Chapter 122: CH 122

“Thank you for today,” I said. “The ravioli was delicious.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Quinella said.

It was after enjoying lunch and conversation with her. As we left the store, I decided to thank her again.

Yeah, it was really delicious. It’s not like the tavern food I usually eat or Miu’s home cooking isn’t delicious, but it’s a different genre of food.

I wonder if a slightly extravagant meal like this isn’t so bad every once in a while. There is also the aspect of Miu’s emotional education, and fortunately, I have income and savings that can be used for occasional luxuries.

Ah, but if I go to that kind of restaurant, I wonder if I should put some effort into Miu’s eating etiquette. That girl would power through her food like usual, so if it’s a little fancy restaurant, she might stand out in a bad way.

“I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time,” I said.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Quinella said.

Speaking of the ravioli, I look back and think we had quite a lot of small talk.

My first impression of Ms. Quinella was good, but when I talked to her, she was a good speaker and a good listener. She is a really good person to go out with an old man like myself without making a terrible expression.

“I have high hopes for you, Mr. Beryl,” Quinella said.

“High… hopes?” I asked.

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Hopes for what, exactly? To be honest, I feel a little heavy if you remind me of the responsibility I have, guiding the five members of the Sword Magic Department correctly. I’m not going to cut corners, but even so, this old man’s hands can only carry them so far.

“Do you know the current situation of the Sword Magic Department?” Quinella asked.

“Ah, well… I heard a little from Thyssel,” I said.

Ms. Quinella’s tone of voice changes slightly.

“The Sword Magic Department is, so to speak, one of the newest fields of study,” Quinella said. “We don’t want to close the door on it too early, in the end.”

“I understand how you feel,” I said. “… I’ll try my best, in what way I can.”

“Yes, so I’m looking forward to that,” Quinella said.

“Hahaha…” I laughed nervously.

Perhaps what she is trying to convey is the same story I heard from Thyssel before. If the number of people attending the lectures remains small, the Sword Magic Department itself will be dissolved.

No, but even so, the expectations of me are a bit heavy. Lucy is frank about the information she conveys in both the good and the bad senses. To the extent that I think my feelings on the matter might have changed if I’d been told outright that the Sword Magic Department was in such dire straits.

“I think that we should keep trying new things,” Quinella said. “I myself have nothing to be proud of except my old-fashioned Defense Magic.”

“Don’t say it like that…” I said.

Old-fashioned. It may not sound very good as a phrase, but if you look at it from the reverse, it means that it has a history.

This is just guessing, but the Magician’s Academy shouldn’t have had a shallow history. I wonder if there are many people among the teachers who emphasize that kind of thing.

“Fufu, I’m sorry,” Quinella said. “That was a bit of a damper. Well then, I’ll head back to the Academy now.”

“Okay,” I said. “Good luck with this afternoon.”

And while I was thinking about that, Ms. Quinella kept talking. Seems it was time for her to head back.

Unlike me, who is in charge of only one lecture in the Sword Magic Department, she is a full-time teacher at the academy. I’m sure they’re on different levels of busyness than I am.

I feel grateful that she spent her precious lunch break eating with me, but I also feel sorry for her.

“If you ever have the chance, let’s have a meal together again,” I said.

However, I took the trouble to invite her again. It was a little wasteful to cut off our relationship here. Also, Ms. Quinella is a naturally friendly person, so I’d like to maintain a friendly relationship with her.

“My, my,” Quinella said. “Then this time, you’ll be taking me out, Mr. Beryl, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Hahaha…” I laughed unconsciously. “Please be gentle with me.”

Hmmm, it may be necessary to investigate a place that looks a little good. I can search while walking around, but if I ask Alexia or Lucy, I wonder if they can tell me more about the area.

“Well then, I’ll leave you to it,” Quinella said.

“Yeah, see you then,” I said.

Finally, we say goodbye and part ways.

So what should I do now? It’s just after eating delicious food, so I feel like I want to move a bit and burn off some of it.

When I have a lecture on sword magic, I’m taking a break from being an instructor for the Knights, so even if I go home like this, no one will complain. However, just spending the day leisurely is rather uncomfortable.

“……Hmm?” I went.

However, since I came to the North District where I don’t walk much, I had some time and thought about taking a quick stroll before going home.

Clang, clang. A clear sound that wasn’t an academy bell or a bar doorbell echoed discreetly in the clear sky.

“Ah, the church?” I said.

When I turned to the sound, I can see in the distance the Suphenian Church built on a slightly elevated hill.

Come to think of it, the North District has the Rebelis Royal Palace, the Magician’s Academy, and a church. After being attacked at night for certain reasons and my relationship with Bishop Lebios, I’ve stayed far away from this place.

I didn’t hear about the details of that incident in the end. I heard from Gatoga of the Knights of the Faith that Lebios was to be judged and sentenced, but even then I still don’t know what’s going on with Baltrain’s chapter of Suphinists.

The battle to capture Lebios began with Lucy and Ibroix’s reckless behavior. A battle that would have been dangerous without the help of Thyssel and Kuruni. It is a place that does not bring very good memories to me, partly due to the fact I think I cut down Miu’s older sister.

“Hmm… maybe I should stop by,” I said.

After that incident, I haven’t met with Ibroix. Partly because I simply didn’t get the timing right, and partly because he was escorting the Supheniardvanian Diplomatic Mission afterward.

I have free time, and since so much of it has also passed since then, the scars of that war will probably have been healed. Incidentally, if Ibroix was here, it might be fine to at least ask him how he was doing.

That’s why I decided to walk to the North District Church as an exercise after lunch.

It’s not far from the carriage stop here to the church. Similarly, the road to the Magician’s Academy is also close.

Inevitably, the Academy and the Church, as well as the Rebelis Royal Palace, were relatively close to each other, they were all at distances where you could easily drop by each one.

I glance left and right while walking along the well-maintained cobblestone road.

Unlike the Central District, there are not so many tall buildings. For that reason, you could say that the remaining tall buildings like the church and the spires of the royal palace had an even grander presence.

Unlike at night, there is a moderate amount of people. As expected, it wasn’t as big as the Central District and the West District, but the scenery was enough to convince me that this was the capital of the Kingdom of Rebelis.

“Good work today,” I said as I passed by Kingdom Garrison soldiers on patrol.

“Same to you as well,” one of them replied. “Are you going to pray? Take care.”

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As expected, for the district with the royal palace, there are a lot of security patrols.

Yeah, I regretted a little that I might have greeted him with “Hello” if I spoke normally. I’m starting to feel that it’s not good to greet the Garrison soldiers with “Good work today.” I should have just said the normal greetings I have with the guards in front of the Knights’ HQ.

Fortunately, my words and actions didn’t seem to be that unnatural, and the middle-aged man wearing a sword greeted me in a friendly manner. From where I was walking, he probably decided that my destination was the church. Well, he’s right, but I’m not going there to pray. I’m an atheist.

Of course, it’s not like I didn’t believe in gods from the beginning. As you might have guessed, I had not attained such enlightenment from childhood.

When was the last time I trusted a god? When I was a child, I tried to eat some of my mother’s food but and ended up flipping her whole plate over.

My Old Man didn’t seem to mind, but Mom was pretty angry with me. I tried to pray to a god for mercy, though I remember being scolded not for trying to eat the food but for making a mess of the meal.

Though it wasn’t necessarily because of that, I became quite tolerant and strict about food simultaneously. I started eating whatever was served to me and I’m trying to appreciate its value.

Well, in the end, my prayers didn’t reach God, and I got really angry.

I won’t go so far as to say that this was the only reason, but since I began to think that my Old Man, Mom, and the way of the sword were more worthy of faith than gods, I stopped blindly praying to gods. I don’t mean to deny your god or religion as a foundation of your life, though. I just happen to be different.

“… Hm, is this the place?” I muttered.

And while I was walking and thinking about my childhood, I arrived in front of the hill where the church stood.

Well, when I came at night, I couldn’t go inside and the visibility wasn’t good, but when I got closer, it was quite splendid. It’s a stone church that seems even older than I was.

I try to listen for a moment, but I can’t really tell through the thick door. It’s not a place to make such a fuss, so it’s not unnatural that there’s no sound.

However, even if I looked around casually, I couldn’t see anything like corpses or a trace of blood, it was beautiful.

Naturally, it must have been cleaned since then. Otherwise, no one from the general public would have been able to go near it.

While I thanked the person who cleaned it all up, I put my hand on the church doors. The feel of it was somewhat lighter than it looked, the door opened easily, and I could see what was going on inside.

“Ooh…” I gasp.

Prayer benches are lined up regularly in a spacious area.

Is the statue in the back an image of a god? That might be the statue of their patron, Suphine. When I rolled my eyes for a moment, I could see that some of the believers, who must have come to pray, folded their hands and bowed their heads.

“Hello. Are you here to pray?”

One of the men who noticed me called out.

He was a gentle-looking man in robes like the clergy. Is he about the same age as me? He held a thick book that looked like scripture in one hand and had a gentle smile on his face.

“Hello, I’m sorry to disturb you. Um… is Mr. Ibroix here?” I asked.

I didn’t come here to pray, so I felt a little awkward, but I simply told him what I had come here for.

“You mean Bishop Howlmann?” the clergyman said. “Pardon me for asking, but may I know your name?”

“Oh, right,” I said. “I think he’ll understand if you tell him that Beryl is here.”

Hmm? Bishop? Did he just say bishop? Huh, wasn’t Ibroix a priest? Could it be that he was promoted after Bishop Lebios suffered this or that?

“So I see,” the clergyman said. “Please, wait a moment.”

Well, I can’t just ask it of the man before me.

After hearing my business, the man bowed and withdrew into a room on the side of the church.

Well, my being kept waiting for Ibroix means that he is here. I was thinking that if this was all in vain, I would give up and take a walk home, so I wonder if we can talk.

“Hello, sorry to keep you waiting, Beryl. Welcome to the church.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said.

And not long after the man who attended to me withdrew to the back, Ibroix came out from it. He was quicker and more welcoming than I expected. Thank goodness he was, I had nothing to do left alone inside this church.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to accept my invitation or not,” Ibroix said. “Let’s talk in the back, shall we?”

Hahaha, Ibroix laughed.

As usual, this person’s behavior is unthinkable for a man who serves a religion. Well, it’s easier for me to get along with someone who is that frank, but I can’t help but wonder what it’s like for someone who believes in a god.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well,” Ibroix said.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad to see you in good health, too.”

We exchange niceties while we walk.

I can feel the glances from the people who come to worship here and there, but it’s kind of hard to put into words the relationship between me and Ibroix. There’s no need to explain it to others, but it’s because an old man who isn’t religious is suddenly summoning the bishop.

“Now, come in,” Ibroix said.

“Pardon me,” I said.

And now, I was guided to was probably a reception room or something like that. It was a small room located a little way from the side of the church.

As expected of a religious building, it is not extravagant and has a simple, necessary, and just sufficient structure and furniture. Well, it’s just us two men chatting, so there’s no problem.

“Well, what can I do for you today? Would you like to do penance?” Ibroix said jokingly as we sat down.

“No way,” I said. “I’ve lived a decent life, you know.”

Even if I said I want to repent, there is nothing in particular to confess. Until recently, I had been living in the countryside for a long time, so there were no such things. Rather than living strictly, it may be that I have lived too strictly.

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“I see,” Ibroix said. “Speaking of which, did my gift arrive safely?”

“Yes, I am grateful for it,” I said.

“That’s good to hear,” Ibroix said.

There’s only one thing that came to mind when I think of a gift from Ibroix. It must be the wooden box where the clothes and money for Miu were kept. I expected it, but it seems that it was a reward from Ibroix after all.

The money is carefully put away, but the clothes are, as I said, gratefully used. I used to think it was a bit embarrassing to go shopping for clothes for girls my age.

“By the way, I heard from another person that you’ve become the bishop,” I said.

“Yes, thanks to you,” Ibroix said. “I’ve finally moved up in the world, I suppose you could say.”

I’ve confirmed what I suspected earlier.

I wonder if this counted as congratulations. Because I knew the background to some extent, I didn’t think it was a happy occasion.

“So, you have something to ask of me, don’t you?” Ibroix said.

He had a smile like when I first met him at Lucy’s house, gentle but with a hint of suspicion.

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