little guilty.
“Well then, feel free to rest and let us know if you need anything.”
With those words, the elven woman went upstairs.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to see here.”
“Isn’t it strange? Why is there an elf here?”
“Why?”
“Because everywhere else there were only humans. I’ve never seen an elven priest.”
It certainly felt hard to accept that elves believe in religion.
Given that elves consider nature like a god, it seems strange for them to worship the gods humans worship.
“Maybe they have their own reasons?”
To my remark, Isabel slowly nodded and fell into thought.
Although it was called a church, it was located in a rather shabby building, so there wasn’t much to see, and we soon left the building.
